Posted by Illiana Speedway on 6/20/2005, 11:21 am
Board Administrator

By Tony Baranek SCHERERVILLE, Ind. (June 18) - For Pat Kelly, being a late-model regular again at Illiana Speedway is bringing back some pretty special memories. "It feels like 2000 again," he said, referring to his championship season. "I guess it just goes to show that you never lose your enthusiasm for racing. It never gets old when you're winning." It certainly looked just like 2000 again Saturday night, as Kelly dusted off the field to capture his second feature win in a row and third of the campaign. The Morris native, who has been on the traveling circuits for much of the past four years, drives locally this season for Wayne Govert. And he drives fast. Kelly took the lead from Dave Weltmeyer on lap 22, and survived two late restarts with Mike White right behind him to prevail by 0.403 seconds. There was no disputing who had the faster car at the finish. "I had a second-place car and I finished second," White said. "Congratulations to Pat. With Pat Kelly and Dave Weltmeyer, as good as they are, you've got to be on your game big-time to beat them. I was pretty good tonight, and I was fortunate to finish second." Weltmeyer was a very close third, and for part of the race appeared poised to seize the win. Taking the lead from Joe O'Connor at the drop of the green, Weltmeyer maintained a pretty sizeable edge over Kelly once the latter took second place away from Kevin Moenck on lap 7. But around lap 15, Kelly began slicing into Weltmeyer's lead, with White in tow. Kelly was side-by-side with the leader on lap 22 when he almost collided with a lapped car on the low side in Turn 1. "That was pretty dangerous," Kelly said. "I should have pulled out of it (the lower groove) way before then. It was my job to pull out of there. It was all good (in the end), though, so we're happy." Kelly was able to keep his car straight and avoid a wreck, while Weltmeyer re-established a three car-length edge. But it wouldn't last long. "No," Weltmeyer said, shaking his head. "I knew I was doomed. I didn't have much car tonight. It was a little tight. We're going to have to work on it." Right after Kelly made what would be the winning pass, White was also able to get by Weltmeyer to take over second. Fourth went to Moenck, ahead of O'Connor and Jeremy Lepak. The limited late-model division saw a white-knuckle finish as Anthony Danta made a last-lap pass of Richard Dawson to capture his third feature win of the season. Westin Griffith led from laps 1 through 7 before Andy Marchiniak took over. Marchiniak stayed at the point until lap 13, when Dawson got underneath and made the pass. Danta, who started well back in the pack, wasn't all that close until a yellow flag with two laps remaining allowed him to close up on Dawson's bumper. "It took me awhile to set into second and when I did he (Dawson) had a pretty good lead on me," Danta said. "Before that yellow I felt like I was kind of reeling him in, but that yellow helped me. "On the restart, he kind of spun the tires a little bit and gave me some room to get underneath him. That was it." Danta quickly made the pass on Dawson and went on to score the win. Third place went to Marchiniak, with Joe Fadke, Phil Splant and Jack Kalwasinski rounding out the top six. Jeff Cannon stopped Josh Nelms' early-season dominance with an impressive run in the Mid-American feature. Cannon took the top spot from Dustin Heil on lap 2, and even though Nelms was able to work his way into second place in short order, he was unable to make any headway against the leader. "It felt terrific for a change," Cannon said. "It's been a tough start to the season. Last week we went home pretty frustrated. There isn't one thing on the car we didn't change. Now we've got to figure out what made it right." Cannon beat Nelms to the finish line by 0.914 seconds. Bill Neering was third, followed by John Fiorita, Dean Patterson and Pat Broenneke. Bill Serviss was cruising in the turbostox main event when just eight laps from the finish he spun while approaching a slower car in Turn 4. That turned the lead over to Tom Gasik, who made the most of his good fortune and beat Tommy Prim by a comfortable margin. Billy Jarrells was third, with Eddie Wolf, Roger Rubino and Ryan Moore following. SUMMARY Late-Model 1st heat: 1. Dave Weltmeyer, 2. Mike White, 3. Pat Kelly. 2nd heat: 1. Keith Parker, 2. Mike Monroe, 3. Shawn Wiltjer. 30-lap feature: 1. Kelly, 2. White, 3. Weltmeyer, 4. Kevin Moenck, 5. Joe O'Connor, 6. Jeremy Lepak. Limited-Late Model 1st heat: 1. Mike Richardson, 2. Andy Marchiniak, 3. Joe Fadke. 2nd heat: 1. Jack Kalwasinski, 2. Westin Griffith Jr., 3. John Finley. 25-lap feature: 1. Anthony Danta, 2. Richard Dawson, 3. Marchiniak, 4. Fadke, 5. Phil Splant, 6. Kalwasinski. Mid-American 1st heat: 1. Josh Nelms, 2. Bill Neering, 3. Jeff Cannon. 2nd heat: 1. John Marshall, 2. Shawn Matthuis, 3. Craig Amptmeyer. 25-lap feature: 1. Cannon, 2. Nelms, 3. Neering, 4. John Fiorita, 5. Dean Patterson, 6. Pat Broenneke. Turbostox 1st heat: 1. Ryan Moore, 2. Tommy Prim, 3. Roger Rubino. 2nd heat: 1. Bill Serviss, 2. Billy Jarrells, 3. Mike Wienc. 25-lap feature: 1. Tom Gasik, 2. Prim, 3. Billy Jarrells, 4. Eddie Wolf, 5. Rubino, 6. Ryan Moore. Pure Stocks 1st heat: 1. Shawn Coulter. 2nd heat: 1. Mark Ross Jr. 3rd heat: 1. Michael Lindenmulder 15-lap feature: 1. Lindenmulder, 2. Coulter, 3. Dave Jacobs, 4. Dan Diasio, 5. Jason Parratt.