Posted by Illiana Speedway on 7/18/2005, 4:53 pm
Board Administrator

Illiana Speedway story and summary 7-16< By Tony Baranek SCHERERVILLE, Ind. - Pat Kelly already had a good car when he set fast qualifying time before Saturday's racing program at Illiana Speedway. That was bad news for the rest of the field. But not the worst news. The No. 28 actually had something wrong with it at the beginning of the night. His crew found the problem - a loose ball joint. "The guys fixed it, and that made the car just that much better," Kelly said following his fifth victory of 2005. The former late-model track champion and current points leader absolutely smoked the field in the 30-lap main event, taking the lead from Bobby Gash on lap eight, and easing to the win over Dave Weltmeyer. "I never looked behind me," Kelly said. "With David and Mike (White) and the rest of the guys back there, you don't want to. I just kept driving as hard as I could, and it turned out to be fun." Had he looked he would have seen Weltmeyer, usually a hard charger, more or less in a resigned cruise control for the final five laps of the race. "Yeah, I was watching him (Kelly) drive his Cadillac around in front of me and I was eating my heart out," Weltmeyer said with a weary smile. "But we're OK. We've still got a race car here to work on." Weltmeyer, in fact, had a better view of Mike White in his rear view mirror than he did of Kelly in front. The "Dyer Flyer" held off White by about two car-lengths at the finish. Fourth went to Moenck, followed by Keith Sterkowitz and Gash. In the limited late-model division, points leader Richard Dawson shook off four weeks of frustration with a masterful run in the 25-lap feature, winning by about seven car-lengths. "This was awesome," said Dawson, a stock car rookie. "We worked so hard for this. I didn't think I'd win another race, to be honest. We (the team) don't have a lot of knowledge. We're just working our butts off every week. It paid off tonight." Behind Dawson, Anthony Danta won a tremendous side by side battle with Phil Splant for second place. Fourth went to Jack Kalwasinski, fifth to Craig Amptmeyer and sixth to Kevin McCann. Red-hot Bill Serviss made it two feature wins in a row in the Turbo stox division, advancing through the pack with Tom Gasik and passing him for the lead just three laps from the finish. "Me and Tom Gasik were so close to each other. It was really tight," Serviss said. "I didn't mean to push him as hard as I did (at one point). He really raced me clean on the outside, and I appreciate it." Third place went to Tommy Prim, with Pat O'Rourke, Eddie Wolf and Chris Woodall following. Jeff Cannon was the class of the Mid-American field, taking the lead from John Fiorita on lap seven and beating Josh Nelms by 0.382 seconds. Bill Neering was third, followed by Fiorita, Shawn Matthuis and Dean Patterson. SUMMARY Late-model 1st heat: 1. Keith Parker, 2. Dave Weltmeyer, 3. Keith Sterkowitz. 2nd heat: 1. Brian Muick, 2. Jeremy Spoonmore, 3. Len Nowosel. 30-lap feature: 1. Pat Kelly, 2. Weltmeyer, 3. Mike White, 4. Kevin Moenck, 5. Sterkowitz, 6. Bobby Gash. Limited late-model 1st heat: 1. Craig Amptmeyer, 2. Mike Marden, 2. Mike Richardson. 2nd heat: 1. John LaFreniere, 2. J.J. Peyton, 3. Timmy Stewart. 25-lap feature: 1. Richard Dawson, 2. Anthony Danta, 3. Phil Splant, 4. Jack Kalwasinski, 5. Craig Amptmeyer, 6. Kevin McCann. Mid-American 1st heat: 1. Bill Neering, 2. Josh Nelms, 3. Jeff Cannon. 2nd heat: 1. Little Sean Matthuis, 2. Pat Broenneke, 3. John Marshall. 25-lap feature: 1. Cannon, 2. Nelms, 3. Neering, 4. John Fiorita, 5. Shawn Matthuis, 6. Dean Patterson. Turbo stox 1st heat: 1. Billy Jarrells, 2. Mark Ross, 3. Chris Woodall. 2nd heat: 1. Cher Bryant, 2. Tony Meier, 3. Jeff Ogden. 3rd heat: 1. Pat O'Rourke, 2. Steve Whitehead, 3. Mike Wienc. 25-lap feature: 1. Bill Serviss, 2. Tom Gasik, 3. Tommy Prim, 4. O'Rourke, 5. Eddie Wolf, 6. Woodall. Pure stocks 1st heat: 1. Mike Jucius. 2nd heat: 1. Derrick Ball. 3rd heat: 1. Helen Nester. Semi: 1. Joel Kozlowski. Feature: 1. Shawn Coulter, 2. Jucius, 3. Mike Van Howe.