Posted by Illiana Speedway on 8/21/2005, 9:14 pm
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Illiana Speedway Aug. 20 Story By Tony Baranek SCHERERVILLE, Ind. — Under ordinary circumstances, Jeff Agnew would have gotten a big round of applause, given a big wave to the fans and been flanked by some Hooters Pro Cup girls after Saturday night's Bakker Products 250 at Illiana Speedway. Instead, he was flanked by paramedics. Agnew wasn't the healthiest guy in the world when he crawled into his No. 73 Pontiac at the start of the night. He was suffering from flu-like symptoms. One couldn't tell, however, by the way the Copper Hill, Va., native circled the half-mile oval with a vengeance, leading all but a handful of laps and beating Pro Cup North Division points leader Benny Gordon by two car-lengths. Agnew even had enough energy at the end to wrestle with the car during the final 20 laps after some lug nuts came loose on the right front wheel. It was the third year in a row that Agnew won the Hooters Pro Cup event at Illiana. "We love it here," he said, which was quite natural. "The guys (his race team) put a really good car underneath me tonight. If I'd been feeling better, it might have been a little easier." Indeed, although Agnew led all but 18 of the 250 laps and although he was fine after the paramedics checked him basically for exhaustion, it was anything but easy. Most of the way, he had Gordon nipping at his heels. And after the field pitted on lap 129 for gas and tires, Gordon got out of the pits first. Agnew ran behind Gordon until lap 147, making the pass on the bottom in Turn 1. "We were better in different places," Gordon said of himself and Agnew. "After that yellow, our tires were cold and I didn't want to take a chance of going (spinning) around. He might have been a little faster than me at that point." Gordon gave little resistance to the pass. But he did stay close behind Agnew the rest of the way, and near the finish they touched bumpers a couple of times. "I probably could have turned him sideways a little bit," Gordon said. "But we were racing clean out there. Everybody was racing clean. Gary St. Amant probably could have done the same thing to me, I guess." St. Amant was close behind Gordon most of the way, and was closer to him than Gordon was to Agnew when the checkered flag flew. Fourth place went to Mardy Lindley, followed by Johnny Rumley and Woody Howard. A special 40-lap feature race for the limited late-models went in thrilling fashion to first-time winner Phil Splant. The Dyer native took the lead on lap three from Timmy Stewart. Splant then fended off efforts from both Andy Marchiniak and Joe Fadke, before facing his ultimate challenge from division points leader Richard Dawson. Dawson dogged Splant for several laps before putting a nose underneath him on lap 31. Thus began a side-by-side duel in which Splant made the discovery that his No. 52 would work even better on the high side. "Once I figured that out, he (Dawson) could have the bottom all he wanted," Splant said later. "All I knew was that if I had led for that long, I'm sorry but nobody was going to get by me.'' Two laps from the finish, Splant almost lost it coming out of Turn 4. Instead, he turned on the power and pulled back alongside Dawson. On the final lap, Splant was able to clear Dawson via the outside, and go on to take the win by a car-length. "I was hoping he (Splant) would make a mistake, but he didn't," Dawson said. "Basically, I needed the space on the track he was in to be able to pass him. It just didn't work out for me." In a final scramble between Turns 3 and 4, Fadke was able to slip past Dawson and claim second place. Fourth went to Mike Marden, ahead of Anthony Danta and Jack Kalwasinski. Summary Hooters Pro Cup 250-lap feature: 1. Jeff Agnew, 2. Benny Gordon, 3. Gary St. Amant, 4. Mardy Lindley, 5. Johnny Rumley, 6 Woody Howard. Limited late-model 40-lap feature: 1. Phil Splant, 2. Joe Fadke, 3. Richard Dawson, 4. Mike Marden, 5. Anthony Danta, 6. Jack Kalwasinski.