Posted by Illiana Speedway on 9/6/2005, 10:41 am
Board Administrator

SCHERERVILLE, Ind. - If somebody is going to challenge Pat Kelly for the late-model title at Illiana Speedway, it's not going to be until next year. The former track champion (2000) has all but sewn up his second crown. Saturday night he scorched the field in the 30-lap main event, picking up his seventh win of the campaign. "(Car owner) Wayne Govert and the whole team, they put a bunch of hours in the car," Kelly said. "We've fallen off the last couple of weeks, but these guys never give up. They just keep at it. I'm proud to drive for these guys." Kelly took the lead from Mike Monroe via the low groove in Turn 1 on lap 15, and basically waved goodbye to everybody. Dave Weltmeyer, who took second away from Monroe on lap 18, didn't have anything for Kelly even with two restarts. Weltmeyer was, however, able to hold off Mike White to claim the runnerup spot. Brian Muick was fourth, followed by Bobby Gash and Len Nowosel. While the late-model chase is all but over, the limited late-model battle heated up when Richard Dawson, who came into the night with a sizeable points lead over Anthony Danta, was caught up in a multi-car wreck on lap 7 of the feature. Dawson left the race for several laps, before returning and picking up a few spots as other cars dropped out. He finished 16th. Joe Fadke went on to win the event, ahead of Andy Marchiniak, Phil Splant, Jack Kalwasinski and Timmy Stewart. "Everybody started spinning in front of me. I hit the brakes, but there wasn't enough time," Dawson said of the lap 7 incident. "I'm hoping that there's someone up there looking out for me because tonight it was absolutely crazy." Danta, meanwhile, had a fair amount of his own problems in his No. 9 car. For much of the race he was mired in the back of the pack. But he was able to snatch a key position away from Gary Holiner near the end, and finished sixth. The difference in points between Dawson and Danta, with one night remaining, is six. "Luck kind of came our way tonight, but it could be us (that wrecks) next week," Danta said. "The last few weeks things haven't seemed to work out for us. But we'll go back during the week and see if we can figure something out, and maybe we'll have something for him." Jeff Cannon, who suffered some terrible luck last week in dropping out of the Mid-American feature with an overheating engine, bounced back to pick up his sixth win of the season. "A good comeback after last week," Cannon said. "We took the motor out on Tuesday and found a cracked head. We owe tonight to B&B Motors in Appleton, Wisconsin. They put her back together in a day and helped us get back out." Cannon still trails points leader Josh Nelms by a large margin, however. Nelms finished second in Saturday's main, ahead of Bill Neering, Dean Patterson and John Fiorita. Eddie Ligue, who recently purchased the No. 27 turbo stox car from Tom Gasik, drove it to the winner's circle in the 25-lap main event. Roger Rubino won out in a torrid battle for second place with Tommy Prim, with Prim making a big move in the infield to avoid spinning out just two laps from the finish. The incident did allow Craig Amptmeyer to move up to third place, while Chris Woodall was fourth. Prim got back on the track and finished fifth, with Ryan Moore sixth. The pure stocks feature, run in clockwise fashion, was captured by Bryan Kuc. Jason Parratt and Mike Jucius followed. SUMMARY Late-model 1st heat: 1. Mike Monroe, 2. Doug Kowal, 3. Bobby Gash. 2nd heat: 1. Brian Muick, 2. Joe O'Connor, 3. Keith Sterkowitz. 30-lap feature: 1. Pat Kelly, 2. Dave Weltmeyer, 3. Mike White, 4. Muick, 5. Gash, 6. Len Nowosel. Limited late-model 1st heat: 1. Gary Holiner, 2. Andy Marchiniak, 3. Joe Fadke. 2nd heat: 1. Mike Marden, 2. Kevin Ramey, 3. Timmy Stewart. 25-lap feature: 1. Fadke, 2. Marchiniak, 3. Phil Splant, 4. Jack Kalwasinski, 5. Stewart, 6. Anthony Danta. Mid-American 1st heat: 1. Bill Neering, 2. Jeff Cannon, 3. Dean Patterson. 2nd heat: 1. Shawn Matthuis, 2. Darrel Sills, 3. John Shaddon. 25-lap feature: 1. Cannon, 2. Josh Nelms, 3. Neering, 4. Patterson, 5. John Fiorita, 6. Matthuis. Turbo stox 1st heat: 1. Tommy Prim, 2. Bill Serviss, 3. Brian Kucaba. 2nd heat: 1. Steve Prim, 2. Jeff Ogden, 3. Pat Ligue. 25-lap feature: 1. Ed Ligue, 2. Roger Rubino, 3. Craig Amptmeyer, 4. Chris Woodall, 5. Tommy Prim, 6. Ryan Moore. Pure stocks 1st heat: 1. Jim Arvia. 2nd heat: 1. Bryan Kuc. 3rd heat: 1. Michael Moore. 4th heat: 1. Jim Merriman. Semi: 1. Phil Stephaniak. 12-lap feature: 1. Kuc, 2. Jason Parratt, 3. Mike Jucius, 4. Joel Kozlowski, 5. Dave Jacobs.