As Reported Sunday, May 4, 2003 in the Daily
Southtown
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dssports/pro/042sd9.htm
By Tony Baranek
Staff writer
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. — It wasn't until the last couple of laps of Saturday night's late-model feature at Illiana Speedway that it became apparent Dave Weltmeyer had more than Eddie Hoffman could handle.
It wasn't until it was over that Weltmeyer believed it.
"I'll tell you what," Weltmeyer said. "I don't count it until the checkered flag. I've lost races on the last lap and I've won races on the last lap. I know he (Hoffman) isn't going to quit, and I know I'm not going to quit."
But once he got that flag ...
"It felt good," the "Dyer Flyer" said with a smile. "We needed this win. The guys worked their butts off. We're glad to be in victory lane."
Weltmeyer certainly earned his moment of enjoyment. It wasn't long after he took the lead from Mike White on lap 5 that Hoffman came knocking.
Hoffman, who beat Weltmeyer twice last weekend, poked and prodded at the No. 16 for more than half the race. He occasionally got a full nose underneath Weltmeyer, but was never able to clear him and complete a pass attempt.
Hoffman might have been faster at times, but not fast enough. And Weltmeyer wasn't giving anything away.
"That's basically about it," Hoffman said. "I needed to be faster enough, or faster in the right places. In a 30-lap race, you can hang on for a win sometimes.
"I could have rooted him out of the way, but nah. And if I tried the high side I was going to eat some concrete, I think," Hoffman said, chuckling.
Third place went to Larry Middleton Jr., who made an inside pass of Mike White just two laps from the finish.
Middleton had quite an adventure on a lap 24 restart. Choosing the outside lane under the new double-file rule, he wound up dirt-tracking his No. 71 out of Turn 4 and made an impressive save.
"The car was just really bad on cold tires for the restarts," Middleton said. "I just touched the gas and, man, it just came out from underneath me. But there was no way I was going to give up with six laps to go. I kept pedaling her."
Doug Kowal finished fifth, followed by Keith Parker, Joe O'Connor and Brian Schwartz.
The most serious incident in the race occurred on lap 24, after Phil Splant spun his No. 56 as he was battling for position out of Turn 4. Moments later, Joe Jones piled into Splant, while others scattered to avoid the wreck.
Both Jones and Splant were uninjured, but their cars suffered severe damage.
In the Mid-American feature, Kevin Moenck took the lead from Jack Kalwasinski on lap 16 and went on to score his second consecutive victory of 2003.
"These cars out here are really fast. It'll be tough this year," Moenck said. "My car was really good tonight. I could go high, low. I could go wherever I wanted to."
Josh Nelms led laps 1-9, and Kalwasinski 10-16. Kalwasinski stayed close to Moenck after the pass, but on lap 22 he dropped out of the race with a motor problem.
The second-place battle went to Keith Sterkowitz, who edged by Stevie Campbell on lap 24. Nelms was fourth, followed by Don Theriault and Mike Marden.