Weltmeyer Gets Lucky At Illiana
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. – Third became first in the matter of one turn for D.J. Weltmeyer, who captured his second late-model feature of the season Saturday night at the ASA-sanctioned Illiana Speedway.
Blake Brown and Jeff Cannon, who battled side-by-side and bumper-to-bumper for much of the race, got too close between Turns 1 and 2 just five laps from the finish. Brown spun to the infield. Both he and Cannon were sent to the back for the restart.
Weltmeyer?
“Whenever you’re in a situation like that you always want to be ready,” said the 19-year-old son of multi-time track champ Dave Weltmeyer. “I’m glad we missed it (the spin). I feel bad for those guys, but I feel good for our team.”
Weltmeyer had no problem holding off Bobby Gash over the final five laps. Paul Shafer Jr., was third, followed by Mike White, Scott Tomasik and Anthony Danta.
Weltmeyer finished the season second in points behind Eddie Hoffman, who clinched his first track title despite an early mechanical issue that took him out of feature contention.
“I’m not even sure what it was,” said Hoffman, who finished the race well back in the field. “It was disappointing not having an opportunity to win, but it was an awesome season.
“I mean, titles are good, but how did you win it? We won it by winning a bunch of races and having a really fast car.”
Andy Jones won his first Legends feature of the season with a power run, beating Paul Shafer Jr., and Alex Arelano.
Arelano, who came into the night trailing points leader Matt O’Leary by one point, parlayed his finish into his third track championship. O’Leary spun twice during the event and eventually pulled off.
“Oh, man, it was a rough night,” Arelano said. “I was thinking about it all week and just hoping for the best. I’ve got to thank my dad and Tracy Schuler for keeping the car running good. It wasn’t running that good in practice, but it came around for the feature.”
Rain struck with 23 laps completed in the Hoss Outlaws feature. Jason Cox was declared the winner, followed by Aaron Pierce, Geoff Kaiser and Joe Swanson.
The rained-out turbo stox and pure stocks feature events will be made up before the Bettenhausen Classic events on Sept. 15.
Posted by NSSN Staff
on Sep 9 2012 Filed under MIDWEST, Racing Nation.
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