MADISON, Ill. —Eddie Hoffman took the victory in his home state and Peter Cozzolino walked away from Gateway Int’l Raceway with the ASA Late Model Series Challenge Division title.
Jacob Goede entered the Gateway 100 with a 14-point advantage over Cozzolino, but dropped from competition in the late going, handing the championship to Cozzolino.
Sean Murphy led early in the 80-lap event on the 1.25-mile oval, but lost a thrilling battle with Eddie Hoffman during the middle stages of the race. Despite a yellow with eight laps remaining, Hoffman held off Robbie Pyle for the victory.
Murphy, Cozzolino and Travis Dassow completed the top five.
“I had to concentrate,” Hoffman said. “It wasn’t just one guy, it was two other guys. I had to let Robbie (Pyle) work on (Murphy) and take advantage of those two guys. Once they got side by side, it slowed them down enough and I could get a run on them. I was surprised as anybody that I could pass them both right away.”
Cozzolino was grateful to win the title.
“It’s been consistency. It’s been near all top fives,” Cozzolino said. “We’ve been good week in and week out, We were probably good enough to get into the top three, but when I saw where we were and what we needed to do, I mean, we’ll take a championship any day.”
The finish:
Eddie Hoffman, Robbie Pyle, Sean Murphy, Peter Cozzolino, Travis Dassow, Jimmy Lang, Jack Smith, Brent Downey, Chris Sevey, Brett Moffitt, Drew Brannon, Billy Crane, Bear Lynch, David Wood, Logan Ruffin, Josh Cave, Brian Campbell, Jeff Choquette, Mike Vannoy, Jacob Goede, Chad Finley, Kris Stump, Jimmy Weller, Patrick Lawson, Kyle Sirizzotti, Bob Varney, Austin Siebert, Michael Bilderback, Michael Pickens, Brent Seeley, Rebecca Kasten.