8/08/2010 By Tony Baranek

SCHERERVILLE, Ind. (Aug. 7) - The last time Blake Brown and D.J. Weltmeyer had a late-model showdown for position, it wasn't pretty.

"Yeah, two weeks ago at Grundy (County Speedway) I messed up and got into D.J. It became a whole big incident," Brown said.

Saturday night at the ASA-sanctioned Illiana Speedway, there was another showdown. This time there was no incident, just some great racing.

The two youngsters waged a beautiful battle for several circuits, before Brown made the pass for the lead and went on to beat the 19-car field in the special 35-lap event as part of the annual "Racefest."

Brown took the top spot 11 laps from the finish and prevailed over Mike White by 1.138 seconds. Earlier in the night Brown had set fast qualifying time.

"I just wanted to make sure I raced him real clean tonight," Brown said of his mid-race battle with Weltmeyer, who was the leader for 11 laps. "Me and him were cool, and we proved to everyone that we're fine and can race each other clean. He's an awesome driver. He's doing a good job."

White, driving Ray Wroblewski's No. 14 at Illiana for the first time in 2010, had a solid run after working his way through some mid-race traffic.

"It was a little hectic out there but we have a good car," White said. "For the first time out, we're pleased. We qualified decent, the car ran good. It was a good night for us, really."

It was a great night for Weltmeyer, who posted a career-high third place finish ahead of Anthony Danta, John Nutley and Jack Kalwasinski.

"We were trying to do our best there. It was a good run," Weltmeyer said. "(Brown) was a little better through the corners, but it was fun racing. I'm so happy with the car. Just a great night tonight."

A wild limited late-model feature ended with Mark Ross Jr. in victory lane for the first time.

Ross, a former successful turbo stox driver at Illiana, took the lead from Doug Hayes with four laps remaining and beat him to the checkered by 0.534 seconds.

The race was contact-filled.

Hayes and Paul Zolodz paced the field for a long while, while a cluster of cars ran side-by-side several lengths behind them.

Mayhem ensued on lap 15, when points leader John Nutley, attempting to get underneath Phil Splant, rode up the left side of Splant's car. The two were joined by second-ranking Jeff Cannon, who bounced his No. 33 off the frontstretch wall.

Nutley's No. 96 was unable to continue. Splant made repairs along with Cannon, and both restarted in the back. More problems ensued a few laps later, however, when Splant became tangled with Rita Fields between Turns 3 and 4, taking both cars out of the event.

The lead pass, with four laps remaining, saw Ross bang into the side of Hayes and get him sideways in Turn 4. Hayes was able to straighten out and save his position, and near the finish had a shot, but came up short. Third went to Joe Balser, with Cannon, Zolodz and Marc Hankosky completing the top six.

"I didn't mean to (get into Hayes). I was just getting a little excited there and drove in too hard and got into him pretty much," Ross said of his race-winning pass. "This division is totally different, so much stuff to change and set up. We're just starting to learn everything."

The HOSS sprint cars made their annual visit to Illiana, with Jason Cox making a late-race pass and running away with the event.

A week earlier Cox's father, Tim, flipped the same No. 7 car in a race at Baer Field Speedway in Fort Wayne, Ind. The car was repaired, but Tim Cox was still having vision problems on Saturday, and decided to put his son (who was having problems with his own ride) behind the wheel.

Jason Cox responded with a track record-setting qualifying lap of 15.666 seconds. He was able to run down and pass a smoking Chris Nevenschwander with just five laps remaining. At the finish it was Cox, Hank Lower, Troy DeCaire and Jacob Wilson.

Chris King won his fourth Legends feature in a row by a 0.710-second margin over Craig Mahoney. Matt O'Leary, Camden Murphy and Mark Vandrunen followed. The turbo stox main went to Eddie Wolf over points leader Bill Serviss and Brian Kucaba, while Chris Czaszwicz beat Helen Nester to the line in the pure stocks and Paul Fusko reigned in the bandoleros.


SUMMARY
Late-model
Fast time: Blake Brown (19.754)
35-lap feature: 1. Brown, 2. Mike White, 3. D.J. Weltmeyer, 4. Anthony Danta, 5. John Nutley, 6. Jack Kalwasinski, 7. Danny Darnell, 8. Keith Tolf, 9. Len Nowosel, 10. Richard Ruckh.

Limited late-model
Fast time: Jeff Cannon (21.191)
25-lap feature: 1. Mark Ross Jr., 2. Doug Hayes, 3. Joe Balser, 4.  Cannon, 5. Paul Zolodz, 6. Marc Hankosky.

HOSS Outlaws
Fast time: Jason Cox (15.666)
1st heat: 1. Cox, 2. Jimmy McCune, 3. Shane Hmiel. 2nd heat: 1. Ron Koehler, 2. Jacob Wilson, 3. Jim Payne. 3rd heat: 1. Sondi Eden, 2. Chris Nevenschwander, 3. Geoff Kaiser.
35-lap feature: 1. Cox, 2. Hank Lower, 3. Troy DeCaire, 4. Jacob Wilson, 5. Jimmy McCune, 6. Geoff Kaiser.

Legends
Fast time: Chris King (17.693)
25-lap feature: 1. King, 2. Craig Mahoney, 3. Matt O'Leary, 4. Camden Murphy, 5. Mark Vandrunen, 6. Cody Conner.

Turbo stox
Fast time: Chris Woodall (17.921)
25-lap feature: 1. Eddie Wolf, 2. Bill Serviss, 3. Brian Kucaba, 4. Billy Jarrells, 5. Craig Amptmeyer, 6. Woodall.

Pure stocks
1st heat: 1. Neal Kerner, 2. Jason Moorehead. 2nd heat: 1. Chris Czaszwicz, 2. Helen Nester.
20-lap feature: 1. Czaszwicz, 2. Nester, 3. Mike Jucius, 4. Tim Cronin, 5. Ryan Hoffman.

Bandoleros
10-lap feature: 1. Paul Fusko, 2. Justin VanDrunen, 3. Stan Zolodz IV, 4. Jimmy Wessel.