By: Betty Glynn
LaSalle, IL - Tonica’s Eric Dauber showed what a virtuous champion he is on Saturday night at the LaSalle Speedway. After being crowned the Midwestern Late Model track champ and claiming the final race of the 2005 season Dauber finished at the top of his game in more ways then one.
Winning the coveted 100 lap race is an accomplishment all of its own but taking half of the $1,000 payday and donating it to the victims of the ravaged South was unmeasurable.
"I don’t race for the money," Dauber commented about his hobby. "Those people (Katrina victim) need the money more then I do, they have nothing left and here we are."
At the end of the Mautino sponsored event, Dauber’s evening was over with not one but two trophy’s in tow. The first trophy of the night was the MLM Track Championship one that stood nearly five feet tall the other held nearly as much meaning just in a smaller frame. Winning the long distance run of an additional seventy five laps is a feat all of its own.
Twenty two divers were on hand for the special event sponsored by Mautino’s in honor of their one hundred years in business. Granville’s Darin Furar came out with the fastest qualifying lap with a time of 13.577.
Next up was the division’s dash race where Reno Markham led the chase of his family as brother TJ and cousin Ralph finished behind him. Furar finished fourth setting the top starters for the feature grid.
Dauber came out to win the first heat race over Tim Hamburg, Doug Newlin and Rob Piper. The second heat race went to James Muetze with Shane Hill, Johnny Heath and Jason Bogle finishing after him.
For the main event, Reno was on the pole with TJ next to him as Ralph and Furar filled row two. On row three Joe Adam held the inside with John Piccatto on the outside.
The full field struggled to get the first few laps in as the start was plagued with cautions even from the first turn of lap number one. Before one of the early laps could be scored, TJ stole the lead from Reno but fell back in behind for one of the restarts and couldn’t seem to repeat his pass.
During Lap 12, the front runners of Reno, TJ and Furar were flying through the corners nose to tail. Furar used the inside to battle TJ for second. One lap later he took the spot and started his hunt for Reno.
Eight laps later the action was stalled again as Hamburg stopped near the pit exitway signaling another yellow. Before the restart he was able to make his way back in action but getting restarted was not so easy for a few cars who were involved in a pile up in turn two.
Right after green flag racing got underway, Furar flew to the lead but his dream of the win ended when he broke forcing himself to go pitside. A lap later, the third place runner Steve Oeder succumbed to a broken ride and ended his strong run on the back of a tow truck.
It became apparent that running up front was not necessarily the place to be as Reno was full throttle and leading with Ralph now in second over Heath when he broke and narrowly missed a visit with the barrier wall. Just after the restart of Lap 73, Ralph was in command when contact was made with Heath and the two were stopped as Ralph was facing the wrong direction.
Now it was Hamburg who had made his way back up front sitting on the point while Dauber held second over Tony Coglianese. With nine laps to go, Hamburg’s luck ran out ending his run on the one of the infield tires.
Dauber found himself battling with the lapped machine of TJ, who was trying to get his lap back, while second place runner Reno was too far away for a showdown.
Dauber claimed the race that could easily be dubbed the Midwestern Marathon while the only remaining finishers were Reno in second over Piccatto, Coglianese, Rob Piper, Brian Ray, and Aaron Schmitt.
Tony Izzo Jr. made a triumphant return to victory circle in the borrowed Late Model of Keith Piano on Saturday night. In his fourth showing in the #21 car he claimed fast time, third in his heat and won the feature event.
The Utica driver ended Mike Glynn’s winning streak of four consecutive wins during the final night of regular action at the speedway.
Fourteen competitors comprised the starting grid with Bart Schwartz and Mike Provenzano on the front row over Izzo and Glynn in row two.
Just after the green dropped, a caution slowed a three wide battle between Schwartz, Izzo and Provenzano. It was apparent early that Izzo was on a mission for the win and moved to the lead from the outside line.
Caution came out again during Lap 3 involving Frank Reaber, Schwartz and Skip Martin all three had damage but Martin returned to the rear the others were out of contention. Two laps later another caution came out for yet another three car pile up.
Izzo held on to the lead as Glynn worked the bottom with Tom Markham in third.
With Izzo taking home the win a mere six cars remained in action looking more like a heat race then a feature event. Glynn trailed in second over Markham, Martin, Joe Burba, and Joe Partipilo.
Reaber and Schwartz each won the heat races.
Chuck Provenzano led the Street Stock feature race flag to flag for a complete sweep of the class. Twelve Street’s lined up for the feature and only one caution stopped their pace during Lap 7.
Robert Schlappi took second over Tom Legner, Jay Mesarchik, Nick Sell, Billy Clemmons, Mike Flanagan, Bryan Legner, Mike Hughes, Jeff Small, Joe Jelinek and John Peterson.
Provenzano claimed the first heat while Schlappi took the second.
LaSalle Speedway Results
Late Model
Qualifying: Tony Izzo Jr. 12.532
First Heat: Frank Reaber, Mike Provenzano, Mike Glynn, Travis Rokey
Second Heat: Bart Schwartz, Tom Markham, Tony Izzo Jr., Skip Martin
Feature: Tony Izzo Jr., Mike Glynn, Tom Markham, Skip Martin, Joe Burba, Joe Partipilo, Bill Clemmons, Jay Fiene, Mike Provenzano, Travis Rokey, John Clemmons, Bart Schwartz, Frank Reaber, Dan Thacker
Midwestern Late Model
Qualifying: Darin Furar 13.577
Dash: Reno Markham, TJ Markham, Ralph Markham, Darin Furar
First Heat: Eric Dauber, Tim Hamburg, Doug Newlin, Rob Piper
Second Heat: James Muetze, Shane Hill, Johnny Heath, Jason Bogle
Feature: Eric Dauber, Reno Markham, John Piccatto, Tony Coglianese, Rob Piper, Brian Ray, Aaron Schmitt, Robert Smeltzer, TJ Markham, Tim Hamburg, Johnny Heath, Ralph Markham, Doug Newlin, Shane Hill, Jerry Vance, Joe Adam, Steve Oeder, Darin Furar, James Muetze, Wally Forsythe, Mark Jilbert, Jason Bogle
Street Stock
First Heat: Chuck Provenzano, Tom Legner, Nick Sell, John Peterson
Second Heat: Robert Schlappi, Jay Mesarchik, Mike Flanagan, Mike Hughes
Feature: Chuck Provenzano, Robert Schlappi, Tom Legner, Jay Mesarchik, Nick Sell, Bill Clemmons, Mike Flanagan, Bryan Legner, Mike Hughes, Jeff Small, Joe Jelinek, John Peterson
LaSalle, IL - Tonica’s Eric Dauber showed what a virtuous champion he is on Saturday night at the LaSalle Speedway. After being crowned the Midwestern Late Model track champ and claiming the final race of the 2005 season Dauber finished at the top of his game in more ways then one.
Winning the coveted 100 lap race is an accomplishment all of its own but taking half of the $1,000 payday and donating it to the victims of the ravaged South was unmeasurable.
"I don’t race for the money," Dauber commented about his hobby. "Those people (Katrina victim) need the money more then I do, they have nothing left and here we are."
At the end of the Mautino sponsored event, Dauber’s evening was over with not one but two trophy’s in tow. The first trophy of the night was the MLM Track Championship one that stood nearly five feet tall the other held nearly as much meaning just in a smaller frame. Winning the long distance run of an additional seventy five laps is a feat all of its own.
Twenty two divers were on hand for the special event sponsored by Mautino’s in honor of their one hundred years in business. Granville’s Darin Furar came out with the fastest qualifying lap with a time of 13.577.
Next up was the division’s dash race where Reno Markham led the chase of his family as brother TJ and cousin Ralph finished behind him. Furar finished fourth setting the top starters for the feature grid.
Dauber came out to win the first heat race over Tim Hamburg, Doug Newlin and Rob Piper. The second heat race went to James Muetze with Shane Hill, Johnny Heath and Jason Bogle finishing after him.
For the main event, Reno was on the pole with TJ next to him as Ralph and Furar filled row two. On row three Joe Adam held the inside with John Piccatto on the outside.
The full field struggled to get the first few laps in as the start was plagued with cautions even from the first turn of lap number one. Before one of the early laps could be scored, TJ stole the lead from Reno but fell back in behind for one of the restarts and couldn’t seem to repeat his pass.
During Lap 12, the front runners of Reno, TJ and Furar were flying through the corners nose to tail. Furar used the inside to battle TJ for second. One lap later he took the spot and started his hunt for Reno.
Eight laps later the action was stalled again as Hamburg stopped near the pit exitway signaling another yellow. Before the restart he was able to make his way back in action but getting restarted was not so easy for a few cars who were involved in a pile up in turn two.
Right after green flag racing got underway, Furar flew to the lead but his dream of the win ended when he broke forcing himself to go pitside. A lap later, the third place runner Steve Oeder succumbed to a broken ride and ended his strong run on the back of a tow truck.
It became apparent that running up front was not necessarily the place to be as Reno was full throttle and leading with Ralph now in second over Heath when he broke and narrowly missed a visit with the barrier wall. Just after the restart of Lap 73, Ralph was in command when contact was made with Heath and the two were stopped as Ralph was facing the wrong direction.
Now it was Hamburg who had made his way back up front sitting on the point while Dauber held second over Tony Coglianese. With nine laps to go, Hamburg’s luck ran out ending his run on the one of the infield tires.
Dauber found himself battling with the lapped machine of TJ, who was trying to get his lap back, while second place runner Reno was too far away for a showdown.
Dauber claimed the race that could easily be dubbed the Midwestern Marathon while the only remaining finishers were Reno in second over Piccatto, Coglianese, Rob Piper, Brian Ray, and Aaron Schmitt.
Tony Izzo Jr. made a triumphant return to victory circle in the borrowed Late Model of Keith Piano on Saturday night. In his fourth showing in the #21 car he claimed fast time, third in his heat and won the feature event.
The Utica driver ended Mike Glynn’s winning streak of four consecutive wins during the final night of regular action at the speedway.
Fourteen competitors comprised the starting grid with Bart Schwartz and Mike Provenzano on the front row over Izzo and Glynn in row two.
Just after the green dropped, a caution slowed a three wide battle between Schwartz, Izzo and Provenzano. It was apparent early that Izzo was on a mission for the win and moved to the lead from the outside line.
Caution came out again during Lap 3 involving Frank Reaber, Schwartz and Skip Martin all three had damage but Martin returned to the rear the others were out of contention. Two laps later another caution came out for yet another three car pile up.
Izzo held on to the lead as Glynn worked the bottom with Tom Markham in third.
With Izzo taking home the win a mere six cars remained in action looking more like a heat race then a feature event. Glynn trailed in second over Markham, Martin, Joe Burba, and Joe Partipilo.
Reaber and Schwartz each won the heat races.
Chuck Provenzano led the Street Stock feature race flag to flag for a complete sweep of the class. Twelve Street’s lined up for the feature and only one caution stopped their pace during Lap 7.
Robert Schlappi took second over Tom Legner, Jay Mesarchik, Nick Sell, Billy Clemmons, Mike Flanagan, Bryan Legner, Mike Hughes, Jeff Small, Joe Jelinek and John Peterson.
Provenzano claimed the first heat while Schlappi took the second.
LaSalle Speedway Results
Late Model
Qualifying: Tony Izzo Jr. 12.532
First Heat: Frank Reaber, Mike Provenzano, Mike Glynn, Travis Rokey
Second Heat: Bart Schwartz, Tom Markham, Tony Izzo Jr., Skip Martin
Feature: Tony Izzo Jr., Mike Glynn, Tom Markham, Skip Martin, Joe Burba, Joe Partipilo, Bill Clemmons, Jay Fiene, Mike Provenzano, Travis Rokey, John Clemmons, Bart Schwartz, Frank Reaber, Dan Thacker
Midwestern Late Model
Qualifying: Darin Furar 13.577
Dash: Reno Markham, TJ Markham, Ralph Markham, Darin Furar
First Heat: Eric Dauber, Tim Hamburg, Doug Newlin, Rob Piper
Second Heat: James Muetze, Shane Hill, Johnny Heath, Jason Bogle
Feature: Eric Dauber, Reno Markham, John Piccatto, Tony Coglianese, Rob Piper, Brian Ray, Aaron Schmitt, Robert Smeltzer, TJ Markham, Tim Hamburg, Johnny Heath, Ralph Markham, Doug Newlin, Shane Hill, Jerry Vance, Joe Adam, Steve Oeder, Darin Furar, James Muetze, Wally Forsythe, Mark Jilbert, Jason Bogle
Street Stock
First Heat: Chuck Provenzano, Tom Legner, Nick Sell, John Peterson
Second Heat: Robert Schlappi, Jay Mesarchik, Mike Flanagan, Mike Hughes
Feature: Chuck Provenzano, Robert Schlappi, Tom Legner, Jay Mesarchik, Nick Sell, Bill Clemmons, Mike Flanagan, Bryan Legner, Mike Hughes, Jeff Small, Joe Jelinek, John Peterson
