| Driver Profiles | Photos | Racing Links | |
| Discussion Board | Live Chat | News Archives | Advertising |
| Weather |
 |
Piano Outplays the Competition for First Triple Crown Victory By: Betty Glynn LA SALLE, IL (May 24) – Oglesby’s Keith Piano is on a roll. Saturday night marked the second victory in a row but his first of the coveted La Salle Speedway’s Triple Crown races for the Midwestern Late Model driver. Nineteen competitors signed in for the 50 lap special event. Ten cars started the first heat race with Jim Loomis securing the win as newcomer Roger Markham finished second. Billy Weistart Jr. put on a show as he moved up the field from his tenth seat on the grid for a strong third place finish over Robert Schmeltzer. The second heat winner Ralph Markham won without contest from his outside front row start over pole sitter John Piccatto. Piano moved up four positions in the heat while Ed Williams Sr. completed the 8 laps in fourth place. A passing points system is used to determine the feature grid line up however the top six point earners re-draw to decide the front three rows. Piano rolled out as the pole sitter next to Roger Markham. Reigning champ Ralph Markham and Piccatto claimed their stake on row two ahead of Weistart and Jimmy Loomis. In an attempt to keep the action rolling, officials decided to allow four cautions. After the four, all yellow laps would be counted until they reached the fortieth lap then the remaining would be only green laps on the scoreboard. Piano wasted no time and set the pace fast and furious but a four car pile stalled the action before the first lap could be scored. Once green again, it was Piano with a hard charging Ralph on his tail. The pair started to distance themselves from Roger and Weistart but a caution during the eighth circuit brought everyone back together. Piano used the restart to his advantage and shot off to a nice jump but yet again the next few laps were plagued by cautions. During one of the restarts of the ninth lap, Weistart was challenging Ralph on the low side when the caution stopped his run. One lap later, Ralph tried a higher line and Weistart used the inside to steal second. Piano led by a comfortable margin from the fifteenth to the twenty first circuit but once they were deep in lapped traffic, Weistart was closing the gap. Two laps later the duo took their dance side by side with lapped traffic. Each showing respect for their lines and put on a well controlled challenge. During Lap 26, Piano, Weistart and Ralph diced it up with exciting door to door action but after every challenge Piano remained in control of the pack. Weistart and Ralph were now battling each other allowing Piano to distance himself. With merely ten laps un-scored, a caution brought them back together for a single file restart. On the lead lap, Piano led Weistart, Ralph, Ed Williams Sr., Roger, and Jim Loomis. The remaining nine drivers were at least one lap down to the leaders. Once the action was back, Ralph tried a much higher line but fell back several spots. Piano finished the race with his first visit to the Triple Crown victory circle. “This was our first Triple Crown win,” Piano told the crowd after winning the race that paid $1,000. Piano looked comfortable in the final laps but explained it wasn’t the case behind the wheel. “That was a tough race,” he acknowledged. “The car was getting loose at the end but we got the win.” Weistart, the current points leader, took home a strong second for his efforts over Ed Williams Sr. in a solid third place. Ralph was able to move back up to take fourth to finish in front of Roger, Aaron Schmidt, Jim Loomis, Piccatto, Eric Dauber, Timmy Loomis, Ed Williams Jr. and Dale Markham. Sixteen UMP Modified’s showed up for action. Mineral’s Marty Thompson hosted the field from the pole next to AJ Dixon while Nathan Balensiefen and Ray Bollinger took the second row on the grid. As soon the flag dropped, the action was well underway with contests four wide all over the field. A five car melee stopped the pack during the fourth lap. One lap later, Dixon’s powerful charge in second ended with a cloud of smoke rolling out of his car. Balensiefen gladly picked up the position hoping to challenge Thompson for the lead with Brad Pershy on his tail. By Lap 7, a contact ridden battle was underway for third between Pershy and Mike Janis. Five laps later as the pair came off of the fourth turn, contact and sparks flew as they used the unforgiving front retaining wall as a buffer. Both found themselves facing the wrong direction and stopped on the track. They were sent to tail of the nine remaining contenders. As the leaders crossed under the white flag, Bollinger took his ride into a battle with Balensiefen for second. Marty Thompson collected the checkers ahead of Bollinger, Balensiefen, Mark Marden, Pershy, Kevin Thompson, Janis, and Mark Novorolsky. AJ Dixon and Marty Thompson each won the divisional heat races. Jimmy Partipilo ended his runner up status with the feature victory in the UMP Street Stock class. For five consecutive races between two tracks, Partipilo has finished second but Saturday night he hit the gas hard moving up from his fourth place start into the lead by the fourth lap in the books. Rick Koltveit put forth a great battle for the lead but just fell short. During Lap13, Mike Stewart had a good run in third when thick white smoke ended his run. Partipilo made a clean sweep claiming both his heat and feature race wins. Koltveit took home second in front of Randy Lucas, Mike Hughes, Justin Rutledge, Nick Sell, Jay Mesarchik, Steve Lewis, Roger Rickels, Alex Clubb, Brian Finlig, Dan Leonard, and Kyle Prokup. Reigning UMP 4 Cylinder track champ, DJ Werkmeister, took home the feature and heat victory in his class. Loren Westerhold collected second in front of #98, Jamie Deford, Phil Burdette, Asa Robart, Josh Larson, Chad Williams, Mark Sutton, Markus Hoover, Stephanie Soberri, Harold Reiter, Tanner Phelps, Dawn Spellious and Jared Scott. Jamie Deford won the second heat race. Next Saturday night, the Modified division will top the venue when the United States Modified Touring Series competes for $2,000 to win. La Salle Speedway Scoreboard Results 05/24/08 Late Models – 19 Cars Heat One: Jim Loomis, Roger Markham, Billy Weistart Jr., Robert Schmeltzer Heat Two: Ralph Markham, John Piccatto, Keith Piano, Ed Williams Sr. Feature: 1. Keith Piano, 2. Billy Weistart Jr., 3. Ed Williams, Sr., 4. Ralph Markham, 5. Roger Markham, 6. Aaron Schmitdt, 7. Jim Loomis, 8. John Piccatto, 9. Eric Dauber, 10. Timmy Loomis, 11. Ed Williams Jr., 12. Dale Markham, 13. Joe Fratt, 14. Brian Lock, 15. Dan Doherty, 16. Joe Jelinek, 17. Mike Glynn, 18. Jon Small, 19. Robert Schmeltzer UMP Modifieds 16 Cars Heat One: AJ Dixon, Nathan Balensiefen, Doug Curless, Joe Adam Heat Two: Marty Thompson, Brady Pershy, Ray Bollinger, Donovan Lodge Feature: 1. Marty Thompson, 2. Ray Bollinger, 3. Nathan Balensiefen, 4. Mike Marden, 5. Brad Pershy, 6. Kevin Thompson, 7. Mike Janis, 8. Mark Novorolsky, 9. Doug Curless, 10. Mark Vervynck, 11. Vince Cooper, 12. AJ Dixon, 13. Ken Fisher, 14. Donovan Lodge, 15. Milo Veloz, 16. Joe Adam UMP Street Stocks 16 Cars Heat One: Jimmy Partipilo, Mike Hughes, Rick Koltveit, Justin Rutledge Heat Two: Randy Lucas, Nick Sell, Mike Stewart, Jay Mesarchick Feature: 1. Jimmy Partipilo, 2. Rick Koltveit, 3. Randy Lucas, 4. Mike Hughes, 5. Justin Rutledge, 6. Nick Sell, 7. Jay Mesarchik, 8. Steve Lewis, 9. Roger Rickels, 10. Alex Clubb, 11. Brian Finlig, 12. Dan Leonard, 13. Kyle Prokup, 14. Mike Stewart, 15. Rob Bond, 16. Karl Hayes Hornets 15 Cars Heat One: DJ Werkmeister, Phil Burdette, Loren Westerhold, Mark Sutton Heat Two: Jamie Deford, Asa Robart, Josh Larson, #98 Feature: 1. DJ Werkmeister, 2. Loren Westerhold, 3. #98, 4. Jamie Deford, 5. Phil Burdett, 6. Asa Robart, 7. Josh Larson, 8. Chad Williams, 9. Mark Sutton, 10. Markus Hoover, 11. Stephanie Soberri, 12. Harold Reiter, 13. Tanner Phelps, 14. Dawn Spellious, 15. Jared Scott |