Boris Jurkovic's back was bothering him before Saturday's opening night late-model feature at Illiana Speedway.
He sure felt pretty good in front after it was all over, though.
The former track champion was lightning fast during a main event that was run with raindrops falling out of the sky. He wound up holding off Eddie Hoffman at the finish by 0.373 seconds.
"This was awesome," Jurkovic said. "The guys worked really hard. The car wasn't very fast in practice, but they never gave up on it. We came here with the worst car I've ever had here, and we're leaving pretty good."
Jurkovic took the lead from Dave Weltmeyer on lap 20 with a pretty daring move. Weltmeyer had built a big lead early on, but found Jurkovic on his bumper when they came up to the slower car of Don Sabatino.
Weltmeyer was on the high side and Jurkovic on the bottom, but Jurkovic found a way to push up just enough to pass Sabatino on the outside. He also bumped Weltmeyer enough to get the No. 16 slightly out of control, but Weltmeyer was able to reel it in.
"It was a little rough, but I knew Eddie was coming and I didn't have a lot of time. I didn't want to fall back behind David again," Jurkovic said. "As much as I like Dave I had to go.
"I kind of took a little bit of his line. I hope he's not mad at me. He's a heck of a racer."
One lap later Hoffman took second place away from Weltmeyer, and ran with Jurkovic to the finish. Weltmeyer finished third, while Jeff Cannon took Mike White on the final lap to capture fourth. Mike Monroe was sixth.
Defending limited late-model champ Phil Splant was in the right place at the right time when race leaders John Nutley and Anthony Danta collided on lap 17 of the feature event.
Nutley wound up in the wall between Turns 1 and 2, while Danta was able to continue. Splant inherited the lead, and held off Eddie Hoffman in what wound up as a four-lap sprint to the finish.
"I didnt have anything on the restart following Anthony and Nutley, so I didn't think I'd have anything for Eddie," Splant said. "I had to correct what I was doing.
"I did, and she stuck to the bottom. Every time Eddie had a peek, he seemed to fall back again. So I guess we had a pretty good car."
Splant beat Hoffman by 0.149 seconds. John Senerchia was third, followed by Len Koprowski, Bobby Gash, Danta and Rita Fields.
The turbo stox feature saw Eddie Ligue trail Ryan Moore for several laps, before making the pass and going on to claim the win. The difference was 0.028 seconds.
In the aftermath, words were exchanged on pit row between the Moore and Ligue camps.
"I don't know if Ryan thinks I tried to cheap shot him there, but that's racing," Ligue said. "I gave him 10 bumps down the straightaway and in the corners there. He needs to move over a little bit when there are faster cars coming.
Mark Ross Jr., was third, followed by Brian Kucaba, Tony Neering and Scott Gardner.
The legends cars made their Illiana Speedway debut, with David Daugherty holding off Alex Arelano in the 25-lap main.
Late-model
Qualifying: 1. Eddie Hoffman (19.543), 2. Mike White (19.846), 3. Mike Monroe (19.891), 4. Jeff Cannon (19.919), 5. Chris Cooling (19.949), 6. Boris Jurkovic (19.990), 7. Dave Weltmeyer (20.069), 8. Joe O'Connor (20.120), 9. Bobby Gash (20.236), 10. Jack Kalwasinski (20.266), 11. Andy Marchiniak (20.387), 12. Shaun Wiltjer (20.474), 13. Len Nowosel (20.504), 14. Richard Ruckh (20.577), 15. Vincent Merry (20.619), 16. Brian Muick (20.808), 17. Frank Johnson (20.812), 18. Jerry Sharp (20.974), 19. Dean Patterson (21.034), 20. Don Sabatino (21.411).
1st heat: 1. Weltmeyer, 2. Gash, 3. Cooling, 4. Hoffman, 5. Monroe, 6. White, 7. Jurkovic, 8. Cannon, 9. O'Connor, 10. Kalwasinski.
2nd heat: 1. Sharp, 2. Muick, 3. Johnson, 4. Ruckh, 5. Nowosel, 6. Merry, 7. Sabatino, 8. Patterson, 9. Wiltjer.
30-lap feature: 1. Jurkovic, 2. Hoffman, 3. Weltmeyer, 4. Cannon, 5. White, 6. Monroe, 7. Cooling, 8. O'Connor, 9. Sharp, 10. Muick, 11. Kalwasinski, 12. Gash, 13. Nowosel, 14. Marchiniak, 15. Ruckh, 16. Merry, 17. Sabatino, 18. Johnson.
Limited late-model
Qualifying: 1. Eddie Hoffman (19.932), 2. Anthony Danta (20.159), 3. Paul Zolodz (20.280), 4. John Nutley (20.332), 5. John Senerchia (20.353), 6. Bobby Gash (20.455), 7. Tyler Middleton (20.747), 8. Rita Fields (20.877), 9. Len Koprowski (20.976), 10. Doug Hayes (20.977), 11. John Marshall (21.089), 12. Kevin Offdenkamp (21.114), 13. Dennis Lyp (21.252), 14. Matt O'Leary (21.705), 15. Joe Balser (21.769), 16. Phil Splant (22.416).
1st heat: 1. Gash, 2. Danta, 3. Nutley, 4. Hoffman, 5. Senerchia, 6. Middleton, 7. Zolodz, 8. Fields.
2nd heat: 1. Splant, 2. O'Leary, 3. Marshall, 4. Lyp, 5 Hayes, 6. Offdenkamp, 7. Balser.
25-lap feature: 1. Splant, 2. Hoffman, 3. Senerchia, 4. Koprowski, 5. Bobby Gash, 6. Danta, 7. Fields, 8. Hayes, 9. Middleton, 10. Balser, 11. Lyp, 12. Nutley, 13. Marshall, 14. O'Leary, 15. Zolodz, 16. Offdenkamp.
Turbo stox
Qualifying: 1. Tony Meier (17.922), 2. Bill Serviss (17928), 3. Ed Ligue (17.965), 4. Scott Gardner (17.970), 5. Brian Kucaba (18.091), 6. Billy Jarrels (18.093), 7. Mark Ross Jr. (18.098), 8. Craig Coglianese (18.108), 9. Ryan Moore (18.160), 10. Pat O'Rourke (18.203), 11. Tony Neering (18.222), 12. Jacob McKown (18.425), 13. Bobbie Jean Wall (18.437), 14. Pat Ligue (18.456), 15. Chris Woodall (18.531), 16. Bobby Blood (18.573), 17. Justin Hudacin (18.773), 18. Jeremy Cole (19.007), 19. Armand Artuso (19.062), 20. Matt Arvia (19.290), 21. Ed Hast (19.564), 22. Crystalyn Sehr (20.100), 23. Josh Easto (DNQ).
1st heat: 1. Neering, 2. Ross, 3. O'Rourke, 4. Moore, 5. Kucaba, 6. E. Ligue, 7. Gardner, 8. Coglianese, 9. Serviss, 10. Jarrells, 11. Meier, 12. McKown.
2nd heat: 1. Woodall, 2. Blood, 3. P. Ligue, 4. Wall, 5. Barnett, 6. Artuso, 7. Hast, 8. Arvia, 9. Hudacin.
25-lap feature: 1. Ed Ligue, 2. Ryan Moore, 3. Ross, 4. Kucaba, 5. Neering, 6. Gardner, 7. O'Rourke, 8. Meier, 9. Jarrels, 10. Coglianese, 11. Blood, 12. Wall, 13. P. Ligue, 14. Sehr, 15. McKown, 16. Easto, 17. Hast, 18. Artuso, 19. Serviss, 20. Woodall, 21. Hudacin.
Legends
1st heat: 1. Alex Arelano, 2. Sloan Henderson, 3. Chris King, 4. Cullen Camasta, 5. Mark VanDrunen, 6. Paul Barnes.
2nd heat: 1. David Daugherty, 2. Mickey Kudlicki, 3. Scott Pool, 4. Ben Fidone, 5. Kyle Daugherty, 6. Allan Gauthier, 7. Michael Inscore.
25-lap feature: 1. D. Daugherty, 2. Arelano, 3. Henderson, 4. Kudlicki, 5. King, 6. Camasta, 7. Pool, 8. Fidone, 9. K. Daugherty, 10, Gauthier, 11. Barnes, 12. Inscore, 13. VanDrunen.
Pure Stocks
Heat Winners: Matt Baikie, Mike Jucius, Tim Cronin
B Feature: 1. Levi Frey, 2. Jason Parratt, 3. Chris Bogash
A Feature: 1. Chris Czaszwicz, 2. Dave Jacobs, 3. Cronin, 4. Craig Miller, 5. Paul McKeague, 6. Ryan Lagestee
