When asked to describe his pass of Eddie Hoffman Jr. for the Grundy County Speedway Midseason Championship late model division feature lead Friday night, Brett Sontag asked, "Which one?"
Indeed, the defending points champion shot past the two-time defending feature winner on multiple occasions during the 50-lap double-points race. Only one of those occasions truly counted ... and it came in the nick of time.
Just before a caution flew on Lap 38, Sontag wrestled the lead away from Hoffman, only to have the advantage given back to Hoffman. Sontag and Hoffman then continued to battle until Sontag went ahead to stay in Turn 2 during Lap 47. He remained there until the finish, giving him a commanding lead in the points race he captured in 2008.
"The car was a little tight, but I think Eddie's was a little tight, too," said Sontag, a resident of Joliet. "Eddie raced me pretty clean. ... Shifting on the restarts was a little bit of a problem for me, but I did what I had to do."
Doug Kimber started on the pole, but he ceded the lead to Joe Einhaus Jr. of Seneca, who had started third, by the third turn of the opening lap. Sontag and Hoffman started 14th and 15th in the 21-car field, respectively, but they needed little time to work their way to the front.
By the first caution, for Pat Kelly spinning out in Turn 4 on Lap 4, Hoffman was up to seventh place, with Sontag right behind. Einhaus and D.J. Werkmeister remained first and second on Lap 13, when the yellow flag flew for the second time when Shane Decker lost control in Turn 4.
The ascent through the field continued for Hoffman, with Sontag trailing him closely, as he went underneath Jeremy Spoonmore for third place on Lap 16 and shot past Werkmeister for second the next lap. On Lap 20, Hoffman got side-by-side with Einhaus, and by Lap 21, he was four car lengths ahead of the rest of the field.
Sontag got around Einhaus himself, and by Lap 26, he was on Hoffman's bumper. They raced closely for the next four laps, until Jim Weber flew into the infield to force the third caution of the race.
During that caution, Einhaus was forced to exit the race when a leak was noticed in his car, allowing Werkmeister to take over third place. Shortly after the restart, Scott Koerner and Chris Cooling got tangled, with Koerner's car striking a barrier on the infield which caused damage to its back end.
Hoffman jumped ahead by two car lengths on the second restart, with Ricky Baker getting by Spoonmore for fourth place a short time after. Dick Ruckh went into the Turn 3 wall for another caution on Lap 33.
Sontag stayed on Hoffman's bumper during that restart, and went low to get a slight lead on him at one point during Lap 38. During that lap, Scott Dunning skidded into the infield to draw another caution. Though Sontag circled the track a couple of times in the lead during the caution, Hoffman was eventually awarded the point back before the restart.
Within four laps of green-flag racing, Hoffman and Sontag had pulled away from the rest of the field, with Werkmeister holding off Baker for third place behind them. Sontag was right on Hoffman's bumper on Lap 45, and he stayed there until getting low and racing him side-by-side for the entirety of Lap 46. Sontag finally got past on Turn 2 of Lap 47, and held Hoffman off until the finish.
"I don't know if he had the better car or not, but I guess I'd better say he did," said Hoffman. "As you saw, he got me in the turn. His car was better in the turns, and I had the faster car on the straightaways."
Werkmeister's third-place finish was his highest ever in the late model class. Baker held off Billy Knippenberg Jr., who entered the night second in points, for fourth place. Spoonmore ended up sixth, and Tom Knippenberg, Cooling, Jim Kachel Jr. and Kimber rounded out the top 10.
"I'm ecstatic about it," said Werkmeister of his finish. "This was the best I've qualified and the best I'd done in the feature. It's my best night by far. The top two guys were the best cars out there by far, but I'm happy."
Sontag was the fastest late-model qualifier on the night. Mitchell Garfield was the fastest qualifier in the Mid-American division, and Chris Sanda, who came in as the points leader in the street stock division, qualified fastest in his class.
Cooling and Kelly won late model heat races. Heat winners in the Mid-American division were Ray Brackett and Mike Slabenak Jr. John Ventrello and David Einhaus won street stock heats, and Jim Beasley and Chet Hartley were 4 cylinder division heat winners.
Results of Friday's late Mid-American, street stock and 4 cylinder feature races will be published in Tuesday's edition of the Morris Daily Herald.
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