MORRIS, Ill. — Definitely on the comeback trail, Boris Jurkovic captured the Lee Schuler Memorial 61-lap super late model stock car special at the Grundy County Speedway Sunday night – making it two wins in two starts this year at the third-mile paved oval.
The annual race, which honors Schuler, the 1972 Grundy champion and longtime area stock car competitor, was part of the speedway’s traditional Night of Features.
Winner of Grundy’s Ed Hoffman Classic on August 28, Jurkovic, who was involved in a serious crash in Michigan in 2021, wheeled his Reliable Recovery Services Ford Mustang No.53 to win, defeating six-time Schuler race winner Ricky Baker by a mere 0.191 seconds at starter Greg Kuntz’s checkered flag.
Jurkovic, a Chicago area native who now calls Fort Myers Beach, Florida home, became a first-time winner of the Schuler contest. The victory adds to Jurkovic’s career wins which includes Indiana’s Winchester 400 and the All American 400 in Nashville, Tenn.,
Right behind Jurkovic and Baker at the finish line was fastest qualifier D.J. Weltmeyer, who was followed by 10-time track champion Eddie Hoffman, Caleb Adrian and Stan Zolodz.
“It’s about time,” said Jurkovic about his winning streak. “I think we were a little better than he (Ricky Baker) was. He was better in (turns) three and four and we were better in one and two. The car was good but a little tight. I was definitely the better car in clean air but struggled there in traffic. He was better than me there at the end (through traffic) and closed the gap. Any time you beat Ricky Baker here at Grundy, who are doing something.”
A field of 19 started the main event with Indiana’s Scott Tomasik jumping into the lead at the start from his front row pole position. Tomasik led the way being chased by Larry Schuler, whose father the race is named for.
After two yellow flag caution periods, the second coming with 28 laps complete, Tomasik and Schuler brought the field down for a restart. Charging into turn one, Tomasik and Schuler got together with both cars crashing hard into the outside retaining wall. Neither driver was injured but both cars were heavily damaged.
After the red flag cleanup, the restart saw Jurkovic shoot past Adrian on the clean restart, grabbing the lead before turn one and holding the top spot till the end. One more yellow flag later in the race bunched up the field again but Jurkovic was up to the task of taking the field to the checker.
Cameron Preisler, from Braidwood, won the 25-lap feature race for Mid Am Sportsman competitors and wrapped up the season track championship title. Preisler and his Chevy defeated Dean Patterson, Kevin Murphy, early race leader Phil Speciale and Rickey Mathis Jr.
First-time winner Zak Chanda, from Shorewood, won the 25-lap street stock division headliner. Chanda scored the victory over Race Olson and fast timer Christy Penrod. Chad Bayuk nailed down the year’s overall division crown.
With a field of 25 cars taking the green flag, Jakob Slusarczyk, hailing from Lowell, Ind., drove to the front and won the 25-lap pure stock (four-cylinder) main event. Slusarczyk bested Ethan Wolf and Mike Glenn. With an eighth-place finish, Dan Schmeissing won the division title – his fourth career championship.
Richard Bischoff won the 20-lap super cup feature race with Daemyn Lounsbury and Breanna Riggins spilt sixers division twin15-lap feature victories with Riggins winning for the seventh time this season.
“Fast Eddie” Ligue claimed victory in the 25-lap Crown Vic feature.
The finish:
Boris Jurkovic, Ricky Baker, D.J. Weltmeyer, Eddie Hoffman, Caleb Adrian, Stan Zolodz, Tony Brutti, Scott Koerner, Jake Weinrich, James Gregait, Keith Tolf, Clayton Storey, Kyle Shear, Vince Cooper, Kamden York, Anthony Danta, Scott Tomasik, Larry Schuler, Dennis Lyp
