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Dillard notches runner-up finish in Illini 100 at Farmer City

After a spirited battle for the lead in the closing laps of Saturday night’s Illini 100 finale, Cade Dillard came up just short of the $20,000 win in his S&S Fishing & Rental Inc. No. 97 MB Customs/ Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model. (Jacy Norgaard photo)

From the sixth-starting spot Dillard surged to the lead on a lap 70 restart, and paced the next four laps before Bobby Pierce slipped past on the white flag lap.

“We had such a long green-flag run, and honestly I didn’t even know where I was at,” said Dillard. “Then we had the caution and they said we were third, and then Thornton fell out and that put us in second.

“I was probably just too conservative at the end. I probably should’ve just, when I got to the lead, ripped the top. I was hoping not to get took out being up there in the lead like that, but I was so good through the middle and the bottom the whole race and I stayed there. By the time (crew chief) Donnie (Pederson) pointed at me to get up, it was too late at that point.

“We had a good car,” he added, “but I probably should’ve been a little more aggressive at the end. After the bad luck we’ve had for the few months on the Outlaws tour, we’ll definitely take this finish and look to build on it at Bristol.”

On Friday afternoon, Cade Dillard was one of 46 World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series entries on hand at Farmer City Raceway (Farmer City, Ill.) for the opening round of the two-day Illini 100. After registering the eighth fastest lap in his time trial group, Dillard posted a third-place finish in his heat race. Starting the $6,000-to-win preliminary feature in 12th, Cade advanced forward six spots in the 25-lapper to register a sixth-place finish.

The following night, Cade timed in fourth fastest in his group before placing second in his heat race behind Bobby Pierce. Receiving the sixth-starting position for the $20,000-to-win Illini 100 via the redraw, Dillard powered ahead of Chris Madden for third on lap 67 and overtook Bobby Pierce for the lead three laps later following a lap-70 restart. Unable to keep early race-leader Pierce at bay in the closing laps, Cade Dillard notched a runner-up finish behind Pierce with Brandon Sheppard, Chris Madden, and Rick Eckert rounding out the Top-5.

With his runner-up finish on Saturday night, Cade climbed to eighth in the latest World of Outlaws point standings.

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