By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., June 16—James Swan passed Lowell Bennett with eleven laps to go and drove to his third super late model feature victory of the season in the PMF Landscape Supply 60 Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway.
“Holy Cow,” an excited Swan exclaimed from victory lane, “I don’t know what to say…I didn’t expect to win one, but three? This is Awesome!”
By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., June 16—James Swan passed Lowell Bennett with eleven laps to go and drove to his third super late model feature victory of the season in the PMF Landscape Supply 60 Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway.
“Holy Cow,” an excited Swan exclaimed from victory lane, “I don’t know what to say…I didn’t expect to win one, but three? This is Awesome!”
Dale Prunty darted to the early lead at the drop of the green flag as the inside line gained the advantage with Mike Graczkowski moving into second ahead of Lowell Bennett, Chris Blawat, and Nick Wagner. The caution flag flew quickly on lap two when Jake Vanoskey’s car looped around off turn four and as the field lined up for the restart, Graczkowski and Blawat chose the outside groove with leader Prunty and the rest taking the inside lane. As racing resumed, Prunty once again drove to the lead with Bennett and Jeff Holtz moving into second and third respectively via the inside lane. Graczkowski tried to make the outside line work, racing high on the speedway in an attempt to build up momentum off the corners and he held his own until lap nine when his car swapped ends in turn four to produce the second caution flag. Prunty lined up on the inside for the restart with Bennett and Blawat choosing the high line and Holtz and Michael Bilderback on the bottom lane. Bennett timed the restart perfectly and he and Prunty battled side by side for the top spot as the green flag waved. The two ran door to door for several laps with Bennett driving hard into the turns on the outside, gradually gaining ground with strong runs off the turns. Bennett was able clear Prunty for the lead on lap 16 as behind them, Holtz and Bilderback held down third and fourth respectively as James Swan entered the top five by working his way around Blawat. Behind the top six, an aggressive battle began to brew between Rob Braun and Dennis Prunty as they worked their way forward. With Bennett still leading over Dale Prunty, Swan briefly ducked to the inside of Bilderback in fourth, but the passing attempt was short-lived as the caution flag waved for a third time on lap 22 for Nick Wagner’s car which slid to the track apron after racing for position with Dave McCardle. Prunty chose the outside lane for the restart and the lane choice backfired on him as he began to fade when racing resumed, leaving Bennett leading over Holtz and Bilderback as Swan quickly ducked from his outside lane restart position back to the inside behind Bilderback. While Bennett began to click off laps as the leader, Swan began to click off positions as he first moved around Bilderback for third and then caught Holtz for second place to set his sights on Bennett for the lead. Swan made up a lot of real estate on Bennett as the leaders encountered lapped traffic and as they worked the lapped cars, Swan was on Bennett’s rear bumper. Bennett began to have difficulty keeping his car in the bottom groove off the corners which allowed Swan to turn under him off turn two and draw alongside for the lead. Bennett and Swan raced side by side for several laps before Swan edged ahead off turn four on lap 49 and then was able to barely squeeze in front of Bennett as they came upon another lapped car in turn one. Once out front, Swan was able to hold Bennett off as he drove to his third feature win of the season. Bennett had to settle for second place at the finish while Jeff Holtz finished a strong third. Dennis Prunty and Rob Braun continued their battle all the way to the finish as they banged doors at the stripe with Prunty barely edging Braun in fourth. Michael Bilderback finished in sixth ahead of Conrad Morgan and Dale Prunty while Steve Apel and Mike Egan rounded out the top ten finishers.
Tommy Hromadka, Dennis Prunty, and Michael Bilderback all captured heat race victories while James Swan was the fastest qualifier after touring the speedway in 11.458 seconds.
Alex Prunty changed his traditional #11 to #39, the number his father Dan competed with at the speedway, and drove the special Father’s Day scheme to the victory in the 40-lap late model main event.
Al Stippich and Bill Prietzel led the field to the green flag and they raced alongside each other for two laps before Stippich’s car washed wide off turn four, carrying Prietzel’s machine with it and opening the door for Alex Prunty to charge to the lead on the inside. Mike Lichtfeld, Ryan DeStefano, and John DeAngelis also used the inside lane to advance around Stippich and Prietzel. Prunty maintained the lead while Lichtfeld tried to close the gap from second as DeStefano and DeAngelis were close behind in third and fourth when the caution flag waved on lap eleven as Prietzel and Ryan Farrell locked wheels in turn four and spun around. Prunty took the inside for the restart with Lichtfeld taking the high line and as racing resumed, Prunty darted to the lead as Litchtfeld battled with DeStefano over second. Lichtfeld eventually was able to claim second from DeStefano as Prunty increased his lead on the field. Prunty could not be caught in the closing laps and he drove to the victory over Lichtfeld and DeStefano while Dan Church and Braison Bennett rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
Alex Prunty and John DeAngelis each scored late model heat race wins while Dan Church set fast time at 12.673 seconds.
Kyle Chwala passed Mark DePorter for the lead of the 30-lap Area Sportsman feature on lap 22 and drove to his third victory of the season. Kody Hubred also worked his way around DePorter late in the race to finish second while DePorter finished a strong third. John Daley and Mark Fogel crossed the finish line in fourth and fifth respectively. Tyler Schley and Kody Hubred were the winners of the Area Sportsman heat races and Kyle Chwala was the fastest qualifier at 13.453 seconds.
Steve Dickson took the lead of the 25-lap Slinger Bee feature on lap 17 and held off Nick Schmidt for the victory. Carl Benn finished in third place while Jacob Schraufnagel and Ryan Savage were fourth and fifth respectively. Allen Maher won the Slinger Bees semi-feature over Nicole Mueller and the two transferred into the main event. Slinger Bees heat race wins were recorded by Dale Kiley-Schaefer, Jacob Schraufnagel, and Nick Schmidt. Brandon Tackes was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 15.004 seconds.
Dennis Prunty won the five lap grudge match between himself and Al Roberts with Prunty wheeling a 1981 Pontiac Firebird and Roberts driving his souped up pick-up truck. Roberts returned later in the evening to win the Spectator Eliminator races, driving his truck to victory over a BMW. Ron Schmitt topped the wild Figure 8 race to bring the evening to a close.
Super Late Models – Feature