By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., Aug. 11—Rob Braun captured his third super late model feature victory of the season Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway by holding off the challenges of Steve Apel in the Werner Electric 60.
“He was all over me there and I was just trying to hold my own and hit my marks,” Braun exclaimed, describing the battle with Apel for the win. “I knew if I hit my marks he didn’t have much for me,” Braun continued, “This car is fast.”
By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., Aug. 11—Rob Braun captured his third super late model feature victory of the season Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway by holding off the challenges of Steve Apel in the Werner Electric 60.
“He was all over me there and I was just trying to hold my own and hit my marks,” Braun exclaimed, describing the battle with Apel for the win. “I knew if I hit my marks he didn’t have much for me,” Braun continued, “This car is fast.”
“We were getting real loose there at the end,” Apel said afterward,” I was just waiting for him to make a mistake and he didn’t.”
Nick Wagner and Fred Winn paced the field to the green flag and the caution flag appeared quickly at the completion of lap one when Jake Vanoskey spun in turn four. Wagner and Winn each chose the inside lane for the restart while Rich Loch utilized the restart cone to try the outside lane and as racing resumed, Loch was able to keep pace with Wagner for a few laps before exiting the speedway with mechanical problems as Winn advanced into second. Behind the lead duo, Rob Braun, Mike Egan, Steve Apel, and Conrad Morgan all raced for positions in the top six. Winn pressured Wagner for the lead and was able to open up some space on the inside to pull even and eventually take the lead from Wagner. With the inside groove open, one by one, Braun, Egan, and Apel all worked their way past Wagner as he was caught in the upper lane. Braun worked Winn for the lead as they ran nose to tail before eventually sweeping by to take command of the race with an inside move entering turn one. At the same time the lead changed hands, Apel raced around Egan for third and began to track down Winn in second. Apel made quick work of Winn’s machine and charged into second, setting his sights on Braun for the lead while Conrad Morgan sliced his way forward and into the top five. Apel caught up to Braun and raced in his tire tracks as the leaders approached lapped traffic while Morgan continued to march forward by moving into third place. With the leaders in lapped traffic racing nose to tail, Morgan began to gradually close on them while Egan exited the speedway with mechanical problems as the laps wound down. Apel could close to Braun’s bumper but was unable to find a way around for the lead as Braun paced the final circuits to score his third super late model feature victory of the season. Apel finished a close second while Conrad Morgan crossed the stripe in third place. Michael Bilderback used a strong late race run to finish fourth and Jeff Holtz rounded out the top five finishers in fifth. Nick Wagner took the checkered flag in sixth place ahead of Fred Winn in seventh. Lowell Bennett, Tim Lampman, and Braison Bennett finished eighth through tenth respectively.
Super late model heat race victories were captured by Jake Vanoskey, Tim Lampman, and Jeff Holtz while Steve Apel was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 11.527 seconds.
Braison Bennett held off Ryan Farrell in a close finish to win the 40-lap late model main event.
Adam Peschek and Jerry Mueller traded the lead in the early laps before Peschek used the inside lane to establish himself in the lead while Braison Bennett and Dan Church also used the low groove to race by Mueller and into second and third respectively. Bennett then tracked down Peschek for the lead and took command of the race with an outside pass on Peschek while behind them, Alex Prunty, Mike Lichtfeld, and Ryan Farrell all were advancing forward. The complexion of the race changed dramatically on lap 29 when the caution flag waved for a spin by Tyler Schley in turn four and shortly after the yellow was displayed, Prunty and Lichtfeld found themselves hard into the retaining wall entering turn one after some hard racing with Farrell. Both Prunty and Lichtfeld’s cars were damaged too severely to continue and as racing resumed, Bennett and Church continued their lead battle with Church using a strong run up top to take the lead. The caution flag waved again on lap 33 when Gregg Pawelski’s car encountered problems after battling with Stephen Scheel. Church chose the inside lane for the restart with Bennett alongside and Bennett gained momentum exiting turn two to clear Church for the lead entering turn three. As Bennett moved into the lower groove, contact with Church’s car sent his machine looping around. Bennett was allowed to keep his spot on the track after Church used the new “tap-out” gentleman’s rule claiming responsibility for the incident. Bennett chose the inside lane for the restart and Ryan Farrell moved up to the outside slot, a move that initially paid off as Farrell was able to get a strong start to take the lead. Bennett would not be denied however, and he also worked the high lane, making a challenge for the lead on the final lap. As they exited turn four, Bennett used a strong run on the high side to beat Farrell to the line for the exciting win. Ryan DeStefano finished third while Adam Peschek and Jerry Mueller rounded out the top five.
Tim Lange and Adam Peschek were the winners of the late model heat races and Alex Prunty set fast time with a lap of 12.552 seconds.
Kody Hubred raced to his third feature victory of the season in the 30-lap Area Sportsman main event.
Hubred battled Brad Hetzel for the lead throughout much of the race before taking sole possession of the top spot. Kyle Chwala advanced from the sixth starting spot to finish third while Mark Fogel and Ken Shraufnagel rounded out the top five finishers. Ken Schraufnagel won the first Area Sporstman heat race over John Daley and Kody Hubred picked up the win in the second Area Sportsman heat race over Brad Hetzel. Kyle Chwala was the fastest qualifier after turning in a lap time of 13.238 seconds.
Kenny Joosten claimed top honors in the 35-lap Midwest Sportsman feature as he held off Jack Stern for the victory. Stern finished in second place just ahead of Ryan Gutknecht and early leader Scott Shambeau. Chris Ratajczyk took the checkered flag in fifth. Scott Shambeau and Kenny Joosten were the winners of the Midwest Sportsman heat races and Jay Shambeau set fast time by touring the speedway in 12.961 seconds.
Jacob Schraufnagel was the winner of the 25-lap Slinger Bee feature as he held back the challenges of Brandon Tackes to score the victory. Marty Tackes finished in third place while Heather Stark and Paul Riegles were fourth and fifth respectively. Dale Kiley-Schaefer and Nick Schmidt each won Slinger Bee heat races while Brandon Tackes was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 14.959 seconds.
Willy Van Camp won the Figure 8 race bring the evening to a close.