By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., May 25—Longtime Slinger Speedway track rivals Steve Apel and Dennis Prunty staged a memorable battle for the win in the E.H. Wolf and Sons 75 Sunday as they crossed the finish line side by side with Apel scoring the victory by .002 seconds in one of the closest finishes in speedway history.
By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., May 25—Longtime Slinger Speedway track rivals Steve Apel and Dennis Prunty staged a memorable battle for the win in the E.H. Wolf and Sons 75 Sunday as they crossed the finish line side by side with Apel scoring the victory by .002 seconds in one of the closest finishes in speedway history.
“We came out here to put on a show and I hope you guys enjoyed it because that’s the way it is going to be every single week,” Apel told the large crowd on hand from victory lane, “I gave Dennis (Prunty) what I thought was plenty of room to race with me and we put on one heck of a show.”
“I should have just crashed him like he did to me last week,” a less gracious Prunty stated afterwards. “I’m not here to make friends and I’m going to run him like that every time I get a chance, “ Prunty continued before launching several barbs directed at Apel and his crew.
Rich Loch and Ryan DeStefano led the field to the green flag and Loch raced out to the early lead while Dale Prunty and Mike Egan followed. Loch paced the first six laps before Dale Prunty caught him and used the outside groove to sweep by for the lead on lap seven. Dale Prunty and Loch ran nose to tail for several laps with Egan in their tracks in third while behind them Dennis Prunty and Steve Apel sliced their way forward from deep in the field and into the top five. Conrad Morgan and Nick Wagner tangled in turn two to produce the first caution flag on lap 26 with Dale Prunty continuing to lead over Loch, Dennis Prunty, Egan, and Apel. Dale Prunty chose the inside lane for the restart and Loch took to the high side which proved costly when racing resumed as Dale Prunty and Apel launched ahead from the low groove. Dennis Prunty was caught behind Loch on the outside and also fell back as Egan raced by. Once Dennis Prunty was able to move to the low lane, he first passed Loch, followed by Egan and then set his sights on Dale Prunty and Apel who maintained first and second respectively. The caution flag waved for a second time on lap 59 when Morgan’s car suddenly broke loose off turn two and looped around after several attempts to catch it in an incident that also swept up Jamie Wallace and Al Schill. Dale Prunty chose the inside lane for the restart and Apel took to the top side and as the green flag appeared, Apel timed it perfectly to charge into the lead off turn two. Dennis Prunty also made his way around Dale Prunty a few laps later, setting up the tremendous battle for the lead between the last two super late model track champions. With five laps to go, the pair ran door to door with Prunty able to edge alongside entering the corners while Apel was able to power off the turns from the outside. On the final lap, Prunty was able to duck inside entering turn three and had a slight edge exiting turn four and as Apel powered back on the top, the two drag-raced to the checkered flag with Apel barely in front at the stripe by just .002 seconds. Dale Prunty capped off a strong race with a third place result while Mike Egan and Gary LaMonte rounded out the top five. Rob Braun was sixth followed by John DeAngelis Jr. and Lowell Bennett while Ryan DeStefano and Dan Church completed the top ten finishers.
Lowell Bennett won the 30-lap super late model semi-feature over Al Schill and Travis Dassow. Jamie Wallace and Chris Blawat were fourth and fifth respectively. Super late model heat race wins went to Chris Blawat, Jamie Wallace, and Mike Egan while Steve Apel was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 11.373 seconds.
Ryan Zielski turned back several challenges to win the 40-lap late model main event.
Zielski charged to the lead at the start as Tyler Schley and Kyle Chwala followed in second and third as farther back Mike Held and Alex Prunty began to work their way forward. A spin by Brittiny Helmers in turn two drew the first caution flag on lap 18 with Zielski leading over Schley, Chwala, Held, and Prunty. Zielski and Schley chose the inside for the restart while Chwala went to the outside and the move paid off as he was able to edge ahead of Schley for second just before the caution waved again on lap 21 for debris on the speedway with Zielski still leading. Zielski again chose the inside as racing resumed and he was once again able to keep the lead as Chwala slotted into second again just ahead of Schley and Held. Chwala made several attempts to edge to the inside of Zielski but each time came up short and when Chwala’s car began to slide off the corners, Zielski was able to pull away slightly. Zielski would not be caught over the final laps and he drove to the victory ahead of Chwala who settled for second at the finish. Tyler Schley finished off an impressive race with a strong third place showing and Alex Prunty finished fourth after passing Mike Held late in the race, leaving Held to finish fifth.
Steven Schultz won the late model semi-feature over Jake Vanoskey and Matt Rowe. Brittiny Helmers and Tyler Hromadka rounded out the top five. Late model heat races were won by Jake Vanoskey, Brian Holtz, and Alex Prunty. Mike Held was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.188 seconds.
Jason Thoma passed Joe Shelby on the final lap to win the 30-lap Area Sportsman feature after starting deep in the field. Shelby finished a strong second after leading all but the final circuit. Adam Peschek finished third and Nick Egan was fourth as both collided at the start-finish line. Adam Bleskan was fifth.
Scott Hoeft won the Area Sportsman heat race for his first win at the Slinger Speedway and Jason Thoma was the fastest qualifier at 12.935 seconds.
14 year old E.J. Waldron won the 25-lap Slinger Bee feature edging out Tom Berens in an exciting race. Heather Stark finished third while Brandon Tackes and Bill Rose rounded out the top five.
Dave Schmidt won the Slinger Bee semi-feature over Paul Reagle and Brandon Berens while Slinger Bee heat race victories went to Misty Benn, Rick Schaefer, and Nick Schmidt. Dale Kiley-Schaefer set fast time for the Slinger Bees with a lap of 14.769 seconds.
Scott Roberts won the Spectator Eliminator races in his Chevy IROC Camaro while Shane Becker captured his first Figure 8 race win in nearly three years to close out the evening.
