APEL WINS AGAIN IN A PHOTO FINISH!

By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., Aug 16—Once again, Steve Apel and Dennis Prunty, the two combatants for the Slinger Speedway 2015 super late model track championship, battled it out in the 60-lap main event Sunday night with Apel shading Prunty for the victory in a .004 second photo finish.

“All race long it was a good side by side battle,” Apel told the crowd afterwards describing the thrilling final laps, “It’s (the championship) going to come down to the final night between us and this was a fun race and I hope Dennis (Prunty) feels the same.”

“It was a good race, “Prunty stated after finishing second by mere inches, “But I really don’t care about points as I just come here to win races. We’ll continue to race hard and that’s fine, we’ll get them next week.”

Dale Prunty charged to the early lead from the outside of the front row as Mike Egan, John DeAngelis, and Tim Lampman battled with pole sitter Duke Long and James Swan. Dennis Prunty and Steve Apel began deep in the field and the two of them began to methodically work their way towards the front. By the halfway mark, Dale Prunty enjoyed a sizeable lead while Dennis Prunty and Apel first made their way around Egan and DeAngelis for second and third respectively. Conrad Morgan and Dan Church tangled on the front stretch on lap 30 and the incident which was a continuation of their aggressive battle a lap earlier, drew the first caution flag. Dale Prunty was able to hold off the challenges of Dennis Prunty and Apel as racing resumed but the front three continued to race in close quarters. A half spin by Dave McCardle in turn four produced the second caution flag on lap 33 and once again on the restart, Dale Prunty was able to maintain his lead despite heavy pressure from Dennis Prunty and Apel. Dale Prunty worked the outside lane while Dennis Prunty raced on the inside and the two brothers ran door to door for the lead with Apel and John DeAngelis also side by side behind them. Eventually the inside lane prevailed and Dennis Prunty was able to take the lead on lap 42 leaving Apel and Dale Prunty to dispute second place. Apel secured the spot a few laps later and when Dale Prunty’s car looped around exiting turn two on lap 52, the ensuing caution set up an eight lap sprint to the finish with Dennis Prunty leading Apel, Egan, and DeAngelis. Dennis Prunty and Steve Apel left nothing on the table during the final eight laps as they fought fiercely side by side for the lead and a slight inside charge between turns three and four on the final lap was enough to propel Apel ahead at the checkered flag by inches. Mike Egan finished in third place followed by John DeAngelis and Tim Lampman in fourth and fifth respectively. With the victory, Steve Apel now has an 18 point lead over Dennis Prunty in the battle for the super late model track championship.

Lowell Bennett won the 30-lap super late model semi-feature over Chris Blawat and Dave McCardle as they along with fourth place finisher Ricky Heinan advanced to the main event. Jerry Eckhardt finished fifth. Lowell Bennett, Rob Braun, and James Swan all scored super late model heat race wins while Steve Apel was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 11.393 seconds.

Alex Prunty parlayed a late caution into a feature victory as he passed Al Stippich with five laps to go and captured the victory in the 40-lap late model main event.

Stippich and Corey Funk led the field to the green flag and Stippich charged into the early lead from the outside leaving Funk to battle with Andy Evraets, Tyler James, and Jordan DeVoy. As Stippich began to stretch his lead out front, Alex Prunty and Mike Held began to work their way forward after starting deep in the field. Stippich continued to enjoy a sizeable lead as the laps clicked away while Prunty and Held broke into the top five. By lap 29, Prunty and Held had advanced all the way to second and third respectively while Stippich remained solidly in the lead. Stippich began to catch lapped traffic which allowed Prunty and Held to begin to erase the space between themselves and the leader. Matt Rowe and Andy Evraets got together off turn two on lap 34 which sent Evraets’ car spinning around and drew the caution flag with just six laps remaining as Stippich led Prunty, Held, Corey Funk, and Brian Holtz. As racing was about to resume, Funk appeared to have a right rear tire go down and he spun coming to the green flag, ultimately keeping the field under caution a while longer. On the second attempt, Prunty was on his marks from the outside lane and he entered turn one even with Stippich for the lead. By the time they exited turn two, Prunty edged ahead, completing the pass shortly thereafter. Prunty scooted away in the final laps and drove to the win while Stippich and Held staged an aggressive battle for second of which Stippich prevailed at the finish. Held had to settle for third place while Brian Holtz and Dan Jung rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.

Matt Rowe and Al Stippich were the winners of the late model heat races and Alex Prunty was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.270 seconds.

Nick Egan survived a green-white-checkered finish and held off a host of competitors to nail down another Area Sportsman feature victory.

Adam Bleskan set the early pace, leading the first ten laps while Egan, Bill Prietzel, Kyle Chwala, and Andy Welter all battled for positions behind him. Egan broke free from the pack and tracked down Bleskan for the lead, taking the point on lap ten. Two laps later the red flag was displayed when Nick Ostberg had a mechanical issue in turn four and struck the wall hard enough to turn his car over. Ostberg emerged uninjured from the incident and the field lined up to continue with Egan leading over Bleskan, Prietzel, Chwala, and Welter. Egan kept the lead as racing resumed but Prietzel, Chwala, and Welter would not let him get away and when Scott Scholl’s car experienced problems and dropped fluid on the track on lap 28, a two lap shootout to the finish was set up. Egan was on the button on the restart and entered the final laps under heavy pressure from behind. Egan was able to hold off any challenges and he drove to the win while Andy Welter edged Bill Prietzel for second at the stripe. Kyle Chwala finished fourth and Adam Bleskan was fifth.

Scott Hoeft and Andy Welter won the Area Sportsman heat races and Kyle Chwala was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.999 seconds.

Nick Schmidt won the 25-lap Slinger Bee feature over Gary Stark and Matt Rose. Jakob Hassler and Heather Stark took the checkered flag in fourth and fifth respectively. Nick Schmidt and Matt Rose were the winners of the Slinger Bee heat races and Gary Stark set fast time with a lap of 14.695 seconds.

Aaron Moyer drove to the victory in the 25-lap Legends feature over Brady Fox-Rohde and Ted Hough. Will McCully finished fourth and Jacob Nottestad crossed the finish line in sixth. Legend heat race winners were Vince Bartolotta, Ted Hough, and Ethan Ross while Aaron Moyer was also the fastest qualifier after circling the speedway in 13.535 seconds.

Ryan Lovald brought the evening to a close by winning the Figure 8 race.