BRAUN BEST PRUNTY FOR SECOND WIN OF SEASON AT SLINGER!

By Dan Margetta

Slinger, Wis., July 10–—Rob Braun outdueled Dennis Prunty following a restart with 20 laps to go and drove to his second super late model feature victory of the season Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway in the 60-lap main event.

“There’s so much horsepower in the pits here tonight with Mark Feiler, Toby Nuttleman, and Jon Reynolds Sr,” Braun told the crowd from victory lane as he touched on the star studded crew chiefs who were on hand to help their drivers as they prepared for the upcoming Slinger Nationals, “I was chatting it up with them and picking their brains earlier and the next thing you know, I found a little speed…it was awesome!”

Brad Keith and Brad Mueller paced the field to the green flag with Mueller charging to the early lead from the outside groove and Rob Braun also using a strong outside run to nail down second place. Keith and Chris Blawat ran nose to tail on the inside in third and fourth respectively while Ty Majeski and Dennis Prunty raced for fifth place in their tire tracks. On lap four Keith’s car swung wide off turn four directly in front of Blawat and he caught it but as they entered turn one, his car kicked loose again and went into a long slide through the corner after very slight contact from Blawat before ending up in the infield off the backstretch to draw the first caution flag. Mueller chose the outside groove and Braun went to the low lane while Dennis Prunty and Majeski each chose the high side which opened up the inside line for Jamie Wallace and Gary LaMonte as the field formed for the restart. Mueller and Braun intensely raced for the lead as racing resumed with Mueller holding tough on the outside and Braun gritting it out from the low lane. Mueller eventually began to fade up top and Braun took command as Prunty quickly filled the gap to take second. Wallace and LaMonte also got around Mueller who continued to lose ground in the outside lane while Alex Prunty and Majeski began to challenge for the top five. On lap 13, Mueller had power steering issues and he dropped from competition as the resulting fluid on the racetrack produced the caution flag with Braun leading over Dennis Prunty, Wallace, LaMonte, Alex Prunty, and Majeski. Braun and Prunty leaned on each other for the lead as racing resumed while LaMonte and Majeski remained in their tracks as Alex Prunty, Jamie Wallace, and John DeAngelis Jr. all battled for the fifth spot. Dennis Prunty eventually worked outside lane hard enough to take the lead from Braun on lap 18 and the field settled into single file formation during the middle stages of the race. Dennis Prunty maintained the lead out front over Braun while LaMonte held third solidly and Alex Prunty and Wallace advanced forward when Majeski left the speedway on lap 38 and retired from the event. Tim Lampman’s car looped around in turn one on lap 40 while racing in front of Randy Schuler and the caution flag appeared for a third time. Dennis Prunty chose the outside lane with Braun taking to the low side and as racing resumed, they both renewed their side by side battle for the top spot with LaMonte, Alex Prunty, DeAngelis, and Wallace all racing hard behind them. After several laps of door to door racing, Braun prevailed on the inside and Dennis Prunty slid in behind him in an attempt to make another late charge at the lead. Braun would not be denied over the closing laps and he captured his second super late model feature victory of the season over Dennis Prunty and Gary LaMonte. Alex Prunty finished fourth and John DeAngelis Jr. was fifth. Mitch McGrath turned in one of his strongest performances of the season to finish sixth ahead of Jamie Wallace and Steve Apel, who drove Travis Dassow’s machine to an eighth place finish after experiencing engine issues with his own car after the heat races. Brad Keith and Chris Blawat rounded out the top ten finishers.

James Swan won the 30-lap super late model semi-feature over Randy Schuler and Derek Kraus as they along with fourth place finishers Dalton Zehr transferred to the main event. Jerry Eckhardt finished fifth. Super late model heat races were won by Jerry Eckhardt, Dalton Zehr, and Steve Apel and Dennis Prunty was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 11.320 seconds.

Jordan DeVoy held off Mike Held in the final six laps to win the 40-lap late model feature.

Brian Holtz and Ryan Gutknecht led the field to the green flag and Holtz took the lead from inside. After the completion of one lap, Gutknecht’s car broke sideways down the backstretch and into the path of third place Ryan Farrell. After getting collected Farrell’s car turned up the track where it was struck by Jack Stern and carried toward the turn three wall while Al Stippich who was running directly behind Stern, had his car ramp over Stern’s and crash into the billboards in turn three as the red flag appeared. Jake Vanoskey was also collected in the incident as all drivers involved emerged from their cars uninjured. Holtz maintained the lead once racing resumed as Steven Schulz slotted into second place ahead of Jordan DeVoy, Mike Held, and Kyle Chwala. With Holtz remaining out front, DeVoy worked his way around Schulz for second place using the inside groove as Held and Chwala repeated the inside move to take over third and fourth and dispatch Schulz to fifth. DeVoy tracked down Holtz for the lead and made a bid for the top spot exiting turn two just before the caution flag waved again on lap 23 for Tom Jaskinski’s stopped car on the backstretch. This time as racing resumed, DeVoy worked the high lane to his advantage as Holtz had trouble keeping his car down exiting the turns which allowed DeVoy to race into the lead. Mike Held followed DeVoy’s outside move and took over second place as Holtz fell into a battle with Schulz and Chwala over for third. E.J. Waldron’s spun car off turn two produced the final caution flag on lap 40, setting up a six lap dash to the finish between DeVoy and Held. DeVoy was up to the challenge and he held off Held over the final laps to score the victory while Kyle Chwala prevailed in a fender banging battle himself, Holtz, and Ryan Gutknecht to finish third. Gutknecht edged out Holtz to finish fourth, leaving Holtz to finish fifth.

Late model heat races were won by Jake Vanoskey and Brian Holtz and Jordan DeVoy was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.261 seconds.
Jacob Schraufnagel won the 30-lap Area Sportsman feature event over Paul Wagner and Andy Welter.

Scott Hoeft led the opening laps with Paul Wagner and Kody Hubred racing close behind him. Hoeft was pressured from both the high and low side as both Wagner and Hubred remained in his tire tracks. Unable to protect both sides, Hoeft left a slight opening on the inside on lap 16 that Hubred attempted to fill with the nose of his car as they entered turn one and contact between the cars resulted in Hoeft spinning and the caution flag waving. Both drivers were placed at the rear of the field for the restart and extracurricular activity between the two under the caution flag resulted in both retiring from the event. Wagner resumed the lead for the restart and he held the top spot until lap 24 when Schraufnagel moved up to take command of the race. Schraufnagel would not be challenged from there and he drove to the victory over Wagner and Andy Welter. Adam Bleskan and Ken Au rounded out the top five. Jacob Schraufnagel won the Area Sportsman heat race and Kody Hubred was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.996 seconds.

Tom Berens won the Slinger Bee feature with a last lap pass when leader Jakob Hassler was held up by a lapped car. Hassler recovered from the incident but his momentum was slowed just enough to allow Berens to scoot by for the win. Jayden Buckley completed one of her best races to finish a strong third while Matt Rose and Gerald Lyon rounded out the top five finishers. Slinger Bee heat races were won by Paul Reagles and Nick Schmidt and Tom Berens was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 14.443 seconds.

Willy Van Camp closed out the evening with a victory in the Figure 8 race.