Slinger, Wis., April 24—Defending super late model champion Luke Fenhaus bested Casey Johnson and Ty Majeski to win the inaugural Keen Parts Miracle on the High Banks 75 Sunday afternoon at the Slinger Speedway. The seasoning opening event marked the first time the ARCA Midwest Tour competed at the Slinger high banks and also served as the first round of the Elite Eight Super Late Model Series.
“This one means a lot to me,” Fenhaus told the crowd from victory lane after leading 43 of the event’s 75 laps, “just to out-run those two behind me (Casey Johnson and Ty Majeski) was a huge deal. To beat those guys, who I consider to be the best in Wisconsin, is pretty good.”
“I finally got the monkey off my back,” Fenhaus continued after capturing his first ARCA Midwest Tour Series victory, “I really thought I would get it at State Park Speedway because it’s my home track but that didn’t happen and then I thought it would maybe come at the Dells or somewhere else but today it came at Slinger.”
Casey Johnson kept Fenhaus honest as he worked his way forward from the twelfth starting position to race with the front runners for most of the event before finishing a close second.
“Travis Dassow gave me a hell of a car today and at times it was the fastest thing on the track, “Johnson explained afterwards, “It was just on some of those restarts it took a bit to get going. It just didn’t have the fire-off speed on every other restart but it was fun working our way through the pack.”
Majeski also raced with the leaders for much of the event and twice had to overcome some minor skirmishes before muscling his way around Derek Kraus on the final lap to finish third.
“I made a mistake on the restarts and got into Alex Prunty once and let Luke (Fenhaus) get away.” Majeski told the crowd after the race,” I just didn’t play the race out right on my end. I messed up a couple of restarts and just didn’t have the track position to race for it at the end. We had an OK car that was capable of winning but just wasn’t in the right spot today.”
Derek Kraus drove from his fifteenth place starting position to finish fourth and Gabe Sommers completed a strong run with a fifth place result. Alex Prunty led 22 laps and rebounded from a late race dust up with Majeski to finish sixth while Kulwicki Driver Development Program finalist Jacob Nottestad took the checkered flag in seventh. Jonathan Eilen and Levon VanDerGeest had good runs, finishing in eighth and ninth respectively despite limited experience at Slinger while James Swan completed the top ten finishers in tenth.
A pair of 30-lap show-down races set the starting field for the Keen Parts Miracle on the High Banks with the top ten finishers earning starting positions in the main event. Luke Fenhaus won the first show-down race over Alex Prunty and Jacob Nottestad. Rich Loch and Brad Keith completed the top five finishers while Justin Mondeik, Jeff Storm, Derek Kraus, Austin Nason, and Tristan Swanson all earned transfer spots into the main event. R.J. Braun won the second show-down event over Casey Johnson and Levon VanDerGeest while Ty Majeski and Dalton Zehr rounded out the top five. Gabe Sommers, James Swan, and John DeAngelis finished sixth through eighth respectively while Eddie Hoffman and Braison Bennett completed the main event transfers in ninth and tenth. Luke Fenhaus was also the fastest qualifier with a lap of 11.227 seconds.
Ryan Craine won the Uptown Motorcars Pro Late Model 45-lap feature by holding off Jeff Holtz and Ryan Gutknecht. Zach Prunty finished fourth and Tom Berens took the checkered flag in fifth. Jerry Eckhardt crossed the stripe in sixth place followed by Zach Braun, Jacob Vanoskey, and Tyler Hromadka in seventh through ninth respectively. Del Schuler finished tenth. Tom Berens was the fastest qualifier after turning in a lap at 12.080 seconds.
Justin Okruhlica was the winner of the 35-lap Finish Line Bar & Grill modified feature as he held off defending track champion Tyler Schley for the victory. David Edwards finished third while Bill Tandetzke and Brett Wachowiak were fourth and fifth respectively. Tyler Schley was the fastest qualifier after turning in a lap at 12.238 seconds.
Brian Holtz won the 40-lap sportsman feature as he held off Andrew Meyerhofer and Paul Wagner to capture the victory. Dale Lecus Jr. and Jim Cormack rounded out the top five. Paul Wagner was the fastest qualifier after circling the speedway in 12.706 seconds.
The 30-lap Slinger Bees feature was won by Tom Elsinger Jr. over Misty Benn and Brandon Mennicke. Mitchell Strobel and Brian Hillringhouse finished fourth and fifth. Al Strobel set fast time for the Singer Bees with a lap at 15.297 seconds.
Mike Rose closed out the afternoon with a victory in the 30-lap American Super Cup Series feature. David Cerer finished second while Sean Eurick, Bandon Vines, and Brandyn Wind completed the top five finishers. Brandon Vines was the fastest qualifier with a lap at 15.126 seconds..
