Slinger, Wis., June 11—It took a last lap, last corner, outside groove pass but Jesse Bernhagen nipped Ryan Gutknecht in a photo finish to score his fourth consecutive Uptown Motor Cars Pro Late Model feature victory Sunday night at the Slinger Speedway.
“I don’t know if we would have caught him there without a little bit of lapped traffic helping us out,” Bernhagen explained afterwards, “Then his car faded the last five laps and I got into him a little bit off of turn two which gave me the run to the outside. Apologies to the Gutknecht team for that but we raced clean once we were side by side and that’s what counts. It was fun. We’ve had some pretty cool races here at Slinger this year and the outside groove is awesome.”
“Week by week we’re getting a little better with this new car and we’re still not 100% happy with it,” Gutknecht stated after leading most of the race before getting edged at the finish,” I’d rather be the one up here holding the trophy but hats off to Jesse (Bernhagen) four in a row is hard to do here.”
Gutknecht was able to get to the lead early and stretched his lead while Bernhagen worked his way forward from his eighth starting spot into second place in the latter half of the event. Bernhagen turned consistently faster lap times and was able to run Gutknecht down for the lead in the final laps as the leaders approached lapped traffic. At the white flag, Bernhagen moved to the outside of Gutknecht and the pair raced door to door on the final lap before Bernhagen edged ahead slightly off turn four to win by inches. Tyler Schley kept the lead duo in sight in the closing laps and finished third followed by Tom Berens in fourth and Zach Prunty in fifth. Mitchell Delcamp finished sixth ahead of Jacob Vanoskey in seventh and Tyler Hromadka in eighth. Jerry Eckhardt and Billy Braun took the checkered flag in ninth and tenth respectively.
Pro Late Model heat races were won by Scott Shambeau and Tyler Schley while Jesse Bernhagen was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 12. 013 seconds.
Jake Schraufnagel won the 35-lap Sportsman feature after passing early leader Dale Lecus Jr. late in the race. Lecus Jr. finished second ahead of Brian Holtz and Brandon Tackes in third and fourth respectively. Paul Wagner finished fifth. Carl Benn took the checkered flag in sixth followed by Brady Held and Ryan Sielaff in seventh and eighth while Simon Seyfert and Dean Olla rounded out the top ten.
Rick Schaefer and Ryan Sielaff were the winners of the Sportsman heat races and Jake Schraufnagel was the fastest qualifier after circling the speedway in 12.593 seconds.
Steven Schulz won the 30-lap Modified feature in dominating fashion over Justin Okruhlica and Justin Poenitsch. Carl Benn and Ryan Lovald completed the top five in fourth and fifth. Bill Prietzel won the Modified heat race and Justin Poenitsch set fast time with a lap time of 12.043 seconds.
Paul Reagles drove to victory in the 25-lap Super Beez feature over Brandon Tackes and Carl Benn. Todd Buckley crossed the finish line in fourth and Mitchell Strobel was fifth. Super Beez heat races were Todd Buckley and Paul Reagles while Nick Schmidt was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 13.644 seconds.
Tom Elsinger Jr. was the winner of the 25-lap Slinger Bees feature over Mitchell Strobel and Brian Stanczyk. Kendall Becker finished fourth and Jason Clope finished fifth. Scott Emrich Sr. and Travis Kreuser were the winners of the Slinger Bees heat races and Kreuser also was the fastest qualifier with a qualifying time of 15.247 seconds.
Sportsman – Feature 35 Laps 1. 29S-Jake Schraufnagel , Slinger, WI[8], 2. 99L-Dale Lecus Jr, Caledonia, WI[1], 3. 88H-Brian Holtz , Muskego, WI[5], 4. 24B-Brandon Tackes , West Bend, WI[4], 5. 53W-Paul Wagner , Iron Ridge, WI[7], 6. 01B-Carl Benn , Lisbon, WI[11], 7. 04H-Brady Held , Iron Ridge, WI[10], 8. 32S-Ryan Sielaff , North Prairie, WI[3], 9. 9S-Simon Seyfert , Saukville, WI[2], 10. 02O-Dean Olla , West Bend, WI[9], 11. 14M-Andrew Meyerhofer , Kaukauna, WI[6], 12. 32R-Randy Ruth , Menomonee Falls, WI[14], 13. 3S-Rick Schaefer , West Bend, WI[13], 14. 66S-Al Stippich , Hartford, WI[15], 15. 89LAlex Lopacinski , West Bend, WI[12]
Pro Late Models – Feature 50 Laps 1. 28B-Jesse Bernhagen , Willard, WI[8], 2. 01G-Ryan Gutknecht , Oak Creek, WI[5], 3. 55S-Tyler Schley , Colgate, WI[3], 4. 99B-Tom Berens , Slinger, WI[7], 5. 39P-Zach Prunty , Lomira, WI[6], 6. 16D-Mitchell Delcamp , Germantown, WI[2], 7. 84V-Jacob Vanoskey , Hartford, WI[4], 8. 3H-Tyler Hromadka , Colgate, WI[9], 9. 61E-Jerry Eckhardt , Johnson Creek, WI[10], 10. 31B-Billy Braun , Wales, WI[1], 11. 21S-Scott Shambeau , Milwaukee, WI[11], 12. 27BJeremy Bentz , Fox Lake, IL[12]
Super Beez – Feature 25 Laps 1. 25R-Paul Reagles , Colgate, WI[6], 2. 24B-Brandon Tackes , West Bend, WI[12], 3. 01B-Carl Benn , Lisbon, WI[4], 4. 8B-Todd Buckley , West Bend, WI[10], 5. 14M-Mitchell Strobel , West Bend, WI[3], 6. 3B-Kyle Brick , Joliet, IL[9], 7. 15N-Tracy Neu , Watertown, WI[1], 8. 14S-Albert Strobel , Iron Ridge, WI[7], 9. 09X-Nick Schmidt , Watertown, WI[8], 10. 24M-Marty Tackes , West Bend, WI[2], 11. 84H-Brian Hillringhouse , Oak Creek, WI[5], 12. 54P-Bob Peters , Janesville, WI[11], 13. [DNS]11S-Rick Schaefer , West Bend, WI[13]
Slinger Bees – Feature 25 Laps 1. 33E-Tom Elsinger Jr, Germantown, WI[9], 2. 84S-Mitchell Strobel , West Bend, WI[11], 3. 23S-Brian Stanczyk , West Bend, WI[2], 4. 20X-Kendall Becker , Hartford, WI[7], 5. 3C-Jason Clope , Racine, WI[5], 6. 19B-Misty Benn , Lisbon, WI[4], 7. 14S-Albert Strobel , Iron Ridge, WI[12], 8. [DQ]21E-Scott Emrich Sr, Milwaukee, WI[1], 9. [DQ]52L-Dylan Lemberger , Menomonee Falls, WI[3], 10. [DQ]10G-Ricky Gebhard Jr, Oconomowoc, WI[10], 11. [DQ]11M-Brandon Mennicke , Slinger, WI[6], 12. [DQ]20K-Travis Kreuser , West Bend, WI[8]
Modifieds – Feature 35 Laps 1. 45S-Steven Schulz , Lisbon, WI[4], 2. 54O-Justin Okruhlica , Jackson, WI[5], 3. 87P-Justin Poenitsch , Richfield, WI[6], 4. 01B-Carl Benn , Lisbon, WI[3], 5. 67L-Ryan Lovald , Burlington, WI[9], 6. 67J-Vincent Jung , Iron Ridge, WI[1], 7. 6M-Mike Sandholm , Oconomowoc, WI[7], 8. 5P-Bill Prietzel , Hubertus, WI[8], 9. 17O-Nick Ostberg , West Bend, WI[2]
