TWO IN A ROW FOR PRUNTY AS APEL CLAIMS CHAMPIONSHIP AT SLINGER

Slinger, Wis., Sept 3—Alex Prunty captured his second consecutive super late model feature in the 100-lap IBEW Local 494 Labor Day Weekend main event Sunday night at the Slinger Speedway while Steve Apel finished third to wrap up his sixth Elite Eight Super Late Model Series track championship.

Alex Prunty took the green flag from the tenth starting position and by lap 40 had worked his way forward to battle his uncle Dennis Prunty for the lead. Dennis Prunty held the bottom lane and did all he could to defend the top spot against Alex Prunty who appeared to have the better handling car. The battle for the top spot turned into a family feud on lap 49 when contact between the cars sent Dennis Prunty spinning around off turn two. During the caution period, Dennis Prunty “tapped out” essentially taking blame for the incident and allowing Alex Prunty to maintain the lead over R.J.Braun, Jacob Nottestad, Brad Keith, and Steve Apel. Alex Prunty charged to the lead as racing resumed while Braun settled into second as Nottestad and Keith battled over third. Nottestad, who came into the evening with a chance at the track championship if he won the race, aggressively began to work his way forward, taking over third from Keith and then going to work on Braun for second. After several taps to Braun’s rear bumper, Nottestad applied a harder tap entering turn one on lap 62 which allowed him to muscle his way to Braun’s inside exiting turn two. As they entered turn three, Nottestad ran out of room and spun through the infield, effectively ending his championship hopes as the caution flag waved. Once again Alex Prunty raced to the lead on the restart and pulled out to a sizeable advantage as Dennis Prunty advanced his way from the earlier incident into second place as the laps wound down. A final caution for a two car spin with seven laps to go, gave Dennis Prunty a final shot at a victory but Alex Prunty proved to be too strong and charged to his second consecutive Elite Eight Super Late Model Series feature victory. Dennis Prunty finished second while Steve Apel also rebounded from a lap 20 incident to finish third and win his sixth super late model track championship. Brad Keith took the checkered flag in fourth while Lakeland, Florida driver Steve Dorer finished fifth. R.J. Braun finished sixth followed by Jerry Mueller and Nick Egan in seventh and eighth place respectively. Jacob Vanoskey and Rich Loch completed the top ten finishers.

Rich Loch won the super late model fast dash and R.J. Braun was the fastest qualifier with a qualifying lap time of 11.418 seconds.

Jesse Bernhagen scored his eighth feature victory of the season in the 40-lap Pro Late Model main event followed by Tyler Hromadka, Tyler Schley Ryan Gutknecht Evan Hassler Billy Braun Mitchell Delcamp Jerry Eckhardt Drew Bernhagen and Jayden Dahlberg completed the top ten finishers in ninth and tenth respectively. Pro Late Model heat races were won by Drew Bernhagen and Tyler Schley while Tom Berens was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 12.153 seconds.

Jake Schraufnagel took the lead with two laps to go and won the 35-lap Sportsman feature, securing the Sportsman track championship in the process. Alex Lopacinski led most of the race and finished second ahead of Brian Holtz and Dale Lecus Jr. in third and fourth respectively. Brady Held crossed the finish line in fifth while Al Stippich was sixth and Brandon Tackes was seventh. Dale Kiley-Schaefer finished eighth followed by Bobby Giers and Brett Butler in ninth and tenth respectively. Sportsman heat races were won by Al Stippich and Brandon Tackes while Jake Schraufnagel took top time honors in qualifying with a lap time of 12.755 seconds.

Carl and Misty Benn made history as they became the first husband and wife to win their respective features on the same evening at the Slinger Speedway.

Carl Benn won the 25-lap Super Beez feature over Al Strobel and Nick Schmidt. Paul Reagles finished fourth and captured his second consecutive track championship in the Slinger Beez division. Todd Buckley finished fifth. Nick Schmidt won the Super Beez heat race while Al Strobel was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 13.773 seconds.

Misty Benn won the 25-lap Slinger Bees feature over Ricky Gebhard and Jason Clope. Brandon Mennicke took the checkered flag in fourth and Travis Kreuser was fifth. Travis Kreuser and Al Strobel were the winners of the Slinger Bees heat races and Brandon Mennicke was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 15.231 seconds.

Nick Ostberg won the Figure 8 feature over Rick Bruskiewicz and Jim Ward. Chad Snuggs and Scott Goetzke completed the top five finishers in fourth and fifth respectively.

Super Late Models – Feature 100 Laps 1. 11P-Alex Prunty , Kewaskum, WI[10], 2. 42P-Dennis Prunty , Allenton, WI[4], 3. 51A-Steve Apel , Slinger, WI[7], 4. 48K-Brad Keith , West Bend, WI[1], 5. 90D-Steve Dorer , Lakeland, FL[3], 6. 92B-RJ Braun Jr, Wales, WI[9], 7. 49MJerry Mueller , Richfield, WI[13], 8. 13E-Nick Egan , Lomira, WI[12], 9. 84V-Jacob Vanoskey , Hartford, WI[14], 10. 55LRich Loch , Franklin, WI[5], 11. 92R-Robert Braun Sr, Wales, WI[11], 12. 97N-Jacob Nottestad , Janesville, WI[8], 13. 92M-Conrad Morgan , Waukesha, WI[6], 14. 17G-Grant Griesbach , Waukesha, WI[2]

Pro Late Models – Feature 40 Laps 1. 28B-Jesse Bernhagen , Willard, WI[11], 2. Tyler Hromadka 3. 55S-Tyler Schley , Colgate, WI[6], 4. 01G-Ryan Gutknecht , Oak Creek, WI[8], 5. 6E-Evan Hassler , Colgate, WI[5], 6. 31B-Billy Braun , Wales, WI[4], 7. 16D-Mitchell Delcamp , Germantown, WI[7], 8. 61E-Jerry Eckhardt , Johnson Creek, WI[2], 9. 27B-Drew Bernhagen , Markesan, WI[13], 10. 36D-Jayden Dahlberg , South Beloit, IL[1], 11. 90K-Garrett Konrath , West Bend, WI[14], 12. 39P-Zach Prunty , Lomira, WI[9], 13. 21S-Scott Shambeau , Milwaukee, WI[12],, 14. [DQ]99B-Tom Berens , Slinger, WI[10]

Sportsman – Feature 35 Laps 1. 29S-Jake Schraufnagel , Slinger, WI[11], 2. 89L-Alex Lopacinski , West Bend, WI[5], 3. 88H-Brian Holtz , Muskego, WI[10], 4. 99L-Dale Lecus Jr, Caledonia, WI[9], 5. 04H-Brady Held , Iron Ridge, WI[8], 6. 66S-Al Stippich , Hartford, WI[1], 7. 24B-Brandon Tackes , West Bend, WI[4], 8. 8K-Dale Kiley-Schaefer , Allenton, WI[6], 9. 5G-Bobby Giers Sr, Wonder Lake, IL[3], 10. 21B-Brett Butler , West Bend, WI[12], 11. 51B-Aaron Butterbrodt , Hubertus, WI[19], 12. 32RRandy Ruth , Menomonee Falls, WI[14], 13. 33E-Tom Elsinger Sr, West Bend, WI[13], 14. 67B-Keegan Bush , Hartford, WI[15], 15. 290B-Doyle Buzzell , Clyman, WI[18], 16. 02O-Dean Olla , West Bend, WI[2], 17. 14M-Andrew Meyerhofer , Kaukauna, WI[7], 18. 17S-Ryan Sielaff , North Prairie, WI[16], 19. [DNS]62S-Brian Schweitzer , Beaver Dam, WI[17]

Super Beez – Feature 25 Laps 1. 01B-Carl Benn , Lisbon, WI[3], 2. 14S-Albert Strobel , Iron Ridge, WI[4], 3. 09X-Nick Schmidt , Watertown, WI[5], 4. 25R-Paul Reagles , Colgate, WI[2], 5. 8B-Todd Buckley , West Bend, WI[1], 6. 84M-Mitchell Strobel , West Bend, WI[6], 7. [DNS]11S-Rick Schaefer , West Bend, WI[7]

Figure 8’s – Feature 10 Laps 1. 1O-Nick Ostberg , West Bend, WI[4], 2. 17B-Rick Bruskiewicz , Mayville, WI[3], 3. 80W-Jim Ward , West Bend, WI[2], 4. 96S-Chad Snuggs , Dalton, WI[1], 5. 4G-Scott Goetzke , Kewaskum, WI[5], 6. 0S-Bill Shavlik , West Bend, WI[6]

Slinger Bees – Feature 25 Laps 1. 19B-Misty Benn , Lisbon, WI[2], 2. 10G-Ricky Gebhard Jr, Oconomowoc, WI[9], 3. 3C-Jason Clope , Racine, WI[4], 4. 11M-Brandon Mennicke , Slinger, WI[10], 5. 20K-Travis Kreuser , West Bend, WI[7], 6. 23S-Brian Stanczyk , West Bend, WI[3], 7. 14S-Albert Strobel , Iron Ridge, WI[11], 8. 33E-Tom Elsinger Jr, Germantown, WI[8], 9. 08W-Matthew Wandrey , Germantown, WI[1], 10. 20X-Kendall Becker , Hartford, WI[5], 11. 52E-Jacob Ellingson , Milwaukee, WI[13], 12. 33M-Matthew Elsinger , West Bend, WI[6], 13. 120X-Shane Becker , Hartford, WI[12]