Brandon Mennicke picks up $1000 Twin Bee Challenge Bonus
Slinger, Wis., Aug 11—Zach Prunty took the lead from Evan Hassler with six laps to go and then held off Ryan Gutknecht to win the 50-lap Uptown Motor Cars Late Model feature Sunday night at the Slinger Speedway.
Hassler and Jon Reynolds Jr. traded the lead throughout the event before Reynolds slipped off turn two following heavy pressure from Hassler with 12 laps to go. As Hassler moved into the lead, Prunty and Gutknecht quickly closed on the top two as both used the inside lane to get by Reynolds. Prunty then used an inside move on Hassler to grab the lead with seven laps to go as Gutknecht followed suit on the inside and remained glued to Prunty’s bumper in second. Prunty used lapped traffic to his advantage on the final lap and kept Gutknecht at bay to win is second feature of the season.
“I’ve known for a couple of weeks before Nationals that we’ve got this thing hooked up and it’s just a matter of patience and being there at the end,” Prunty stated from the victory deck, “Overall I was just really happy with the car tonight, on the high side or low side, it didn’t matter, we were just fast everywhere.”
“The car was good and it really drove in well,” Ryan Gutknecht stated after driving from the 13th starting position to finish second, “I could get through the center better but Zach (Prunty) was holding the bottom pretty good and I would have had to get into him to make the pass and I just didn’t want to do that. To start 13th and get up to second without using the bumper and doing it on old tires was pretty cool.”
“We had a really good car and I was just trying to save my stuff,” third place finisher Evan Hassler told the crowd afterwards, “I never really started out front before and I didn’t know how to save but we had a good run.”
Jon Reynolds Jr. led multiple laps in the race and finished a strong fourth while Tom Berens took the checkered flag in fifth. Ryan Weyer completed a good run with a sixth place finish while Matt Urban and Tyler Hromadka finished seventh and eighth respectively. Billy Braun and Mark Eswein completed the top ten finishers in ninth and tenth.
Late Model heat race wins were recorded by Rick Redig-Tackman and Evan Hassler while Jon Reynolds Jr. topped a very close qualifying session with a lap time of 12.158 seconds. The top ten qualifiers were all within a tenth of a second.
Jake Schraufnagel won the 35-lap Sportsman main event as he took the checkered flag ahead of Nick Bruley and Chris Beine. Alex Lopacinski finished fourth and Tom Elsinger Jr. was fifth. Brian Holtz won the Sportsman heat race while Tom Elsinger Jr. set fast time with a lap of 12.859 seconds.
The Slinger Bees 25-lap feature was the second round of the Twin Bee Challenge and featured extra money on the line as Nathan Lemberger bested Brandon Mennicke for the victory. Carl Benn finished third followed by Brian Stanczyk and Travis Kreuser in fourth and fifth respectively. Michael Hennessy Jr. won the 15-lap Slinger Bees semi-feature over Matthew Elsinger and Carl Benn who along with fourth place finisher Ricky Gebhard transferred to the main event. Brandon Tackes finished fifth. Slinger Bees heat races were won by Kendall Becker, Matthew Elsinger, and Cooper Bodendorfer while fast qualifier honors went to Marty Tackes with a lap of 15.229 seconds.
Bill Shavlik won the Figure 8 feature that ended a lap early when leader Nick Osberg collided with Eli Gorecki in the X just after taking the while flag. Both drivers were uninjured in the incident as the race was declared official with Shavlik, who was in second at the white flag, declared the winner. Scott Goetzke finished second followed by Ryan Lovald in third and Rick Bruskiewicz in fourth. Shane Becker finished fifth.
Late Models – Feature 50 Laps 1. 39P-Zach Prunty, Allenton, WI [8], 2. 01G-Ryan Gutknecht, Oak Creek, WI [12], 3. 38H-Evan Hassler, Hartland, WI [1], 4. 10R-Jon Reynolds Jr, Rockford, IL [9], 5. 99B-Tom Berens, Slinger, WI [5], 6. 12W-Ryan Weyer, Mequon, WI [4], 7. 48U-Matt Urban, Slinger, WI [10], 8. 3H-Tyler Hromadka, Colgate, WI [15], 9. 17B-Billy Braun, Wales, WI [6], 10. 71EMark Eswein, Wisconsin Rapids, WI [13], 11. 61E-Jerry Eckhardt, Johnson Creek, WI [14], 12. 9S-Simon Seyfert, Saukville, WI [2], 13. 98R-Rick Redig-Tackman, Hartford, WI [16], 14. 16D-Mitchell Delcamp, Germantown, WI [11], 15. 0S-Bill Shavlik, West Bend, WI [17], 16. 21F-Corey Funk, Slinger, WI [19], 17. 49M-Jerry Mueller, Richfield, WI [3], 18. 72H-Mike Held, Hartford, WI [7], 19. 22L-Nicholas Lemberger, Menomonee Falls, WI [18]
Slinger Bees – Feature 25 Laps 1. 25L-Nathan Lemberger, Hartford, WI [2], 2. 11M-Brandon Mennicke, River Falls, WI [1], 3. 18C-Carl Benn, Lisbon, WI [17], 4. 23S-Brian Stanczyk, West Bend, WI [8], 5. 20K-Travis Kreuser, West Bend, WI [10], 6. 69D-Anthony Dorzok, Appleton, WI [6], 7. 66H-Michael Hennessy Jr, Baraboo, WI [15], 8. 64B-Cooper Bodendorfer, Muskego, WI [4], 9. 19BMisty Benn, Lisbon, WI [14], 10. 33E-Matthew Elsinger, West Bend, WI [16], 11. 52L-Dylan Lemberger, Menomonee Falls, WI [7], 12. 35Z-Morgan Zerwinski, West Bend, WI [13], 13. 44S-Todd Snow, Belvidere, IL [12], 14. 3C-Jason Clope, Racine, WI [11], 15. 09W-Mason Wilcott, Watertown, WI [5], 16. 10G-Ricky Gebhard Jr, Oconomowoc, WI [18], 17. 24M-Marty Tackes, West Bend, WI [9], 18. 14S-Albert Strobel, Iron Ridge, WI [3]
Slinger Bees – Semi Feature 15 Laps 1. 66H-Michael Hennessy Jr, Baraboo, WI [1], 2. 33E-Matthew Elsinger, West Bend, WI [3], 3. 18C-Carl Benn, Lisbon, WI [4], 4. 10G-Ricky Gebhard Jr, Oconomowoc, WI [8], 5. 124B-Brandon Tackes, West Bend, WI [9], 6. 20X-Kendall Becker, Hartford, WI [5], 7. 32C-Rachel Czarapata, Menomonee Falls, WI [10], 8. 08W-Matthew Wandrey, Germantown, WI [2], 9. 21K-Timothy Kreuser, West Bend, WI [6], 10. 88B-Owen Benn, Lisbon, WI [7]
Sportsman – Feature 35 Laps 1. 29S-Jake Schraufnagel, Horicon, WI [5], 2. 23B-Nick Bruley, Johnson Creek, WI [7], 3. 45B-Chris Beine, Slinger, WI [3], 4. 89L-Alex Lopacinski, West Bend, WI [4], 5. 33E-Tom Elsinger Jr, Germantown, WI [6], 6. 32S-Ryan Sielaff, North Prairie, WI [8], 7. 86F-Josh Fehrmann, Kewaskum, WI [9], 8. 04H-Brady Held, Iron Ridge, WI [2], 9. 88H-Brian Holtz, Muskego, WI [1]
Figure 8’s – Feature 10 Laps 1. 0S-Bill Shavlik, West Bend, WI [6], 2. 4G-Scott Goetzke, Kewaskum, WI [8], 3. 67L-Ryan Lovald, Muskego, WI [7], 4. 17B-Rick Bruskiewicz, Mayville, WI [4], 5. 20X-Shane Becker, Hartford, WI [9], 6. 1O-Nick Ostberg, Slinger, WI [2], 7. 83G-Eli Gorecki, Elkhorn, WI [5], 8. 80W-Jim Ward, West Bend, WI [3], 9. 96S-Chad Snuggs, Dalton, WI [1]
