Slinger, Wis., Aug 4—Jesse Bernhagen took the lead from Brad Mueller on lap 26 and then held off Alex Prunty and Steve Apel to win his first Elite Eight Series Super Late Model feature in the 75-lap Carl Wegner Memorial Sunday night at the Slinger Speedway.
“I told myself I better compose myself before I came up here,” Bernhagen told the crowd from victory lane after capturing his first career super late model feature win, “But this is pretty cool.”
“We’ve struggled with power steering all year with this car and we finally got it working,” Bernhagen continued, “The first 15 laps of the race, I told my Dad (spotter), we’re going to wreck if we go to the outside it’s so loose going in. But then we cooled off the brakes good enough and we got here.”
“We got caught up early but once we were able to get clear we were able to get up there,” Alex Prunty said after finishing in the runner-up position despite closing in the final laps, “That was everything I had and I just got too tight. Jesse (Bernhagen) just had a fast car.”
“It wasn’t bad and we just missed a little bit on the set-up,” third place Steve Apel stated afterwards, “We tried a couple of things tonight that we probably should’ve went back to where we were but overall it was not a bad run and we’ll take third.”
Dennis Prunty finished fourth after rebounding from spinning with a flat tire on lap 24 that produced the only caution flag of the event and R.J. Braun finished fifth. Nick Egan crossed the finish line in sixth place followed by Jerry Mueller in seventh and Brad Keith in eighth. Rich Loch and Willie Nelson completed the top ten finishers in ninth and tenth respectively.
R.J. Braun was the winner of the Super Late Model fast dash and Alex Prunty was the fastest qualifier after turning in a qualifying lap in 11.388 seconds.
Dennis Prunty was the winner of the 35-lap 602 Craters feature after holding off a fast-closing Tanner Berge. Rob Braun finished third followed by John DeAngelis and Bill Prietzel in fourth and fifth respectively. Tanner Berge also set a new track record in qualifying after completing his qualifying lap in 11.998 seconds.
Jason Uttech drove to victory in the 25-lap Super Beez main event while Tracy Neu finished a strong second. Nick Schmidt was third followed by Travis Kreuser and Paul Reagles in fourth and fifth. Super Beez heat race victories went to Jason Uttech and Travis Kreuser while Nick Schmidt set fast time with a qualifying lap of 13.813 seconds.
Ayrton Brockhouse was the winner of the 25-lap Legends feature as he bested Jayden Johnson and Lincoln Cain for the victory. Ayden Brockhouse finished fourth and Hunter Cardinal was fifth. Ayrton Brockhouse also won a Legends heat race while Cade Jaeger won the other Legends heat race. Dillon Schwanbeck was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 13.240 seconds.
Bentley Thompson took top honors in the 15-lap Bandolero main event, crossing the finish line ahead of Lincoln Johnson and Axel Oldenhoff to secure the victory. Harley Johnson and Mason Obermeyer rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth place respectively. Lincoln Johnson and Bentley Thompson were the winners of the Bandolero heat races and Harley Johnson was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 14.489 seconds.
Super Late Models – Feature 75 Laps 1. 28B-Jesse Bernhagen, Markesan, WI [7], 2. 11P-Alex Prunty, Kewaskum, WI [10], 3. 51A-Steve Apel, Slinger, WI [9], 4. 42P-Dennis Prunty, Allenton, WI [5], 5. 92B-RJ Braun, Wales, WI [6], 6. 13E-Nick Egan, Lomira, WI [11], 7. 49M-Jerry Mueller, Richfield, WI [4], 8. 48K-Brad Keith, Allenton, WI [8], 9. 55L-Rich Loch, Franklin, WI [12], 10. 25N-Willie Nelson, Richmond, IL [13], 11. 89M-Brad Mueller, Random Lake, WI [3], 12. 84V-Jacob Vanoskey, Hubertus, WI [16], 13. 92MConrad Morgan, Waukesha, WI [2], 14. 17G-Grant Griesbach, Waukesha, WI [1], 15. 46J-Thomas Jasinski, Pewaukee, WI [14], 16. 27B-Jeremy Bentz, Fox Lake, IL [15]
602 Craters – Feature 35 Laps 1. 42P-Dennis Prunty, Allenton, WI [6], 2. 35B-Tanner Berge, Elkhorn, WI [8], 3. 5B-Rob Braun, Wales, WI [7], 4. 51DJohn Deangelis, Richfield, WI [5], 5. 5P-Bill Prietzel, Hubertus, WI [4], 6. 7S-Mitchell Strobel, Slinger, WI [1], 7. 75RChris Ratajczyk, West Bend, WI [2], 8. 20J-Larry Johnson, Sussex, WI [9], 9. 5E-David Edwards, Salem, WI [3]
Bandoleros – Feature 15 Laps 1. 22T-Bentley Thompson, West Salem, WI [8], 2. 000J-Lincoln Johnson, Ixonia, WI [10], 3. 29O-Axel Oldenhoff, Lake Mills, WI [3], 4. 7J-Harley Johnson, Ixonia, WI [9], 5. 93O-Mason Obermeyer, Union Grove, WI [4], 6. 85K-Cole Kurth, Wisconsin Rapids, WI [6], 7. 44O-Markus Obermeyer, Union Grove, WI [5], 8. 62O-Ace Oldenhoff, Lake Mills, WI [1], 9. 126K-Gage Kubicz, Whitewater, WI [12], 10. 24M-Blake Michael, Evansville, WI [11], 11. 5F-Christopher Flynn, Farmington, MN [14], 12. 707G-Hunter Graham, West Bend, WI [13], 13. 19S-Wyatt Schellinger, South Milwaukee, WI [15], 14. 10B-Emily Billings, Waterloo, WI [7], 15. [DNS]27E-Paegan Ellingson, Watertown, WI [2]
Legends – Feature 25 Laps 1. 12B-Ayrton Brockhouse, Shakopee, MN [6], 2. 8J-Jayden Johnson, Ixonia, WI [7], 3. 5C-Lincoln Cain, Slinger, WI [5], 4. 13B-Ayden Brockhouse, Shakopee, MN [4], 5. 45C-Hunter Cardinal, Richfield, WI [1], 6. 80H-Art Hahn, Hartford, WI [10], 7. 115G-Aaron Genske, Jefferson, WI [2], 8. 76W-Mark Wellman, Slinger, WI [9], 9. 21E-Tyler Edmundson, Johnson Creek, WI [11], 10. 64J-Cade Jaeger, Kewaskum, WI [3], 11. 27S-Dillon Schwanbeck, Poynette, WI [8]
Super Beez – Feature 25 Laps 1. 36U-Jason Uttech, Watertown, WI [3], 2. 15N-Tracy Neu, Watertown, WI [4], 3. 09X-Nick Schmidt, Watertown, WI [8], 4. 20K-Travis Kreuser, West Bend, WI [5], 5. 25R-Paul Reagles, Colgate, WI [7], 6. 20X-Kendall Becker, Hartford, WI [10], 7. 14S-Albert Strobel, Iron Ridge, WI [6], 8. 11S-Rick Schaefer, West Bend, WI [2], 9. 24B-Brandon Tackes, West Bend, WI [9], 10. 8B-Todd Buckley, West Bend, WI [1]
