By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., Aug. 24—Dennis Prunty scored a clean sweep Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway as he set fast time, won his heat race, and then drove to victory in an action packed 60-lap super late model feature to win the overall Pepsi Challenge Series.
By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., Aug. 24—Dennis Prunty scored a clean sweep Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway as he set fast time, won his heat race, and then drove to victory in an action packed 60-lap super late model feature to win the overall Pepsi Challenge Series.
John DeAngelis and Austin Luedtke led the field to the green flag and DeAngelis edged ahead to lead lap one but Luedtke took over from there as the outside groove proved to be faster early. Rob Braun also raced around DeAngelis on the outside and Steve Apel followed suit as well but slight contact between DeAngelis and Apel sent Apel’s car looping around in turn one to draw the caution flag on lap five. Both Apel and DeAngelis went to the rear of the field for the restart as Luedtke chose the outside groove, leaving the inside lane for Rob Braun. Luedtke and Braun battled intensely for the lead as racing resumed as their duel featured some fender rubbing as they raced side by side. A slight tag to Luedtke’s left rear sent his car wide off turn four on lap eight and Braun tried to take advantage of the situation by charging alongside. As Luedtke’s car straightened out, minor side contact between the two sent Braun’s car sliding into the infield as the caution flag waved once again. Luedtke again chose the outside lane for the restart with Travis Dassow alongside in second followed by Dale Prunty, Tim Lampman, and Braison Bennett. Luedtke got the jump on the restart and raced into the lead as Dassow tried to fend off Dale Prunty while behind them Dennis Prunty was trying to find a way by Lampman and Bennett to get into the top five. With Luedtke out front, both Dale and Dennis Prunty were able to use the inside groove to advance their way into second and third respectively just before the caution waved again on lap 15 for an incident between Lampman and Braison Bennett in turn one. This time Dale Prunty lined up to the inside of Luedtke for the restart and after a few laps of door to door racing, Prunty edged ahead to the lead as Dassow, Dennis Prunty, and Lowell Bennett all raced closely directly behind the leaders. Dennis Prunty was the first to make a move, using the outside to first pass Dassow for third and then staying up top to race around Luedtke for second. Another caution flag appeared on lap 31 after Jeff Holtz found the frontstretch wall while racing for position with Nick Wagner. Dale Prunty chose the inside lane as racing resumed, leaving Dennis Prunty the high side and Dennis took advantage of the lane by sweeping by Dale and into the lead off turn two. As Dennis Prunty began to pull away out front, Dale Prunty found himself in a battle with Luedtke for second as Lowell Bennett also began to close in. Luedtke’s car appeared to turn well and he made numerous looks to the inside of Prunty, but each time Prunty would close the door and maintain the lead. On lap 40, Luedtke edged to the inside of Prunty’s bumper off turn two and as the cars entered turn three, neither driver gave ground resulting in both cars slamming the retaining wall hard as Bennett also received damage in the incident. Dennis Prunty chose the outside lane for the restart as the damaged car of Bennett lined up to his inside in second followed by Dassow and Steve Apel who along with Rob Braun had worked their way back up into the top five. Prunty was able to maintain the lead as racing resumed while Bennett battled with Apel for second. On lap 43 Apel tried to drive around Bennett and as Bennett’s car slid through the third turn, their cars touched slightly sending Apel around in turn four for another caution flag. Both Apel and Bennett went to the rear of the field for the restart with Prunty leading over Dassow, Braun, DeAngelis, and Chris Blawat. Prunty was able to fend off all challenges over the final laps and he drove to the victory while Dassow finished a strong second. Rob Braun and John DeAngelis both rebounded nicely from earlier trouble to finish in third and fourth respectively while Blawat rounded out the top five finishers.
Brady Bennett won the 30-lap super late model semi-feature over Jeff Holtz and Pat McIntee. Rich Loch finished fourth and Tommy Hromadka was fifth. Super late model heat race victories were posted by Jeff Holtz, Chris Blawat, and Dennis Prunty and Prunty was also the fastest qualifier at 11. 407 seconds.
Kyle Chwala scored his division leading eighth feature victory of the season in the 30-lap Area Sportsman main event.
Paul Wagner led the opening laps as Andy Welter and Kody Hubred raced side by side directly behind him for second. On lap three as Wagner entered turn three, Welter took a look to the outside for the lead while Hubred ducked to Wagner’s inside and slight contact between Hubred and Wagner’s car sent Wagner spinning around to draw the caution flag. Hubred was judged to have precipitated the incident with a three wide move and was shown the black flag. Welter held the lead for the restart but soon after racing resumed Mark DePorter raced around Welter’s outside to take the lead while Kyle Chwala also passed Welter on the outside to grab second. Welter held the third spot while Nick Egan raced into fourth ahead of the battle for fifth between Joe Shelby and Brad Hetzel. Shelby and Hetzel raced hard for that fifth spot and on lap 19 contact between them damaged Shelby’s radiator as Rich Wagner spun behind him to draw the caution flag. Kyle Chwala raced to the lead from the outside lane as the green flag waved, leaving DePorter to battle with Egan and Welter for second. On lap 28, Egan tried to get a run on Welter for the spot by as Welter tried to defend, his car looped around to produce the caution flag and set up a green, white, checkered finish with Chwala leading over DePorter. Chwala was up to the task and he held off DePorter to capture his eighth feature victory of the season. Nick Egan finished in third followed by Brad Hetzel and Rich Wagner in fourth and fifth respectively.
Rich Wagner and Kody Hubred each won Area Sportsman heat races while Mark DePorter was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 13.256 seconds.
Ryan Gutknecht won the 35-lap Midwest Sportsman feature, holding off Bill Prietzel to take the checkered flag.
Brian Holtz led the opening laps before Gutknecht took over before lap ten. Prietzel worked his way forward from the back of the field, eventually catching Cody Erdmann who was having a strong run in second place. With Gutknecht continuing to lead, Prietzel worked his way into second but Gutknecht would not be headed as he drove to the win. Erdmann completed his strong race with a solid third place finish while Brian Holtz and Kenny Joosten finished in fourth and fifth place respectively.
Jack Stern and Bill Prietzel each won Midwest Sportsman heat races while Ryan Gutknecht was the fastest qualifier at 12.923 seconds.
Jacob Schraufnagel won the 25-lap Slinger Bee feature that ran caution free from start to finish. Steve Dickson finished second while Tom Berens took the checkered flag in third. Brandon Tackes and Dale Kiley-Schaefer completed the top five.
Jared Deming won the 15-lap Slinger Bee semi-feature over Nicole Mueller and Brian Hillringhouse. Bill Ostovich and Triston Dorzok were fourth and fifth respectively. Slinger Bee heat race wins were recorded by Kyle Sikora, Isaac Daniel, and Nick Schmidt while Steve Dickson set a new track record in qualifying with a lap of 14.672 seconds.
Joe Mueller closed down the evening with a victory in the Figure 8 race.
