By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., Sept. 7— Michael Bilderback edged Ryan Farrell in a photo finish to capture an emotional victory in the Tundra Super Late Model Series 75-lap season finale Sunday afternoon at the Slinger Super Speedway.
By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., Sept. 7— Michael Bilderback edged Ryan Farrell in a photo finish to capture an emotional victory in the Tundra Super Late Model Series 75-lap season finale Sunday afternoon at the Slinger Super Speedway.
“This one’s for Grandpa,” an emotional Bilderback told the crowd after racing to the victory with a last lap outside groove pass and dedicating the win to his grandfather who was hospitalized following a recent illness. “When we were single file I thought I was going to have to try to get him on the bottom, “ Bilderback continued, “but he raced me clean and gave me the option to take the top and I wasn’t going to let that go.”
“I don’t know what to say except ‘second sucks’, “ Farrell stated after falling just .059 seconds short of his first career super late model feature win, “but he’s one of the best out there and we just got beat by a couple of inches. I gave him all I had and he came out on top this time, congrats to their whole crew as they had a rough week and they deserved it.”
The race looked like it would come down to a duel between Slinger Speedway veterans Dennis Prunty and Brad Mueller as with 20 laps to go, they lined up alongside each other at the front of the field following the sixth of eight caution periods that slowed the race. However after several laps of side by side battling, Mueller dove to the inside of Prunty exiting turn four on lap 61 and his car looped around while the ensuing log-jam behind him severely damaged the car of Mike Lichtfeld who was running in sixth at the time. Then during the caution period, Prunty suddenly exited the speedway while Mueller went to the rear of the field for the restart, leaving Farrell and Bilderback to decide the top spot. Farrell led for most of the closing laps but with three circuits remaining, Bilderback took to the outside groove and his persistence in the upper lane paid off as he used the momentum gained from the higher line to edge Farrell at the checkered flag for the victory. Mueller charged all the way from the rear of the field in the waning laps to finish a close third while Brad Keith and Randy Schuler rounded out the top five. Tom Gee crossed the finish line in sixth followed by Reagan May, whose seventh place result earned her the Series Rookie of the Year honors. Corey Jankowski finished eighth while Brandon Selle and Curt Tillman were ninth and tenth respectively.
Tom Gee and Chris Blawat each scored super late model heat race victories while Michael Bilderback won the super late model fast dash. Dennis Prunty was the fastest qualifier after turning in a lap at 11.418 seconds.
Dan Church outdueled Mike Meyerhofer to win his seventh feature of the season in the 40-lap late model main event and along with the victory, claimed his first Slinger Speedway late model track championship.
Wayne Freimund paced the opening laps over Jeff Holtz, Andy Evraets, Mike Meyerhofer, and Eddie May while Gregg Pawelski, Dan Church, and Alex Prunty began to move up toward the top five. The first caution flag waved on lap 12 when Duke Long and Tyler Schley tangled in turn four with Freimund leading over Meyerhofer, Holtz, and May. Freimund chose the inside lane for the restart but Meyerhofer was able to get a run from the outside and he took the lead as racing resumed. Three laps later, the caution flag appeared again on lap 15 when Holtz and May spun while contesting third place on lap 15. Holtz took the blame for the incident which allowed May to keep his position as Meyerhofer chose the inside lane for the restart. Meyerhofer maintained the lead as Freimund slotted in behind May for third while behind them Church and Prunty battled alongside each other over fourth. Church and Prunty caught May and Friemund and with Church’s car working on the high side, he used the upper lane to bypass both Freimund and May to move into second while behind him, Gregg Pawelski also used the outer groove to advance forward and into third, bringing Prunty along with him into fourth. A spin by Andy Evraets on lap 34 tightened the field for a final six lap run to the finish with Meyerhofer choosing the inside for the restart, leaving Church the outside lane. A lap later, Freimund appeared to slow with a mechanical problem and as those behind him tried to slow, Jerry Mueller collected Grant Griesbach in turn three and the caution flag appeared once again. This time Church chose the inside lane for the restart after having edged Meyerhofer for the top spot a lap before the caution flag waved and as racing resumed, the two resumed their battle up front. Church proved to be just a bit stronger from the inside however and he raced under the checkered flag for the victory with Meyerhofer finishing a close second. Alex Prunty crossed the finish line in third place while Gregg Pawelski and Eddie May rounded out the top five.
Kyle Taylor and Mike Meyerhofer were the winners of each of the late model heat races while Dan Church was the fastest qualifier at 12.488 seconds.
Kyle Chwala took the lead of the Area Sportsman 30 lap main event with just three laps to go and drove to yet another feature victory and winning the division’s track championship in the process.
Brad Hetzel led for a majority of the race before Chwala was able to slice through the field and track him down and following a caution flag on lap 26, needed just one more lap before making the pass for the lead. Chwala then drove on to take the victory while Hetzel crossed the line in second place ahead of Rich Wagner and Jason Dummer. Nick Egan took the checkered flag in fifth. Later on, Hetzel’s car failed post race technical inspection and he was disqualified.
Adam Bleskan and Brad Hetzel were the winners of the Area Sportsman heat races and Kyle Chwala was the fastest qualifier after circling the speedway in 13.183 seconds.
Jack Stern led flag to flag to capture the victory in the 35-lap Midwest Sportsman main event while Ryan Gutknecht’s third place finish secured the division’s track championship. Jeff Holtz finished in second place, just ahead of Gutknecht while Jimmie Evans and Kenny Joosten rounded out the top five finishers in fourth and fifth respectively.
Cody Erdmann was the winner of the Midwest Sportsman heat race over Jay Shambeau and Mark Pluer while Jimmy Evans was the fastest qualifier at 12.794 seconds.
Jacob Schraufnagel won the 25-lap Slinger Bee feature but fell just one point short of the track championship as Brandon Tackes turned in a fourth place finish which was enough to earn him the championship. Dale Kiley-Schaefer finished in second and T.J. Graczkowski was third. Carl Benn crossed the stripe in fifth place just behind Tackes. Jared Deming was the winner of the 15-lap Slinger Bee semi-feature over Rick Schaefer and Steve Zoromski. Slinger Bee heat race victories were recorded by T.J. Graczkowski, Rick Schaefer, and Jared Deming while Jacob Schraufnagel was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 14.711 seconds.
Derek Doerr was the winner of the 15-lap American Super Cup feature, taking the checkered flag ahead of Andy Forster and Ken Jones. Earl Hoth finished in fourth and Brian Baldyga was fifth. Earlier, Baldyga was the winner of the super cup heat race and Mick Ellis was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 15.256 seconds.
Bob Rose won the Spectator Eliminator races in his 2006 Ford Mustang and Ryan Lovald closed out the afternoon and the season with a victory in the Figure 8 event. Scott Goetze was crowned the track champion in the Figure 8 division.
Super Late Models – Feature
