By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., June 7—Steve Apel captured his third feature victory of the season Sunday at the Slinger Super Speedway as he held off Dale Prunty to win the 60-lap super late model main event on Reunion Night.
By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., June 7—Steve Apel captured his third feature victory of the season Sunday at the Slinger Super Speedway as he held off Dale Prunty to win the 60-lap super late model main event on Reunion Night.
“I probably have the best crew out there, “Apel said from victory lane explaining the extra work performed on his car this week after experiencing a fire while practicing a few days ago in Madison, “They are totally dedicated and I have to thank my wife for putting up with me being in the race shop until two or three in the morning.” “I was hoping to get through the lapped traffic as quick as I could and not get held up too much because I knew if I did they would catch me,” Apel continued, “The car was pretty good this week but we’ll try to make it just a little bit better for next week.”
When asked the difference between his second place finish and a victory, runner-up Dale Prunty simply stated, “Another caution.” “Steve (Apel) beat me and raced me clean and I was hoping for another caution because I might have had a little bit left, “ Prunty stated before giving a heartfelt dedication of the finish to longtime friend and sponsor Fritz Wiedmeyer who passed away earlier in the week.
Rich Loch and Dale Prunty led the field to the green flag and Prunty drove to the early lead from the outside lane as Loch settled into second ahead of Travis Dassow, Lowell Bennett, Dave McCardle, Steve Apel, and Rob Braun. Prunty and Loch maintained the top two positions as behind them Bennett, Apel, and Braun all advanced forward and into the third through fifth slots respectively. The first caution flag waved on lap 12 when Tim Lampman’s car came off the fourth turn and bounced off the door of Chris Blawat’s machine before spinning into turn one where the car of Mike Egan was collected as well. Prunty chose the outside lane for the restart while Loch lined up to the inside and as the green flag waved, Prunty hesitated a bit and both he and Loch raced side by side for the lead for two laps before Prunty was able to once again power ahead from the outside. Behind them, Apel and Bennett were dueling over second while Braun and Dassow were joined by John DeAngelis and Dennis Prunty in the tussle over fourth. Apel used the inside lane to grab third from Bennett while Braun, DeAngelis, and Dennis Prunty all moved up also on the inside as Dassow became caught in the high groove and fell out of the top five. A few laps later, Apel was able to work his way to the inside of Loch to take second place just before another caution flag waved on lap 21 when DeAngelis and Braun got together in turn one while racing over fourth place. In the scramble to avoid, several other cars became damaged including Conrad Morgan and Tim Lampman, who struck the turn one wall very hard after climbing over the car of Josh Wallace which put the track under a red flag condition. Prunty again chose the outside for the restart and Apel promptly chose the bottom groove and when the green flag waved again, the two raced door to door for several laps before Apel was eventually able to ease ahead on lap 25. Behind the lead duo, Loch and Bennett also staged a side by side battle for third with Dassow and Dennis Prunty racing in formation behind them. Loch prevailed in that battle and once the cars lined up on the bottom, Dennis Prunty began to pick them off from the outside lane, passing first Bennett and then Loch to take over third with the laps winding down. In the closing laps, Apel maneuvered his way through lapped traffic flawlessly as Dale Prunty was unable to make a serious challenge for the lead. At the checkered flag, Apel scored the victory with Dale Prunty finishing second ahead of Dennis Prunty in third. Rich Loch and Lowell Bennett rounded out the top five. James Swan finished sixth followed by Jeff Holtz and John DeAngelis in seventh and eighth respectively while Travis Dassow and Dan Church completed the top ten.
Josh Wallace won the 30-lap super late model semi-feature over Jeff Holtz and Nick Wagner as they along with fourth place finisher Duke Long transferred to the main event. Braison Bennett finished fifth. Super late model heat race wins were recorded by Nick Wagner, Conrad Morgan, and John DeAngelis while Steve Apel was the fastest qualifier at 11.340 seconds.
Mike Held survived a wild 40-lap late model main event to capture the victory in a caution-filled race.
Brian Holtz and Kyle Chwala paced the field to the green flag and Holtz led the first two circuits before the caution flag waved quickly a lap later when Corey Funk tagged the wall on the backstretch and came to a stop in turn four. As racing resumed, Chwala was able to wrestle the lead away from Holtz while behind them Al Stippich, Alex Prunty, and Mike Held all raced for position. With Chwala out front, Prunty eventually worked his way into second and began to track down the leader. With Chwala and Prunty running nose to tail on lap ten, a lapped car suddenly slowed in turn four directly in front of them and as Chwala ran into the lapped car, Prunty slid hard into the frontstretch wall as the caution waved again. Chwala was able to continue despite front end damage while Prunty was through for the evening. The caution flew once again three laps later when Held experienced a problem in turn four and left the speedway and returned before the restart and without losing a lap. Chwala and Holtz resumed their battle for the lead with Ryan Zielski, Tyler Schley, and Grant Griesbach all racing hard behind them. Another caution flag appeared on lap 22 when Jack Stern came to a stop off turn four with Chwala leading over Holtz, Zielski, Schley, and Greisbach. With each restart, positions shuffled with the caution cone as drivers such as Mike Held and Jordan DeVoy moved up by choosing the outside lane. As racing resumed, Chwala remained out front with the lead pack remaining tightly bunched with close quarters racing throughout the top running cars. With Chwala enjoying a rather comfortable lead in the final ten laps, further back, Tyler James spun off turn two while racing with Al Stippich and the race remained green with James’ car resting in the infield until James exited his machine to constitute a caution flag on lap 34. On the restart, Chwala kept the lead but behind him, contact between Holtz and DeVoy scattered the field on the frontstretch and the caution waved again as Zielski also was forced to leave the track with damage. The final five lap dash to the finish was set up with Chwala leading over Greisbach, Held, and Schley. Held pressured Chwala heavily in the final laps with Griesbach right in their tracks and on the final lap, contact between Held and Chwala forced Chwala high allowing Held to pass underneath exiting turn two. As they charged into turn three, Held drifted wide with Chwala outside him and Griesbach took advantage of the inside opening to make a bid for the win. Held won the drag race to the checkered flag with Griesbach finishing second and Chwala third. Schley finished fourth while Jerry Mueller was fifth.
Ricky Heinan and Brian Holtz each picked up a win in the late model heat races and Mike Held was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.254 seconds.
Nick Egan took the lead at the halfway mark of the Area Sportsman feature and never looked back, driving to his first feature victory of the season in the 30-lap main event.
Adam Bleskan led the first 14 laps before Egan powered ahead on lap 15 with Bill Prietzel in hot pursuit. Prietzel also worked his way around Bleskan and began to track down Egan for the lead while Andy Welter and Adam Peschek moved into the top five. Egan was up to the task in the closing laps and he held off Prietzel to score the victory. Prietzel finished a close second while Welter took the checkered flag in third ahead of Bleskan and Peschek who completed the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
Scott Hoeft and Adam Peschek were the winners of the Area Sportsman heat races and Bill Prietzel was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 13.001 seconds.
Dale Kiley-Schaefer battled Tom Berens throughout the Slinger Bee 25-lap feature before capturing the victory in an exciting event. Berens crossed the finish line in second while Nick Schmidt battled his way from deep in the field to finish third. Brandon Tackes and Emery Waldron finished fourth and fifth respectivley.
Nick Schmidt picked up the win in the Slinger Bees semi-feature over Steve Zoromski and Marty Tackes. Bill Ostovich Jr. was fourth and Tristan Dorzok was fifth. Slinger Bee heat races were won by Steve Zoromski, Nick Schmidt, and Tom Berens while Isaac Daniel was the fastest qualifier at 14.769 seconds.
Ron Schmitt won the Figure 8 race over Scott Goetzke and Willy Van Camp. Shane Becker and Rick Bruskiewicz finished in fourth and fifth.
