ALEX PRUNTY DOMINATES EH WOLF MEMORIAL DAY 85 AT SLINGER

Slinger, Wis., May 24—Alex Prunty charged to the lead on the 52nd lap of the 85-lap EH Wolf Memorial Day Incredible Bank Super Late Model feature Sunday night at the Slinger Speedway and drove to his first feature victory of the season.
“It’s been a long off-season and we built a brand new car and tried it the last two weeks but got frustrated and brought back the old one,” Prunty stated from victory lane, “And it was the best car I ever had. I have to say I’m somewhat confused because the old car is faster than the new one.”
Prunty’s margin of victory over second place Gabe Sommers was nearly five seconds and capped off one of the most dominant performances seen at the speedway in some time.
“We were really good and it’s just a testament to how hard we work trying to get these things dialed in,” Prunty continued, “It’s not often you get a car like that and it was a lot of fun.”
Gabe Sommers had a car just as fast as Prunty in the closing laps but with the race running caution-free, was never able to close the gap Prunty had built up.
“I just got stuck on the bottom early on and the outside is really good,” Sommers said after his second consecutive runner-up finish “Once we got rolling then the inside or outside was good and we made our way back up to second.”
Brad Mueller followed Sommers through the field in the later stages and finished in third place.
“It was really good and now we just have to get the start figured out,” Mueller said after having the fastest car during the race’s mid-stage, “That put me back a little bit when I got stuck on the bottm but it really came on about twenty laps in.”
Steve Apel finished in fourth place and Jesse Bernhagen took the checkered flag in fifth. Jeff Storm was sixth followed by Rich Loch in seventh while Dennis Prunty finished eighth after leading the first 51 laps before falling back with a tire issue. Billy Moan made the trip from Minnesota and finished in ninth place while Grant Griesbach battled inside the top three for most of the race before a tire issue relegated him to a tenth place result.
Gabe Sommers was the winner of the Super Late Model fast dash and Casey Johnson set fast time with a qualifying lap of 11.191 seconds.
Evan Hassler took the checkered flag first in a close battle with Zach Prunty in the 50-lap Uptown Motor Cars Late Model feature but was found in violation of a communication device rule in post-race technical inspection which awarded the victory to Zach Prunty. Dennis Prunty finished second followed by Zack Riddle in third and Tom Berens in fourth. Jon Reynolds Jr. was fifth followed by J.J. Vanderloop in sixth and Ryan Gutknecht in seventh. Jerry Eckhardt finished eighth and T.J. Graczkowski and Ryan Weyer completed the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively.
Late Model heat races were won by Tyler Hromadka and Dennis Prunty while Zack Riddle’s 11.996 second qualifying lap nailed down top time honors.
Merek Pankow won the 25-lap Outdoor Dock and Lift Super Beez feature after Nick Schmidt suffered a mechanical failure on the final lap. Al Strobel finished second and Misty Benn finished third. Morgan Zerwinski was fourth while Nick Schmidt was fifth. The Super Beez heat races were won by Brandon Tackes and Morgan Zerwinski while Merek Pankow was the fastest qualifier after turning in a qualifying lap in 13.451 seconds.
Kendall Becker topped a nine car Figure 8 field to capture the victory in the Figure 8 event. Russ Lorbiecki drove his “backwards” bus to second place while Willy Van Camp was third. Bill Shavlik finished fourth and Donald Van Camp crossed the finish line in fifth.