August 19, 2001; Slinger, WI - Lowell Bennett and Al Schill continued their battle for the track championship Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway as Bennett took the checkered flag ahead of a hard charging Schill to win the Johnsonville Foods 65-lap late model feature. "I knew he (Schill) was back there," stated Bennett after slightly extending his lead in the season point standings over Schill with the win. "This is just like 1986 when we battled for the track title. He got me then so hopefully I can beat him this time."
Mike Egan outgunned fellow front row starter Dennis Prunty to take the lead at the start of the event as Conrad Morgan followed Egan in the outside lane and grabbed second leaving Prunty to battle with Cindy Peterson and Charlie Thon Jr. for third. Egan looked strong in the early laps as he led Morgan while Peterson moved around Prunty for third. Bennett began the race from ninth and maneuvered his way into the top five by lap 15. Three laps later, the defending track champion got around Prunty to take fourth and began to chase down Egan, Morgan, and Peterson as they ran nose-to-tail in the first three positions. A spin by Mike Pascavis in the first turn brought out the one and only caution of the night on lap 20. With the field bunched up for the restart, Morgan made a bid for the lead on the inside but Egan was able to withstand the challenge to hang onto the lead while Bennett and Schill began to work on Peterson for third. Bennett captured the third spot on lap 25 leaving Schill and Peterson in a side-by-side battle for fourth. Egan led at lap 33 to claim the $100 Mac Tools Halfway Challenge Bonus as Bennett closed in on Morgan for second. Bennett made his charge to the front one lap later as he raced by Morgan for second and then powered by Egan on the high side to take the lead on lap 35. Once he lost the lead, Egan began to fade and Morgan, Schill, and Peterson all made their way around the early leader. Schill, who began the event from the twelfth starting spot, took over second place from Morgan on lap 41 while Bennett pulled out to a ten car length lead. The handling on Morgan's car went away and he dropped back allowing Peterson, Brad Mueller, and David Prunty to take over the third through fifth positions. Schill appeared to have the faster car and slowly reeled Bennett in when the leaders had an open track but lapped traffic impeded his progress as the laps wound down. Schill could only get to within a few car lengths as Bennett took the checkered flag for his fourth late model feature win of the season. Peterson ran in the lead pack all night long and crossed the finish line in third place ahead of Mueller and David Prunty. In other late model action, Todd Thelen executed a late race charge to win the 30-lap semi-feature over Scott Schoeni and Tom Lichtfeld. Robert Maynor won the 12-lap consi which ended under the caution flag when the lead cars of Chris Blawat and Steve Rubicek tangled on the final lap leaving Rubicek upside down in turn two. Neither driver was injured in the incident. Peterson won the late model Mac Tools dash and Bennett was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 11.774 seconds. David Prunty was named the AAL Driver of the Month for July and $1000 was donated to the MACC Fund in his name during intermission. Prunty scored a feature victory and was the winner of the prestigious Miller Lite Nationals during the month to earn the honor. Dale Prunty won the Midwest modified 30-lap feature and gained ground on point's leader Jeff Holtz in the chase for the track championship. Lenny Gallenberg III and Mike Graczkowski led the field to the green flag and raced side-by-side for the opening laps with Ed Grober, Dan Miller, and Dan Jung running in a tight formation behind the lead duo. Graczkowski had something break on his car while racing down the backstretch on lap three and spun entering the third turn. As the tightly bunched field raced by, the cars of Jeff Holtz, Kevin Kenealy, Russ Grade, and Andy Evraets became collected in the incident. Holtz's car ended up going over Graczkowski's stalled machine and received extensive damage effectively ending the night for the point's leader and winner of nine previous features this season. Gallenberg led on the restart over Grober, Jung, and Miller while Prunty held down the fifth position. Prunty moved into third place two laps later and then passed Grober for second on lap seven. Prunty dogged Gallenberg for the lead for three laps before taking over the top spot on lap 10. A final caution on lap 22 for an incident involving Evraets in turn one tightened the field for the final eight laps of the race. Prunty was up to the task however, and pulled away to a convincing win while Gallenberg held off Grover for second. Chris Petersen finished fourth as Jung crossed the finish line in fifth. In other Midwest modified action, Jung won the dash while Steve Lurvey set fast time with a lap of 12.489 seconds. Roger Schmid scored his third Slinger Stinger feature victory of the season in the 18-lap main event. The event got off to a rocky start when Pete Egan broke loose on the first lap sending Jimmie Evans into the backstretch wall which resulted in a complete restart. Nathan Fick jumped into the lead as the race got underway with Kurt Brown holding off Egan, Joe DeStefano Sr., and Schmid for second. Schmid raced into third place by lap five while Fick continued to lead over DeStefano. DeStefano took over the lead on the next lap as Schmid and Jason Feyereisen also passed Fick to take over second and third. DeStefano led for two laps before Schmid powered by on lap 11. Once out front, Schmid was never challenged and took the win ahead of DeStefano. Scott Ascher charged through the pack to finish third while Pat McIntee and Feyereisen rounded out the top five. Scott Scholl made his Slinger debut a successful one as he captured the victory in the first Slinger Stinger heat race. Schmid was the winner of the second heat and McIntee set fast time for the seventh time this season with a 13.419 second tour of the high-banked Slinger oval. Mark Ritger won the Figure 8 event and Team Cruiser race wins went to the teams of Rob and Bryan Myers and Pat McComb and Rick Schaefer. Schaefer returned later in the evening to win the Spectator races and Dan Loy was the Speedway Guest car event winner. Mary Abel from West Bend was the winner of the $100 AAL Fan Challenge. For Complete results from the RACESTAT computer CLICK HERE
Special; Slinger, WI - This Sunday Night, August 26th, Mobil presents Round 3 of the Coca Cola Triple Crown Classic at the Slinger Super Speedway. The evening, will be highlighted by twin 50 lap late model features and a full racing program in the Late Models, Midwest Modifieds, Slinger Stinger Street Stocks, Figure 8's, Team Cruisers, Speedway Guest cars, and Spectator races all for the regular admission price this Sunday on the world's fastest ¼ mile oval. Currently Al Shill leads the Coca-Cola points battle over Brad Mueller by only 13 points with John Zimmerman, Lowell Bennett, Conrad Morgan and Charlie Thon rounding out the top six. It is a close battle between all of the drivers and anyone could rise to the top and win the series Sunday night. Kids 11 and under will be entered into a drawing for a FREE bike, plus kids will have a chance to participate in the Kids Coca Cola 500. Fans can receive a FREE ticket to this race with any purchase of two 6 pack 8 oz. Glass bottles of Coca Cola purchased at participating Mobil Stations for this August 26th event, while supplies last. Entries are being accepted for the Spectator 200 lap Enduro and the New Compact cars and 4 Cylinder Enduro 100 lap event set for Sunday, September 23rd with racing action to start at 2 p. m. The starting line-up for the Enduro is determined by the order in which the entry forms are received at the Speedway. Interested novice drivers may find out more information by stopping in or calling the track office at the below number. Spectator gates open at 4: 45 p.m. for the Sunday event with time trials at 5:15 p.m. and racing scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The Slinger Super Speedway is located ¼ mile West of Highway 41 on Highway 144 in Slinger. For more information, call the track office during normal business hours M-F 9-5 at (262) 644-5921 or check out the new track website at www.slingersuperspeedway.com |
