September 2, 2001; Slinger, WI - Al Schill took a big step toward his sixth track championship Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway as he won the Port A John 100-lap late model feature and took over the point lead from Lowell Bennett when Bennett developed problems early in the event. "I saw him (Bennett) have trouble," stated Schill in victory lane. "It certainly would have been interesting if he could have stayed in there. We would have had a good race."
"My car owner (wife Gwen) also informed me I still have a ride for next year," continued the five time track champion. "So I'll be back for a 41st season of competition." Schill's win enabled him to take the lead in the season point standings by just seven points over Bennett with two point nights left in the season. Eric Fransen and Todd Thelen led the field at the start of the event and raced side by side until Fransen was able to pull ahead on lap five. Bennett, who started the race in fourth, also moved around Thelen for second a few laps later and then edged to the inside of Fransen to take the lead on lap nine. Bennett advanced to a four car-length lead as the first caution of the race appeared on lap 13 when Donavan Morgan spun in turn four after receiving a nudge from David Prunty. Both Morgan and Prunty were placed at the rear of the field for the restart. Bennett was able to pull away when racing resumed while Fransen held off Rich Loch and Brad Mueller for second. Schill entered the top five on lap 20 and began to close in on the front four. Schill worked his way around Mueller and into fourth on lap 26 and three laps later was able to dispatch Loch for third behind Bennett and Fransen. Smoke began to appear from the back of Bennett's car which progressively got worse until the current point leader was forced to pit on lap 31. The yellow flag waved one lap later when Bennett's car developed a fire while in the pit area and the race was slowed to allow the track safety truck to cross the track to attend to Bennett's car. Fransen assumed the top spot when Bennett exited the track and he held tight to the inside line on the restart while Schill looked to the outer groove in an attempt to get by. Schill made the outer groove work to his advantage and motored around Fransen for the lead on lap 35. Schill began to pull away from Fransen and through another caution flag for Florian Wisinski's spin on lap 43. Schill led at the halfway point and collected the Mac Tools $100 Halfway Bonus. While Schill continued to lead, all eyes were on Prunty who marched from the tail end of the field to take fifth place on lap 60. Prunty used the outside lane to take the fourth spot from Loch and began to close in on Mueller for third while Schill maintained his lead over Fransen. Prunty needed ten more laps to work his way around Mueller for third and tried to move in on Fransen for second. Prunty's charge came to an abrupt end on lap 87 when he suffered a flat tire and headed to the pit area for repairs. Schill began to catch lapped traffic and Fransen began to close in slightly as the laps wound down while Mueller, Loch and Cindy Peterson held down the third through fifth positions. Schill had a minor scare on lap 93 when smoke billowed out of the lapped car of Todd Thelen while he was just ahead of the leaders but Thelen managed to pull into the infield and the race remained under the green flag. Fransen could only close to within two car lengths over the final five laps and Schill raced to his sixth feature win of the season. Mueller finished a strong third behind Fransen while Loch and Peterson rounded out the top five. In other late model action, Dave Teske won the 30-lap semi-feature over Dennis Prunty and Mike Pascavis. Mark Bitzan was the winner of the 15-lap consi and Lowell Bennett won the fast dash. David Prunty was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 11.695 seconds. Two-time track champion Dennis Prunty guest drove the car normally driven by Ron Weyer and edged his brother Dale Prunty to win the 30-lap Midwest modified feature. Dennis started from the pole position and quickly jumped out to a sizeable lead while Dale, who started in eighth, began to move through the field. With Dennis comfortably out front, Larry Reihbrandt, Steve Lurvey, and Dan Jung all fought it out for positions behind the leader. By the race's halfway mark, Lurvey and Dale had raced to the second and third spots while Jung and Reihbrandt were fourth and fifth. Following a caution period for a spin on lap 24, Dale was able to close in on Dennis. Dale pulled to the outside of Dennis on lap 27 and momentarily took the lead just before the caution appeared again on lap 28 when Jeff Holtz spun after racing with Jung. Both Prunty brothers were ready for the green-white-checkered restart and they raced door to door for the win. Dale used the outer groove to inch ahead entering turn three on the final lap but Dennis had better traction on the inside groove exiting turn four and beat Dale to the stripe by less than a car length. Lurvey finished third while Chris Petersen and Reihbrandt rounded out the top five. In other Midwest modified action, Dennis Prunty also won the dash while Dale Prunty set fast time at 12.470 seconds. Paul Wagner led every lap of the Slinger Stinger feature to score his seventh feature victory of the season. Wagner started on the outside of the front row and shot into the lead immediately at the drop of the green flag. Roger Schmid charged through the pack and finished second as the event ran caution-free. Pat McIntee crossed the finish line in third just ahead of David Beck. Jason Feyereisen finished fifth. Lori Dorschner captured her first victory of the season by winning the opening Slinger Stinger heat race. Paul Wagner won the second heat race that was shortened due to two hard crashes. Todd Gehring rolled over on the backstretch and knocked out some billboards in the first incident. Gehring was not injured in the incident and the red flag was displayed while repairs were made to the fence. The second accident occurred shortly thereafter and involved the cars of Dan Jung, Scott Ascher, and Joe DeStefano Sr. DeStefano was transported by ambulance to a local hospital but returned to the speedway later in the evening. Pat McIntee was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 13.567 seconds. Mark Ritger won the Figure 8 event and Pat McComb of Hartford was the Spectator Eliminator race winner in his Firebird. Rob and Bryan Myers took the checkered flag first in the team cruisers race but were later disqualified which resulted in there being no official winner of the event. Rob James scored the victory in the Speedway Guest Car event and four year old Alexis Pehowski was the $100 AAL Fan Challenge winner. For Complete results from the RACESTAT computer CLICK HERE
Special; Slinger, WI - This Sunday Night, September 9th, Behling Racing Equipment Presents the Time Warner Race of Champions at the Slinger Super Speedway. The evening, will be highlighted by twin features in the Late Model and Midwest Modified divisions along with racing in the Slinger Stinger Street Stocks, Figure 8's, Team Cruisers, Speedway Guest cars, and Spectator divisions for no increase in admission at the world's fastest ¼ mile oval. Time Warner subscribers received special "get connected" coupons in their August billing. These coupons are good for one free admission to the Slinger Super Speedway when two are purchased. The Slinger Super Speedway 2001 season concludes with the Spectator 200 lap Enduro and the New Compact Car and 4 Cylinder Class 100 lap Enduro set for Sunday, September 23rd 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. All cars will start three abreast with a large cash prize going to the first car that travels the 200-lap distance, or 100 lap distance first. Spectator gates open at 4: 45 p.m. for this Sunday's 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 track website at www.slingersuperspeedway.com |
