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Bennett Captures the Uptown Automotive
Miller Lite Rusty Wallace Special At Slinger!!
By Weyer / Margetta |
June
11, 2002; Slinger, WI - Lowell Bennett won his second late
model feature of the season at Slinger Super Speedway when he captured the 75-lap Miller
Lite Rusty Wallace Special presented by Uptown Automotive Tuesday night.
Bennett waited until the later stages of the event to make his
charge toward the front as he passed Conrad Morgan to take the lead on lap 57 and then
held off the six-time track champion to secure the win.
“Could it be anything other than the #2 car tonight?” asked Bennett afterwards
in reference to NASCAR Winston Cup driver Rusty Wallace who was on hand to sign autographs
and like Bennett also drives a car #2. “I have the most fun racing with Conrad.
We’ve run so many laps together here and we had a heck of a good time tonight.”
Joe Gross and Mike Egan paced the field to the green flag and Egan immediately jumped into
the lead on the opening lap. Egan and Gross put some distance between themselves and the
third place battle between Mike Pascavis and Jamie Wallace.
Morgan, David Prunty, Bennett, and Donavan Morgan all found themselves
entrenched in a tight pack behind the side-by-side race for third between Pascavis and
Wallace as Egan and Gross continued to race nose-to-tail out front. Conrad managed to
break through the pack on lap 25, taking third from Wallace and immediately moving to the
outside of Gross for second. Gross was turning in his best performance of the season and
he fought hard with Morgan for second while Egan retained his position at the head of the
pack.
Morgan finally powered by Gross on the outside to grab second on lap 35 just before the
only caution flag of the event waved when defending race winner Rich Loch and Tom Hromadka
spun in turn four. Egan led Morgan as the race resumed and kept the top spot at the
halfway mark to collect the $100 Mac Tools Halfway Bonus. Morgan was able to ease
alongside Egan on lap 41 as Bennett worked his way into third just ahead of Donavan Morgan
and Gross.
One lap later, Conrad was out front with Bennett also using the outside
lane to challenge Egan for second. Bennett completed the pass on lap 45 and worked on
catching Morgan for the lead. The lead cars put some space between themselves and the rest
of the field by lap 55 when Bennett made his bid for the lead. Bennett ran Morgan hard
into the first turn on lap 57 and when the Waukesha veteran pushed up in the middle of the
corner, Bennett dove to the inside and took command of the event.
The leaders encountered lapped traffic over the final laps and while Morgan was able to
stay in Bennett’s tire tracks, he couldn’t make a serious challenge for the lead
as Bennett took the win by about two car lengths. Donavan Morgan followed his father
across the finish line to take third while Cindy Peterson was fourth. Egan wrapped up his
strong performance with a fifth place finish.
In other late model action, Lance Bjorklund won the 30-lap semi-feature over Scott Schoeni
and Larry Los. Donavan Morgan won the dash and Bennett was the fastest qualifier with a
lap of 11.758 seconds.
Dale Prunty continued his winning ways in the Midwest modified division as he took top
honors in the 30-lap feature.
Russ Grade and Andy Evraets held the top two positions in the beginning stages of the race
while Prunty raced with Mike Graczkowski and Dan Miller for third. Prunty took over third
by lap ten and a few laps later, the Allenton driver raced around Evraets for second as
Grade continued to lead. Prunty motored around Grade at the halfway point to take the lead
while Graczkowski, Evraets, Miller, and Dan Jung staged their own fight for third.
Graczkowski came out on top of the battle and by lap 25, worked his way
past Grade for second. One lap later, Grade spun while running third allowing Evraets,
Jung, and Miller to move up as the race remained under the green flag. Prunty proved to be
too strong for Graczkowski as he took the victory, his third of the season. Graczkowski
finished second and Evraets was third. Jung and Miller completed the top five.
In other Midwest modified action, Ron Schmitt won his first fast dash of the season and
Jeff Holtz led qualifying with a lap of 12.637 seconds.
Paul Wagner scored a convincing win in the 20-lap Slinger stinger feature.
Wagner started the event from the third position and by lap five was well out in front of
the field while Todd Gehring and Joseph Osterman battled for second ahead of James
Littrell and Jason Feyereisen. Gehring eventually took sole possession of second place and
followed Wagner as the lead cars stretched out their advantage on the rest of the field.
Wagner was never challenged as he captured the win but Gehring spun in
turn four on the final lap and lost second place to Pat McIntee. Gehring was able to back
his car across the line just ahead of Feyereisen to be credited with a third place finish.
Feyereisen was fourth and David Pichler was fifth.
Wagner won the dash and McIntee was the fastest qualifier after turning a lap of 13.636
seconds.
Jack Sutherland won the Figure 8 race and Joe DeStefano Sr. drove his Camaro to the win in
the Spectator Eliminator races.
Daryl and Craig Adams appeared to win the team cruiser event after a
multi-car incident slowed many of the lead cars on the final lap, but they failed
post-race technical inspection and were disqualified leaving the event with no official
winner.
For
Complete results from the RACESTAT computer CLICK
HERE |
