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Schill Scores Fourth Win
at Slinger!
By Weyer / Margetta |
July
28, 2002; Slinger, WI - Al Schill returned to Victory Lane
for the fourth time this season when he won the Lighthouse Entertainment Center 65-lap
late model feature Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway.
Chris Petersen took the green flag from the pole position and led
the first five laps as the inside lane edged ahead, bringing Schill into second place.
Schill quickly moved to the inside of Petersen and powered by for the lead.
With Schill and Petersen distancing themselves from the pack, veterans
Conrad Morgan and Lowell Bennett worked their way forward into third and fourth by lap
ten. The inside line was the preferred groove and the field began to fall in line at the
bottom of the speedway with the top positions remaining unchanged until Bennett was able
to muscle his way around Petersen for second on lap 30. Schill led at the halfway mark and
collected the $100 Mac Tools Bonus.
With Schill immersed in heavy lapped traffic, Bennett slowly started to erase the deficit
between himself and the leader. Conrad Morgan held down third place while Petersen
couldn’t keep his car in the bottom lane and began to fade as Donavan Morgan and Eric
Fransen moved by.
Donavan was able to pass Conrad for third on lap 50 as Bennett continued
to cut into Schill’s lead as both drivers maneuvered their way through traffic.
Bennett had Schill in his sights over the final ten laps but could not get close enough to
make a bid for the lead as Schill raced to the checkered flag with a three car length
lead. Donavan held off Conrad to finish third while Fransen took the checkered flag in
fifth.
“I don’t like that picture,” stated Schill later when asked about the view
of Bennett’s fast closing car in his rear view mirror. “The car was good for the
first 50 laps and then it went away, I was struggling to hold on there at the end.”
The victory provided some vindication of sorts for Schill, who had one of the fastest cars
on the speedway in the July 23rd Miller Lite Nationals before falling out with mechanical
problems late in the event.
Scott Schoeni defeated Larry Los and Austin Konetski to win the 30-lap semi-feature and
Rich Loch edged Conrad Morgan to win the dash. David Prunty was the fastest qualifier
after circling the speedway in 11.823 seconds.
Russ Grade earned his first career Midwest modified 30-lap feature the hard way by
outracing three of the division’s top drivers at the finish.
Andy Evraets paced the beginning laps as Grade charged into second place on lap five. Jeff
Holtz, Wes Biswell, and Dan Jung sliced their way through the field to enter the top five
by lap ten. Grade ventured to the outside lane in a bid to pass Evraets for the top spot
and after a lap of racing side by side, lunged into the lead. Evraets became trapped on
the inside and slid back, allowing Holtz, Biswell, and Jung to all get by.
Mike Graczkowski and Dan Miller spun in turn two, slowing the race under the caution flag
on lap 19. Grade led the restart and kept his car in front of Holtz, Biswell, and Jung to
maintain the lead. Lenny Gallenberg and Ed Grober had an impromptu meeting of sorts on lap
21 that began in turn three and continued all the way down the front stretch before ending
in turn two to produce the second caution flag of the race.
Grade was up to the task as the green waved again and he held off the
three hotshoes behind him to capture his first career Midwest modified feature victory.
Holtz finished second followed by Biswell and Jung. Evraets completed another strong race
with a fifth place finish.
In other Modified action, Evraets won the fast dash while Dan Miller set fast time with
12.653 second lap.
The 15-lap Slinger stinger feature was showcased by a close five-car finish that was
topped by Jimmie Evans.
After six laps of racing in two-by-two formation, Evans finally emerged as the clear-cut
leader on lap seven. Joe DeStefano Sr., Paul Wagner, Nathan Fick, Todd Gehring, and Jason
Feyereisen were all locked in a pack behind Evans fighting for second place when a spin by
David Pichler slowed the race under the yellow flag.
Gehring shot into second place on the restart but his actions were deemed
as happening too early by track officials and he was black flagged for jumping the start.
With Gehring out of the picture, Wagner literally pushed DeStefano alongside Evans to
challenge for the lead. On the final laps, Evans edged ahead for the win as the top five
cars finished in a tight bunch. DeStefano nipped Wagner for second while Fick held off
Feyereisen to finish fourth.
Roger Schmid won the fast dash and Wagner set fast time with a 13.566 second lap.
Randy Mohr and Steve Clark came out on top of the wild team cruiser race and Jack
Sutherland raced to the win in the Figure 8 event. Wagner returned to drive a Thunderbird
to victory in the spectator elimination races and Lorenz Bermier took the checkered flag
in the speedway guest car event. The demo derby was rescheduled for Sunday night, August
4th. The demo derby will pay $500 to win and interested participants can call the Track
Office for more details at (262) 644-5921 during normal business hours Monday through
Friday.
For Complete results
from the RACESTAT computer CLICK
HERE |
