September
1, 2002; Slinger, WI - While
the record book states John Zimmerman led every lap of the Port-A-John 100 Sunday night at
the Slinger Super Speedway it doesn’t do justice to what turned out to be the best
race of the season at the world’s fastest ¼ mile oval.
Using
the outside groove of the speedway, Zimmerman out-dueled Lowell Bennett, Conrad Morgan,
and Al Schill, three drivers who collectively own fourteen track championships between
them, to nail down his second feature win of the season and first since June. “I won
the Firecracker race here (on June 30) and it was the same thing, really clean,
side-by-side racing,” stated Zimmerman from victory lane. “The car has been
really great, we took a month off to regroup, and my crew is the reason we are here.” Although
Zimmerman never was headed for the lead, the race was one of the most competitive of the
season as the top nine cars finished within a straightaway of each other at the checkered
flag. Zimmerman
began the race from the outside of the front row and immediately used the high groove to
secure the lead at the completion of lap one. Morgan was the first driver to challenge
Zimmerman’s reign at the front of the field and the two pulled away from the rest of
the pack while Bennett raced with David Prunty and Eric Fransen for third. A spin
involving Fred Winn and John Mueller on lap 42 produced the first caution flag with
Zimmerman leading Conrad Morgan, Bennett, Fransen, and Donavan Morgan. On the restart,
Zimmerman immediately jumped to the outer groove and resumed the lead as Bennett began to
pressure Morgan for second. Bennett
grabbed the second spot on lap 51 and Donavan Morgan followed to drop Conrad back to
fourth, just ahead of Fransen. Donavan stayed
in Bennett’s tire tracks and both drivers closed in on Zimmerman to set up a
three-way battle for the lead during the middle stages. A second caution flag flew on lap
62 when Larry Los spun in turn two and a third yellow flag slowdown occurred six laps
later when Joe Gross did the same thing, again in turn two. Back under green, Bennett shot
to the inside and made several attempts to pass Zimmerman for the lead. Bennett was able
to pull even in the middle of the corners but each time, Zimmerman powered ahead exiting
the turns. The seesaw battle for the lead went on for 20 laps before Conrad came back to
life in the outside lane and along with Schill, began to march toward the front of the
field. With ten
laps to go, Zimmerman hung on to a slim lead over the side-by-side battle between Bennett
and Conrad while Donavan and Schill were glued to their bumpers, waiting for an
opportunity to advance forward. Zimmerman, who was forced to fend off challenges on both
the high and low side, worked the outside lane masterfully, never allowing Bennett or
Morgan the chance to inch ahead. On the final lap, Bennett was able to find an opening to
the inside of Zimmerman entering turn three but lost the drag race to the checkered flag
to Zimmerman by about a half car length. Conrad finished a close third just ahead of
Schill who nipped Donavan to post a fourth place finish. Fransen finished in sixth place
while Brad Mueller, Rich Loch, Dave Teske, and Fred Winn completed the top ten finishers. Chris
Ratajczyk bested Mike Strupp to win the 30-lap late model semi-feature as those two
drivers transferred into the 100-lap main event. Todd Thelen was third, followed by Mark
Bitzan and Mike Egan. Brad Hartman raced to
the win in the 15-lap consolation race ahead of Mike McCabe and Loch won the dash. Brad
Mueller was the fastest qualifier after touring the speedway in 11.661 seconds. Jeff Holtz
charged to his fourth win of the season in the caution-filled 30-lap Midwest modified
feature. The race was barely under the green flag when Russ Grade’s car faltered at the start and in an effort to avoid the situation, Larry Reihbrandt slammed the turn one wall. The incident had major implications on the chase for the season championship as point leader Dale Prunty became collected in the wreck and was forced to retire from the event. Dan Jung, who sits in second place in the season points, led the complete restart and Holtz, the third place point man, got around Andy Evraets to grab second. Jung clung
to the inside of the track as Holtz tried numerous times to make the outer groove work. Several times Holtz moved alongside Jung and both
drivers raced so close they nearly touched wheels many times during the race’s middle
stages. After Evraets and Mike Graczkowski tangled on lap 17 to bring out the caution
flag, Holtz again took to the outer groove on the restart to challenge Jung for the lead.
This time Holtz was able to make the maneuver work and he cleared Jung to take the top
spot while exiting the second turn. Once out front, Holtz pulled away and captured the win
over Jung who was forced to settle for second. Dan Miller drove to a third place finish as
Ed Grober and Lenny Gallenberg rounded out the top five. Roger Schmid survived an early battle for the
lead and pulled away to his fifth win of the season in the 20-lap Slinger stinger feature. Dave Obermeyer and Scott Shambeau led the field to the green flag and fought for the lead in the early going as Schmid held off James Littrell for third place. Obermeyer began to fade a bit on the outside and Schmid moved up to race with Shambeau for the top spot by lap seven. Joe DeStefano Sr., Jay Shambeau, Paul Wagner, and fast qualifier Jason Feyereisen charged from the back of the field to race with the leaders as Schmid made his bid for the top spot at the halfway point. Schmid worked his way around Shambeau and DeStefano followed him to take second. Once out front Schmid pulled away to a ten
car length lead while the rest of the field remained tightly bunched alongside each other.
Scott Shambeau faded in the closing laps as Schmid continued to maintain a comfortable
lead. Schmid raced to the win ahead of DeStefano, Jay Shambeau, Feyereisen, and Wagner. In other Slinger Stinger action, Schmid won
the fast dash and Feyereisen set fast time with a 13.428
second lap. Mark and Ken Fogel made a dramatic last lap
pass to win the team cruiser race and Scott Bundy claimed top honors in the Slinger
Bee’s event. Scott Goetzke was the winner of the Figure 8 race after crashing with
Shane Becker as the two raced to the checkered flag. P.J. Cain came out on top of the
spectator races, driving his Dodge Stealth and Rob James topped the Port-A-John Speedway
Guest car race. For Complete results from the RACESTAT computer CLICK HERE |
