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Bennett Dominates
Port-A-John 100!
By Dan Margetta |
September
5, 2004; Slinger, WI - Lowell Bennett
ran away from the field and dominated the Port-A-John 100-lap Labor Day Weekend Special
Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway, taking the checkered flag nearly a half lap
ahead of Eric Fransen and Brad Mueller.
“This kind of surprised me
because this is our Kaukana car,” Bennett explained to the crowd after nailing down
his fourth feature win of the season. “We destroyed our other car two weeks ago and
we put the Slinger motor in this one. I was a little disappointed in qualifying but the
car was good and I was happy with it.”
Bennett took the green flag from the pole position and immediately shot into the lead over
Gregg Haese, Fransen, David Prunty, and Travis Dassow. Contact between Dave Teske and
Donavan Morgan while racing for position produced a quick caution flag on lap four as cars
scattered in turn one. Bennett took off on the restart with the lead while Fransen went to
work on passing Haese for second. Using the inside line, Fransen was able to pull
alongside and eventually took the spot as Haese became trapped on the outside. Haese began
to fall back as Prunty, Dassow, and Ryan Mathews all were able to pass him by lap 21.
Haese’s backslide continued as four laps later Brad Mueller and Dave Feiler also used
the inside to get by, dropping Haese to eighth.
While the drivers from second on back raced each other for position, Bennett began to
drive away from them and opened up a substantial lead over Fransen and Prunty by lap 30.
The handling began to go away a bit on Dassow’s car and he fell from fourth to
seventh by lap 40 as Mathews, Mueller, and Feiler moved into fourth through sixth
respectively. The inside line seemed to be the preferred groove during the middle stages
as the only front running car to try the outside was Prunty as he attempted to take second
from Fransen on lap 51. A lap later, Mike Strupp spun into the infield after contact with
another car but the race remained under the green flag and a slight hesitation amongst the
leaders, caught Prunty on the high side as Mathews, Mueller, and Feiler were able to pass
by on the inside.
While Bennett enjoyed a comfortable lead of nearly a half lap, the action amongst the rest
of the top five was intense over the later stages as Mathews made numerous looks to the
inside of Fransen for second. Mathews was able to edge ahead of Fransen at the line but
could not make the move stick in the corners and each time Fransen would prevail down the
backstretch. Mathews’ charge eventually cost him as his car’s inability to hook
up to the inside off the corners, enabled Mueller to drive around on the outside and take
third place on lap 89.
Bennett cruised to the checkered flag to convincingly win the event while Fransen held off
Mueller for second place. Mathews completed his solid run with a fourth place finish and
Prunty was fifth. Feiler finished in sixth place and now trails Mueller by 76 points in
the battle for the track championship with one week to go. Al Schill took the checkered
flag in seventh place while Austin Konetski, Dassow, and John Mueller rounded out the top
ten.
Conrad Morgan raced to the win in the 30-lap late model semi-feature over Chris Ratajczyk,
Randy Schuler, Mike Egan, and Mark Bitzan. Jim Jeshowshek held off Mike McCabe to win a
hotly contested 12-lap late model consi and Feiler set fast time on the night after
touring the speedway in 11.312 seconds.
Gary LaMonte sliced through the field to take the lead late in the 30-lap Midwest
Sportsman feature before holding off Jay Shambeau to score the win.
Shambeau led the early going over Mike Borchardt, Todd Gehring, and Dale Weyer as LaMonte
tried to find his way through traffic. Shambeau opened up a sizeable advantage as those
behind him fought for position with LaMonte and Colin Bamke closing in on the top five.
LaMonte and Bamke moved into fourth and fifth respectively on lap 15 while Shambeau
continued to lead comfortably over Borchardt and Gehring. Using the outside groove,
LaMonte was able Gehring for third on lap 20 and then two laps later, he used the same
outside move to snag second place from Borchardt. Bamke also advanced his way around
Gehring and Borchardt to move into third place on lap 25. LaMonte and Bamke ran down
Shambeau over the final five laps and LaMonte made his move for the lead with an outside
pass with two laps to go. LaMonte remained strong over the final two laps and took the win
ahead of Shambeau who edged Bamke for second. Borchardt crossed the stripe in fourth place
while Gehring finished fifth.
Earlier in the evening, Bamke was victorious in the fast dash and James Swan was the
fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.578 seconds.
Jason Feyereisen edged Dan Miller by less than a car-length to win the 25-lap Eldorado
Trailer Sales Midwest Modified feature.
Russ Grade led the opening laps and opened up nearly a straightaway lead as Ron Schmitt,
Feyereisen, Wes Biswell, and Miller all raced alongside each other for the remaining top
five positions. With Grade comfortably in front, Feyereisen made his way around Schmitt
for second on lap 15 and Miller followed suite a lap later to grab third place. Dale
Prunty had worked his way into the fifth spot but his evening ended early when he stalled
with mechanical problems on lap 19 to draw a caution flag. The caution erased Grade’s
advantage and Feyereisen was ready on the restart and immediately began to put the
pressure on for the lead. Feyereisen took command of the event from Grade on lap 22 and
Miller used the outside to move into second place on lap 23 as Grade fell to third. Over
the final two laps, Miller closed the gap on Feyereisen and tried an outside lane move on
the final lap as the two raced to the checkered flag. Miller’s bid came up just short
as Feyereisen took the win in a photo finish at the stripe. Grade wrapped up one of his
best runs of the season to finish third while Schmitt and Ken Wills rounded out the top
five.
Feyereisen also claimed top honors in the fast dash and Steve Schulz circled the track in
12.271 seconds to become the fastest qualifier for the evening.
Ryan DeStefano, Robin Van Hoff Jr., and Justin Poenitsch each took wins in the Slinger
Bees events while Doug Pasbrig held off Chris Beine and Michael Bavuso to win the 12-lap
Thunderstocks feature. Jim Bentzler drove his Oldsmobile to victory in the Spectator
Eliminator races and Amanda Krinn claimed the win in the Port-A-John Speedway Guest Car
event. Mark Ritger returned to victory lane by scoring the win in the Figure 8 event to
close out the evening.
For Complete results from the RACESTAT computer CLICK HERE
Champions
will be crowned as Eden Meat Market Presents
the Season Championships at Slinger
By Lanae Weyer
Special; Slinger, WI -
September 12th the final points night, Eden Meat Market and Catering presents The
Season Championships at the Slinger Super Speedway.
The night will consist of a 75 lap late model feature along with twin features in the
Midwest Modified division. Also the third and final round of the Midwest Sportsman
Championship Series will take place as well as a full racing program in all eight
divisions.
The Coca-Cola Kids club drawings will take place with the grand prize being a motorized
go-cart. In addition fans in attendance will have a chance to win one of 15 Green Bay
Packers Miller Lite Leather Varsity Jackets, or a grand prize of a pass for two to watch
the Green Bay vs. Tennessee Monday Night Football game on October 11th from the exclusive
Miller Lite End Zone at Lambeau Field.
Discount coupons good for reduced admission to next Sunday’s Season Championships are
available at Eden Meat Market & Catering. Eden offers a wide variety of quality meat
and sausages, and can handle all your venison-processing needs. They can also cater your
next wedding or special event. Call Eden Meat Market at 800.538.4630.
Spectator gates open at 4: 45p.m. for this Sunday’s event with time trials at
5:15p.m. and racing scheduled to begin at 7p.m. The Slinger Super Speedway is located ¼
mile West of Highway 41 on Highway 144 in Slinger.
The final event at the Speedway will take place on September 19 with the Spectator 200-lap
Enduro and the 4-cylinder Compact Special 100-lap Enduro events will begin at 2 p.m.
Entries are being accepted for the Enduro Special at the track office. The starting line
ups for both events are 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 262 644 5921 for registration forms and additional
information.
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