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KENSETH PERSEVERES TO SCORE THIRD MILLER LITE NATIONALS CROWN!!
By
Dan Margetta |
(Slinger,
WI) July 18, 2006 - Fate did just about everything it
could to knock Matt Kenseth out of the Miller Lite Nationals Tuesday
night at the Slinger Super Speedway, but strong perseverance by both
driver and crew paid off in big dividends as the visiting NASCAR
Nextel Cup Series star led the final eight laps to capture his third
Nationals title by winning the 250-lap late model feature.
Forced to start the main event deep in the field in the 21st
position due to missing the cut in qualifying, Kenseth methodically
blazed his way through the field, entering the top ten by lap 60
before mechanical issues arose which sent his car off the speedway
twice, nearly terminating his chances for the win. After getting
pushed to the pits for ignition problems that surfaced right at the
halfway mark, Kenseth’s crew was able to remedy the situation during
the ten-minute break and he returned to the track for the second
half only to deal with distributor issues on lap 146 which once
again sent his car sputtering off the track while under caution.
Kenseth and crew caught a break as an aborted restart for a spin by
Dave Feiler before a green flag lap could be completed, allowed them
extra time to return to the speedway without losing a lap.
“It’s pretty amazing, I mean, right at the (halfway) break the thing
died and we cooled down the ignition box and got it running again,”
Kenseth explained from victory lane. “Then it died again during that
other caution and I just thought we were done. I was ready to get
out of the car when they were trying to fix it, so to win this is
pretty awesome.”
Once back underway, Kenseth caught then leader David Prunty with
eight laps to go and then managed to hold off the current Slinger
point leader through two late restarts to secure the victory.
“I thought I might be able to catch him (Prunty) under green but
then on the restarts my motor would vapor lock or something because
it was getting so hot, but he (Prunty) raced me clean and it was a
heck of a race,” Kenseth continued.
By all rights, it was Prunty who probably should have been holding
the victory hardware at the conclusion as he literally dominated the
race, leading a whopping 224 of the 250 laps before falling just
short at the finish.
“All I needed was to get alongside him for just a couple of laps, “
Prunty theorized afterwards. “If I could have done that, my tire
pressures would have come up and I would have been gone. But then
again, who could complain about losing to Matt Kenseth.”
Dennis Prunty rebounded from an early spin and charged to a
respectable third place finish, just ahead of Lowell Bennett who
remained in the top five all night, leading 16 laps before finishing
in fourth place. Brian Johnson Jr. turned in a strong performance
that was capped off with a fifth place finish. Travis Dassow paced
the event for two laps early on before turning in one of his best
results of the season, taking the checkered flag in sixth place, the
final car on the lead lap. Jeremy Lepak and Josh Bauer were a lap
down in seventh and eighth place respectively while Chad Barker and
Matt Kocourek rounded out the top ten.
NASCAR Craftsmen Truck Series driver Erik Darnell fared the best of
the remaining visiting stars, completing the event in the eleventh
position while 65-year old legend Dick Trickle wowed the crowd by
running solidly in the top ten until a jarring crash against the
backstretch wall on lap 243 relegated him to a thirteenth place
finish. NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Scott Wimmer kept pace with the
leaders for most of the night, racing in the top three until a
broken sway-bar on lap 183, knocked him back to a fourteenth place
result. Rich Bickle also had a car capable of running up front until
tire issues late in the race left him with a sixteenth place finish.
“The was really good, “ Bickle stated. “I went into turn three and
someone must have lost a bunch of water and I slid up and someone
got into me and I didn’t realize it to later, but it peeled all the
rubber off the left rear tire and it wouldn’t go anywhere from
there.”
NASCAR Busch Series driver Todd Kluever wound up with a nineteenth
place result after racing hard with Dick Trickle all evening.
“It was a good night and we were having a lot of fun, “ Kluever
said. “We had a pretty strong car in the second half and there was a
car outside of me who got in the back of the #99 car (Trickle) and
knocked him into the frontstretch wall. When he tried to cut back
down to get to the bottom, I was already there. I think it broke the
steering rack, but I was having a ball out there.”
Nick Schumacher took top honors in the 30-lap late model qualifying
race over Mike Egan and Dave Feiler. Randy Schuler finished fifth.
The 35-lap late model semi-feature was captured by Minnesota driver
Jake Ryan. Mike Strupp finished in second place ahead of Jake
Humphrey, Wayne Freimund, and Race McComb. Mark Bitzan won the
15-lap late model consi over John Nelson and Shawn Roethle. Chris
Blawat and Jim Schmittinger rounded out the top five. Lowell Bennett
bested a field of 52 late models to become the fastest qualifier
after touring the speedway in 11.393 seconds.
James Swan took the lead of the 40-lap Midwest Sportsman feature
just past halfway and drove to a convincing win.
Dean Olla led the opening laps before giving way to Mike Graczkowski
who paced the field for a few laps before Rob Braun moved to the
front on lap 12. Meanwhile, Swan began to slowly edge his way
forward, moving into second place just before lap 20. Once into
second place, Swan took to the outside groove and used the top side
to race around Braun for the lead on lap 20. Swan then began to pull
away while Kenny Joosten and Brad Keith began to pressure Braun for
second, with Joosten taking the position on lap 25. Keith made his
way around Braun to grab third place a few laps later as Swan
continued to ease away out front. Swan could not be caught and he
drove to the victory while Joosten came home with a second place
finish ahead of Keith and Braun. Pat McIntee was fifth. Earlier in
the night, Swan set fast time with a lap of 12.547 seconds.
For Complete results from the RACESTAT computer
CLICK HERE
Ritter Technology Parker Store Night 75
Rides for Kids in Race Cars – Free T-shirts fist 750 fans
(Slinger, WI) Sunday Night July
23rd – Parker Store Night at Slinger Speedway. See a 75 lap Late
Model Feature along with our regular Sunday program that includes
Midwest Modified, Midwest Sportsman, Complete Car Care Slinger Bees,
Figure Eights, Port A John Speedway Guest Cars, One on One Spectator
Eliminators and Limited Late Models. Plus rides for kids in racecars
at intermission, Free T-shirts to first 750 fans and spinal exams
from Riegleman Chiropractor of Slinger. Gates open at 4:45,
Qualifying at 5:15, and Racing at 7:00.
PARKER STORE - Ritter Technology LLC……… Parkers largest Industrial
Distributor in the US is your #1 source for all your Hydraulic and
Pneumatic needs, specializing in hose assembly while you wait! Stop
by one of their local Store locations in Pewaukee, Madison or their
new location in Milwaukee opening August 1st on the corner of Miller
Parkway and Greenfield Avenue. Place your orders online and check
them out at www.ritter1.com. Parker Store is also a proud sponsor of
6 time Slinger Champ Conrad Morgan.
There are select advertising and sponsorship opportunities as well
as company and group outings available for the 2006 season outings
available for the 2006 season. For more information, contact the
speedway’s public relations department at: 262-370-0440, the track
office at: 262-644-5921 or visit our web site at:
www.slingersuperspeedway.com.
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