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TWO IN A ROW FOR PRUNTY IN THE PEPSI
100!
By
Dan Margetta |
(Slinger,
WI) August 13, 2006 - For the second week in a row,
David Prunty held the winner’s trophy following the late model
feature at the Slinger Super Speedway as he turned back the
challenges of Lowell Bennett to capture the win in the Pepsi 100.
“Lowell (Bennett) is a great racer but I could tell he was just a
little tight and I just took advantage of that,” Prunty told the
crowd after scoring his third feature win of the season as well as
the overall Pepsi Challenge championship. The Pepsi Challenge
consisted of points awarded for three rounds during the 2006 Slinger
season and the Pepsi 100 made up the championship round.
Fred Winn and Tommy Pecaro paced the field to the green and Pecaro
got the jump at the start to shoot out into the lead while Winn fell
into place in second ahead of Bennett and Chad Barker. Pecaro
maintained his lead using the outside groove as Winn kept the nose
of his machine planted alongside on the inside line. Winn was able
to edge ahead to lead a few laps before Pecaro once again advanced
on the outside to retake the top spot. Bennett then took to the
outside to overtake Winn for second place on lap 14 and tracked down
Pecaro for the lead when the leader slipped and bobbled in turn two.
Using the inside line this tim, Bennett made his way around Pecaro
for the lead on lap 22. The first caution flag appeared on lap 39
when Mike Strupp and Pecaro tangled in turn two and Bennett lined up
on the inside for the restart, leaving Winn to take the top side.
The inside lane worked well as racing resumed and Bennett kept his
lead while Barker, David Prunty, Dennis Prunty, and Al Schill all
advanced into the top five while Winn and Nick Schumacher fell back
on the outside. As Winn and Matt Kocourek raced hard for position,
they made slight contact and in the gridlock behind them, Mike Egan
and Randy Schuler spun in turn three to draw another caution flag on
lap 44. Bennett once again took to the inside for the restart and
Barker lined up on the outside, leaving David Prunty to occupy the
inside slot behind Bennett. The inside line again marched forward as
the green flag reappeared and Prunty slotted into second place
behind Bennett while Schill, Barker, and Dennis Prunty followed.
Another quick caution on lap 52 for a spin by Dave Teske in turn
two, resulted in David Prunty occupying the outside lane alongside
Bennett for the restart.
Prunty was able to work well in the top groove and both he and
Bennett raced side by side for several laps with neither driver able
to gain a sizeable advantage. Prunty finally was able to clear
Bennett for the top spot on lap 63 as behind them, Schill skated up
the track as Dennis Prunty and John Mueller raced by and into third
and fourth. A final caution flag appeared on lap 65 as Mike Egan
spun against the turn one wall and this time Bennett found himself
in the outside lane for the restart with Prunty in the inside lane.
Prunty held his ground and raced unchallenged to the checkered flag,
leaving Bennett to settle for second place. Schill rebounded to
finish third as Dennis Prunty and Josh Bauer rounded out the top
five.
Rich Loch won the 30-lap late model semi-feature and along with Nick
Hammer transferred into the main event. Tony Strupp finished third
ahead of Tommy Hromadka and Jim Schmittinger. Al Schill was the
winner of the late model fast dash and David Prunty set fast time at
11.321 seconds.
Brad Keith walked away with the Midwest Sportsman series feature
win, taking a convincing victory over Pat McIntee and Rob Braun.
Corey Funk and Ryan Zielski paced the field to the green and Zielski
took the early lead as Keith battled with Mark Kissinger for third.
By lap three, Keith worked his way into second place and then dove
to the inside of Zielski to take command of the event. Once out
front, Keith checked out on the field as McIntee and Braun made
their way into second and third place respectively. The top three
ran unchallenged as Zielski raced with Mike Borchardt and Mike
Graczkowski for fifth. Borchardt and Graczkowski split Zielski on
lap 20 with Graczkowksi using the inside and Borchardt taking to the
outside as both of them moved forward. Keith cruised to the victory
over McIntee and Braun while Graczkowksi finished in fourth place
and Borchardt finished fifth.
Keith also was victorious in the Midwest Sportsman Series fast dash
and Graczkowksi was the fastest qualifier at 12.659 seconds.
Dale Prunty held off Wes Biswell to win the 25-lap Midwest Modified
feature.
Joey Bentfield led the way to the green flag and he quickly jumped
out front while Joe Ostermann and Jason Feyereisen disputed second
place. Dale Prunty, Wes Biswell, Ron Schmitt, and Steve Huelsbeck
all raced hard behind them. Bentfield increased his lead while
Feyereisen tried to work his way around Ostermann, finally settling
on the inside lane on lap ten. The move proved costly as Ostermann
checked up exiting turn four, forcing Feyereisen to slow and
allowing Prunty and Biswell to race by on the outside and into
second and third place respectively. Once into second, Prunty
tracked down Bentfield, moving to the inside on lap eleven to
complete the pass for the lead. Biswell followed the move a lap
later and advanced to second place while Schmitt battled Feyereisen
and Huelsbeck over third place as Bentfield faded on the outside. At
the halfway mark, Prunty led Biswell while Huelsbeck took sole
possession of third place ahead of Feyereisen and Schmitt. With five
laps to go, Feyereisen spun across the front stretch, but the race
remained under the green flag as Schmitt moved to fourth place.
Prunty could not be caught in the final laps and he drove to the win
ahead of Biswell and Huelsbeck while Schmitt crossed the line in
fourth place with Jon Kruschel finishing fifth.
Earlier, Feyereisen won the Midwest Modified fast dash and Prunty
was the fastest qualifier at 12.359 seconds.
Kyle Quella drove to a convincing win the Wisconsin Sport Truck main
event over Tyler Nault and Scott Baker.
Jason Looker paced the opening laps while Baker pressured him.
Looker’s time out front was relatively short-lived as he spun across
the frontstretch while racing with Baker. As Looker attempted to
rejoin the chase, he stalled against the wall as the field beared
down and Jason Plutz clipped his stalled truck to bring out the
caution flag. On the restart, Baker was the leader, but didn’t come
up to speed as trucks whizzed by him. Quella worked his way forward
to snag the lead on lap 11 and proceeded to check out from there,
steadily increasing his advantage as the laps clicked by. Behind
Quella, Tyler Nault and Baker battled with Dan Vixmer for second.
Quella was untouched as he charged to the win ahead of Nault, Baker,
and Vixmer. In addition to winning the feature, Quella was also the
fastest qualifier, touring the speedway in 12.924 seconds.
Justin Okruhlica took the checkered flag first in the Thunderstocks
feature over Jamie Vetter and Shawn Hoeffler. Mark Kissinger
finished in fourth place ahead of Rick Schaefer. Travis Buchholtz
was the winner of the first Complete Car Care Slinger Bee race that
ended under caution when Josh Wenninger rolled his car four times on
the backstretch. Wenninger was not injured in the mishap and Matt
Schatz won the second Slinger Bee event. Trevor Michaels won the
Port-A-John Speedway Guest Car race and Drew Zellmer was the
Spectator Eliminator race winner in his Subaru. Donald Van Camp won
the Figure 8 event and Vincent Eggle won the demo-derby to close the
night.
For Complete results from the RACESTAT computer
CLICK HERE
Sno-Way Snow & Ice Control Fan
Appreciation Night
1000 Free T-shirts, Free Beer and Soda
(Slinger, WI) Sunday August 20th – Sno-Way Snow & Ice Control
Equipment Fan Appreciation Night! 60 lap Late Model Feature and full
racing program plus Limited Late Models. Free Bike Drawing for the
kids compliments of Behling Racing Equipment. FREE beer and soda
after the races. Free T-shirts to 1000 adults compliments of Sno-Way.
Winter is coming! Are you prepared? Sno-Way Snow Plows, Wisconsin’s
toughest name in snow and ice control is ready for you. See your
local dealer today or visit on the Web at: www.snoway.com
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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