Bennett Drives to the Win in PPC 75! By Dan Margetta

(Slinger, WI); July 29, 2007 - Despite losing his power steering early in the event, Lowell Bennett bested Dale Prunty to win the Professional Plumbing Contractors 75-lap late model feature Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway.

“I got about halfway through and I radioed the guys that we lost power steering,” an exhausted Bennett told the crowd from Victory Lane. “I really had to manhandle it tonight.”

Photo Highlights

Lowell Bennett (#2) joins Miss Slinger Super Speedway in victory lane after taking top honors in the PPC 75 feature race for the Super Late Models. fLowell Bennett (#2) uses the high line to surpass Dale Prunty (#17) on his way to winning the PPC 75. Nick Hammer (#40) races hard in the outside line as he challenges Lowell Bennett (#2) during the Super Late Model feature contest. Nick Hammer (#40) had an up and down evening winning the Super Late Model dash, but later becoming involved in this wall climbing incident in the feature race. Rich Loch (#55) captured the Super Late Model semi-feature to advance into the main event. Nick Hammer (#40) scored his first career Super Late Model dash win. Nick Schumacher (#16) was the fastest qualifier tonight in Super Late Model action. Jon Reynolds Jr. (#10) had a great evening at Slinger Super Speedway setting fast time and later winning the feature in the Limited Late Model division. Rob Braun (#98) prevented a clean sweep of the Limited Late Models by Jon Reynolds Jr. when he captured the dash event. Steve Huelsbeck (#61) won both the Midwest Modified dash and the feature event this evening. Steven Schulz (#45) was the Midwest Modified fast qualifier. Kenny Joosten was the fast qualifier in the Midwest Sportsman class. Dave Edwards (#5) the nights fast qualifier in the Thunderstocks.

John Mueller and Dale Prunty led the field to the green flag and Prunty used the upper groove to grab the early lead while Bennett battled with Mueller for second. Mueller worked the inside to take sole possession of second on lap eight as Al Schill and Gary LaMonte moved up to challenge Bennett for third. Nick Schumacher sliced his way from deep in the field to fifth place by lap 14 as Prunty continued to lead. Schumacher’s charge forward came to an end a lap later when something appeared to break on the right rear of his car as he entered turn one, sending him sideways. LaMonte ramped Schumacher’s sliding car in turn two and ended up head on into the Styrofoam barriers positioned against the wall at the exit of turn two. The incident also collected the car of Randy Schuler as the yellow flag appeared.

Mueller was quick on the button on the restart and he charged from the outside lane to pass Prunty for the top spot while Nick Hammer also launched forward on the outside to challenge Bennett for third. Hammer’s outside run lasted for ten laps but eventually the groove didn’t hold and he fell back as Bennett, Schill, David Prunty, and Matt Kocourek all were able to make their way around by lap 30. Dale Prunty began to hook up on the outside and he tracked Mueller down, using the upper lane to retake the lead from Mueller on lap 36. Bennett was also able to use the top side to move into second place a few laps later, leaving Mueller to battle with Schill, Prunty, and Kocourek.

Bennett continued to make up ground using the outside, tracking down Prunty by lap 40 and once again taking to the high side to grab the lead on lap 44. The race was slowed under the caution flag again on lap 47 when Steven Schulz developed problems in turn four and ended up against the wall. Bennett maintained his lead on the restart over Prunty while Schill slid into third place ahead of Mueller and Kocourek. Kocourek made numerous attempts to take fourth, edging his nose to the inside of Mueller only to find the opening closed on him while David Prunty closed in. On lap 56, Kocourek was able to muscle to the inside of Mueller while Prunty went to the outside and they entered the corner in a daring three-wide situation. All three drivers maneuvered their way through the corner without incident but as they entered turn one, hard racing between Prunty and Kocourek resulted in both cars becoming tangled together to draw the caution flag.

Bennett led Dale Prunty on the restart, leaving Schill to battle Mueller, Josh Bauer, and Hammer for third. On lap 58, the aggressive battle between Schill and Mueller slowed both cars in turn two, allowing Bauer and Hammer to rapidly close. This time, Mueller, Bauer, and Hammer entered the third turn three-wide and Hammer came out on the short end of the deal, climbing the wall and riding it on his side before landing back down on all four wheels with the yellow flag waving for a fourth time.

As racing resumed, Bennett once again was able to keep his lead over Prunty as Mueller and Bauer tussled over third place just ahead of Schill, Eric Fransen, and Fred Winn. With the power steering failing in his car, Bennett managed to wrestle his car around the speedway for the final laps, holding off Prunty to take the checkered flag for the win. Bauer managed to work is way around Mueller to finish third while Mueller held off Eric Fransen to secure fourth place. Winn finished a strong sixth while Schill and Kocourek crossed the finish line in seventh and eighth place respectively. Rich Loch and Conrad Morgan rounded out the top ten. Bennett’s victory coupled with David Prunty’s problems allowed Bennett to close to within 13 points of Prunty in the battle for the track championship.

Rich Loch raced to the win in the 30-lap late model semi-feature to transfer into the main event along with second place finisher Randy Schuler. Mike Meyerhofer finished third ahead of Chris Carlson and Jon Ovadal Jr. Nick Hammer won the late model fast dash and Nick Schumacher was the fastest qualifier at 11.549 seconds.

Mike Borchardt scored the victory in the wreck-strewn Midwest Sportsman feature that was shortened to 14-laps due to time constraints.

The event got off to a rocky start before the green flag even flew as problems near the front of the field touched off an accordion-like reaction through the field as Tom Elsinger, Brad Joeckes, and Greg Beebe tangled in turn three. Borchardt charged into the lead following a complete restart of the event while David Marshall, Mark Kissinger, Dan Church, and Chris Beine followed. Kenny Joosten and Pat McIntee began to race their way forward into the top five, but contact between them sent McIntee looping around on lap eight to bring out the caution flag. Joosten was also sent to the rear of the field for the restart with Borchardt leading over Marshall and Kissinger. Borchardt kept his lead as racing resumed but Marshall began to fade as Kissinger, Dave Thomas, and Beine all managed to drive around him by lap 10. Thomas continued to move taking second place from Kissinger a lap later while farther back Scott Shambeau and Mike Graczkowski entered the top five. The caution flag waved again on lap 13 when Beine’s car slid sideways while racing with Marshall and in the aftermath, Marshall spun exiting turn four. Jay Shambeau was immediately behind Marshall and he also looped his car around while Pat McIntee plowed hard into the Shambeau car. When the smoke cleared, Marshall was in the infield while McIntee’s car sat nearly impaled on the front of Shambeau’s machine. The race resumed for one more lap before Jimmie Evans, Beebe, and Dennis Vinohradsky all tangled in turn three, forcing officials to end the race early due to time constraints. Borchardt was declared the winner over Thomas and Kissinger while Scott Shambeau and Beine rounded out the top five finishers. Earlier, Pat McIntee won the Midwest Sportsman fast dash and Kenny Joosten set fast time at 12.679 seconds.

For the second consecutive week, Jon Reynolds Jr. stormed through the field to win the 30-lap limited late model feature.

Corey Funk paced the opening laps over Chris Ratajczk while Steve Apel raced into third place by lap ten with Rob Braun and Jerry Eckhardt following. Reynolds started deep in the field and used the outside groove to work his way to fifth place by lap 19 while Funk continued to lead over Ratajczyk and Apel. Reynolds marched further to the front two laps later as he passed Braun for the fourth spot while Ratajczyk made the move around Funk to take the lead. By lap 25, Ratajczyk maintained his lead with Reynolds closing in fast, taking third place from Apel and then moving around Funk for second on the next circuit. A spin by Scott Bohl in turn three, set up a four lap dash to the finish between Ratajczyk and Reynolds with Funk, Apel, and Eckhardt close behind. Ratajczyk jumped to the lead as racing resumed, but Reynolds had his car hooked up on the top lane and he quickly closed in to challenge while Apel, Eckhardt, and Funk battled hard over third place. On the final lap, Reynolds made the outside move stick exiting turn two and he was able to edge Ratajczyk at the stripe for the win. Apel finished in third place ahead of Eckhardt and Funk. Rob Braun won the Limited Late Model Trophy Dash earlier in the evening while Jon Reynolds set fast time at 12.339 seconds.

Steve Huelsbeck drove to the win in the 25-lap Midwest Modified feature over Bill Tandetzke and Matt Pate.

Tandetzke led the opening lap before Dan Prunty took command of the event on lap two. The yellow flag appeared on lap four when Steven Schulz and Russ Moberly tangled in turn four and for the restart, Prunty lined up on the outside for the restart. The decision proved costly as a lap later, Prunty skimmed along the backstretch wall before spinning in turn three as Tandetzke raced to the lead, bringing Wes Biswell with him into second. Huelsbeck moved into third place with Pate and John Kruschell racing for the fourth spot. On lap six, Biswell developed mechanical problems and exited the race as Huelsbeck moved up to challenge Tandetzke for the lead. After making numerous unsuccessful attempts to get by Tandetzke, Huelsbeck finally made the move work on lap ten to take the lead. Once out front, Huelsbeck pulled away to take the victory unchallenged while Tandetzke finished a strong second. Matt Pate wrapped up a very respectable run with a third place result while Roy Aitchison and Kruschell rounded out the top five. Huelsbeck also won the Midwest Modified fast dash and Steven Schulz was the fastest qualifier at 12.490 seconds.

Jim Bentzler hustled his way to an exciting win in the 16-lap Thunderstock feature over Justin Okruhlica and Paul Konieczny.

Bentzler took the lead at the drop of the green flag while Okruhlica charged by Bill Johnson and Greg Thomas to take over second place by lap five. With Bentzler and Okruhlica approaching lapped traffic, Konieczny raced his way to third place by lap ten with Dave Edwards and Aaron Cain following. The leaders got a scare with three laps to go when a lapped car spun across the track directly in front of them, but everyone made it through without incident and the race remained under green. With the back of his car sliding sideways exiting turn four, Bentzler held off the charges of Okruhlica to take the win while Konieczny, Edwards, and Ryan Gutknecht rounded out the top five. Earlier in the evening, Dave Edwards was the fastest qualifier in the Thunderstock division, turning in a lap of 13.850 seconds.

Ken Schraufnagel held off Zach Durham to win the 16-lap Slinger Bees feature while Jesse Knutson finished third. Roman Blank and C.J. Corallini completed the top five finishers. Matt Westphal was the fastest qualifier at 16.783 seconds. Jason Griesbach was the winner of the Speedway Guest Car event and Greg Shaske won the Spectator Eliminator races in his Ford Taurus. Shane Becker took top honors in the Figure 8 race to close the evening.
 

For Complete results from the RACESTAT computer CLICK HERE 

Hi Rev Performance Al Roethle Memorial
Roll Over Contest

(Slinger, WI) Sunday Night August 5th: Hi Rev Performance Al Roethle Memorial. A 60 lap Late Model Feature will headline the racing events. Late Models will be joined by: Limited Late Models, Midwest Sportsman, Thunderstock, Slinger Bee’s, one on one spectators, The West Bend Savings Bank Speedway Guest Cars, and those wild and crazy Figure 8’s. Gates open at 4:45, Qualifying at 5:15, and Racing at 7:00.

PLUS a Roll Over Contest! The Roll Over Contest will pay $200 to win and $100 for second! Just knock out the windows and go. Last months winner Justin Pain”OUTCH” made 3.5 rolls taking the win.

Hi Rev Performance is your local one stop shop for Circle Track Parts, Custom Fabrication, Diesel Performance Parts, Car Accessories, and Truck Accessories. Hi Rev Performance is conveniently located just north of Slinger Speedway in Allenton, WI. Take Hwy 41 N to Hwy 33 West, at 717 Main Street.

There are select advertising and sponsorship opportunities available for the 2007 season. For more information, contact the speedway’s PR and Marketing at: 262-370-0440, slingerspeedway1@aol.com, or visit our web site at: www.slingersuperspeedway.com.