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Bennett takes the win in the Miller Lite 120 presented by Emily's
Restaurant
By Dan
Margetta |
(Slinger,
WI); May 4, 2008 -
Lowell Bennett swept by Al Schill to take the lead just past the
halfway mark and went on to win the Miller Lite 120 Spring Opener
presented by Emily’s Restaurant Sunday afternoon at the Slinger
Super Speedway.
“I was just on cruise control there at the end”, Bennett stated
after pulling away for the convincing win. “This is a great way to
start out the year.”
Nick Schumacher and Tommy
Pecaro led the field to the green flag with Schumacher setting the
pace during the opening laps as Pecaro, Schill, Brad Dahmer, and
Bennett raced behind him. The action started early as on lap four,
Dan Jung looped his machine into the infield exiting turn two and as
the field scattered to avoid the incident, cars became stacked up
entering turn three. The cars of Mike Meyerhofer and Fred Winn
couldn't escape the gridlock and both spun while behind them Dennis
Prunty and Pete Wiedmeyer made hard contact with the turn three
concrete as Prunty rode the wall to bring out the caution flag.
Schumacher continued to hold off Schill for the top spot as racing
resumed while further back, the field again took to side-by-side
racing as Eric Fransen, Brad Dahmer, Brad Mueller, Jeremy Lepak, and
David Prunty all looked to move up. The close racing resulted in
contact within the pack, sending Dahmer’s car sideways and has he
fought for control, his front-end slightly clipped Prunty’s machine
and send it spinning into the infield to draw another caution flag
on lap 14. Prunty was able to continue and both he and Dahmer
restarted the race at the rear of the field as Schumacher continued
to lead over Schill, Pecaro, Mike Strupp, and Fransen.
Schill used the outside on the restart to get a run on Schumacher
and worked his way into the lead on lap 16 while Bennett and Mueller
advanced into the top five. Schill was able to ease away from the
field while Bennett continued his march forward, taking over second
place from Schumacher by lap 45 while Mueller and Fransen closed
from fourth and fifth. Bennett pulled to Schill’s bumper and made a
brief challenge before the caution flag waved for the scheduled
break at the halfway mark with Schill leading Bennett, Mueller,
Fransen, and Schumacher.
Schill maintained the lead on the restart but was under heavy
pressure from Bennett who was working the outside groove in an
effort to take command of the event. Bennett’s work paid off on lap
63 as he swept around Schill on the outside for the lead while
Fransen remained within striking distance in third. Behind the top
three Mueller found himself in a battle with Jeremy Lepak and David
Prunty, who sliced his way through the field to run down the top
five. By the 100-lap mark, Schill began to fade in the inside groove
as Fransen, Lepak, and Prunty all worked their way around, shuffling
the veteran to fifth. Prunty continued his strong run by charging
into third place by lap 110, leaving Lepak to race with Mueller over
the fourth spot. There was no catching Bennett in the closing laps
as he cruised to the win ahead of Fransen and Prunty while Lepak and
Mueller rounded out the top five finishers.
“It feels good to have a run like this,” Fransen told the crowd
following his second place result. “Yesterday we weren't sure what
kind of car we had, but today we had a pretty good one.”
“I really just needed one more caution,” Prunty claimed after his
impressive third place run. “I was just waiting for the right time.
The early spin messed up the tires a little bit, but I'm happy with
this car.”
Dennis Prunty took top honors in the 30-lap late model semi-feature
to transfer into the main event along with second place finisher
Jamie Wallace. Mike Egan, Scott Schoeni, and Collin Bamke rounded
out the top five finishers. Brad Mueller was the fastest qualifier
at 11.484 seconds.
Jon Reynolds Jr. began the season right where he left off last year,
as he edged Chris Ratajczyk to win the 35-lap limited late model
main event.
Brad Keith raced to the early lead at the drop of the green flag
ahead of Steve Apel, Reynolds, and Dave McCardle. With Keith
maintaining the top spot, Reynolds raced into second place by lap
ten and began to track down Keith for the lead. Reynolds pulled
alongside Keith numerous times and the two raced side-by-side with
Keith able to hold onto the lead in lapped traffic. On lap 18,
Reynolds was able to edge ahead just before the caution flag waved
for an incident involving Jack Rabey in turn three. On the restart,
Reynolds sprinted ahead to a sizeable advantage while Keith found
himself in battle for second with Chris Ratajczyk, Steve Apel, and
Scott Ascher. Apel was able to grab second place by lap 20, bringing
Ratajczyk with him into third place as Keith and Ascher raced for
the fourth spot. Ratajczyk was able to work his way by Apel for
second place as Reynolds enjoyed a commanding lead.
On lap 29, Rob
Braun clipped the backstretch wall and spun entering turn three.
When his car slid down the banking, it was solidly collected by the
car of Jerry Eckhardt and the caution flag flew again. Reynolds and Ratajczyk lined up for the double-file restart with just six laps to
go and Reynolds was able to hold onto the lead before the field was
slowed again under yellow on lap 32 following a spin by Trevor
Dassow. Reynolds was up to the task over the final three laps and he
took the checkered flag ahead of Ratajczyk for the victory. Steve
Apel finished third ahead of Scott Ascher and Brad Keith. Earlier in
the afternoon, Jimmy Dragich was the fastest qualifier in the
limited late model division after turning a lap of 12.376 seconds.
Defending Midwest Sportsman track champion Kenny Joosten dominated
the 35-lap Midwest Sportsman feature to score a commanding win over
Jeff Holtz and James Swan. Joosten led every lap of the caution-free
event and handily took victory in dominating fashion. Holtz chased
Joosten throughout the entire distance and finally settled for
second place at the finish while Swan improved from his sixth
starting spot to finish third. Dave Thomas and Mike Graczkowski
completed the top five finishers. Graczkowski also set fast time for
the division, touring the speedway in 12.681 seconds.
Steven Schulz passed Steve Huelsbeck on the outside on lap five of
the Midwest Modified 25-lap feature and checked out on the field to
score the victory. Huelsbeck crossed the finish line in second place
while Wes Biswell followed behind in third place. Matt Pate and Ron
Schmitt completed the top five finishers as the race ran
caution-free. In addition to scoring the feature win, Schulz also
was the fastest qualifier in the division with a lap of 12.322
seconds.
Aaron Cain held off a late charge by Al Stippich to win the 20-lap
Thunderstock feature.
Joel Steffen and Bernie Leonard swapped the lead in the early going
before Cain charged by and into the lead on lap seven. The first
caution flag of the event waved a lap later for fluid on the track
and on the restart, Stippich quickly moved from the fifth position
into second, using the outside line. Jim Bentzler also advanced
forward, following Stippich into third leaving Joel Steffen to
battle Troy Martingilio over the fourth position. Stippich closed in
on Cain, driving to Cain’s rear bumper as the caution flag flew
again on lap 16 when Jack Stern’s car momentarily caught fire. Cain
held off Stippich’s charges over the final four laps and crossed the
finish line for the win with Stippich a close second. Bentzler
finished third ahead of Martingilio and Steffen. Stippich also set
fast time for the division at 13.735 seconds.
Matt Westphal executed a last lap pass on Matt Klenz to win the
20-lap Slinger Bees feature. Eddie Klug finished third while Tom
Berens and Ken Schraufnagel rounded out the top five. Jason Hennes
was the fastest qualifier at 16.587 seconds.
Shane Becker closed out the afternoon with a win in the Figure 8
event.
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