Lepak Shades Strupp to Win Alan Kulwicki Memorial  Presented by Goeman's Rapid Mart BP By Dan Margetta

(Slinger, WI); May 18, 2008 - Jeremy Lepak edged Mike Strupp to capture the 70-lap Alan Kulwicki Memorial late modelfeature presented by Goeman’s Rapid Mart BP Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway to give one-time Kulwicki car owner Gerry Gunderman his first win in the prestigious late model event.

Photo Highlights

Jeremy Lepak wins the Alan Kulwicki 70 lap super late model feature. Nick Schumacher won the fast dash for the Super late models. Jeremy Lepak (#40) turned in the fastest qualifying lap of the day in Super Late Model action. Ryan Carlson wins the Limited late model feature. Chris Ratajczk wins the limited late model semi feature. Jon Reynolds Jr. nailed down fast qualifying honors in the Limited Late Models.  Dave McCardle won the fast dash for the Limited late models. James Swan after winning the Midwest Sportsman main event takes a polish victory lap with the number that Alan Kulwicki raced with when he raced on local race tracks. Jeff Holtz won the fast dash for the Midwest sportsman. Dave Thomas (#19) the evenings fastest qualifier in the Midwest Sportsman division. Al Stippich Set fast time for the Thunderstocks and came back to win the feature event. Tom Berrens takes a polish victory lap after winning the slinger bees feature.

“Just proud!” were the words Lepak used to describe what winning the event named for the late NASCAR champion meant to him. “Alan drove for Gerry years ago and worked in the same race shop we work in today and it’s an honor to represent him here. It’s cool to be part of that history.”

Tommy Pecaro and Fred Winn led the field to the green flag with Winn using the outside to take the early lead while Mike Strupp and Nick Schumacher slotted ahead of Pecaro and into second and third respectively. Winn set the pace for the first four laps before Strupp was able to work his way to the front on lap five as farther back, just outside the top five, Lepak and Brad Mueller jockeyed for position with Dennis Prunty, Lowell Bennett, and David Prunty. Strupp and Winn hooked up nose to tail and began to ease away from the field before mechanical issues sent Conrad Morgan’s car slamming into the turn three wall on lap 14, triggering an incident that also swept up the cars of Mike Meyerhofer and Tommy Hromadka as the caution flag waved to slow the event.

Strupp chose the inside lane for the restart, leaving Winn to use the outside and as racing resumed, Schumacher executed a power move from his second row restart spot, ducking to the inside of Strupp and setting up a momentarily three-wide situation before taking command of the race heading into turn three on lap 18. Winn held his line on the outside and took over second, dropping Strupp to third and into the clutches of Mueller and Lepak. Schumacher and Winn were able to race out to a sizeable advantage over the rest of the field while Lepak found himself in third place by lap 32 after a spirited battle with Mueller and Strupp. With Schumacher still enjoying a significant advantage, Lepak reeled in Winn for second place by lap 51 and soon thereafter, Strupp also worked his way around Winn for third.

In the closing stages, Schumacher appeared to have difficulty keeping his car hugged to the inside line upon the exits of the turns and Lepak and Strupp began to close with Lepak diving to the low side to take the lead on lap 59. Strupp also used the inside line to move into second place three laps later as Lepak looked to extend his lead. With the laps winding down, Lepak became mired in lapped traffic and Strupp began to rapidly close, pulling to Lepak’s bumper with two laps to go. On the final lap, Strupp made his move exiting turn four, fitting the nose of his car between Lepak and a lapped machine with Lepak edging Strupp at the stripe in a spectacular three-wide finish with the lapped car as the leaders looped around in turn one after the checkered flag. Schumacher crossed the finish line in third place while Lowell Bennett and David Prunty rounded out the top five finishers. Dale Prunty came home in sixth place ahead of Dennis Prunty and Brad Mueller while Tommy Pecaro and Fred Winn completed the top ten finishers.

Al Schill captured the win in the 25-lap late model semi-feature over Jamie Wallace and Randy Schuler. Jeff Way finished in fourth place and Jerry Eckhardt was fifth. Nick Schumacher bested the top six qualifiers to win the late model fast dash and Lepak also set fast time on the evening after circling the speedway at 11.413 seconds.

Ryan Carlson took top honors in the action packed 25-lap limited late model main event over Scott Ascher and Jon Reynolds Jr.

Tyler James led the opening laps as the inside groove moved forward at the drop of the green flag with Gregg Pawelski and Scott Ascher sliding into second and third while Jimmy Dragich, Jon Ovadal Jr., Brad Keith, Steve Apel, and Dave McCardle all battled for positions behind the leaders. The hard racing between the cars in the tightly bunched pack behind the top three resulted in many of them spinning around in the third turn on lap five as the caution flag waved with James leading Pawelski and Ascher. As racing resumed, James maintained the top spot using the inside groove while Pawelski rim-rode the top line alongside as Rob Braun and Scott Ascher raced with Ryan Carlson for third. The inside line eventually began to prevail as James held the lead while Braun and Carlson also used the inside to move alongside Pawelski and Ascher in two-by-two formation behind the leader just before the caution flag waved again for debris on lap 15.

James again used the inside lane for the restart but as racing resumed, Pawelski charged hard on the top side to remain alongside in a battle for the lead while Carlson slotted in front of Braun for third. Pawelski and James continued to race side by side for several laps before Pawelski’s car slid loose exiting turn two on lap 18 and nosed hard into the wall, bringing out the caution flag for a third time with James now leading Carlson, Braun, Ascher, and Jon Reynolds, Jr. As the green flag reappeared, it was Carlson’s turn to take a shot at the lead from the outside lane and this time he eventually made it work, taking command of the race on lap 20 after battling alongside James for the lead. Once out front, Carlson was able to pull ahead as Ascher and Reynolds began to move forward, taking over second and third place respectively by lap 23. At the finish, Carlson took the checkered flag for the win ahead of Ascher and Reynolds while James and Braun rounded out the top five.

Chris Ratajczyk won the 15-lap limited late model semi-feature over Pat McIntee and Tim Elfert. Becca Kasten and Rob Myers finished in fourth and fifth place respectively. Dave McCardle won the limited late model fast dash and Jon Reynolds Jr. set fast time at 12.188 seconds.

James Swan drove to a dominating win in the 25-lap Midwest Sportsman feature over Scott Shambeau and Bobby Giers.

Scott Shambeau led the beginning laps over Jay Shambeau while Swan moved into third place ahead of Giers and Jimmie Evans. Swan worked the outside lane to make his way around Jay Shambeau for second place by lap seven and began to track down Scott Schambeau for the lead. Again using the high side, Swan closed in on Shambeau and swept around for the lead on lap ten. Once out front, Swan pulled away from the field while behind him, Giers moved up to third place and Mike Graczkowski advanced to fifth. With Swan enjoying a comfortable lead, Giers worked his way around Shambeau for second place on lap 21 while Jeff Holtz challenged the top five runners. Swan was never headed and he took the dominating win while Shambeau fought back to grab second from Giers at the finish. Grackzowski took the checkered flag in fourth and Holtz finished in fifth. Earlier in the night, Holtz was the winner of the Midwest Sportsman fast dash and Dave Thomas was the fastest qualifier at 12.646 seconds.

Al Stippich won the 18-lap Thunderstock feature over Aaron Cain and Jim Bentzler. Joel Steffen and Bernie Leonard rounded out the top five. Stippich also set fast time in the division at 13.627 seconds. Tom Berens took top honors in the 16-lap Slinger Bees feature over Matt Klentz. Jason Hennes finished in third place ahead of Ken Schraufnagel and Matt Westphal. Scott Goetzke closed out the evening with a victory in the Figure 8 event.