IT’S WIN #3 FOR BENNETT IN WISCONSIN DRYWALL DISTRIBUTORS 75!!

By Dan Margetta

            Slinger, WI-July 17—Lowell Bennett chalked up his third feature win of the season after a hard-fought victory over Brad Mueller in the Wisconsin Drywall Distributors 75 Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway.

            Bennett persistently worked the outside groove to grab the top spot from Josh Bauer with five laps to go and then turned back a final four-lap charge from Mueller to take the checkered flag for a two car-length victory.

            “We had to work tonight…what a race! “ Bennett told the crowd following the event. “I about had my tongue hanging out and I’m not afraid to admit I’m a little tired after that one. I guess I’ll have to do some more exercising.”

            Bauer started from the pole position and immediately jumped into the lead with Travis Dassow falling in line behind him, just ahead of Mike Egan, Bennett, and Nick Schumacher. The inside line was the preferred groove early on as Schumacher became caught up top and was shuffled back as David Prunty and Mueller passed by. Bauer began to stretch his lead over Dassow and Egan while Bennett and Prunty tried their hand on the top side as the leaders caught lapped traffic. Bennett and Prunty were able to drive around Egan using the outside by lap 35 and began to close on Dassow for second. Within ten laps, both Bennett and Prunty dispatched Dassow for second, continuing to use the outer groove. Contact between Fred Winn and Robert Maynor in turn one on lap 57 sent Maynor spinning directly in front of the leaders who spun to avoid the incident. All the top-runners avoided contact except for Prunty and Dassow as they clipped each other in the turn, severely damaging both cars and taking them out of contention.

            Bauer led Bennett and Egan for the restart with Mueller and Austin Konetski taking over the spots vacated by Dassow and Prunty and as racing resumed, Bennett began to look both high and low for an opportunity to take the lead. Bennett finally decided on the outside and pulled alongside Bauer while Mueller passed Egan for third by lap 65. With the leaders racing side-by-side, Mueller and Egan soon joined the fight for the lead, which became a tight four-car battle. Aggressive racing amongst the leaders nearly produced a catastrophe in turn one on lap 67 as Bauer’s car turned sideways but everyone kept their cool and by the time everything straightened out on the backstretch, Bennett edged into the lead with Mueller taking over second place. Bauer slipped back to fifth place following the ordeal as Egan and Al Schill moved ahead into third and fourth. A tangle between Schumacher and Konetski while disputing the seventh spot drew a final caution flag on lap 71, setting up a four-lap dash to the finish.

            Bennett spun the tires a bit on the restart and kicked loose exiting turn four as Mueller dogged him for the lead, but it wasn’t enough to derail the four-time track champion from the top spot. Bennett hung on over the final laps and turned back Mueller’s challenge to score his third victory of the season. Mike Egan turned in his strongest performance of the season with a very respectable third place finish while Schill and Bauer completed the top five. Ken Wills also had his best run to date, netting a sixth place finish at the stripe ahead of Randy Schuler and Robert Maynor, who also looked very good, finishing in eighth. Konetski and Schumacher rounded out the top ten.

Scott Schoeni won the 30-lap late model semi-feature over Jerry Eckhardt and Mike McCabe. Ron Ragan finished in fourth place and Bill Shavlik crossed the stripe in fifth. Dave Feiler was the winner of the fast dash and Brad Mueller set fast time after touring the speedway in 11.417 seconds.

            Mike Graczkowski charged to his first feature win of the season in the 30-lap Midwest Sportsman feature, holding off Brad Keith and Gary LaMonte for the win.

            Scott Schambeau and Mike Borchardt led the field to the green and neither could gain an advantage as they raced alongside each other. Schambeau held the inside and was able to ease ahead exiting the turns, but Borchardt battled back on the outside to draw even on the straightaway. Behind the top two, Graczkowski and Dave Thomas also raced in formation for third place just ahead of Jay Schambeau and Pat McIntee. LaMonte and James Swan also closed in on the lead pack as everyone jockeyed for position on the track. All the leaders pin-balled off each other on the frontstretch on lap 19, momentarily creating a four-wide situation that sent Thomas into the marbles, shuffling the running order with Schambeau leading Graczkowski, Borchardt, and LaMonte. At the same time the excitement was stirring at the head of the field, Tom Elsinger’s car burst into flames and fire-balled into the infield, producing the yellow flag. Elsinger was not seriously injured in the mishap as the safety crew quickly extinguished the blaze.

            Schambeau led on the restart but Graczkowski quickly shot by, bringing LaMonte with him on lap 20 just before the field slowed under the yellow flag again for a spin by Dave Thomas in turn three. Once racing resumed, Graczkowski had his hands full with LaMonte over the final laps as Brad Keith began a late charge toward the front, taking over third place by lap 25. LaMonte’s efforts sent his car wide off turn two with two laps to go, allowing Keith to close in and challenge for second. With Keith battling LaMonte for second, Graczkowski was able to get away and drive to the victory. Keith out-dueled LaMonte to finish second while Scott and Jay Schambeau rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.

            In other Midwest Sportsman action, Keith won the fast dash and LaMonte was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.660 seconds.

            Steve Schulz took the lead early on in the Midwest Modified 25-lap feature and held off charges by Dale Prunty and Ron Schmitt to score the win.

            Schulz took the green flag from the outside of the front row and used the outside groove to battle Joe Houpt for the top spot during the opening two laps. Schulz eventually powered his way into the lead while Wes Biswell and Dale Prunty also took to the high side to work their way around Houpt and into second and third place respectively. Schulz continued to lead over Biswell and Prunty on lap ten while Schmitt and Jason Feyereisen entered the top five. Prunty was able to maneuver his way by Biswell for second place and began to track down Schulz as the field slowed under the caution flag for a spin by David McCardle in turn four. Schulz led Prunty on the restart and the top two ran nose to tail while Schmitt began to work on Biswell for third. McCardle and Roger Schmid tangled in turn four on lap 18 and once again the yellow flag appeared. As was the case a few laps earlier, Schulz was able to get a small jump on Prunty as the green reappeared. Over the closing laps, Prunty could close to Schulz’s bumper but was unable to mount a serious challenge as Schulz drove to the victory. Prunty settled for second while Schmitt came out on top of a wild scramble for third place at the checkered flag, edging Biswell and Feyereisen.

            Earlier in the evening, Schulz won the fast dash and Feyereisen was the fastest qualifier at 12.340 seconds.

            Aaron Cain took home top honors in the 12-lap Thunderstock feature, taking the checkered flag ahead of Ryan DeStefano and Mark Kissinger. Joe DeStefano Sr. and Chris Beine finished fourth and fifth respectively. Jamie Vetter and Miles Dornbrook each won Slinger Bees races while Ryan Dunkelberger topped the Spectator Eliminator races in a 2004 Chevy Monte Carlo. Chris Price closed the night with a win in the Figure 8 event.

Event: Wisconsin Drywall Distributors Night                           Date: July 17, 2005