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Bilderback, Jusits And Cooter In Victory Lane At The Mile
By John Wiedemann – www.racingwisconsin.com
Milwaukee – June 7, 2006 – Under sunny skies and in front of a good size
crowd, the Summer Shootout returned to the Milwaukee Mile for round three of
the 2006 season. The Thunder Roadster and Super Cup divisions took the week
off and left the action to the Bandolero, Allison Legacy and Legend drivers.
Kyle Jusits won his second feature of the season while Dave Cooter and Michael
Bilderback took home their first wins of the year.
The Bandolero division is growing as the season moves along. Already filled
with a number of rookie drivers, Jimmy Uteg III of Manhatten, IL and Alex
Arelano of Frankfurt, IL joined the action this week. After breaking a
throttle cable at the beginning of the practice session, last year’s
champion Kyle Jusits proved that he is still the one to beat by working his
way from the back of the pack to win the heat race. Kyle Piecko had one of his
best runs to date at the Mile, finishing third in the heat behind Blake Brown.
Jusits wasted no time in the feature race taking the lead on the first lap and
never looking back. Newcomer Arelano made an awesome charge from the eighth
position to try to run down the leader but, would settle for second place.
Rookie Jesse Bernhagen crossed the line in third after making a charge through
the field himself. Fourth spot was captured by Uteg III followed by 10 year
old Caylie Duncanson in fifth.
With the Thunder Roadsters taking the night off, Speedway Auto Mall brought
out three Allison Legacy cars to race in the series. Dave Cooter, Mike Piecko,
Jr., and Bill Hobson joined Nick Beinlich and first-timer Brock Russell on the
mini Mile. Cooter took his ride from the pole to the checkered flag in the
heat race. Beinlich moved up to challenge Cooter but wasn’t able to take the
position away. Vetran racer Hobson crossed the line in third in his first race
of the series. In the feature, Cooter again had the field chasing him as he
tried to run away with the victory. Hobson closed in on the final laps but ran
out of time crossing the finish line less than a car length behind. Russell
finished in third followed by Beinlich and Piecko, Jr.
Bumper to bumper and door to door action in the Legend feature in the last
series race has all eyes focused on the young guns of the division. Kyle
LaPier, of Belvidere, IL., raced in the series last year and showed that he
remembered the layout by starting in the third position and holding it to the
finish. Michael Bilderback started on the pole but Ryan Miles assumed the
position on the start. Miles looped his Legend in early giving the lead back
to Bilderback and fell to the back of the pack. Bilderback went on to win the
heat race followed closely by a charging Ernie Schaal moving up from his sixth
position start.
Starting at the front of the Legend feature race was just what Bilderback
needed as he jumped out to a big lead at the drop of the green. Schaal moved
in front of Gnatzig into second and set his sights on the top spot. Miles also
picked of cars early moving up three spots to the third position. Bilderback
settled comfortably in the lead while the others tried to chase him down.
Unfortunately for the other drivers, the margin between the leader and the
chasers remained about the same throughout the caution free race and
Bilderback took home an easy win. Schaal held on to second followed by Miles,
Gnatzig and LaPier.
The race wasn’t easy for the rest of the drivers as they tried to catch the
thirteen year old hotshoe from South Beloit, IL. “I was giving it all I
could, sliding the tires, but we couldn’t catch him”, explained the last
feature winner Ryan Miles.
Looking forward to next week, Ernie Schaal concluded, “I came in third last
time and second this week, so I’m headed in the right direction. We’ll
have to see what happens next.”
The Summer Shootout returns to the Milwaukee Mile next week, June 14th.
Spectator admission is free for all 2006 Summer Shootout events, with bleacher
seating in the infield for families to view all the races. Practice begins at
4:40 p.m. followed by racing at 5:45 p.m.
RESULTS
BANDOLEROS
Feature: Kyle Jusits, Alex Arelano, Jesse Bernhagen, Jimmy Uteg III, Caylie
Duncanson, Adam Rawski, Kyle Piecko, Aaron Moyer, Blake Brown, Andy Luebbke
Heat: Kyle Jusits, Blake Brown, Kyle Piecko, Caylie Duncanson, Adam Rawski,
Jesse Bernhagen, Jimmy Uteg III, Alex Arelano, Aaron Moyer, Andy Luebbke
ALLISON LEGACY
Feature: Dave Cooter, Bill Hobson, Brock Russell, Nick Beinlich, Mike Piecko,
Jr.
Heat: Dave Cooter, Nick Beinlich, Bill Hobson, Mike Piecko, Jr., Brock Russell
LEGENDS
Feature: Michael Bilderback, Ernie Schaal, Ryan Miles, Curt Gnatzig, Kyle
LaPier, George Giesen, S.J. Kimmel
Heat: Michael Bilderback, Ernie Schaal, Kyle LaPier, Curt Gnatzig, George
Giesen, Ryan Miles, S.J. Kimmel
Through the 1960’s, The Milwaukee Mile was a hotbed of weekly short track
racing on the ½-mile and ¼-mile ovals that shared the frontstretch of the
historic speedway’s one mile oval. Grass roots racing makes a weeknight
return to America’s Legendary Oval on a modified oval using a portion of the
speedway’s newly-redone infield road course, set within turn two of the mile
track.
For full coverage of the Summer Shootout, visit www.racingwisconsin.com/summershootout
For ticket information and details on the all the exciting events at The
Milwaukee Mile, visit www.milwaukeemile.com.
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