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Hasleu Tops Miller Lite Nationals
By Dan Margetta
Slinger, WI--July 13—Nathan Haseleu notched the biggest win of his career
Wednesday night at the Slinger Super Speedway as he held off a surprisingly
stout Matt Kocourek for the victory in the 26th Annual Miller Lite Nationals
250-lap late model feature.
“I remember when Matt (Kenseth) won this event a few years back and I went
down to the shop and saw that trophy,” an ecstatic Haseleu told the crowd
from victory lane. “I said ‘man I’d like to get me one of those’ and
tonight I did. It was exciting.”
Haseleu took advantage of a late restart on lap 215 to grab the lead from
Kocourek, diving to the inside to pull off the pass.
“I don’t think I could’ve caught him (without the caution),” Haseleu
explained. “He was a little faster than me on the long runs, but the caution
came out and they got on me on the radio to go get him after we got the green.
I got a good run on the inside off two and he ran me clean, it was a good
race. We weren’t very good in the first half and I kind of rode around for a
while to save the tires and it worked out.”
Kocourek turned in a stellar performance, running in the top five throughout
the whole event and leading 68 laps before coming up a car-length short of the
victory at the checkered flag.
“I know it’s not a win,” Kocourek beamed after his second place finish.
“But I’ve got to say this is the highlight of my career. I bogged it down
a bit (on the restart) and Nate got a good run there and I was tight so I had
to hit my lines. I drove in a little too low and I just pushed up. He (Nate)
got a good line on me there and I wasn’t going to chop him, that’s not my
style.”
2001 Nationals champion David Prunty crossed the stripe for a strong third
place finish while defending Nationals champion Lowell Bennett finished in
fourth. Dave Feiler rounded out the top five while Dennis Prunty and Nick
Schumacher finished in sixth and seventh respectively, the final cars on the
lead lap. Jeremy Lepak, visiting NASCAR Craftsmen Truck Series driver Todd
Kluever, and Austin Konetski completed the top ten while John Mueller was
eleventh, one lap behind the leaders.
“We were really good in the first half,” Kluever said afterwards. “We
made some adjustments but they weren’t the right ones for the second half.
This is my first big race here and I didn’t know what to anticipate what the
track would be like. We just didn’t make enough changes but next time I’ll
be smarter and we won’t make the same mistake twice.”
Earlier, Schumacher dominated the first half, leading a race-high 79 laps
which netted him the Northside Automotive of Appleton Most Laps Led Award
before the handling began to go away on his car on lap 147. Schumacher and
Ryan Mathews swapped the lead for much of the first half with Mathews leading
for 67 laps before he was forced to retire from the event on lap 130 when
flames began to shoot from underneath his car.
The fastest car on the speedway during the opening laps belonged to three-time
Nationals champion Rich Bickle as he sliced his way forward, passing cars on
both the high and low side to crack the top ten by the 50 lap mark. Soon after
that however, wisps of smoke began to appear behind his machine and the
distinct smell of a burning rear-end gear prompted officials to black flag
him, ending his bid for another Nationals title.
“The ratchet unloaded and blew a bunch of grease out on the pipes which
caused the car to smoke for ten laps,” a frustrated Bickle stated. “But
then it quit and when you look at the rear of the car, there isn’t any oil
on it, just dust. There have been times I’ve been fast here before but I
could’ve lapped the field tonight. The car was that good.”
Dick Trickle, who founded the Nationals concept with track owner Wayne
Erickson, returned to the speedway with a respectable run, completing 205 laps
for a twelfth place finish.
“We got the car comfortable after practice and when the race started, it
seemed like I had a different car,” Trickle explained. “The track seemed
to tighten up a little bit tonight.” “I spun earlier to avoid a wreck and
when I did that the rear-end seemed to jump out a little bit which bent the
drive shaft. It started to vibrate really bad and I stayed out for a while but
had to come in with 50 laps to go. If I could have stayed out there I probably
could have gotten a top ten without running very good.”
Kerry Earnhardt made his first appearance at Slinger and came away with a 20th
place finish after struggling in qualifying.
“The car ran real good, “Earnhardt stated. “We were real loose to begin
with and the motor started to run hot so I backed it down to let it cool off
and when it started to run hot again, we just parked it.”
Ron Hornaday and Kenny Wallace raced strong while they were on the track but
separate early incidents forced both to retire from the race, winding up with
24th and 25th place finishes respectively.
Early contact between Hornaday and Dave Teske pushed Teske high on the
speedway on lap 22 and when Teske’s car came down the track, he collided
with Wallace who was directly in his path. Hornaday and Teske were placed at
the rear of the field for the restart while Wallace’s car was severely
damaged, ending his night early.
“I saw them get into it,” Wallace said. “I saw the #51 car come off the
wall and I thought I had him missed and I was turning left but he ricocheted
off the wall pretty hard and I ran up over him.” “It’s disappointing
because the night was going so good. This is a fast race track and when
something happens, there’s no missing it.”
Hornaday’s race lasted a few more laps after the restart as he drifted high
off turn four on lap 27 and bounced off the fence, damaging the car enough to
take him out of the race.
“The guys gave me an awesome race car and I got sent to the back early
on,” Hornaday claimed. “Then I got into something slick on the outside and
the car snapped loose and I hit the wall.” Slinger is a blast. It’s a very
demanding racetrack on a driver. It’s more fun than Daytona.”
A field of 52 late models vied for the 25 starting positions, led by David
Prunty who topped qualifying with a lap of 11.316 seconds. Lowell Bennett held
off Kenny Wallace to win the 30-lap late model qualifying race as they both
transferred to the main event along with Dave Teske and Josh Bauer who
finished third and fourth respectively. Scott Schoeni won the 35-lap late
model semi-feature over Travis Dassow and Kelly Bires. Al Schill and Donavan
Morgan rounded out the top five. Jerry Eckhardt was the winner of the 15-lap
late model consi over Tommy Hromadka and Mike McCabe. Jim Jesowshek finished
fourth followed by George Olson who was fifth.
Brad Keith raced to the win in the wild and exciting 40-lap Midwest Sportsman
feature, holding off Collin Bamke and James Swan at the checkered flag.
Scott Schambeau and Rob Braun led the field to the green flag and Braun
powered his way into the lead from the outside while Schambeau fended off
Bamke and Pat McIntee for second place. Braun gradually pulled away while
Bamke tried to use the outside lane to get around Schambeau with McIntee, Swan
and Gary LaMonte following in his tire tracks. Bamke eventually took over the
position by lap ten and over the next ten laps, LaMonte, Swan, and McIntee
also managed to push their way by Schambeau while Braun continued to lead.
With Braun and Bamke comfortably out front, McIntee was able to shoot the nose
of his car to the inside of LaMonte’s fender on lap 23 and the two battled
hard for third before McIntee prevailed on the inside. The complexion of the
race changed dramatically on lap 27 when Braun suddenly experienced mechanical
problems in turn two and his bid for the convincing win ended in a smoky spin,
drawing a caution flag.
Bamke took over the top spot for the restart with McIntee, Swan, LaMonte, and
Keith in tow. It didn’t take long for things to heat up at the head of the
field as Bamke had to protect both the top and the bottom from those behind
him. LaMonte charged to the inside on lap 34 to take the lead and Keith
advanced all the way to second place when contact between McIntee and Bamke
momentarily slowed the outside lane. More fender-banging racing between Swan
and Bamke a lap later shuffled the order again as Swan moved into fourth.
Debris on the speedway brought out the second caution flag on lap 35 with
LaMonte leading Keith, McIntee, Bamke, and Swan. Soon after the restart,
LaMonte and Keith edged ahead while McIntee slid sideways and spun in turn
three on lap 36 as the race remained under the green flag before a separate
spin by Adam Berge drew the yellow flag. LaMonte turned back the challenges on
the restart but while entering turn one on lap 38, his car drifted wide on the
track as Keith, Bamke, and Swan all passed by. Keith then held off both Bamke
and Swan to take the victory. Scott Schambeau finished fourth and Dave
Obermeyer rounded out the top five as LaMonte’s machine slowed at the
finish.
LaMonte was the fastest qualifier on the night after circling the speedway in
12.510 seconds.
Event: Miller Lite
Nationals
Date: July 13, 2005
Late Model Feature 250-laps
1. Nathan Haseleu (Pardeeville) 15. Ryan Mathews (Lake
Geneva)
2. Matt Kocourek (Franklin)
16. Andrew Morrissey (DeForest)
3. David Prunty (Brownsville) 17. Brad
Mueller (Random Lake)
4. Lowell Bennett
(Neenah) 18. Dave Teske
(Richfield)
5. Dave Feiler (Sun Prairie) 19.
Tony Strupp (West Bend)
6. Dennis Prunty (Lomira)
20. Kerry Earnhardt (Kannapolis, NC)
7. Nick Schumacher (Hartford) 21. Rich
Bickle (Edgerton)
8. Jeremy Lepak
(Wausau) 22.
Josh Bauer (Random Lake)
9. Todd Kluever (Sun Prairie) 23. Ken
Wills (Milwaukee)
10. Austin Konetski (Janesville) 24. Ron Hornaday (Palmdale,
CA)
11. John Mueller (Hubertus)
25. Kenny Wallace (St. Louis, MO)
12. Dick Trickle (Iron Station, NC)
13. Erik Darnell (Beach Park, IL)
14. Rich Loch (Muskego)
Late Model Semi Feature- 35 laps
1. Scott Schoeni (Slinger) 4. Al Schill (Franklin)
2. Travis Dassow (West Bend) 5. Donavan Morgan (Oconomowoc)
3. Kelly Bires (Mauston)
Late Model Consi- 15 laps
1. Jerry Eckhardt (Johnson Creek) 4. Jim Jesowshek
(Menomonee Falls)
2. Tommy Hromodka (Brookfield) 5. George
Olson (Brookfield)
3. Mike McCabe (New Berlin)
Late Model Qualifying Race- 30 laps
1. Lowell Bennett
(Neenah) 4. Josh
Bauer (Random Lake)
2. Kenny Wallace (Mooresville, NC) 5. Scott Schoeni (Slinger)
3. Dave Teske (Richfield)
Late Model Fast Time- David Prunty (Brownsville) 11.316 seconds
Midwest Sportsman Feature-40 laps
1. Brad Keith (West Bend) 4. Scott Schambeau
(Hubertus)
2. Collin Bamke (Slinger) 5. Dave Obermeyer (Allenton)
3. James Swan (Lake Geneva)
Midwest Sportsman Fast Time- Gary LaMonte (West Allis) 12.510
seconds
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