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Kenseth Perseveres To Score Third Miller Lite Nationals Crown
By Dan Margetta
(Slinger, WI) July 18—Fate did just about everything it could to knock Matt
Kenseth out of the Miller Lite Nationals Tuesday night at the Slinger Super
Speedway, but strong perseverance by both driver and crew paid off in big
dividends as the visiting NASCAR Nextel Cup Series star led the final eight
laps to capture his third Nationals title by winning the 250-lap late model
feature.
Forced to start the main event deep in the field in the 21st position due to
missing the cut in qualifying, Kenseth methodically blazed his way through the
field, entering the top ten by lap 60 before mechanical issues arose which
sent his car off the speedway twice, nearly terminating his chances for the
win. After getting pushed to the pits for ignition problems that surfaced
right at the halfway mark, Kenseth’s crew was able to remedy the situation
during the ten-minute break and he returned to the track for the second half
only to deal with distributor issues on lap 146 which once again sent his car
sputtering off the track while under caution. Kenseth and crew caught a break
as an aborted restart for a spin by Dave Feiler before a green flag lap could
be completed, allowed them extra time to return to the speedway without losing
a lap.
“It’s pretty amazing, I mean, right at the (halfway) break the thing died
and we cooled down the ignition box and got it running again,” Kenseth
explained from victory lane. “Then it died again during that other caution
and I just thought we were done. I was ready to get out of the car when they
were trying to fix it, so to win this is pretty awesome.”
Once back underway, Kenseth caught then leader David Prunty with eight laps to
go and then managed to hold off the current Slinger point leader through two
late restarts to secure the victory.
“I thought I might be able to catch him (Prunty) under green but then on the
restarts my motor would vapor lock or something because it was getting so hot,
but he (Prunty) raced me clean and it was a heck of a race,” Kenseth
continued.
By all rights, it was Prunty who probably should have been holding the victory
hardware at the conclusion as he literally dominated the race, leading a
whopping 224 of the 250 laps before falling just short at the finish.
“All I needed was to get alongside him for just a couple of laps, “ Prunty
theorized afterwards. “If I could have done that, my tire pressures would
have come up and I would have been gone. But then again, who could complain
about losing to Matt Kenseth.”
Dennis Prunty rebounded from an early spin and charged to a respectable third
place finish, just ahead of Lowell Bennett who remained in the top five all
night, leading 16 laps before finishing in fourth place. Brian Johnson Jr.
turned in a strong performance that was capped off with a fifth place finish.
Travis Dassow paced the event for two laps early on before turning in one of
his best results of the season, taking the checkered flag in sixth place, the
final car on the lead lap. Jeremy Lepak and Josh Bauer were a lap down
in seventh and eighth place respectively while Chad Barker and Matt Kocourek
rounded out the top ten.
NASCAR Craftsmen Truck Series driver Erik Darnell fared the best of the
remaining visiting stars, completing the event in the eleventh position while
65-year old legend Dick Trickle wowed the crowd by running solidly in the top
ten until a jarring crash against the backstretch wall on lap 243 relegated
him to a thirteenth place finish. NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Scott Wimmer
kept pace with the leaders for most of the night, racing in the top three
until a broken sway-bar on lap 183, knocked him back to a fourteenth place
result. Rich Bickle also had a car capable of running up front until tire
issues late in the race left him with a sixteenth place finish.
“The was really good, “ Bickle stated. “I went into turn three and
someone must have lost a bunch of water and I slid up and someone got into me
and I didn’t realize it to later, but it peeled all the rubber off the left
rear tire and it wouldn’t go anywhere from there.”
NASCAR Busch Series driver Todd Kluever wound up with a nineteenth place
result after racing hard with Dick Trickle all evening.
“It was a good night and we were having a lot of fun, “ Kluever said.
“We had a pretty strong car in the second half and there was a car outside
of me who got in the back of the #99 car (Trickle) and knocked him into the
frontstretch wall. When he tried to cut back down to get to the bottom, I was
already there. I think it broke the steering rack, but I was having a ball out
there.”
Nick Schumacher took top honors in the 30-lap late model qualifying race over
Mike Egan and Dave Feiler. Randy Schuler finished fifth. The 35-lap late model
semi-feature was captured by Minnesota driver Jake Ryan. Mike Strupp finished
in second place ahead of Jake Humphrey, Wayne Freimund, and Race McComb. Mark
Bitzan won the 15-lap late model consi over John Nelson and Shawn Roethle.
Chris Blawat and Jim Schmittinger rounded out the top five. Lowell Bennett
bested a field of 52 late models to become the fastest qualifier after touring
the speedway in 11.393 seconds.
James Swan took the lead of the 40-lap Midwest Sportsman feature just past
halfway and drove to a convincing win.
Dean Olla led the opening laps before giving way to Mike Graczkowski who paced
the field for a few laps before Rob Braun moved to the front on lap 12.
Meanwhile, Swan began to slowly edge his way forward, moving into second place
just before lap 20. Once into second place, Swan took to the outside groove
and used the top side to race around Braun for the lead on lap 20. Swan then
began to pull away while Kenny Joosten and Brad Keith began to pressure Braun
for second, with Joosten taking the position on lap 25. Keith made his
way around Braun to grab third place a few laps later as Swan continued to
ease away out front. Swan could not be caught and he drove to the victory
while Joosten came home with a second place finish ahead of Keith and Braun.
Pat McIntee was fifth. Earlier in the night, Swan set fast time with a lap of
12.547 seconds.
Event: Miller Lite Nationals
Date: July 18, 2006
Late Model Feature 250-laps
1. Matt Kenseth
(Cambridge) 15. Nick
Schumacher (Hartford)
2. David Prunty
(Brownsville) 16.
Rich Bickle (Edgerton)
3. Dennis Prunty (Lomira)
17. Mike Egan (Slinger)
4. Lowell Bennett
(Neenah)
18. Dave Feiler (DeForest)
5. Brian Johnson Jr. (Rockton, IL) 19. Todd Kluever (Sun
Prairie)
6. Travis Dassow (West Bend) 20. Al
Schill (Franklin)
7. Jeremy Lepak
(Wausau)
21. Tommy Pecaro (Janesville)
8. Josh Bauer (Random Lake)
22. Randy Schuler (Mequon)
9. Chad Barker
(Franksville)
23. Colin Bamke (Slinger)
10. Matt Kocourek
(Franklin)
24. Eric Fransen (West Bend)
11. Erik Darnell (Beach Park, IL)
12. Andrew Morrissey (DeForest)
13. Dick Trickle (Iron Station, NC)
14. Scott Wimmer (Wausau)
Late Model Qualifying Race- 30 lap
1. Nick Schumacher (Hartford) 5. Mike Strupp (Theresa)
2. Mike Egan
(Slinger)
6. Dave Teske (Sussex)
3. Dave Feiler (DeForest)
7. Andrew Morrissey (DeForest)
4. Randy Schuler
(Mequon) 8. Pete
Weidmeyer (West Bend)
Late Model Semi-Feature- 35 lap
1. Jake Ryan (Farmington, MN) 4. Wayne Freimund
(Elkhorn)
2. Mike Strupp
(Theresa)
5. Race McComb (Jackson)
3. Jake Humphrey (Lake Geneva)
Late Model Consi- 15 lap
1. Mark Bitzan (Menomonee Falls) 4. Chris Blawat (Eagle)
2. John Nelson
(Hartford)
5. Jim Schmittinger (West Bend)
3. Shawn Roethle (Hartford)
Late Model Fast Time- Lowell Bennett (Neenah) 11.393 seconds
Midwest Sportsman Feature 40 laps
1. James Swan (Lake Geneva) 4.
Robert Braun (Whales)
2. Kenny Joosten (Wonder Lake IL) 5. Pat McIntee (West Bend)
3. Brad Keith (West Bend)
Midwest Sportsman Fast Time- James Swan (Lake Geneva) 12.547
seconds
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