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Schill Makes Right Choice And Wins Piggly Wiggly 60
By Dan Margetta
(Slinger, WI) May 6—Al Schill made the right lane choice on a late race
restart and went on to win the Piggly Wiggly 60-lap late model feature Sunday
afternoon at the Slinger Super Speedway.
Originally choosing the inside lane for an aborted restart with eleven laps to
go, Schill reversed his decision on the second attempt, using the high line to
pull away from challengers Josh Bauer and Lowell Bennett at the finish.
“I made the wrong choice at first taking the bottom where the floor dry was
bad and almost got into them on the restart, “ Schill explained after
scoring his first feature win of the season. “But then I got my second
chance, “ Schill continued, “I knew where to go the second time and I
wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.”
Schill started on the outside of the front row and immediately shot into the
lead at the start while Mike Egan followed in second ahead of Bennett, Collin
Bamke, and Bauer. Behind the leaders, Shawn Roethle’s car appeared to get
crossed up coming off turn two and he tangled with Fred Winn, sending
Roethle’s car up the racetrack in turn three and into Dennis Prunty.
Prunty’s car smacked the turn three wall hard and the race was slowed under
the yellow flag.
Schill used the inside lane to maintain the lead on the restart and along with
Egan put some distance on the rest of the field as Bennett appeared to spin
the tires slightly as racing resumed. Bennett recovered nicely and gradually
began to catch Egan, taking the second spot on lap 12 while behind him Bauer
and Bamke raced side by side over the fourth spot with David Prunty closing
in. Bauer eventually won the battle with Bamke a few laps later, bringing
Prunty with him and into the top five. With Bennett beginning to catch Schill
for the lead, Bauer raced his way around Egan to take third on lap 22 and two
laps later, Prunty grabbed the fourth spot. By the halfway mark, Bennett was
glued to Schill’s rear bumper and after making a few looks to the inside,
took to the top side to drive into the lead on lap 39. Schill remained close
behind the leader with Bauer and Prunty within striking distance when the
caution flag appeared again on lap 46 when fast qualifier Mike Strupp spun and
tagged the turn one wall.
As racing resumed, Bennett and Schill fought door to door for the lead, with
Schill using the outside and Bennett working the low groove. The race nearly
changed drastically when Matt Raudabaugh experienced mechanical problems and
apparently dropped fluid on the racetrack on lap 49. As the leaders raced side
by side into the corner, nearly the entire field scattered and received some
damage as the yellow flag flew. It was determined the caution was the result
of fluid on the track and all drivers who were able to continue were allowed
to keep their spots for the restart with Schill leading over Bennett.
Schill originally chose the inside line but the restart was aborted when the
field wasn’t properly aligned and on the second attempt, he chose the
outside lane, using it to pull into the lead. Bauer also used the outside lane
to grab second place while Bennett fell into line just ahead of Prunty in
third. Schill drove to the victory over Bauer while Bennett held off Prunty
for third. Bamke finished a respectable fifth while Conrad Morgan took the
checkered flag in sixth. Brad Keith turned in his best performance of the
season with a seventh place finish while Matt Kocourek,
Chris Carlson scored the victory in the 30-lap late model semi-feature over
Randy Schuler and Mike Meyerhofer. Tommy Hromadka and John Mueller rounded out
the top five finishers. Josh Bauer won the late model fast dash and Mike
Strupp was the fastest qualifier at 11.432 seconds.
Defending track champion Mike Graczkowski took the lead with three laps to go
and went on to win the 30-lap Midwest Sportsman feature over Jay Shambeau and
Pat McIntee.
Shambeau led the early going, battling door to door with Jimmie Evans while
Graczkowski, McIntee, and Bobby Giers followed in two abreast formation. Mark
Kissinger’s car experienced mechanical problems on lap seven and the caution
flag waved for fluid on the track which caused cars at the tail of the field
to spin. Shambeau and Evans renewed their side by side battle as racing
resumed with Shambeau working the outside groove to gain a slight advantage.
Shambeau was able to take sole possession of the top spot on lap 13 as
Graczkowski also advanced past Evans and into second. Farther back, James Swan
and Kenny Joosten were working their way forward and into the top five. The
race was slowed twice for single car spins on lap 15 and again on lap 16 as
Shambeau continued to lead over Graczkowski. Graczkowski worked the upper
groove following the final restart and he was able to use the high lane to
charge his way around Shambeau and into the lead on lap 22. Behind the lead
duo, McIntee was able to battle his way into third place while Giers and Swan
disputed fourth. At the stripe, Graczkowski took the win over Shambeau while
McIntee followed in third. Swan used an aggressive last lap move to snag
fourth place from Giers who was forced to settle for fifth.
Swan nearly pulled off the clean sweep for the evening as he earlier set fast
time and then was awarded the win in the fast dash after apparent winner
McIntee was disqualified for rough driving.
Rob Braun was in the right place at the right time as he captured the win in
the 25-lap limited late model main event.
Jim Schmittinger paced the field at the start as the inside line appeared to
be the preferred groove with Jerry Eckhardt, Braun, and Jon Reynolds Jr. all
moving forward. Schmittinger continued to set the pace as Reynolds Jr. began
to hook up, racing with Eckhardt for second place by lap ten. Reynolds used
the outside to claim second on lap 13 just before the caution flag waved for a
spin by Dan Bowe in turn three. On the restart, Reynolds began to pressure
Schmittinger for the lead, making numerous looks to the outside but to no
avail. Reynolds then tried the inside line and once again Schmittinger was
able to hold off the challenges while behind them, Braun worked his way by
Eckhardt for third place. With three laps to go, Reynolds made another attempt
by diving to the inside entering turn one but upon the exit of turn two, made
contact with Schmittinger, sending the leader spinning off the backstretch as
the yellow flag appeared. Reynolds was placed at the rear of the field for his
role in the incident, turning the lead over to Braun for the restart. Braun
was up to the task for the final three laps and he held off the challenges of
Eckhardt to score the win. Scott Ascher fell back early but then rebounded to
finish a respectable third ahead of David McCardle and Chris Ratajczyk.
Earlier, Ascher drove to victory in the limited late model fast dash and
McCardle paced qualifying by lapping the speedway in 12.262 seconds.
Wes Biswell was the winner of the 25-lap Midwest modified feature after
prevailing in a close battle with Steve Huelsbeck for top honors.
Ron Schmitt held the point for the first two laps, racing alongside Huelsbeck
who used the outside line to take command of the race on lap three. Biswell
and Steve Schulz also used the high groove to work their way around Schmitt
and into second and third place respectively. Once into second, Biswell began
to track down Huelsbeck, pulling to his rear bumper by lap 15. Biswell at
first tried to make the pass on the outside but then moved to the low side,
pulling alongside Huelsbeck on lap 17. Both drivers put on an impressive
display of racing skill as they ran wheel to wheel for five laps before
Biswell was able to ease ahead on lap 22. Biswell was unchallenged over the
final laps and he took the win ahead of Huelsbeck and Schulz while Schmitt and
Bill Tandetzke completed the top five.
Schmitt was the winner of the Midwest modified fast dash while Schulz was the
fastest qualifier at 12.307 seconds.
Paul Konechnee led flag to flag to win the 16-lap Thunderstock feature over
Ryan Gutknecht and Seth Lootans. Dave Edwards charged from deep in the field
to finish fourth while Al Stippich crossed the line in fifth. Rick Schaefer
was the winner of the 10-lap Thunderstock semi-feature. Jim Bentzler finished
second and Dustin Krebs was third. Jerry Kulas Jr took the checkered flag
fourth while Roger Miller finished fifth.
C.J. Corallini charged to the win in the 14-lap Slinger Bees feature, working
his way through heavy traffic to pick up the victory. Bob Losiniecki finished
in second place ahead of Jared Apel and Brandon Wolf. Zach Durham finished in
fifth place.
Robert Coffey drove his Pontiac Firebird to the win in the Spectator
Eliminator races and Scott Goetzke closed the afternoon by taking the victory
in the Figure 8 event.
Event: Piggly Wiggly 60 Date: May 6, 2007
Late Model Feature 60-laps
1. Al Schill (Franklin) 15. Nick
Schumacher (Hartford)
2. Josh Bauer (Random Lake) 16. Matt Raudabaugh (Menomonee
Falls)
3. Lowell Bennett (Neenah) 17. Mike Strupp
(Theresa)
4. David Prunty (Brownsville) 18. Chris Carlson (Greenfield)
5. Collin Bamke (Slinger) 19. Shawn Roethle
(Hartford)
6. Conrad Morgan (Waukesha) 20. Dennis Prunty (Lomira)
7. Brad Keith (West Bend)
8. Matt Kocourek (Franklin)
9. Fred Winn (Sussex)
10. Gary LaMonte (West Allis)
11. Randy Schuler (Mequon)
12. Mike Egan (Slinger)
13. Dale Prunty (Allenton)
14. Nick Hammer (Sun Prairie)
Late Model Semi Feature- 30 laps
1. Chris Carlson (Greenfield) 4. Tommy Hromadka
(Brookfield)
2. Randy Schuler (Mequon) 5.
John Mueller (Hubertus)
3. Mike Meyerhofer (Burlington)
Late Model Fast Dash- Josh Bauer (Random Lake)
Late Model Fast Time- Mike Strupp (Theresa) 11.432 seconds
Midwest Sportsman Feature 30 laps
1. Mike Graczkowski (Jackson) 4. James Swan (Lake
Geneva)
2. Jay Shambeau (Hubertus) 5. Bobby
Giers (Wonder Lake, IL)
3. Pat McIntee (West Bend)
Midwest Sportsman Fast Dash- James Swan (Lake Geneva)
Midwest Sportsman Fast Time- James Swan (Lake Geneva) 12.554
seconds
Limited Late Model Feature 30 laps
1. Rob Braun
(Wales)
4. David McCardle (Menomonee Falls)
2. Jerry Eckhardt (Johnson Creek) 5. Chris Ratajczyk (West Bend)
3. Scott Ascher (Sussex)
Limited Late Model Fast Dash- Scott Ascher (Sussex)
Limited Late Model Fast Time- Dave McCardle (Menomonee Falls) 12.262
seconds
Midwest Modified Feature 30 laps
1. Wes Biswell
(Sussex) 4. Ron
Schmitt (Jackson)
2. Steve Huelsbeck (Milwaukee) 5. Bill Tandetzke
(Milwaukee)
3. Steve Schulz (Waukesha)
Midwest Modified Fast Dash- Ron Schmitt (Jackson)
Midwest Modified Fast Time- Steve Schulz (Waukesha) 12.307
seconds
Thunderstocks Feature 18 laps
1. Paul Konechnee (Oconomowoc) 4. Dave Edwards (Salem)
2. Ryan Gutknecht (Oak Creek) 5. Al Stippich (West
Bend)
3. Seth Lootans (Kenosha)
Thunderstock Fast Time- Seth Lootans (Kenosha)
ThunderStock Semi-Feature #1 8 laps
1. Rick Schaefer (Slinger) 4. Jerry Kulas
Jr.
2. Jim Bentzler (Hartford) 5. Roger Miller
(Allenton)
3. Dustin Krebs (West Bend)
Slinger Bees Feature 14 laps
1. C.J. Corallini (North Lake) 4. Brandon Wolf (Hartford)
2. Bob Losiniecki (West Bend) 5. Zach Durham (West
Bend)
3. Jared Apel (Colgate)
Slinger Bees Fast Time- C.J. Corallini (North Lake)
Spectator Eliminator- Robert Coffey
Figure 8 Winner- Scott Goetzke (Iron Ridge)
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