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Rookies Dominate Round Two Of Summer Shootout
by John Wiedemann, racingwisconsin.com MILWAUKEE (May 26, 2007) – When the dust settled after the second round of the Summer Shootout at the Milwaukee Mile, it was the newcomers taking home the hardware. With the drivers using every inch of the track and more, the debris kicked up on the track during the races caused some slippery excitement as the racers lapped the “Mini Mile”. With only two of the Super Cup Junior Division drivers in attendance, round two served more as a test session for Morgan Schissel. Schissel took home the win in both the heat and feature races. Eleven year old, Jake Zellmer gained experience with his first run in the Summer Shootout. Zellmer ran well on a difficult, slippery track and the laps run on Saturday should benefit him in future races with the Super Cup Junior Division. Mikey Breiner won the heat race for the Allison Legacy division convincingly but, when it came to the feature race, John Beinlich jumped out to the lead and Breiner was put in the position to chase the leader. After a spin on lap two, Breiner tried to run down Beinlich but instead ran out of laps. For Beinlich, the checkers couldn’t come out soon enough. “ It’s a good thing the race ended when it did,” explained the first time winner. “I was out of brakes at the end. That’s why I missed the turn into victory lane.” The Bandolero heat race featured tight racing with the top three cars nose to tail. The train was lead by Vern Fagerberg followed by Aaron Moyer and Jesse Bernhagen. It looked like that was how the race would finish when, with the white flag ready to fly, Fagerberg spun in turn four. Moyer also spun trying to avoid Fagerberg. Bernhagen jumped to the outside of the spinning cars and took the lead. One lap later Bernhagen took the checkers. In the Bandolero feature race, Fagerberg led the first lap and again assumed the role of the locomotive in the Bandolero freight train. After a caution brought the field together at the midway point, Bernhagen tried to put pressure on the leader and drove to within a car length. But Fagerberg was not going to make any mistakes this time a drove to a flag to flag feature win. Asked if he was worried about Bernhagen, Fagerberg responded, “I wasn’t looking in my mirrors.” Moyer, Brandon Heisler and Caylie Duncanson rounded out the top five. With warm temperatures and a dusty track, drivers learned quickly that use of the brakes was going to determine their race fortunes. Legends are notorious in the Summer Shootout for using more track than what is paved and Saturday was no different. With numerous off track excursions and cutting of corners, a lot of dirt and rocks were thrown up in the turns. With the brake issues and track conditions, the Legend races were the most exciting of the day. Blake Brown, who almost took home his first Legend feature win in round one of the Summer Shootout, returned to the head of the class in the heat race. Brown grabbed the lead and looked like the one to beat when he had brake issues going into the third turn. Instead of looping the car, Brown used the pit runoff lane and rejoined the field at the back of the pack. While a number of cars had issues and used the same maneuver as Brown, Herman Greinig drove a smooth line around the track taking the lead and the win. Dave Townsend took second place and Brown was able to drive back through the pack and finish in third. More bad luck would fall on Brown as problems with an oil line would prevent him from running the feature. Greinig led the field to the green flag in the Legend feature but was passed by Dave Townsend on the first lap. In the meantime, rookie Max McNamara moved into the second spot and on the next lap took over the lead of the race. Racing the track like a vetran, McNamara ran the rest of the laps up front and took home his first win in his first race in the Summer Shootout. Greinig recovered to cross the finish line in second followed by Dave Townsend, Matt Booker and Tim Narr. The Summer Shootout returns to the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday, June 9th. Practice starts at 11:00am, with racing at high noon. The series features free admission, race fans are invited to come out and watch the races from bleachers in the infield of the Milwaukee Mile. For full coverage of the Summer Shootout, visit www.racingwisconsin.com/summershootout ALLISON LEGACY |
