Vergatta And Booker Grab First Career Series Victories
by John Wiedemann, racingwisconsin.com

MILWAUKEE MILE - WEST ALLIS, WI (5/24/2008) – Every division of the Summer Shootout had the winners of the last series race return back to victory lane on Saturday at the Milwaukee Mile. Kyle Vergatta and Matt Booker won their second career races in the series while John Beinlich stayed undefeated for the 2008 Summer Shootout season. John Zeilinga and Camden Murphy, previous winners in the series, also won their second race in a row.

John Beinlich continued his dominance of the Allison Legacy division with his fourth win of the season. Looking back to the 2007 season, this weeks win is the sixth in a row for the young driver from Lincolnshire, Illinois. Adding to the field this week was former Bandolero driver, 12 year old Caylie Duncanson, with the familiar pink graphics and #18 on her new ride. While Duncanson was just getting used to her new ride, she went out and finished third in the first heat race. In the Allison Legacy feature race most of the action took place in the middle of the field. While Beinlich and Dwight Dunlap tried to distance themselves from the pack, Colton Clevenger and Austin Mennen battled hard for the third position. The two teenagers exchanged positions throughout the race until Clevenger spun while racing through the third and fourth turns on the final lap. Dunlap was unable to catch Beinlich and settled for second. Mennen crossed the line in third, Clevenger recovered for fourth followed by Duncanson.

Cody Cootware started the fifteen lap Bandolero feature on the pole, but it was Adam Rawski jumping to the early lead in the race. The top three drivers, Rawski, Cootware and Vergatta made a nose to tail Bandolero train as they raced to the midway point in the race. As the laps clicked off, Rawski started to slowly stretch out his lead. Then the unthinkable happened. Just as Vergatta made a move to take over the second spot racing down the front straight, Rawski lost control of his ride through the second turn, bringing out the caution flag. With a green-white-checkered flag finish to the race, Vergatta made his move and grabbed the lead away from Cootware to take his second feature win in a row. A dejected Rawski was able to finish in second followed by Cootware in third.

Camden Murphy is on a roll in the Summer Shootout. After winning both heat races, Murphy started on the pole for the Super Cup feature race. Morgan Schissel took over the lead on the first lap. Three laps later, it was Murphy making his move on the backstraight and taking over the lead through the third and fourth turns. While the lead change was taking place, Cody Lipstreuer decided that he wanted to move up into second. Unfortunately, while trying to take the spot away from Schissel, Lipstreuer lost control of his machine. Trying to avoid contact with Schissel, Lipstreuer spun out his Super Cup. Murphy would remain at the point for the rest of the race to win his second race of the season. Schissel followed in second while Cody Lipstreuer recovered to finish third with his sister Krystinia in fourth.

The Summer Shootout welcomes Go-Kart racers to the series and would enjoy having more drivers participate. This week, Phil Reints was joined by Legend competitor, Dave Wastak and Zaida Clevenger whose brother Colton runs in the Allison Legacy division. Even though the three karts were in separate classifications and horsepower, the drivers put on a good show. Ten year old Clevenger, who didn’t have the horsepower or the experience of her 61 year old competitors, quickly became a crowd favorite. If you have a racing kart or know someone who does, feel free to check out the Summer Shootout schedule and join us for a race. Maybe you too can hear the cheers from the crowd.

The Formula Indy Racing Association joined the Summer Shootout Series for the second time this year. Also, joining the FIRA were two Rascal Outlaw Racing racers. The two groups ran well together for some exciting heat race action. John Zeilinga and Grant Greenfield split the heat race wins and started together on the front row of the feature. Zeilinga took control of the race when the green flag waved with Greenfield in tow. Behind them was where the action took place as Mark Findley, Jason Mahoney and Kai McNulty challenged each other for third place. Findley would take command of the third position by the halfway point leaving Mahoney to try and hold off McNulty for the fourth spot. As the race approached the finish, McNulty slid past Mahoney in the fourth turn to grab the fourth position and held on to it to the checkers. Zeilinga led the race flag to flag to win his third Summer Shootout race and remain undefeated in the series. Greenfield, Findley, McNulty and Mahoney rounded out the top five in the feature race.

Matt Booker won both of the Legends heat races and took started the twenty lap feature on the pole. With Max McNamara on his bumper, Booker grabbed the lead as the green flag flew. As the drivers jockeyed for position, the running order of Booker, McNamara, Dave Townsend, Cody Townsend and Tim Narr remained constant for the early portion of the race. The field was brought back together when the caution flag was displayed after Rich Miller lost his drive shaft. The field restarted the race with fourteen laps left and Dave Townsend decided it was time to race for second. As McNamara and Townsend traded the second position back and forth, Booker was able to distance himself from the field. Just after the halfway point, the caution flag was displayed again for a two car spin. When the green flag returned so did the battle between Townsend and McNamara. The two competitors traded the position turn after turn without any contact between the cars, even with both cars getting sideways a number of times. Finally, McNamara took hold of the second spot when Townsend slid off the track in the second turn. Aaron Moyer had methodically worked his way up all the way from the back of the pack and assumed the third spot with Townsend recovering in fourth. Booker in the meantime cruised the final laps on way to his second Shootout win. McNamara couldn’t close in to the leader and settled for second. Dave Townsend was able to regain the third position with a few laps left in the race. Moyer, the 2007 Bandolero champion, crossed the line in fourth, his best Legend finish in the series. Cody Townsend rounded out the top five.

The Summer Shootout continues at Rockford Speedway on June 1st and returns to the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday, June 14th. Practice starts at 11:00am, with racing at high noon. The series features free admission as 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 http://www.racingwisconsin.com/summershootout

RESULTS
BANDOLEROS
Feature (15 laps): Kyle Vergatta (55V), Adam Rawski (14x), Corey Cootware (13), TJ Graczkowski (2)
Heat 1 (10 laps): Adam Rawski (14x), Corey Cootware (13), Kyle Vergatta (55V), TJ Graczkowski (2)
Heat 2 (10 laps): Corey Cootware (13), Kyle Vergatta (55V), TJ Graczkowski (2)

SUPER CUP – JUNIOR DIVISION
Feature (15 laps): Camden Murphy (85), Morgan Schissel (71), Cody Lipstreuer (96), Krystinia Lipstreuer (93)
Heat 1 (10 laps): Camden Murphy (85), Morgan Schissel (71), Cody Lipstreuer (96), Krystinia Lipstreuer (93)
Heat 2 (10 laps): Camden Murphy (85), Cody Lipstreuer (96), Morgan Schissel (71), Krystinia Lipstreuer (93)

GO KARTS
Feature (15 laps): Phil Reints (14), Dave Wastak (56), Zaida Clevenger (83)
Heat 1 (10 laps): Phil Reints (14), Dave Wastak (56), Zaida Clevenger (83)
Heat 2 (10 laps): Phil Reints (14), Dave Wastak (56), Zaida Clevenger (83)

FIRA
Feature (15 laps): John Zeilinga (1), Grant Greenfield (37), Mark Findley (43), Kai McNulty (14), Jason Mahoney (30), Lyle Phillips (35)
Heat 1 (10 laps): John Zeilinga (1), Grant Greenfield (37), Mark Findley (43), Jason Mahoney (30), Kai McNulty (14)
Heat 2 (10 laps): Grant Greenfield (37), John Zeilinga (1), Jason Mahoney (30), Mark Findley (43), Lyle Phillips (35), Kai McNulty (14)

LEGENDS
Feature (20 laps): Matt Booker (20), Max McNamara (24), Dave Townsend (53), Aaron Moyer (140), Cody Townsend (55), Steve Kimmell (11),Tim Narr (49), Herman Greinig (78), Adam Rawski (14x), Rich Miller (50)
Heat 1 (10 laps): Matt Booker (20), Max McNamara (24), Dave Townsend (53), Steve Kimmell (11), Aaron Moyer (140), Cody Townsend (55), Adam Rawski (14x), Rich Miller (50), Tim Narr (49), Herman Greinig (78)
Heat 2 (10 laps): Matt Booker (20), Max McNamara (24), Tim Narr (49), Dave Townsend (53), Cody Townsend (55), Steve Kimmell (11), Herman Greinig (78), Adam Rawski (14x), Rich Miller (50), Aaron Moyer (140)

ALLISON LEGACY
Feature (15 laps): John Beinlich (93), Dwight Dunlap (20), Austin Mennen (24), Colton Clevenger (83), Caylie Duncanson (18)
Heat 1 (10 laps): John Beinlich (93), Dwight Dunlap (20), Caylie Duncanson (18), Colton Clevenger (83)
Heat 2 (10 laps): John Beinlich (93), Dwight Dunlap (20), Colton Clevenger (83), Caylie Duncanson (18), Austin Mennen (24)