Dennis Prunty Tops Steve Apel to Win Father's Day 75 at Slinger

Dennis Prunty took the lead from Steve Apel with 15 laps to go and drove to his first Elite Eight Super Late Model Series victory of the season Sunday night in the PMF Landscape Supply Father’s Day 75-lap feature at the Slinger Speedway.

“My hat’s off to Steve Apel because that’s probably the best race the two of us ever had,” Prunty said from victory lane reflecting on the many exciting finishes and controversial battles the two have waged over the years. “I had a choice of running into him or letting him go and I let him go and got him back five or ten laps later,” Prunty continued, describing swapping the lead with Apel in the later stages of the event.

“The outside lane was my friend,” Apel stated after his second place result, “Dennis (Prunty) gave me a lot of room to race and I may have hit the frontstretch wall but that was my fault. It’s good to be back in the top three as we’ve struggled this year and Dennis and I have the same sponsor now so we have to play nice.”

Max Kahler battled Luke Fenhaus over the third spot in the final laps and nearly nipped Apel at the finish for second as he turned in another strong performance.

“We had a good piece tonight, maybe not quite as good to compete with that 42 (Prunty) but I think we could’ve got the 51 (Apel) if maybe we had one more lap,” Kahler said after finishing third. “I probably should’ve picked the outside on that last restart but I wasn’t confident with it. We didn’t run there all night so I wanted to go low and protect our spot but now I wish I went high because we might’ve had something for them tonight.”

Luke Fenhaus raced with the leaders throughout the whole race and worked his way to third at one point before having to settle with a fourth place result at the checkered flag while Brad Mueller led the race early before finishing in the fifth position. John DeAngelis took the checkered flag in sixth followed by Grant Griesbach who finished seventh after pacing the opening laps. R.J. Braun was eight followed by Alex Prunty and Ryan Farrell in ninth and tenth respectively.

Brad Keith was the winner of the Super Late Model dash while R.J. Braun set fast time after turning in a qualifying lap time of 11.343 seconds.

Blake Nottestad outdueled Jason Uttech to win the 25-lap Super Beez feature. Early race leader Brandon Tackes finished third ahead of Nick Schmidt in fourth and Al Strobel in fifth. Super Beez heat races were won by Mark Dewey and Nick Schmidt while Jason Uttech was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 13.533 seconds.

Brandon Mennicke and Ricky Gebhard battled side by side in the final laps of the 25-lap Slinger Bees feature before Mennicke edged ahead at the finish to capture the win. Gebhard finished second while Rachel Czarapata advanced from her final row starting position to finish third. Kendall Becker was fourth and Travis Kreuser finished fifth. Super Beez heat race victories went to Nathan Lemberger and Brandon Mennicke while Travis Kreuser set fast time at 15.215 seconds.

The High School Racing Association made their first appearance of the season and Gracie Flanagan won the 20-lap feature over Kennedy Krueger and Jackson Martindale. Nathan Ulik finished fourth and Adria Day was fifth. Nathan Ulik and Kennedy Krueger were the winners of the High School Racing Association heat races and Caleb Arneson was the fastest qualifier after turning in a lap time of 15.846 seconds.

JoJo Fadke threaded her way through the field to win the 25-lap American Super Cup main event. Giovanni Sallee finished second and Michael Rose finished third. Rob Baaske and Jon Kirsch completed the top five finishers in fourth and fifth respectively. American Super Cup heat race victories were scored by Rob Baaske and Jon Kirsch while JoJo Fadke was the fastest qualifier after turning in a qualifying lap time of 15.336.

Jim Chartre was the winner of the One on One Spectator Races in his Camaro.

Super Late Models – Feature 75 Laps 1. 42P-Dennis Prunty, Allenton, WI [4], 2. 51A-Steve Apel, Slinger, WI [5], 3. 17K-Max Kahler, Caledonia, IL [11], 4. 4FLuke Fenhaus, Wausau, WI [9], 5. 89M-Brad Mueller, Random Lake, WI [3], 6. 7D-John DeAngelis, Richfield, WI [7], 7. 17G-Grant Griesbach, Waukesha, WI [1], 8. 92B-RJ Braun, Wales, WI [10], 9. 11P-Alex Prunty, Kewaskum, WI [15], 10. 80F-Ryan Farrell, Big Bend, WI [14], 11. 49M-Jerry Mueller, Richfield, WI [13], 12. 28B-Jesse Bernhagen, Markesan, WI [12], 13. 25N-Willie Nelson, Richmond, IL [16], 14. 92M-Conrad Morgan, Waukesha, WI [2], 15. 46J-Thomas Jasinski, Pewaukee, WI [19], 16. 66S-James Storey, Burlington, WI [18], 17. 23V-Levon Van Der Geest, Merrill, WI [8], 18. 55LRich Loch, Franklin, WI [17], 19. 48K-Brad Keith, Allenton, WI [6], 20. [DNS]27B-Jeremy Bentz, Fox Lake, IL

Slinger Bees – Feature 25 Laps 1. 11M-Brandon Mennicke, River Falls, WI , 2. 10G-Ricky Gebhard Jr, Oconomowoc, WI , 3. 32C-Rachel Czarapata, Menomonee Falls, WI , 4. 20X-Kendall Becker, Hartford, WI , 5. 20K-Travis Kreuser, West Bend, WI , 6. 3C-Jason Clope, Racine, WI , 7. 69D-Anthony Dorzok, Appleton, WI , 8. 33E-Matthew Elsinger, West Bend, WI , 9. 35Z-Morgan Zerwinski, West Bend, WI , 10. 08W-Matthew Wandrey, Germantown, WI , 11. 14S-Albert Strobel, Iron Ridge, WI , 12. 25L-Nathan Lemberger, Hartford, WI , 13. 64B-Cooper Bodendorfer, Muskego, WI , 14. 96P-Preston Peters, Fond Du Lac, WI , 15. 52L-Dylan Lemberger, Menomonee Falls, WI , 16. 15G-Cory Graham, West Bend, WI , 17. 44S-Todd Snow, Belvidere, IL

American Super Cups – Feature 20 Laps 1. 15F-JoJo Fadke, Lowell, IN , 2. 6G-Giovanni Sallee, Rockford, IL , 3. 01R-Micheal Rose, Grafton, WI , 4. 10B-Rob Baaske, Wheaton, IL , 5. 8K-Jon Kirsch, Roselle, IL , 6. 16L-Max Labak, Rockford, IL , 7. 31E-Mick Ellis, Schaumburg, IL , 8. 53F-Nathan Feary, Chadwick, IL , 9. 56R-Matt Rettler, Coloma, WI , 10. 60H-Lindsey Herwald, Lake Geneva, WI , 11. 11R-Makenna Rettler, Coloma, WI , 12. 815H-Makayla Hall, Custer Park, IL

Super Beez – Feature 25 Laps 1. 98N-Blake Nottestad, Cambridge, WI , 2. 36U-Jason Uttech, Watertown, WI , 3. 24B-Brandon Tackes, West Bend, WI , 4. 09X-Nick Schmidt, Watertown, WI , 5. 14S-Albert Strobel, Iron Ridge, WI , 6. 82D-Mark Dewey, Janesville, WI , 7. 15N-Tracy Neu, Watertown, WI , 8. 84S-Mitchell Strobel, Slinger, WI , 9. 25R-Paul Reagles, Colgate, WI , 10. 10D-Steve Dickson, Rockton, IL

Spectator 1-on-1’s – Feature 3 Laps 1. 061624-Jim Chartre, Kingsford, MI

-Slinger Super Speedway Release
-Photo credit: Ron Erstad, Jr.