Braun’s luck finally turns in Slinger

After being close many times this year, R.J. Braun finally broke through into the win column Sunday night at the Slinger Speedway as he won the 75-lap super late model main event over Ryan DeStefano and Luke Fenhaus.

“We were definitely close, and I have to thank Ryan (DeStefano) for giving me a lane because it was a great race,” Braun said from victory lane after racing side by side with DeStefano for nearly the entire race. “It’s definitely cool, and I’ve been waiting a long time for this one.”

Braun ran the outer groove while DeStefano occupied the inside lane. The two of them battled door to door, which left the third running Fenhaus with nowhere to go despite appearing to have a faster car at times.

In the closing laps, the battle between the leaders began to ramp up in intensity. Despite a few minor scrapes, Braun remained committed to the outside and was able to take the lead and capture his first career super late model feature victory at Slinger. DeStefano barely edged Fenhaus for second while Steve Apel and Brad Keith rounded out the top five.

“R.J. ran a hell of a race,” DeStefano said. “I told him he’s lucky because any other driver would’ve given him the old ‘eight tires corner better than four’ but I was nice. We were tight on the inside and he knew that which is why he took the outside. I wish the finish was different but we’re just going to keep digging.”

Rich Loch finished sixth, followed by Jacob Nottestad, Nick Wagner, Dave McCardle, and Rob Braun.

The race was delayed under the red flag following an incident on lap four. Several cars trying to occupy the same piece of real estate resulted in Rich Bickle’s car hitting the wall and riding the billboards in turn three. Bickle emerged from

the incident uninjured but his car was heavily damaged and the race was delayed as repairs were made to the catch fencing.

Bickle still has the lead in the season championship points standings. Fenhaus is 24 points back, and Braun and Apel are 32 behind.

In other races:
• Apel won the super late model fast dash and Bickle set fast time with a lap of 11.173 seconds.
• Ryan Craine won the 40-lap late model feature over Jack Stern. Zach Prunty was third, followed by Ryan Gutknecht and Cole Thomas.
Ryan Craine also won a late model heat race while Jerry Eckhardt won the opening late model heat race. Stern was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.004 seconds.
• Justin Okruhlica made a late charge to win the 25-lap modified feature over Aaron Marthaler and Bill Tandetzke. Tyler Schley was fourth and Carl Benn was fifth.
Bill Prietzel won the modified heat race and Okruhlica was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 13.324 seconds.
• Tom Elsinger won the 25-lap Slinger Bees feature over Ricky Gebhard and Misty Benn. Marty Tackes finished fourth and Brandon Tackes was fifth.
Roman Blank and Brandon Tackes won the Slinger Bees heat races, and Jason Clope was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 15.216 seconds.
• Anna Price won the Bandolero 20-lap main event. Ayrton Brockhouse was second, followed by Carter Nilson, Paxton Benz and Haylee Flairty.
Axel Oldenhoff won a Bandolero heat race while Carter Nilson won the second heat race. Lincoln Cain was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 14.7 seconds.
Scott Goetzke won the Figure 8 race.

Apel’s luck finally turns

Apel, the defending super late model track champion, hasn’t had much go his way this season but things fell into place July 25 as he won the 75-lap main event after Fenhaus and Braun tangled late while battling for the lead.

With six laps to go, Fenhaus made an inside stab at the lead entering turn three and was able to place his nose just inside Braun’s rear bumper. As Braun defended the position, contact between the cars sent Braun’s car sliding sideways.

The left front slammed hard into Fenhaus’ right front, damaging both cars and drawing a caution flag.

Loch and Apel, who were battling for third, found themselves in the top two spots in a six-lap shoot-out for the win.

Loch chose the outside groove for the restart, and Apel was able to pull ahead slightly on the inside and then take the lead as Loch ran out of real estate off turn four. As Apel moved into the lead, Alex Prunty was able to use the inside lane to pass Loch for second.

Apel could not be caught in the final laps and he drove to his first super late model feature victory of the season. Prunty was second — his best finish this season —  and Loch was third.

“Rich (Loch) and I were battling for third like it was the win before the 4 (Fenhaus) and 92 (Braun) got together,” Apel said from victory lane. “But I feel like I stole that one from R.J. (Braun) as that kid’s been working his tail off. That fire is lit. I think today was his day for his first victory but he’ll get there and I have a lot of faith in him. I hate it for him as I really wanted to see him get his first win, but we’ll take it.”

DeStefano was fourth. Brad Mueller was fifth. Bickle was sixth, followed by Brad Keith, Wagner, Fenhaus and Zach Telford.

In other races:
• Apel won the super late model fast dash and Fenhaus topped qualifying by turning in a lap in 11.266 seconds.
• Gutknecht won the 40-lap late model feature over Stern and Prunty. Eckhardt, 78, took fourth in the feature and earlier extended his record as the oldest race winner in speedway history by capturing the heat race victory.
Stern was the fastest qualifier after posting a lap time of 12.112 seconds.
• Jake Schraufnagel won the 30-lap sportsman feature by beating Andrew Meyerhofer and Dan Calhoun.
Schraufnagel also won the sportsman heat race. Andrew Meyerhofer denied Schraufnagel a clean sweep as he turned in a lap at 12.864 to become the division’s fastest qualifier.
• Nick Schmidt edged Zach Greer to win the 25-lap Super Beez feature.
Al Strobel and Greer each were winners of a Super Beez heat race. Greer was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 13.649 seconds.
• Carl Benn won the 25-lap Slinger bees feature by holding off Brandon Mennicke and Misty Benn.
• Slinger Bees heat races were won by Brady Held and Ricky Gebhard. Fast qualifier honors went to Marty Tackes with a lap time of 15.221 seconds.
• Nick Ostberg won the Figure 8 race over Bill Shavlik and Goetzke.