Fenhaus wins second consecutive race

Youth beat experience Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway as 16-year-old Luke Fenhaus ran down track champion Steve Apel and took the lead with eight laps to go en route to victory in the 100-lap Labor Day Weekend super late-model main event.
“I just made sure I hit my marks every lap and I was really fighting a loose off condition and kept spinning my right rear (tire) over and over and over,” Fenhaus told the crowd from victory lane after capturing his second Slinger super late model win in as many attempts. “So I just made sure I didn’t get the right rear hot and just got him when I could.”
Apel, who led a race-high 73 laps, appeared headed for victory with a large lead until Fenhaus was able to track him down late, but his second place finish was enough to clinch his fifth Slinger Speedway super late-model track championship.
“The goal at the beginning of the year was to go out and win races to be in position to win the championship, and that’s what we did,” Apel said. “We won races and only had one finish outside the top three all year so the guys behind me did a great job. It’s an honor to win five titles now and I think Conrad (Morgan, six championships) and Lowell (Bennett, seven championships) are in sight, and it’s unreal to win five let alone one so we have to thank everyone for the support.”
Apel said he knew Fenhaus was lurking in his rearview mirror.
“I knew he was coming,” Apel said of Fenhuas’ late run. “He nibbled it down and nibbled it down, and I was hoping I could catch lapped traffic at just the right time with 10 laps to go but I couldn’t hold him off as he was just too fast.”
Ryan DeStefano finished third a week after securing his first feature win and afterward said he was counting on a late caution flag that never materialized.
“The car was fast and early on I let them go ahead but my car was good and if a caution had come out, who knows, but I think we would have had a battle,” DeStefano said, “For what we have been able to do in the last few weeks here is pretty amazing.”
Dave McCardle continued to capitalize on an improved season as he led the opening 17 laps of the race as John DeAngelis, Alex Prunty and Rich Loch all battled for positions behind him while Apel, Fenhaus and DeStefano all worked their way forward from deep in the field.
Apel’s car was hooked up in the outside groove and he used it to sweep past cars before tracking down McCardle for the lead with another outside pass on lap 18. McCardle held his own in second while Loch occupied third just head of Prunty and DeStefano, who found themselves in a side-by-side battle over fourth with DeAngelis, Brad Keith and Fenhaus were all in the mix.
Prunty’s car kicked loose off turn two on lap 25 and he slid to the infield to draw the caution flag. Apel maintained the lead on the restart as Loch and DeStefano used the outside groove to get around McCardle while Fenhaus waited a few laps for things to settle down before he began to pick off cars and advance ahead.
With Apel streaking away out front and DeStefano holding second over Loch, Fenhaus began to methodically move up one car at a time until he found himself in second place just past the halfway mark.
Apel enjoyed a large lead and began to work lapped traffic as Fenhaus started to gradually chip away. Fenhaus drew closer and closer until he was on Apel’s bumper with 15 laps to go. The two leaders threaded lapped traffic as the laps wound down.
On lap 91, the pair pulled off an inside-outside split of the lapped machine of Steve Dorer with Fenhaus taking to the low groove and Apel remaining high. The two raced side by side through turns three and four.
On the front stretch, Fenhaus was able to friction slide his rear bumper across Apel’s nose to clear him for the lead. Once out front, Fenhaus drove away to the victory.
After DeStefano in third, Alex Prunty rebounded from his earlier incident to charge to fourth place. John DeAngelis was fifth. R.J. Braun was sixth, Brad Keith was seventh and Rich Loch was eighth. Nick Wagner and Steve Dorer rounded out the top 10.
In other races:
n Loch won the super late-model fast dash. Keith was the fastest qualifier with a lap turned in 11.245 seconds.
n Ryan Gutknecht won the 50-lap late-model feature over Tom Berens and Jacob Nottestad. Joe Shelby was fourth and Jack Stern was fifth.
n Jerry Eckhardt and Gutknecht won the late model heat races. Fast qualifier honors went to Prunty after he turned in a lap in 12.123 seconds.
n Bobby Gutknecht led every lap of the 35-lap sportsman feature but he had all he could handle from Dale Lecus Jr., who finished a close second. Paul Wagner finished third ahead of Brian Holtz and Jay Kalbus.
Kalbus was crowned the sportsman track champion for the 2020 season.
n Bobby Gutknecht won the sportsman heat race and Brian Holtz was the fastest qualifier with a lap turned in 12.693 seconds.
n Colin Saegert drove to his first career Slinger Bee feature win in the 25-lap main event over Misty Benn and Brandon Tackes. Brady Held finished fourth and Ricky Gebhard was fifth.
Dylan Gagliano won the first Slinger Bee heat race.
Brandon Mennicke won the second Slinger Bee heat race, and Marty Tackes set fast time with a lap at 15.226 seconds.
n Steve Wick drove the Raceway Bar and Grill entry to the win in the Bar Cars race.
n Al Strobel drove a Chevy Corvette to the Spectator Eliminator race win as he outdueled a Jaguar in the finale.
 Rick Bruskiewicz won a wild Figure 8 race.
Champions to be crowned Sunday
Races on Sunday, Sept. 13, will crown late-model, Slinger Bees and figure 8 champions. American Super Cups, legends and Bandoleros will also race.
Gates open at noon with racing at 2 p.m.