By Dan Margetta

Slinger, Wis., July 4—Race fans in attendance at the Slinger Super Speedway Sunday night were treated to an All-American type finish as underdog Jeff Holtz drove to his first career super late model feature victory in the Keith’s Marina Firecracker 85 Independence Day Special.

“It took a long time and I’ve raced here for a lot of years but this is great,” Holtz told the crowd from victory lane, “I’m just so happy right now, I’m at a loss for words.”

Mike Egan and Dennis Prunty paced the field to the green flag with Prunty quickly launching to the lead from the outside at the completion of lap one. Egan settled into line in second behind Prunty with Conrad Morgan, Steve Apel, and Jon Reynolds Jr. scrambling for position behind them. By lap ten, Apel was able to work his way to third behind Prunty and Egan while fast qualifier Jeremy Lepak and Holtz maneuvered on the inside lane to advance into the top five. Lepak was on the move in the early laps, first passing Apel for third and then charging around Egan for second place by lap 20. Lepak began to shorten the distance between himself and Prunty for the lead and by lap 35 was planted on Prunty’s rear bumper as they worked lapped traffic. Lepak eased the nose of his car to the edge of Prunty’s bumper exiting turn two on lap 37 and when Prunty defended the position entering turn three, contact between the two sent Prunty’s car looping around in turn four to draw the caution flag. Both Prunty and Lepak were placed at the rear of the field for the restart as Egan inherited the lead over Holtz, Eric Fransen, Apel, and Lowell Bennett. Egan and Holtz battled side by side for the lead as racing resumed before Holtz was able power ahead on the outside off turn two on lap 41 as Fransen and Bennett moved into third and fourth place respectively. Holtz began to pull away out front while Fransen also used the high groove to get around Egan for second as Bennett moved up to challenge Egan along with Reynolds. Fransen began to chip away slightly at Holtz’s lead while Bennett advanced to third by lap 55. Holtz laid down some consistent laps in the late stages and hit his marks as Fransen was unable to move close enough to challenge as the laps wound down. Holtz maintained his lead and drove to a five car length victory over Fransen to score his first career super late model feature win. Bennett finished a strong third while Reynolds and Egan rounded up the top five. Lepak and Prunty continued their earlier battle through the field with Lepak edging Prunty for sixth at the line while David Prunty, Tommy Hromadka, and Randy Schuler completed the top ten finishers.

Chris Ratajczyk won the 25-lap super late model semi-feature over Collin Bamke and Josh Wallace. Fred Winn was fourth and Steven Schultz finished fifth. Conrad Morgan won the super late model fast dash and Jeremy Lepak turned in the fastest lap in qualifying at 11.414 seconds

By Dan Margetta

Slinger, Wis., June 13—Dennis Prunty topped the latest chapter in his rivalry with Lowell Bennett Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway as he charged to the lead following a late-race restart and held off Bennett for his fourth super late model feature victory of the season in the US Army/Reunion Night 60.

“C’mon, let’s hear some boos!,” Prunty played to the crowd afterwards, further solidifying his rebellious reputation, “If you’re booing me that means you want to see me race because you want your guy to beat me.”

“Lowell (Bennett) did a good job of keeping it low,” Prunty continued, explaining how he used the outside groove to take command of the race following a restart on lap 44, “He hasn’t figured it out yet…I like the outside!” “He gave it to me and I was laughing the whole time and I was like ‘thanks buddy…thanks for the win.’”

“We just didn’t quite have the same car we had before,” Bennett stated after finishing second, “I picked the bottom and we were so good on the bottom there when I was running by myself.” “I went into the corner and it just wouldn’t turn…it wouldn’t turn the whole last 16 laps. Congratulations to the Prunty crew and it was great for this crowd.”