Photo courtesy Sleeveless Bob Photography
Slinger, Wis., July 17–— Dale Nottestad, the current point leader at the Jefferson Speedway, held off Slinger regulars Jordan DeVoy and Ryan Farrell to stake his claim to the King of the Highbanks title by winning the 50-lap late model feature Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway in the Prelude to the SuperSeal Slinger Nationals presented by Miller Lite.
“It’s good to be here as I don’t have much time to get here over the summer, but I love coming here, “Nottestad told the crowd from victory lane, “It turned out good tonight.”
“I don’t know how much longer it was going to hang on as it was really loose out there,’ second place finisher DeVoy stated afterward, “When they say loose is fast and out of control that’s exactly what it felt like.”
“I tried to make it exciting and we shouldn’t have finished third again but I got it out of there,” Farrell explained after his third place effort, “But I’m still behind Jordan (DeVoy)…Dang it!”
Ryan Gutknecht and Kevin Knuese started from the front row and Gutknecht raced into the lead from the inside line while Ryan Farrell, Dale Nottestad, and Kyle Chwala battled behind the top two. Farrell, Nottestad, and Chwala all worked the inside lane to sweep by Knuese who found himself caught on the high side.
A few laps later, Nottestad was able to edge inside of Farrell for second and Chwala followed suite soon thereafter to take third place. Andy Evraet’s car slid around off turn two on lap 12 and the first caution flag waved with Gutknecht leading over Nottestad, Chwala, Farrell, and Knuese.
The top three all chose the inside lane for the restart with Chwala being brave enough to take to the high side and as racing resumed, Chwala was able to pull down in front of Nottestad for second as Gutknecht continued to lead. With Gutknecht remaining out front, Chwala began to leave a bit of an opening on the inside and Nottestad aggressively took advantage of that as he muscled his way into second.
Knuese and John Ovadal also took advantage of the inside lane and advanced to third and fourth as Chwala and Farrell were hung up in the outside lane. The second caution flag of the race waved on lap 29 when Shaun Scheel’s car suddenly slowed entering turn three and was struck from behind by Jerry Eckhardt.
Eckhardt’s car carried up the race track where it was struck by Steven Scheel’s car as both machines came to rest against the outside retaining wall. Once again both Gutknecht and Nottestad chose the inside lane for the restart, leaving Knuese to move to the outside and as the green flag appeared, Knuese faded a bit on the high side.
Gutknecht continued to lead as Nottestad moved into second with Ovadal using the inside to grab third place while farther back Jordan DeVoy advanced into the top five. Nottestad and Ovadal pressured Gutknecht heavily for the lead and on lap 35, Ovadal was able to edge his nose inside of Gutknecht’s rear fender as the leaders entered turn one.
Contact between the two resulted in Gutknecht’s car spinning off turn two to draw the caution flag again and sending both Ovadal and Gutknecht to the rear of the field for the restart. The incident left Nottestad with the lead over Farrell for the restart and he wasted no time in pulling out front of the field as Farrell slide behind him into second. Jordan DeVoy made the outside lane work in the closing laps as he raced his way into third place and began to set his sights on the leaders.
Nottestad gradually eased away out front as DeVoy caught Farrell for second, taking the position after several laps of trying to get by on both the high and low sides. Nottestad drove away to the victory in the final laps and DeVoy held off Farrell for second place while Kyle Chwala and Kevin Knuese rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively. Zack Riddle finished sixth while Casey Johnson took the checkered flag in seventh place ahead of Ryan Gutknecht in eighth. John Ovadal and Andy Evraets rounded out the top 10.
Jerry Eckhardt won the 20-lap late model semi-feature over Steven Scheel and Tom Jasinski. Zach Braun finished fourth and Tyler Hromadka was fifth. A frightening looking incident on the first lap sent Kyle Smith’s car overturning several times down the backstretch before coming to rest on its wheels where Smith emerged uninjured. Late model heat races were won by Tom Jasinski, Shaun Scheel, and Dale Nottestad while Jordan DeVoy was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.159 seconds.
Eric Lingford took the lead on lap three and never looked back en route to the victory in the 35-lap Midwest Sporstman feature.
Jimmy Wilson paced the opening two laps while Eric Lingford, Bobby Gutknecht, and Bill Prietzel all worked their way forward through traffic. Lingford made his way around Wilson for the lead on lap three as Gutknecht and Prietzel also advanced positions with Brian Holtz and Ryan Gutknecht following in their tracks. Lingford maintained the lead while Bobby Gutknecht and Prietzel staged a side by side battle for second place.
Lingford drove to the win as Gutknecht and Prietzel’s battle lasted all the way to the checkered flag with Prietzel edging Bobby Gutknecht for second place in a photo finish. Ryan Gutknecht finished in fourth and Brian Holtz crossed the finish line in fifth.
Ken Calhoun and Eric Lingford each won Midwest Sportsman heat races and Brian Holtz was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12. 763 seconds.
Jay Kalbus made an appearance on the Slinger high banks and drove to the Area Sportsman 30-lap feature victory over Jason Thoma and Jacob Schraufnagel.
Bobby Selsing paced the opening laps before Kalbus was able to work his way around for the lead on lap nine. Thoma advanced his way forward from deeper in the field to race into second place as Kalbus held a sizeable lead. Thoma got his chance when a lap 23 caution flag for a spin in turn two tightened the field for the final seven laps however, Kalbus proved to be too strong and he fended off any challenges to capture the victory. Thoma finished a strong second while Jacob Schraufnagel took the checkered flag in third. Bobby Selsing crossed the finish line in fourth place and Paul Wagner finished fifth.
Ken Au and Jay Kalbus won the Area Sportsman heat races and Terry Wangsness set fast time after circling the speedway in 13.023 seconds.
Jakob Hassler held off a hard charging Tom Berens to win the 25-lap Slinger Bee feature in an exciting finish. Jayden Buckley finished a strong third while Heather Stark and Nick Schmidt rounded out the top five.
Slinger Bee heat races were won by Paul Reagles and Nick Schmidt while Tom Berens set a new track record in qualifying with a lap of 14.321 seconds.
Scott Goetzke drove to the victory in the Figure 8 race to close out the evening.
| Area Sportsman – Feature July 17, 2016 | |||
| Pos | Car # | Driver | |
| 1 | 27K | Jay Kalbus | |
| 2 | 6T | Jason Thoma | |
| 3 | 29J | Jacob Schraufnagel | |
| 4 | 42S | Bobby Selsing | |
| 5 | 53W | Paul Wagner | |
| 6 | 55W | Terry Wangsness | |
| 7 | 32W | Andy Welter | |
| 8 | 74S | Joe Shelby | |
| 9 | 4T | Mike Taylor | |
| 10 | 58B | Kevin Bush | |
| 11 | 29H | Kody Hubred | |
| 12 | 31A | Kenneth Au | |
| 13 | 11B | Adam Bleskan | |
| Late Models – Feature July 17, 2016 | |||
| Pos | Car # | Driver | |
| 1 | 2N | Dale Nottestad | |
| 2 | 38D | Jordan DeVoy | |
| 3 | 55F | Ryan Farrell | |
| 4 | 22C | Kyle Chwala | |
| 5 | 33K | Kevin Knuese | |
| 6 | 14R | Zack Riddle | |
| 7 | 5J | Casey Johnson | |
| 8 | 01G | Ryan Gutknecht | |
| 9 | 71O | John Ovadal | |
| 10 | 49E | Andy Evraets | |
| 11 | 92B | R.J. Braun | |
| 12 | 84V | Jacob Vanoskey | |
| 13 | 5W | EJ Waldron | |
| 14 | 3H | Tyler Hromadka | |
| 15 | 30B | Zach Braun | |
| 16 | 8S | Shaun Scheel | |
| 17 | 61E | Jerry Eckhardt | |
| 18 | 4S | Stephen Scheel | |
| 19 | 46J | Tom Jasinski | |
| 20 | 72H | Mike Held | |
| Midwest Sportsman – Feature July 17, 2016 | |||
| Pos | Car # | Driver | |
| 1 | 87L | Eric Lingford | |
| 2 | 5P | Bill Prietzel | |
| 3 | 10G | Robert Gutknecht | |
| 4 | 01G | Ryan Gutknecht | |
| 5 | 38H | Brian Holtz | |
| 6 | 101E | Jimmie Evans | |
| 7 | 743W | Jimmy Wilson | |
| 8 | 98B | Greg Beebe | |
| 9 | 88C | Ken Calhoun | |
| 10 | 41H | Brad Hetzel | |
| 11 | 52H | Robert Hamel | |
| Figure 8s – Feature July 17, 2016 | |||
| Pos | Car # | Driver | |
| 1 | 4G | Scott Goetzke | |
| 2 | 11V | Willy Van Camp | |
| 3 | 17B | Rick Bruskiewicz | |
| 4 | 6S | Ron Schmitt | |
| 5 | 67L | Ryan Lovald | |