By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., May
20—Just prior to the start of the Slinger Speedway racing season, Alex Prunty’s
mother suffered a brain aneurysm and Sunday night was the first time she was at
the track since being released from the hospital. It made for an emotional
night as Prunty won his first super late model feature of the year and added
his name to the prestigious list of winners of the Alan Kulwicki Memorial.
“It’s unbelievable and it’s the first race my mom was able
to make after a brain aneurysm and she has been in the hospital for a long time
and we’re just happy to have her back,” Prunty told the crowd from victory
lane, “The Alan Kulwicki Memorial is awesome as obviously there are a lot of
big names who have won and with the Kulwicki Driver Development Program and
everything those guys have done for me, there are just a lot of emotions going
through my head right now.”
Prunty took the lead from defending Kulwicki Memorial winner
Conrad Morgan just after a restart on lap 27 and then had to hold off numerous
challenges from Dennis Prunty who had won the first two super late model
features and was undefeated at the track in 2018.
“It wasn’t bad but I started back farther and had a long
ways to go and burned up my tires,” Dennis Prunty stated after his second place
finish, “And I knew if I touched him he would spin out so I figured I would
stay off him and do the best I could.”
“We’re getting there,“ third place finisher Steve Apel said
after the race, “I just kind of fell back and was trying to ride and didn’t
want to really get involved with the top two, but all in all the car is in one
piece and the nose is clean.”
Pole-sitter Tim Lampman paced the first two laps before
Conrad Morgan took command from the outside on lap three, bringing Alex Prunty
along with him into second. Chris Blawat and Gary LaMonte also made their way
by Lampman to move into third and fourth and a few laps later, Dennis Prunty
and Steve Apel joined them as Morgan continued to lead over Alex Prunty. The
running order behind the top two shuffled as first Apel nudged Lamonte for
position in turn four and a lap later, Dennis Prunty used a similar move to get
by Blawat and when everything sorted out, Prunty had third ahead of Apel,
LaMonte, and Blawat. The first and only caution flag of the event occurred on
lap 26 for a tangle between Rich Loch and Tim Lampman in turn four which
allowed the rest of the field to close in on Morgan and Alex Prunty.
Morgan chose the inside lane for the restart, leaving Alex
Prunty the outer groove which proved beneficial as Prunty charged from the top
side as racing resumed, completing the pass for the lead the next lap around.
The outside lane became the preferred place to be as Dennis Prunty, Apel,
LaMonte, and Brad Mueller all used it to advance forward. In the final laps,
Dennis Prunty ran down Alex Prunty and made several attempts to pass on the
inside but each time was denied as Alex Prunty was able to power off the turns
to maintain the lead. With eight laps to go, Dennis Prunty tried an inside move
once again but his car washed loose in turn two and as he regained control,
Alex Prunty scooted away with the lead. Alex Prunty could not be caught from
there and he drove to his first super late model feature victory of the season,
leaving Dennis Prunty to settle for second while Steve Apel took the checkered
flag in third. Gary LaMonte finished fourth and Brad Mueller was fifth. Conrad
Morgan crossed the line in sixth followed by Chris Blawat and Ryan DeStefano in
seventh and eighth respectively while Grant Griesbach and Brad Keith rounded
out the top ten.
Super late model heat races were won by Rich Loch and Alex
Prunty while Gary LaMonte was the fastest qualifier after touring the speedway
in 11.243 seconds.
