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HASELEU
JUGGERNAUT CONTINUES AT MILWAUKEE WITH
GOVERNOR'S CUP 50 VICTORY!
WEST ALLIS, WI. (August 27, 2006)
- The Wisconsin Challenge Series
presented by Simply WOW made it's first
trip to the Legendary Milwaukee Mile an
record setting one. Nathan Haseleu
of Pardeeville, WI had been dominating
the mid-portion of the racing season in
his Swiss Colony sponsored Ford Fusion
as the defending Wisconsin Challenge
Series champion collected his fourth
straight event win in WCS competition.
Haseleu would sweep past race leader Tim
Rothe of Appleton on lap 19 of the 50
lap main event as they entered turn one
on the semi-banked Mile oval.
Haseleu would then survive a late race
restart and pressure from Ironton, MN
native Trent Snyder to extend his record
setting win streak. But Haseleu's
win streak record was not the only one
to fall.
A series record 71 participants checked
into the Milwaukee Mile ground in effort
to vie for the victory on the historic
oval. With 71 cars taking to the
track for practice events, and 68 cars
taking an official timing lap, the
numbers established a record for the
largest number of Super Late Models
participating in a WCS contest,
shattering the prior mark of 65 at the
All-Star Challenge in June of 2005 at
Wisconsin International Raceway.
Further racing historians have been
attempting to find any point in the 103
year History of the Milwaukee Mile where
a larger field of cars has attempted to
participate in a racing event at the
Milwaukee Mile. As of press time,
none could be found, giving the six year
old racing series a crowning achievement
not only in it's history but the history
of one of America's longest running
Motorsports venues.
A 32 car field would
accept the green flag for the 50 lap
main event. With the largest
possible invert taking place, the 14th
fastest qualifier Kenny Richards of
Montello on the pole, with Blake
Horstman of Rockland to his outside.
Haseleu, the fastest qualifier of the
event would start in the 14th position,
in the 7th row.
When the green flag fell
it was Richards, the current Wisconsin
Challenge Series point leader getting
the jump on Horstman taking the initial
lead. On lap two, Rothe, who is
contending for the track championship at
Wisconsin International Raceway, would
work under Horstman for the second spot
and begin to close on Richards.
While Horstman, Jeff Storm and Charlie
Menard occupied the top five positions.
With each passing lap
Rothe would close in on Richards and he
would finally make a move on lap nine,
working the outside line to perfection
snaring the top spot as the pair entered
turn three. By now Haseleu has
already moved into the sixth spot and
was making steady progress through the
field.
While Rothe began to
stretch his advantage, attention turned
to Haseleu who continued to work his way
to the front of the pack. Haseleu
would work past Menard for fifth on lap
ten, before using the high line to drive
by both Horstman and Storm to reach the
third spot on the next circuit.
Richards was next to fall to Haseleu's
charge as Haseleu continued to work the
outside to his advantage gathering up
the second spot on lap 13.
Rothe had build up a two
second advantage, which Haseleu steadily
nibbled away at until the pair were nose
to tail by lap 18. On the very
next round Haseleu drove deep into turn
one securing the top spot. It was
the last time anyone other than Haseleu
would lead the way during the contest.
While Haseleu's charge
was impressive, so was the advancement
of Trent Snyder who had started in the
tenth spot. Snyder also running
the outside line had advanced into a top
five spot on lap 19. Over the next
several circuits Snyder would work his
way into the third spot on lap 22, and
would work by Rothe for second on the
next lap.
At the halfway point of
the event Haseleu, Snyder, Rothe,
Richards and Storm occupied the top five
positions, followed by Menard, Horstman,
Todd Stapleman, Ken Wills and Tim
Schendel.
Rothe would begin to
fade just prior top the first yellow
flag of the event, when Brian Johnson
Jr., expired a motor heading into turn
one on lap 31. This erased a three
second lead Haseleu had built on Snyder
as the field was slowed to clean the
racing surface.
One more lap went into
the books when Wills, still running in
the top ten spun in turn three and
tagged the wall.. After a quick
cleanup, Haseleu would resume his
previous pace.
Haseleu, Snyder and
Storm would begin to separate themselves
from the field behind them, while
Richards and Horstman did battle for the
fourth position. Horstman working
the outside line would draw even with
Richards in the turns, while Richards
would take the advantage down the
straights. A similar battle was
also taking place a couple positions
back as Stapleman and Josh Bauer did
battle wheel to wheel around the
raceway.
It would become apparent
as the race continued into it's closing
stages that Haseleu would have the speed
to remain at the front of the pack and
appeared to have an easy victory in hand
when the final caution of the day
appeared on lap 46 as Horstman expired
and engine heading into turn one.
After a brief flash fire, Horstman came
to a stop between turns one and two
along the wall. Though checked for
smoke inhalation, Horstman was otherwise
unhurt in the incident.
This left Haseleu,
Snyder, Storm, Richards and Stapleman in
the top five.
This setup a four lap
sprint to the checkered. As the
green flag waved, Snyder would dive low
on Haseleu in an attempt to take the
lead. Snyder briefly drew
alongside Haseleu as the pair entered
turn one, but once again Haseleu proved
the outside line was the fast way around
the oval and surged ahead down the
backstretch.
On the next lap Storm
would attempt a similar move on Snyder,
who was also able to repel the
challenge.
Over the final laps
Haseleu would build a ten car length
lead which he carried to the checkered
for the victory. Snyder would
settle for second, his highest finish in
WCS competition. Storm settled for
the third spot with Richards and
Stapleman completing the top five.
Menard, multi-time
NASCAR Midwest Series champion Steve
Carlson, Schendel, Jeff Kendall and
Eugene Gregorich Jr. comprised the top
ten finishes in the contest. 23
cars were still on the raceway at the
checkered with 19 cars still on the lead
lap.
With so many cars in the
pit area, a field of 40 cars would
accept the green flag for the 12 lap
Last Chance event. Jake Ryan the
polesitter for the contest would
dominate the race taking a convincing
win. Scott Ollerman would reach
the finish line in second, followed by
Dean Cornelius, Brian Johnson Jr.,
Jeremy Miller and Kyle Calmes in the top
six spots that transferred to the main
event. Dennis Prunty would finish
seventh just missing the show.
Prunty however would
return for the final contest of the day
and reach victory lane in convincing
fashion. A 20 lap B-feature was
held for all the cars that remained
after the field for the main event was
set. Prunty and hard charging
youngster Jacob Humphrey would battle
throughout the contest. Humphrey
would lead the way the first five laps
before Prunty would work by and into the
top spot. Though he never was able
to gain much of an advantage over
Humphrey, once out front Prunty was able
to pace the distance to the checkered
for the win. Humphrey would settle
for second followed by a fast closing
Jeff Way in third. Bryan Roach and
Neil Knoblock would complete the top
five finishers.
The only major incident
of the weekend occurred during the
B-Feature race as the cars of Rich Loch,
Tim Hintz, and Greg Ruffalo tangled
heading into turn three. Though
none of the drivers were hurt, each of
the machines needed assistance from the
raceway on the back of a two truck.
Two races now remain on
the 2006 schedule for the Wisconsin
Challenge Series presented by Simply
WOW. The next event will take
place Friday Night, September 8th at the
Madison International Speedway with the
running of the Wisconsin Challenge
Series 100, presented by Bryden Motors.
The highlight of the
program will be a 100 lap feature
contest on the high-banked half-mile
oval. A pair of qualifying races
and the popular B-feature will
also be held for the WCS Super Late
Models. Additional racing will
take place in several support classes on
the inner quarter-mile track including
events for Lake Geneva Super Stocks,
Sportsman and Bandit cars.
The program will
conclude with a huge fireworks display.
Qualifying will take place at 6:15 p.m.,
with the first green flag of the evening
falling at 7:30 p.m.
The season will draw to
a close with the Wisconsin Challenge
Championship 80 at Marshfield Super
Speedway on Saturday Night September
16th.
More information and a complete
season schedule for the Wisconsin
Challenge Series can be found at
www.wisconsinchallenge.com
COMPLETE RACESTAT RESULTS
THE GOVERNOR'S CUP 50 - The Milwaukee
Mile - August 27, 2006
First 50 Lap
Feature: -- 1.) Nathan
Haseleu, Pardeeville; 2.) Trent Snyder,
Ironton, MN; 3.) Jeff Storm, Waterford;
4.) Kenny Richards, Montello; 5.) Todd
Stapleman, Wautoma; 6.) Charlie Menard,
Eau Claire; 7.) Steve Carlson, West
Salem; 8.) Tim Schendel, Sparta; 9.)
Jeff Kendall, Montello; 10.) Eugene
Gregorich Jr., Kewaunee; 11.) Tim Rothe,
Appleton; 12.) Jeremy Miller, Roscoe,
IL; 13.) Jake Ryan, Farmington, MN; 14.)
Josh Bauer, Random Lake; 15.) Kyle
Calmes, Appleton; 16.) John Zimmerman,
Markesan; 17.) Frank Kreyer,
Pardeeville; 18.) Jason Weinkauf,
Merrill; 19.) Andy Monday, Appleton;
20.) Chris Weinkauf, Merrill; 21.) Dave
Feiler, Sun Prairie; 22.) Mark Eswein,
Wisconsin Rapids; 23.) Russ Blakley,
Palmyra; 24.) Blake Horstman, Rockland;
25.) Jeremy Lepak, Wausau; 26.) Scott
Ollerman, Sun Prairie; 27.) Dean
Cornelius, Chaska, MN; 28.) Ken Wills,
Slinger; 29.) Brian Johnson Jr., Loves
Park, IL; 30.) Adam Royle, Farmington,
MN; 31.) Eddie Hoffmann, Wheaton, IL;
32.) Dexter Bean, Westby
12 Lap
Last Chance Race: (Top 15 of 40
starters) -- 1.) Jake Ryan,
Farmington, MN; 2.) Scott Ollerman, Sun
Prairie; 3.) Dean Cornelius; 4.) Brian
Johnson Jr., Loves Park, IL; 5.) Jeremy
Miller, Roscoe, IL; 6.) Kyle Calmes,
Appleton; 7.) Dennis Prunty, Lomira; 8.)
Nick Schumacher, Germantown; 9.) Rick
Corso, McHenry, IL; 10.) Jacob Humphrey,
Lake Geneva; 11.) Pete Moore, McFarland;
12.) Bryan Roach, Goodhue, MN; 13.) Neil
Knoblock, Wausau; 14.) Don Turner,
LaCrosse; 15.) Chris Skrede, Sparta
20 Lap
B-Feature: (Top 15 of 31 starters) -- 1.)
Dennis Prunty, Lomira; 2.) Jacob
Humphrey, Lake Geneva; 3.) Jeff Way,
Burlington; 4.) Bryan Roach, Goodhue,
MN; 5.) Neil Knoblock, Wausau; 6.) Chris
Skrede, Sparta; 7.) Don Turner,
LaCrosse; 8.) Robb Vanderloop, Kaukauna;
9.) Brandon Selle, Dale; 10.) Rick
Corso, McHenry, IL; 11.) Ben Pettis, Eau
Claire; 12.) Jay Vandergeest, Merrill;
13.) Kyle Kinder, McFarland; 14. M.G.
Gajewski, Wausau; 15.) Tod Kropf,
Watertown
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