When competing in a stock car race, or actually a race of any kind, being out front is the ultimate goal and on Sunday afternoon during the 52nd running of the National Short Track Championship at the Rockford Speedway only one driver achieved that goal during the 200-lap distance. And, by being out front, Alex Prunty stayed ahead of the rough and tumble action taking place behind him that essentially eliminated all other serious contenders by lap 112.
Prunty would start the race from the outside of row one and take the lead from the drop of the green with one potential contender, Brad Mueller pulling to the infield even before that green flag waved. On the third lap two more contenders would suffer damage when Jon Reynolds Jr. got loose in turn four and former Slinger Speedway champion Chris Blawat vaulted his right front wheel over the left rear tire of Reynolds. The front of Blawat's Super Late Model rose high into the air and then slammed back down forcing him to the pits for several laps while Reynolds would now spend the rest of the afternoon trying to make repairs under caution in order to stay in contention. And believe me, there were plenty of cautions.
Young Grant Greisbach would spin Matt Berger as they were racing for fourth on lap nineteen and the stack up behind them eliminated James Swan for the afternoon. On lap twenty-eight fast qualifier Austin Nason stopped on the track to pull a caution before ducking to the pits to change a tire. He would go down a lap to the leaders for doing this, but with the "Lucky Dog" rule in place Nason would eventually be back on the lead lap by the mid-race break.
Dana Czach and Jeremy Spoonmore tangled on lap 85 and on the restart Matt Berger would spin to the infield on the front stretch. With the caution laps counting along the way that would get us to the mid-race break with Prunty still in front followed by Brian Johnson Jr., Michael Bilderback who was looking to sweep the weekend after winning the Weekly Warriors Late Model event on Friday night and the Big 8 Late Model series event on Saturday, pole-sitter Dennis Prunty and the veteran Rich Bickle Jr. making up the top five.
Once back to green Bickle would pull to the infield on lap 110, then two laps later the crash that essentially decided the race happened. With what looked to be the fastest car on the track Nason had moved from seventh at the break up to third and was set to challenge for second, but when he drove too deep into turn one he pushed up the track sending both himself and Brian Johnson Jr. hard into the turn one wall. Dennis Prunty could not avoid contact and the damage to the right front of his car was terminal. Bilderback had the right side of his car peeled away and the spoiler of Griesbach's car had to be picked up by the safety crew in turn two.
After a long red flag period to clean up the mess the remainder of the field was led back to green by Alex Prunty who was still enjoying his Sunday drive. The fifteen-year-old Griesbach then got a lesson in aerodynamics as on the first lap back to green he raced hard into turn three and, with no spoiler, his car slid up the track and climbed the wall nearly going upside down before it settled back to the track on all fours.
Again the race was stopped to clean up the signage that had been knocked down and now Prunty had to be feeling good about things with the fourteenth fastest qualifier Rob Braun, the slowest qualifier in the twenty-two car field, Jake Gille, and the car of Jon Reynolds Jr. that had essentially been duct taped back together being his only challengers on the lead lap. One more caution on lap 137 for a Czach and Adam Peschek dust up slowed the pace, but from there the 25-year-old Prunty would cruise to the win. Braun, Reynolds Jr. and Gille were next in line while Josh Nelms was a lap down in fifth.
A nice field of Mid-American Stock Cars had to be whittled down to a twenty-four car starting field for the 50-lap preliminary event with current series point leader Dan Gilster starting from the pole. It would be Ryan Gutknecht who would lead the opening laps though until the caution waved when Chad Procter spun to the infield. On the restart Gutknecht did not come up to speed allowing Gilster to take the lead and the caution waved for the early leader to head to the pits. On the restart veteran driver Bill Prietzel's day came to an early end after hitting the wall in turn one and on the restart Kevin Gentile made a strong move on Gilster to take the lead.
On lap ten Kenny Benson was sent for a spin down the back stretch and then the field settled into some good green flag action with Gentile leading the way and under fire from defending race winner Ron Vandermeier Jr. The two leaders would go door-to-door for a couple of laps until on lap 31 when Vandermeier forced Gentile high in turn two where he kissed the wall and dropped back several spots as Vandermeier claimed the lead. Cautions on laps 33, 34, 37 and 47 would slow the pace, but nobody was going to stop the repeat as Vandermeier would again go to victory lane during the Short Track Championships. Gilster padded his point lead heading to the finale at this weekend's Oktoberfest at LaCrosse Speedway by finishing second, Bobby Gutknecht was third, Mark Pluer took fourth and Jeremy Bloomberg completed the top five.
As somebody who came here for the first time in the early 80's and who has made only sporadic visits since, it really sparks old memories to walk into the grand old facility that the urban sprawl has now overtaken. Announcer Eric Huenefeld did a great job as always informing and entertaining the crowd and the concessions at Rockford are some of the best that you will find. Yes, there were a few too many cautions and it was disappointing that so many good cars were essentially eliminated in one wreck, but it was still an entertaining afternoon of action enjoyed with fellow Back Stretch "bleacher creatures" Doug Haack and Kevin Feller as we wrapped up one great racing weekend!
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