June 21, 2003; Tomahawk, WI. - The past three Saturdays at Pepsi Raceway Park for Lance Dehnel have pretty much been the proverbial emotional roller coaster, filled with some high highs and low lows.
Two weeks ago, the Wausau driver was dinged up in a violent crash
head-on into the wall in the fourth corner. Coming back last week with a new car, Dehnel
took second in the feature, and this week he came full Dehnel took his new Chevy Cavalier to the front early, inheriting first after several cars in front of him spun in domino-like fashion on the race's second lap. Phil Malouf was spun by Joe Dorgan going into Turn Three on lap 2, and Jason Isaacson momentarily looked like he'd come through the congestion ahead until he also spun in Turn Four. Once in front, Dehnel was hard to pass, as Bob Schult found out late. Schult made several attempts on the outside of Dehnel in the closing laps, but the leader slammed the door shut every time, including once on the backstretch on the last lap. The result was Dehnel's first feature win ever at PRP. Bo Bennish became the third driver this year to win a Late Model feature, swiping the lead from Nick Larson on lap 12 and outrunning Lyle Nowak the rest of the way to win the 30-lap feature event. Bennish started from the fifth position in the main and waded through traffic quickly once Larson and Rocky Carlson broke up their side-by-side duel of the first ten laps. Once leading, the Gleason driver set a frenetic pace that Nowak was able to match but unable to better. Bennish crossed the finish line two car lengths ahead of the Wausau veteran driver, and more than half a lap ahead of third-place John Paszek. Tim Nawrocki's car is still primped in primer, but it was greasy fast again on this night as the Wausau driver started from the back and ripped through the field to win the 30-lap Bomber feature. Nawrocki started dead last in the 12-car field after winning the feature last week, but finally took first on lap 23 after a six-lap side-by-side duel with C.J. Hedges Jr. Bill Powers scored the feature win in the Street Bandit class, pulling off the kind of pass that has made this division almost worth the price of admission itself this year. Powers muscled inside Elliott Marquardt as the two took the white flag, and contact between the two sent both into the infield. Mowing through the grass, both drivers bypassed Turn One and came back on track in the second turn, but Powers was able to gain control fastest and held on for the win. The Legends cars were also on hand this evening, and Curt Gnatzig made a long drive from the Milwaukee area pay off with a win in the feature. The Hartford driver inherited the lead after leader Dan McGivern was spun by Hermann Greinig on lap 3, sending both cars to the back of the pack. Once in the lead, Gnatzig was flawless in leading the final 28 laps, and he had to be to fend off stiff challenges from Lyle Nowak and Josh Schoenick. Racing continues next week with another full program Saturday at PRP, with
time trials starting at 5:30 p.m. and racing following at 7:00 p.m.
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