2008-09 Round 15

Skip Barber 400 - Lake Country Motorplex

Round 15 of 16

March 28, 2009

Lack Wins Skip Barber 400 at Lake Country

(Summit, WI) -- Mike Lack has guaranteed himself one of the greatest rookie seasons in IndySlotCar Series history with a win at the Skip Barber 400 at Lake Country Motorplex. Lack's second win of the season was a dominating performance by both driver and car as the NHLHO driver opened a lead over Mark Walczak and never looked back. No rookie has ever won twice in his debut season and his fourth place in the Husarsbilt Cup points would equal two-time champion Jim Iverson's initial circuit.

Lake Country Re-signs for 2009-10

(Summit, WI) -- The IndySlotCar Series and Lake Country Motorplex management announced that the high banked oval will return to the schedule for another season. "Fat" Tony DeFalko will allow the series to bring one of the "open class" races back to his facility saying, "Deas guys do right by Fat Tony, so I do right by dem, Pauly tells me we came out ahead in dis deal so I says to Pauly go ahead do it again, but if deas cross me day ain't gonna know what hit 'em, capisce?"

The complete 2009-2010 IndySlotCar Series schedule will be released soon.

U.S. TELEVISION SCHEDULE: Indy Slot Car Series home page, YouTube.com

2007 CHAMPION: Dan Margetta

2007 POLESITTER: Dan Margetta

TRACK LAYOUT: Super speedway oval

RACE LENGTH: 400 laps

TRACK RECORDS: Qualifying – 2004- Dan Margetta, 37.074 (Club Car) 2006- Larry Rotter, 29.773 (open class)

Race – 2004- Phil Cianciola, 20:44 (Club Car), 2006- Mark Walczak, 19:20.949 (Open Class)

Fast Lap – 2004- Dan Margetta, 2.859 (Club Car), 2006- Mark Walczak, 1.918 (Open Class)

RACE ROUND: 15 of 16 in the 2008-2009 Indy Slot Car Series

INSTANT REPLAY:

Dan Margetta drove his Mike Fitzlaff prepared open-class car to an eight lap victory over Jim Iverson in the State Farm 400 Saturday afternoon at the ultra-fast Lake Country Motorplex to become the fifth different winner in as many races on the HO Champ Car World Series circuit.

As has been the tradition throughout much of the HO Champ Car campaign, Hindsight Championship Racing's Margetta and PKVHO's Iverson raced in close proximity throughout the afternoon as the drivers negotiated the fastest oval on the tour. After racing each other for the prime parking spot while arriving at the track, Margetta and Iverson battled in practice and the heat race before facing each other in the final where Margetta was able to edge out to an eight-lap victory. Capping off a perfect points day, Margetta also scored the pole position and also took home the $32,000 bonus for winning, the second time this season a driver has won from the point.

Iverson kept the leader in sight the entire distance and once again got everything out of the car he could en route to the second place result. Chris Spehert took down RJ Foyt Racing's Andy Spehert and Team Spehert substitute driver Mark Anderson in his heat race before piloting the McDonald’s machine to a respectable third place finish. HCR's Mike Kristof….yes Mike Kristof, the same guy brought up the tail end of the field the last few weeks, rounded out the final four finishers after taking down Butler/Rotter Racing's Larry Rotter in his heat race.

Dean Strom drove Mark Walczak’s rocket ship for Conquest Racing to the fastest lap of the day before running into handling issues early in his heat race. A heat race draw that was chosen from "last-to-first" order left the top three qualifiers battling in the first heat and Strom quickly found himself in trouble in the opening laps. A strong second half enabled the second year driver to scrap his way to a fifth place finish. Rotter found problems right from the get go as a stalling car in practice led to adjustments that left the car too loose to drive and he saw his winless streak extend to 27 races with a sixth place result.

Ned Wicker surprised the capacity crowd by donning the helmet once again, coming out of a safety-concerned forced retirement to drive at his home track to a seventh place finish in a car painted in Team Baastralia green and yellow while Andy Spehert wheeled the pink and black "Barbie" machine to eighth place. Tom Spehert was a no-show for the second consecutive race and the team reached to its driver development farm system, bringing Indianapolis-native Mark Anderson to drive the car to a ninth place finish.

A number of drivers did not participate for various reasons with the most significant being Mark Walczak who ran off to Vegas and watched his point lead evaporate as Margetta now holds a single point advantage over Iverson as the series heads to the annual de-slot race with the Model Empire Turkey Trot at the Road Course at South Shore Speedway.

THE SKIP BARBER 400 HISTORY (7 events, 2002 - Present)

Year Race Winner

2002 Phil Cianciola

2003 Larry Rotter

2004 Phil Cianciola

2005 Jim Iverson

2006 Mark Walczak

2007 Dan Margetta

2009 Mike Lack

Top Stories

Mark Walczak wrapped up his first Husarsbilt Cup by qualifying for the last event. Mike Fitzlaff became the only other driver besides Walczak to collect more than one victory on the season with his win in the Sport Clips Grand Prix last week. Fitzlaff’s win enabled him to bypass Dan Margetta into 3rd place. He trails 2nd place Larry Rotter by 15 points. Second place through sixth place are separated by 52 points. None of the positions are secured yet. The series moves on to Lake Country Motorplex, for the third and final open class event of the year. Mark Walczak still needs one win to tie Larry Rotter’s record of eight wins in a season.

Who’s Hot

-Mark Walczak has made the finals in 11 of 14 events this year.

-Mike Lack as made the finals in 4 consecutive races, all but locking up Rookie of the Year

-Ev Kamikawa has made the finals in 6 of the last 7 events

-Dan Margetta has started from the pole in the last two events

Stats Watch

Mike Fitzlaff’s win was the 5th of his career, placing him 11th on the all time stats list

The heat win by Mark Walczak was 34th of his career, putting him 7th on the all time list

-Mike Lack won his 6th career heat race, tying him with Dean Strom for 17th all time

-Matt Hayek won his 2nd career heat race, putting him in a 4 way tie for 21st all time

The finals appearance by Fitzlaff was the 29th of his career, tying him for 11th all time

-Mike Lack is now in a three way tie for 19th all time, with 7 career finals appearances

-Matt Hayek is tied with 5 others in 24th place all time, with 2 career finals appearances

Fitzlaff’s 58th career start moved him into 17th place all time

-Matt Hayek moved into a tie for 25th all time with 20 career starts

-John Wiedemann moved into a tie for 27th all time, with 15 career starts

-Mike Lack moved into a tie for 29th, with 14 career starts

Tom Spehert moved into 7th place all time on the DNF list, with his 24th career DNF

-Mike Lack joined an eight way tie for 26th place all time, collecting his 1st career DNF