2015-16 Round 1
Trokan Cup 500 presented by the Milwaukee Mile - Mini Milwaukee Mile - Grendale, WI
September 3, 2015
Round 1 of 16
Margetta Steals The Trokan Cup
Greendale, WI – Dan Margetta, the longest tenured driver in the IndySlotCar Series, kicked off the 22nd season with a victory at the Mini Milwaukee Mile in the Trokan Cup 500. The win was the 38th for Margetta's IndySlotCar career and he now has at least one victory in each of his last 17 seasons. It was also a return trip to victory lane at the Mini Milwaukee Mile, although fourteen years later as Margetta won at the track in 2001.
Dean Strom was the early story as he blistered qualifying with a four lap run in 6.864 seconds just less than two hundredths of a second ahead of Mike Fitzlaff. JAM Racing teammates Mike Lack and John Wiedemann qualified third and fourth with rookie Spheret Racing driver Pete Dorn qualifying fifth out of twelve drivers.
Heat racing was fast and furious on the short oval with MaD Racing's Strom and Matt Hayek winning their heats to take their places in the final along with the other heat winner Lack. Margetta picked up the pace from his seventh place qualifying effort to grab the transfer spot with the most laps of the non-winners.
Strom continued his pace in what looked like a dominating night, taking the lead early in the final and pulling away from the field. Lack paced the track behind Strom, followed by Margetta and a struggling Hayek in the outside lane. Following the halfway break, Strom decided to hit the pits right away and the domination disappeared. The death card appeared for the second race in a row after taking out Ev Kamikawa in last season's finale and this time it struck Strom.
With uneventful pitstops for the rest of the field, Lack took over the lead. Unfortunately for Lack, he was stuck in the outside lane and Margetta was chasing him down on the inside lane with a shorter distance around the track. It didn’t take long for Margetta to take over and it was smooth sailing for the Penske HO driver. Well, just a quick caution for a blip in the scoring system – which quickly fixed itself – and Margetta was on his way to victory lane.
Two-time series champion and defending race champion Lack held on for second with teammates Hayek and Strom finishing third and fourth. Lack's JAM Racing teammate John Wiedemann finished fifth, with Fitz Ganassi Racing's Mike Fitzlaff sixth and a resurgent Tom Spehert a solid seventh and the third JAM Racing driver, Amy Butler eighth, holding off Mike Kristof by a lap, rookies Bill Black and Pete Dorn finish tenth and eleventh respectively as they begin their first full time in the series driving for Spehert Autosport.
Up next in two weeks, the series heads to the Road Course at Badger Raceway for the Fall Brawl presented by UFC where track owner Strom looks to continue the speed and out run bad luck as he takes on the IndySlotCar Series field on September 17th.
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FAST FACTS
WHAT: Trokan Cup 500 WHERE: Mini Milwaukee Mile, Greendale, WI WHEN: Thursday, September 3, 2015 7pm TELEVISION SCHEDULE: IndySlotCar Channel on YouTube WEB: indyslotcar.com, FACEBOOK and TWITTER
2013 CHAMPION: Mike Lack 2013 POLESITTER: Matt Hayek TRACK LAYOUT: “Bullring” Oval RACE LENGTH: 500 laps TRACK RECORDS: Qualifying – 2012 – Mike Fitzlaff – 5.940
Race – 2000 – Phil Cianciola – 13:53
Fast Lap – 2006 – Ev Kamikawa -1.102 RACE ROUND: 1 of 16 in the 2015-2016 IndySlotCar Series
Top Stories
* After a one season hiatus the Mini Milwaukee Mile returns to the IndySlotCar schedule for 2015-16.
* Another season opener will see another realignment in teams, major shake-ups announced at Media Night include:
-- Amy Butler moving to JAM Racing with two-time defending Husarsbilt Cup champion Mike Lack and John Wiedemann.
-- Butler’s former teammate Dan Margetta got the call from Penske HO teaming up with Ev Kamikawa, combining the two most experienced drivers in IndySlotCar Series history.
* A rookie battle will take place this season, with Bill Black and Pete Dorn joining the series, both have been hired by Spehert Autosport.
Who’s Hot
* Mike Lack won three times in the second half of last season to assure himself his second Husarsbilt Cup championship in a tow.
* Mike Kristof scored third career victory at the HO Indy 500 which catapulted him to fifth place in the standings, his highest career finish.
Stats Watch
* Kristof’s third win moved him into a tie with John Baas for 18th on the all-time wins list. His 1000 laps also helped him pass Chris Spehert on the laps turned list, Kristof now sits ninth with 28,059.
* Matt Hayek equaled Chris Spehert for all-time Finals appearances with 25, good for 16th. Hayek moved to 17th in all-time laps, moving ahead of Chad Sorce, the two-time HO Indy 500 winner now has 18,220.
John Wiedemann and Mike Lack each moved up on the all-time starts record book, JW with 110, now has as many as two-time series champ Jim Iverson, 15th all-time, while Lack is now equal with fan-favorite Tony Perkins at 18th with 102. Quite the contrast in career results there!
MINI MILE HISTORY (20 events, 1996 - Present)
Date Race Winner Event Name
1/4/1996 Arnie Lueders Firestone 400
9/26/1996 Chad Sorce Ford 500
10/6/1997 John Baas Ford 500 (2 races in the
1/8/1998 Ev Kamikawa Firestone 400 97-98 season)
9/17/1998 John Baas Ford 500
10/7/1999 Ev Kamikawa Aero Race Wheels 500
9/21/2000 Phil Cianciola Aero Race Wheels 500
9/20/2001 Dan Margetta Aero Race Wheels 500
9/19/2002 Jim Iverson Chancery Restaurants 500
9/18/2003 Mike Kristof Krispy Kreme 500
10/21/2004 Phil Cianciola Milwaukee Mile presents the Mini Mile 500
9/8/2005 John Shea Milwaukee Mile 500
9/7/2006** John Shea Trokan Cup 500
9/7/2007 Chris Spehert Trokan Cup 500 presented by the Milwaukee Mile
10/2/2008* Mark Walczak Trokan Cup 500
9/10/2009* Ev Kamikawa Trokan Cup 500
9/23/2010* Ev Kamikawa Trokan Cup 500
9/8/2011* Mark Walczak Trokan Cup 500
9/6/2012* Mike Fitzlaff Trokan Cup 500
9/5/2013 Mike Lack Trokan Cup 500
*- From 2008-2012 the Mini Mile was renamed RJ Foyt’s All American Raceway
** - Since 1997 the opening round trophy was the Trokan Cup, this was restored for the 2006-07 season.
Most Wins – Ev Kamikawa-4; John Baas-2; Phil Cianciola-2; John Shea-2; Mark Walczak-2
INSTANT REPLAY:
Greendale, WI -- Mike Lack outlasted a charging Mark Walczak to take the opening round of the 2013-14 IndySlotCar season at the Mini Milwaukee Mile Thursday. For the seventh year in a row the series raced outdoors for the Trokan Cup, this year's 500 saw the renewal of a rivalry between five-time defending Husarsbilt Cup champion Mark Walczak and two-time runner-up Mike Lack. Lack became a new father a little over a year ago and chose to scale back his IndySlotCar schedule, this year he has returned to a full time schedule and immediately showed that Walczak will have to work extra hard to score a sixth championship. Mike Kristof took the third step of the podium at a track where he scored his first series victory ten years ago.
Dungeons & Dragon Racing teammates Matt Hayek and Kristof ruled the qualifying session with Hayek winning the pole and Kristof timing in just two tenths of a second back over the four lap run on the short oval.
The first heat race ran fine until the second half when two power outages slowed the pace of the race and confused series officials and scorekeepers. The race continued with two restarts and Kristof bested Target Mark Walczak Racing driver Dean Strom. The second and third heat races were able to be completed without incident with Lack and Ev Kamikawa winning. Walczak captured the feature transfer spot in the final heat race.
Lack wasted no time in the feature grabbing the lead and lapping his competitors early in the event. Walczak tried to keep pace and ran in second with Kristof in third and Kamikawa succumbing to handling problems in the opening half. The top three drivers pitted with nearly identical times at the start of the second half with the order remaining the same. Running in the inside lane, Lack struggled with handling as Walczak made his move to get laps back from the JMM Racing driver. Closing in with the race winding down, a couple of spins by Walczak sealed the deal for Lack and he took the checkers with a two lap advantage over Walczak. Kristof and Kamikawa completed the top four in the finishing order.