2020-21 Round 5

Turtle Grand Prix - Turtle Creek Park Raceway - Menomonee Falls, WI

November 5, 2020

Round 5 of 15

2020 Turtle Grand Prix presented by Schlitz Malt Liquor

Wiedemann At Home With First Win Of The Season

Menomonee Falls, WI – Hometown driver John Wiedemann scored his first victory of the season, battling his IndySlotCar Series teammate all the

way to the checkers in the 2020 Turtle Grand Prix presented by Schlitz Malt Liquor at Turtle Creek Park Raceway. The victory continued the

season streak of no multi race winners, five races – five winners.


That Super High Intensity Team teammate, six time series champion Mike Lack, topped the short field in qualifying and scored his third pole win

in the last four races and 41st of his career moving to third on the all time series list.


With the six car field lined up first to last for the heat races, the top three in qualifying went out to run the first heat race. Bill

Black, second in qualifying, took the lead early and pulled away from Wiedemann by four laps at the halfway point. Wiedemann was able to get

one of those laps back in the second half, but Black took the win, the 13th heat win and 17th career final, placing him

20th in series stats for both of those categories. Lack finished third after a shunt early in the race seemed to knock the speed out of his

chassis.


The second heat race had points leader Dean Strom taking on his Squirrel Shagged Enterprises teammate Steve Rist and the lone entry from Michael

Shank-It Racing, Mike Kristof. Although he qualified with the slowest lap, Strom found some speed and pulled away from the field early and

never was challenged. Kristof and Rist battled for second for the entire race with each battling handling issues on the fast track and

Rist battling body mounting issues. When the checkers flew, it was Kristof with a two lap advantage to take over second place. But,

neither of them scored enough laps for the transfer positions which went to Wiedemann and Lack.


Right after the green flag dropped on the Turtle Grand Prix final, heat winners Black and Strom struggled keeping their cars on the track. That

gave the advantage to teammates Wiedemann and Lack who pulled away quickly. While Lack continued to try to find his qualifying pace and

turned in the quickest lap of the race (tied by Black), Wiedemann laid down consistent laps to pull away to a four lap lead by halfway.


If dealing with the effects of his heat race crash earlier in the evening wasn’t enough, a 20 second pitstop further hindered Lack’s

efforts to challenge Wiedemann for the win. While Wiedemann was able to manage his pace for the run to the checkers, Lack was giving it his all

to get to the front. At the end, Wiedemann took the win by three laps over his teammate. Behind them was a battle for third in the second

half of the race with Strom making up 13 laps to get back on the same lap as Black and then pass him to lead by about a foot when the race

ended.

With Wiedemann’s victory the points race has tightened up with five races in the books. Strom continues to lead, but that lead is now only

five points ahead of Lack. Wiedemann moves into third, seven points behind his teammate.


Up next is the classic Turkey Trot race at the Infield Road Course at South Shore Superspeedway in Saint Francis. Matt Hayek is the defending

champion of the race, but at this point is questionable about a return to the series. This is a dreaded deslot race, a race where eight of the

eleven drivers suffered a DNF last season, including three of the four drivers in the final.

Turtle Grand Prix Fast Facts

Race date: Thursday, Nov 5

Track: Turtle Creek Park Raceway, 2.8-mile, 9-turn natural terrain circuit, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin

Race distance: 20 minutes

Entry List: Turtle Grand Prix

Twitter: @indyslotcar

IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com

2018 race winner: Ev Kamikawa (No. 12 PenskeHO Racing Dallara-Chevrolet)

2018 P1 Award winner: Mike Lack (No. 1 Angry Squirrel Speedsport Dallara-Honda)

Qualifying record: Mike Lack (#1 Angry Squirrel Speedsport) 3.338 seconds - 2018

Race record: Ev Kamikawa (#12 PenskeHO Racing) 262 laps - 2018

YouTube Broadcast: IndySlotCar Channel

At-track schedule (all times local):

6:00 – Gates open

6:30 – Driver introductions

6:55 – Drivers meeting/Chassis distribution

7:00 – IndySlotCar Series Practice

7:20 – Qualifying for the Firestone P1 Award (group qualifying/ fastest single lap)

7:45 – Heat races

8:30 – Turtle Grand Prix – 20 minutes

Race Notes:

· This is the first “club car” event ever held at Turtle Creek Park Raceway was first held two years ago when Ev Kamikawa took the checkered flag and the Turtle trophy.

· Four race into the 20-21 season there have been four different winners, hometown hero John Wiedemann and six-time champion Mike Lack are not among them.

· Steve Rist became the 28th driver to win an IndySlotCar Series event at the Halloween Havoc at the Lack Track. Mike Lack is just one pole position from third place on the all-time list. Husarsbilt Cup points leader Dean Strom has pulled even with Hall of Famer/series founder Phil Cianciola on the all-time starts list with 173, his next start will move him into 11th alone.

Turtle Grand Prix PRE-EVENT QUOTES:

Pete Dorn No. 5 Black-Atom Racing: Racing is fun, food is serious.

TURTLE GRAND PRIX HISTORY (1 event, 2018 - Present)

Date Race Winner Event Name Track

10/18/18 Ev Kamikawa Turtle Grand Prix Turtle Creek Park Raceway