2022-23 Round 10

Quarryfest Deslotmania - Quarry Heights Raceway - Wauwatosa, WI

January 19, 2022

Round 10 of 17

2023 Quarryfest Deslotmania

Dorn Dominates Deslotmania!

Wauwatosa, WI – With a stellar performance, CBD Racing’s Pete Dorn survived and conquered the dreaded Quarryfest Deslotmania at Quarry Heights Raceway to capture his second career IndySlotCar victory. Driving from last place to first in the final, Dorn was able to succeed where others had failed, miserably.

The Quarryfest Deslotmania is one of two “deslot” races on the IndySlotCar schedule and the format favors the driver that can combine speed with keeping the pin in and not coming out of the slot. In the 10-minute heat races a diver that has desloted three times is out of the race and in the final, only one more deslot is allowed, so it’s four strikes and you are out for the 20-minute final.

Championship contender Bill Black topped the qualifications putting his CBD Racing Chevrolet-Daboiler ride on the pole with a blistering 3.829 second lap. Another championship contender, Joe Heitz just missed the pole by .095 seconds to clock in second. Hometown driver Matt Hayek led the Angry Squirrel squad lapping the track .029 seconds behind Heitz. Hayek’s teammate Mike Lack was fourth and Heitz’s Michael Shank-It Racing teammate Mike Kristof was fifth. The lone Squirrel Shagged Enterprises driver Steve Rist timed in sixth.

Heats were setup based on drivers choice from last to first in qualifying and the first heat set Hayek, Heitz and Dorn to battle for a spot in the final. All three drivers kept pace throughout the opening half, but while Heitz and Dorn only suffered one deslot, Hayek put himself on thin ice with two. The ice broke for Hayek just 16 laps into the second half and his night was done. While trying to stay safe, Dorn found some speed in the second half and made up two laps to get on the lead lap. But Heitz stayed strong and held off Dorn to get his Michael Shank-It Racing Honda into the final for a chance to open the floodgates with two wins in a row. Dorn set a solid lap total at 130 to try to make it in the final as the transfer driver.

Heat two featured top five qualifiers Kristof and Lack battling Dan Margetta and Brad Core. Core quickly succumbed to the format with his third deslot at lap 29, leaving the rest of the drivers led by Margetta to finish the first half just a lap apart. The second half was all Margetta as he was able to pull away from the two Mikes. Both Kristof and Lack were running on the edge with two deslots when Kristof mismanaged a turn and came out of the slot to end his racing for the night on his 89th lap. Margetta cruised to the win putting his Cheap Ganassi Honda-Daboiler in the final for the second time this season. Lack finished five laps back to place himself fifth overall for the event.

The final heat had the top two championship contenders battling with Rist for the last spot in the final. While Black struggled early, point leader Wiedemann jumped out to the lead. A couple offs had Black in trouble, not an expected spot for the pole sitter and second place in the championship. Then, while battling with Wiedemann through turn six off the back-straight, Black tried to shoot by on the inside and touched wheels with the Angry Squirrel driver. Wiedemann kept going but Black was done for the evening. An overall 9th place finish for the event did not sit well with Black and he let the media know about it. In the meantime, Rist quietly kept pace with Wiedemann and finished the half just two laps back. When the second half started, Rist was on it and was quick. In no time he got one lap back from Wiedemann and looked like he was going to the front. In no time, it was over. Rist racked up three deslots in one lap and his race was done. With the other competitors out of the event, Wiedemann was moving on to the final, well before the completed heat time.

Second quickest qualifier and the driver with the most laps in heat racing, Heitz continued his pace in the final and rolled out to the lead ahead of Wiedemann, Margetta and Dorn. While Heitz, Wiedemann and Margetta racked up three deslots in the first half, Dorn kept it clean and kept pace. At the halfway break, Heitz had the lead with Wiedemann on the same lap. Dorn took over third, just a lap behind the frontrunners and Margetta had fallen back to fourth, two laps behind Dorn. Just sixteen laps into the second half, the floodgates were shuttered when Heitz’s Honda-Daboiler crashed out of the race with his final deslot. After a slow pitstop, Dorn squeezed the throttle and took over the lead from Wiedemann and never looked back. Margetta running in third spun out his ride for the final time leaving just Wiedemann and Dorn to battle. With nothing to lose, Wiedemann pushed his Honda-Daboiler to the limit to see if he could catch up to Dorn but the CBD Chevy was too quick and Wiedemann crashed out to end the race with Dorn victorious.

Dorn’s victory made him the eighth different driver to win this season and moved him into eighth place in the standings. Wiedemann increased his point lead to 33 points over Black with his second place finish. Black remains in second place with Heitz in third, closing the gap to 17 points. A.S.S. drivers Lack and Hayek round out the top five.

Up next in two weeks is round eleven, the Corvette Connection Grand Prix at the partially repaved Corevette Connection Raceway on February 2nd. Mike Kristof is the defending champion having triumphed in the inaugural event last season.

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Quarryfest Deslotmania Fast Facts

Race date: Thursday, Jan 19

 

Track: Quarry Heights Raceway, 2 mile natural terrain road course, Wauwatosa, WI

 

Race distance:  20 minutes


Twitter:  @indyslotcar


IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com


2022 race winner: Matt Hayek (No. 28 Angry Squirrel Speedsport Honda-Daboiler)

 

2022 Firestone P1 Award winner: Dan Margetta (No. 48 MisFitz Motorsport Honda-Daboiler)


One-lap qualifying record: Matt Hayek, 3.590 seconds, 2020

 

Race record: Matt Hayek, 265 laps, 2020


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

7:30 – Qualifying for the Firestone P1 Award (group qualifying/ fastest single lap)

8:15 – Heat races

9:00 – Quarryfest Deslotmania

 

Race Notes:

·         Matt Hayek love home cooking, the two-time defending winner of Deslotmania and has four wins of the nine times this event has been held. the #26 Angry Squirrel Speedsport driver also won the Halloween Havoc earlier this season. Hayek is currently fifth in the 22-23 Husarsbilt Cup championship.

·         Joe Heitz scored his first win of the season at the last round, Rupena’s Raven 250 and moved into third in the championship, 42 points behind leader John Wiedemann and 27 shy of second place Bill Black.

·         After nine races of the 30th season, Heitz became the seventh different winner, only Wiedemann has multiple victories with three, there have been six different pole winners, Mike Lack has four, he and Heitz are the only two of the top six in points to take a pole. Every driver in the top 14 has made at least one appearance in a final.

·         STATS WATCH: Joe Heitz win at Raven Raceway is the fourth of his career equaling Bill Black, Amy Butler and Phil Marich’s career totals, tied for 18th on the all-time list. Ev Kamikawa’s pole position at Raven was the 41st of his career moving up to fourth place all-time, his last pole came at The Shrine in April of 2021. Dean Strom moved ahead of his former teammate Hall of Famer Jim Iverson, on the Heat Wins list, now with 61, ninth all-time. Joe Heitz ties John Baas’ total of 13 heat wins, tied for 22nd. Heitz is also now 22nd in Finals appearances with 18. Pete Dorn jumped up to 18th on the starts list with his 112th race at Raven, one more than Iverson, Bill Black made his 102nd start, which ties fan favorite Tony Perkins total, tied 21st all-time. Brian Miller’s second start equals Dave Rosno. Matt Hayek is now solo eighth all-time on the DNF list with 31.

 

QUARRYFEST DESLOTMANIA HISTORY (9 event, 2013 – 2020, 2022)

Date                   Race Winner

1/30/2013        Mark Walczak

2/13/2014        Matt Hayek

2/19/2015        Dan Margetta

2/18/2016        Matt Hayek

2/16/2017        Mike Lack

2/22/2018        John Wiedemann

1/31/2019        John Wiedemann

2/6/2020           Matt Hayek

2/24/2022        Matt Hayek

 

Multiple Race Winners: Matt Hayek-4, John Wiedemann-2