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March Madness - Turtle Creek Park
Round 13 of 14
April 1, 2010
FAST FACTS
Milwaukee Sporting Goods March Madness
WHAT: Milwaukee Sporting Goods March madness
WHERE: Brookfield, Wisconsin, Turtle Creek Park
WHEN: Thursday, April 1, 2010 7pm
U.S. TELEVISION SCHEDULE: Youtube.com, www.indyslotcarseries.com
2009 CHAMPION: Mark Walczak
2009 POLESITTER: Mark Walczak
TRACK LAYOUT: Road course
RACE LENGTH: 20 minutes
TRACK RECORDS: Qualifying - 2006, Mark Walczak, 40.219 Race – 2005- Larry Rotter 299 laps, Fast Lap – 2005, Larry Rotter, 3.023
RACE ROUND: 13 of 14 in the 2009-2010 Indy Slot Car series
INSTANT REPLAY:
The race got moved to an earlier spot in the season due to issues for Fat Tony with federal agents at Lake Country Motorplex. Mark Walczak had come into this race with a chip on his shoulder, having won the previous event, and also wanting to make up for his disastrous DNF while leading, trying to clinch his first title the previous season. As the final car to go out during qualifying Walczak would go out and set a time two seconds quicker than any other driver.
The first heat of the night would feature hometown hero Larry Rotter, Ev Kamikawa and Chris Spehert. The first half of the race would be a back and forth tussle between Spehert and Rotter, with the lead switching multiple times. The second half of the race was all Rotter as he would pull away from Spehert, and win by five laps as Kamikawa would pass Spehert for second.
The second heat would have John Shea, Tom Spehert, Mike Lack, and Mike Kristof. John Shea would jump out to an early lead in this race, until Crash Fest 2009 would break out. Drivers were all over the track, and John Shea would get the worst of one of the accidents when the pin that guides the car actually fell out, costing him precious time and laps trying to reinstall it. Mike Lack and Tom Spehert would be tied half way through the race, but Lack would take over and take the win. Spehert was second, followed by Shea and Mike Kristof.
The third and fourth heats would be dominated by Mike Fitzlaff and Mark Walczak. Both drivers would lead by ten laps at the half and extend those leads in easily picking up the heat wins.
The finals would start out as a three horse race as Walczak, Fitzlaff, and Rotter would take turns out front. Half way through the race, Walczak held a two lap lead over Rotter, and a three lap lead over Fitzlaff, with Mike Lack trailing in fourth twenty-eight laps behind. With the lane change and pit stops, Walczak would stretch out the lead a little bit, as Mike Fitzlaff’s race would end in a DNF. Larry Rotter would start to catch fire, and reel in Walczak as the race was coming to an end, only to throw it off track and get a stop and go penalty. Walczak put it in cruise control and suffer a tumble over the bridge just like last year. Luckily for him he did manage to catch a few trees on the way over and managed to remain on the track surface this year. He would collect his second win of the season and second in a row.
MILWAUKEE SPORTING GOODS MARCH MADNESS HISTORY
(16 events, 1994 - Present)
Year Race Winner
1994 John Shea
1995 Dan Margetta
1996 John Shea
1997 Dave Austin
1998 Dave Austin
1999 Jim Kaehny
2000 Phil Marich
2001 Ev Kamikawa
2002 Dave Austin
2003 Larry Rotter (moved to Turtle Creek Park)
2004 Larry Rotter
2005 Larry Rotter
2006 Mark Walczak
2007 Amy Butler
2008 Mike Fitzlaff
2009 Mark Walczak
2010 ????????????
Top Stories
This year’s race has been moved back to its original slot on the schedule this year. Mark Walczak fresh off his fifth win of the season looks to clinch back-to-back Husarsbilt Cup championships with a finish of 9th or better at March Madness coming up April 1st at Turtle Creek. Only a win by Ev Kamikawa or Mike Lack and a complete disaster by Walczak could prevent the Cup from staying with the winningest driver over the past three seasons. March Madness allows the drivers to prep their own cars, in "open class" rules.
Stats Watch
The win by Mark Walczak was the 21st of his career, good for 6th place all time
The pole by John Shea was his 11th career pole, placing him in a tie for 8th all time
Mike Lack collected his 14th career heat win, placing him in 14th place all time
-John Wiedemann collected his 6th career heat win, placing him in 19th place all time
Mike Lack made his 15th career finals appearance, good for 16th all time
-John Wiedemann made his 7th appearance in the finals, good for a tie for 21st
Larry Rotter made his 180th career start
-John Shea made his 93rd career start good for a tie for 13th place
-Mark Walczak made his 90th career start
-Dean Strom made his 47th career start, good for 20th place all time
-Matt Hayek made his 33rd career start good for 23rd place all time
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