Doar, Burdick Split ‘Twin 25s;’ Sabraski, Chernoski Also GLS Winners
by Nick Gima
Superior, WI, August 6 – The rescheduled “Twin Ports Twin 25s” special at the Gondik Law Speedway was held in front of a huge crowd on Sunday, and they were treated to an exciting 17-race program.
The event was originally scheduled as the finale of the week-long XR Northern Storm Series on July 21 and included the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series as well as WISSOTA-sanctioned Modifieds and Midwest Modifieds.
Pat Doar of New Richmond, who came into the night in a tight points battle with Jake Redetzke for the Late Model portion of the Northern Storm Series, started the first of the two 25-lap, $2,000-to-win Late Model features on the pole and pulled ahead early from a three-wide battle for second. But Darrell Nelson experienced car troubles as part of that three-car battle and slowed to a stop and to bring about the first of three caution slowdowns in the race.
Doar maintained an advantage over Travis Budisalovich after the restart, before Redetzke dove low to take second during lap 3. Doar built his lead to over 1.1 seconds over the next eight laps before Danny Vang and John Kaanta stopped at the bottom of turn 3. After Aaron Lillo was spun on the restart, Doar wasted no time rebuilding his advantage, pushing the margin to over 1.5 seconds on before catching back markers with four laps to go.
Redetzke cut the lead by two-thirds at the checkers, but Doar captured the win in heavy traffic. Budisalovich finished a distant third, while Jeff Provinzino and Dustin Sorensen completed the top five. With the win Doar not only strengthened his lead in the WLMCS, but he also took over the top spot in the season-long Gondik Law Speedway Late Model Series.
Doar drew the maximum “16” for the invert for feature number 2, putting Proctor, MN’s Kevin Burdick on the pole, but after an initial restart for debris, Ryan Mikkelson shot to the lead from the outside of row 1. Mikkelson had his hands full fending off Burdick and Skeeter Estey, and things only got worse for the leader when his car began to smoke badly and he slowed and dropped out.
The rest of the event ran non-stop, and after a lap of following Burdick, Estey steered his brand-new car to the outer groove of the big four-tenths-mile oval and swept by. Within a short four laps Estey had a substantial 1.3-second lead, and he was nearly a second-and-a-half out in front of Burdick when he caught the tail-end of the running order on lap 12 of 25.
Burdick used the opportunity of maneuvering through slower traffic to close the gap on the high-flying Estey, and he had trimmed the leader’s margin to less than half a second when, with four laps left, Estey pushed too high in turns 1 and 2, scraping the concrete wall and allowing Burdick to sneak by just below him. From there Burdick sprinted to a .84-second final margin, with Estey and James Giossi trailing.
Doar worked his way from 16th to fourth to claim the XR Northern Storm Series Late Model title, and Mike Prochnow took fifth.
Shane Sabraski, of Rice, MN, came from the eighth starting spot in a 27-car field to steal the win in a 25-lap Modified feature that turned out to be another in a series of classic thrillers at for the Mods at GLS.
Outside front-row starter Jody Bellefeuille swept around polestarter Kaden Blaeser for the early lead, while Brandon Copp and Darrell Nelson duked it out for third. Once Nelson established himself in the spot, Bob Broking’s spin on lap 3 gave him the opportunity to challenge for the lead. That challenge was delayed for a bit by John Toppozini’s stalled ride on the restart, but after that the rest of the race clicked off non-stop and Nelson and Bellefeuille put on another side-by-side battle reminiscent of the classic they ran three weeks ago here.
While Nelson drove low and Bellefeuille ran against the high wall, Sabraski and Copp overwhelmed Blaeser for third and fourth on lap 6, a distance back of the lead pair. But once the leaders caught slower traffic, on lap 12, Copp reeled them in, with Sabraski catching up to make it a four-car scramble just five circuits later. As the lead group ran through traffic in tight formation, Sabraski worked inside on Nelson and Copp to take second, and on the white flag lap he used an inside move to grab the lead from Bellefeuille, holding on to win by a mere .35 seconds.
Copp and Nelson followed in a close third and fourth, while Dave Cain was a distant fifth. The win gave Sabraski the XR Series title for the mods.
Cole Chernosky of Thunder Bay, ON, started on the outside of row 1 and led every lap on the Midwest Mod feature to win in dominant fashion.
The first half of the 20-lapper was littered with a few yellow-flag slowdowns, starting with Will Moelter’s spin at the very start. But Chernosky made quick work of polestarter Garrett Paull and set the pace until lap 3, when a Jimmy Latvala-Cory Jorgensen get-together slowed the action. A hard three-car crash on the front straight as the green flag waived for the restart stopped the show for the final time, and from there Chernosky was uncatchable.
Forner track champion Andrew Inman was Chernosky’s closest threat throughout the remaining 17 laps, but he could not match Chernosky’s smooth, quick pace. When the checkered flag flew Chernosky was a full 2.165 seconds ahead of Inman, who had plenty of room between himself and Deven VanHouse, who charged into third early in the run before settling there. Cody Carlson and Paul completed the top-five.
Tyler Vernon was awarded the XR Series title for the Mid-Mods, and he stated in Victory Lane that he would donate a healthy portion of his Series winnings to the fund to help cover hospital and other expenses for Ryan & Bre Savoy and Amanda Flynn, who have been recovering from injuries sustained in a recent accident. Ryan Savoy had been leading the XR Northern Storm Series’ Midwest Mod standings coming into this evenings’ action.
The offering at GLS for Friday, August 11, will include its annual Suicide Prevention and Awareness Night, with Street Stocks and Pure Stocks running for an enhanced purse, while the Late Models will get a well-deserved night off. Hot laps are at 6:30 pm, with racing scheduled to start at 7.
For information on advance tickets and camping info for these and other upcoming events, log on to the track’s website, www.gondiklawspeedway.com, or its FaceBook page.
Results
WISSOTA Late Models
Feature 1: 1-10: Pat Doar, New Richmond; Jake Redetzke, Menomonie; Travis Budisalovich, Minneapolis, MN; Jeff Provinzino, Hibbing, MN; Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, MN; Chad Mahder, Bloomer; Kyle Peterlin, Hibbing, MN; Deven VanHouse, Silver Bay, MN; Jeff Massingill, Keewatin, MN; Dave Flynn, Superior.
11-20: James Giossi, Hudson; Skeeter Estey, Kelly Lake, MN; Mike Prochnow, Menomonie; Andy Jones, Princeton, MN; Ryan Mikkelson, Alexandria, MN; Kevin Burdick, Proctor, MN; Steve Laursen, Cumberland; Derek Vesel, Hibbing, MN; Jayme Lautigar, Gilbert, MN; Sam Mars, Menomonie.
21-27: Rick Niemi, Eveleth, MN; Danny Vang, Deerwood, MN; Dan Bargender, Menomonie; Kevin Carlson, Hermantown, MN; Aaron Lillo, Proctor, MN; John Kaanta, Elk Mound; Darrell Nelson, Hermantown, MN.
Feature 2: 1-10: Burdick; Estey; Giossi; Doar; Prochnow; Sorensen; Flynn; VanHouse; Peterlin; Massingill.
11-20: Redetzke; Budisalovich; Provinzino; Mars; Bargender; Lautigar; Vesel; Mahder; Laursen; Niemi.
21-26: A Lillo; Vang; Kaanta; Carlson; Mikkelson; Jones.
Heat 1: Mahder; Laursen; Provinzino; Sorensen; Peterlin; Terry Lillo, Duluth, MN; Mars; Kevin Carlson, Hermantown, MN; Carey LePage, Culver, MN ; Ryan Corbett, Grand Forks, ND.
Heat 2: Nelson; Doar; Giossi; Flynn; VanHouse; Mikkelson; Vang; Vesel; Robbie Cooper, South Range; Doug Woodhull Jr, Superior.
Heat 3: Burdick; Bargender; A Lillo; Prochnow; Kaanta; Niemi; Ronnie Malecki, Duluth, MN; Harry Hanson, Eveleth, MN; Trevor Wilson, Superior.
Heat 4: Redetzke; Budisalovich; Massingill; Mike Bellefeuille, Duluth, MN; Jones; Lautigar; Estey; Patrick Kelley, Forest Lake, MN; Zach Wohlers, Cohasset, MN.
Semi-Feature 1: Peterlin; Jones; Mikkelson; Vang; Carlson; Wilson; Malecki; Woodhull; Bellefeuille; Hanson; Wohlers.
Semi-Feature 2: Estey; Kaanta; Lautigar; Mars; Niemi; Vesel; LePage; T Lillo; Corbett; Cooper; Kelley.
Last Chance Qualifier: Vang; Mars; Niemi; Vesel; LePage; Wilson; Malecki; T Lillo; Cooper; Kelley; Woodhull; Carlson.
Fast Qualifier: Peterlin, 15.860 secs.
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; Jody Bellefeuille, Carlton, MN; Brandon Copp, Brule; Darrell Nelson, Hermantown, MN; Dave Cain, Corcoran, MN; Johnny Broking, Grand Rapids, MN; Kaden Blaeser, Chippewa Falls; Billy Kendall III, Walker, MN; Clayton Wagamon, Ramsey, MN; Brady Uotinen, Superior.
11-20: Al Uotinen, Superior; Brock Gronwold, Fergus Falls, MN; Mike Anderson, Jim Falls; Dan Kingsley, Superior; Todd Gehl, Solon Springs; Tony Caissie, Winnipeg, MB; Parker Anderson, Phillips; Kennedy Swan, Chippewa Falls; Mike Klippenstein, Duluth, MN; Shaun Kreyer, Hayward.
21-27: Leo Schweiss, Hibbing, MN; Brennan Gave, Princeton, MN; Rick Rivord, Superior; Donnie Lofdahl, Duluth, MN; Kelly Estey, Hibbing, MN; John Toppozini, Thunder Bay, ON; Bob Broking, Grand Rapids, MN.
Heat 1: Nelson; Bellefeuille; Wagamon; Sabraski; Kendall; A Uotinen; M Anderson; Caissie; Gehl.
Heat 2: Blaeser; Rivord; Toppozini; J Broking; B Uotinen; Kingsley; Gave; Kreyer; Klippenstein.
Heat 3: Copp; B Broking; Cain; P Anderson; Gronwold; Estey; Swan; Lofdahl; Schweiss.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Cole Chernosky, Thunder Bay, ON; Andrew Inman, Canyon, MN; Deven VanHouse, Silver Bay, MN; Cody Carlson, Superior; Garrett Paull, Fort Frances, ON; David Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Tanner Gehl, Solon Springs; Tyler Vernon, Mason; Cole Boston, Lindstrom, MN.
11-20: James Vendela, South Range; Will Moelter, Elk Mound; Brady Caul, Fort Frances, ON; Zach Benson, Princeton, MN; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; Evan Checkalski, Duluth, MN; Joey Wagamon, Blaine, MN; Taylor Madrinich, Duluth, MN; Glen Brown, Rosslyn, ON; Patrick Davis, Sioux Lookout, ON.
21-26: Jamie Davis, Fort Frances, ON; Don Craig, Thunder Bay, ON; Jesse Polson, Superior; Cory Jorgensen, Duluth, MN; Anthony Gallian, Superior; Landyn Randt, Siren.
Heat 1: Paull; Chernosky; Simpson; Latvala; Benson; Polson; P Davis; Craig; Jorgensen.
Heat 2: Inman; J Davis; VanHouse; Boston; Vernon; Moelter; Checkalski; Randt; Madrinich.
Heat 3: Carlson; Vendela; Gehl; Ripley; Wagamon; Caul; Brown; Gallian.
