Eder, Copp, Chernosky, Vendela, Treviranus, Jarecki Score Opening-Night Wins at Gondik Law Speedway
by Nick Gima
Superior, WI, May 31 – After four unsuccessful attempts, the Gondik Law Speedway finally launched its 63rd season of stock car racing action Friday on a warm evening, finishing just as light showers reached the Twin Ports area.
A fast-sticky clay oval made for some very quick laps around the big northwestern Wisconsin four-tenths-mile, including a couple that broke records here.
Kevin Eder of Cameron had never won a feature at Superior in a WISSOTA Late Model prior to this night, but a pass of Skeeter Estey in the closing laps of that division’s 25-lap A-main gave him that first win here.
Eder started inside on row 3 and bided his time for a couple of laps, as polestarter Mike Bellefeuille and Estey debated the lead spot early. Estey, who moved into the outside-front-row spot after Todd Gehl’s brush with the wall on the opening lap forced a second attempt to start the run, swept around Bellefeuille and then held the point again after Kevin Burdick and Terro Lillo collided just two more laps in.
Eder took advantage of this restart to swipe second from Bellefeuille, then chased Estey for the next 18 laps as the lead pair pulled away from the rest of the field. Behind them the action was fierce – and costly to some, as failed race cars ended a top-five run for Harry Hanson on lap 8, a frustrating night for Danny Vang on the ensuing restart, and Bellefeuille’s strong top-five run on lap 13.
With ten to go Estey appeared to be shaking loose of Eder’s challenges, pulling away to a lead of over a second, but Eder came back with a vengeance, working an inside move to take the lead away with five to go and with a charging Pat Doar closing in third. Eder extended his margin to over 1.5 seconds at the checkers, with Estey holding off Doar for second, while Jeff Massingill and LM rookie Billy Kendall completed the top five.
Brule’s Brandon Copp put on a clinic in running away with the opening-night WISSOTA Modified feature by over 7.1 seconds – or nearly half a lap of the big Superior oval.
Copp started the 20-lap A-main behind polestarter John Toppozini and stayed right on the back bumper of the Canadian veteran pilot’s car for the first five circuits, including after a first-lap spin by Bob Broking. But Copp found a way around Toppozini while working through turn 4 to complete lap 5, and the defending track champ was not to be threatened from then on as the race stayed under green until its conclusion.
The mid-race battle for third was quite entertaining, as youngsters Brady Uotinen and divisional rookie Tanner Gehl swapped the position with veteran Jody Bellefeuille over several laps. The group also gained on Toppozini as Copp ran away, and although Gehl spun into the infield off the back straight with seven laps left, there was still some fierce discussion over the other podium positions as the laps wound down.
Long after Copp took the checkered flag, Toppozini’s car slowed coming out of turn 4, allowing Bellefeuille to slip by for second just ahead of Uotinen. Toppozini settled for fourth by coasting over the finish line, just ahead of tenth-starting Jack Rivord. Bellefeuille’s charge included a lap of 16.905 seconds (85.182 mph) – the first sub-17-second lap run in a WISSOTA Modified feature at GLS.
Another dominant performance on this night was conducted by Cole Chernosky of Thunder Bay, ON, who led the 20-lap WISSOTA Super Stock feature flag-to-flag, needing to overcome only one yellow-flag interruption just before mid-race.
Chernosky started on the pole and, once clear of fellow front-row starter Darin Meierotto, was never bettered throughout the run. The front six cars ran in tight formation until lap 5, when Meierotto’s car mysteriously slowed, handing second spot to Doug Koski, with Rick Simpson closing from third.
Chernosky had a 2.5-second cushion on lap 8, when Paul Gucinski’s ride looped to bring about the race’s only caution stop. Simpson worked his way around Koski on the restart – as did a handful of other drivers over the course of the ensuing lap – but he could not catch his fellow countryman. The fourth-row-starting tandem of John Copp and DJ Keeler swapped third place for a few laps before Keeler finally laid claim seven laps from the end.
Chernosky nearly doubled his lap 8 margin, winning by 4.77 seconds over Simpson, with Keeler, Copp and a recovering Koski in tow at a distance.
James Vendela of South Range ended the 2023 racing season at GLS with a WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature win at last September’s Northern Nationals. He kicked off this season in similar fashion with the win in the division’s 2024 lid-lifter.
Vendela chased polestarter and second-generation Canadian youngster Garrett Paull for the first four laps, as the lead pair pulled away from third-running David Simpson, who in turn was keeping his distance from some chaotic jostling for positions behind him. Vendela pulled off the winning move by going outside to pass Paull, but he didn’t get very far away, as Grayson Pratt, struggling with an uncooperative race car all night, slowed to a crawl on lap 6, bringing out the yellow flag.
Vendela didn’t run away from Paull over the next ten laps, but he did stay ahead just enough, until Rory Taber’s car slowed with four laps left. On that restart, fifth-place Paul Ripley made a dive-bomb move to the inside and stole second with a three-wide pass, staying within a half-second of Vendela right up until the checkers. Paull held on to third, with Simpson and 12th-starting Cole Boston trailing closely.
During the middle stages of the 20-lap run, Vendela set a new mark for a single lap in a WISSOTA Mid-Mod feature at Superior with a time of 17.798 seconds (80.908 mph).
Superior’s Jessie Treviranus led every lap from the pole and captured her second career WISSOTA Pure Stock feature, as an already-small field thinned to just three cars running by the end of the 12-lap main.
The front five ran door-to-door and bumper-to-bumper for the first couple of laps, providing quality racing in lieu of quantity, as Treviranus fended off constant threats from Shane Basina, defending divisional champ Aaron Bernick, Dylan Shelton, and Jessie’s father Tom Treviranus. However, Basina and Shelton dropped out due to mechanical woes, and Jessie’s brother Trevor Treviranus, who trailed the lead pack at a distance, pulled off the track as well, leaving just Jessie, her dad, and Bernick running in tight formation for the entire second half of the race.
Dad challenged Daughter a couple of times during the late stages of the run, but Jessie ran steady and true to her line and held on for the win by about a quarter-second, with Bernick only a few lengths back at the checkers.
The WISSOTA Hornets finale had a similar theme to the Pure Stocks in that only half the small field of scheduled starters were running at the end. But it was all Ashland’s DeJay Jarecki could do to hang on for the win.
Jarecki started outside on the front row and immediately established a dominant pace after getting around polestarter Nikota Larson through the first turns. Meanwhile, Carson Gotelaere, whose car was badly damaged in a freak collision with Derek Dunbar’s during the pace laps of the Hornets’ heat race earlier in the program, began a frantic charge from the back of the seven-car field and worked his way to second place within the first three laps. Over the course of the next six green-flag circuits Gotelaere cut significantly into Jarecki’s lead as, again, contenders fell by the wayside with ailing vehicles.
Things then got very interesting with three laps left of the scheduled 12, as third-running Joe Puidokas’ ride stalled to bring out a caution flag, putting Gotelaere directly on Jarecki’s back bumper for the shootout. As a light rain began to fall, Gotelaere threw everything he had at the 2022 track champ, but Jarecki held on for a nailbiter of a win, with Gotelaere, driving a former Jarecki car, pulling up alongside to Jarecki’s right-front fender at the final stripe. Larson and Ryan LaBorde, finishing third and fourth, respectively, were the only other drivers running at the finish.
The Gondik Law Speedway will give the WISSOTA Super Stocks the night off on Friday, June 7, but will host its other five weekly divisions for a full program of heats and features. Hot laps will start at 6:30 pm, followed by racing at 7. For more information on this event, log on to the track’s website, www.gondiklawspeedway.com.
Results
WISSOTA Late Models
Feature: 1-10: Kevin Eder, Cameron; Skeeter Estey, Kelly Lake, MN; Pat Doar, New Richmond; Jeff Massingill, Keewatin, MN; Billy Kendall III, Walker, MN; Derek Vesel, Hibbing, MN; Travis Budisalovich, St Paul, MN; Johnny Broking, Grand Rapids, MN; Tim McMann, Duluth, MN; Larry Fitzsimmons, East Bethel, MN.
11-20: Mike Bellefeuille, Duluth, MN; Terry Lillo, Duluth, MN; Eric Lillo, Proctor, MN; Anthony Woodhull, Superior; Danny Vang, Deerwood, MN; Harry Hanson, Eveleth, MN; Kevin Carlson, Hermantown, MN; Kevin Burdick, Proctor, MN; Dave Flynn, Superior; Kyle Peterlin, Hibbing, MN.
21: Todd Gehl, Solon Springs.
Heat 1: Hanson; Flynn; Gehl; Burdick; T Lillo; Vang; E Lillo.
Heat 2: Budisalovich; Bellefeuille; Doar; Broking; Kendall; Peterlin; McMann.
Heat 3: Massingill; Estey; Eder; Vesel; Carlson; Woodhull; Fitzsimmons.
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Brandon Copp, Brule; Jody Bellefeuille, Carlton, MN; Brady Uotinen, Superior; John Toppozini, Thunder Bay, ON; Jack Rivord, Superior; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Kelly Checkalski, Poplar; Andrew Inman, Canyon, MN; Tanner Gehl, Solon Springs; Cole Chernosky, Thunder Bay, ON.
11: Bob Broking, Grand Rapids, MN.
Heat 1: Chernosky; Bellefeuille; Oreskovich; Toppozini; Inman; Checkalski.
Heat 2: Broking; Copp; Gehl; Uotinen; Rivord.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Cole Chernosky, Thunder Bay, ON; Rick Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; DJ Keeler, Superior; Kyle Copp, Brule; Doug Koski, Chisholm, MN; Don Livingston, Washburn; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Dan Peterson, Foxboro; Myron Basina, Bayfield; Paul Gucinski, Superior.
11-16: John Garrity, Thunder Bay, ON; Rita Anderson, South Range; Max Dondelinger, Grand Rapids, MN; Dylan Nelson, Merrifield, MN; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Darin Meierotto, Superior.
Heat 1: Meierotto; Gucinski; Deragon; Chernosky; Livingston; Basina; Anderson; Lawrence.
Heat 2: Keeler; Koski; Simpson; Copp; Nelson; Dondelinger; Peterson; Garrity.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: James Vendela, South Range; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Garrett Paull, Fort Frances, ON; David Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Cole Boston, Lindstrom, MN; Ryan Savoy, Superior; Wyatt Boyum, International Falls, MN; Kolby Reed, Kakabeka Falls, ON; Justin Bassa, Cotton, MN; Glen Brown, Rosslyn, ON.
11-17: Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; Cory Jorgensen, Duluth, MN; Ross Siiter, Esko, MN; Rory Taber, Webster; Adam Shinn, Duluth, MN; Grayson Pratt, Dayton, MN; Cody Carlson, Superior.
Heat 1: Simpson; Ripley; Shinn; Savoy; Reagan Ruffi, Lake Nebagamon; Siiter; Ashley Boyum, International Falls, MN; Jorgensen; Latvala; Bassa.
Heat 2: Paull; Vendela; W Boyum; Reed; Carlson; Boston; Brown; Taber; Pratt; Taylor Madrinich, Duluth, MN.
WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-6: Jessie Treviranus, Superior; Tom Treviranus, Hawthorne; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Dylan Shelton, Hermantown, MN; Trevor Treviranus, Hawthorne; Shane Basina, Bayfield.
Heat: Bernick; Shelton; Jessie Treviranus; Basina; Trevor Treviranus; Tom Treviranus.
WISSOTA Hornets
Feature: 1-7: DeJay Jarecki, Ashland; Carson Gotelaere, Superior; Nikota Larson, Barnum, MN; Ryan LaBorde, South Range; Joe Puidokas, Cloquet, MN; Derek Dunbar, Iron River; Cade Johnson, Iron, MN.
Heat: Jarecki; AJ House, Cloquet, MN; Puidokas; Larson; Johnson; LaBorde; Dunbar; Gotelaere.
