First-Time Feature Winners Spark Opening Night at Gondik Law Speedway
by Nick Gima
Superior, WI, May 19 – The 62nd season of stock car racing action at the Gondik Law Speedway was highlighted Friday by four drivers earning their first-ever feature wins on the big northwestern Wisconsin dirt oval.
Ninety cars registered for action on a cool, crisp mid-May night at the western end of Lake Superior, competing on a fast, wide, smooth track that was helped by the cool temps and some light precipitation earlier in the day.
Kevin Burdick of Proctor, MN, is far from a stranger to Superior’s victory stage, but it had been a while since he had last visited there. The former multi-time GLS and WISSOTA national Super Stock champ, starting his second season in the WISSOTA Late Model ranks, finally returned in emphatic fashion after a dominant run in that division’s 25-lap A-main.
Starting outside on the front row, Burdick immediately shot around polestarter Tim McMann and built a 2.74-second lead within just five laps. McMann maintained a strong second-place run ahead of Dave Flynn and Derek Vesel as the field strung itself out around the four-tenths-mile oval during the early stages.
The race’s only yellow flag flew for Harry Hanson, whose car had ground to a halt against the front-straight wall on lap 8 with driveline issues. From that point on Burdick would not be challenged, quickly rebuilding his substantial lead.
Vesel overtook McMann for second when McMann bobbled up the track after the restart, opening the door for Flynn, Deven Van House and others to filter through. At mid-race Travis Budisalovich had entered the top five, and from there the battle got interesting behind the leader.
Lapped traffic over the final five laps allowed those chasing Burdick to close on each other, providing some frequent position-swapping. But Burdick was unaffected, flying to a 7.84-second final margin of victory – over half a lap! – for his first-ever win in WISSOTA’s premier division.
Budisalovich, who had maneuvered through traffic to close on Vesel on the final lap, pulled alongside coming out of the last corner and edged Vesel at the stripe for second by a fender. Van House came home a distant fourth, and Mike Bellefeuille was disqualified from his fifth-place finish, handing the spot to McMann.
Rice, MN’s Shane Sabraski is also no stranger to the spotlight at GLS, having won more races here than any other driver in the past five years. On Friday he added another feature win to the list, this time in the WISSOTA Modifieds.
A two-car spin that collected a couple of others in turn 3 during the first lap of the race took out or caused significant damage to several potential front-runners, including Bob Broking and Jody Bellefeuille. Back under green, Sabraski worked his way from the second row to run third early in the 20-lap run, behind an entertaining duel between second-generation drivers Brandon Copp and “big-Mod” rookie Brady Uotinen.
After Uotinen established himself as the leader on lap 3, Sabraski began to stalk his prey – first overtaking Copp with an inside pass on lap 6, and then gradually eliminating a .8-second deficit before executing a perfect slide-job across the nose of Uotinen’s racer to steal the lead on lap 13.
Copp, who was caught up in battle with Johnny Broking for third many lengths behind the leaders, brought out the race’s only other caution stoppage with a spin up to the Turn 2 wall with four laps remaining. This erased Sabraski’s 1.4-second advantage, but he bettered that over the final laps with a 1.8-second final cushion over Uotinen. Al Uotinen, Brady’s dad, edged Kelly Estey for third, while 13th-starting Jack Rivord cruised home in fifth.
Cole Chernosky of Thunder Bay, ON, has been practically unbeatable since bringing out his WISSOTA Super Stock early last season, but he registered his first feature win with the car at Gondik Law Speedway with a hard-earned effort. Chernosky swept around polestarter Andy Grymala to take the lead, and while he was scored as the leader for every one of the race’s 20 laps, it wasn’t as easy as all that.
Early on the Canadian hotshoe established a big 1.46-second lead over a great battle between Darin Meierotto and Steve Stuart, with Kyle Copp lurking just behind them. But after Brian Carl’s stalled ride brought out the race’s first caution on lap 5, Stuart and Copp overtook Meierotto on the subsequent restart. And while the leader held the field at bay for a nine-lap green-flag run, the “yellow fever” that infected the race’s last half-dozen laps turned the pressure up.
On the lap 14 restart Chernosky bobbled through the first turn, allowing Copp and Stuart to get by, but a two-car get-together at the tail-end of the field saved Chernosky. Stuart got a nose to the inside on the leader on the next restart, but Chernosky held him off – only to see the caution lights go on for Jim Campbell’s spin a lap later.
Stuart and Copp each took shots at the lead over the next couple of circuits, but Chernosky fended them off. Even a stoppage for debris with three laps remaining didn’t faze Chernosky – in fact, in the three-lap sprint home he pulled away to a 1.2-second winning margin.
Copp fell back in the final run, and Meierotto finished strong to steal second place from Stuart at the checkers. Sabraski, who started third but got caught up in early traffic, recovered to finish fourth, with DJ Keeler close behind.
Like Chernosky, Shane Howell of Buffalo, MN, had to endure a flag-to-flag challenge for the win in the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified headliner. Howell, who also started outside on the front row, got by polestarter Cody Carlson but could not get away, as on the next lap several cars tangled in a big turn-2 mess to halt the action.
Although the race stayed green for the next six laps, Howell couldn’t take it easy, as Andrew Inman got by Carlson on the restart and stayed glued to Howell’s rear pushbar for the entire run. The lead pair pulled away from Carlson, Tanner Gehl and company and put on a tremendous show, with Inman throwing everything he could think of at the leader – until the second, and last, stoppage occurred for a three-car entanglement.
On the restart Carlson worked low to threaten for second, but Inman wrestled the spot right back and stayed close to the leader for as long as he could, until a minor miscalculation forced him to check up, allowing Howell to get away. Howell stretched his advantage to .7 seconds with three laps to go, but Inman charged back and, coming out of the final turn, dove to the inside in a drag-race attempt for the win.
Howell held on by a bumper-length – .138 seconds, per the timer – for the thrilling photo-finish win. Carlson, Jason VandeKamp and Gehl had to watch from a distance as they completed the top five.
The WISSOTA Pure Stock feature saw another first-time visitor to the victory stage, as second-generation racer Jake Smith of Cohasset, MN, held on for a hard-fought win. After Pure stock rookie Kristy Rose’s car stalled on the first lap, Smith spent the rest of the 12-circuit run fending off Tyler Kachinske, who hounded Smith every lap and never seemed to be more than a car-length behind.
Smith and Kachinske pulled away late to decide the win, and Smith won out by less than a car-length. Jessie Treviranus was impressive with a career-best third-place performance, barely ahead of Aaron Bernick, with Rob Christman not far back in fifth.
The final race of the opening-night festivities also provided a first-time winner, as Derek Dunbar of Iron River ran away to his landmark win in the WISSOTA Hornets finale. Dunbar trailed front-row starter Carter Matthews in the early stages, then gave up third to Justin Schelitzchke after a couple of laps.
Then the racing gods began to help Dunbar, as Schelitzchke suddenly veered and slowed right in front of Dunbar, falling back and eventually dropping out of the run. Dunbar then got by Matthews for the lead just before Matthews slowed and pulled off the track at mid-race.
Dunbar held a large lead at that point, thanks to the misfortunes of the two perennial frontrunners, but over the final laps that cushion shrank to mere car-lengths as former track champs AJ House and Tyler Schramm reeled him in. Fortunately for Dunbar the laps clicked off and he held on for his first career feature win in his sixth year of racing. Behind House and Schramm was rookie Ryan LaBorde – the last car running of the seven-car field.
The first major event of the 2023 season at the Gondik Law Speedway will be the fourth annual Wisconsin Mod Nationals on Thursday & Friday, May 25-26. Each of the five divisions on hand – WISSOTA-sanctioned Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Mods, Pure Stocks and Hornets – will run for enhanced purses, with the Modified feature winner taking home $2,000.
Thursday’s offering will include an open practice session from 6-9 pm, and on Friday the action starts with hot laps 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, or to www.fyemotorsports.com.
Results
WISSOTA Late Models
Feature: 1-10: Kevin Burdick, Proctor, MN; Travis Budisalovich, Minneapolis, MN; Derek Vesel, Hibbing, MN; Deven Van House, Silver Bay, MN; Tim McMann, Duluth, MN; Dave Flynn, Superior; Larry Fitzsimmons, East Bethel, MN; Brett Shafer, Menomonie; Ronnie Malecki, Duluth, MN; Kevin Carlson, Hermantown, MN.
11-13: Robbie Cooper, South Range; Harry Hanson, Eveleth, MN; Eric Lillo, Proctor, MN.
Heat 1: Van House; Hanson; Fitzsimmons; McMann; Budisalovich; Cooper; Shafer; Malecki.
Heat 2: Vesel; Burdick; Flynn; Mike Bellefeuille, Duluth, MN; Carlson; Lillo; Danny Vang, Deerwood, MN.
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; Brady Uotinen, Superior; Al Uotinen, Superior; Kelly Estey, Kelly Lake, MN; Jack Rivord, Superior; Rick Rivord, Superior; Mike Klippenstein, Proctor, MN; Brandon Copp, Brule; Mason McEvers, Grantsburg; John Toppozini, Thunder Bay, ON.
11-16: Fritz Myers, Hackensack, MN; Johnny Broking, Grand Rapids, MN; Dan Kingsley, Superior; Jody Bellefeuille, Duluth, MN; Tanner Williamson, Fort Frances, ON; Bob Broking, Grand Rapids, MN.
Heat 1: Sabraski; A Uotinen; B Broking; B Uotinen; Estey; McEvers; J Rivord; R Rivord.
Heat 2: J Broking; Kingsley; Copp; Klippenstein; Bellefeuille; Williamson; Toppozini; Myers.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Cole Chernosky, Thunder Bay, ON; Darin Meierotto, Superior; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; DJ Keeler, Superior; Doug Koski, Chisholm, MN; Austin Blom, Saginaw, MN; Andy Grymala, Superior; Andrew Mackey, Duluth, MN; Jim Campbell, Two Harbors, MN.
11-19: Rita Anderson, South Range; Dan Peterson, Foxboro; Joshua Kough, Duluth, MN; Paul Gucinski, Superior; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Kyle Copp, Brule; Jack Koranda, Bluffton, MN; Jordan Henkemeyer, Sauk Rapids, MN; Brian Carl, Duluth, MN.
Heat 1: Copp; Meierotto; Keeler; Grymala; Koranda; Lawrence; Campbell; Blom; Mackey; Kough.
Heat 2: Sabraski; Chernosky; Stuart; Carl; Henkemeyer; Koski; Peterson; Anderson; Gucinski.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Shane Howell, Buffalo, MN; Andrew Inman, Canyon, MN; Cody Carlson, Superior; Jason VandeKamp, Scandia, MN; Tanner Gehl, Solon Springs; Dalton Mains, Foxboro; Evan Checkalski, Duluth, MN; Cole Chernosky, Thunder Bay, ON; James Vendela, South Range; Brady Caul, Fort Frances, ON.
11-20: Ashton Schulte, St Cloud, MN; Jesse Polson, Superior; Kalan Wagner, International Falls, MN; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Tanner Ulakovic, Murillo, ON; Scott Thompson, International Falls, MN; Taylor Madrinich, Duluth, MN; Garrett Paull, Fort Frances, ON; Ryan Savoy Superior; Wyatt Boyum, International Falls, MN.
21-24: Deven VanHouse, Silver Bay, MN; McLean Andrews, Duluth, MN; Cory Jorgensen, Duluth, MN; Trenton Woodbeck, Thunder Bay, ON.
Heat 1: Inman; Checkalski; VandeKamp; Chernosky; Boyum; Andrews; Jorgensen; Ulakovic.
Heat 2: Howell; Gehl; Schulte; Paull; Van House; Thompson; Vendela; Madrinich.
Heat 3: Polson; Carlson; Mains; Woodbeck; Ripley; Caul; Wagner; Savoy.
WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-9: Jake Smith, Cohasset, MN; Tyler Kachinske, Duluth, MN; Jessie Treviranus, Hawthorne; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Rob Christman, Superior; Keegan Kough, Proctor, MN; Kristy Rose, Duluth, MN; Ryan Kough, Isabella, MN.
Heat: Bernick; Christman; Kachinske; Treviranus; Smith; K Kough; Rose; R Kough.
WISSOTA Hornets
Feature: 1-7: Derek Dunbar, Iron River; AJ House, Cloquet, MN; Tyler Schramm, Two Harbors, MN; Ryan LaBorde, South Range; Carter Matthews, Clearbrook, MN; Justin Schelitzche, Chaska, MN; Justin Barsness, Grand Rapids, MN.
Heat: Schramm; Schelitzche; Dunbar; Matthews; Barsness; House; LaBorde.
