Gehl Collects First MM Win at Gondik Law Speedway Fair Races
by Nick Gima
Superior, WI, August 4 – Tanner Gehl of Solon Springs got his first career feature win in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds at Gondik Law Speedway as part of Friday’s Head of the Lakes Fair race program.
The first half of the 20-lap main event was slowed by caution flags, testing the patience of both Gehl and those challenging him for the win, especially Andrew Inman. After the first three quick laps, visitor Landyn Randt’s car slowed to bring about the first of those stoppages, followed a lap later by Taylor Madrinich’s stalled ride on the back stretch.
During those early laps polestarter Paul Ripley held Gehl, rookie Blake Adams, Inman and McLean Andrews at bay, but after Randt’s issues Ripley was overtaken by Gehl, then shuffled back some more after Madrinich’s stop.
As Andrews displaced Ripley for second, Gehl started to build a lead of a few car-lengths, but Anthony Gallian’s spin on lap 8 brought the field back to him. On the restart Inman dove low to edge past Gehl for the lead, but Gehl countered with a determined drive out of turn 2 on the next lap, and from there the third-generation driver pulled to as much as a three-quarter-second margin while Inman battled with Andrews.
At the checkers Gehl held a .7-second advantage, while Inman gained the better of Andrews for second. Ripley fell out of the top-five during the race’s middle stages, but he fought his way back to finish a distant fourth, just ahead of visitor Nick Koehler.
With several top runners in the Midwest Mod points standings taking the night off, a tenth-place effort by Deven VanHouse moved him to the top of that division’s standings with five nights remaining for that class.
Another dominant performance earned Shane Sabraski of Rice, MN, his fifth WISSOTA Super Stock feature win of the season here, overcoming an engine issue that developed during his earlier heat race and then several early-race caution stoppages that kept the rest of the field close in the feature.
After a lap 1 get-together between Rita Anderson and Dan Peterson, a scary crash stopped the action on the next scored lap, when second-running DJ Keeler’s car lost all power coming out of turn 2. With cars diving and dodging to avoid him, Kyle Copp had nowhere to go and drove into the back of Keeler’s car, causing Copp to spin; Dan Peterson threw his car into a spin in an attempt to avoid Copp and slammed his car flush against Copp’s driver’s-side door. Amazingly, Copp refired his badly-damaged car, drove it to the pits for repairs, and rejoined the race.
Canadian visitor Doug Bolt spun his racer a lap after the restart, and Copp spun a lap after that, before the field put together a set of six uninterrupted laps, during which time Sabraski pulled to as much as a 2.8-second lead. A group of five cars battled closely for second before Andrew Mackey laid claim to the spot on lap 7.
Anderson’s spin on lap 10 was the last caution stop of the run, after which Sabraski improved upon his earlier margin, nearly doubling it over the final five laps until he was a full four seconds up on Mackey at the checkers, although Mackey took over the division’s points lead with his effort. First-night visitor Max Dondelinger was impressive in scrambling his way through to third, while Scott Lawrence held off polestarter Austin Blom for fourth.
Travis Hazelton of Chippewa Falls also collected his fifth feature win at Superior this summer, in WISSOTA Pure Stock action. Like Sabraski, Hazelton started outside on the front row, beat the polestarter (Aaron Bernick) out of the first pair of turns, and never looked back.
Hazelton was already nearly a full second up on Bernick, who battled with Jessie Treviranus for runner-up honors before Treviranus got the better of him on lap 5. Two laps later Rob Christman, who was moving low to pass Bernick for third, broke loose and smacked the side of Bernick’s racer. Christman lost the right-rear tire and axle as a result of the hard impact, and Bernick drove to the pits to repair the damage to his car, although he did return.
Over the final five laps Hazelton again put his car out front, eventually driving off to a .713-second winning cushion. Visitor Ryan Olson, who started seventh, restarted third after the final caution, drove around Treviranus, and kept pace with Hazelton, albeit at a distance, to take second, and Bernick recovered for fourth just ahead of Tyler Kachinske, creating a tie atop the Pure Stock standings between them with three shows remaining.
Carson Gotelaere of Superior claimed his second WISSOTA Hornets feature win at GLS in 2023 in dominant fashion. Right from the beginning of the 12-lap finale Gotelaere found himself in a battle with Justin Barsness and Carter Matthews until sixth-starting Justin Schelitzche worked the low groove to swipe second after just four laps.
This allowed Gotelaere to pull away to a large lead during the middle stages of the run, and while Schelitzche trimmed the lead considerably in the closing laps, he was in no position to challenge Gotelaere for the win.
Barsness came from seventh at the start to take third, just nipping Reid Johnson and AJ House at the final stripe. House took over the Hornets’ points lead as the season enters its final month.
Another well-prepared track led to another single-lap track record broken, when Inman clipped two one-thousandths of a second off Shane Howell’s one-week-old Midwest Mods mark during the first heat race of the night. Inman’s new mark now stands at 17.724 seconds, for an average speed of 81.246 mph.
Hot laps will start at 5:30 pm for Sunday’s show, with the first green flag of the night set to drop at 6.
Then on Monday, August 7, the XR Super Series “Superior Showcase” will bring many of the country’s best dirt Late Model racers to the Northland for a $20,000-to-win main event, with Modifieds and Midwest Mods again also on hand.
Preliminary action on Monday will start at 6:30 pm, followed by heat racing 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 Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; Andrew Mackey, Duluth, MN; Max Dondelinger, Grand Rapids, MN; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Austin Blom, Saginaw, MN; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Doug Bolt, Rosslyn, ON; Rita Anderson, South Range; Kyle Copp, Brule; Wayne Dean, Strum.
11-12: Dan Peterson, Foxboro; DJ Keeler, Superior.
Heat 1: Copp; Keeler; Sabraski; Dondelinger; Anderson; Dean.
Heat 2: Stuart; Lawrence; Mackey; Blom; Bolt.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Tanner Gehl, Solon Springs; Andrew Inman, Canyon, MN; McLean Andrews, Duluth, MN; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Nick Koehler, Bloomer; Evan Checkalski, Duluth, MN; Shadow Kitchner, Arkansaw; Zach Benson, Princeton, MN; Blake Adams, Cameron; Deven VanHouse, Silver Bay, MN.
11-19: Cory Jorgensen, Duluth, MN; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; Aiden Hoffman, Rice Lake; Patrick Davis, Sioux Lookout, ON; Chris Bretting, Washburn; Anthony Gallian, Superior; Taylor Madrinich, Duluth, MN; Landyn Randt, Siren; Adam Shinn, Duluth, MN.
Heat 1: Inman; Ripley; Gehl; Benson; Checkalski; Koehler; Madrinich; VanHouse; Bretting; Shinn.
Heat 2: Randt; Adams; Andrews; Latvala; Kitchner; Davis; Hoffman; Jorgensen; Gallian.
WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-9: Travis Hazelton, Chippewa Falls; Ryan Olson, Ladysmith; Jessie Treviranus, Hawthorne; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Tyler Kachinske, Duluth, MN; Kristy Rose, Duluth, MN; Rob Christman, Superior; Tom Treviranus, Hawthorne; Justin Barsness, Grand Rapids, MN.
Heat: Bernick; Barsness; Christman; Hazelton; J Treviranus; Kachinske; Olson; Rose; T Treviranus.
WISSOTA Hornets
Feature: 1-10: Carson Gotelaere, Superior; Justin Schelitzche, Chaska, MN; Justin Barsness, Grand Rapids, MN; Reid Johnson, Proctor, MN; AJ House, Cloquet, MN; Zach Furbur, Royalton, MN; Tyler Schramm, Two Harbors, MN; Tristen McLynn, Grand Rapids, MN; Joe Puidokas, Cloquet, MN; Patrick Passeri, Duluth, MN.
11-13: Derek Dunbar, Iron River; Ryan LaBorde, South Range; Carter Matthews, Clearbrook, MN.
Heat 1: Gotelaere; Matthews; Barsness; Johnson; McLynn; LaBorde; Dunbar.
Heat 2: Schramm; Schelitzche; House; Furbur; Puidokas; Passeri.