Night 1 of GLS Northern Nationals Highlighted by First-Time Winners
by Nick Gima
Superior, WI, September 8 – The opening night of the 34th annual XR Northern Nationals, presented by Bay Lock & Security and JF Brennan Co, saw 85 entries take to the Gondik Law Speedway on a warm, muggy night. And by the end of the fast-paced 18-race program, four of the five feature winners were first-time event champs.
Thursday’s program, presented by JF Brennan Co and CARS Automotive, included the weekend’s lone appearances by the Northern Renegades winged sprints and the WISSOTA-sanctioned Street Stocks, Pure Stocks and Hornets. For the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, it would be the first of three shows over the weekend here.
Duluth, MN’s Jamey Ogston, whose family has a long history of racing in the Twin Ports, ran away with the win in the 15-lap A-main for the Northern Renegades winged sprints – his first-ever at the Northern Nationals.
Polestarter Jesse Grife and Brett Peterson duked it out over the first couple of circuits before Ogston, who started outside on row 3, worked his way around Danny Wait Jr and Peterson to move into second. On lap 4 Ogston dove low to get by Grife and, for the most part, dominated the remainder of the run.
Ogston was out front by nearly 2.5 seconds by lap 6 before Zach Olson passed Wait for second. A lap later Wait spun to bring out the first of two yellow-flag stoppages, but it didn’t take long after the restart for Ogston to re-establish a healthy lead.
Ken Hron took advantage of the restart to move into third, and when Olson’s car bobbled on lap 8 Hron advanced another spot. Dani Aldrich’s spin with four laps remaining brought the field back to Ogston’s push bar, but after two sloppy restarts by the field Ogston steamed away again, finishing 1.56 seconds ahead of Hron, with John Breitenfeldt, Olson and Aldrich following at some distance.
The 24-car WISSOTA Midwest Modified field ran off its 20-lap headliner non-stop, and it was a thriller from green to checkered. Polestarter Kennedy Swan and fellow front-row starter Shane Howell raced side-by-side on the opening tour before Howell established pace-setting duties. On lap 2 Cole Chernosky slipped low past Swan to edge into second, and for the next six laps Chernosky, sticking to the lower groove, and Howell, planting it up high, raced practically door-to-door for the lead, pulling ever so slowly away from Swan.
As Chernosky finally took over the lead, on lap 12, Swan found herself in a similar side-by-side battle with Ryan Savoy. Then, over the final third of the race, Howell drew back to Chernosky’s right-rear quarter, and when the two caught up to backmarker Kalan Wagner, they had to split their way around him to put him a lap down, allowing Howell to pull alongside the leader in traffic.
As they came to take the white flag, Howell used the momentum from the upper lane to edge past Chernosky, and at the final stripe Howell had a winning margin of less than four-tenths of a second. In similar fashion, Swan nipped Savoy at the line for third, and Brandon Mehrwerth came home a relatively unchallenged fifth.
It was the Buffalo, MN, driver’s second Northern Nationals win in the past three seasons.
The WISSOTA Street Stocks made their only visit of the season to the big GLS oval on this night, and Barron’s Nick Traynor thrilled the fans with a last-corner pass to steal the win.
Polestarter Braden Brauer grabbed the early lead of the 15-lap headliner and stayed just far enough ahead of Traynor, Kyle Howland and Ty Agen, as the quartet pulled away from another great side-by-side battle, this one between Tom Worth and Kyle Bolt for fifth.
Just as Brauer was beginning to strengthen his grip on the lead, Worth lost the handle on his ride to bring out the race’s only caution stop, on lap 8. The leaders resumed their tussle for top-four honors, with Brauer holding a slim lead over Traynor, but Traynor had found something favorable in running the higher lane, and over the waning laps he closed the gap.
As the white flag waived Brauer and Traynor were nose-to-tail, and Traynor moved high coming off of turn 2 for the final time to pull alongside Brauer. The faster outside line around the final turns allowed Traynor to inch ahead and take the win by just under two-tenths of a second for his first-ever Northern Nationals title. Howland came home in third, ahead of Agen and Caiden Engel.
For Duluth, MN’s Nate Rose, his win in the WISSOTA Pure Stock feature was not only significant because it was his first at the Northern Nationals – it was his first ever in his four years of racing. At if that weren’t enough, the win came on his birthday.
Over the first few laps of the 15-lap run, Rose was right in the think of a five-car battle for the lead, sitting squarely behind Dylan Shelton and polestarter Tyler Kachinske in third. On lap 4 Shelton snuck past Kachinske to take over the top spot, but during the next lap the lead pair made contact, forcing both to bobble and allowing Rose to slip by into the lead.
Unfortunately for Rose, the contact with Shelton caused damage to Kachinske’s car, which stalled to bring about the race’s lone yellow flag and re-established Shelton as the leader. On the restart Aaron Bernick tried to wedge past Rose for second, and they raced door-to-door for a handful of laps just behind Shelton.
Then, on lap 9, Shelton’s car slid up the banking in turn 4, allowing Rose to once again dive by for the lead. Shelton eventually pulled out of the event with damage, but with the race staying under green Rose built a safe advantage as he rode to the landmark win.
Rob Christman weaved his way through traffic to stake his claim to runner-up money, while Cody Herrick finished just ahead of Bernick, and Guy Gaskill trailed in fifth.
The finale of the evening – the WISSOTA Hornets feature – was maybe the wildest of the night, as for nearly every one of the 15 laps at least six cars were in the pack battling for the lead.
Tyler Schramm bested polestarter Kristy Marken for the initial lead, but Justin Schelitzche, DeJay Jarecki, Carter Matthews, Justin Barsness and Marken all took turns running in each of the next five positions, all within feet of each other and often racing three-wide.
The position-shuffling continued just behind – and sometimes alongside of – Schramm, who maintained a slim lead at best. Then Jarecki worked his way inside on Schramm and grabbed the lead on lap 12, with Schelitzche following closely to second. Bonnie McLynn’s spin on the front straight brought about a green-white-checkered finish, after which Schelitzche looked low to pull alongside of Jarecki, and under the white flag he had the lead.
Schelitzche held on by mere feet to win his seventh feature of the year at Superior but first-ever Northern Nationals, with Jarecki, Matthews, Barsness and Schramm following in very tight formation.
For more information, log on to the track’s website, www.gondiklawspeedway.com.
Results
Northern Renegades Traditional Sprints
Feature: 1-9: Jamey Ogston, Duluth, MN; Ken Hron, Grand Rapids, MN; John Breitenfeldt, Isanti, MN; Zach Olson, Grand Rapids, MN; Dani Aldrich, Osceola; Brett Peterson, Amery; Danny Wait Jr, Cohasset, MN; Jesse Grife, Grand Rapids, MN; Josh Braford, Grand Rapids, MN.
Heat 1: Hron; Breitenfeldt; Olson; Aldrich.
Heat 2: Ogston; Wait; Grife; Peterson; Braford.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Shane Howell, Buffalo, MN; Cole Chernosky, Thunder Bay, ON; Kennedy Swan, Chippewa Falls; Ryan Savoy, Superior; Brandon Mehrwerth, Foley, MN; Cody Carlson, Superior; James Vendela, South Range; David Swearingen, Stacy, MN; Evan Checkalski, Duluth, MN; Brady Uotinen, Superior.
11-20: Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Wyatt Boyum, International Falls, MN; Mitch Weiss, Scandia, MN; Zach Benson, Princeton, MN; Cole Boston, Lindstrom, MN; Dale Suomala Jr, Duluth, MN; Jason VandeKamp, Scandia, MN; Tanner Gehl, Solon Springs; Matt Sorenson, Duluth, MN; Taylor Madrinich, Duluth, MN.
21-24: Kolby Reed, Thunder Bay, ON; Kalan Wagner, International Falls, MN; David Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Kevin Monteith, Rosslyn, ON.
Heat 1: Suomala; Swan; Ripley; Checkalski; Gehl; Chris Bretting, Washburn; Matthew Larson, Lake Elmo, MN; Tyler Vernon, Mason.
Heat 2: Chernosky; Carlson; VandeKamp; Sorenson; Uotinen; Austin Blom, Saginaw, MN; Kyle Monteith, Thunder Bay, ON; Dave DeVente, Neebing, ON.
Heat 3: Savoy; Madrinich; Reed; Weiss; Benson; Justin Bassa, Cotton, MN; Jeff Kelly, Murillo, ON; Dalton Mains, Foxboro.
Heat 4: Vendela; Mehrwerth; Swearingen; Boyum; Boston; Ross Fuhrman, Ashland; William Moelter, Elk Mound; Jeremy Cash, Duluth, MN.
Heat 5: Simpson; Howell; Kevin Monteith; Cole Elton, Dalbo, MN; Wagner; Bill Speak, Thunder Bay, ON; Don Craig, Thunder Bay, ON; Andrew Opas, Murillo, ON.
Semi-Feature 1: Boyum; Boston; Sorenson; Wagner; Larson; Bretting; Kyle Monteith; Opas; Elton; Bassa.
Semi-Feature 2: Weiss; Benson; Gehl; Uotinen; Mains; Fuhrman; Moelter; Speak; Kelly; Cash; Blom.
WISSOTA Street Stocks
Feature: 1-8: Nick Traynor, Barron; Braden Brauer, Eyota, MN; Kyle Howland, Zimmerman, MN; Ty Agen, Chippewa Falls; Caiden Engel, Bruce; Eric Haupt, Trego; Tom Worth, Milaca, MN; Kyle Bolt, Rosslyn, ON.
Heat: Traynor; Brauer; Howland; Agen; Engel; Worth; Bolt; Haupt.
WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-9: Nate Rose, Duluth, MN; Rob Christman, Superior; Cody Herrick, Hibbing, MN; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Guy Gaskill, Duluth, MN; Jessie Limberios, Poplar; Dylan Shelton, Wrenshall, MN; Anthony Woodhull, Superior; Tyler Kachinske, Duluth, MN.
Heat: Shelton; Kachinske; Bernick; Rose; Christman; Herrick; Woodhull; Limberios; Tom Treviranus, Hawthorne; Gaskill.
WISSOTA Hornets
Feature: 1-10: Justin Schelitzche, Waconia, MN; DeJay Jarecki, Ashland; Carter Matthews, Clearbrook, MN; Justin Barsness, Grand Rapids, MN; Tyler Schramm, Two Harbors, MN; Kristy Marken, Duluth, MN; Carson Gotelaere, Superior; Derek Ament, Barnum, MN; Bonnie McLynn, Grand Rapids, MN; Rachel Boston, Lindstrom, MN.
11-16: Noah Rose, Duluth, MN; Tristen McLynn, Grand Rapids, MN; Marty Serbus, Kinney, MN; Riley Ament, Mahtowa, MN; Keegan Kough, Proctor, MN; Brandon Hummelmeier, Ashland.
Heat 1: Schramm; Marken; Kough; Gotelaere; B McLynn; T McLynn; Boston; Serbus.
Heat 2: Matthews; Jarecki; Barsness; Schelitzche; D Ament; Rose; Hummelmeier; R Ament.
