5-27 Page 9 | ATD Racing News

Larson, Bernick, Myers and Flynn feature winners Friday as Gondik Law Speedway opens for the 64th year

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (May 23) - An extra couple of weeks was well worth the wait for the hearty fans on hand for Gondik Law Speedway’s 64th season opener. They enjoyed a very exciting program on a perfectly prepared race track despite Friday’s brisk temperatures.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Dave Flynn, Curt Myers, Aaron Bernick and Nikota Larson.

The 19-car, 25-lap WISSOTA Late Model feature was a thriller, underscored by the strategy that played out with the utilization of WISSOTA’s new “choose cone” rule. Outside front-row starter Flynn shot past polestarter Tim McMann to take the lead.

Flynn built a relatively comfortable .8-second lead and looked to be in command, with Johnny Broking and Kevin Burdick ganging up on McMann, but Brandon Englund’s spin on lap four changed the race’s complexion. The wide, smooth, lightning-fast race surface played into Burdick’s plan for the restart – he chose the low line after Broking opted to restart high, and he grabbed second as the green flag appeared.

Burdick pestered Flynn incessantly over the next eight laps, often drawing alongside his former Super Stock foe down the straights. More tight-quarters racing was just a few lengths behind them, as Broking, Billy Kendall and defending track champ Pat Doar debated third.

Burdick’s minor stumble on lap 11 allowed Flynn to push to a one-second cushion, but just as the leader caught backmarkers on lap 12, Darin Meierotto’s racer failed him to bring about another slowdown.

Interestingly, the lane choices for the restart benefitted folks like Jayme Lautigar, who moved from eighth to fifth, while Doar dropped from fifth to eighth. But when Eric Lillo and his uncle Chris Lillo tangled in turn four on lap 12, Doar took advantage of other drivers’ choices and regained fifth.

Steve Laursen’s spun ride on lap 15 set up a thrilling 10-lap sprint to the checkered flag, with Flynn doing all he could to fend off Burdick. With one lap left, Flynn caught tail-enders again, and Burdick closed in; Flynn threaded the needle between two slower cars in turn three, however, and left Burdick trapped behind them. The Superior racer pulled away to a .8-second margin of victory.

Kendall capped off an impressive third-place performance, while Broking and Doar were not far back to complete the top five.

In the WISSOTA Super Stocks, Andy Grymala grabbed the early lead from polestarter D.J. Keeler, and held a strong .7-second advantage as the lead pair put some distance between them, third-running Austin Blom and the rest of the 16-car field. On lap seven, Keeler’s racer suffered rear-axle damage and dropped its driveshaft, stopping on the track and bringing out the caution.

Following the restart, Alex Myers - in his second season in the division - broke traction and spun, collecting Paul Gucinski in turn four before the end of the restarted lap. The younger Myers then slowed in turn four on the ensuing re-do, ending his night.

His father Curt Myers, who started the race alongside his son in row four, joined Grymala, Blom and 2024 track champ Kyle Copp for some close-quarters racing for about a half-lap after that restart, before Myers dove low to take second from Blom on lap 11. Myers then used a similar move to grab the lead from Grymala two laps later, and from there Myers broke free to build a 1.16-second cushion at the checkers, with Grymala, Blom, Copp and Matt Deragon trailing in a tight bunch.

Defending WISSOTA Pure Stock track champion Aaron Bernick of Duluth, MN, came from the fourth row and used a timely mid-race caution to claim the division’s opening-night feature win.

Fourth-starter Trevor Treviranus sped quickly around three cars - including his sister, polestarter Jessie Treviranus - to take the lead coming out of the first pair of turns, but Jessie held tight to second just behind him. Along with the Treviranus kids, Pure Stock rookie Derek Ament and Shane Basina formed a lead foursome that were only separated by two-thirds of a second after three laps.

Meanwhile, Bernick and defending WISSOTA National champion Eric Crosby were caught up in a scramble with some slower cars and, once clear, were well out of touch of the leaders. The title-holding duo caught a break when, while attempting to overtake a backmarker on lap six, Jessie Treviranus lost control of her racer and spun on the front straight, bringing about the race’s only delay.

Two laps after the restart Ament edged past Trevor Treviranus for the lead, while Bernick and Crosby tried to weave their way forward. On lap 10, Bernick got a great run on Ament to make what turned out to make the race-winning move, although Ament stayed close enough that Bernick’s winning margin was barely a third of a second.

Trevor Treviranus was a ways back in third just ahead of Crosby and Basina.

Kettle River, Minnesota’s Nikota Larson got the jump on his father, polesitter Tim Larson, and held off a determined Carlson Gotelaere for the win in the nonstop 12-lap WISSOTA Hornets feature.

Gotelaere, who started the race directly behind the junior Larson, turned up the heat immediately upon the initial drop of the green flag and led for the first couple of laps. But he drove too hard into turn two on lap two, opening the door for Larson to retake the lead, with first-night racer Nathan Penney following to second. Gotelaere regained his rhythm and caught Penney as Larson pulled away, and while negotiating through slower traffic Gotelaere regained runner-up duties at mid-race.

Penney, not to be outdone, went back by Gotelaere a couple of circuits later, while the pair cut into Larson’s lead. Fortunately for Larson, he had enough of a margin built up to hold on for the victory, with Gotelaere swiping back second from Penney on the white-flag lap. Brady Fosso and Tim Larson completed the top five.

Chris Lewis edged Caley Emerson at the final stripe by barely a car length to take the victory in the visiting Northern Renegade non-winged Sprint Car feature. John Vaillancourt was not far back in third, and was barely a few lengths up on Ken Hron and Terry Lillo in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 29F-Dave Flynn[2]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[6]; 3. 99-Billy Kendall[8]; 4. 45J-Johnny Broking[4]; 5. 11-Pat Doar[3]; 6. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[5]; 7. 11D-Tim McMann[1]; 8. 21X-Joel Collins[15]; 9. 79-Kevin Carlson[12]; 10. 24(E)-Eric Lillo[11]; 11. 81W-Anthony Woodhull[17]; 12. 73-Brandon Englund[16]; 13. 9-Chris Lillo[18]; 14. 42-Tim Lillo[14]; 15. (DNF) 21-Mike Bellefeuille[13]; 16. (DNF) 19-Steve Laursen[10]; 17. (DNF) 31-Travis Budisalovich[9]; 18. (DNF) 36-Darin Meierotto[7]; 19. (DNF) 34-Taylor Madrinich[19]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Pat Doar[2]; 2. 45J-Johnny Broking[4]; 3. 11D-Tim McMann[1]; 4. 19-Steve Laursen[6]; 5. 21-Mike Bellefeuille[5]; 6. 73-Brandon Englund[3]; 7. (DNS) 34-Taylor Madrinich

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Billy Kendall[1]; 2. 31-Travis Budisalovich[2]; 3. 29F-Dave Flynn[4]; 4. 24(E)-Eric Lillo[3]; 5. 42-Tim Lillo[5]; 6. 81W-Anthony Woodhull[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Darin Meierotto[1]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[4]; 3. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[5]; 4. 79-Kevin Carlson[2]; 5. 21X-Joel Collins[3]; 6. 9-Chris Lillo[6]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[7]; 2. 24-Andy Grymala[2]; 3. 3B-Austin Blom[4]; 4. 26-Kyle Copp[6]; 5. 27-Matt Deragon[3]; 6. 62-Dalton Truchon[5]; 7. 10X-Josh Schmidt[9]; 8. 2-Don Livingston[11]; 9. 40C-Chaston Finckbone[14]; 10. 82-Paul Gucinski[12]; 11. 6-Dan Peterson[15]; 12. 11R-Rita Anderson[13]; 13. (DNF) 21M-Alex Myers[8]; 14. (DNF) 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[1]; 15. (DNF) 44-Trenton Bond[10]; 16. (DNS) 77-Scott Lawrence

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3B-Austin Blom[2]; 2. 21M-Alex Myers[3]; 3. 24-Andy Grymala[4]; 4. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[5]; 5. 10X-Josh Schmidt[7]; 6. 2-Don Livingston[8]; 7. 11R-Rita Anderson[6]; 8. (DNF) 77-Scott Lawrence[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Kyle Copp[2]; 2. 1M-Curt Myers[1]; 3. 62-Dalton Truchon[4]; 4. 27-Matt Deragon[6]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[5]; 6. 82-Paul Gucinski[8]; 7. 40C-Chaston Finckbone[7]; 8. 6-Dan Peterson[3]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[7]; 2. 00-Derek Ament[3]; 3. 231-Trevor Treviranus[4]; 4. 28-Eric Crosby[8]; 5. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 6. 131-Jessie Treviranus[1]; 7. 7-Bob Klein[9]; 8. 44P-Payton Swenson[11]; 9. 24-Dylan Helget[10]; 10. 925-Dnae Rose[2]; 11. (DNF) 31-Tom Treviranus[5]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[1]; 2. 31-Tom Treviranus[6]; 3. 231-Trevor Treviranus[5]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[4]; 5. 7-Bob Klein[3]; 6. 44P-Payton Swenson[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[2]; 2. 131-Jessie Treviranus[1]; 3. 00-Derek Ament[4]; 4. 925-Dnae Rose[5]; 5. 24-Dylan Helget[3]

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[2]; 2. 9G-Carson Gotelaere[4]; 3. 2X-Nathan Penney[3]; 4. 27-Brady Fosso[5]; 5. 7L-Tim Larson[1]; 6. 69-Madisyn Olson[7]; 7. 7-Abby Baum[6]; 8. (DNS) 11-Chandler Beeksma; 9. (DNS) 46-Todd Hietala

Heat (6 Laps): 1. 9G-Carson Gotelaere[5]; 2. 27-Brady Fosso[2]; 3. 26N-Nikota Larson[7]; 4. 7L-Tim Larson[6]; 5. 2X-Nathan Penney[3]; 6. 7-Abby Baum[8]; 7. 69-Madisyn Olson[9]; 8. 11-Chandler Beeksma[1]; 9. 46-Todd Hietala[4]

Northern Renegades Non-Winged Sprint Cars:

Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 5J-Chris Lewis[3]; 2. 51E-Caley Emerson[4]; 3. 95-John Vaillancourt[5]; 4. 46H-Ken Hron[7]; 5. 24-Terry Lillo[9]; 6. 25-Eric Guyot[1]; 7. 1-Kevin Bradwell[11]; 8. 46-KC Hawkinson[10]; 9. 56-Josh Braford[6]; 10. 36-Tyler Wass[14]; 11. 59-Jamie Reberg[12]; 12. 17C-Hunter Colton[2]; 13. 17-Mariah LaPatka[13]; 14. (DNF) 17(B)-Erik Bjorklund[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95-John Vaillancourt[1]; 2. 17C-Hunter Colton[4]; 3. 56-Josh Braford[2]; 4. 46H-Ken Hron[5]; 5. 24-Terry Lillo[6]; 6. 1-Kevin Bradwell[7]; 7. 17-Mariah LaPatka[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 51E-Caley Emerson[4]; 2. 5J-Chris Lewis[5]; 3. 25-Eric Guyot[3]; 4. 17(B)-Erik Bjorklund[2]; 5. 46-KC Hawkinson[6]; 6. 59-Jamie Reberg[7]; 7. 36-Tyler Wass[1]