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Flynn, Nelson, Jensen, Myers, Randt and Basina stand out in field of 100+ at Gondik Law Speedway on Friday

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (May 30) - More than 100 cars were entered for action Friday at the Gondik Law Speedway. A strong showing of fans braved cool temperatures, but were treated to a historic night of racing.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Dave Flynn, Joey Jensen, Darrell Nelson, Alex Myers, Levi Randt and Shane Basina.

In the WISSOTA Late Model feature, Flynn continued his winning ways, pacing all 25 laps from the pole for his second win in a row at the speedway.

Kevin Burdick, who started directly behind Flynn, stayed on the leader’s tail for the initial laps before showing the nose of his racer on lap two. But that was as close as he or anyone else would get to Flynn’s trunk lid.

Flynn’s lead was well over eight-tenths of a second when, on lap four, Jayme Lautigar spun in turn one. Burdick then had his hands full fending off Travis Budisalovich, allowing Flynn to scoot away again before the stalled ride of Anthony Woodhull brought the field back to the leader on lap eight.

The balance of the race went uninterrupted, although ninth-starter Darrell Nelson took advantage of the restarts to slip past Budisalovich into third, with Billy Kendall following into fourth a lap later. Flynn’s lead was more than a second at mid race and grew to nearly a 1.5 seconds just before he caught the backmarkers with 11 laps remaining.

As Flynn worked his way past the slower cars, the battle for second between Burdick and Nelson intensified - so much so that on lap 22 Burdick pushed up the turn two banking and slapped the concrete wall, allowing Nelson to get by. Flynn was nearly 1.6 seconds ahead of Nelson when he crossed under the checkered flag, while Burdick recovered to maintain third. Kendall came home fourth, and 17th-starter Jeff Massingill took fifth.

Nelson hopped into his WISSOTA Modified and scored his 75th-career win in the class, adding to what was already a very emotional moment in victory lane. After the run Nelson spoke in humble, heartfelt tones of how blessed he felt for the support he has received during his health battles.

Polestarter Tyler Vernon shot away from Joe Chaplin, Jr., Cole Chernosky and others in a tight pack during the early stages. A Cody Wolkowski spin then regrouped the field.

Fifth-starter Nelson used the restart to work his way around Chernosky and Chaplin to take second, and a lap later he used a similar move to overtake Vernon for the lead, just before a three-car get-together brought out the yellow.

Jody Bellefeuille slipped low past Vernon, but Nelson’s car was on rails, already ahead by a second-and-a-half by lap 6 and by 2.5 seconds when he caught the tail-end of the field just a lap past halfway.

During a five-lap sprint to the finish, Chaplin got the better of Vernon for third, as Nelson completed the landmark run with a 1.5-second advantage on Bellefeuille. Bob Broking slipped back a bit early, but recovered to finish fifth.

In the WISSOTA Super Stocks, Austin Blom led a tightly knit pack of cars to the green, with Andy Grymala running second. Matt Deragon edged by Dalton Truchon and Alex Myers into third on lap three. Grymala erased Blom’s margin by running a lower line and on lap five he nosed ahead of Blom at the stripe. A caution flag for debris negated what turned out to be Grymala’s only chance at the lead.

Deragon worked his way around Blom for the lead a lap after the restart, and drew away to a .75-second advantage by lap seven. Myers moved forward as well, getting by Blom for second on lap six and chipping away at Deragon’s lead until, at mid race, he worked the outside line to take over at the point.

Over the final nine laps, Myers extended his lead with each circuit. When he caught the backmarkers with two laps to go, Myers patiently slipped by them and extended his final advantage to 2.2 seconds on Deragon, who was caught up behind a couple of the tail-enders at the checkers.

Dylan Nelson came from an eighth-place start to finish a distant third, followed by Blom and Grymala.

Jensen is no stranger to Superior’s victory lane and was there again Friday, after taking the WISSOTA Midwest Modified win. Jensen started outside on the front row, beat polestarter David Simpson through the first turns, and battled with Vernon throughout much of the 20-lap run.

Jensen looked to have the field covered in the early stages, speeding out to a 1.2-second margin after just three laps. Vernon worked on Simpson for a couple of laps before two cautions involving David Madsen and Ross Siiter brought about a stoppage.

Following the restart, Vernon finally got the better of Simpson on lap eight and closed in on the leader. Vernon threw a variety of different moves on Jensen, with little luck, until the pair caught up with slower traffic with two to go. Vernon tried an outside move for the lead, but he and Jensen made contact and Vernon scraped the outside wall, giving Jensen enough breathing room for a 2.45-second margin of victory.

Simpson came home second, ahead of impressive newcomer Jacob Anderson in third and Paul Ripley in fourth. Vernon held on for fifth.

The WISSOTA Street Stocks made their first visit of the season and produced another first-time winner in Levi Randt.

Front-row starting mates Caiden Engel and Rachel Boston vied for the early advantage ahead of a six-car group dogfighting for third, which included Randt. Engel stretched his lead to 1.7 seconds by the 15-lap race’s mid-point, while Randt gained positions by the lap. Randt was fourth when, on lap seven, the race stalled for Jenna Hermann’s spin.

Brendan Makkinga swiped second from Boston on the restart and stayed close to Engel over the next few laps - a little too close; contact between the lead pair spun them both on lap 10, penalizing Makkinga to the back.

Randt opted for the outside at the “choose cone” on the restart and worked his way around Boston and then Engel over the next lap. He then held on at the front of a tightly grouped lead pack for the win, by half a second over Engel.

Boston and Carter Wieringa came home third and fourth, and Makkinga charged back to finish fifth.

Shane Basina broke through with his first-ever WISSOTA-sanctioned feature victory in the 12-lap WISSOTA Pure Stock finale. Basina started second and stayed close to polestarter Aaron Bernick over the first couple of laps before taking an inside route past the defending track champ and eventually pulling away.

Basina had a two-second edge on lap nine when Eric Crosby took runner-up honors, and he added to that advantage as he worked through slower traffic with the white flag in the air. Basina was 2.6 seconds ahead of Crosby when he took the checkered flag, with Bernick a close third, rookie Derek Ament a distant fourth, and Trevor Treviranus fifth. Treviranus failed to scale and forfeited his top-five run to rookie Dylan Helgut.

Earlier in the night, it was announced that the total purse paid to drivers since the racing operations in Superior have been taken over by Head of the Lakes Management Group LLC reached and exceeded $5 million Friday - a significant accomplishment for a grass-roots racing organization.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 29F-Dave Flynn[1]; 2. 44-Darrell Nelson[9]; 3. 30-Kevin Burdick[3]; 4. 99-Billy Kendall[2]; 5. 6M-Jeff Massingill[17]; 6. 68-Mike Prochnow[7]; 7. 31-Travis Budisalovich[4]; 8. 45J-Johnny Broking[20]; 9. 11-Pat Doar[6]; 10. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[11]; 11. 37X-Skeeter Estey[8]; 12. 79-Kevin Carlson[12]; 13. 88-Steve Hucovski[19]; 14. 42-Tim Lillo[16]; 15. (DNF) 36-Darin Meierotto[14]; 16. (DNF) 21-Mike Bellefeuille[5]; 17. (DNF) 22(K)-Jack Koranda[10]; 18. (DNF) 81W-Anthony Woodhull[13]; 19. (DNF) 22-Brett Shafer[15]; 20. (DNF) 11D-Tim McMann[18]; 21. (DNS) 28(S)-Sam Mars; 22. (DNS) 34-Taylor Madrinich

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Travis Budisalovich[1]; 2. 44-Darrell Nelson[3]; 3. 21-Mike Bellefeuille[7]; 4. 22(K)-Jack Koranda[5]; 5. 81W-Anthony Woodhull[4]; 6. 42-Tim Lillo[2]; 7. (DNF) 45J-Johnny Broking[6]; 8. (DNS) 34-Taylor Madrinich

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Mike Prochnow[1]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[4]; 3. 99-Billy Kendall[3]; 4. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[5]; 5. 36-Darin Meierotto[2]; 6. 6M-Jeff Massingill[7]; 7. (DNF) 28(S)-Sam Mars[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 29F-Dave Flynn[1]; 2. 37X-Skeeter Estey[3]; 3. 11-Pat Doar[4]; 4. 79-Kevin Carlson[2]; 5. 22-Brett Shafer[5]; 6. 11D-Tim McMann[6]; 7. 88-Steve Hucovski[7]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 44-Darrell Nelson[5]; 2. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[7]; 3. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[2]; 4. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[1]; 5. 45-Bob Broking[6]; 6. 11(W)-Justin Weinberger[15]; 7. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 8. 32III-Cody Carlson[12]; 9. 19J-Jack Rivord[16]; 10. 11JR-Andrew Inman[8]; 11. 7-Andrew Mackey[17]; 12. 57-Mike Anderson[13]; 13. 26G-Ryan Gierke[20]; 14. 98-Al Uotinen[4]; 15. 64-Evan Checkalski[14]; 16. 9-Brady Uotinen[9]; 17. 224-Cody Wolkowski[11]; 18. 43-Lance Schilling[19]; 19. (DNF) 2-Tanner Gehl[18]; 20. (DNF) 05-Mark Prueser[22]; 21. (DNF) 50-Brady Caul[21]; 22. (DNF) 22-Brandon Copp[10]; 23. (DNS) 70-David Simpson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[1]; 2. 45-Bob Broking[5]; 3. 11JR-Andrew Inman[8]; 4. 22-Brandon Copp[6]; 5. 57-Mike Anderson[4]; 6. 19J-Jack Rivord[7]; 7. (DNF) 26G-Ryan Gierke[2]; 8. (DNS) 70-David Simpson

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[2]; 2. 9-Brady Uotinen[1]; 3. 98-Al Uotinen[3]; 4. 224-Cody Wolkowski[5]; 5. 64-Evan Checkalski[6]; 6. 7-Andrew Mackey[7]; 7. (DNF) 50-Brady Caul[8]; 8. (DNF) 05-Mark Prueser[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[3]; 2. 44-Darrell Nelson[2]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[1]; 4. 32III-Cody Carlson[4]; 5. 11(W)-Justin Weinberger[6]; 6. 2-Tanner Gehl[7]; 7. 43-Lance Schilling[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 21M-Alex Myers[5]; 2. 27-Matt Deragon[4]; 3. 25-Dylan Nelson[8]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[1]; 5. 24-Andy Grymala[3]; 6. 21-Joey Jensen[16]; 7. 62-Dalton Truchon[2]; 8. 44-Trenton Bond[6]; 9. 77-Scott Lawrence[13]; 10. 26-Kyle Copp[14]; 11. 76-Doug Koski[10]; 12. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[9]; 13. 6-Dan Peterson[15]; 14. 11R-Rita Anderson[12]; 15. (DNF) 82-Paul Gucinski[7]; 16. (DNS) 1M-Curt Myers

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Dylan Nelson[1]; 2. 62-Dalton Truchon[2]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[8]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[6]; 5. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[4]; 6. 1M-Curt Myers[5]; 7. 77-Scott Lawrence[7]; 8. 6-Dan Peterson[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Andy Grymala[2]; 2. 21M-Alex Myers[4]; 3. 44-Trenton Bond[7]; 4. 82-Paul Gucinski[6]; 5. 76-Doug Koski[5]; 6. 11R-Rita Anderson[8]; 7. 26-Kyle Copp[3]; 8. (DNF) 21-Joey Jensen[1]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[2]; 2. 70-David Simpson[1]; 3. 71-Jacob Anderson[3]; 4. 28-Paul Ripley[9]; 5. 41-Tyler Vernon[4]; 6. 16-Ryan Savoy[20]; 7. 11-Ashton Schulte[7]; 8. 15-James Vendela[12]; 9. 21-Wyatt Boyum[13]; 10. 11R-Landyn Randt[5]; 11. 17-Ashley Boyum[18]; 12. 11X-Scott Thompson[19]; 13. 89-Kolby Reed[15]; 14. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[17]; 15. 15(G)-Eric Gadach[6]; 16. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[8]; 17. 31J-Mike Jacques[14]; 18. 16(J)-Cory Jorgensen[10]; 19. 19-David Madsen[16]; 20. (DNF) 21R-Ross Siiter[11]; 21. (DNS) 14-Adam Shinn

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[2]; 2. 71-Jacob Anderson[4]; 3. 70-David Simpson[3]; 4. 16(J)-Cory Jorgensen[5]; 5. 21-Wyatt Boyum[6]; 6. 89-Kolby Reed[1]; 7. 19-David Madsen[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Paul Ripley[5]; 2. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[1]; 3. 15(G)-Eric Gadach[2]; 4. 21R-Ross Siiter[7]; 5. 31J-Mike Jacques[6]; 6. (DNF) 17-Ashley Boyum[3]; 7. (DNF) 16-Ryan Savoy[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11R-Landyn Randt[2]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[7]; 3. 11-Ashton Schulte[6]; 4. 15-James Vendela[5]; 5. (DNF) 4K-Kenny Kincaid[1]; 6. (DNF) 11X-Scott Thompson[4]; 7. (DNS) 14-Adam Shinn

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[7]; 2. 7-Caiden Engel[1]; 3. 17-Rachel Boston[2]; 4. 55-Carter Wieringa[4]; 5. 426-Brendan Makkinga[3]; 6. 12K-Chase Kivi[5]; 7. 31-Tom Treviranus[6]; 8. 92R-Courtney Rose[8]; 9. 86-Layla Chaplin[10]; 10. 19J-Jenna Herrman[9]; 11. 12-Cole Soukkala[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Caiden Engel[3]; 2. 426-Brendan Makkinga[1]; 3. 92R-Courtney Rose[4]; 4. 12K-Chase Kivi[2]; 5. 19J-Jenna Herrman[6]; 6. 12-Cole Soukkala[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[1]; 2. 17-Rachel Boston[3]; 3. 31-Tom Treviranus[4]; 4. 55-Carter Wieringa[2]; 5. 86-Layla Chaplin[5]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 2. 28-Eric Crosby[5]; 3. 17-Aaron Bernick[1]; 4. 00-Derek Ament[4]; 5. 24-Dylan Helget[11]; 6. 33S-Jason Simonson[9]; 7. 15-Ryan LaBorde[12]; 8. 925-Dnae Rose[10]; 9. 131-Jessie Treviranus[7]; 10. (DNF) 31-Tom Treviranus[8]; 11. (DNS) 44P-Payton Swenson; 12. (DNS) 6-Michaela Sullivan; 13. (DQ) 231-Trevor Treviranus[3]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[3]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 3. 231-Trevor Treviranus[1]; 4. 00-Derek Ament[2]; 5. 33S-Jason Simonson[4]; 6. 24-Dylan Helget[5]; 7. 15-Ryan LaBorde[7]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 31-Tom Treviranus[1]; 2. 28-Eric Crosby[5]; 3. 131-Jessie Treviranus[2]; 4. 44P-Payton Swenson[4]; 5. 925-Dnae Rose[3]; 6. (DNF) 6-Michaela Sullivan[6]