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Johnson tops Super Stock Series headliner at Superior while Bellefeuille, Jensen, Fencl & Larson lock up other features

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (August 14) - Tim Johnson took advantage of the race’s only restart to take control of the 30-lap FastLane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series headliner and ran away with the win at Gondik Law Speedway on Friday night.

The WISSOTA Dirt Track Series program also included feature wins by Jody Bellefeuille, Joey Jensen, Austin Fencl, and Nikota Larson.

Johnson, who came into the night trailing 2022 series champ Dylan Nelson in the tour’s standings, started outside on the front row alongside Nelson, and the pair waged a fierce battle for the lead right away. They were ahead of a three-car skirmish between Andy Grymala, Rick Simpson and Kyle Copp. After a couple of laps Copp cleared Grymala to claim third, and by lap three Copp had caught and passed Johnson for second, while Nelson ran out to a 1.2-second lead.

Over an 11-lap green-flag run Nelson had stretched his advantage to more than 3 seconds on Copp while working his way through slower traffic, while Johnson faded back to settle into third after a brief battle with Grymala. But on lap 18 the race’s complexion changed when Simpson, who had fallen out of the top-five, spun to bring about the run’s only caution stop.

On the restart Johnson used a slick move to drive under both Nelson and Copp to take the lead, with Copp following to second only to give the position back to Nelson a couple of circuits later. The lead trio stayed in close formation over the next half-dozen laps until Johnson finally inched away in the closing stages. As he crossed under the checkered flag, Johnson was barely a full second ahead of Nelson, with Copp not far behind. Tristan LaBarge got by Grymala during the final five laps for fourth, bringing Trenton Bond along to fifth.

Nelson held a 21-point margin over Johnson as the series readied for its conclusion on Saturday, August 15. Copp now leads Steve Stuart by four in the hotly contested track standings.

Bellefeuille won the nonstop, 20-lap WISSOTA Modified A-main by starting on the outside of the front row, beating polesitter Darrell Nelson out of the first pair of turns, and dominating the entire run. Bellefeuille ran off to a 1.25-second lead before three laps had been scored, while a cluster of as many as eight cars, led by Nelson, jostled for position while giving chase.

With Bellefeuille long gone and Nelson finally gaining a little separation by lap six, Andrew Mackey and Jack Rivord put on an entertaining battle for third. When Nelson made a rare error in slipping up the banking in turn two on that lap, Mackey scooted by to steal second, only to have Nelson storm back to regain the position within a half-lap.

Bellefeuille pushed his advantage out to more than 3 seconds just before the mid-point of the run, and he maintained that cushion throughout much of the balance of the race, losing only about a second of it as he worked through backmarkers during the final laps. A 2.5-second margin at the checkered flag gave the track’s divisional points leader his fifth feature win of the season here, while Nelson was well ahead of Mackey for runner-up pay. Deven VanHouse and David Simpson completed the top five.

Jensen’s run in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature was maybe even more dominant than Bellefeuille’s, or it certainly seemed so for much of the first 15 of the race’s 20 laps. It didn’t start out that way, as Paul Ripley came from the inside of the second row to swipe the lead from polesitter Robert Squitti and ran off to what looked to be a strong half-second advantage.

But Jensen, who started on the outside of row three, worked his way past a host of cars using the outside groove to hustle his way into second after just two laps, and then chased down Ripley in two quick tours around the big oval and drove right by.

Jensen built up a commanding 3.5-second lead ahead of Ripley, who in turn was more than 7 seconds - a full straightaway - ahead of a five-car tussle for third led by Jacob Anderson. It was at this point, on lap 15, when Ross Siiter’s spin brought about the race’s only yellow-flag slowdown, but Jensen was unaffected, driving away over the final laps to a 2.8-second margin of victory and his second win at GLS in 2026.

Ripley held on for second after fending off Anderson and Jimmy Latvala, while James Vendela edged visiting David Baxter for fifth. Ripley’s effort gave him the division’s points lead by four ahead of defending champ Ryan Savoy with two shows remaining.

Fencl has been on a tear as of late at WISSOTA’s northeastern-most tracks, with Friday’s win his fourth of the year, all coming at GLS. He’s also been gathering those wins in dramatic fashion, with two of the last three coming on last-lap passes.

Rob Christman, Jake Smith and Aaron Bernick raced three-wide at the drop of the green before Smith took charge. But after a restart for a lap one spin by Shane Basina, Bernick slipped ahead of Smith to become the pacesetter, while Fencl, who started in sixth, moved up to challenge Smith for second, joined by Tom Treviranus.

Fencl made his way past Smith with a strong outside move on lap five, and he pestered Bernick for several laps before he edged ahead by .004 seconds as the lead pair took the white flag. Fencl cleared Bernick coming out of turn two on the final lap, and he motored on to a .87-second final margin at the checkers. Treviranus and Smith were not far behind Bernick in third and fourth, and Basina recovered to claim fifth.

Bernick will carry a two-point lead on Fencl into next Friday’s program.

A small WISSOTA Hornets car count did not matter to Larson, as the divisional points leader won both the heat and the 12-lap finale. Starting on the pole for the feature, Larson beat Nathan Penney out of the first set of turns to establish himself out front, and he stayed there after a restart for a lap two Madisyn Olson spin and a brief challenge from Penney.

Larson pulled away to a 2.6-second advantage by lap seven, only to see the field brought back to him by a caution slowdown for a get-together involving Olson and visiting Tyler DeVente. DeVente got the better of Penney on the restart, but Penney took the spot back within a lap.

Larson went on to win his fifth feature in a row here, and eighth of his career at Superior, by just under a second ahead of Penney, while DeVente was third at a distance.

The penultimate night of the 2026 regular-season schedule at Gondik Law Speedway is a special one, as the track will host its eighth annual Suicide Prevention and Awareness Night, presented by Project Tomorrow, on Friday, August 21. Also included as part of the program will be the rescheduled Meet the Drivers session.

WISSOTA Late Models will join the Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Mods, Pure Stocks and Hornets for a full six-division program.

For information, including a schedule of upcoming events, ticket info, and more, log on to the track's website, www.gondiklawspeedway.com.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[2]; 2. 44-Darrell Nelson[1]; 3. 7-Andrew Mackey[5]; 4. 17-Deven VanHouse[6]; 5. 70-David Simpson[4]; 6. 19J-Jack Rivord[3]; 7. 98-Al Uotinen[7]; 8. 11JR-Andrew Inman[11]; 9. 33C-Cole Boston[13]; 10. 64-Evan Checkalski[8]; 11. 224-Cody Wolkowski[12]; 12. 2-Todd Gehl[10]; 13. (DNF) 9-Brady Uotinen[9]; 14. (DNS) 22-Brandon Copp

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[1]; 2. 70-David Simpson[2]; 3. 44-Darrell Nelson[4]; 4. 98-Al Uotinen[3]; 5. 9-Brady Uotinen[7]; 6. 11JR-Andrew Inman[5]; 7. 224-Cody Wolkowski[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 64-Evan Checkalski[2]; 2. 17-Deven VanHouse[3]; 3. 19J-Jack Rivord[6]; 4. 7-Andrew Mackey[7]; 5. 2-Todd Gehl[1]; 6. (DNF) 33C-Cole Boston[4]; 7. (DNF) 22-Brandon Copp[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1JR-Tim Johnson[2]; 2. 25-Dylan Nelson[1]; 3. 26-Kyle Copp[4]; 4. 19LC-Tristan LaBarge[7]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[6]; 6. 80-Steve Stuart[17]; 7. 77-Scott Lawrence[15]; 8. 24-Andy Grymala[3]; 9. 3B-Austin Blom[11]; 10. 7R-Tommy Richards[18]; 11. L1-Andrew Johnson[8]; 12. 2-Don Livingston[10]; 13. 12K-DJ Keeler[22]; 14. 77K-Rick Simpson[5]; 15. 62D-Dalton Truchon[13]; 16. 19-Larry Both[9]; 17. 25(J)-Chad Johnson[14]; 18. 6-Dan Peterson[16]; 19. 4A-Allan Cleveland[23]; 20. 11R-Rita Anderson[12]; 21. 38-Trevor Koslowski[19]; 22. (DNF) 21-Joey Jensen[20]; 23. (DNS) 10X-Josh Schmidt; 24. (DNS) 21C-Patrick Beeksma; 25. (DNS) 81B-Doug Bolt

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Andy Grymala[1]; 2. 25-Dylan Nelson[3]; 3. 77K-Rick Simpson[5]; 4. 2-Don Livingston[4]; 5. 62D-Dalton Truchon[7]; 6. 77-Scott Lawrence[8]; 7. 80-Steve Stuart[6]; 8. 7R-Tommy Richards[9]; 9. 38-Trevor Koslowski[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1JR-Tim Johnson[1]; 2. 19LC-Tristan LaBarge[3]; 3. 26-Kyle Copp[5]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[8]; 5. 25(J)-Chad Johnson[6]; 6. 6-Dan Peterson[7]; 7. (DNF) 12K-DJ Keeler[2]; 8. (DNF) 21C-Patrick Beeksma[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Trenton Bond[3]; 2. L1-Andrew Johnson[4]; 3. 19-Larry Both[7]; 4. 11R-Rita Anderson[5]; 5. (DNF) 21-Joey Jensen[8]; 6. (DNF) 10X-Josh Schmidt[6]; 7. (DNF) 4A-Allan Cleveland[1]; 8. (DNF) 81B-Doug Bolt[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[6]; 2. 28-Paul Ripley[3]; 3. 71-Jacob Anderson[8]; 4. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[4]; 5. 15-James Vendela[5]; 6. 35B-David Baxter[12]; 7. 32-Adam Shinn[10]; 8. 16-Ryan Savoy[15]; 9. 20-Jaxon Helland[2]; 10. 21R-Ross Siiter[9]; 11. 8-Jonny Nowak[16]; 12. 4L-Carey LePage[11]; 13. 401K-Mitch Patrick[13]; 14. (DNF) 8X-Michael Shalley[14]; 15. (DNF) 57JR-Robert Squitti[1]; 16. (DNF) 17-Deven VanHouse[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57JR-Robert Squitti[2]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[4]; 3. 20-Jaxon Helland[3]; 4. 17-Deven VanHouse[5]; 5. 21R-Ross Siiter[6]; 6. 4L-Carey LePage[8]; 7. 401K-Mitch Patrick[7]; 8. (DQ) 8-Jonny Nowak[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Paul Ripley[2]; 2. 15-James Vendela[1]; 3. 71-Jacob Anderson[5]; 4. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[3]; 5. 32-Adam Shinn[4]; 6. 35B-David Baxter[8]; 7. 8X-Michael Shalley[7]; 8. 16-Ryan Savoy[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 52W-Austin Fencl[6]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[4]; 3. 31-Tom Treviranus[8]; 4. 86J-Jake Smith[2]; 5. 69ER-Shane Basina[5]; 6. 67-Alex Larson[3]; 7. 33S-Jason Simonson[12]; 8. 925-Dnae Rose[7]; 9. 10-Anthony Ravina[9]; 10. 66X-Rob Christman[1]; 11. 67(P)-Dale Peterson[10]; 12. (DNS) 131-Jessie Treviranus; 13. (DNS) 231-Trevor Treviranus

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[1]; 2. 86J-Jake Smith[4]; 3. 925-Dnae Rose[6]; 4. 67-Alex Larson[7]; 5. 10-Anthony Ravina[3]; 6. 67(P)-Dale Peterson[5]; 7. (DNF) 231-Trevor Treviranus[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 31-Tom Treviranus[4]; 2. 52W-Austin Fencl[1]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[5]; 4. 66X-Rob Christman[3]; 5. (DNF) 131-Jessie Treviranus[2]; 6. (DNF) 33S-Jason Simonson[6]

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[1]; 2. 2X-Nathan Penney[2]; 3. 13T-Tyson DeVente[3]; 4. 69-Madisyn Olson[4]

Heat (6 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[1]; 2. 2X-Nathan Penney[2]; 3. 69-Madisyn Olson[3]; 4. 13T-Tyson DeVente[4]