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Friday, August 15

A lucky thing about where I happen to live is that I have a lot of race tracks within reasonable driving distances to choose from. So when a day like Friday, August 15 pops up, I start making a back-up plan for where I should head if the program of my primary choice looks like it may fall to weather.

After Red Cedar was canceled due to the storm headed their way that afternoon, we set off north to the Twin Ports, where the sun was shining and the folks were sweating.

I don't know that I have been in Superior before when the humidity was as oppressive as it was on Friday. It was not particularly warm, but it was “close,” to use an old term from the family playbook.

The good news was the humidity made for a good race track; it was very fast and didn't particularly slow down much as the evening progressed.

The early cancellation by Red Cedar allowed, by my count, about three of their regulars to venture north. And, that was matched by Princeton regulars, who were looking for a place to settle with their home track off for the night.

It was Suicide Awareness night at the track and the group from Fergus Falls who supports this cause brought five Hornets all the way to Gondik to race. As it turned out, they provided nearly 50 percent of the field in that class. The car counts across the board were not spectacular, but decent.

Dennis McCauley, fresh off the completion of another successful Fastlane Motorsports Super Stock Series, was functioning as race director for the night. Promoter/race director Joe Stariha was home with his leg up, having had surgery this week to repair a torn ACL suffered in an accident. I'm told he knows all about this, having done the same to the other leg in the past.

It was a frustrating night in one regard, and that had to do with the sound system. The speakers on the east half of the grandstand weren't working and I could not hear a single word uttered by the announcers all night. It was particularly unfortunate because some of the participants were reading off stories and information relative to the event on Friday.

The track was smooth and fast, so the draw was important, as everyone was quick in the heat races. Racing started right at the appointed time and the heat races took just about an hour to run off. The track was in such good shape that little needed to be done to it. After a brief intermission, and with storms starting to pop in the vicinity, it was time to go feature racing.

The Mid Mods were up first and this race was dominated by Ryan Savoy. He got the jump on David Simpson and that was the key to victory. Once in front, he pulled away from the pack and was never seriously challenged the rest of the way. With only one yellow early in the contest, Savoy had no challenges as Simpson ran second for most of the race.

Late in the race, a serious move was made by eighth-starter Joey Jensen. It took him some time to work his way forward but at the end he was cooking; he got by McLean Andrews and then, on the last lap, Simpson for second. It was far too late to challenge Savoy, however.

The first three laps of the Super Stock feature were dynamite, after a first-lap tangle. Scott Lawrence grabbed the early lead but he was soon challenged by Andy Grymala and Dexton Koch. They went three wide down the front chute for the lead in a wild move that somehow worked out okay. Koch was the big winner as he was able to grab the top spot and with the last 16 laps going green, he drove away from the field for the win. After starting the season slow, Koch has really picked up the pace in recent weeks. Grymala is having perhaps his best season ever, even though he doesn't race a whole lot, and he finished second ahead of D.J. Keeler.

The Late Model feature had three different leaders during its 25-lap distance. It also had an early race tangle, the only yellow of the race, involving the front row. Mike Prochnow was visiting after Red Cedar rained out and from the outside pole, he got the jump on Mike Bellefeuille to take the early lead. However, Bellefeuille quickly picked up the pace and was moving in for a challenge. Going down the back chute on lap three, Prochnow zigged and Bellefeuille zagged and they touched. It looked minor from the grandstands but was not so after all. Bellefeuille rolled to a halt in turn three with a broken right front suspension while Prochnow had to pit for a flat tire. With the front row eliminated, Travis Budisalovich inherited the lead.

Budisalovich pulled out to a comfortable margin as he worked the top side of the track but eventually, Jeff Massingill moved into second and slowly but surely, he started to gain ground on the leader.

Massingill was nailed to the inside line but it started to work for him. I'm not sure if Massingill got quicker or Budisalovich slowed but in the last 10 laps, Massingill really started to eat into the lead.

Massingill drove by Budisalovich on the bottom with four laps to go and Budisalovich was powerless to fight back. Tenth-starter Pat Doar was mired in traffic and it took him most of the race to get through it, but he made a late charge and got up to third.

The Modified feature had an exciting finish, after it looked like it was going to turn into a runaway. Al Uotinen got the jump on Jody Bellefeuille to take the early lead, but on lap five Bellefeuille drove past Uotinen to take over out front. It seemed that perhaps the race was done.

Bellefeuille moved back up to the top side of the track while Uotinen was working the low line. While Bellefeuille continued to lead, Uotinen was able to stay within a couple car lengths of the leader. This continued through the halfway point of the race and indeed, as the second half of the race continued, Uotinen remained right there to challenge.

As the top side of the track seemed to slow down, Uotinen was even stronger and I think he surprised Bellefeuille when he pulled back up alongside him. As they split a lapped car with just three laps to go, Uotinen drove past to take over the lead again. The crowd went wild but this proved to be a wake-up call for Bellefeuille.

He drove noticeably harder and with just over a lap to go, was able to reclaim the lead, and then sealed off the low side on the final lap to prevent Uotinen from any last-lap heroics. It made for an interesting race for sure. Andrew Inman made a late charge to steal away third from Deven VanHouse. This was my first time seeing VanHouse in a Modified, as he is wheeling a Longhorn from Sorensen, and will certainly be a good addition to the Modified class in this area.

Tom Treviranus grabbed the lead right at the start and led all the way to win the Pure Stock feature. He held off all challenges from Eric Crosby for the win, with son Trevor finishing third.

One of the visitors from Fergus Falls, Lincoln Miller, took the initial lead in the Hornet feature. He was soon challenged by Carson Gotelaere for the lead, which then produced the wildest wreck of the night.

Just as Gotelaere attempted to make a pass for the lead, there was a suspension break on the Miller car and he spun sideways down the front chute and very nearly rolled over. Fortunately, at the speed he was traveling, that didn't happen. He was piled into by Spencer Smith and a late-arriving Ayden Muchow, eliminating some of the Fergus contingent.

Gotelaere inherited the lead and ran in front the rest of the race, with a pretty good challenge from Nathan Penney giving him second over Brady Fosso (la ti do).

The last crash lengthened out the show a bit, but just as the Lake Superior mosquitos got very hungry, we bolted out of the grandstand before 10:30 p.m. and no storms found their way to the track. We were pleased to have seen racing on this steamy night.

Saturday, August 16

The latest deluge of rain swept across the Midwest on Saturday, August 16, wiping out racing programs at many tracks. Hibbing Speedway managed to avoid the rain, and that is where I ended on Saturday.

It was the last regular season race night for Hibbing in 2025, with Season Championships scheduled for next Saturday and then the Labor Day Shootout for two nights.

Five WISSOTA classes were in action on Saturday along with the Traditional Sprint Cars. With so many rainouts in the area, there were new faces in the pits at Hibbing. In fact, two of the feature races were won by drivers who were visiting the track for the first time and for the first time in a long while. Car counts were acceptable with a very nice field of Midwest Modifieds and Hornets with the Mid Mods even needing a B feature.

The heat races were completed quickly, and it was the ninth heat race before the first yellow of the night flew. Fifteen heats in total were run with just two yellow flags! For the entire program, only one race — the Mid Mod feature — had multiple yellows, with four slowdowns in that race.

That is the kind of effort needed and demanded by today's type of crowd, with anything more than a three-hour program triggering grumbles and folks walking out early. Some do not return the next week.

Dalton Carlson had a dominant run to grab the WISSOTA Super Stock feature. He started on the pole and led all laps, with never a challenge to his lead. He had nearly a full straightaway on the pack until a late yellow bunched up the field, but he never faltered. Kyle Copp was scuffling for much of the night but he found the cushion late in the race and then moved crisply forward, edging out Tristan LaBarge for second off the final corner.

After a few of the Super Stocks found the cushion, that proved to be the way to go for the Late Models. Skeeter Estey beat Kyle Peterlin to the cushion on the opening lap and it was lights-out for the rest of the field. Estey then pulled away and led the rest of the contest, never challenged for the position.

The best battle was for second, where Peterlin and Johnny Broking battled for that spot for a number of laps before Peterlin took control. Jeff Massingill was moving up some using the inside line, just as he did at Gondik on Friday, but the top side proved to be just too dominant. He eventually gave that line up and moved to the top.

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