8-25 Page 21 | ATD Racing News

Kendall, Bellefeuille, Sabraski, Baxter, Treviranus & Larson lock their rivals out of victory lane at Gondik Law

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (August 21) - A strong field of 109 entries came to Gondik Law Speedway on Friday night to not only race, but also help deliver an important message to the large crowd in attendance.

The track presented its eighth annual Suicide Awareness and Prevention Night. Each of the six feature winners during the WISSOTA Dirt Track Series program received trophies presented by family and friends of loved ones whose lives were lost to suicide, and each presentation included heartfelt and emotional messages voiced on the track’s victory stage.

The program wasn’t without excitement and drama, along with a little history. Some of that history came in the form of Shane Sabraski winning his 1,050th career feature victory during the WISSOTA Super Stocks main event.

Other winners in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series victory lane included Jody Bellefeuille, Billy Kendall, David Baxter, Tom Treviranus and Nikota Larson.

Steve Stuart, who took over the WISSOTA Super Stock points lead from Kyle Copp after heat-race action earlier in the program, started outside on the front row and immediately sped away to a decisive advantage ahead of polesitter Andy Grymala. Behind them, Don Livingston was leading a tightly formed pack battling for third that included Sabraski and Austin Blom.

As Stuart flew to a nearly 2-second margin, Sabraski worked an inside move to take third away from Livingston just before Elizabeth Nord spun on lap six to bring about a caution flag to bunch the field behind the leader. Then, on the restart, a multi-car pileup with the field coming out of turn four caused a long delay and eliminated several of the 17 starters.

On that ensuing restart, Sabraski dove inside of Grymala to take second and then kept pace with Stuart until lap nine, when he again drove low to slip past the leader. From there, with the balance of the 20-lap race running under the green flag, Sabraski built an insurmountable lead that ended in a 5.3-second winning advantage.

Stuart held firm to second despite a late challenge from third-finishing Grymala, while Copp clawed his way from the 16th and final starting spot on the grid to take fourth just ahead of Joey Jensen. Stuart will carry a scant five-point lead into the final regular-season race night.

Jody Bellefeuille continued his season-long hot streak by garnering his sixth WISSOTA Modified headliner and padding his division points lead at GLS. Bellefeuille started inside on the second row but, within a lap, he and Colin Chaschuk overtook polesitter David Simpson to claim the top two spots and, despite heavy early pressure from Chaschuk, Bellefeuille built a 1.16-second margin within just five laps.

With the 20-lapper going non-stop for the second straight week, there was very little to detain Bellefeuille from claiming another checkered flag. Before the race’s midpoint, his lead was more than 2.5 seconds and he had a massive five-second cushion with five laps remaining.

Further back, Brady Uotinen worked his way forward by getting past Bob Broking for fourth on lap six, slipping around Simpson to third on lap eight, and eventually catching and overtaking Chaschuk for second on lap 15. Uotinen inched away as Broking and Chaschuk duked it out for third, and Brandon Copp worked his way past Simpson into fifth.

Bellefeuille, who is the thick of the WISSOTA Modified National Championship chase, finished his 23rd career feature win at Superior a full 5.4 seconds ahead of Uotinen, while Broking edged past Chaschuk at the final stripe for third. Copp followed at a distance to complete the top five.

Billy Kendall led the 25-lap WISSOTA Late Model feature flag to flag for his second career win at GLS in the class. Kendall started outside of the front row, beat polesitter Cory Jorgensen through the first pair of turns, and was challenged but not bested the rest of the way.

Visitor Sam Mars followed Kendall into the runner-up spot and kept the pressure on the leader throughout much of the early run, while a hard-charging Johnny Broking powered his way into third by lap four. Skeeter Estey was also heading toward the front early, picking his way to fourth with an outside pass of Jorgensen on lap six.

Despite Mars’ threats, Kendall was up by .8 of a second on lap 10 and already working his way through the tail end of the field. But on lap 13 the caution lights came on for a slowing Eric Lillo, and after the restart several positions behind Kendall were shuffled. Broking drove by Mars for second on lap 14, then Pat Doar came up to challenge Mars on lap 15, only for the pair to be overtaken by Estey on the next circuit, and then 12th-starting Kevin Burdick drove past Doar to fifth on lap 17.

Broking, running an extremely high outer line, scraped the concrete wall in turns one and two on lap 18, killing his momentum and dropping him back to fifth while allowing Estey to inherit second. But all of that scrambling allowed Kendall to extend his lead to a full second, which Estey barely trimmed down to .8 of a second during the closing laps. Mars was right on Estey’s back bumper as he finished third, and Burdick and Broking claimed the final two top-five spots.

Kendall has closed to within just three points of divisional leader Travis Budisalovich, who finished eighth, heading into the season finale.

David Baxter has been a pleasant surprise at Northland tracks recently, winning several Midwest Mod mains at Ashland. He made a rare appearance at the big speedplant in Superior pay off with his first-ever win in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds at the speedway.

Baxter, who is on a run of three straight feature wins at Ashland, took advantage of starting second and charged into the lead ahead of polesitter Paul Ripley. James Vendela also got by Ripley for second right away, but Ripley returned the favor a couple laps later, bringing Jason VandeKamp along to third.

A spin by Ryan Savoy on lap six erased Baxter’s 2.9-second advantage, but the leader went right back to work and rebuilt most of that cushion before Ross Siiter’s motor blew up on lap 12 to bring the field back to Baxter’s rear pushbar again.

One lap after that restart, VandeKamp dove low to pass Ripley for second, with Vendela following to third, but Baxter again ran away, finishing the 20-lapper more than 3.5 seconds ahead of VandeKamp.

Vendela, Ripley and Joey Jensen completed the top five in close formation. Ripley now holds a mere seven-point edge on Vendela before the final points night.

Tom Treviranus nipped Aaron Bernick and Austin Fencl in a thrilling race to the finish for his first WISSOTA Pure Stock feature win of the season here, though the 12-lapper was marred by a frightening crash that destroyed two front-running race cars.

Polestarter Steve Karshbaum got a big jump on the pack heading into turn one and led through the restart brought about by Jessie Treviranus’ spin after lap one was scored. Then points leader Rob Christman looped his ride on lap two, keeping the field close. On that restart Aaron Bernick drove strong around the high groove of the big oval to work on Karshbaum for a couple of laps before taking the lead, with the eighth-starter Tom Treviranus following through into second.

During lap five, while holding on to third, Karshbaum’s steering failed and the car turned hard-right into the front-straight wall, then veered back across the track in front of the balance of the field just past the start-finish line. Shane Basina, at full speed and with nowhere to go, slammed head-long into the left-front of the helpless car, launching his racer into the air for a split-second before landing in the infield grass just beyond the winners’ stage. After a few worrisome moments, both drivers emerged from their cars shaken but otherwise unhurt.

Back under green Bernick, Treviranus and Fencl raced three-wide for a lap before Bernick edged ahead. The trio then stayed in tight formation - Bernick on the outside, Treviranus at his left flank, and Fencl tucked behind Bernick’s trunklid - until Treviranus finally inched ahead coming to the white flag. The leaders held formation with Treviranus winning by .323 seconds, not much more than a half-car length, ahead of Bernick and Fencl. Dylan Helget came home a distant fourth, and Christman recovered to take fifth.

Christman and Bernick are tied for the points lead in the Pure Stocks with one race night remaining.

The night’s WISSOTA Hornet car count was bolstered by several racers visiting from the Fergus Falls, MN, area in honor of the night’s suicide awareness message, with a couple of the drivers wearing the 988 suicide hotline phone number on their cars. The 12-lap feature once again belonged to Nikota Larson, who ran away to his sixth-straight feature win and ninth of his career here.

Like other winners tonight, the divisional points leader started outside on the front row. After a Tyson DeVente spin on the initial start, Larson outran polesitter Kyle LeDoux out of the first corners and took off, with visiting Aaron Miller following into second. LeDoux settled into a race-long battle with second-in-points Nathan Penney, as Canadian visitor Serena Owen ran a few lengths back in fifth.

Without a yellow flag the rest of the way to allow for challengers, Larson ran away to a half-straightaway margin of victory and padded his already-healthy points lead with one night to go. Miller ran uncontested for second, LeDoux won the dogfight with Penney for third, and 12th-starter and visitor Lincoln Miller drove by Owen late in the run for fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 99-Billy Kendall[2]; 2. 37X-Skeeter Estey[5]; 3. 28-Sam Mars[4]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick[12]; 5. 45J-Johnny Broking[6]; 6. 44-Darrell Nelson[14]; 7. 11-Pat Doar[7]; 8. 31-Travis Budisalovich[11]; 9. 47-Danny Vang[13]; 10. 7A-Shane Sabraski[8]; 11. 44(N)-Cade Nelson[15]; 12. 29F-Dave Flynn[9]; 13. 24-Aaron Lillo[18]; 14. 16-Cory Jorgensen[1]; 15. 79-Kevin Carlson[21]; 16. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[22]; 17. 7C-Robbie Cooper[16]; 18. 9-Eric Lillo[24]; 19. 81W-Anthony Woodhull[20]; 20. (DNF) 68-Mike Prochnow[3]; 21. (DNF) 11D-Tim McMann[19]; 22. (DNF) 54L-Jayme Lautigar[10]; 23. (DNF) 19-Steve Laursen[17]; 24. (DNF) 2-Todd Gehl[23]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Billy Kendall[1]; 2. 37X-Skeeter Estey[2]; 3. 16-Cory Jorgensen[3]; 4. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[5]; 5. 47-Danny Vang[8]; 6. 7C-Robbie Cooper[4]; 7. 11D-Tim McMann[6]; 8. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 45J-Johnny Broking[1]; 2. 68-Mike Prochnow[3]; 3. 28-Sam Mars[4]; 4. 31-Travis Budisalovich[8]; 5. 44-Darrell Nelson[6]; 6. 19-Steve Laursen[5]; 7. 81W-Anthony Woodhull[7]; 8. 2-Todd Gehl[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 2. 11-Pat Doar[5]; 3. 29F-Dave Flynn[1]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick[7]; 5. 44(N)-Cade Nelson[3]; 6. 24-Aaron Lillo[2]; 7. 79-Kevin Carlson[8]; 8. 9-Eric Lillo[6]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[3]; 2. 9-Brady Uotinen[4]; 3. 45-Bob Broking[5]; 4. 621-Colin Chaschuk[2]; 5. 22-Brandon Copp[10]; 6. 7A-Shane Sabraski[6]; 7. 7-Andrew Mackey[12]; 8. 33C-Cole Chernosky[8]; 9. 70-David Simpson[1]; 10. 17-Deven VanHouse[16]; 11. 19J-Jack Rivord[7]; 12. 18S-Kennedy Swan[11]; 13. 98-Al Uotinen[15]; 14. 11JR-Andrew Inman[13]; 15. 64-Evan Checkalski[14]; 16. (DNF) 57-Mike Anderson[9]; 17. (DNF) 2G-Brock Gronwold[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[4]; 2. 621-Colin Chaschuk[2]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[8]; 4. 70-David Simpson[1]; 5. 57-Mike Anderson[9]; 6. 18S-Kennedy Swan[6]; 7. 11JR-Andrew Inman[5]; 8. 98-Al Uotinen[7]; 9. 2G-Brock Gronwold[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19J-Jack Rivord[2]; 2. 45-Bob Broking[4]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[6]; 4. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 5. 22-Brandon Copp[8]; 6. 7-Andrew Mackey[5]; 7. 64-Evan Checkalski[1]; 8. 17-Deven VanHouse[7]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]; 2. 80-Steve Stuart[2]; 3. 24-Andy Grymala[1]; 4. 26-Kyle Copp[17]; 5. 21-Joey Jensen[8]; 6. 25-Dylan Nelson[7]; 7. 12K-DJ Keeler[14]; 8. 77-Scott Lawrence[11]; 9. 3B-Austin Blom[4]; 10. 28-Elizabeth Nord[15]; 11. 00-Jason Hobbs[16]; 12. (DNF) 6-Dan Peterson[10]; 13. (DNF) 2-Don Livingston[3]; 14. (DNF) 49-Thomas Hauert[9]; 15. (DNF) 33C-Cole Chernosky[13]; 16. (DNF) 77K-Rick Simpson[6]; 17. (DNS) 6B-Boyd Gustafson; 18. (DNS) 11R-Rita Anderson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3B-Austin Blom[2]; 2. 24-Andy Grymala[1]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[3]; 4. 25-Dylan Nelson[4]; 5. 49-Thomas Hauert[8]; 6. 77-Scott Lawrence[5]; 7. 33C-Cole Chernosky[6]; 8. 12K-DJ Keeler[9]; 9. 28-Elizabeth Nord[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[2]; 2. 77K-Rick Simpson[3]; 3. 21-Joey Jensen[7]; 4. 2-Don Livingston[4]; 5. 6-Dan Peterson[1]; 6. 6B-Boyd Gustafson[9]; 7. (DNF) 00-Jason Hobbs[5]; 8. (DNF) 26-Kyle Copp[8]; 9. (DNF) 11R-Rita Anderson[6]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 35B-David Baxter[2]; 2. 16(V)-Jason VandeKamp[6]; 3. 15-James Vendela[4]; 4. 28-Paul Ripley[1]; 5. 30-Joey Jensen[8]; 6. 8X-Michael Shalley[22]; 7. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[7]; 8. 70-David Simpson[10]; 9. 71-Jacob Anderson[5]; 10. 317-Austin Polonoski[9]; 11. 69-Justin Bassa[13]; 12. 89-Kolby Reed[20]; 13. 8-Jonny Nowak[3]; 14. 67-Glen Brown[17]; 15. 13-Chris Bretting[19]; 16. 38X-Travis Taylor[15]; 17. 401K-Mitch Patrick[18]; 18. (DNF) 17-Deven VanHouse[16]; 19. (DNF) 21R-Ross Siiter[14]; 20. (DNF) 16-Ryan Savoy[11]; 21. (DNF) 12K-Shane Kotnik[12]; 22. (DNS) 15K-Connor Kaseno

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 35B-David Baxter[1]; 2. 28-Paul Ripley[3]; 3. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[5]; 4. 70-David Simpson[7]; 5. 69-Justin Bassa[4]; 6. 17-Deven VanHouse[2]; 7. 13-Chris Bretting[6]; 8. (DNS) 8X-Michael Shalley

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Jacob Anderson[4]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[7]; 3. 15-James Vendela[2]; 4. 16-Ryan Savoy[5]; 5. 21R-Ross Siiter[1]; 6. 67-Glen Brown[6]; 7. 89-Kolby Reed[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 16(V)-Jason VandeKamp[2]; 2. 317-Austin Polonoski[6]; 3. 8-Jonny Nowak[4]; 4. 12K-Shane Kotnik[1]; 5. 38X-Travis Taylor[5]; 6. 401K-Mitch Patrick[7]; 7. (DNF) 15K-Connor Kaseno[3]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 31-Tom Treviranus[8]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[7]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[6]; 4. 57-Dylan Helget[2]; 5. 66X-Rob Christman[3]; 6. 925-Dnae Rose[5]; 7. 3D-Sean Duffy[12]; 8. 10-Anthony Ravina[11]; 9. 89A-Alyson Karshbaum[15]; 10. 67(P)-Dale Peterson[13]; 11. 131-Jessie Treviranus[4]; 12. (DNF) 69ER-Shane Basina[9]; 13. (DNF) 89-Steve Karshbaum[1]; 14. (DNS) 67-Alex Larson; 15. (DNS) 33S-Jason Simonson; 16. (DNS) 9M-Marlene Lannet

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 66X-Rob Christman[3]; 2. 89-Steve Karshbaum[5]; 3. 57-Dylan Helget[2]; 4. 52W-Austin Fencl[7]; 5. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 6. 10-Anthony Ravina[8]; 7. (DNS) 89A-Alyson Karshbaum; 8. (DNS) 9M-Marlene Lannet

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 31-Tom Treviranus[3]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[7]; 3. 131-Jessie Treviranus[4]; 4. 925-Dnae Rose[8]; 5. 67-Alex Larson[5]; 6. 3D-Sean Duffy[1]; 7. 67(P)-Dale Peterson[6]; 8. (DNF) 33S-Jason Simonson[2]

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[2]; 2. 22A-Aaron Miller[4]; 3. 35-Kyle LeDoux[1]; 4. 2X-Nathan Penney[6]; 5. 988L-Lincoln Miller[12]; 6. 27-Brady Fosso[9]; 7. 34-Selena Owen[5]; 8. 69-Madisyn Olson[7]; 9. 9-Nick Ruzich[8]; 10. 13T-Tyson DeVente[10]; 11. 988A-Ayden Muchow[11]; 12. (DNF) 22H-Lucas Hinrichs[3]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[5]; 2. 9-Nick Ruzich[1]; 3. 34-Selena Owen[2]; 4. 69-Madisyn Olson[3]; 5. 27-Brady Fosso[6]; 6. 988A-Ayden Muchow[4]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 35-Kyle LeDoux[1]; 2. 2X-Nathan Penney[6]; 3. 22A-Aaron Miller[3]; 4. 22H-Lucas Hinrichs[2]; 5. 13T-Tyson DeVente[4]; 6. 988L-Lincoln Miller[5]