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Head Of The Lakes Fair kicks off with racing at Gondik Law Speedway; winners list includes Bellefeuille, Myers, Crosby and Larson

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (July 29) - Gondik Law Speedway helped kick off the Head of the Lakes Fair with a fast-paced racing program on Tuesday night.

Divisional points leader Jody Bellefeuille collected his first WISSOTA Modified feature win in dominant fashion. Other WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Eric Crosby, Nikota Larson, and Alex Myers.

Bellefeuille took advantage of starting on the pole and led right out of the first turns, while Andrew Inman, defending track champ Brandon Copp, and Brady Uotinen battled for second while pulling away from another tight-knit group of four cars debating fifth. With all the jostling for position behind him, Bellefeuille took just five laps to build a 1.5-second cushion and was unchallenged from there.

On lap five, Uotinen worked his way inside of Inman to take second, and one circuit later Inman’s car slapped the back-straight wall, allowing Copp to slip by into third. By midrace Uotinen was more than 2 seconds back of the leader, but well enough ahead of a developing dogfight for third, with Copp and Inman now having to deal with a determined Bob Broking.

Bellefeuille’s lead ballooned to more than 4.6 seconds with five laps left, as Copp caught and passed Uotinen for second. Copp separated from Uotinen in the closing laps but could not cut into Bellefeuille’s margin, which was 4.78 seconds - nearly an entire straightaway - at the checkered flag. Uotinen held on for third just in front of Broking and Brady’s dad, Al Uotinen.

Myers was the beneficiary of Dexton Koch’s misfortune to score the 20-lap WISSOTA Super Stock A-main for his second win this season in Superior.

Myers started outside of the second row, but was caught up in a wreck on lap two when second-place D.J. Keeler spun and collected four other cars. Kyle Copp then resumed command and led Koch, Myers, Andy Grymala, and first-time visitor Tom Hauert over the next three laps, until Hauert spun his racer and gathered up three others on lap five.

Koch stole the lead from Copp just a lap after that restart and looked to be fully in control of the outcome, while Copp and Myers were in a heated discussion regarding second place, with each bumping and pushing the other. On lap 10 the pair even exchanged slide jobs in the same corner, all the while allowing Koch to extend his lead.

Koch was ahead by nearly 3.5 seconds when Doug Koski spun with four laps remaining, setting up a thrilling sprint to the finish. Koch drew away as Myers claimed second on the restart, but with two laps left Koch’s car slowed coming out of turn four and dropped out, giving the lead - and eventually the win - to Myers.

Copp fought off pressure from 11th-starter Tristan LaBarge for second, while Grymala had some breathing room on fifth-place Trenton Bond.

Crosby added his second feature win of the season here on Tuesday and strengthened his WISSOTA Pure Stock track points lead. Crosby started behind polesitter Derek Ament and edged past Rob Christman for second behind Ament on the opening lap. Behind them, a pack of cars went at it for third, including Trevor Treviranus, Shane Basina, Jessie Treviranus, and Aaron Bernick.

On lap four Crosby worked the low lane to slip by Ament and take over at the point, and he built a 1.5-second advantage by lap seven when Jessie Treviranus experienced a mechanical failure, which caused her car to spin in turn three and brought out the race’s only yellow flag.

On the restart Basina took advantage of a wide-open bottom lane and moved into second, only to lose it to Ament on lap nine. Basina got the spot back a lap later, bringing Trevor Treviranus along to third, as Crosby extended his lead. By the time he took the checkered flag, Crosby was more than 3 seconds ahead of Basina, who held on to second ahead of Treviranus. Ament fell back into a drag race with Bernick, which he won by .013 seconds - maybe five feet - for fourth.

A chaotic WISSOTA Hornet feature came down to a fender-to-fender finish, with Nikota Larson nipping divisional points leader Carson Gotelaere for his second win of the season at the oval.

From the pole, Anthony Jenson set the first-lap pace, before fourth-starter Larson got by him. Larson continued to lead after a lap-two caution for a Madisyn Olson spin, while Gotelaere, who restarted sixth, got pinballed through traffic and wound up fourth during that restart. Gotelaere then took third from Brady Fosso on lap five and second from Jenson on lap six before debris from William Lange’s rear bumper brought about the final stoppage on lap seven.

Larson and Gotelaere pulled away nose-to-tail to decide the finish, with third-place Jenson just ahead of a group of cars getting rather physical for fourth. On the white-flag lap, Gotelaere pulled alongside Larson’s right-rear fender, and while the pair raced into the final turns for the win, contact mid-pack sent Lange’s racer off the back straight and into the infield, where it bounced into and came to rest on top of a large dirt mound protecting a power pole.

Gotelaere’s run for the win came up less than eight feet short, as Larson had just enough speed to beat him to the checkered flag. Anthony Jenson was third, and following post-race activities, Bobie Arnes was elevated to a fourth-place finish and William Lange was fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[1]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[4]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[3]; 4. 45-Bob Broking[10]; 5. 98-Al Uotinen[9]; 6. 11JR-Andrew Inman[2]; 7. 7-Andrew Mackey[5]; 8. 2-Tanner Gehl[8]; 9. 19J-Jack Rivord[7]; 10. 27-Chris Unrau[11]; 11. (DNF) 64-Evan Checkalski[12]; 12. (DNF) 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 13. (DNS) 32III-Cody Carlson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[2]; 2. 2-Tanner Gehl[6]; 3. 11JR-Andrew Inman[1]; 4. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 5. 98-Al Uotinen[3]; 6. 27-Chris Unrau[7]; 7. (DNF) 32III-Cody Carlson[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19J-Jack Rivord[2]; 2. 7-Andrew Mackey[1]; 3. 22-Brandon Copp[4]; 4. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[3]; 5. 45-Bob Broking[6]; 6. 64-Evan Checkalski[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 21M-Alex Myers[4]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[2]; 3. 19-Tristan LaBarge[11]; 4. 24-Andy Grymala[8]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[5]; 6. 3B-Austin Blom[13]; 7. 76-Doug Koski[9]; 8. 6-Dan Peterson[12]; 9. 11R-Rita Anderson[14]; 10. 49-Thomas Hauert[10]; 11. (DNF) 78K-Dexton Koch[7]; 12. (DNF) 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[1]; 13. (DNF) 1M-Curt Myers[6]; 14. (DNF) 27-Matt Deragon[3]; 15. (DNS) 77-Scott Lawrence

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[2]; 2. 21M-Alex Myers[1]; 3. 26-Kyle Copp[3]; 4. 44-Trenton Bond[4]; 5. 76-Doug Koski[7]; 6. 19-Tristan LaBarge[6]; 7. 3B-Austin Blom[8]; 8. 11R-Rita Anderson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[3]; 2. 24-Andy Grymala[2]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[5]; 4. 78K-Dexton Koch[4]; 5. 49-Thomas Hauert[7]; 6. 6-Dan Peterson[1]; 7. (DNF) 77-Scott Lawrence[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[3]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[7]; 3. 231-Trevor Treviranus[4]; 4. 00-Derek Ament[1]; 5. 17-Aaron Bernick[8]; 6. 5M-Michael Pederson[12]; 7. 10A-Riley Ament[10]; 8. 24-Dylan Helget[9]; 9. 15-Ryan LaBorde[5]; 10. (DNF) 131-Jessie Treviranus[6]; 11. (DNF) 66X-Rob Christman[2]; 12. (DNF) 44P-Peyton Swenson[11]; 13. (DNS) 31-Tom Treviranus

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[1]; 2. 66X-Rob Christman[2]; 3. 28-Eric Crosby[5]; 4. 15-Ryan LaBorde[4]; 5. 24-Dylan Helget[3]; 6. 44P-Peyton Swenson[6]; 7. 5M-Michael Pederson[7]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 131-Jessie Treviranus[2]; 2. 231-Trevor Treviranus[4]; 3. 00-Derek Ament[1]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 5. 10A-Riley Ament[6]; 6. (DNF) 31-Tom Treviranus[5]

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[4]; 2. 9G-Carson Gotelaere[5]; 3. 23T-Anthony Jenson[1]; 4. 94A-Bobie Arnes[7]; 5. 40-William Lange[3]; 6. 27-Brady Fosso[6]; 7. 2X-Nathan Penney[9]; 8. 69-Madisyn Olson[8]; 9. (DQ) 13K-Russell Kiker Jr[2]

Heat (6 Laps): 1. 9G-Carson Gotelaere[6]; 2. 13K-Russell Kiker Jr[1]; 3. 26N-Nikota Larson[8]; 4. 40-William Lange[4]; 5. 23T-Anthony Jenson[3]; 6. 27-Brady Fosso[7]; 7. 94A-Bobie Arnes[5]; 8. 69-Madisyn Olson[2]; 9. 2X-Nathan Penney[9]