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Gondik Law wraps up regular season and Friday wins go to Doar, Bellefeuille, Sabraski, Jensen, Bernick & Larson

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (August 28) - The final night of the regular racing season at Gondik Law Speedway was full of drama, excitement, and landmark accomplishments, with the track’s 2026 points championships at stake.

By the conclusion of Friday’s WISSOTA Dirt Track Series program, the champs included Travis Budisalovich, Jody Bellefeuille, Steve Stuart, Paul Ripley, Aaron Bernick, and Nikota Larson.

Heading into the WISSOTA Late Model 25-lap feature, Budisalovich had a three-point advantage on Billy Kendall, but Kendall was absent, giving Budisalovich an easier route to the title.

Mike Bellefeuille started on the pole and looked strong in leading the first 10 laps ahead of Tim McMann, Kevin Burdick, Pat Doar and Darrell Nelson. A flip by Andy Jones brought out a red-flag stoppage on lap four.

Burdick pestered Bellefeuille for several of those laps until he finally worked his way by on lap 11, bringing Nelson along into second a lap later. Doar took third on lap 14, then overtook Nelson for second three circuits later, before the frontrunners began to negotiate slower traffic.

On lap 20, just as Doar was about to take the lead from Burdick, Bellefeuille’s great run ended with a stalled race car. Although there was a bit of confusion as to who was leading as the yellow lights came on, Doar settled things a lap after the restart with an inside move on Burdick. After a couple of thrilling slide-job passes between Doar and Burdick, Doar ran off to a 1.7-second margin of victory.

Nelson was a distant third but well ahead of Kevin Eder, who edged Shane Sabraski for fourth. Budisalovich, who started 18th, came home eighth and secured the title.

Jody Bellefeuille needed to merely take one green-flag lap in the WISSOTA Modifieds to nail down his fourth track championship here. But rather than just turn a lap and call it “good,” Bellefeuille put up an exclamation point to the season with one of the most dominant runs in recent memory at Superior.

Polesitter Lance Schilling was no match for fellow front-row starter Bellefeuille through the first pair of corners, and within three laps of the nonstop 20-lapper the soon-to-be champ had a lead of more than 2.5 seconds ahead of Cole Boston, Andrew Inman, Deven VanHouse and Brady Uotinen.

Bellefeuille extended his lead to an impressive 7.4 seconds - nearly half a lap - while Boston had his hands full with Uotinen. That pair had drawn away from the rest of the pack by a significant distance as well, while Inman led a tight six-car pack fighting for fourth.

Bellefeuille maxed his lead out to more than 8 seconds before backing down a bit, taking the checkers by nearly 6.5 seconds for his sixth win of the season and 24th of his career here. Boston won the battle for runner-up honors just ahead of Uotinen, while Inman held on for fourth ahead of VanHouse.

With a heat win earlier in the program, Stuart carried a 10-point lead over Kyle Copp heading into the WISSOTA Super Stocks’ main event, and he stayed close to the front throughout the nonstop 20-lap run to score his first points championship at Superior.

Front-row starter Shane Sabraski swept around polesitter Joey Jensen to grab the lead on the initial start. Sabraski never led by as much as a second, as Jensen kept the pressure on. Stuart, who started directly behind Sabraski, immediately followed him into third and stayed there, sometimes at a distance, and other times glued to Jensen’s trunklid and threatening to take second away.

The lead pair eventually drew some separation from Stuart and duked it out to the finish, with Jensen attempting several moves to steal the win away. But Sabraski held strong to his line and kept Jensen about .3 seconds back at the checkered flag. Stuart was a distant third but well ahead of Tristan LaBarge, while Rick Simpson fended off a hard-charging Kyle Copp, who started 11th.

It was Sabraski’s second feature win in a row here, the 56th of his career at GLS, and the 1,055th of his career overall.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modified A-main held a lot of promise for a great battle-within-a-battle for the points title, with Ripley holding a mere 9-point cushion on James Vendela. But on the very first lap of the 20-lap season finale, Ripley, who started ninth, was tangled up with Michael Shalley while running in heavy mid-pack traffic. Ripley’s car lost its entire right-front wheel assembly, and although he drove the car to the pit area, his chance of winning a points championship seemed lost.

But, to add to the unexpected drama, Vendela’s car also came up lame, and he needed a push to the pit area during the same yellow-flag delay. So, with Vendela done for the event as well, Ripley was declared the champ.

The feature itself belonged to Jensen, who took the lead away with eight laps left to collect his 200th career feature win, and the 24th of his career at Superior.

Polesitter Garrett Paull looked tough in the early going, as he held off Anderson and Jensen for 10 laps while the lead trio pulled away from David Simpson and the visiting Eric Gadach. Eventually Paull and Jensen gained some distance on Anderson in the battle for the front, and after a couple of threats, Jensen finally got by Paull as the leaders worked their way through backmarkers.

After a slowdown for the stalled ride of fifth-running Jimmy Latvala with five laps remaining, and a two-car get-together on the subsequent restart, Jensen pulled away as Paull fell back into a three-car discussion over second. Jensen was dominant during the closing laps, hustling to a 2.75-second advantage for the landmark win, while Paull edged David Simpson for second and Anderson came home fourth just ahead of VanHouse.

Another great showdown was looming in the WISSOTA Pure Stock feature, with Rob Christman just one point up on Bernick leading into the 12-lap headliner. But after some early-race nail-biting, Bernick prevailed for both the race win and his third GLS championship.

Once the feature was finally underway after three consecutive cautions at the start, the race boiled down to a side-by-side duel between Bernick and Christman for three laps until Bernick finally cleared for the lead.

On lap six things got a little close to disaster when Christman tagged Bernick’s left-rear fender; Christman nearly spun, and in gathering the car he nearly squeezed Derek Bartz into the back-straight wall. Bartz ended up spinning moments later for the final yellow flag of the race.

Thirteenth-starter Austin Fencl, who was third in points coming into the program, restarted third and challenged Christman, allowing Bernick to draw away to a 2.27-second final margin for his second win of the season and 11th of his career here. Christman finished one position - and one point - behind Bernick, with Fencl and Alex Larson close behind. Bob Klein came home fifth.

There was little doubt about the WISSOTA Hornet championship, as Larson dominated both his heat and the feature for his seventh straight win to close the season here and his first-ever track title.

Larson worked his way from a second-row start to battle door-to-door with polesitter Kyle LeDoux for the first six laps before eventually clawing his way by, and then pulling decisively away for good.

As the 12-lapper continued on without interruption, Larson drove off to a dominant win, well ahead of Penney, who slipped past LeDoux with four laps remaining. Madisyn Olson closed on LeDoux but settled for fourth, well ahead of visiting Selena Owen.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 11-Pat Doar[4]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[3]; 3. 44-Darrell Nelson[5]; 4. 22E-Kevin Eder[9]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[11]; 6. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[7]; 7. 37X-Skeeter Estey[8]; 8. 31-Travis Budisalovich[18]; 9. 54-Rick Niemi[14]; 10. 24-Aaron Lillo[10]; 11. 11D-Tim McMann[1]; 12. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[22]; 13. 14N-Keith Niemi[17]; 14. 7C-Robbie Cooper[12]; 15. 16-Cory Jorgensen[19]; 16. (DNF) 21-Mike Bellefeuille[2]; 17. (DNF) 2-Todd Gehl[20]; 18. (DNF) 79-Kevin Carlson[16]; 19. (DNF) 29F-Dave Flynn[6]; 20. (DNF) 19-Steve Laursen[15]; 21. (DNF) 9-Eric Lillo[21]; 22. (DNF) 173-Andy Jones[13]; 23. (DNF) 87-Donnie Lofdahl[23]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[2]; 2. 37X-Skeeter Estey[4]; 3. 11-Pat Doar[5]; 4. 24-Aaron Lillo[6]; 5. 173-Andy Jones[1]; 6. 79-Kevin Carlson[8]; 7. 16-Cory Jorgensen[3]; 8. 9-Eric Lillo[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Kevin Burdick[1]; 2. 29F-Dave Flynn[3]; 3. 11D-Tim McMann[2]; 4. 7A-Shane Sabraski[7]; 5. 54-Rick Niemi[5]; 6. 14N-Keith Niemi[6]; 7. 2-Todd Gehl[4]; 8. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22E-Kevin Eder[1]; 2. 44-Darrell Nelson[5]; 3. 21-Mike Bellefeuille[2]; 4. 7C-Robbie Cooper[7]; 5. 19-Steve Laursen[6]; 6. 31-Travis Budisalovich[3]; 7. (DNF) 87-Donnie Lofdahl[4]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[2]; 2. 33C-Cole Boston[4]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[10]; 4. 11JR-Andrew Inman[3]; 5. 17-Deven VanHouse[5]; 6. 19J-Jack Rivord[8]; 7. 43-Lance Schilling[1]; 8. 224-Cody Wolkowski[6]; 9. 7A-Shane Sabraski[9]; 10. 64-Evan Checkalski[11]; 11. 7-Andrew Mackey[7]; 12. (DNF) 98-Al Uotinen[14]; 13. (DNF) 33C(C)-Cole Chernosky[12]; 14. (DNS) 70-David Simpson; 15. (DNS) 22-Brandon Copp

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Boston[1]; 2. 224-Cody Wolkowski[3]; 3. 43-Lance Schilling[2]; 4. 19J-Jack Rivord[4]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]; 6. 64-Evan Checkalski[6]; 7. 70-David Simpson[8]; 8. 98-Al Uotinen[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Deven VanHouse[2]; 2. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[5]; 3. 7-Andrew Mackey[6]; 4. 11JR-Andrew Inman[7]; 5. 9-Brady Uotinen[1]; 6. 33C(C)-Cole Chernosky[3]; 7. (DNF) 22-Brandon Copp[4]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[2]; 2. 21-Joey Jensen[1]; 3. 80-Steve Stuart[4]; 4. 19LC-Tristan LaBarge[3]; 5. 77K-Rick Simpson[8]; 6. 26-Kyle Copp[11]; 7. 77-Scott Lawrence[6]; 8. 25-Dylan Nelson[7]; 9. 3B-Austin Blom[10]; 10. 12K-DJ Keeler[13]; 11. 24-Andy Grymala[15]; 12. 6-Dan Peterson[12]; 13. 11R-Rita Anderson[14]; 14. 6B-Boyd Gustafson[16]; 15. (DNF) 2-Don Livingston[9]; 16. (DNF) 44-Trenton Bond[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[1]; 2. 7A-Shane Sabraski[2]; 3. 77K-Rick Simpson[4]; 4. 19LC-Tristan LaBarge[3]; 5. 2-Don Livingston[6]; 6. 26-Kyle Copp[5]; 7. 12K-DJ Keeler[8]; 8. 24-Andy Grymala[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Trenton Bond[1]; 2. 25-Dylan Nelson[3]; 3. 21-Joey Jensen[7]; 4. 77-Scott Lawrence[4]; 5. 3B-Austin Blom[6]; 6. 6-Dan Peterson[5]; 7. 11R-Rita Anderson[2]; 8. 6B-Boyd Gustafson[8]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[8]; 2. 16(P)-Garrett Paull[1]; 3. 70-David Simpson[11]; 4. 71-Jacob Anderson[6]; 5. 17-Deven VanHouse[5]; 6. 16-Ryan Savoy[14]; 7. 32M-Mason Musel[10]; 8. 32-Adam Shinn[18]; 9. 15(G)-Eric Gadach[4]; 10. 57JR-Robert Squitti[13]; 11. 14C-Colby Petrunak[19]; 12. 11-Carrie Allen[15]; 13. 13-Chris Bretting[16]; 14. 401K-Mitch Patrick[17]; 15. (DNF) 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[7]; 16. (DNF) 8X-Michael Shalley[12]; 17. (DNF) 15-James Vendela[2]; 18. (DNF) 28-Paul Ripley[9]; 19. (DNS) WIN1-Parker Frolik

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[1]; 2. WIN1-Parker Frolik[2]; 3. 71-Jacob Anderson[4]; 4. 32M-Mason Musel[3]; 5. 57JR-Robert Squitti[5]; 6. 13-Chris Bretting[6]; 7. 14C-Colby Petrunak[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Paul Ripley[2]; 2. 15(G)-Eric Gadach[1]; 3. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[3]; 4. 70-David Simpson[6]; 5. 16-Ryan Savoy[4]; 6. 401K-Mitch Patrick[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 16(P)-Garrett Paull[2]; 2. 17-Deven VanHouse[1]; 3. 15-James Vendela[4]; 4. 8X-Michael Shalley[3]; 5. 11-Carrie Allen[5]; 6. 32-Adam Shinn[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[8]; 2. 66X-Rob Christman[6]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[13]; 4. 57-Alex Larson[4]; 5. 7-Bob Klein[2]; 6. 131-Jessie Treviranus[12]; 7. 925-Dnae Rose[7]; 8. 3D-Sean Duffy[9]; 9. 67(P)-Dale Peterson[11]; 10. (DNF) 00-Derek Bartz[1]; 11. (DNF) 44P-Peyton Swenson[10]; 12. (DNF) 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 13. (DNF) 10-Anthony Ravina[14]; 14. (DNF) 31-Tom Treviranus[5]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 66X-Rob Christman[3]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[2]; 3. 57-Alex Larson[7]; 4. 925-Dnae Rose[5]; 5. 3D-Sean Duffy[6]; 6. (DNF) 131-Jessie Treviranus[4]; 7. (DNF) 52W-Austin Fencl[1]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 31-Tom Treviranus[3]; 2. 7-Bob Klein[2]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 4. 00-Derek Bartz[7]; 5. 44P-Peyton Swenson[1]; 6. 67(P)-Dale Peterson[4]; 7. (DNF) 10-Anthony Ravina[5]

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[4]; 2. 2X-Nathan Penney[5]; 3. 35-Kyle LeDoux[1]; 4. 69-Madisyn Olson[2]; 5. 34-Selena Owen[3]

Heat (6 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[1]; 2. 35-Kyle LeDoux[5]; 3. 69-Madisyn Olson[3]; 4. 2X-Nathan Penney[4]; 5. 34-Selena Owen[2]