7-30 Page 19 | ATD Racing News

$5,000 prize goes to Mars in Late Models while Sabraski scores in Mods and Supers at Gondik Law Speedway Friday night

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (July 26) - Sam Mars scored his second huge win in less than a week while notching his first-ever win at Gondik Law Speedway.

Mars, who won the WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series feature at Cedar Lake Speedway the week prior, was one of four first-time winners during Friday night’s program, while Shane Sabraski of Rice, MN, continued his impressive season by securing victories in two of the other five features.

Mars, whose WISSOTA Late Model win was worth $5,000, started inside row two and followed the front-row pair of Billy Kendall III and Dave Flynn during the opening laps. Kendall and Flynn ran door to door for the first few circuits before Kendall established a slim lead ahead of Flynn, Sabraski, Mars and Jeff Provinzino.

Mars used an inside move to motor past Sabraski on lap 10, and a circuit later Provinzino used a similar route to work his way to fourth, as Sabraski fell back. Mars continued his trek forward with another inside move to take second away from Flynn on lap 15, while Kendall had stretched his advantage to over a second.

But then Kendall caught the tail-end of the field, allowing Mars to eliminate the deficit quickly. With 10 laps remaining Mars drew alongside Kendall and took the lead on the backstretch. The pair made significant incidental contact under the flagstand a half-lap later, but both maintained their momentum, and Mars surged ahead.

The race ran without interruption, allowing Mars to extend his margin to 1.3 seconds as he drove under the checkered flag for the first win of his career in Superior - the same track where his legendary father Jimmy won his first-ever Late Model feature years before. Provinzino slipped by Kendall with four laps left to claim second, while Travis Budisalovich and Johnny Broking both displaced Flynn in the late stages for fourth and fifth, respectively.

Eighteenth-finishing James Giossi and 19th-place Jayme Lautigar were each awarded $2,500 bonuses in a post-race random draw, courtesy of KME.

Sabraski added two more feature wins in Superior on Friday following a three-race winning night Thursday. In the WISSOTA Modifieds, he started outside in the second row and threatened Al Uotinen for second as they chased rookie leader Tanner Gehl. After slipping past Uotinen on lap two, Sabraski reeled in and soon overtook Gehl for the lead with an outside move on lap five, and he ran off from the field from there.

As the first half of the run flew by, Sabraski and Gehl were well ahead of a great battle for third, with Uotinen running low, Brandon Copp flying around the high side, and Bob Broking and Cody Wolkowski in hot pursuit. By lap 10, Uotinen had separated himself from that pack and was working the low line for a pass of Gehl, just before the race’s only yellow flag was thrown for visitor Mark Prueser’s spin on lap 11, erasing Sabraski’s three-second lead.

On the restart, Sabraski sped away again, while Uotinen and Copp swapped second a couple of times; Uotinen secured the spot. Sabraski ran uncontested to a 3.12-second winning margin, moving him into a tie with Jody Bellefeuille for fifth place on Gondik Law Speedway’s all-time Modified feature win list. Uotinen edged Copp for second, and Broking and Wolkowski rounded out the top five.

Sabraski’s win in the WISSOTA Super Stock 20-lap feature moved him into a tie with Darin Meierotto for the all-time feature wins in the division, with his 35th career victory. Sabraski methodically worked his way forward from fourth to position himself for the win.

Rick Simpson was called for a “jump” on the initial green flag, then spun in the midst of traffic with just one lap in. Polesitter Andy Grymala then paced the field for the next 11 laps, edging away from Meierotto, D.J. Keeler, Dan Peterson and Sabraski. Positions were exchanged often, with Keeler taking second away from Meierotto on lap three, and Sabraski moving Meierotto back another spot on lap four.

Grymala was nearly 1.5 seconds ahead of the field just five laps into the run, but Keeler and Sabraski tracked him down quickly, closing to the leader’s rear bumper by lap 11. Sabraski dove low to take second away on lap 12, and by the next time around he had the lead, just before the race’s lone stoppage was called for a Don Livingston spin on lap 14.

As Sabraski paced the closing laps, Kyle Copp challenged and took third from Grymala. Sabraski was 1.25 seconds ahead of Keeler as he took the checkers, Copp held off Grymala, and 14th-starter Scott Lawrence finished a strong run in fifth.

The two wins on this night give Sabraski 60 for his career at GLS, placing him fourth all-time.

Joining Mars on the first-time feature winner list was David Simpson. Simpson took the lead on a mid-race restart and pulled away late for his first victory here in a WISSOTA Midwest Modified.

Evan Checkalski started in second and fended off early challenges from Paul Ripley, while Simpson, who started fourth, battled with James Vendela and Brady Caul for third. As the race reached its midpoint, Ripley, in an attempt to dive low to take the lead, spun his racer. Simpson was scored in second for the restart, and he motored around Checkalski in a three-wide move for the lead, just before debris on the back straightaway brought about another yellow flag.

Ross Siiter’s spin on lap 12 delayed the proceedings momentarily, after which Simpson paced the field for the rest of the run for his landmark win, finishing a second ahead of Checkalski, who nipped Vendela at the line. Young Canadian driver Kolby Reed clawed his way from the 14th starting spot to take fourth, just ahead of 10th-starter Cody Carlson.

In what was arguably the most thrilling finish of the night, Eric Crosby won his first-ever WISSOTA Pure Stock feature at Superior by the slimmest of margins - .003 seconds!

Tom Treviranus beat his son, polesitter Trevor Treviranus, out of the first pair of turns for the early lead, with the division’s national points leader Brent Mindock right on his trunk lid. They were just ahead of Aaron Bernick and Crosby. On lap two, Crosby spun his racer to bring about the race’s only caution stop and place him at the tail of the eight-car grid for the restart.

After Bernick took second from Mindock a lap after the restart, Crosby began his charge through the field, moving by Mindock for third within just two tours. The lead trio pulled away from the rest of the field and ran nose-to-tail throughout the second half of the run. On the white-flag lap Crosby edged past Bernick for second, and coming off the final turn he pulled alongside Treviranus, beating him to the checkered flag in a photo finish. Shane Basina and Mindock came home a distant fourth and fifth, respectively.

Nikota Larson has been knocking on the door of a feature win at area tracks as of late, and he broke through with his first career feature victory in the WISSOTA Hornets, in another nail biter of a finish Friday.

Larson raced side-by-side with DeJay Jarecki for much of the 10-lap finale as the pair started next to one another on row two and sped past front-row mates Cade Johnson and Ryan LaBorde at the drop of the green. Carson Gotelaere overcame early traffic to take third after two laps and wasted little time in eliminating the huge lead that Larson and Jarecki had established.

As the lead trio caught slower traffic, Gotelaere snuck by Jarecki with a tight squeeze of a move for second, and from there he pestered Larson for the final four laps. But Larson was up to the challenge and held on to win with Gotelaere snug to his rear bumper at the final stripe. Jarecki was a few car-lengths back in third, Andy Leino came home a distant fourth, and Johnson was a similar distance back in fifth.

GLS will host two nights of racing this coming week during the annual Head of the Lakes Fair. On Tuesday, July 30, the Late Models will run for $1,500 to win as part of the speedway’s KME Late Model Series, and they’ll be joined on track by the Modifieds, Pure Stocks and Hornets. On Friday, August 2, the program will feature the Super Stocks, Midwest Mods, Pure Stocks and Hornets.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 28(S)-Sam Mars[3]; 2. 28-Jeff Provinzino[6]; 3. 99-Billy Kendall III[1]; 4. 31-Travis Budisalovich[5]; 5. 45J-Johnny Broking[8]; 6. 29F-Dave Flynn[2]; 7. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 8. 37X-Skeeter Estey[7]; 9. 30-Kevin Burdick[15]; 10. 44-Darrell Nelson[9]; 11. 11-Pat Doar[13]; 12. 6M-Jeff Massingill[22]; 13. 23-Kyle Peterlin[17]; 14. 10-Daniel Bargender[19]; 15. 12X-Ben Heinle[24]; 16. 5-Josh Zimpel[11]; 17. 47-Danny Vang[10]; 18. 11(G)-James Giossi[20]; 19. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[21]; 20. 2-Todd Gehl[12]; 21. 16-Derek Vesel[18]; 22. 21-Mike Bellefeuille[16]; 23. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[23]; 24. 212-Mike Klippenstein[25]; 25. (DNS) 27-Jake Redetzke

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28(S)-Sam Mars[2]; 2. 29F-Dave Flynn[6]; 3. 31-Travis Budisalovich[8]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick[1]; 5. 10-Daniel Bargender[7]; 6. 7C-Robbie Cooper[3]; 7. (DNF) 7-Harry Hanson[5]; 8. (DNF) 54L-Jayme Lautigar[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[2]; 2. 47-Danny Vang[1]; 3. 11-Pat Doar[3]; 4. 27-Jake Redetzke[5]; 5. 23-Kyle Peterlin[6]; 6. 12-Mark Heinle[7]; 7. 27(Z)-Jared Zimpel[4]; 8. 24(E)-Eric Lillo[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Billy Kendall III[3]; 2. 5-Josh Zimpel[2]; 3. 45J-Johnny Broking[7]; 4. 2-Todd Gehl[8]; 5. 11D-Tim McMann[5]; 6. 212-Mike Klippenstein[4]; 7. 55C-Chad Mahder[1]; 8. (DNF) 6M-Jeff Massingill[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Jeff Provinzino[1]; 2. 37X-Skeeter Estey[4]; 3. 44-Darrell Nelson[6]; 4. 21-Mike Bellefeuille[2]; 5. 16-Derek Vesel[7]; 6. 11(G)-James Giossi[5]; 7. 12X-Ben Heinle[3]; 8. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[8]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 23-Kyle Peterlin[2]; 2. 10-Daniel Bargender[1]; 3. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[8]; 4. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[7]; 5. 27(Z)-Jared Zimpel[6]; 6. 212-Mike Klippenstein[4]; 7. (DNF) 55C-Chad Mahder[5]; 8. (DNF) 12-Mark Heinle[3]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 16-Derek Vesel[1]; 2. 11(G)-James Giossi[4]; 3. 6M-Jeff Massingill[8]; 4. 12X-Ben Heinle[5]; 5. 11D-Tim McMann[2]; 6. 7C-Robbie Cooper[3]; 7. 24(E)-Eric Lillo[6]; 8. (DNS) 7-Harry Hanson

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 2. 98-Al Uotinen[1]; 3. 22-Brandon Copp[8]; 4. 45-Bob Broking[3]; 5. 224-Cody Wolkowski[10]; 6. 7-Andrew Mackey[6]; 7. 9-Brady Uotinen[7]; 8. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[13]; 9. 2-Tanner Gehl[2]; 10. 19J-Jack Rivord[16]; 11. 33C-Cole Chernosky[11]; 12. 44-Darrell Nelson[9]; 13. 11JR-Andrew Inman[5]; 14. 621-Colin Chaschuk[15]; 15. 99-Billy Kendall III[18]; 16. 12-TJ Heinle[14]; 17. 05-Mark Prueser[19]; 18. T23-John Toppozini[17]; 19. (DNF) 95-Rick Rivord[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Darrell Nelson[2]; 2. 11JR-Andrew Inman[3]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[6]; 4. 224-Cody Wolkowski[4]; 5. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[5]; 6. 621-Colin Chaschuk[1]; 7. 19J-Jack Rivord[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 45-Bob Broking[3]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[6]; 3. 98-Al Uotinen[5]; 4. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 5. 12-TJ Heinle[2]; 6. (DNF) 99-Billy Kendall III[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Brady Uotinen[2]; 2. 7-Andrew Mackey[1]; 3. 2-Tanner Gehl[3]; 4. 95-Rick Rivord[4]; 5. (DNF) T23-John Toppozini[6]; 6. (DNF) 05-Mark Prueser[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[8]; 2. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[6]; 3. 26-Kyle Copp[7]; 4. 24-Andy Grymala[1]; 5. 77-Scott Lawrence[14]; 6. 3B-Austin Blom[12]; 7. 36-Darin Meierotto[3]; 8. 6-Dan Peterson[2]; 9. 82-Paul Gucinski[10]; 10. 19-Larry Both[16]; 11. 11R-Rita Anderson[9]; 12. (DNF) 2-Don Livingston[15]; 13. (DNF) 24(L)-Jase Lien[11]; 14. (DNF) 77K-Rick Simpson[4]; 15. (DNF) 42-Myron Basina[13]; 16. (DNF) 27-Matt Deragon[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Andy Grymala[2]; 2. 77K-Rick Simpson[4]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]; 4. 6-Dan Peterson[6]; 5. 11R-Rita Anderson[1]; 6. 24(L)-Jase Lien[8]; 7. (DNF) 77-Scott Lawrence[7]; 8. (DNF) 2-Don Livingston[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Kyle Copp[1]; 2. 36-Darin Meierotto[3]; 3. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[7]; 4. 27-Matt Deragon[6]; 5. 82-Paul Gucinski[5]; 6. 3B-Austin Blom[8]; 7. 42-Myron Basina[4]; 8. (DNF) 19-Larry Both[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[4]; 2. 64-Evan Checkalski[2]; 3. 15-James Vendela[8]; 4. 89-Kolby Reed[14]; 5. 32III-Cody Carlson[10]; 6. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[5]; 7. 16-Ryan Savoy[7]; 8. 50-Brady Caul[3]; 9. 7M-Dalton Mains[15]; 10. 28-Paul Ripley[6]; 11. 55-Jesse Polson[11]; 12. 16(J)-Cory Jorgensen[1]; 13. 32M-Mason Musel[17]; 14. 18-Hunter Brink[9]; 15. 21R-Ross Siiter[16]; 16. 31J-Mike Jacques[12]; 17. (DNF) 14-Adam Shinn[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 64-Evan Checkalski[1]; 2. 70-David Simpson[3]; 3. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[6]; 4. 16-Ryan Savoy[4]; 5. 18-Hunter Brink[2]; 6. 55-Jesse Polson[8]; 7. 14-Adam Shinn[9]; 8. 7M-Dalton Mains[5]; 9. (DNF) 32M-Mason Musel[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Brady Caul[1]; 2. 28-Paul Ripley[2]; 3. 15-James Vendela[6]; 4. 16(J)-Cory Jorgensen[3]; 5. 32III-Cody Carlson[5]; 6. 31J-Mike Jacques[4]; 7. 89-Kolby Reed[7]; 8. (DNF) 21R-Ross Siiter[8]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[6]; 2. 31-Tom Treviranus[2]; 3. 17-Aaron Bernick[3]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[8]; 5. 57-Brent Mindock[4]; 6. 231-Trevor Treviranus[1]; 7. (DNF) 131-Jessie Treviranus[7]; 8. (DNS) 66X-Rob Christman

Heat (6 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[7]; 2. 57-Brent Mindock[2]; 3. 31-Tom Treviranus[8]; 4. 231-Trevor Treviranus[1]; 5. 66X-Rob Christman[6]; 6. 28-Eric Crosby[5]; 7. 131-Jessie Treviranus[4]; 8. 69ER-Shane Basina[3]

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[3]; 2. 9G-Carson Gotelaere[5]; 3. 0-DeJay Jarecki[4]; 4. 06-Andy Leino[6]; 5. 10Z-Cade Johnson[1]; 6. 15-Ryan LaBorde[2]; 7. 69-Madisyn Olson[8]; 8. 29-Eva Lillo[10]; 9. 00-Riley Ament[11]; 10. 19S-Devyn Sutton[7]; 11. 7-Abby Baum[9]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 26N-Nikota Larson[4]; 2. 19S-Devyn Sutton[2]; 3. 69-Madisyn Olson[1]; 4. 06-Andy Leino[3]; 5. 7-Abby Baum[6]; 6. (DNF) 00-Riley Ament[5]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 0-DeJay Jarecki[3]; 2. 9G-Carson Gotelaere[5]; 3. 10Z-Cade Johnson[2]; 4. 15-Ryan LaBorde[4]; 5. 29-Eva Lillo[1]