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Savoy scores a big one with Midwest Mod victory during night two of Superior’s Northern Nationals

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (September 6) - The second full-program night of the 36th annual Northern Nationals at Gondik Law Speedway included a wild IRA Sprint A-main and a thrilling WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature.

Ryan Savoy picked up the lone WISSOTA Dirt Track Series victory in the Midwest Mods, while heat races were completed leading up to Saturday’s main events in the Late Models, Modifieds, and Super Stocks.

The 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature provided a lot of drama, especially over the final laps, as Savoy scored a huge win.

Joey Jensen, who started from the front row in second, got the better of polesitter Savoy at the initial drop of the green, but his effort was negated by a Michael Blevins, Sr. spin. Jensen made the same move work again on the restart, but Savoy fought back with an inside move on lap two. Jensen returned the favor on lap four, and as the lead pair pulled away from third-running David Simpson, Jensen seemed to have settled the debate at the time with a half-second advantage on Savoy.

The race continued without delay for the remainder of its course, but while Jensen won the first 13 laps, Savoy came back with a vengeance, pulling alongside the leader a couple of times before edging ahead while maneuvering through heavy slower traffic with four laps remaining. Behind them, Jason VandeKamp worked his way around Simpson for third.

As the laps wound down, Savoy made a few daring moves to thread his way through backmarkers, and when Jensen slipped a bit while working through the same traffic on the white-flag lap, Savoy pulled away to an eventual 1.13-second margin of victory. VandeKamp held firm to third, while GLS Midwest Mod points champ James Vendela grabbed fourth from Simpson on the final circuit.

Qualifying heats for the WISSOTA Late Models, Modifieds and Midwest Mods were also held on Friday, with the top-16 in passing points from those heats locked into Saturday’s Northern Nationals championship features. Winners in the Late Model heats included Billy Kendall III, Ashley Anderson, Steve Lausen, and 2024 GLS divisional points champ Pat Doar.

Heat winners in the Modifieds included Mike Anderson, Al Uotinen and Brandon Copp, the track’s Mod points champ in 2024.

In the Super Stocks, D.J. Keeler, Dylan Nelson, Shawn McFadden and Matt Deragon won their respective heats.

In other action at the track Friday, the 25-lap spotlight event for the Interstate Racing Association’s Sprints started off rocky, with mid-pack contact between Jordan Goldesberry and Ryan Bowers causing Goldesberry to roll his racer in the first corner. From there polesitter Christopher Thram looked to be the class of the 25-car field, shooting to a full two-second lead over Danny Sams III by riding the extreme outermost line around the speedway for the first four quick laps.

Danny Sams III inherited the lead around lap five, after Thram spun to avoid contact with a spun competitor and was penalized. Sams eventually drew away to a winning margin of 3.8 seconds for his first-ever win on the IRA tour, ahead of Joel Myers, Jr., Blake Nimee, Jake Blackhurst and 12th-starting Danny Schlafer.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Billy Kendall III[1]; 2. 31-Travis Budisalovich[2]; 3. 21-Mike Bellefeuille[4]; 4. 10-Daniel Bargender[5]; 5. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[6]; 6. 44-Darrell Nelson[7]; 7. 212-Mike Klippenstein[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 81-Ashley Anderson[7]; 2. 29F-Dave Flynn[4]; 3. 68-Mike Prochnow[5]; 4. 14N-Keith Niemi[3]; 5. 1L-Brad Loveday[2]; 6. 34-Taylor Madrinich[6]; 7. (DQ) 7-Harry Hanson[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Steve Laursen[4]; 2. 85-John Kaanta[3]; 3. 37X-Skeeter Estey[6]; 4. 24(E)-Eric Lillo[1]; 5. 22E-Kevin Eder[7]; 6. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[5]; 7. 7C-Robbie Cooper[2]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Pat Doar[1]; 2. 11(G)-James Giossi[3]; 3. 30-Kevin Burdick[7]; 4. 31T-Trent Follmer[2]; 5. 2-Todd Gehl[5]; 6. 99(M)-Mike Mullen[4]; 7. 11D-Tim McMann[6]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[4]; 2. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[6]; 3. 95-Rick Rivord[2]; 4. T23-John Toppozini[5]; 5. 22(J)-Jeff Spacek[1]; 6. 18S-Kennedy Swan[3]; 7. 224-Cody Wolkowski[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 98-Al Uotinen[1]; 2. 4-Jeremy Nelson[6]; 3. 2-Tanner Gehl[3]; 4. 19J-Jack Rivord[4]; 5. 22(S)-Cole Spacek[5]; 6. 11JR-Andrew Inman[7]; 7. 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Brandon Copp[1]; 2. 44-Darrell Nelson[7]; 3. 9(M)-Riley Matthews[2]; 4. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[6]; 5. 7-Andrew Mackey[3]; 6. 22JR-Ben Hillman[4]; 7. 24D-Duane Dale[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[1]; 2. 32R-Cory Casari[8]; 3. 2-Don Livingston[7]; 4. 10X-Josh Schmidt[2]; 5. 67-Ryan Satter[6]; 6. 44-Trenton Bond[4]; 7. 11R-Rita Anderson[3]; 8. (DNF) 00-Jason Hobbs[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Dylan Nelson[5]; 2. 77-Scott Lawrence[1]; 3. 36-Darin Meierotto[3]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[7]; 5. 82-Paul Gucinski[2]; 6. T23-John Toppozini[8]; 7. 13-Simon Hachez[6]; 8. (DNF) 81-Avery Anderson[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[3]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[7]; 3. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[6]; 4. 6-Dan Peterson[2]; 5. 19-Larry Both[4]; 6. 24(J)-Joshua Oleksuk[5]; 7. (DNF) 88A-David Allen[1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Matt Deragon[1]; 2. 77K-Rick Simpson[4]; 3. 80-Steve Stuart[3]; 4. 22R-Nathan Roy[6]; 5. 37-John Garrity[7]; 6. 01-Trevor Arens[5]; 7. (DNF) 42-Myron Basina[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 16-Ryan Savoy[1]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[2]; 3. 16(V)-Jason VandeKamp[5]; 4. 15-James Vendela[6]; 5. 70-David Simpson[4]; 6. 117-Deven VanHouse[13]; 7. 7M-Dalton Mains[7]; 8. 16(P)-Garrett Paull[3]; 9. 64-Evan Checkalski[10]; 10. 85-Jamie Davis[19]; 11. 69-Justin Bassa[8]; 12. 10(C)-Mervin Castle III[18]; 13. 55-Jesse Polson[14]; 14. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[17]; 15. 66-Bill Speak[15]; 16. 3D-Kevin Monteith[9]; 17. 89-Kolby Reed[20]; 18. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[25]; 19. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[21]; 20. 50-Brady Caul[23]; 21. 40-Tanner Henderson[24]; 22. 21R-Ross Siiter[22]; 23. 67-Glen Brown[11]; 24. (DNF) 5-David Swearingen[16]; 25. (DNF) 32III-Cody Carlson[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[5]; 2. 15-James Vendela[4]; 3. 7M-Dalton Mains[6]; 4. 64-Evan Checkalski[9]; 5. 40-Tanner Henderson[2]; 6. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[7]; 7. 89-Kolby Reed[1]; 8. 00(F)-Ross Fuhrman[8]; 9. (DNF) 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Ryan Savoy[9]; 2. 67-Glen Brown[1]; 3. 69-Justin Bassa[6]; 4. 55-Jesse Polson[5]; 5. 10(C)-Mervin Castle III[7]; 6. 21R-Ross Siiter[2]; 7. 00-Jason Hobbs[4]; 8. 7A-Eric Anderson[8]; 9. 99J-John Coppock[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[3]; 2. 16(P)-Garrett Paull[8]; 3. 3D-Kevin Monteith[6]; 4. 66-Bill Speak[5]; 5. 45-Keegan Kough[7]; 6. 723-Wayne deBruin[1]; 7. 50-Brady Caul[9]; 8. 85-Jamie Davis[2]; 9. (DNF) 8A-Adam Hansen[4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 16(V)-Jason VandeKamp[3]; 2. 32III-Cody Carlson[2]; 3. 117-Deven VanHouse[1]; 4. 5-David Swearingen[5]; 5. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[8]; 6. 14-Adam Shinn[7]; 7. 18-Hunter Brink[6]; 8. 13-Chris Bretting[4]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[3]; 2. 85-Jamie Davis[7]; 3. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[1]; 4. 50-Brady Caul[5]; 5. 45-Keegan Kough[2]; 6. 00(F)-Ross Fuhrman[8]; 7. 00-Jason Hobbs[6]; 8. 723-Wayne deBruin[4]; 9. 99J-John Coppock[9]; 10. (DNF) 8A-Adam Hansen[10]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 10(C)-Mervin Castle III[1]; 2. 89-Kolby Reed[5]; 3. 21R-Ross Siiter[4]; 4. 40-Tanner Henderson[2]; 5. 18-Hunter Brink[6]; 6. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[9]; 7. (DNF) 7A-Eric Anderson[8]; 8. (DNF) 14-Adam Shinn[3]; 9. (DNF) 13-Chris Bretting[7]

IRA Sprints:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 24D-Danny Sams III[4]; 2. 19-Joel Myers Jr[5]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[3]; 4. 96-Jake Blackhurst[2]; 5. 25-Danny Schlafer[12]; 6. 87A-Austin Hartmann[13]; 7. 64-Andy Pake[7]; 8. 23W-Scott Winters[11]; 9. 16C-Tylar Rankin[16]; 10. 33B-Scott Broty[6]; 11. 99-Tyler Brabant[21]; 12. 2W-Scott Neitzel[10]; 13. (DNF) 73-Scotty Thiel[9]; 14. (DNF) 7-Kelby Watt[8]; 15. (DNF) 24T-Christopher Thram[1]; 16. (DNF) 4K-Kris Spitz[17]; 17. (DNF) G5-Gage Pulkrabek[14]; 18. (DNF) 03-Jamey Ogston[23]; 19. (DNF) P1-Mark Chevalier[15]; 20. (DNF) 29-Leigh Thomas[20]; 21. (DNF) 78-Bill Wagner[22]; 22. (DNF) 199-Ryan Bowers[18]; 23. (DNF) 65-Jordan Goldesberry[19]; 24. (DNF) 85J-Logan Julien[24]; 25. (DNF) 11M-Brendan Mullen[25]

Dash 1 (4 Laps): 1. 24T-Christopher Thram[2]; 2. 79-Blake Nimee[1]; 3. 19-Joel Myers Jr[5]; 4. 64-Andy Pake[4]; 5. 73-Scotty Thiel[3]

Dash 2 (4 Laps): 1. 96-Jake Blackhurst[5]; 2. 24D-Danny Sams III[3]; 3. 33B-Scott Broty[1]; 4. 7-Kelby Watt[4]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 79-Blake Nimee[2]; 2. 7-Kelby Watt[1]; 3. 73-Scotty Thiel[4]; 4. 96-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 5. 87A-Austin Hartmann[5]; 6. 199-Ryan Bowers[8]; 7. 29-Leigh Thomas[6]; 8. 78-Bill Wagner[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 64-Andy Pake[1]; 2. 19-Joel Myers Jr[4]; 3. 33B-Scott Broty[2]; 4. 24D-Danny Sams III[3]; 5. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[6]; 6. 16C-Tylar Rankin[5]; 7. 99-Tyler Brabant[7]; 8. 03-Jamey Ogston[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24T-Christopher Thram[3]; 2. 23W-Scott Winters[1]; 3. 25-Danny Schlafer[5]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel[2]; 5. P1-Mark Chevalier[8]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz[7]; 7. (DNF) 11M-Brendan Mullen[6]; 8. (DNF) 65-Jordan Goldesberry[4]; 9. (DNS) 85J-Logan Julien