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A pair of Andersons, Simpson and Nelson nail down feature wins on final night of Gondik Law Speedway’s Northern Nationals

By Nick Gima

SUPERIOR, WI (September 7) - The final night of the 36th annual Northern Nationals was highlighted by four impressive feature performances on Saturday.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners during the final night of the 2024 season at Gondik Law Speedway included Ashley Anderson, David Simpson, Mike Anderson and Dylan Nelson.

In the 40-lap, $4,000-to-win WISSOTA Late Model spotlight event, Ashley Anderson not only led every lap and captured the win, but he won by a ridiculous margin and lapped all but four of his 24 fellow starters in the nonstop race.

Anderson’s car was as close to perfect as could be throughout the run, starting from the pole and speeding away. During the early going, Kevin Burdick drove by front-row starter Steve Laursen and stayed within a half-second or so of the leader, but by the time lap five was scored Anderson had built his advantage to a full second.

On lap seven, Pat Doar, the track’s 2024 Late Model points champ, took over third and began chipping away at the distance between himself and Burdick. As Anderson reached the tail-end of the field on lap nine, Burdick and Doar were a full 2.8 seconds in arrears, and that deficit increased significantly with each lap.

Doar passed Burdick on lap 16 as the pair overcame backmarkers, with Anderson nearly 4.5 seconds ahead. Burdick switched his lane preference to the low groove and retook second as he and Doar negotiated lapped traffic on lap 27, but Anderson extended his lead to nearly 8.4 seconds while weaving his own way through the slower cars.

Anderson continued to put cars behind him, leading Burdick by nearly 9.5 seconds - or roughly a half a lap - with 11 circuits remaining, and he passed Laursen and Mike Prochnow while they were racing for ninth on lap 31, leaving eight cars on the lead lap. The advantage exceeded 10 seconds with still better than six laps remaining, and when he passed Dave Flynn that left only five cars scored on the lead lap with just under three laps left.

Anderson’s cushion reached an 11.1 seconds as he took the white flag, and his final margin of victory was 10.8 seconds over Burdick, with Doar, 13th-starter Dan Bargender, and John Kaanta the only cars finishing on the lead lap. The 40-lap run took barely over 13 minutes to complete.

Last weekend, Mike Anderson wowed fans with a dominant performance in Rice Lake and did so again Saturday, running away from the field for his first Northern Nationals win since 2016, taking home $3,000 for his efforts.

Mike Anderson started from the pole and led every lap, but had to deal with three restarts in his 35-lap feature. After a two-car get-together in turn two before the first lap was completed, Anderson drew away from what became a great race-long battle for second between fellow front-row starter Clayton Wagamon and Darrell Nelson. Another stoppage on lap six for a Jack Rivord spin brought the field back to Anderson’s rear bumper, but he again pulled away after the restart.

On lap eight, Nelson used the lower line to pull ahead of Wagamon, who was along the high side, into second. One circuit later, Jeremy Nelson worked his way by GLS points champ Brandon Copp for fourth, with 10th-starter Jody Bellefeuille following Nelson to fifth. Jeremy Nelson’s night ended abruptly when he smacked the turn one wall on lap 12, erasing Anderson’s 1.77-second advantage with the caution.

The balance of the race ran without interruption, allowing Anderson to once again draw away to as much as a 2.4-second margin before catching the slower runners on lap 21. Just before that, Wagamon regained second by working the high side against Darrell Nelson, and when Anderson started to deal with slower traffic, Wagamon cut the deficit down to three-quarters of a second.

Anderson expertly maneuvered through traffic, however, and held Wagamon off by 1.4 seconds at the checkers. Nelson fended off a late challenge by Copp for third, and Bellefeuille maintained fifth.

Dylan Nelson capped off a profitable Northern Nationals weekend by taking the $2,000-to-win WISSOTA Super Stock feature on Saturday. He also won the “Showdown in Souptown” challenge race on Wednesday night here, during which he earned another $2,000.

Nelson started outside on the front row and followed polestarter Kyle Copp to start the 25-lap run, ahead of a fun battle to watch between Cory Casari and Rick Simpson. Nelson bided his time until lap four, when he used an inside move to take the lead from Copp, this year’s Super Stock points champ. From there Nelson quickly established a strong advantage.

On lap eight, while battling in the second five, Don Livingston found himself in the middle of a three-wide race for position with Scott Lawrence and Austin Blom. Livingston lost control of his car going into turn three, spun, and hit hard, climbing the outside wall nose-first. Livingston was unhurt in the incident.

On the ensuing restart, Matt Deragon, who restarted sixth, tried to go deeper into the first turn than fourth-place Simpson; the result was heavy contact and a massive crash that collected as many as eight cars, several of which - including Simpson - were unable to continue.

A three-car mess delayed the next attempt to restart, followed by a delay for John Toppozini’s motor failure, but from there the remaining laps ran off quickly, with Casari, Shawn McFadden and D.J. Keeler all getting by Copp for second through fourth. Nelson gradually built his lead back up to a final cushion of 3.6 seconds ahead of an impressive effort by Casari. Copp clawed his way back to third ahead of McFadden, and Deragon used the long green-flag finish to charge back through the field to fifth.

National WISSOTA Midwest Modified points leader David Simpson had a very wild night, from dropping out of his heat race to winning his semi-feature from the 11th starting spot, to winning the 20-lap A-main worth $1,000 after starting 18th.

Two long green-flag runs benefitted Simpson, who stuck primarily to the lowest possible groove. Polesitter Joey Jensen - who came into the weekend second in national points - got the jump on Deven VanHouse and David Swearingen for the early lead, but just two laps in VanHouse got around Jensen with a strong high-side run, and Swearingen worked the low lane to take second on lap five.

VanHouse ran around the perimeter of the track to build a 1.5-second lead over the first half of the race, until a three-car melee brought the race to a halt on lap 10. After the restart, VanHouse dealt with Swearingen’s challenges, while young Canadian Garrett Paull held third well ahead of McLean Andrews and a charging Cody Carlson. On lap 15, Carlson worked his way past Andrews, but by this point Simpson was already into the top five and took fourth from Carlson a lap later.

A Mikey Blevins spin on lap 18 set up a green-white-checkered finish, and on that restart Simpson blasted by Swearingen and Paull to take second, with Paull following to third. At the white flag, Simpson completed his mission by diving past VanHouse, and he edged VanHouse at the final stripe by less than a quarter-second, much to the approval of the strong and enthusiastic Canadian contingent on hand, for his first Northern Nationals win. Swearingen retook third from Paull in that final lap, and GLS Midwest Mod points champ James Vendela also used a late-race pass to take fifth.

The weekend’s traditional closing event, the fan-funded Canadian Midwest Mod Challenge, was also won by David Simpson, although fellow front-row starter Jamie Davis made it very tough on the polestarter. The 12-car field shared in a total purse of nearly $1,700, with Simpson taking the winner’s share of $250.

Information on the upcoming Gondik Law Speedway awards banquet and the 2025 season schedule will be forthcoming on the track's website, gondiklawspeedway.com.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 81-Ashley Anderson[1]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[4]; 3. 11-Pat Doar[5]; 4. 10-Daniel Bargender[13]; 5. 85-John Kaanta[7]; 6. 29F-Dave Flynn[6]; 7. 11(G)-James Giossi[8]; 8. 68-Mike Prochnow[11]; 9. 99-Billy Kendall III[3]; 10. 19-Steve Laursen[2]; 11. 31-Travis Budisalovich[10]; 12. 31T-Trent Follmer[15]; 13. 14N-Keith Niemi[16]; 14. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[23]; 15. 7-Harry Hanson[21]; 16. 37X-Skeeter Estey[9]; 17. 7C-Robbie Cooper[25]; 18. 24(E)-Eric Lillo[14]; 19. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[22]; 20. (DNF) 44-Darrell Nelson[17]; 21. (DNF) 99(M)-Mike Mullen[20]; 22. (DNF) 22E-Kevin Eder[19]; 23. (DNF) 2-Todd Gehl[18]; 24. (DNF) 21-Mike Bellefeuille[12]; 25. (DNF) 11D-Tim McMann[24]

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]

B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 44-Darrell Nelson[5]; 2. 2-Todd Gehl[4]; 3. 22E-Kevin Eder[1]; 4. 99(M)-Mike Mullen[6]; 5. 7-Harry Hanson[12]; 6. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[7]; 7. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[2]; 8. 11D-Tim McMann[11]; 9. 1L-Brad Loveday[3]; 10. 212-Mike Klippenstein[10]; 11. 34-Taylor Madrinich[8]; 12. 7C-Robbie Cooper[9]

Dash For Cash (8 Laps): 1. 37X-Skeeter Estey[1]; 2. 10-Daniel Bargender[5]; 3. 31-Travis Budisalovich[2]; 4. 21-Mike Bellefeuille[4]; 5. 31T-Trent Follmer[7]; 6. 68-Mike Prochnow[3]; 7. 14N-Keith Niemi[8]; 8. 24(E)-Eric Lillo[6]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[1]; 2. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[2]; 3. 44-Darrell Nelson[3]; 4. 22-Brandon Copp[4]; 5. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[10]; 6. 98-Al Uotinen[6]; 7. 22(S)-Cole Spacek[15]; 8. 11JR-Andrew Inman[16]; 9. 18S-Kennedy Swan[17]; 10. T23-John Toppozini[11]; 11. 2-Tanner Gehl[9]; 12. 7-Andrew Mackey[14]; 13. 19J-Jack Rivord[12]; 14. 9(M)-Riley Matthews[7]; 15. 224-Cody Wolkowski[21]; 16. 22JR-Ben Hillman[18]; 17. 24D-Duane Dale[20]; 18. (DNF) 22(J)-Jeff Spacek[13]; 19. (DNF) 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[19]; 20. (DNF) 4-Jeremy Nelson[5]; 21. (DNF) 95-Rick Rivord[8]

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:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Dylan Nelson[2]; 2. 32R-Cory Casari[3]; 3. 26-Kyle Copp[1]; 4. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[5]; 5. 27-Matt Deragon[7]; 6. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[6]; 7. 3B-Austin Blom[11]; 8. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[9]; 9. 36-Darin Meierotto[12]; 10. 77-Scott Lawrence[10]; 11. 67-Ryan Satter[18]; 12. 44-Trenton Bond[21]; 13. 6-Dan Peterson[16]; 14. 11R-Rita Anderson[25]; 15. 00-Jason Hobbs[22]; 16. (DNF) 82-Paul Gucinski[19]; 17. (DNF) T23-John Toppozini[20]; 18. (DNF) 81-Avery Anderson[24]; 19. (DNF) 19-Larry Both[23]; 20. (DNF) 77K-Rick Simpson[4]; 21. (DNF) 80-Steve Stuart[13]; 22. (DNF) 10X-Josh Schmidt[15]; 23. (DNF) 37-John Garrity[17]; 24. (DNF) 22R-Nathan Roy[14]; 25. (DNF) 2-Don Livingston[8]

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]

B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 37-John Garrity[1]; 2. 67-Ryan Satter[2]; 3. 82-Paul Gucinski[3]; 4. T23-John Toppozini[5]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[6]; 6. 00-Jason Hobbs[14]; 7. 19-Larry Both[4]; 8. 81-Avery Anderson[13]; 9. 88A-David Allen[11]; 10. 24(J)-Joshua Oleksuk[7]; 11. 01-Trevor Arens[8]; 12. 13-Simon Hachez[10]; 13. 11R-Rita Anderson[9]; 14. (DNS) 42-Myron Basina

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[18]; 2. 117-Deven VanHouse[2]; 3. 5-David Swearingen[3]; 4. 16(P)-Garrett Paull[4]; 5. 15-James Vendela[8]; 6. 30-Joey Jensen[1]; 7. 3M-McLean Andrews[7]; 8. 16-Ryan Savoy[14]; 9. 32III-Cody Carlson[9]; 10. 3D-Kevin Monteith[13]; 11. 85-Jamie Davis[12]; 12. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[5]; 13. 2(S)-Scott Splittstoesser[6]; 14. 13(K)-Nick Koehler[20]; 15. 7M-Dalton Mains[15]; 16. 187-Sam Blevins[19]; 17. 89-Kolby Reed[16]; 18. 18X-Dylan Miller[17]; 19. 55-Jesse Polson[21]; 20. 67-Glen Brown[22]; 21. 69-Justin Bassa[10]; 22. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[23]; 23. 18-Hunter Brink[11]; 24. 50-Brady Caul[25]; 25. (DNF) 10JR-Mikey Blevins[24]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[1]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[8]; 3. 89-Kolby Reed[2]; 4. 85-Jamie Davis[7]; 5. 13(K)-Nick Koehler[5]; 6. 67-Glen Brown[3]; 7. 55-Jesse Polson[4]; 8. 8A-Adam Hansen[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2(S)-Scott Splittstoesser[1]; 2. 15-James Vendela[4]; 3. 18X-Dylan Miller[2]; 4. 3D-Kevin Monteith[7]; 5. 17-Matthew Cunha[3]; 6. T25-Mark Thomas[8]; 7. 50-Brady Caul[6]; 8. (DNF) 70-David Simpson[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3M-McLean Andrews[1]; 2. 16(P)-Garrett Paull[6]; 3. 7A-Eric Anderson[2]; 4. 16-Ryan Savoy[7]; 5. 187-Sam Blevins[3]; 6. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[5]; 7. 40-Tanner Henderson[4]; 8. (DNF) 16(V)-Jason VandeKamp[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 117-Deven VanHouse[4]; 2. 32III-Cody Carlson[3]; 3. 7M-Dalton Mains[1]; 4. 18-Hunter Brink[8]; 5. 66-Bill Speak[7]; 6. 723-Wayne deBruin[5]; 7. 00(F)-Ross Fuhrman[6]; 8. 44K-Joshua Kough[2]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 5-David Swearingen[3]; 2. 69-Justin Bassa[1]; 3. 00-Jason Hobbs[2]; 4. 13-Chris Bretting[4]; 5. (DNF) 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[5]; 6. (DNF) 10JR-Mikey Blevins[6]; 7. (DNF) 10(C)-Mervin Castle III[8]; 8. (DNF) 45-Keegan Kough[7]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 18X-Dylan Miller[1]; 2. 187-Sam Blevins[4]; 3. 55-Jesse Polson[7]; 4. 21(L)-Jimmy Latvala[10]; 5. 00-Jason Hobbs[2]; 6. 44K-Joshua Kough[9]; 7. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[6]; 8. 66-Bill Speak[3]; 9. (DNF) 50-Brady Caul[8]; 10. (DNS) T25-Mark Thomas; 11. (DNS) 10(C)-Mervin Castle III; 12. (DNS) 45-Keegan Kough

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[11]; 2. 13(K)-Nick Koehler[4]; 3. 67-Glen Brown[5]; 4. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[10]; 5. 17-Matthew Cunha[3]; 6. 00(F)-Ross Fuhrman[8]; 7. 40-Tanner Henderson[7]; 8. 7A-Eric Anderson[1]; 9. 13-Chris Bretting[2]; 10. 723-Wayne deBruin[6]; 11. 8A-Adam Hansen[9]; 12. (DNS) 16(V)-Jason VandeKamp

Canadian MWM Challenge (12 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[1]; 2. 85-Jamie Davis[2]; 3. 16(P)-Garrett Paull[5]; 4. 89-Kolby Reed[10]; 5. 66-Bill Speak[8]; 6. 40-Tanner Henderson[4]; 7. 3D-Kevin Monteith[9]; 8. 18-Hunter Brink[7]; 9. 67-Glen Brown[3]; 10. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[6]; 11. 723-Wayne deBruin[12]; 12. (DNS) 50-Brady Caul