6/26/2020
Gondik Law Speedway
BROKING AND SABRASKI (again!) PULL OFF WINS AT GLS FRIDAY
BROKING AND SABRASKI (again!) PULL OFF WINS AT GLS FRIDAY
"Retired" Late Model Star Makes Triumphant Return In A Sprint
By Jerry O'Brien (6-26-20)
On a perfect night for racing a total of 111 racecars came to Gondik Law Speedway to compete in another semi-special event featuring UMSS Winged and Non Winged Sprint cars along with the WISSOTA Modifieds, Super Stocks, Hornets and Pure Stocks.
Also paying a visit to the speedway were the Northern Vintage Stockcar Racer club with a nice group of vintage race cars in both the Full Bodied and Super Modified classes. The Full Bodied class was swept by the #55 of Gary Whipple of Crosby, MN while the Super Modified heat went to Dennis Olson of Braham, MN and the feature was won by the "X" of Butch Bathke.
After all qualifying heats were in the books, the first feature to take to the speedway was for the WISSOTA Hornets. After a first lap crash on the front stretch that eliminated the cars of Hunter McDougall, A. J. House and last week's feature winner Jase Wiarda, for the first few laps Andrew Parendol and Rick Andrews duked it out for the lead with Andrews coming out on top. Andrews held the lead over Parendol who soon fell to the onrushing Carter Reiland on his way from eighth. Andrews tried his best but Rieland closed quickly and soon captured second. He continued his forward progress until he was able to take the lead from Andrews for the win. Kristi Marken finished third, her second straight top five finish, Parendol managed to hang onto fourth while Reid Johnson came from 14th to fifth. Marken and Rieland were heat winners.
It was a sweep for the Cory Jorgensen the defending track and WISSOTA National champ in the struggling Pure Stock division. Starting on the outside of the front row after dominating the only heat, Jorgensen bolted to the lead followed by former champ James Vendela. As Jorgensen raced away from
the pack, Vendela was hounded by Jared Akervik and several others. With two laps remaining the only caution flag flew for an incident involving Trevor Treviranus in turn two. It was a green/white/checkered finish and Jorgensen was up to the task winning his third main event this season. Akervik, Vendela, McLean Andrews and pole sitter Aaron Bernick rounded out the top five.
Twenty-seven of the 29 Non-Winged USMSS Sprints took the green flag for the 25 lap feature. Through two early caution flags, Ken Hron, mostly known as a WISSOTA Modified racer, took the early lead holding off Jon Lewerer, Harry Hanson, Denny Stordahl and Rob Caho, Jr until Hanson dropped out and did not finish. The third caution flag flew with 14 laps remaining. On the restart Lewerer stole the lead from Hron and, at the halfway point Scott Brandt in the 7B got past to second. Again the caution flag flew for a car around in turn two. The event barely got restarted when the fifth caution flag appeared with five laps remaining. It was Brandt who got the best restart and flew by Lewerer to the lead and the win. Lewerer, Stordahl, Hron and Caho finished in the top five.
The Limited Winged Sprints were up next with 13 cars in competition. Pat Heikkinen got a great jump from the fourth starting spot and grabbed the lead in the 20 lap feature. Harry Hanson followed him from third to second and set out to track down Heikkinen who was setting a blistering pace. Hanson gave chase followed by Rick Niemi, Rick Kobs, Ryan Johnson and Denny Stordahl. With nary a caution flag in sight, Hanson began to cut into Heikkinen's lead and, with laps winding down, made an attempt in turn two which failed. Hanson then worked on setting Heikkinen up for the pass, made another attempt on the white flag lap and managed to pull off the win with a last corner pass much to the delight of the fans, many of whom remember Hanson as a top notch championship WISSOTA Late Model racer for many years. Heikkinen, Kobs, Niemi and Johnson were the rest of the top five.
Two more WISSOTA features remained starting with 20 laps for the WISSOTA Super Stocks. Many time track champion Scott Lawrence led from the outside pole at the green flag shadowed by Andrew Mackey and Willy Johnsen, Jr. Dave Flynn and pole sitter Brian Carl along with Kevin Burdick ran in the second group. The always dangerous Shane Sabraski started eighth and soon began running rampant through the field in search of another feature victory. Lawrence led for several laps while Sabraski picked
off cars on his way into contention. Again, with no caution flags in sight, Sabraski worked his way by Lawrence into the lead and set sail for parts unknown leaving Lawrence to fend off Mackey and Burdick. Burdick bore down on Mackey and Lawrence leaving Flynn and Kyle Copp in his wake. He got by Mackey into third and began to work on Lawrence. It took a couple laps but he was able to pull off the pass, but it was too late to catch the high flying Sabraski who took the win by a full five seconds over Burdick. Sabraski turned the fastest lap of the event at 19.206 seconds for an average of about 75 mph. It was Sabraski's fifth feature win at Gondik Law Speedway during this season which did not start here until the very end of May.
The finale of the evening was the 20 lap main event for the WISSOTA Modifieds. The event got off to a rough start on the first lap when Tyler Luger, Devin Fouquette and Jake Hiatt tangled. The restart came with no laps in and Dan Kingsley jumped from the pole to the lead but second starting Shane Howell got around him and swiped the lead. Bob Broking and Brandon Copp hassled over second until Copp managed to capture the spot. Howell was strong out front aided by the battle going on behind him. The second caution flag occurred just before half way as Fouquette went off the inside of turn two, his second cause of a caution period. The restart actually came right at half way with ten laps remaining. Howell maintained the lead at the green but Copp managed a pass on him and was in the lead. Flying up through the pack from his 12th starting spot was Johnny Broking who has been sort of quiet this season. This night, however, he was on his game and quickly sliced through the field to second and was looking for more, but the third caution flag flew when Jody Bellefeuille, Bob Broking and Danny Vang tangled at the top of turn two. The restart came with four laps to go, but the first try was waved off. At the green Broking edged into the lead over Copp while the ever present Sabraski suddenly appeared in third. Darrell Nelson was a strong fourth and Todd Gehl's strong run from 15th netted him the fifth spot. All eyes were on Sabraski as he looked for a way to get by Broking as he looked for his second sweep of the night. This time he was unable to reel in Broking who held on for the win. Copp, Nelsonand Danny Vang ended up in the top five. Gehl, Al Uotinen, Howell, Claytom Wagemon and Bob Broking were the rest of the top ten.
Article Credit: Jerry O'Brien
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