BELLEFEUILLE STEALS MOD WIN AT GONDIK LAW SPEEDWAY

By Jerry O’Brien
8-9-19
Superior, WI
     It was Hall of Fame night at Gondik Law Speedway as six new members were
inducted during a dinner just before the weekly Friday night WISSOTA racing
program was set to begin. Inducted were retired drivers Bill Relpogle, Mark
Wrazidlo, Brady Smith and Dave Gillette. Cindy Bloomquist was inducted as a
Pioneer and Darrell Nelson was inducted as the Active Driver. The new Hall
members were introduced to the fans and rode around the track during the
National Anthems in classic convertibles furnished by Jack Hunker (2007) and son
John Hunker III (2014).    Then it was time to get down to business as it was not only Hall of Fame night,
but also a Race of Champions qualifier presented by Kivi Bros. Trucking.
     After qualifying hat races were completed, the first division to line up for their
feature was the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds with 20 of the 21 cars on had
making the call for the 20 lap event. The ever dangerous Skeeter Estey proved
why as he started from the pole, weathered three caution flags and led every lap
for the win. 
    At the green Estey bolted to the front but a caution flag appeared when McLean
Andrews found the fourth turn wall. The restart saw David Simpson bracketed by
the Estey brothers, Skeeter leading and Mack in third. Heat winner Adam Shinn
and Gunner Peterson were fourth and fifth. The front three remained the same but
Shane Howell rocketed forward into fourth but a debris call on the front stretch
slowed the action and the restart came with only two laps completed. Skeeter
maintained the point with Mack to second past Simpson. Howell was fourth but
fifth was usurped by Justin Bassa. While the front four remained static, fifth place
was hotly contested as Bassa, Jimmy Latvala, Simpson and Andrew Inman battled
for the spot. The final caution flag flew when Billy Milne went off the track to the
infield on the front stretch but stopped in a dangerous place. The restart saw 14
laps remaining. By this time the Estey brothers had a lock on the first two spots.
Howell was third and Latvala fourth as they broke away for the fifth place battle.
They finished in that order with Simpson winning the skirmish for fifth. 
     WISSOTA Super Stocks were next and Scott Lawrence and National point
leader Kevin Burdick were the front row. Lawrence got the jump at the green with
Burdick second, Kyle Copp third, Dave Flynn fourth and Jim Campbell a strong
fifth. Two laps in the caution flag flew when Rick Klick spun in turn two. This
time on the start Burdick found his way past to the lead. The race went the rest of
the way without another caution flag and Burdick kept getting further and further
away from Lawrence increasing his lead. Without another caution flag to cut
Burdick’s lead, it was no contest. Toward the end Campbell in third began to cut
the distance to Lawrence but to no avail. Burdick won his fourth feature of the
season at the speedway by a whopping 4.83 seconds. Flynn and Copp held on to
finish fourth and fifth. 
     All seventeen WISSOTA Late Models answered the call for their 25 lap
feature. Usually the Late Models run fast, clean races with few caution flags, but
this was not the case this night. Jeff Massingill got the jump on pole sitter Steve
Laursen at the green with Deven VanHouse falling in behind in third. Kyle
Peterlin, Don Shaw and Pat Doar battled for the fifth spot. With three laps
complete, Steve Hucovski’s car rolled to a halt on the front stretch across from the
flag stand bringing out the caution flag. The restart saw Massingill retain the lead
but VanHouse raced past Laursen to second with Shaw fourth and Petelin fifth.
Massingill and VanHouse maintained the two top spots but behind them it was a
real battle as Shaw, Peterlin, Laursen raced for position while trying to gain on the
leaders. They were soon joined by newly minted Hall of Famer Darrell nelson as
well as Pat Doar, Tim McMann and Travis Budiaslovich. Massingill was strong in
the lead over VanHouse while Shaw was gaining in the duo when the second
yellow flag appeared as Kevin Carlson ended up facing the wrong way in the
fourth turn. The restart came with ten laps complete, but it didn’t stay green long
as the skirmish between Massingill,VanHouse and Shaw turned ugly as Massingill
and Shaw’s contact began on the front stretch and ended with Massingill scraping
the back stretch wall bringing out the caution flag. Massingill left the track with
front end damage and Shaw was banished to the rear for the incident and pulled
out. When the green flag again flew there were still fifteen laps remaining and
VanHouse inherited the lead with Pat Doar in second, Nelson third, Peterlin forth
and Laursen fifth. At the half way point, the fourth caution flag flew for another
debris call. All of the other caution flags were just a preview for what was coming
next on the restart. VanHouse had the lead and tried the diamond move top to
bottom off the fourth turn but Aaron lillo was there, the two collided and set off a
giant pileup at the turn exit. When the crashing was finished, the right side of
Doar’s car was bashed in the same as it was from a heat race incident, Nelson’s
feature was over with body parts peeled off and hanging, the UPI of Terry Lillo
went off on the hook with severe damage, Budiaslovich’s #31 went of on a
rollback and several other cars showed non debilitating damage. When racing
resumed, eleven of the seventeen starters were still running and VanHouse was
sent to the rear. . Despite the damage, Doar grabbed the lead followed by Peterlin,
Laursen, Tim McMann and Kevin Eder and that’s the way they finished. The 13th,
14th, 16th and 17th starters Dave Esse, Kevin Carlson, Robbie Cooper and Chris
Lillo finished sixth through ninth and VanHouse made it back to tenth. Both
Aaron Lillo and Massingill received disqualifications.
     The WISSOTA Modifieds were up next with Darrell Nelson on the Pole with
Scott Lawrence on the outside as he continues to sit in for Rick Rivord in the
number 95. Nelson grabbed the lead at the green. Lawrence took second but Jody
Bellefeuille quickly took the spot. Al Uotinen and Shane Sabraski were the rest of
the top four. The battle was for fifth as Uotinen, Danny Vang, Johnny Broking and
Kelly Estey were all in the mix. Nelson was making sure he wouldn’t lose the lead
as Bellefeuille kept close tabs on him and Lawrence was having his strongest run
of the season in third staying ahead of Sabraski. Nelson looked to have the
measure of the field and seemed to be headed toward his 28th career main event
win at the speedway, then…a caution flag with two laps remaining for Al Uotinen
who’s run ended when he was unable to completely exit the track. When the green
flag flew for the two lap dash to the end, fortunes changed for the top three.
Nelson was unable to fend off Bellefeuille who got by for his first win of the
season at the speedway. Lawrence got overwhelmed on the restart, sliding back
through the field to finish 14th while Broking, Shane Sabraski and Vang filled in
the top five.   
     It was a twelve lap Sunday drive on a Friday for Cory Jorgensen as he moved to
the lead on the start of the Pure Stock feature and led all the way for the win and
the sweep. Jared Akervik won the battle for second getting past Jeremy Cash for
second, Trevor Treviranus, Dylan Shelton and Aaron Bernick were the finishers in
the short field.