FOURTH ANNUAL LAKE SUPERIOR BORDER BATTLE WRAPS UP
By Jerry O’Brien
7-5-20 (P-3)
The annual Border Battle presented by FYE Motorsports at the Gondik
Law Speedway wrapped up Saturday July fourth with competition in six
WISSOTA divisions.
Besides the purse money, there was some bonus money at stake, the most
prominent being an extra $1,000 if any competitor could win their respective
feature events all three days. Only Shane Sabraski in the WISSOTA Super
Stocks and Cory Jorgensen in the WISSOTA Pure Stocks had a chance at
that bonus money going into the final night of competition. Each had won
their respective features the first two nights.
Racing began, as always, with qualifying heat races in all classes
followed by a air of B Features in the Midwest Modifieds and Modifieds.
After some track preparation during intermission, it was time for the first
of six features starting with 15 laps for the WISSOTA Pure Stocks. Corey
Jorgensen started on the outside of the front row and jumped to the lead
followed by pole sitter Aaron Bernick. Moving to third was Jeremy Cash
behind the wheel of the 3m car that had been piloted by McLean Andrews.
Trevor Treviranus, Mike Schnider made up the top five with James Vendela
and Tanner Gehl next in line.. The caution flag flew for Treviranus who spun
in turn four. At the green flag, Jorgensen maintained his lead over Bernick
and Vendela worked his way past Cash to third. That order up front remained
the same for several laps as Treviranus made his way back up to fourth.
Vendela got past Bernick to second and closed in on Jorgensen and, with the
end in sight, Vendela made the pass on Jorgensen for the lead and the win.
Next was another 15 lap feature, this time for the WISSOTA Mod Fours.
At the start Robert Holtquist and Tyler Larson battled for the lead running the
first three laps side by side with no clear leader until the battle was broken up
by a caution flag flew when Trevor Voss spun at the bottom of turn two. The
restart came with 12 laps remaining and it appeared that Larson got the better
jump, but that good start went by the board when Jordan Fischer spun in
nearly the same spot in turn two for caution flag number two. The restart
came with still a dozen laps to go and this time Larson made it stick and took
the lead over Holtquist. Dustin Holtquist ran third with Justin Pogones fourth
and Justin Hammann fifth. Things settled down and the order stayed the same
to the checkered flag as Robert Holtquist secured his first win.
Third on the program was a 20 lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified main
event which got off to a rough start. At the green flag outside pole sitter
Randy Laage took the EZ1 to the lead, but, at the rear of the 25 car field a
mele’ occurred involving four cars from the first B Feature including winner
Cody Carlson, Ryan Gerike, Justin Jones and promoters choice Nick Ayotte.
Jones and Carlson too badly damaged to continue. The restart came with no
laps complete and Laage again took the lead followed by Austi Ellis, Jason
VandeKamp, Zach Benson and Andrew In,an. Two laps later VandeKamp
got past Benson, then took the lead from Laage. VandeKamp stayed out front
to take the win for his second feature of the Border Battle. Benson got by
Laage for second, Jack Rivord moved up from eighth to finish fourth and
Brandon Mehrwerth rounded out the top five.
The WISSOTA Modifieds were set for 30 laps of competition and Jody
Bellefeuille shot out into the lead from the pole with Neil Balduc in hot
pursuit. Shane Sabraski, Mike Anderson and Dan Kingsley in the front pack.
Sabraski soon slipped into second past Balduc, Kingsley was fourth and
Brandon Copp moved into the top five. Sabraski moved forward toward
Bellefeuille with Balduc third. Copp got past Anderson to third as Greg
Chesley joined the leaders as did Clayton Wageman. With 18 laps remaining,
Sabraski caught and passed Bellefeuille for the lead. Bellefeuille was able to
maintain second until there were five laps to go when Copp got past to finish
second and Mike Anderson also got past to third. Wageman who came from
16th finished fifth. Tenth starting Dave Cain finished sixth, Johnny Broking
started 15th and finished 7th, Dan Ebert came all the way from 22nd to 8th,
Chesley was 9th and Cole Spacek finished tenth.
It was the second time in three days that the 30 lap Modified Main was
completed without a caution flag, in fact, in the 90 laps of Modified action
over the three days there was only one caution flag.
The 25 lap Super Stock feature was the last chance for Shane Sabraski to
win the $1,000 bonus for any driver who could win three features in one
division over the course of the Border Battle. As fate would have it, the front
row had Sabraski on the pole and Kevin Burdick on the outside. At the green
flag Sabraski took the lead with Burdick right on his tail. Andy Grymala,
Ashley Anderson driving Wayne Dean’s number 17, Dexton Koch and Scott
Lawrence were in the mix. Burdick won the early skirmish for the lead as
Sabraski pulled up and they went side by side for a lap before Burdick
secured the lead. Koch moved to third as the race continued without a caution
flag. Anderson and Grymala were in the top five as others made their
presence felt as the players in the second half of the field began to change.
Curt Myers, Jim Campbell, Don Eischens, Doug Koski and DJ Keeler were
in the mix. The only caution flag occurred for an incident involving
Sabaraski who recorded a DNF. Burdick led the field to the green for the
final laps with Koch now second. Burdick went on to take the win, his
second feature at the speedway. Koch, Anderson, Myers, and Campbell were
the top five. Grymala, Lawrence, Eischens, Tristan LaBarge and DJ Keeler
finished out the top ten.
The 2020 Lake Superior Border Battle ended with a ten lap feature for the
Hornets who’s number had dwindled over the three days from 19 to just six.
Brennan Schmidt completed the sweep as he won the heat and led Hunter
McDougall for nearly the entire race until Jase Wiarda took over second.
McDougall, Carter Rieland and Patrick Passari were the finishing order.
