KYLE COPP WINS FOURTH CAREER PURE STOCK FEATURE AT AMSOIL SPEEDWAY
By Jerry O’Brien
6-23-17 Superior, WI
Mon Nature tried her best to again stop racing at AMSOIL Speedway Friday, but track
officials persevered beating back the rain and saved the racetrack from near race time showers. It
was Meet the Drivers night and that program proceeded when officials herded all of the 103 race
cars present out onto the paved fairgrounds midway. That way the track prep crew was able to
continue working the wet track into a raceable surface.
The racing program got underway more than an hour and a half late but track officials did
their best to hustle the program along. After qualifying heats set the five main events, the first to
move onto the racing surface were the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds a nice field of 22 cars was
set for a 20 lap go. Don Craig led the first caoule of circuits, but the crashing started early. Craig
led lap one in a close battle with Cody Carlson, who had run away with his heat race, Jeff
Forseen, Jason Vandekamp, Mark Kangas and Dan Kingsley closely following. The first caution
came with one in the books as George Truscott went around in turn two. The caution was hung
on Karl Kolek. A lap later the caution lights blinked on for David Simpson in turn two. At the
same time Carlson retired from competition. Craig still led but his days were numbered as eighth
starting Vandekamp shot past Craig to a lead he would never relinquish. Once he got out front he
widened the gap between himself and Craig who had a like distance on third place forseen.
Vandekamp and Craig took control while Skeeter Estey, who had flagged off from tenth, was up
to third. Estey soon moved to second while Kangas captured fourth leaving fifth to Deven
VanHouse. It soon became apparent that Craig Lofdahl’s #Crazy1 had plenty of speed. After
failing to finish his heat, Lofdahl started the feature in 21st and was work his way forward until,
when Simpson crashed into the fourth turn wall, Lofdahl found his way to third just at the
midpoint. As the laps wore away toward the conclusion, Vandekamp had opened up a huge lead
with Estey second and Lofdahl third. Vandekamp could not be caught and won his first career
feature at AMSOIL Speedway, Estey stayed second, Lofdhal’s stellar run ended in third and a
strong Dan Kingsley and Nick Daronco rounded out the top five.
Next up was 20 laps for the WISSOTA Super Stocks. Adam Shinn led the scheduled 19
starters to the green flag. The event was a troublesome on to get started as Shinn spun sideways
in front of the pack in turn two. Matt Deragon, Tommy Richards and Nick Oreskovich were all
involved and Kevin Burdick managed to drive right through the mess with no damage. Shinn
survived the mele and was sent to the rear. The restart produced more trouble as Tristan LaBarge
found himself sideways at the bottom of turns 1-2. Oreskovich had continued after the first
caution with Scott Lawrence dogging his tracks, debris brought out the caution setting up the
fourth try at a good start. Oreskovich held the lead over Lawrence, Dave Flynn, Burdick and
Richards with Burdick, Richards, Derek Vesel and Jim Campbell. This bunch held sway over the
race for the next several laps. With 11 laps remaining, caution flag number four appeared as
Cooper Berlin and Marcus Simonson tangled. Oreskovich still held onto the lead with Flynn and
Lawrence second and third. The restart saw Oreskovich pull away from Flynn who had gotten by
Lawrence. The fifth caution flag appeared when Kern slowed. Only nine laps remained when
racing resumed. Lawrence went high in turn two and Burdick and Vesel sailed past. Burdick
soon worked his way to second and went past Oreskovich on the white flag lap. Oreskovich stuck
his foot in it and whipped by on the final turn, final turn capturing the popular win. Flynn,
Lawrence and Vesel finished second through fifth. Rita Anderson, the only female currently
racing at the speedway who is a Super Stock rookie, stayed out of trouble and got her first top ten
finish in the division.
Next the mighty ground pounding WISSOTA Late Models to the track for their 25 lap event
which have been known to go from flag to flag. Not this one, as Darrell Nelson brought the field
to the green flag and raced off to a long lead, but after five laps, Travis Budiaslovich spun in turn
one. With five laps complete, Nelson extended the lead over a stout Trevor Wilson with Robbie
Cooper and Tim McMann. Nelson steadily pulled away from Wilson until the caution again
appeared with eight laps remaining. Wilson clung to second as he looked to have one of the best
runs of his career going. He was able to maintain the spot but Pat Doar managed to overhaul him
with a couple laps left. Rick Hanestad also got by as Wilson slipped to fourth and Tim McMann
captured the fifth spot. It was Nelson’s first Late Model win at the speedway this season.
Modified action was next and outside pole sitter Jeff Broking grabbed the point only to have
the caution flag come out for Paul Wrazidlo. With one lap complete, Jeff Broking stayed out
front for several laps in front of Tyler Kintner until eighth starting Buzzy Adams worked his way
to second and grabbed the top spot. From there Adams led the rest of the way for his first win at
the speedway. Jeff Broking held second until the last few laps when Darrell Nelson slipped into
second, too late to catch Adams. Bob Broking got by cousin Jeff Broking for third. Neil Balduc
and Kintner were in a wheel to wheel battle for fifth, they bumped in turn four and Kintner spun.
Balduc was charged as the incident occurred heading for the checkered flag, Kintner was
awarded fifth and Balduc was penalized to 13th, the final car on the lead lap.
The WISSOTA Pure Stocks finished the program with their 15 lap main event. With such a
fast track due to the unwanted precipitation, everyone was fast and the first lap of the feature
looked like rush hour as it was too close to tell who led the first lap with a six car pack all
crowding toward the line. With the close racing it was inevitable that there would be clashes and
the first came with one lap in the books, a caution that sent Justin Madsen to the pits. Caution
flags two and three came on successive restarts, the first for a Caitlyn Carlson spin in turn two,
and the second when Carlson’s car stalled at the entrance to turn one. Two consecutive caution
flags sent her to the pits. A clash in turn two caught first time visitor George Richards to the pits
with damage to the car. On the restart former track champ Ryan Savoy grabbed the lead over
Dylan Shelton, Cory Jorgenson, Mike Blevins and Tyler Copp. The order remained that way for
several laps as Copp began a charge forward and soon wrestled the lead away from Savoy.
Annika Hammitt was having a nice run from 15th up to sixth when a spin in turn one ended her
night. The restart came with three laps to go and Copp was equal to the task as the “King of the
Speedway” Mike Blevins who had won every event he had raced in at the speedway was unable
to mount a charge and had to settle for third behind savoy. Shelton and Jorgenson rounded out
the top five.
