MADSEN WINS IRA SPRINT MAIN, NELSON WINS SEVENTH NORTHERN NATIONALS MODIFIED FEATURE
By Jerry O’Brien
9-7-18 Superior, WI
Kerry Madsen broke Bill Balog’s string of IRA Sprint Northern Nationals wins
at two straight Friday night at Gondik Law Speedway. Madsen also won the third
heat for the sweep. Madsen was also fastest in hot laps but it was Parker Price-
Miller who set fast time of the 26 Sprint Cars on hand with a time of 13.969
seconds besting Sprint Car Hall of Fame star Sammy Swindell who turned a lap of
13.984 seconds. No other contestant was under the 14 second mark. Davy
Heskins. Who was not in attendance, still holds the track record with a lap of
12.655 seconds.
Skyler Gee started from the pole and kept the #99 out front through three of
the four caution flags during the 30 lap $3000 to win main event. Dogging his
tracks was Jake Blackhurst who was tied with Scotty Thiel for the lead in the IRA
point standings going into the main event. Balog and Madsen were running in the
top four when the first caution flag flew for Thiel who restarted in the rear with
eight laps complete. Moving forward from the ninth starting slot was Price-Miller
and Swindell was up to ninth after being forced to go to a backup car after a
double flip in his heat race. On the restart there was another caution which reset
the field with Gee, Blackhurst, Balog, Madsen and Price-Miller in the top five. A
few laps later caution flag number three appeared when Price-Miller stopped the
#71 at the top of turn two and was towed off. The caution came just short of half
way. Gee held on to the lead at the restart for another five laps but then Madsen
was able to make the pass for the lead moving from third to first. There was a
fourth caution flag as it appeared that Balog might be losing air from the right rear
tire. The restart came with three laps to go and Madsen held on to take the win.
Gee hels off Terry McCarl with Balog fourth and Blackhurst fifth. Swindell’s
charge from the rear ended up with a tenth place finish.
Next up was the Midwest Modified 20 lap feature with defending champ Jamie
Davis starting from the pole. Next to him was Brandon Copp. At the start Davis
bolted to the lead but it turned out to be a no start as Craig Lofdahl experienced
trouble in turn one. The start saw Copp grab the top spot from Davis and held on
to it as Wyatt Boyum, Jack Rivord, Skeeter Estey and Dan Kingsley battled for
position. Estey worked his way past Copp to second and set out after Davis.
Making his way into the picture was Shane Howell who got by Boyum to fourth.
Estey slowly cut into Davis’ lead which disappeared when another caution flag
flew for the #24m of Jonathan Marsh. The restart order at this point was Davis,
Estey, Copp, Howell and Kingsley with Andrew Inman, Rivord and Jason
Haugerud in the picture. Davis was in control until he lost control off turn four
bringing out the final caution flag. This incident turned control of the race to Estey
who made the most of the opportunity leading the final four circuits giving him
back to back wins in the 2018 Northern Nationals and his 27th feature win of the
season. Howell, Kingsley, Copp and Inman rounded out the top five.
Then it was the Super Stocks turn with 25 laps to settle it. The event started off
with a grinding crash before the entire field could take the green that eliminated
Scott Lawrence and Shane Sabraski both of which left on the hook without ever
taking the green flag. Kevin Eder took the point at the start with Kevin Burdick
following him through to run second with Dave Mass in the mix. Those three
battled amongst themselves with Cory Davis, Cory Casari and Doug Koski
skirmishing a few lengths behind. Mass spn off turn four and Eder was charged
and sent to the rear. Mass held the point on the restart but suddenly darted into the
infield off the fourth turn and out of the race. That left Burdick with the lead over
Dave Flynn, Davis, Nick Oreskovich and Koski. The #12k of DJ Keeler erupted
and laid down fluid on the front stretch bringing out caution flag number two. At
this point there were 15 of 24 starters left. Burdick maintained the lead while
Flynn held onto second until Oreskovich slipped by to second. At this point the
caution light again blinked on this time for Keith Kern’s spin in the first turn. With
an eye to the time, officials trimmed the event down to seven laps to go. The
restart did not go well as Davis was involved in a first turn incident that left the
#20 on it’s side propped diver’s side down against the #1 of Cory Casari. All
drivers were okay and the officials called for a two lap green/white/checkered
finish. Burdick extended his win streak for special events to three straight. Flynn,
Oreskovich, Jim Campbell and Pat Beeksma were top five finishers. Eder
rebounded to finish sixth in a field that saw only 13 of 24 starters running at the
end.
The final main event of day two of the Northern Nationals was 30 laps for the
WISSOTA Modifieds. Andy Jones led the two dozen to the green flag and quickly
jumped to the lead over Andy Davey, Deven VanHouse, Danny Vang and Darrell
Nelson. While Jones widened his lead, Johnny Broking and Nelson got by Davey
and closed in on Jones. Also moving forward was Ashley Anderson. The caution
flag flew when Donnie Lofdahl stopped on the track. The restart came with 22 laps
remaining. Jones held onto the point while Broking and Nelson joined up to make
it a three car battle that moved away from Anderson, Vang, Davey and Steve
Stuart. At the midpoint Jones held onto the lead over Nelson and Broking as they
were joined by Anderson and Vang. Nelson made a run and took the lead at the
flag stand but Jones returned the favor which let Broking into second. The caution
flag then appeared when Broking stopped on the front stretch with heavy damage
to the nose of the 45j. At the restart Jones led Nelson with Anderson, Stuart, Vang
and Jody Bellefeuille up from his 17th starting spot to fifth. Nelson kept the
pressure up, tried a pass and made it stick with five laps to go. Nelson led the rest
of the way and secured his seventh Northen Nationals Modified title. Jones,
Anderson, Mike Anderson (from 18th) and Bellefeuille (from 17th) were the top
five.
