MARS, NELSON WIN TWIN PORTS TWIN 25’S
By Jerry O’Brien
7-22-22 Superior, WI
The annual Twin Ports Twin 25’s event was the finishing event of the six
straight day XR Northern Storm Series/Structural Buildings (WISSOTA) Late
Model Challenge Series along with WISSOTA Modifieds and WISSOTA
Midwest Modifieds on the card.
Friday the 22nd of July turned out to be a perfect day for this huge event
featuring twin 25 lap Late Model features. The perfect day brought out racing
fans, literally in droves to the Gondik Law Speedway filling all the grandstands
both front and back stretch as well as fan parking on the back stretch and around
the third and fourth turns of the four-tenths mile high banked oval.
All of the events during the pervious week drew large amounts of cars in the
three divisions participating and this was no exception as there were 135 cars
filling every space available. Numbers included 51 WISSOTA Late Models, 35
each in the Modifieds and Midwest Modifieds as well as a visit from 14 USAR
Late Models.
Extensive qualifying heat races were run with the Late Models running five as
well as a pair of B Features to qualify participants in the Twin Ports 25’s portion of
the show. WISSOTA Modifieds had four heats and a B Feature, the Midwest
Modifieds had four heats and a B Feature while the USAR Late Models had a pair
of heats and a feature.
After the extensive qualifying races were complete, the USAR Late Models ran
a 15 lap main event won by Dylan Kromschroeder ahead of Lance Hofer and Brett
Schafer.
Then it was time for the 25 lap sprint for the WISSOTA Late Models as the
first of two features rolled onto the track. Jimmy Mars and Kevin Burdick filled
the front row as the green flag flew. Mars went for the lead but rookie Late Model
racer Burdick out muscled him and grabbed the point. Mars was second, Cole
Searing took third, Pat Doar and Dan Ebert were in the top five. Burdick then spun
out of the lead in the second turn bringing out another caution flag. At the restart
Mars took over the lead as Doar moved to second and Searing third Ebert fourth
and James Giossi moving up to fifth. The third caution flag flew for Skeeter Estey
in the fourth turn and on the restart Mars locked in the lead with Doar shadowing
him in second. Searing grabbed third with Giossi fourth and Ebert back to fifth.
Another caution flag appeared in turn three as Burdick had more problems and
went to the pits on the hook. The restart came with a dozen circuits remaining and
Jimmy Mars holding onto the lead. The race continued to the end without further
incident with Mars firmly in control. In the final few laps Jeff Massingil found a
groove to his liking on the bottom and began to slip past others as Mars completed
the win with Doar second just as Massingill arrived in third. Giossi and Searing
finished in the top five as Ebert, Ryan Mikkelson, John Kaanta, Jody Bellefeuille
and Deven VanHouse rounded out the top ten.
The Midwest Modifieds were first up in the open wheel part of the show with a
24 car field set for a 20 lap event. Wyatt Boyum of International Falls, MN, a
regular weekly participant at Gondik Law Speedway led the field to the green flag
and showed every intention of staying in front until the checkered flag. Justin
Bassa stared to his outside on the front row and the pair took the lead followed by
Cody Carlson, Ryan Savoy, Cole Chernosky and Shane Howell. While Boyum
solidified his lead, Bassa, Carlson and Savoy battled for the second spot. Boyum
showed no signs of weakness as he showed the way on the point. Bassa won the
battle for the runner up spot leaving Carlson, Savoy, Chernosky and Kennedy
Swan squabbling for third. Savoy secured the spot, Carlson began to lose ground
as first Chernosky got past followed by Swan. Carlson rebounded to take back
fifth from Swan and Howell. Swan then moved up to the fourth spot past
Chernosky, Cole Boston moved to sixth leaving Carlson in seventh as the race
came to a close. There was no caution flags in the event and 22 of the starting 24
drivers were on the track at the end.
Next a 25 lap feature for the WISSOTA Modifieds as the 35 car field was
whittled down to a 24 car field. At the green pole sitter Ryan Gierke jumped to the
lead over Andy Jones, Clayton Wagemon, Al Uotinen, and Jack Rivord. A pair of
laps were run off but a caution flag slowed the action. Racing resumed with 23
circuits still to go but things went from bad to worse as there was a multi car
incident in turn four. After it was cleaned up, and the green flag flew, Jones took
the lead shadowed by Wagemon and Gierke. Tenth starting Shane Sabraski knifed
his way through the field to arrive in the fourth position. From there he began to
work on the front group. He first picked off Gierke, then set his sights on
Wagemon for the number two spot. Meanwhile, Wagemon was not deterred from
going for the lead past Jones. He did manage the pass to grab the lead but Sabraski
continued his pressure, got past Jones and began to put pressure on Wagemon who
now had the lead. The pair battled back and forth and, with six laps remaining,
took over the top spot. With three laps remaining, the third caution flag appeared
when Colin Chaschuk stopped just off the front stretch on the grass. Sabraski was
on point when the green flag came out and led the rest of the way for the win.
Gierke got past Wagemon to second and Dan Ebert’s strong run from the 21st
startng slot ended at fourth while Jones hung on for fifth. Darrell Nelson, Jody
Bellefeuille, Al Uotinen, Dave Cain and Brandon Copp filled out the back half of
the top ten.
With everything else finished it was then time for 25 more laps for the Late
Models to finish the Twin 25 lap format. It is the practice in this twin 25 lap
feature, that the winning driver must select a blind number and that number will
dictate the inversion of the field. Jimmy Mars’ selection seemed impossible as the
winner of the first race picked the number 14 meaning that he would start on the
outside of the seventh row for the second event. This inversion also put Darrell
Nelson on the pole next to Travis Budiaslovich with Jayme Lautigar and Sam
Mars forming the second row. John Kaanta and Ryan Mikkelson made up the
fourth row and Dan Ebert and Cole Searing finished the top ten. Giving the pole
position to a veteran like Darrell Nelson seemed to tilt things very much in his
favor. This proved to be true as at the end of 25 laps he crossed the finish line first
for the win. Budiaslovich also found a nice groove and took the easy ride to
second place. Jeff Massingill was mired deep in the pack starting 12th just ahead of
Jimmy Mars. It took Nelson little time to race out to a commanding lead over
Budiaslovich who, in turn, pulled out a similar lead on Lautigar. Sam Mars moved
up to a distant fifth while the as Deven VanHouse rebounded to move back
forward behind Sam Mars. With no caution flags Darrell Nelson continued on to
take the easy win with Budiaslovich, Massingill, Lautigar in the top four. Jimmy
Mars arrived at the tail of the top five and proceeded to take the fourth spot
marking ten cars passed from his 14th starting spot. Lautigar hung on for fifth. Sam
Mars, Deven VanHouse, James Giossi, Dan Ebert and Pat Doar finished in the top
ten.
This edition of the Twin Ports Twin 25’s marks the 18th season this event has
been run. There have been 34 feature events according to records.
