MOM NATURE DOMINATES NIGHT ONE OF BORDER BATTLE

By Jerry O’Brien
7-2-20 Superior, WI

     A sweltering hot day with temperatures nearly in the 90’s. The fourth
annual Lake Superior Border Battle commenced with the first of three full
shows culminating on the Fourth of July.
     A total of 128 cars in the six WISSOTA divisions were on hand including
14 Mod Fours which had not raced here since 2002. Topping the car count
were the Midwest Modifieds with 36 followed by the headlining WISSOTA
Modifieds with a total of 33.

     Qualifying heats as well as four Semi-Features, two each in the Midwest
Modifieds and Modifieds were completed and it was on to the main events.
     Cory Storck and Brandon Mehrwerth led the full field of two dozen cars
to the green flag with Mehrwerth taking the lead. Following were Jason
VandeKamp and Mark Kangas. With one lap completed, Brady Uotinen and
Wyatt Boyum tangled in turn one. Also caught up in the incident was Cody
Carlson. Uotinen and Carlson were out. At the restart Mehrweth retained the
lead over Storck, VandeKamp and Scott Splittstosser. Mehrwerth stayed out
front as Kangas moved to second, VandeKamp third, Storck fourth while
Jack Rivord, Justin Jones and Splittstosser battled for fifth. The top three,
Mehrwerth, Kangas and VandeKamp stayed the same while Storck was
fourth and Jones won out for fifth. There was a caution flag with four laps
remaining and, on the restart, Jones went to third, Storck was in fourth and
Rivord got past Kangas for fifth. With two laps left, VandeKamp swept past
Mehrwerth to the lead and pulled away for his third win of the season here.
Mehrwerth, Jones, Storck and Rivord finished in the top five.
     James Vendela had the point for the 15 lap Pure Stock feature but Dusty
Caspers grabbed it away on the first lap. Vendela, Aaron Bernick, Cory
Jorgensen and Trevor Treviranus followed. Bernick shot past the leaders and
raced out front and pulled away. Caspers ran second and Jorgensen moved up
to third. Jorgensen got by Caspers for second and began to track down
Bernick, caught him on the final lap and took the win, number four for him.
Bernick, Treviranus, Caspers and Vendela were in the top five.
     Tyler Larson swept the Mod Fours with wins in the second heat and the
15 lap feature. Blake Erickson won the other heat. Robert Holtquist started
from the pole and led the first lap. A caution flag slowed the action before
another lap could be completed. The restart saw Tyler Larson take over the
point where he stayed through three more caution flags taking the first Mod
Four feature win since 2002. Sixth starting Tommy Bawden finished second,
Holtquist third, Gerrald Nohner fourth and Erickson fifth.
     The featured WISSOTA Modifieds brought a full 24 car field to th green
flag and Pole sitter Ashley Anderson led the first circuit. Adam Ayotte then
took over and led the next seven laps until Anderson went back in front.
Quickly moving into contention were Dan Ebert, Jody Bellefeuille, Johnny
Broking and Al Uotinen. Two laps before half way of the 30 lap feature,
Broking took the lead only to lose it to Anderson the next time by. Ebert was
third, Bellefeuille fourth and Uotinen fifth. Anderson stayed in front while
11th starting Shane Sabraski got past Uotinen into the top five. With five laps
remaining, Broking again made the pass for the lead and this time made it
stick. Anderson began to fade as first Ebert, then Bellefeuille got past.
Sabraski suffered a rare DNF, the only starter not to finish, leaving fifth to
Uotinen at the checkered flag. The win marked back to back features at GLS
for Johnny Broking. In a rare occurrence, the 30 lap main was completed
without a single caution period.
     Track and WISSOTA National champion Kevin Burdick started from the
pole in the 25 lap Super Stock feature. He led the first two laps until frequent
visitor Dexton Koch took the lead for two more laps. Sabraski stared fourth
in the Super Stock feature and wasted little time taking over out front. In hot
pursuit but not making much headway was Burdick, Koch, Willie Johnsen,
Scott Lawrence and Kyle Copp. The first caution flag flew with 13 laps to go
marking 43 consecutive feature laps without a slowdown. The caution was
for the staled car of Rita Anderson in the first turn. The caution flag served to
bunch up the field behind Sabraski, but to no avail s he was able to pull away
from the pack at the restart. Burdick tried to track him down but was unable
to get close enough as Sabraski was too strong. Sabraski recorded his sixth
feature win in the Super Stocks at Gondik Law Speedway. Burdick, Koch,
Johnsen and Lawrence were the top five. Don Eishens came from 13th to
finish just outside the front five in sixth. Tristan LaBarge, Doug Koski, Jim
Gullikson and Andy Grymala rounded out the top ten.
     The final feature of night one of the Lake Superior Border Battle was 15
laps for the WISSOTA Hornets. Corey Mehrwerth started in sixth and made
his way to the lead after a battle with AJ House, DeJay Jarecki, Kyle House,
Kristy Marken and Derek Ament. Fifth starting Brennan Schmidt AJ House,
Carter Reiland and Jarecki ended up in the top five in an event that only saw
two caution flags. Hornet heats went to AJ House ahead of cousin Kyle
House and Carter Reiland won the second heat ahead of eventual feature
winner Corey Mehrwerth,