NELSON, MASS, DAVIS, FEGERS, SAVOY TOP NORTHERN NATIONALS DAY TWO

By Jerry O’Brien
9-9-17 Superior, WI

Another cool, clear early Fall day greeted the full house of race fans as day two of the 29th

annual Rick Gondik Northern Nationals sprang into life. Full pits were also the order of the day

as 170 race teams crammed them to near over flowing. For the finale the WISSOTA Late Models

replaced the sprint cars and the WISSOTA Pure Stocks joined up for their seasons finale.

Racing began earlier on Saturday as is the custom with hot laps at five o’clock and racing set

to begin at five thirty. The car count was such that only the Late Models and Pure Stocks did not

need any B Features. There were two each in the Modifieds and three in the Midwest Modifieds.

The quality of the cars on hand saw several of the normal front runners forced to qualify for their

respective main events through the B Features. Eighteen heat races and seven B Features later it

was time for the first of five main events.

Number one on the docket was a 20 lap event for the WISSOTA Pure Stocks. Former track

champion Ryan Savoy took the lead from the outside of the front row and quickly took the lead

by several car lengths over Al Rapp, Kyle Copp, Cory Jorgenson, Randy Graham and Jared

Akervik. Three laps in Graham was turned around in turn two for the first caution. At the green

flag Copp managed to get past Savoy and led the next four circuits, but Savoy came right back to

retake the point. After this exchange it settled down behind the two with Jorgenson, Graham and

Rappunning in a line. Nothing changed up front as the half way point was reached, but there was

some turmoil outside the front five. Andrew Hanson began to make some moves on Rapp while a

pair of #15’s moved forward, Justin Madsen and James Vendela. With two laps remaining,

Graham and Hanson tangled and the call went against Graham effectively removing him from

contention. Savoy went on to take the win with Copp, Jorgenson, Hanson and Rapp in the top

five. It was Savoy’s first Northern Nationals feature win. Savoy announced that this was his last

race at the speedway in the Pure Stocks as he plans to move to the Midwest Modified ranks in

2018.

Next up it was 25 laps for the 25 car Midwest Modified field. Dan Kingsley and Jamie Davis

led the pack to the green flag and it was Davis who got the jump from the outside. Randy Laage,

Wyatt Boyum, and Brandon Copp ran in the top five early. Davis continued to pull away from

Kingsley as Boyum got by Laage. Copp was fifth ahead of Dave Flynn and Skeeter Estey who

was looking for his second win of the weekend. Davis continued to be the class of the field as

Boyum moved past Kingsley to second and Estey’s march forward continued one lap at a time

until he was third behind Boyum. At the mid point Davis had a huge lead and Estey made the

pass to second, but that was as close as he got as Davis, Estey, Boyum and Kingsley were

uncatchable. A caution flag was needed for anyone to have a chance to catch the top four, but

none was forthcoming as, in stark contrast to the previous night’s feature, the race went green to

checkered without one. The entire 20 lap race took seven minutes to complete and it was Davis’

second career feature win.

All 24 WISSOTA Late Models then took to the track for their 40 lap feature with Darrell

Nelson leading the way to the green flag. Nelson grabbed the lead at the green with Travis

Budiaslovich, Jay Kintner, Kyle Peterlin and Marshall Fegers in tow. It soo became obvious it

was going to be a battle between Nelson and Fegers with Budiaslovich and Peterlin a few car

lengths behind. Fifth place would contain several drivers as no caution flags slowed the action.

Jesse Glenz, Terry Lillo and Mike Prochnow would occupy the spot. The battle for the lead got

steadily further away for third place and heated up considerably as Fegers hounded Nelsonuntil

he made his move to the lead. Nelson reciprocated and again led until the first caution flag flew

when Tim McMann spun in turn three. The restart came with 25 laps to go and Nelson continued

to lead Fegers. Budisalovich was third and Prochnow fourth. Those four began to widen the gap

back to Peterlin in fifth. Up front a good four car battle developed with Nelson hanging onto the

lead. Fegers again found the right line and got by Nelson and raced away to a big lead which

disappeared with ten laps to go as Peterlin had problems bringing out the caution flag number

two. Fegers was equal to the task and led the rest of the way for his first Northern Nationals win.

Prochnow got by Nelson for second, Harry Hanson, in his last Northen Nationals race, finished

fourth and Jesse Glenz rounded out the top five.

Marshall Fegers joined his father Steve Fegers as a Northern Nationals Late Model feature

winner and stated that this was his first feature win in Wisconsin.

WISSOTA Super Stocks were next for their 25 lap feature. Cory Davis and Dave Mass led the

24 car field to the green flag and it was Mass, fresh off his win on night one, who took the lead.

Davis stayed with him briefly before Shane Kisling eased into the second spot. Kevin Eder,

Shane Sabraski and Shawn mcFadden, jr as well as track champion Kevin Burdick and Tim

Johnson were in the mix as a nice battle formed behind Mass. A caution flag slowed the action

with 18 laps left. The restart saw Mass continue to lead Kisling, Sabraski, McFadden and

Johnson as Davis faded back. Johnson continued his march from the 17th starting spot toward the

front arriving in second place with ten laps remaining. Mass had such a huge lead there was no

catching him and Johnson had to settle for second. Dave Mass doubled up the Super Stocks at

the Northern Nationals for his 23rd feature win of the season. Johnson, Sabraski, Jeff Klopstein,

Jr and Kisling were top five finishers.

The Modifieds were the last to run their scheduled main event, for 30 laps. Jody Bellefeuille

and Darrell Nelson led the two dozen ground pounders to the green flag. Bellefeuille led the first

lap but Nelson zipped past to the lead the next time around. The ever present Shane Sabraski,

Brady caul, Cody Wolkowski and Jeremy Nelson were close behind. Three laps in, Ashley

Anderson’s bad luck continued as he stalled against the fourth turn wall bringing out the caution

flag. The restart saw Nelson continue to lead with Bellefeuille continuing the chase. Sabraski,

Nelson and Wolkowski remained the top five but Andy Jones was on the move to sixth. Nothing

changed in the front four for a few laps but Jones got by Wolkowski to fifth. Bellefeuille found a

way to pressure Nelson and got by to lead for another lap before Nelson regained the lead. After

that attempt, there was no catching Nelson and he defended his 2016 Northen Nationals Modified title, his sixth in the Modified to go along with four in the Late Model. Sabraski, Bellefeuille, Jones and Jeremy Nelson finished in the top five. Some notable finished in the top ten included Tim Johnson 7th from 16th, Dave Cain 8th from 15th, Brandon Jensen 9th from 18th and Mike Anderson 10th from 17th.