Superior Speedway Crowns Track Champions

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Sept 11

Mark Fleischer

SUPERIOR – For one of the first times all season Mother Nature did cooperate and it was a great night for racing on day two of the 22nd Annual Rick Gondik Law Offices Northern Nationals at the Superior Speedway.

There were three classes left to crown the 2010 Northern National and 2010 Superior Speedway champion with the Saturday racing. A very nice crowd showed up to watch racing on a very well groomed and fast track.

In the Late Model division Pat Doar already had the 2010 track championship wrapped up with a 71 point lead going into the weekend. Doar was not on hand to race for the weekend. 26 late models showed to race for the $2,500 first place payout.

In the first heat it was Paul Parker who took the checkered flag winning his first heat of the year, he was followed by Chad Mahder and Darin Meierotto. In the second heat the winner was Ashley Anderson who also picked up his first heat win on his first appearance of the season. Adam Hensel finished second and Tim McMann third. In the third heat of the night it was Don Copp who won his third heat of the season with John Henkemeyer finishing second and Brent Larsen third. And in the fourth and final heat of the night Harry Hanson won for the second time this season he was followed by Darrell Nelson and Joey Ogston.

With 26 cars they were all put into the A-Main to race 35 laps. Anderson started on the pole and jumped out to the lead he was challenged early by Parker and then for the final third of the race by Nelson with Nelson pulling up along side-by-side on a number of occasions but could not get around Anderson and Anderson would win the 2010 Rick Gondick Law Offices Northern Nationals. Nelson finished second followed by Hensel who was coming on strong towards the end. Hanson finished fourth followed by Meierotto and Larsen.

The Como Oil and Propane Modified series was also on hand for the night. Starting the race night it was Darrell Nelson who had a 26 point lead over Al Uotinen for the 2010 track championship.

In the first Rick Gondick Law Office heat race it was Dean Yrjanainen winning his second heat race of the season at the Superior Speedway. He was followed by Scott Hudack and Andy Jones. In the second heat of the night Jeff Spacek took the checkered flag for the first time in 2010, Paul Knauf finished second and Nick Lavato third. Heat 3 went to Joey Jensen the current series points leader; he was followed by Kelly Estey and Jeff Broking. In heat 4 it was Jayme Lautigar who won for the first time winning he was followed by Paul Schultz and Robby Bunkelman. And in the final heat of the night Rick Kobs was the winner followed by Greg Chesley and Kelly Checkalski.

In the Tim’s Automotive Machine’s Pole Dash Greg Chesley drew the number 1 Frisbee and was on the pole. He jumped out to the lead early in the 8 lap race and never looked back taking the checkered flag and picking up the $200 prize it would also put him on the pole for the A-Main.

Before the A-Main there were two B-Mains with the top two drivers advancing. In the first B-Main Bill Byholm, fresh off his win the week before at the Labor Day Shootout in Hibbing, took the checkered with Cory Sersha getting the other transfer. In the second B-Main Rick Rivord would win and Jamie Davis finished second. Darrell Nelson who dropped a drive shaft in the heat race and experience problems and had to pull off the track in the B-Main would use his provisional to get into the A-Main. Nelson was also second to Jensen in the series points.

In the A-Main it was Chesley from the pole who jumped out to the early lead but it was Jeff Spacek who had the strong car and took the lead and went on to win the 30 lap feature. The fast and tacky track did take its toll on the participants with only 14 of the starting 25 cars finishing the race. Yryanainen would finish second and after the race he made the announcement that this was his last race as he would be retiring from racing. Jensen finished the race third followed by Broking, Ryan Aho and Craig Thatcher. The Como Modified series will continue on September 30th in Proctor. Despite car problems all night Darrell Nelson held on to win the 2010 track championship.

In the final night of Pure Stock racing, 29 cars showed up. Richard Dzelak Jr. would come into the night with a 21 point lead over Pat Van Ert in the season’s points race.

It was Ken Tody Jr. winning the first heat of the night; it was also his first win of the season in Superior. He was followed by Chad Carlson and Al Rapp. In the second heat Van Ert would win his 6th heat race of the season, Dustin Follett would finish second and Steve Udeen third. In heat 3 it was Tom Cornelison picking up his first win of the season, he was followed across the line by Andy Udeen and Travis Zembo. And in the final heat Josh Loucks would win his first heat of the season followed by Rick Cornelison and D.J. Keeler.

In the Semi-Feature Matt Madsen would find himself taking the checkered flag with Dale Suomala second and Matt Hammitt. The long fast track would also take its toll on the pure stock division with only 13 of the 25 cars who started the A-Main finishing; this of course caused a number of cautions prolonging the finish of the race.

But when it was said and done it was Van Ert who won his second feature of the season. He ironically won the opening night of the season and the final night. With his feature win and his heat win he also collected a 5 point bonus for the sweep which would pull him to within eight points of Dzelak. But Dzelak who was experiencing transmission problems finished the race in 5th and claimed the season points championship. In the A-Main it was Al Rapp who finished second followed by Ashley Smith, Josh Johnson, Dzelak and Mark Hudack.

The 2010 Superior Speedway track championships went to: Late Models-Pat Doar, Modifieds-Darrell Nelson, Super Stocks-Mike Bellefeuille, Midwest Modifieds-Scott Herrick, and Pure Stocks-Richard Dzelak Jr.

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