Northern Nationals dodge Weather, Nelson tops field
Posted under Headlines, Results by admin on September 7th, 2008
The 20th annual Budweiser Northern Nationals scheduled for Friday and Saturday September 5th & 6th stood on a precarious precipice as Mother Nature threatened to shut down the event on Friday night. Scheduled to compete were the IRA Sprint Cars as the headliner along with the WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Super Stock and Midwest Modified divisions. A 30 percent chance of rain became 100 percent in the afternoon but track officials were able to get the track worked in, run hot laps for all divisions and field the first Midwest Modified heat race when the rains once again appeared. This time it was too much for the track to handle and it was decided that everything would be done on the following day with hot laps at 3:30 and racing at 4 p.m. Unfortunately the sprint car portion had to be cancelled as there was no rain date for them. Saturday afternoon there were scattered sprinkles but not enough to deter the program from starting on time. It was decided that the Friday portion of the program, sans Sprint Cars would be presented first. After heat action in both divisions, the Midwest Modified feature lined up first with Thunder Bay’s Kevin Montieth on the pole flanked by Taylor Leuthner. Montieth jumped to the lead but was soon overtaken by Andy Jones who made the pass six laps into the 25 lap event. Montieth stayed with him for a lap but Jones soon began to widen the gap. Behind Montieth and challenging was Leuthner with E. J. Hietala and Steve Stuart trailing in the top five. A short distance back Deven VanHouse was holding off Skeeter Estey, Jeff Marshall and Scott Herrick for sixth. The always fast Marshall charged into fifth with 14 laps remaining but Dan Kingsley brought out the caution flag with a spin in turn one bringing Jones back to the pack. At the green flag Leuthner made a try for the lead but failed and he, Montieth and Stuart went three wide for second. Montieth regained second spot as Jones again drove away from the field. Marshall continued to charge forward up to third with Stuart fourth and Leuthner back to fifth. The final caution flag appeared when Grant Southworth spun in turn two. The restart came with five circuits remaining and Jones was able to hold off Marshall for the win. Stuart got past Montieth for third and Leuthner held on to fifth.
Joe Oliver led the 25 car Super Stock field to the green flag but it was Ryan Aho driving Rick Milinkovich’s #47 who grabbed the early lead. Oliver held second over Tim Johnson and Mike Bellefeuille along with Dale Gangl in the top five. With a lap recorded the first of two caution flags appeared when D. J. Dondelinger spun. Aho held the point at the green flag but what would prove to be the final caution flag flew for a Bruce Johnson spin in turn one. At the restart Tim Johnson got the jump on Aho and took the lead. Johnson began to widen his advantage leaving a four car battle for second behind. Oliver went to the high side to secure second with Bellefeuille third and Gangl fourth as Aho began to slip back. Oliver and Bellefeuille began to gain ground on Johnson and, with 16 circuits remaining, Bellefeuille blew into the lead. At the mid point the order stood at Bellefeuille, Johnson, Oliver, Gangl and Andy Davey in the top five followed closely by Scott Lawrence, Aho, Josh Anderson, Randy Spacek and Aaron Wilson in the top ten. Bellefeuille was soon in lapped traffic nearly a straight away ahead of Johnson and the rest and raced to his second special event win in a week. That concluded the Friday portion of the Northern Nationals. After a brief break for track maintenance aided by a brief shower, and a pit meting for the Saturday portion of the event that included WISSOTA Late Models and Modifieds along with the Superior Pure Stocks, racing resumed. It was also the Como Oil & Propane WISSOTA Modified Series race # 6. On hand were a total of 51 Modifieds, 32 Late Models and 28 Pure Stocks. After heat races and B Features and the three divisions, the first event to take to the track was the 30 lap Modified feature.
Ryan Aho led the 25 car pack to the green and took the lead while Duane Dale followed through from inside the second row into second. Darrell Nelson, current Como Series point leader Al Uotinen and Rookie Greg Chesley ran in the top five. Chesley was holding onto fifth but Trent Follmer slipped past as up front Dale closed on Aho. The only caution flag of the event appeared when Nick Lavato ended up against the bask stretch wall. At the green Dale and Aho battled for the lead and Dale took the spot. Behind him Nelson, Follmer and Aho were three wide for second with Jason Miller making an appearance in the top five after starting 10th and Uotinen ran in sixth. At the 15 lap mark Dale had a substantial lead over Aho, Nelson, Folmer and Miller and was beginning to lap the field. With nine laps to go, Nelson made his way to second and began to close on Dale and drove up to his rear bumper. Nelson managed to nip by Dale with an inside move with two laps remaining and held on for the win. Dale, Follmer, Miller, and a surging Jayme Lautigar in fifth. Uotinen slipped to 8th at the checkered flag but retained the Series point lead by five points over Nelson and eight points over Aho going into the final race. Officials decided to sandwich the 20 lap Pure Stock feature in between the Modified and Late Model features. Jeff Christman and Josh Loucks led the 26 car field to the start, a three wide affair as Richard Dzelak moved up to challenge. Christman captured the lead but the lead bunch ran in a pack in the early going. Charging forward from the 10th starting spot was Chad Carlson driving the “Grocery Getter” Station Wagon. He took the lead with five laps in ahead of Dzelak, Christman, Matt Johnson and Zene Anderson. The first caution flag appeared when Al Rapp took an unexpected spin. The next caution flag came on the restart when Kerri Shultze tipped Roland Gordon around in turn four. Dzelak’s run ended on lap seven as he adjourned to the pits leaving Loucks in second. With nine laps remaining Johnson brought out the caution flag with a hard hit into the back stretch wall. At the green light, Carlson led Loucks, his brother Tim Carlson, Pat Van Ert and Anderson. Loucks and Tim Carlson tried to go three wide with Chad Carlson but the resulting contact flattened Loucks’ right front tire. The brothers Carlson battled side by side on the white flag lap and younger brother Chad managed to beat out Tim for the win. 2008 track champion Van Ert was third, Anderson fourth and Loucks held on for fifth.
The Saturday portion finale was the 35 lap WISSOTA Late Model feature which started 25 cars, Tim McMann was given the provisional as the highest track regular point driver to fail to make the feature. Harry Hanson started the main event on the pole with defending Northern Nationals champion Jake Redetzke to his outside. Redetzke blasted into the lead on the first lap over Hanson, Adam Hensel in the #33x, Kerry Hanson and Darrell Nelson. Redetzke raced away to a huge lead and was cruising in the early going. Ten laps into the event Redetzke had all but left the sight of the second place battle between Hanson and Hensel which Hensel soon won. With 14 laps complete, Redetzke began to lap the field and Hensel began to make up ground on the leader. Nelson began to track down Harry Hanson while Kerry Hanson ran fifth. Hensel caught Redetxke with 13 circuits left and was right on his bumper as redetzke came up on older brother Jesse and managed to put him between the two front runners. It was only a temporary fix, however as Hensel was soon gnawing at Redetzkes rear bumper and foiled his plan to defend his Northern Nationals title with a pass for the lead in the closing laps. Hensel then pulled away for the win. Nelson, Harry Hanson and Rick Hanestad up from 14th in the top five. There were no caution flags in the event.
Results 20th annual Northern Nationals Superior Speedway
WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Modified Como Oil & Propane Modified Series (51 cars)
(10 lap heats top four to feature)
Rick Gondik Heats
Heat 1: Darrell Nelson, Al Uotinen, Kelly Estey, Nick Lavato, Robbie Bunkelman, Jeff Spacek, Bill Byholm, Wayne Stricker, Mark Johnson, Jesse Ogston DNF Rick Rivord
Heat 2: Ryan Aho, Duane Dale, Brent Larson, Shaun Kreyer, Bob Broking, Ken Hron, Jason Gross, Jason Zdroik, Jad Carlson
Heat 3: Jayme Lautigar, Jason Miller, Scott Splitstosser, Dale Matheson, Keith Tourville, Steve Lavasseur, Jeff Hart, Deven VanHouse, Jodi Olson DNF Cory Crapser
Heat 4: Greg Chesley, Trent Follmer, Dave Cain, Rick Cannata, don Copp, Cory Sersha, Kelly Estey, Kyle Gavel DNF Ricky Roche, Marcus Damjanovich
Heat 5: Jeff Wood, Jody Bellefeuille, Jon Henkemeyer, Dean Yrjanainen, Paul Niznik, Paul Schultz, Kelly Checkalski, Scott Hudack, Jeremy Gross DNF Bryan Nayes
Mirror Images Day Spa B-Mains
B Feature #1 (top two to feature) Bunkelman, Byholm, Niznik, Hron, Tourville, Hart, Sersha, Crapser, Rivord, Johnson, Checkalski, Gavel, Zdroik, Jason Gross, DNS Damjanovich B Feature #2 (top two to feature) Spacek, Copp, Schultz, Lavasseur, Jason Gross, Broking, Stricker, Hudack, Nayes, Damjanovich, VanHouse, Ogston, Ollson, Lightner DNF Carlson DNS Roche
Castrol Syntec Pole Dash
Dash: Aho, Nelson, Dale, Uotinen, Follmer, Chesley, Lautigar, Bellefeuille, Wood, Miller
Fortune Bay Casino A Main
Feature (30 laps) Nelson, Dale, Miller, Lautigar, Aho, Cain, Uotinen, Chesley, Larson, Spacek, Wood, Estey, Yrjanainen, Bellefeuille, Byholm, Henkemeyer, Splitstosser, Bunkelman, Kreyer, Matheson, Cannata DNF Lavato, Copp, Broking
