Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Pierce Dominates XR Superior Showcase

 For the second straight year, the XR Super Series would make an appearance at the Gondik Law Speedway in Superior Wisconsin for the "Superior Showcase," a fifty lap Late Model event paying the winner a cool twenty grand. Along with the open Late Models of the XR Series, the WISSOTA sanctioned Modifieds and Midwest Modifieds would also compete in a full program on Monday night, August 7th. 

It would be a busy weekend for the Gondik Law Speedway as on the previous night, Sunday the 6th, the rain delayed Twin Ports Twin 25's, a WISSOTA Structural Buildings Challenge Series race would be held at the same speedway with the Modifieds and Midwest Modifieds as the supporting classes on that night. Thirty eight Late Models would compete in that event along with full fields in the two Modified classes. The open motored Late Models would also get some practice laps at the end of the night too, a preview for the fans of the drivers that would be racing on Monday night. 

Then, just twenty four hours later, the XR Late Models would be at center stage for their event. To the credit of the local race fans, both events packed the grandstands at the venerable Head of the Lake Fairgrounds in Superior with perhaps the biggest group and both fans and drivers from North of the border since the onset of Covid which completely ended their chances of visiting for racing for a couple of years. And they have always been  great supporters of racing in the Twin Ports and both their presence as fans and competitors has been missed. 

It is always a bit unsure, given its far North location, just how many of the national traveling stars would pull this far North for a one night show before they head down the road. It was very difficult to predict just what the numbers would be but everyone was more than pleased when thirty four Late Models signed in to race. Fifteen of the top sixteen in current XR points  were on hand for this event, the closest race all year to XR owner Barry Braun's residence in Silver Bay Minnesota. Many of the national driving stars that fans from this area longed to see and just don't get the opportunity to very often were on hand, and were supported by local and area competitors who did quite well against the traveling stars. 

With incentives to join the field, five WISSOTA drivers entered the event running their spec engines cars just as they were. Another seven had multiple cars, running WISSOTA legal cars on Sunday while going to open motored cars for the Monday night show. Ironically, the WISSOTA legal cars managed to put three in the feature field while only one of the open motored cars made the show and that was Dustin Sorensen who made it on the random draw for the last starting spot. 

Jonathan Davenport would be the quickest qualifier of the night but things would go down hill from that point and he would fail to finish the main event. Chad Mahder, an area racer was quick qualifier for the second group and was leading a heat race when he got dumped by another competitor and ended up going from what looked to be a great starting spot for the main to not even making the show, a bitter blow. 

Pat Doar, the current Challenge Series point leader and former traveler with the World of Outlaws, would show that his knowledge of this track was helpful as he got the crowd on their feet by passing Davenport on the tall side of the track to win a heat race. He would run in the top five for most of the feature before fading at the end. 

Four heats and a pair of B Features would set the running order for the XR Series main event, run first on the card to make it easier for the Monday night spectators to hit the road home if necessary. 

The main would see Bobby Pierce lead from start to finish as the race didn't play out to spectacularly on this night. Pierce was dominant as he took the lead early and never was seriously challenged in fifty laps. The race had three yellows, all in the first half of the event and all for minor spins but each time the green would fly, Pierce would pull away. Ashton Winger, the last driver to arrive at the track, would run second for the first half of the race before being passed by Chris Madden. Madden would then chase Pierce but never really get close enough to provide a challenge on the super slippery red clay oval. 

The biggest charge was put on by Ricky Thornton Jr who's early efforts were not good as he was forced to start fifteenth on the grid but by the halfway point had worked his way up to fifth and he would continue to charge. He got up to third but then seemed to stall out there and that would be his finishing position with Winger and Ricky Weiss completing the top five. Pierce was just dominant on this night, as he has been so often this year with seventeen of the starters still on the track at the finish with four a lap down. 

Doar would benefit with an extra grand for being the top finishing spec engine car in the field with Kevin Burdick and Sketter Estey also getting bonus money. 

Twenty seven WISSOTA Modifieds would be on hand for the second night of this racing doubleheader with all starting the main event. For the second straight night it was Rice Minnesota's Shane Sabraski who would win the Modified main and collect a grand for his efforts. Unlike Sunday night, when a last lap pass would be needed for him to best Jody Bellefeuille, Sabraski would lead the vast majority of the race on Monday. 

There were however, three leaders in the first five laps as Billy Kendall would lead the opening round before being passed by Dave Cain. Cain couldn't hold off the charge of Sabraski however, with the feature field being lined up by passing points.

Lap five would see Sabraski drive past Cain and he would lead the rest of the way in what would be a nonstop twenty five lap main event. Bellefeuille would move up to second and try to avenge Sunday night's disappointment when Sabraski passed him on the final lap but he would have to settle for second as Sabraski was gone for the win. Cain would settle for third. 

The Midwest Modified feature would see current national point leader Zach Benson from Princeton Minnesota charge past Andrew Inman on lap seventeen to win the twenty lap MidMod feature. Inman had taken the lead right at the start and while Benson quickly moved to second, it took him much of the race to find a way past Inman would has reading every Benson move and countering. Finally Benson was able to get beside the leader and once he did so, he was able to make the winning pass. 

Brady Larson made the charge of the race, as he started tenth on the grid and almost caught the two leaders while they were battling and snuck past both. Benson, however, was just able to make the wining pass before Larson arrived and while Brady was able to pass Inman for second, Benson would hold on for the win. Only two in the starting field of twenty two failed to finish the event.. 

I was not just sure how this night would play out but XR was able to provide what was probably the strongest field of open Late Models ever seen here at Gondik Law and with a big crowd of satisfied fans on  hand and the local promoters happy, I would expect this partnership to continue in the years to come. The XR folks also did the promoting of the Challenge Series race here with Bucky Doren being the point man for XR all weekend while Chris Stepan was the Challenge Series Director as well as being Race Director for the Monday night show. Announcing duties were shared on Monday with Iowa's "Big Boy" doing the XR portion and Nick Gima calling the shots for the WISSOTA divisions. 

Thanks to both groups for their help this weekend. 

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