Year End Winnings
Hanestad, Bellefeuille, Myers are First-Time Red Clay Classic Champs
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, September 29 -- First-time winners, great battles and incredible charges to the front highlighted the action at the 32nd annual Red Clay Classic at the ABC Raceway on Friday and Saturday.
Rick Hanestad of Boyceville was the biggest winner of the AmsOil Dirt Track Series program in the WISSOTA late models, weaving his way through traffic and past leader Paul Brust with 12 laps remaining to collect the $4,000 first-place check after the 50-lap main event. It was Hanestad's fourth career feature win at Ashland but first in a late model and first since June 1, 2002, in a street stock.
Jody Bellefeuille of Duluth, MN, may have been the most emotional, pumping his fist and hollering cheerfully in Victory Lane after collecting just his second career WISSOTA modified feature win and first win ever at ABC. Bellefeuille survived a clean, heated battle with Doug Gustafson throughout the second half of the 35-lap run and collected a winner's share of $3,000.
The mod main also capped off the Como Oil & Propane Modified Series, with Kelly Estey of Kelly Lake, MN, sealing the eight-race Series championship to take home a seven-foot trophy and $7,500 check after his second-place heat run on Friday.
Curt Myers of Cameron had his hands full with a charging Mike Bellefeuille in the closing laps of the WISSOTA super stock 30-lap A-main, but he held on for the $1,500 win - his third feature win this year at Ashland and eighth ever here.
All three features were fast-paced, with only six caution flags thrown over the 115 laps run. Polesitter and two-time RCC champ Steve Laursen led the late model field to the green and built a strong early lead, while divisional rookie Kyle Peterlin slipped past Caley Emerson into second three laps in. Darrell Nelson took advantage of an Emerson bobble to take third three laps later, but he lost that position to an inside move by Steve Isenberg during the next circuit.
Laursen's lead had grown to half a straightaway before the race's lone slowdown occurred on lap 11, for Jeff Broking's spin. Over the next half-dozen laps after the green flag reappeared Brust flexed his car's muscle, working the outside line to get around Isenberg and Peterlin on consecutive laps and then challenging leader Laursen for nearly three turns of the oval before taking over the top spot on lap 16. During the same laps Hanestad, who started the race tenth, had clipped his way through to fourth, with 12th-starting Joel Cryderman following into sixth.
With Brust cruising along, Peterlin threatened on several occasions to take second from Laursen. This allowed Hanestad to close the gap, set up on the high line and sweep by Peterlin into third at mid-race, with Cryderman overtaking Nelson for fifth.
Then Brust began catching the backmarkers on lap 29, which forced him to slow his pace and cost him his healthy lead. This worked to Hanestad's advantage, as he maintained a patient, steady line around Peterlin and then Laursen and drew on Brust over the next nine laps. When Hanestad finally had an opening he drag-raced Brust under the flag stand for the winning pass as the field completed lap 38.
From there Hanestad surgically maneuvered through the slower traffic until he found some open-field running over the final five laps to get to the checkered flag first. With four to go Peterlin worked through the lapped cars to overtake Brust for second, while Laursen and Cryderman held firm to fourth and fifth for the duration.
"My car really worked well on this track," Hanestad understated after the race. "There was a lot of room to run, and I could go pretty much wherever I wanted. The track prep people did a great job."
Twentieth-starting Pat Doar's impressive run to the front ended in a sixth-place effort, ahead of Nelson, five-time RCC champ Tom Nesbitt (who started 22nd), Isenberg and 21st-starter Gordie Seegert.
Kent Baxter outran polesitter Scott Hudack through the first two turns of the mod main event and captured an early advantage, but Gustafson quickly wrestled the lead away a lap later. With five laps in Dave Cain ran at a distance behind the lead pair, just before a Larry Prochnow spin slowed the pace for the first time. During the lap after the restart Cain got by Baxter and challenged Gustafson for the lead, and then Baxter's car slipped out of the racing groove and bobbled, forcing Nelson to spin trying to avoid contact and bringing about a quick second caution flag.
From there the race ran uninterrupted, and this worked right into Jody Bellefeuille's favor. Restarting third, he took second away from Cain on lap 8 as Gustafson began building a significant lead over the next three circuits. Cain and Doar maintained their top-four runs, while the 16th-starting Estey snuck by Bill Byholm for fifth.
Bellefeuille worked the outside groove to perfection, cutting into Gustafson's lead noticeably on every lap, until he had pulled alongside the leader on lap 15. It took three more laps for Bellefeuille to clear Gustafson, while Estey worked the inside line to slip past Doar for fourth. Bellefeuille kept a steady pace to maintain his lead, and Gustafson stayed right with him but could not recapture the lost ground as the laps quickly clicked off. Meanwhile, Doar's car came to life over the final 12 laps, picking off Estey and then Cain to move to third.
Bellefeuille completed his run by putting a couple of cars a lap in arrears for the very popular win, with Gustafson directly in his wake. Doar was a distant third but had perhaps the fastest car over the final laps, while Cain and 19th-starting Craig Thatcher completed the top five. Estey led the second five, ahead of Byholm, Don Copp, 22nd-starting ABC mod champ Dean Yrjanainen, and Jayme Lautigar, who used a Como Series provisional to start dead last on the 26-car grid.
"This is fantastic!" Bellefeuille gushed in Victory Lane. "I can't believe it! I want to thank all the fans for sticking around. This is great!"
Lautigar's effort also helped him hold off Cain for second in the final Como Series standings.
Myers started on the pole of the super stock A-main but had nothing resembling a runaway win. In fact, he had to retake the lead away from fellow front-row starter Randy Spacek after two laps. A circuit later Dave Emerfoll looped his ride to bring about the first of only three caution stops.
Two laps after the restart, surprising divisional rookie Kevin Eder brazenly challenged the veteran Myers and took over at the front, while Mike Bellefeuille raced side by side with Spacek for third and Trevor Wilson battled with Ken Truscott for fifth. But on lap 10 Myers charged back around Eder and pulled dead even with the Ashland rookie under the flag stand, and Bellefeuille claimed third just before defending event champion Tim Johnson was spun for the race's second yellow flag.
On the restart Bellefeuille stole second from Eder and immediately pressured Myers for the lead as the two pacesetters pulled away from a heated battle for third. Included in that battle was Joe Oliver, who started dead last on the 25-car grid but restarted 13th. Within four laps of the restart Oliver had swept around eight cars to appear in the top five for the first time, and he didn't stop there.
On lap 15 Eder retook third from Spacek, and a circuit later track champ Scott Lawrence knocked Spacek back another spot. On lap 18 Lawrence went after Eder and claimed third, but all this was well back of the heated battle up front between Myers and Bellefeuille.
The big lead margin disappeared when Emerfoll spun for the second time on lap 21, but the lead pair pulled away again to another strong lead over the nail-biter battle for third. Oliver, who had grabbed fourth from Eder just before the final caution slowdown, slipped to the inside to pass Lawrence for third to complete his incredible run. Meanwhile, Myers stayed steady and true to his line as he held off the determined Bellefeuille over the final nine laps for the impressive win.
Myers was generous with his complements of the race, the track and his fellow drivers. "It's really great when you can race 30 laps with 20-some other super stocks on a track and not get all beat up. Mike raced me really clean. I enjoy racing here, and now I can get my name on the back of one of those t-shirts!" he told the packed-house crowd, referring to the commemorative shirts that are sold at invitationals.
Lawrence, who started 18th, and Eric Olson, who began the race 24th, joined Oliver as top-five drivers with unbelievable to-the-front efforts. Spacek, Eder, Truscott, Brian Mikkonen and Wilson completed the top ten and a strong showing by ABC Raceway regulars.
Two frightening crashes punctuated the preliminary events. During Friday's third heat of late model action, Keane Laakson and Nick Musel were battling for a feature transfer position when they made contact coming out of turn 4. Musel's car turned sideways in front of Laakson's, began to barrel-roll and then stood up on end before landing on its roof on the front straight. Musel was a little shaken but otherwise uninjured, and, with help from the Darrell Nelson race team, he was able to get the car repaired and came back out for Saturday's semi-feature, where he finished 14th.
Also on Saturday, during the first modified B-main, Jeff Wood and Bryan Nayes were also dueling for a spot in the feature when they collided coming out of turn 4. The impact caused Nayes' car to turn sideways and roll onto its driver's side; Wood's car literally drove up and over Nayes' upended passenger-side and planted itself nose-first into the red clay, held up in the air by Nayes' car. Wood was able to extricate himself, but it took several minutes to lift his car up before Nayes could exit his. Again, neither driver was injured.
After 187 racers ran through their paces in the 21 heat races on Friday, the Saturday portion of the program was delayed nearly 2-1/2 hours by light rains. But once the sprinkles subsided, some intense track-prep work produced a wide, smooth racing surface that was lightning-fast and provided plenty of traction for the remaining preliminary events and the three features in unseasonably comfortable temperatures under cloudy skies.
The total car count included 75 super stocks, 73 modifieds and 39 late models. A record total purse of just over $70,000 was paid out.
Mid-States Equipment A Feature
Jody Bellefeuille, Duluth, MN; Doug Gustafson, Frederic; Pat Doar, New Richmond; Dave Cain, Corcoracn, MN; Craig Thatcher, Knapp; Kelly Estey, Kelly Lake, MN; Bill Byholm, Glidden; Don Copp, Brule; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Jayme Lautigar, Superior; Jason Miller, Osceola; Scott Hudack, Ashland; Ricky Roche, International Falls, MN; Duane Dale, Aurora, MN; Brad Hanson, Mountain Iron, MN; Jeff Hart, Hibbing, MN; Jerry Weigel, Abbotsford; Shawn Kreyer, Hayward; Kent Baxter, Dorchester; Paul Niznik, Medford; Wayne Stricker, Highbridge; Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford; Scott Duval, Bloomer; Darrell Nelson, Hermantown, MN; Larry Prochnow, Menomonie; Al Uotinen, Superior.
Rick Gondik Law Office Heats
Heat 1: Gustafson; Niznik; Steve Lavasseur, River Falls; Kevin Monteith, Thunder Bay, ON; David Baxter, Eau Claire; L Prochnow; James Cimfl, Clayton; Mark Baxter, Dorchester; Mike Goodremote, Sand Creek.
Heat 2: Bellefeuille; Bunkelman; Rick Cannata, Hibbing, MN; Rick Rivord, Superior; Bob Broking, Grand Rapids, MN; Dan Sellung, Mason; Weigel; Jad Carlson, Duluth, MN; Brent Prochnow, Menomonie.
Heat 3: Hart; Doar; Uotinen; Kreyer; Steve Isenberg, Marshfield; Shawn Polonoski, Thunder Bay, ON; Charlie Hillukka, Elk River, MN; Bruce Belland, Eagle River; Shawn Kelley, Somerset.
Heat 4: Cain; Duval; Hanson; Steve Wik, Downsville; Roche; Joey Jensen, Forest Lake, MN; Lautigar; Kelly Checkalski, Poplar; Aaron Wilson, Menomonie.
Heat 5: K Baxter; Nelson; Ken Hron, Nashwauk, MN; Rich Lofthus, Bloomer; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Jeff Wood, Chisholm, MN; Marc Damjanovich, Hibbing, MN; Kevin Rogers, Unity.
Heat 6: Byholm; Copp; Yrjanainen; Mark Hessler, Menomonie; Tim Alexander, Stanchfield, MN; Ross Lightner, Washburn; Ross Prochnow, Knapp; Joe Olson, Superior; Mike Sauvola, Iron River.
Heat 7: Dale; Stricker; Mike Mueller, Wyoming, MN; Thatcher; Mickey Nosser, Phillips; John Frydrych, Butternut; Mike Anderson, Colfax; Darrel Hazelton, Chippewa Falls; Fred Aschenbauer, Deerwood, MN.
Heat 8: Hudack; Estey; Miller; Bryan Nayes, Chippewa Falls; Tim Jackson, Bemidji, MN; Don Brightbill, Hudson; John Carpenter, Hibbing, MN; Paul Knauf, Marshfield.
Taco Johns Pole Dash
Pole Dash: Hudack; K Baxter; Gustafson; Cain; Bellefeuille; Dale; Byholm; Hart.
Fortune Bay & Casino B-Mains
Semi-Feature 1: Weigel; Hanson; L Prochnow; Aschenbauer; Alexander; Lavasseur; Lofthus; Rivord; Belland; Isenberg; Frydrych; Wood; Nayes; Olson; Brightbill; Mueller; Goodremote; Jensen; Wilson.
Semi-Feature 2: Miller; Roche; Kreyer; Cannata; R Prochnow; B Prochnow; Spacek; D Baxter; Hron; Rogers; Checkalski; Hessler; M Baxter; Nosser; Hazelton; Sellung.
Semi-Feature 3: Thatcher; Yrjanainen; Uotinen; Lautigar; Broking; Hartman; Anderson; Jackson; Lightner; Polonoski; Damjanovich; Wik; Carlson; Monteith; Cimfl; Sauvola; Carpenter; Kelley.