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Sabraski Sweeps Great Lakes Border Battle for $12k Payday

Shane Sabraski started off his Independence Day weekend by sweeping both nights of the WISSOTA Super Stocks and leading all 50 laps en route to the $10,000 payday in the WISSOTA Modified division at the 7th annual SERVPro Great Lakes Border Battle fueled by Superior Fuel Co. at the Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wisconsin.

The 2-day event, promoted by FYE Motorsports Promotions, kicked off on Friday night with 45 Modifieds signing in for competition in a double heat race format program, along with a full program for the WISSOTA Late Models, Super Stocks, Midwest Modifieds and Pure Stocks.

Sabraski, and defending Border Battle champion Jody Bellefeuille, were the top two drivers in overall passing points after the ten heat races were completed and earned the front row for Saturday night’s 50-lap, $10,000 to win feature race.

In feature action on Friday, Sabraski started on the pole and was never challenged en route to his first win of the weekend as he took off from the pole and got in front of fellow front row starter Jordan Henkemeyer on lap one and never looked back. Behind Sabraski, Terran Spacek and Matt Deragon raced by Henkemeyer into second and third respectively early in the 25-lap program and tried to chase down Sabraski, but as typical, Shane was up to the challenge and raced to the uncontested victory. Spacek ran second with Deragon third at the checkered flag. Henkemeyer hung on for fourth with Nick Oreskovich claiming fifth at the stripe on the final lap.

Darrell Nelson came out on top of a wild late race scramble to steal the lead from race long leader Pat Doar on the race’s final green-white-checkered restart to keep his perfect streak of winning every Border Battle in history alive. Doar lead from the front row and was able to negotiate traffic easily out front until a pair of late race restarts brought the field back to him. Travis Budisalovich and Nelson were in a great battle for second with Danny Vang and Kyle Peterlin in the mix as well. On the last restart, Nelson dove in hard to the bottom of turn one and slid in front of Doar to take the lead, which he held to the checkered. Doar was forced to contend with Peterlin on the final lap and was able to hold him at bay for runner up honors. Peterlin crossed the line third, just ahead of Budisalovich and Derek Vesel, who started 16th and raced up to complete the top five.

Jake Smith topped the Midwest Modified feature after starting on the outside of the front row and taking off on lap one and never looking back. With Smith out front, Travis Schulte and Evan Checkalski battled just behind for runner up honors until 9th starting Zach Benson put his #17b in the mix and worked by Checkalski into third. Smith raced to the win, ahead of Schulte, Benson, Checkalski and fifth place finisher Deven VanHouse.

Aaron Bernick led the Pure Stock feature early as he outdueled Tyler Kachinske on lap one from the front row, only to lose a muffler on the track while leading, surrendering the lead to Kachinske on a restart. Once out front, Tyler lead, but not without heavy pressure from 4th starting Travis Hazelton. Hazelton looked inside on Kachinske on several occasions before making the pass for good and driving off to the win for his efforts. Kachinske ran second with Josh Berg racing from fifth up to third, ahead of Dylan Shelton and Tom Treviranus, who rounded out the top five.

Saturday’s action consisted of a pair of Modified b-mains to set the starting field for the finale, along with another full program of Late Models, Super Stocks and Midwest Modifieds, plus the Hornets replaced the Pure Stocks as the fifth division on the schedule.

Jack Rivord and Mike Anderson topped the twin Modified B-mains to set the starting field for the biggest paying WISSOTA Modified race of the season.

As soon as the b-mains were completed, the fog began to roll in off of Lake Superior and the scheduled order of events was changed to get the Modifieds on the track as the first feature of the night to try to ensure getting their program in for the fans.

As indicated earlier, Sabraski and Bellefeuille lead the 24-car field to the green with Sabraski taking early control and pacing the field for the entire 50-lap distance, while Brandon Copp, Dave Cain, Johnny Broking and Darrell Nelson were in an early battle for second with Bellefeuille, until Jody got crossed up and dropped several positions, opening the door for Ryan Gierke to join the battle up front. Sabraski rolled alone up front while Gierke was working on Nelson for third as Cain ran in second early in the event. Gierke worked by Nelson and began to pressure Johnny Broking for third, while several drivers were working from deep in the field including Mike Anderson, Billy Kendall, Brandon Dolman and Adam Ayotte.

Back out front, Sabraski continued to set the pace, while Gierke got by Broking and tried to run down Sabraski for the lead, but Shane was too good out front, leading all 50 circuits and pocking his biggest career payday in the process. Gierke crossed the line in second with Broking third, but in post-race tech it was discovered that Broking lost a muffler, elevating Cain to the final podium finisher. Nelson and Copp rounded out the top five.

As soon as the Modified event was completed, the Late Models rolled onto the race track for their 35-lap, $2,500 to win event, which saw Pat Doar race from his fourth starting spot to his 302nd career win after a very entertaining battle out front with Kevin Burdick, Danny Vang and Mike Prochnow early. Vang, Doar and Burdick raced three-wide at times for the lead as the fog grew thicker and thicker. The race stayed green, allowing the drivers to get all 35-laps in with Doar coming out on top. Burdick got Vang for second with Ashley Anderson racing into the top five and crossing the line in fourth, just ahead of Travis Budisalovich, who started 11th.

At the conclusion of the Late Model feature, the fog settled in thicker and the remaining three features were postponed until Sunday afternoon.

Sunday saw some great racing action with Andrew Inman getting the jump on pole sitter Mark Froehlich and racing into the lead from the outside of the front row in the Midwest Modified feature. Once out front, Inman was pressured by fifth starting Zach Benson on several occasions, but was able to hold the lead on the ultra-slippery Gondik Law Speedway surface. Inman withstood several restarts early in the race and several attempts by Benson to steal the lead away and was able to be the last man standing and raced to his first ever FYE event victory for his efforts. Benson finished a solid second with Jason VandeKamp third in the official run down, ahead of Travis Schulte and Tanner Gehl.

Terran Spacek took the lead from the pole on the start of the Super Stock feature but Matt Deragon raced by on the outside into the lead and looked to drive off into the night, but sixth starting Shane Sabraski had other ideas and was methodically working his way through traffic until he was able to race to the lead and drive off for his third win of the weekend for his efforts. Deragon was able to run in second for the majority of the race, crossing the finish line in second, just ahead of Tommy Richards in third and Scott Lawrence, who was able to race by Spacek into fourth late in the going.

Reid Johnson put his #74 Hornet on the top of the speedway and raced from his sixth starting spot around AJ House and Justin Schelitzche who were battling for the lead early in the afternoon’s finale. Once Johnson got by into the lead, he was able to maintain his advantage to the checkered for his first career feature win. House nipped Schelitzche for second with Michael Teggatz and Blake Hawker rounding out the top five to finish off the program.

Thanks to everyone who supported this year’s Great Lakes Border Battle.

Full results can be found on MyRacePass.com.

The next FYE Motorsports promoted event will be held on Tuesday, August 1st during the 29th running of the Street Stock Little Dream Race at the Rice Lake Speedway in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

For fans not able to attend in person, every lap will be live streamed online by PayPerView at www.WatchFYE.tv.

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