Mondeik bests Jones on late restart to capture Kids Night win
WAUSAU, Wis. (June 30) – A showdown in the final laps between the visiting star and the reigning champion gave fans a dramatic finish at State Park Speedway Thursday night, but as he often has over the last three years, Justin Mondeik again had the answer.
With visiting NASCAR Cup Series driver Erik Jones on his outside on a restart with five laps left, Mondeik got a good jump and went on to win the Auto Select Super Late Models 75-lap feature that highlighted L&W Supply Kids Night at the speedway. The win was the fourth feature win of the season for the Gleason driver, the two-time defending champion in the class at the track.
Mondeik took the lead for good on lap 20 and led the rest of the way, including getting the best of three restarts in the final 25 laps. He bested a healthy field of 17 cars for his fourth feature win of the season and 11th at State Park dating back to the beginning of last season.
Mondeik got off to good starts on restarts all night, including lining up on the outside of Travis Volm of Wausau on a lap 20 restart. He gained an advantage coming to the green flag and cleared Volm one lap later for the top spot.
Volm continued to follow closely behind Mondeik most of the first 50 laps but slowly began losing contact as the leaders encountered lapped traffic. Jason Weinkauf also was close behind Volm in third as the cars raced to a competition caution with 25 laps remaining.
While the leaders cruised to the planned yellow flag, Jones was making a dash from the very back of the field into contention. The Richard Petty GMS Motorsports driver who races full-time on NASCAR’s premier series was racing as part of a six-race super late model schedule this summer for Chris Wimmer and Wimmer Motorsports, but he had to go to the pits just four laps into the race after a chain reaction on the backstretch led to Jones getting into Mark Mackesy and Aaron Marthaler and M.G. Gajewski also all getting collected with light damage.
Restarting 17th in the 17-car field, Jones worked his way into the top 10 by the time Brock Heinrich spun in turns three and four on lap 20. He soon after surpassed early leader Kolton Guralski for sixth on lap 28, got inside Tristan Swanson and into the top five on lap 31 and then passed Noah Gajewski after contact on lap 44.
Jones eventually got inside Volm for third with 15 laps left, while the race up front had Mondeik fighting off a charge from Weinkauf. The Merrill driver who has been in contention but just short of victory all season got as close as Mondeik’s rear bumper in turns three and four several times but could get no closer. The race appeared to be over when with five laps left Noah Gajewski spun on the backstretch, setting up a final five-lap dash to the finish.
Weinkauf chose to start behind the leader Mondeik on the restart, allowing Jones a chance to restart on the outside of the front row. The anticipated battle fizzled quickly, though, as Jones drifted high coming out of turn four and Mondeik was clear for the lead shortly after the green flag dropped.
Weinkauf also got by Jones on lap 72 and finished second for the fifth time in six features this season. Volm also got by Jones with two laps left, after the two made contact in turn three fighting for the same spot on the track. Dillon Mackesy of Athens finished fifth with a strong run coming up from the 15th starting position.
Auto Select Super Late Models pres. by C-Tech
Fast Qualifier: Levon Van Der Geest, Merrill, 13.977 sec.
First Heat: 1. Jerry Brickner, Wausau; 2. James Swanson, Pembine; 3. Aaron Marthaler, Glenwood, Minn.; 4. Mike Cox Jr., Hazelhurst; 5. Dillon Mackesy, Athens
Second Heat: 1. Tristan Swanson, Elko New Market, Minn.; 2. M.G. Gajewski, Wausau; 3. Noah Gajewski, Marathon; 4. Kolton Guralski, Wausau; 5. Brock Heinrich, Wausau; 6. Mark Mackesy, Wausau
Third Heat: 1. Travis Volm, Wausau; 2. Rayce Haase, Wausau; 3. Jason Weinkauf, Merrill; 4. Erik Jones, Huntersville, N.C.; 5. Van Der Geest; 6. Justin Mondeik, Gleason
Feature: 1. Mondeik; 2. Weinkauf; 3. T. Volm; 4. Jones; 5. D. Mackesy; 6. M. Mackesy; 7. K. Guralski; 8. Heinrich; 9. Haase; 10. T. Swanson; 11. Brickner; 12. M.G. Gajewski; 13. N. Gajewski; 14. Marthaler; 15. Van Der Geest; 16. J. Swanson; 17. Cox
Seliger sweeps Dash Series, Stankowski shakes off bike wreck and Lecher earns second career SPS feature win
WAUSAU, Wis. (June 30) – No matter the series, car or surface, George Seliger has been just about unbeatable this season, and Thursday night was no different at State Park Speedway.
Seliger won his third feature race in three appearances this season at the Rib Mountain quarter-mile, this time racing with the Midwest Dash Series. The Wausau driver finished off a clean sweep, also setting fast time and winning his heat race with the compact car touring series, which races with the same rules as State Park’s weekly Snap-on Mini Mods class.
Seliger took the lead from Phil Malouf on lap 17 and won a five-lap side-by-side race between past State Park mini mods champions that followed the race’s lone caution halfway through the 30-lap feature. The Wausau native slowly pulled away and added to a resume this year that also includes feature wins on the dirt at Tomahawk Speedway.
Four different drivers held the lead in the first half of the race while Seliger was stuck in traffic early, but once loose he made his way through quickly. Malouf took the lead from Gary Garand on lap 13 and Seliger followed him into second one lap later. He restarted outside Malouf on the front row on lap 16 after a spin by Josh Tanguay, and the two ran side-by-side for five laps but Seliger slowly gained the advantage and cleared for the lead on lap 19.
Mitch Stankowski of Wausau continued his success in the Advance Auto Parts Pure Stocks with another feature, and did so essentially with one hand after an accident earlier in the night-in a bicycle race.
Stankowski participated in a bike race among SPS drivers at the conclusion of Wausau Noon Optimists Club Kids Night bicycle races at intermission, but shortly after the start his bike flipped end over end, with Stankowski ending up in a heap on the ground.
He injured his wrist but with an assist from his sister Megan, a physical therapist and crew member on the team, had it heavily wrapped and iced for the pure stock feature. Unable to wrestle the car as he typically might, Stankowski still moved into second behind Alex Volm of Mosinee on lap 8 of the 25-lap feature. He slowly caught Volm and finally found an opening on the inside on lap 23 to make the pass and win his fourth feature of the season.
Tom Lecher picked up his first feature win of the season in the Rockstar Energy Drink Mini Stocks, outrunning Eric Breitenfeldt in a battle of Wausau racers.
Lecher took the lead from Tyler Muller of Sun Prairie on lap 9, but then had a mirror full of Breitenfeldt for the second half of the 20-lap race. Lecher held a two-car length lead while using a high line coming out of the corners, but Breitenfeldt could never get much closer and finished second for his sixth top-three feature finish of the season.
The victory was the second career feature win at State Park for Lecher and first since 2019. Lecher has been especially strong at Golden Sands Speedway and Marshfield Motor Speedway in recent years, winning championships at both tracks. Wins have been harder to come by at his home track, though he set fast time and finished fourth a week ago and had a string of five straight fast times between the three tracks until Zach Budleski was fastest Thursday night in qualifying.
State Park Speedway will take a break next week with no racing but will return Thursday, July 14 with the Dave Lashua Memorial. Super late models, pure stocks, mini mods and mini stocks will race with qualifying beginning at 6 p.m. and racing to follow at 7 p.m.
Advance Auto Parts Pure Stocks
Fast Qualifier: Mitch Stankowski, Wausau, 15.350 sec.
Heat: 1. Jevin Guralski, Wausau; 2. Brian Schramm, Wausau; 3. Stankowski; 4. Brett Breitenfeldt, Wausau; 5. Alex Volm, Mosinee; 6. Brian Plisch, Athens; 7. Scott Riedner, Waunakee
Feature: 1. Stankowski; 2. A. Volm; 3. J. Guralski; 4. Schramm; 5. B. Breitenfeldt; 6. Plisch; 7. Riedner
Midwest Dash Series
Fast Qualifier: George Seliger, Wausau, 15.751 sec.
First Heat: 1. Shawn Kemnetz, Hancock; 2. Mark Dewey, Janesville; 3. Josh Tanguay, Jefferson; 4. Anna Malouf, Rhinelander; 5. Merek Pankow, Jefferson
Second Heat: 1. Seliger; 2. Phil Malouf, Manitowish Waters; 3. Gary Garand, Weston; 4. Scott Ciesielski, Plover; 5. Chad Ferge, Wausau
Feature: 1. Seliger; 2. P. Malouf; 3. Garand; 4. Ferge; 5. Ciesielski; 6. A. Malouf; 7. Dewey; 8. Tanguay; 9. Kemnetz; 10. Pankow
Rockstar Energy Drink Mini Stocks
Fast Qualifier: Zach Budleski, Wausau, 16.687 sec.
First Heat: 1. Kendra Baumann, Wausau; 2. Joey Blaschka, Wausau; 3. Zack Rogers, Wausau; 4. Tyler Muller, Sun Prairie; 5. Brad Lecher, Wausau; 6. Amanda Rowe, Mosinee; 7. Max Manowski, Wausau
Second Heat: 1. Brad Abt, Schofield; 2. Garret Strachota, Wausau; 3. Tom Lecher, Wausau; 4. Budleski; 5. Eric Breitenfeldt, Wausau; 6. Branden Sischo, Stratford
Feature: 1. T. Lecher; 2. E. Breitenfeldt; 3. Strachota; 4. Abt; 5. Muller; 6. B. Lecher; 7. Budleski; 8. Blaschka; 9. Rowe; 10. Rogers; 11. Manowski; 12. Baumann; 13. Sischo
