Adam Glatczak | State Park Speedway track writer

After three years as one of the winningest drivers in Wisconsin, it’s been a rather quiet year for Justin Mondeik in 2023.

Mondeik is still a three-time defending champion at State Park Speedway, though, and entering Sunday also was the defending winner of the TUNDRA Super Late Model Series race at the track, albeit from 2020 after the previous two years’ races were rained out. A TUNDRA visit provided him some spark this year, though, as Mondeik won the 75-lap feature for the Rib Mountain Rumble presented by Mr. Brew’s Taphouse, the fourth stop on TUNDRA’s six-race tour.

The Gleason native took the lead from Rayce Haase on lap 23 and led the rest of the way comfortably even through a number of restarts for his second feature win at State Park this season, including a victory in weekly racing July 14. He won under overcast skies that included brief sprinkles affecting practice laps earlier in the day, but eventually subsided to allow the completion of the SPS TUNDRA show for the first time in three years.

Mondeik also led a trio of SPS regulars who protected their home turf and swept the top three spots in the feature. Brock Heinrich of Wausau finished second and Wausau’s Travis Volm finished third, making up a top three that included this year’s SPS points leader and has combined for seven feature wins at the track in 2023.

Mondeik started seventh in a 16-car field for the feature and used the inside to quickly move into the top five. He got by Mitchell Haver of West Bend for fifth on lap 6, and then completed the pass of TUNDRA traveler Riley Stenjem of Utica on lap 12 after four laps racing side-by-side.

Mondeik then swooped past Jordan Thiel of Darboy on lap 14, and he was pressuring the leaders when Haase slipped inside early leader Braison Bennett of Neenah for the top spot on lap 19.

Mondeik also got inside Bennett for second a lap later, and three laps later he made the pass for the lead on the inside out of turn 4, with Haase drifting high on the track out of the corner to open the door.

The race’s first caution flag would come out three laps later when Wausau’s Kole Guralski spun between turns 3 and 4 after contact from fast qualifier John Beale of Verona. Mark Mackesy of Wausau also spun, and the two-time past TUNDRA winner at State Park would go to the pits and not return.

Mondeik quickly got away from Bennett on the restart, and he would face a total of four restarts in all, quickly taking the lead on all of them. He held a comfortable lead when the last came with 16 laps left, when Haver and Colin Reffner of Wisconsin Rapids tangled in turns 1 and 2, right in front of Mondeik.

Heinrich was running second to Mondeik at the caution, having gotten by Haase for the runner-up spot on lap 30 and staying there. The hottest car at SPS this year with four feature wins, including three in weekly racing plus the ASA Midwest Tour Larry Detjens Memorial last month, Heinrich stayed solidly in second but had little for the leader, including on the final restart, when he quickly fell in behind Mondeik.

Volm would finish third after a number of side-by-side battles, including holding off Beale while running the outside for six laps before the lap 60 caution, and then by getting around Stenjem for third on lap 66 after a six-lap fight. Beale would recover from the early incident to finish fourth with Thiel edging Stenjem for fifth. Bennett would finish seventh after leading the first 18 laps, making the outside groove work early in the race to take the lead from polesitter Thiel.

TUNDRA Super Late Models
Fast Qualifier: John Beale, Verona, 13.781 sec.
First Heat: 1. Jordan Thiel, Darboy; 2. Rayce Haase, Wausau; 3. Braison Bennett, Neenah; 4. Mitchell Haver, West Bend; 5. Riley Stenjem, Utica
Second Heat: 1. Mark Mackesy, Wausau; 2. Mark Eswein, Wisconsin Rapids; 3. Colin Reffner, Wisconsin Rapids; 4. Travis Rodewald, Manitowoc; 5. Mickey Schallie, Darboy; 6. Dan Thomson, Neenah
Fast Five Dash: 1. Brock Heinrich, Wausau; 2. Justin Mondeik, Gleason; 3. Travis Volm, Wausau; 4. Kole Guralski, Wausau; 5. Beale
Feature: 1. Mondeik; 2. Heinrich; 3. Volm; 4. Beale; 5. Thiel; 6. Stenjem; 7. Bennett; 8. Guralski; 9. Haase; 10. Reffner; 11. Haver; 12. Eswein; 13. Rodewald; 14. Schallie; 15. Mackesy; 16. Thomson