WAUSAU, Wis. (May 26) – On a night marred by several wrecks that put even more chill on an already cold evening, Travis Volm warmed up the crowd with some slick driving to put a temporary hold on Justin Mondeik’s dominance at State Park Speedway.
Volm outlasted Mondeik and then Jason Weinkauf to win the 50-lap Auto Select Super Late Models pres. by C-Tech feature on the second night of racing at State Park this season. The win was his second career super late model victory in weekly racing at the track and his first since 2019.
A Mosinee native now residing in Wausau, Volm inherited the lead with 26 laps left after an accident between leaders Mark Mackesy and Rayce Haase put both cars into the wall and out of the race. He would lead the rest of the way, rebuffing the repeated attempts inside and outside by Mondeik and then by Weinkauf in the final laps to win by less than a car length at the finish.
Volm stayed in front by keeping his car pinned low on the track, including twice reclaiming the bottom after Mondeik got a nose inside him coming off the second turn. The first came on lap 35, when Mondeik nearly wedged inside but Volm drove hard off the fourth turn to keep his spot. The second came eight laps later when Mondeik briefly had a look inside on the backstretch before Volm shut the door going into the third turn.
Mondeik also made attempts on the outside and was looking for another opening on the inside in the closing laps when Weinkauf suddenly entered the picture on the outside to challenge the leader. The two No. 76 cars were side-by-side for the final six laps but Volm kept a slight lead the whole way and finished three-quarters of a car length ahead of Weinkauf at the finish, with Mondeik behind in third.
The first half of the race appeared set for a battle between Mackesy and Haase, with Mackesy taking the lead from the outside pole while fast qualifier Haase needed just three laps to move into the top three.
A caution came on lap 9 when Mike Cox Jr. spun between turns one and two, and on the restart Haase got by Volm for second. The top three then settled in nose-to-tail with an anticipated competition caution coming halfway through, but the yellow came out on lap 23 when Mondeik spun on the backstretch after contact with Weinkauf.
That set up Mackesy and Haase lined up side-by-side for a restart, but after running side-by-side for the first lap the two made contact going into turn three, causing both cars to spin with Mackesy backing into the wall and Haase sliding in nose first. Both cars were towed off and finished for the night and Weinkauf and Mondeik also sustained slight damage, with Weinkauf getting the nose of his car taped up during the red flag.
Jerry Brickner finished fourth in the feature, just behind the top three, while Cox finished fifth. Brickner and Mondeik also added heat wins.
Auto Select Super Late Models pres. by C-Tech
Fast Qualifier: Rayce Haase, Wausau, 13.880 sec.
First Heat: 1. Jerry Brickner, Wausau; 2. Mark Mackesy, Wausau; 3. Mike Cox Jr., Hazelhurst; 4. Dillon Mackesy, Athens
Second Heat: 1. Justin Mondeik, Gleason; 2. Jason Weinkauf, Merrill; 3. Haase; 4. Travis Volm, Wausau
Feature: 1. T. Volm; 2. Weinkauf; 3. Mondeik; 4. Brickner; 5. Cox; 6. M. Mackesy; 7. Haase; 8. D. Mackesy
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