The final weekly race night at State Park Speedway provided a finish worthy of the long Thursday night tradition at the venerable Rib Mountain oval.
Brock Heinrich and Justin Mondeik put on another show at the front of the pack in the closing laps, but Heinrich’s slick move with 10 laps left proved to be winner. The Wausau native got by Mondeik and went on to win the 66-lap Auto Select Super Late Models pres. by C-Tech feature in the 16th annual Wayne (Lodi) Lodholz Memorial, and on season championship night for the final points night of racing at the speedway.
Heinrich’s pass for the lead was also the pass for the championship, as he finished eight points ahead of Mondeik in the final standings. The late swap in positions resulted in a 10-point swing, with Heinrich gaining five points and Mondeik dropping five points with the change of positions.
The winners of the last five super late model championships at State Park went down to the wire for this year’s, with Heinrich winning his second straight title after Mondeik won three straight championships from 2020-22. Heinrich also won the Lodi Memorial for the first time, and kept Mondeik from joining Tim Sauter (2014-16) and Luke Fenhaus (2018-20) as three-time winners of the event.
Heinrich ran second to Mondeik for much of the race, but after a number of attempts on the outside made the winning move on lap 56.
Heinrich looked high briefly out of the fourth turn before crossing over to the inside coming to the start-finish line, and he was able to get inside position on Mondeik heading into Turn 1. The cars banged doors briefly but Heinrich got away and cleared Mondeik, who immediately had his hands full with fast qualifier Jevin Guralski of Wausau also taking a brief look to the inside.
Mondeik kept Guralski at bay, including after the latter again looked inside on lap 61, but Heinrich was able to get away. He went on to win by eight car lengths at the finish for his third feature win of the season at the track and his second this week in his come-from-behind run to the championship.
A field of 11 cars took the green for the feature, with Heinrich, Mondeik and Travis Volm separated by just eight points entering the race. Both Mondeik and Heinrich made their way forward quickly, as starting eighth and 10th in the field, respectively, the two advanced as the outside line moved forward, both into the top five by lap 9.
Jerry Brickner of Wausau held the lead for the first eight laps until M.G. Gajewski of Wausau took over first on lap 9, but Mondeik was inside Brickner for second by lap 13 and Heinrich was third a lap later. Mondeik then took to the outside of Gajewski for the lead on lap 16, with Heinrich also moving into second two laps later.
Mondeik led by 3-4 car lengths until Heinrich began closing in near the halfway point by using a higher line on the track. Heinrich made his first try to the outside on lap 38, but Mondeik slipped high in Turn 4 on lap 40, resulting in Heinrich slipping back behind the leader.
The cars ran 1-2 until a scheduled competition caution two-thirds of the way through after lap 44. That set up a restart with Mondeik and Heinrich on the front row, with Guralski and Travis Volm in the next row. Mondeik got away quickly, though, and the top four quickly settled in single file.
Heinrich closed back in, and tried the outside coming out of Turn 4 on laps 51, 53 and 54. Mondeik continued to protect the outside on the front straightaway, and Heinrich changed tactics and took to the inside on lap 56 to make what wound up being the winning pass.
Guralski finished third in the feature with Volm coming in fourth. The points leader after four weeks and right with Heinrich and Mondeik entering the night, with the top five separated by just five points coming into Thursday, Volm got caught in traffic on the inside at the start of the feature, dropping back to eighth and behind both Mondeik and Heinrich before moving forward. He entered the top 5 on lap 22 after a battle with Rayce Haase for position, and got by Gajewski for fourth on lap 25, but the loss of track position to the top three proved too much to overcome.
Haase finished fifth in the feature with Jason Weinkauf sixth, M.G. Gajewski seventh and Mark Mackesy eighth. Mackesy also won the first heat in his final race at the track, as the four-time SPS super late model champion will be competing with the Central Wisconsin Racing Associations at Dells Raceway Park Saturday.
Auto Select Super Late Models pres. by C-Tech
Fast Qualifier: Jevin Guralski, Wausau, 13.654 sec.
First Heat: 1. Mark Mackesy, Wausau; 2. M.G. Gajewski, Wausau; 3. Noah Gajewski, Marathon; 4. Jerry Brickner, Wausau; 5. Alex Volm, Mosinee
Second Heat: 1. Rayce Haase, Wausau; 2. Brock Heinrich, Wausau; 3. Justin Mondeik, Gleason; 4. Travis Volm, Wausau; 5. J. Guralski; 6. Jason Weinkauf, Merrill
Feature: 1. Heinrich; 2. Mondeik; 3. J. Guralski; 4. T. Volm; 5. Haase; 6. J. Weinkauf; 7. M.G. Gajewski; 8. Mackesy; 9. N. Gajewski; 10. A. Volm; 11. Brickner