STEVE LAURSEN TOPS SUPERIOR SPEEDWAY AMSOIL FEATURE
By Jerry O'Brien for the Daily Telegram

It was a return to the top for three time AMSOIL Series Champion Steve Laursen (1999-2000- 2003) as he led all thirty feature laps Friday night at the Superior Speedway. Laursen's first two outings of 2007 were extremely disappointing as he recorded a 25th place finish with a DNF at the first event at the Hibbing (MN) Raceway and a 23rd place finish in race number two at the ABC Raceway in Ashland, WI. Laursen came back with a vengeance on the track he called one of his favorites with a dominating sweep of the 30 car field.

After winning the first of four heats Laursen started the main event on the outside of the front row and shot out to the lead over the surprising Travis Budisalovich who started on the pole. The event had a brief hiccup on the first lap when Donnie Lofdahl apparently collected Mike Rich at the back of the field and Rich spun off into the infield. It was a complete restart and again Laursen beat Budisalovich to the punch and quickly extended his lead as Darrell Nelson, Harry Hanson and Pat Doar battled for third. Hanson won that skirmish with Doar fourth and Nelson fifth. Several cars that started deep in the field were headed forward including Rick Hanestad who cracked the top ten from row seven in the first five laps. By the one third mark the field had settled in and was strung out around the speedway. At this point Laursen had a comfortable lead over the smooth running Budisalovich while Hanson cruised alone in third. Lurking outside the top five was veteran campaigner Tom Nesbitt while up front, Laursen was sizing up the traffic in front of him. Doar was on the move and closed on Hanson for third and Nesbitt made a successful bid for fifth. The fast moving Hanestad arrived in sixth and with ten laps remaining the order stood at Laursen with the lead over Budisalovich, Doar, Hanson and Nesbitt in the top five while Hanestad, John Kaanta, Joel Cryderman, Eric Pember and Nelson made up the back half of the top ten. A lap later Doar got by Budisalovich for second and the caution flag made it's first appearance since the first lap incident when Caley Emerson was turned around in turn one.

The restart gave Laursen a clear track but also put the always dangerous Doar right on his bumper. At the green flag Doar jumped all over Laursen but Laursen was equal to the task. The two raced side by side for a couple of circuits but Laursen was too strong and was not to be deigned pulling away by a couple of car lengths. As Laursen settled into a rhythm, Nesbitt got by Budisalovich into third and Hanestad also went by into fourth dropping Budisalovich to fifth. Kaanta, Hanson, Cryderman, Pember and Kyle Peterlin ran six through tenth. The only change in the top ten at the checkered flag was Budisalovich losing another spot as Kaanta moved into the top five in the waning laps. Danny Young had the best run of those qualifying through the B feature as he ran from row eleven to an eleventh place finish. Laursen went on to take the convincing win and became the third winner in three 2007 events.

Back to Late Model Series Home Page