RaceChaser was back at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon for the sixth night of the Steffes Street Stock Tour. Car counts were good in all five classes as a total of 88 were on hand.
Hats off to everyone at Sheyenne -- volunteers, officials, drivers alike -- despite a sun-baked track and big fields in the street stocks and midwest modifieds, the show ran along nicely and was done in less than three hours. My kind of night!
We will start out with the Steffes Street Stock Tour event, which brought in a stout 25-car field. The tour is averaging nearly 37 cars per night with cars coming from Wisconsin, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, and even as far away as Helena, Mont. This has turned into a huge boost for street stock racing.
Parker Anderson of Phillips, Wis., has been on point so far on the tour. He entered Sunday with three wins on the tour already with two runner-up finishes. He had the pole with veteran Ryan Pommerer of Oriska on the outside.
Anderson, interviewed above, went right to the bottom, and was joined by defending tour champion Jonny Carter of Lisbon. Todd Carter of Lisbon quickly moved into third.
Pommerer and Billie Christ of Jamestown had a pretty hard-fought, tense fight for fourth with Eric Riley of Morris also in the battle. And right behind them, running three-wide at times, was a huge battle for about five positions which included Justin Vogel of Brooten, who won Friday in Aberdeen, Kyle Anderson of Jamestown, who won on Saturday in Jamestown, Cory Rodin of Marion and Hunter Carter of Fargo. Even outside the top 10 saw some four-wide racing.
With Anderson hugging and protecting the preferred lower lane, Jonny Carter searched for any lane that could help him gain the top spot. When he went high, he lost ground, and Todd Carter would close in. Jonny went to the low line and made up ground and was all over Anderson.
Christ and Pommerer went at it for about 15 laps it seemed for fourth; Christ made the move into the spot. Hunter Carter, who had finished in the top five in all five tour races so far, worked into fifth.
Despite the persistence of Jonny Carter, Anderson held on for his fourth tour win and 15th win of the year overall. He's finished in the top two in all six tour races. Jonny Carter was second, Todd Carter third, Christ fourth, Hunter Carter fifth, and Pommerer sixth.
Jonny Carter, Vogel, Riley and Hunter Carter all made attempts to make that top line work; and while it worked for 5-6 laps, it never totally came around. Despite some very difficult conditions with the dust on the sun-banked quarter mile, the 25 street stocks went caution-free and were done in about 10 minutes. A terrific job by that group.
Dylan Steele of Jamestown, interviewed above, didn't take long to get to the front in the Hobby Stock feature, overtaking early leader Matt Sandvig of Enderlin after two laps. Once in front, the #22 was gone from the rest of the pack.
There was a big battle from second to about eighth, which included Sandvig, Zack Nord of Enderlin, Nick Nord of Enderlin, Bo Gregor of Lisbon, Anthony Wendel of Enderlin and Jayden Michaelsohn of Aberdeen.
Steele led by more than a straightaway on the field. Gregor, with two wins this year at Sheyenne, worked through the traffic with Michaelsohn moving into third. Those two had a good battle for second the rest of the race.
By the time Gregor and Michaelsohn got through traffic, Steele was long gone to pick up the win, his first of 2021. Gregor, Michaelsohn, Sandvig and Wendel rounded out the top five. Gregor has finished in the top five all four nights.
It was the best I've seen Wendel run this year; he was in the top three much of the night before settling for fifth at the checkered.
Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids set the early pace in the INEX Legends feature. He soon found pressure from point leader Ryan Braseth of Ulen, and Braseth made the pass for the lead. Also on the move was last week's winner, Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes. Wilke got by Richardson for second and began closing the gap.
With six laps to go, a hard crash involving Shaun Erickson of Glyndon and Jeremy Myer on the frontstretch brought out the red flag. Erickson's #24 machine ended on its roof. Everyone was OK.
Braseth fended off Wilke's challenges for his third Sheyenne win of the year. Wilke was second. Joshua Wiest of Jamestown ran a solid third after being in the top five all race with Zander Bauer, a rapidly improving driver, taking fourth. The ageless veteran Chuck Christ of Jamestown edged Richardson for fifth.
Jarrett Carter of Lisbon debuted a Wissota Midwest Modified, and early returns are the car is fast. He built a huge lead as the laps waned in the feature. He looked on his way to the win when something broke, sending him off of turn three for the first caution of the race. He left on the hook.
Last week's winner Alex Langland of Enderlin, who was running a solid second most of the race, took over the lead. On the move, once again, was the Nightmare, Lucas Rodin of Marion, interviewed above. He moved into third and after Carter's trouble, moved into second.
Rodin took over the top spot from Langland -- who has been strong the past two weeks at Sheyenne. Also moving up was Cody the Cobra Lee of Alexandria, who had been in a battle for fifth before working his way to the top three. Lee then got by Langland and gave chase to Rodin.
Making a late charge was Zach Reinke of Lisbon, who capitalized on the cautions and made some timely moves to get into the top five.
Rodin had several car lengths on Lee as he picked his third Sheyenne win of 2021 and sixth overall. Lee was a solid second with Reinke, who started 15th, capping off a good night to get third. Langland finished in fourth for his second straight top five at Sheyenne. And a tip of the cap to Laine Schwehr of Sanborn; he has not had a lot of success at Sheyenne, but ran in the top five all night and came home a solid fifth, which was a season-best finish for him. Nice job by Schwehr.
Honestly, if Carter hadn't broke, he and Langland would have finished 1-2 in the race. But the caution changed everything.
Right now, Rodin is cooking in that #19R SSR machine. I expect him, Lee, Zach Reinke and Alex Langland to be among the contenders at next week's tour stop. I'm thinking 30-35 midwest modifieds will be in town for that event.
Kelby Anderson of Fort Ransom has been the point leader in the Mini Stocks and added to that with a win on Sunday. He started fourth on the 11-car grid and fended off challenges from Neil Walton of Englevale for his second Sheyenne win of 2021. Last week's winner Tempest Trone of Litchville was third with Mason Bogart of Milnor fourth and Dalton Aabrekke of Lisbon taking fifth.
Sheyenne Notes
--Nick Nord's luck this year has been horrendous. The Enderlin hobby stock driver blew a motor earlier and cracked a head at Jamestown, and continuing engine issues ended his night on Sunday.
--I visited briefly with Clifford Houser, the driver of the #1x Wissota Street Stock from Kimball, S.D.. He's been to all six Steffes tour races this season. He said he isn't planning on running all tour events and will miss next weekend. His home track is Miller Central Speedway, about 50 miles from his home in Kimball, where he owns a body shop.
--Jarrett Carter debuted a Wissota Midwest Modified on Sunday. The car is Carter's former A Mod, a 2015 Sidebiter Chassis. He still has his IMCA Modified, a Razor Chassis, that he runs.
--I talked briefly with Austin Chyba of Alexandria, who was making his first-ever trip to Sheyenne. Chyba is having a good year with one and several top fives. He was testing out the track ahead of next week's Rebel Midwest Mod Tour stop at Sheyenne. Chyba is the son of long-time driver Jim Chyba, who raced modifieds out of the Browerville, Minn., area. Austin looked good in his first trip to Sheyenne, taking sixth after starting 11th.
--The long haul of the night was Ronald Weber of Helena, Mont., who brought his street stock into the area to run some tour races. That is more than 800 miles one way, for those wondering. It was also good to see a pair of Grand Forks-area cars, James Meagher and Dan McNamee, come into town with their streeters.
Jones, Wolden Win at Buffalo River
Justin Jones of Bemidji won the IMCA Sport Mod feature Sunday night at Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon. Doug Garner of Glyndon was second, Scott Jacobson of Fargo third, Chris VanMil of Barnesville fourth and Vince Jegtvig of Dilworth fifth.
Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls topped Scott Zimmerman of Rothsay for the Limited Late Model feature. Sam Zender of Fergus Falls was third, Andrew Tysdal of Fergus Falls fourth and Zack Tysdal of Fergus Falls fifth.
Allen Kent of West Fargo fended off Jesse Skalicky of Fargo for the IMCA Modified win. Skalicky finished second after starting dead last on the 14-car field. Matt Aukland of Fargo was third, Marcus Tomlinson of Turtle Lake fourth and Jeff Nelson of Perham fifth.
Shannon George of Bagley won the Short Tracker feature over David Wahl of Fergus Falls. Chase Golliet of Fargo was third, Levi Lease of Harwood fourth and Jake Karch of Fergus Falls fifth.
Scott Herron of Brainerd won the IMCA Hobby Stock eature over Chris Seidel of Brainerd. Todd Gettel of Mahnomen was third, Brad Orvedal of Fargo fourth and Eric Novacek of West Fargo fifth.
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