I’m at the lake for a few days but figured I’d cover a race remotely…habits are hard to break. I settled on Viking Speedway which was hosting a Wissota Modified and Short Tracker special.
It was an interesting night at Viking. You had a 17-year-old earn his first career win and a 64-year-old veteran get back into victory lane.
Viking had 21 modifieds on hand, a solid field running for $1,200. Car counts in the other classes were OK, not bad considering I-94 was running a pair of classes as part of its World of Outlaws Show.
Dusty Bitzan of Brandon, hungry for a win at Viking, was the early leader with Brett Hoium of Villard giving chase. Bitzan stuck the 10X to the very high lane of the track. Brady Gerdes of Villard and Josh Thoennes of Nelson battled for third.
Jason Thoennes of Garfield would have an issue and pull in. Justin Froemming of Garfield was moving into fifth with Eric Lamm of Zimmerman sixth, facing a big battle from Danny Bayer of Elrosa and Brendan Blascyk.
Hoium was closing the gap on Bitzan, and Gerdes had the 2X stuck to the bottom and was closing. The caution would wave with seven to go.
One the restart Gerdes would move into second and kept his machine on the bottom, and Froemming had moved into third, also running down low. Gerdes would make up a lot of ground in turns three and four but Bitzan’s momentum out of turn two would open some distance.
Bitzan ran about as high as you could Viking and could ill afford a mistake with Gerdes lurking. Bitzan didn’t and opened up a .916 second lead by the checkered. It was Bitzan’s first win of the year; he had a couple of near misses at Viking earlier.
Froemming, the winner of the King of the Dirt at I-94 Sure Step Speedway, was third with Hoium fourth. Blascyk made a late pass of Josh Thoennes for fifth.
Taten Blascyk, 17, of Hoffman jumped out to the lead of the Wissota Midwest Modified feature and frankly was never seriously challenged in picking up his first win.
The real battle was for second between Shawn Olson of Alexandria, Buzz Muzik of Alexandria, Taylor Bitzan of Brandon and Travis Engebretson of Cyrus. Those three raced hard for that spot,
Muzik would take over second but Bitzan wasfighting back. Engebretson slid high off of the backstretch and lost a lot of ground. Muzik would also slip up moments later and fall back to fifth.
Blascyk was the happiest guy in the world to see the battle for second as he opened up a massive lead of 4.0 seconds by the checkered. It is his first career win. Taylor Bitzan was second, the always consistent Olson was third. Tanner Bitzan of Brandon had a good run to fourth and Muzik rounded out the top five. It was a pretty clean Midwest modified feature.
It was a good weekend for the Blascyk family: Taten's older brother Brendan picked up a big modified win at I-94 EMR Speedway on Friday.
Nine street stocks were on hand with Kasey Ussatis of Nome and Davey Krutchen of Glenwood leading the group. Krutchen had a win earlier this season at Viking; the rest of the field had not won at Viking this season. Unfortunately some cars got beat up in the main event.
Ussatis and Krutchen ran side by side for the lead with Brad Lorentz right behind. Two laps into it, Ussatis spun in turn four to bring out the caution.
Lorentz went off the backstretch and came back and made hard contact with J.J. Nieuwbeerta which caused a multi-car melee to bring out the caution. Lorentz got the worst of it with some front suspension damage and was done.
On the restart, the long-time veteran Nitro Jimmy Williams of DeGraff was right behind Krutchen, and and went to work on the lead. Williams, who at one time was the all-time street stock wins leader at Viking, made the move on the bottom. Krutchen fought back on the outside and he kept within striking distance of Williams.
Roger Berkness of Eagle Bend was third but was passed by Ussatis; Ussaits would slide back to fifth however. Nieuwbeerta was the next driver to pressure Berkness for third.
It was a rough night for Ussatis, as he would spin and was hit hard by Derek Wettstein of Little Falls. Both cars had pretty heavy damage.
It set up a three-lap sprint to the finish. Krutchen made a big surge on the bottom and was right there. Berkness was working the high line, which was faster in turns one and two but not as much in turns three and four.
The 64-year-old Williams would pick up the win by .423 seconds over Krutchen, who edged Berkness by .0065 seconds for second. Nieuwbeerta was fourth and Dustin Karl of Osakis rounded out the top five.
Blayne Sweet of Sauk Centre jumped out to a big lead in the Short Tracker feature, which was worth $300 to the winner. Kole Kampsen of Belgrade, with xx wins this season at Viking, was into second with Jeff Rohner into third.
The battle was shaping up for second when a caution waved with eight to go. Kevin Wahl of Fergus Falls was into fourth as Sweet held on to the lead. Rohner and Kampsen fought hard for second as Sweet opened up a two-car length lead. The red flag would come out when a car went off of turn two; I didn’t see who it was but.
Rohner worked hard on Sweet for the top spot until the final lap but couldn’t make the move as Sweet prevailed by .587 seconds. Wahl was third, Booke was fourth and Tristan Raths was fifth.
It was a rough start to the Wissota Super Stock main event. Carson Miller slid off of turns three and four as Bailey Rosch of Alexandria would follow on the opening lap; Miller was sent to the tail.
Russell Kostreba of Zimmerman took the lead with about five cars fighting for second through sixth – Bailey Rosch of Alexandria, Ryan Kostreba of Elk River, Karter Reents of Glenwood and Matt Miller of Glenwood. The caution would come out with 11 to go for a spin on the backstretch.
Veteran Jeff Crouse of Alexandria would pull in early with trouble; it was clear from the start the 29* car was not up to speed with some kind of issue.
The Kostrebas – who are twin brothers – were running 1-2 with Rosch facing a challenge from Reents, Matt Miller and Trevor Saurer of Dalton for third. Reents would take over the spot, but faced a big deficit on the top two.
The Kostrebas were fighting hard for the top spot as Reents moved into third and Matt Miller into fourth. Rosch would pull in with trouble shortly after.
Russell Kostreba would hold on for the win over Ryan Kostreba by .233 seconds. Reents would take third, Miller fourth and Saurer fifth.
The final checkered waved at 9:42 p.m. at Viking as they ran another efficient show.
Next week is the Fallen Lineman Race at Viking for the Wissota Modifieds.
Froemke, Jacobson Lead Buffalo River Winners
Keaten Froemke of Glyndon topped Rob VanMIl of Barnesville to pick up the IMCA Stock Car win Saturday night at Buffalo River Speedway. Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead was third, Tim Compson of Valley City fourth and Brennan Borg of Harwood was fifth.
Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks won the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint feature over Brendan Mullen of Grand Forks. Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks was third, Colin Smith of Sheldon, Iowa was fourth and Jade Hastings of Grand Forks was fifth.
Kelly Jacobson of Fargo topped his father Scott for the IMCA Sport Mod feature win. Jayden Pavlicek of Casselton was third, Rich Pavlicek of Casselton was fourth and Chris Siercks of Maple Grove was fifth.
Ryan Braseth of Ulen topped Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton for the INEX Legends win. Joshua Wiest of Jamestown was third, Collin Compson of Valley City was fourth and Kody Marchart of Moorhead was fifth.
Hunter Goulet of Fargo won the Short Tracker feature over Kody Crabtree of Fargo. Weston Clauson of Kathryn was third, Adrian Kubitz of Fargo was fourth and Christian Kast of Fairmount was fifth.
Tim Church of Moorhead topped Andrea Jacobson of Fargo for the IMCA Hobby Stock feature win. Brad Orvedal of Fargo was third, Caleb Gardner of Glyndon fourth and Jeff Busby of Hitterdal was fifth.
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