Braseth, Jacobson, Gilbertson, Kent, Gardner and Kast record feature wins at Buffalo River

Track officials, drivers and fans braved the heat for Buffalo River Speedway's Sunday night program.

I am not going to analyze car counts in weather like this, but I admire the 50 cars who came to race and the fans who showed up, too. I know some tracks cancelled because of the heat warning, and I can’t blame them for that. But Buffalo River, which isn’t running every week this summer, decided to make a go of it.  Buffalo River does have one advantage – an air-conditioned bar and seating area – where people could go to cool off.

One thing you do want to do on a hot night like that is get done in a quicker time, and Buffalo River did that, waving the final checkered flag before 8:30 p.m.   Nice work by the drivers and track officials in brutally hot weather.

Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids grabbed the lead of the INEX Legends feature but Ryan Braseth of Ulen was on the move after starting sixth. He surged into second past Caden Bunnis of Detroit Lakes.  Alexander Clark of Moorhead was also moving and looking for a spot in the top three.

Braseth would take the lead with 11 to go working on the outside of Richardson as Bunnis and Clark stayed close. Andrew Clark was running fifth. Alex Clark got around Bunnis for third.

Richardson stayed within 1-2 car lengths of Braset at the front with Clark not far back. Bunnis was running solid in fourth. Alexander Clark was putting a lot of pressure on Richardson for second when the caution flew for Ben Lundquist’s spin in turns three and four. Moments later Brandon Bunnis and Noah Lewis spun on the frontstretch to bring out the second caution.

Braseth opened up 2-3 car lengths on the final restart to pick up the victory. Richardson ran second, Clark third, Caden Bunnis fourth and Colton Miller of Bismarck was fifth.

Teenager Brodie Johnson of Moorhead, looking for his first career win, looked strong early in the IMCA Sport Mod feature  as Kyle VanMil of Barnesville settled into second. Cole Slaubaugh of Wolford, N.D., was running in third with Scott Jacobson of Fargo fourth and Kelly Jacobson of Fargo moving into fifth.

VanMil was pressuring Johnson as Slaubaugh began to slide back. Meanwhile, Scott Jacobson made a rare mistake and spun to bring out the caution and had to go to the tail.

On the restart, Kelly Jacobson made his move on the outside after starting in row two. He surged around Johnson for the lead as VanMil looked to move into second. James Taves of Glyndon and Chris VanMIl of Barnesville fighting for fourth as Scott Jacobson was closing.

Kylel VanMil would grab second but Kelly Jacobson, once in front, took firm control and prevailed by 1.4 seconds. VanMil was second, while Johnson capped off an excellent run in third. Taves was fourth and Scott Jacobson made a nice recovery to edge Austin Veralrud of Audubon for fifth.

Seven Gen X Late Models were on hand as Casino Speedway gave the class a night off. Parker Gilbertson of Watson took the lead from the outset and stuck his 23 car right to the bottom. Alex Tschakert and Jarrett Huus fought for second place.

Mike Anderson of Walcott and Chad Duenwald dueled for fourth.

Duenwald got into Anderson, who saved it but turned Duenwald around and Lexie Fleming of Watertown had nowhere to go and hit the 33. Duenwald called it a night.

Gilbertson led as Tschakert took second. Anderson was pressuring Huus for third with Brett Clemensen running ffith ahead of Fleming, who was able to continue after the incident in turns one and two.

Tschakert did not let Gilbertson get away as the Gen X Late Models stayed on the bottom but the lead slowly built up to 1.2 seconds with five to go. Anderson was pressuring Huus for third in the best battle on the track.

Gilbertson, son of long-time driver Matt Gilbertson, picked up the victory, his fourth of the season. He won by just over a second over Tschakert, who ran well. Huus held off Anderson for third with Clemensen and Fleming rounding out the finishers.

There is a championship points fund for the Gen X Late Models that pays back all the way to the 15^th place. It’s $2,500 to win the championship and $2,000 for second. It’s a nice point fund.

In the Gen X standings as of Jully 11 (according to myracepass.com), Gilbertson is third in the Gen X series points. Trevor Walsh of Watertown leads with Blake Swenson of Watertown second. Tschakert entered the night in sixth.

Rookie Dayton Kent, 18 of West Fargo led the opening moments of the IMCA Modified feature with Zack Nord of Enderlin fighting Jacoby Traut of Jamestown for second. Brennan Borg was fighting John Nord for fourth.

Kent, formerly a strong Hornet runner at Buffalo River, was doing a nice job and was keeping a couple of car-length lead with nine to go.  Traut hung right with Kent as John Nord grabbed fourth from his son, Zack.

John Nord found something up high and was the only car who seemed to make the high lane work, and he was closing on the top two quickly.  Traut was looking for an opening but Kent didn’t flinch. Nord meanwhile had caught Traut with two to go and grabbed the spot as the white flag waved.

Kent, who had five wins in the Hornets the previous two years, earned his first IMCA Mod win by .880 seconds over John Nord, who made a heck of a charge late and simply ran out of time. Traut was third, Zack Nord fourth and Borg fifth.

Seven IMCA Hobby Stocks took the green with Daniel Beckman of Mahnomen and Andrea Jacobson of Fargo leading the group. They didn’t quite make it a full lap as Hunter Goulet of Fargo and Reid Randall of Park Rapids went around after some contact on the frontstretch. Goulet was charged with the yellow.

Things went three wide in turns three and four as Jacobson, Beckman and Reid Randall were fighting for position. Jacobson emerged as the leader but soon had Caleb Gardner working on her on the outside, and Gardner would take the lead.

Ashley Taves, daughter of sport mod driver James Taves, would slow and pull into the infield.

 Gardner was pulling away as Randall and Beckman raced hard for second. Goulet had climbed back to fourth. Gardner’s lead stood at two seconds with two to go as Beckman, Goulet and Randall were putting on a good show for the second spot.

On the final lap Beckman went around in turns three and four and dropped from second to sixth in the process. Gardner won comfortably for his second victory of the season.  Goulet would be credited with second with Randall third, Jacobson fourth and Todd Gettel of Mahnomen fifth.

The Wissota Hornet feature lost a car before the green even flew as Mark Harmon of Glyndon lost a wheel during the pace laps, and he had to leave on the hook. After that incident, two drivers looking for their first career wins – Cassidy Hamre of Fargo and Zander Zuehlsdorff – led the Wissota Hornets at the outset

Christian Kast of Fairmount took the lead but there was quite a bit of contact in the field, and that led Kody Crabtree of Georgetown going off of turns one and two. Hamre was charged with the caution but both cars were able to continue.

Kast pulled away on the restart with Bryce Mueller running second. Nathan Kelley of Fargo passed Zuehlsdorff for third with Crabtree, Adrian Kubitz of Fargo and Cameryn Taylor of Hankinson fighting for fifth.

The race turned into a runaway for Kast who had the lead up to 2.6 seconds with three to go. The top three got very spread out but the fight for fourth continued with Taylor, Zuehlsdorff, Crabtree and Kubitz raced very hard.

Kast would win by 2.2 seconds as he added to his point lead with Mueller second, Kelley was third, Taylor fourth and Zuehlsdorff fifth. Kast has now won three in a row at Buffalo River.

 Anderson, Nichols, Stearns, Bogh and Tirrel victorious at Casino

Trevor Anderson of Watertown won the Wissota Late Model feature Sunday night at Casino Speedway in Watertown as Thomas Weisgram of Northville took second. Mike Stearns of Aberdeen was third, Jayson Good of Watertown fourth and Trevor Walsh of Watertown fifth.

Tommy Nichols of Watertown won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Todd Stark of Watertown. Joel Waba of Watertown was third, Darren Engesser of Gary was fourth and Dakota Larsen of Watertown was fifth.

Mike Stearns topped Tony Konold of Clear Lake for the Wissota Mod feature win.James Hanley was third.

Dylan Tirrel of White beat Adam VanDerostyne of Canby to win the Wissota Hornet main event. Bradley Rossow of Florence was third, Matthew Moes of Watertown fourth and Kris Eide of Watertown fifth.

Jayden Bogh of Huron won the Wissota Street Stock feature with Maria Broksieck of Goodwin second. Jason Marko of Watertown was third, Andy Rossow of Florence fourth and Adam Dehne of Medina was fifth.

Sunday night notes

Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon is off for the month of July.