Brauer, Erickson, Blevins, Puffe and Myers lead Chicken Shack Nationals Winners at Bemidji
- tombergie01
- May 26
- 10 min read
Bemidji Speedway kicked off its 2025 season with the annual Chicken Shack Nationals and Jack Sparby Memorial. A field of 123 cars in eight classes were signed in to compete at the ¼-mile oval.
Feature winners got a taste of the famous Chicken Shack chicken in victory lane – I am told you can’t miss it when you go to Bemidji. When I get up there this season I’ll be looking to partake. Fans got their money’s worth with six hours of racing.
Kolton Brauer of Eyota and Nick McCann of Brainerd were the front row in the Wissota Street Stock feature. The class will run at Bemidji on several occasions this summer and 11 were on hand. McCann led the opening lap with Brauer applying the heat down low. Weleski was third ahead of Scotty Messner of Bemidji with Greg Jose of Grand Forks moving into fifth.
Brauer applied a lot of heat on McCann as Messner and Jose closed on the top two. Derek Weleski of Bemidji would blow a motor and pull pitside, and McCann would slow moments later with an issue, moving Brauer to the top spot, Messner to second and Jose to third. Doug VanMill of Bagley, Chris Dudley of Bemidji and Weston Ramsrud of Bagley.
Messner stayed with Brauer but couldn’t get close enough to make a move as Brauer would prevail by .307 seconds. Brauer is looking to follow in his brother Braden’s footsteps, and win a Wissota Street Stock national championship. He has five wins this season already.
Messner settled for second with Jose, who has run well to start the season, taking third. VanMill would take fourth at the checkered but would get DQed postrace, and that moved Dudley to fourth and Ramsrud to fifth.
The Mini Stocks had 15 cars, and it looked like the big one was about to happen as the 19 car of Troy Foster got sideways out of turn two, which led to several cars checking up. Fortunately, the damage was minimal but Foster, the polesitter, had to go to the tail. It was the start of several cautions in the main event.
McCann, doing double duty, took the lead over Conrad Schwinn of Little Falls and Justin Honer of Laporte. Little Falls driver Ashton Schwinn would pass Honer for third. Hayden Engen of Gonvick got turned in turns one and two, and the caution was called on Cameron Schwinn.
After another caution, McCann led Ashton Schwinn were up front; Schwinn would get crossed up later in the race and fall back. Bemidji driver Cody Bush was fighting Conrad Schwinn for third as the top two pulled away.
Cody Bush of Bemidji, Justin Honer of Laporte and Engen were running in the top five; Bush would lose a little ground when he tagged the frontstretch wall. McCann was in control up front as Conrad Schwinn stayed within about 3-4 car lengths.
The fight was for third between Engen, Bush and Honer; McCann won by a couple of car lengths over Conrad Schwinn. Honer edged Engen for third with Jonah Espe of Roseau moving up into fifth at the checkered.
It was an all-Hibbing front row for the Wissota Midwest Modifieds with Mikey Blevins and Dylan Miller leading the field to green. Miller grabbed the lead from the green. The caution waived as Eric Anderson’s 7A car stalled off turn three. The Chisholm driver was done for the night.
Two cars I was watching were Wisconsin drivers Tyler Vernon and Blake Adams, two very formidable competitors, who started a ways back in the field. Blevins would take the lead over Miller and another Hibbing driver, Michael Blevins Sr. Michael Blevins Sr. would take over second as Miller was fighting Gross for third. Vernon would move into the top five.
Mikey Blevins led his father by about a second. Gross had some distance on Miller, who had a major challenge from Vernon. Meanwhile Michael Blevins Sr. was cutting into Mikey Blevins’ lead as Gross was about a half straightaway behind second. Mikey Blevins, with a nice looking blue, yellow and white machine this year, took the win over his father. Gross capped off a good run in third with Vernon and Miller completing the top five.
The Wissota Hornet main event had 19 cars take the green. Travis Olafson of Wilton, the 2021 Wissota Hornet national champion, would move out front of the Wissota Hornet feature ahead of Russell Kiker Jr. of Brainerd. The caution would fly for the 81R of Ryker Larson, who spun in turn four on the second lap.
Chad Reller of Waskish would fight Olafson for the top spot with Kiker close behind. William Lange of Staples was running within a few car lengths in fourth.
The caution came out as the 20 of Chase Golliet of Beardsley and defending Bemidji track champion Jayme Gordon got together by the wall in turn four. Gordon was finished while Golliet was able to continue.
Olafson led on the restart with Kiker applying pressure. Reller was in third ahead of Alex Adelman of Milaca and Colton Lodermeier of Pierz.. Olafson had about .319 seconds on Kiker as Reller challenged for the runner-up slot. Adelman was running well in fourth, but with five to go would catch fire under the hood and would bring out the caution. He got out of the car OK but his night was over.
With five to go Olafson resumed the lead and while it was not a runaway, he would have about 2-3 car lengths on second on his way to the win. Kiker fended off Reller for second with Lodermeier fourth and Hibbing driver Trenton Beel rounding out the top five.
The Wissota Pure Stocks had tough time getting going with a pair of cautions before a lap was completed. Dustin Puffe of Laporte, the defending Wissota national runner-up in the class, and Kade Leeper of Guthrie brought the field to green. Puffe grabbed the top spot with Leeper second and Austin Carlson of Cohasset third. Brandon Puschinsky was fighting Dudley for fourth.
After a debris caution Puffe pulled to a few car length lead over Leeper. Dudley and Carlson dueled for third with Binkley in the top five. Carlson was closing on Leeper for second as Puffe had some breathing room up front. Leeper, however, was catching Puffe and was now within a car length in the final laps. Carlson was also closing as it was a three-car battle up front. Leeper took a look down low but didn’t have enough momentum to make a run and would settle for second.
Carlson finished third after starting sixth with Dudley in fourth and Billy Binkley of Puposky rounding out the top five.
Jeff Reed of Bemidji and Blake Adams of Cameron, Wis., led the Wissota Mods to the green. Adams, son of long-time mod racer Buzzy Adams, surged out front ahead of Reed and defending Bemidji champion Lance Schilling.
Adams had a 1.3 second lead on Reed who was locked in a good fight with Schilling for second. The long-time veteran Alan Olafson of Blackduck was running third ahead of Superior driver Cody Carlson. Schilling would spin in turn four and was charged with the caution. Canadian Tanner Williamson, who had a DNF in his heat, was starting to move towards the top five.
On the restart a big crash took place on the frontstretch with Alan Olafson, Davey Mills of Bemidji, Shaun Kreyer of Hayward, Wis.,, Doyle Erickson of Bagley and Adam Johnson all involved. The red flag came out as it took time to clean that wreck up. Mills and Olafson would leave on the hook, and Erickson’s night was over. Kreyer was able to continue and Carlson also sustained some damage but continued.
The wreck shuffled the top five and brought Carlson into third and Williamson into fourth. Weleski was running in fifth. Adams had about a half-straightaway lead on Reed, who led Carlson by a handful of car lengths. Devyn Weselski of Bemidji was running fifth but Schilling was closing.
Adams cruised to the win over Reed with Carlson topping Williamson for third. Schilling recovered from the earlier spin to take fifth.
Blake Erickson of Bagley seized the top spot early in the Wissota Mod 4 main event. But a caution came out quickly as three cars tangled in turn four. The caution was called on Brooklyn Vernlund of Bemidji. Dawson Oelrich of Bemidji suffered a flat in the incident but got his tire changed.
Erickson led Bahr and Schwinn. Ashton Schwinn was challenging Conrad Schwinn as the long-time veteran Dean Larson of Pennock moved into fourth. Ashton Schwinn passed his father for second but faced a 5-6 car length deficit on Erickson.
Ashton Schwinn cut a lot off of Erickson’s lead and pulled beside as a lapped car was encountered. Erickson would escape that with the lead and open up 2-3 car lengths.
Erickson would win over Ashton Schwinn, with Larson taking third over Conrad Schwinn. Oelrich recovered from the early flat to place fifth.
Bemidji veteran Matt Sparby and Cohasset driver Dalton Carlson led the final event, the Wissota Super Stock feature, to the green. Those two fought hard on the opening lap for the lead with Carlson taking the lead. Bahr moved into third with Alex Myers of Cameron, Wis., fourth and his father, former national champion Curt Myers , of Cameron, in fifth. The 1M was worth watching on this night.
Carlson had 2-3 car lengths on Sparby who now at Curt Myers closing. Myers had gone to a higher lane, and it was working. There was contact between Myers and Sparby in turns three and four with the 81X spinning. Also involved was Cameron Labelle, who suffered a flat, and Bahr.
On the restart Curt Myers went to work on Carlson, the defending Bemidji track champion, with Myers third with Lewis running fourth. Curt Myers would make the pass in the later moments as Carlson had Myers chasing him for second. Nic Lewis was closing on the second-place battle as Curt Myers was pulling away up front.
Curt Myers would roll to nearly a four-second win over Carlson with Alex Myers taking third. Doug Koski of Chisholm finished a solid fourth with super stock rookie Justin Barsness of Grand Rapids completing fifth.
Bemidji Notes
--I got a chance to visit with Weston Ramsrud of Bagley at River Cities the other night for an upcoming RaceChaser story. Ramsrud is a solid competitor who runs an unsponsored street stock. The car he is racing was built in 1996. In 10 starts this season, he’s recorded nine top fives.
--Justin Barsness of Grand Rapids, previously in the hornets and pure stocks, will be a welcome addition to the super stocks at Bemidji and Grand Rapids.
--Veteran Doyle Erickson of Bagley has moved from the Wissota Midwest Modified class to the Wissota Modifieds. Doing the same was Bemidji driver Devyn Weleski.
--Alexa Sparby of Bemidji has moved up from the pure stocks to the Wissota Super Stocks, joining her father, Matt.
--One thing I like about Bemidji is they run B features to pare down their fields in the mid mods and pure stocks. On a tight ¼-mile track, the more cars you run at once, the more trouble that could happen,. For e3xample, 18 of the 24 Wissota Midwest Modifieds took the A main green, the rest were done after the B.
Dykhoff Makes it 2-for-2 in DRC Street Stock Tour at Viking
Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck had never won a feature at Viking Speedway entering this weekend. He now has two in a row.
He picked up his second Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour win of the weekend, weathering a lot of caution flags and some challenges from Nick Traynor of Barron, Wis., for the feature win.
Dykhoff started fifth on the field and challenged early leader Tommy Pogones of Elk River for the top spot. Pogones would run into trouble when something broke on the front suspension and would later pull in.
With four to go Dykhoff led Traynor with Andrew Hanson of Iron River, former tour champion Justin Vogel of Brooten and Levi Randt of Siren, Wis., in the top five.
Dykhoff would prevail over Traynor for his second straight victory. Hanson held off a late-charging Hunter Carter for fourth ahead of Randt. Grady Myers of Winner, S.D., was the hard charger, going from 21st to 10th.
Ryan Satter of Dent won the Wissota Super Stock feature over Kolby Kiehl of Barron, Wis. William Lund of Brandon was second, Trevor Saurer of Dalton was fourth and Travis Scott of Glenwood was fifth.
Dusty Bitzan of Evansville won the Wissota Mod feature over Justin Froemming of Garfield. Brady Gerdes of Villard was third, Jason Thoennes of Garfield fourth and Avery Anderson of Alexandria fifth.
Travis Engebretson made it 2-for-2 on the weekend in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds with another main event victory. Corey Storck of Dilworth was second, Shawn Olson of Alexandria was third, Ron Saurer of Dalton was fourth and Tanner Bitzan of Brandon was fifth.
Brady Albertson of Sauk Rapids won the Wissota Hornet feature over Adam VanDerostyne of Canby. Travis Bruns of Alexandria was third, Tristan Raths of Donnelly was fourth and Christopher Winter Jr. of Hoffman was fifth.
Casino Wins to Nichols, Stearns, Becker, Bogh, Larson and Rohner
Tommy Nichols of Watertown won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Sunday night at Casino Speedway in Watertown with Todd Stark of Watertown taking second. Dawson Zabel of Selby was third, Jake Wranek of Sioux Falls was fourth and Luke Johnson of Miller fifth. A great 99-car field was on hand for the annual Casino Memorial weekend event.
Superman Mike Stearns of Hecla, S.D., won the Wissota Modified feature with Tony Konold of Clear Lake taking second. Nate Heinrich of Bellingham was third, Tyler Peterson of Hickson was fourth and Adam Brotherton of Huron fifth.
Former national champion Chad Becker of Aberdeen topped the Wissota Late Model feature field with Jayson Good of Watertown second. Charlie Olsen of Hendricks was third, Lee Grosz of Watertown fourth and Chad Olsen of Hendricks fifth.
Michael Bogh of Huron topped Jodie Michaelsohn of Aberdeen for the Wissota Street Stock win. Andy Rossow of Florence was third, last week’s winner Trey Hess of Grand Forks was fourth and Jayden Michaelsohn of Aberdeen was fifth.
Matthew Larson of Lake Elmo captured the Gen X Late Model feature over Bodie Croninger of Watertown. Trevor Walsh of Watertown was third, Scott Harrington of Waubay fourth and Curt Kranz of Watertown was fifth.
Jeff Rohner of Willmar won the Wissota Hornet feature over Brayden Begalka of Brookings. Hunter Goulet of Fargo was third, Bradley Rossow of Florence fourth and Joshua Gebhart of Watertown was fifth.
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