Buffalo River victories posted by Wilke, Restad, Madler, Jacobson, Probst and Kast

Buffalo River Speedway in Glyndon held its season championship on Sunday night on a sticky evening.

Buffalo River promoter Jason Berg said this week that Don Shaw, who owned I-94 EMR Speedway from 2020 until selling it this year, did some work reshaping the track earlier in the week. I know they’ve wanted to make the higher lane a more consistent option and are hoping some of the reshaping will do that. I personally felt the track was fairly racy for most classes and there was somewhat of a noticeable difference in the corners. But ultimately the drivers opinion is what matters.

I applaud Buffalo River’s efforts to run a more efficient show that gets people out of there by a reasonable time. Does it always work out for tracks to have that happen? No. But you have to at least try to keep things moving. A lengthy red flag during the first sprint heat didn’t help time wise but that’s part of sprint car racing.

Car counts have been steady all summer at the 1/4 -mile oval with 72 on hand on Sunday.

Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes stormed out front of the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature with Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes grabbing second.  Wilke narrowly missed the lapped car of  Zander Coleman but went on without issue.

Ty Hanten of West Fargo was running third ahead of Bryce Haugeberg with Brett Allen running in fifth. Jerzee Rosinski was having a solid run in sixth.

Wilke was slowed by some lapped cars but once he cleared them it turned into a total thrashing of the field. The lead grew to 6.5 seconds and he lapped the fifth place car of Brett Allen before the checkered. It was a butt-kicking.

Matthew Taves wrapped up the point championship with a runner-up finish; he had two wins and six top fives at Buffalo River this summer. He edged Brandon Rekow of Ellendale for the points win. Hanten was a solid third, Haugeberg fourth and Allen, who was involved in a crash in his heat, was fifth after starting 13th.  Rosinski went from eighth to sixth. The 20-lap, caution-free feature lasted less than five minutes.

Chris VanMil of Barnesville took the early lead of the IMCA Sport Mod feature over Carter Restad. Kelly Jacobson of Fargo was lurking in third and Scott Jacobson of Fargo was fourth.  The young Brody Johnson, who has shown a lot of progress this season, was fighting the Turkey Man, James Taves of Glyndon, for fifth.

VanMil built a .8 second lead on Restad as the Jacobson battled for third. Taves and Johnson continued to run side-by-side for fifth. The caution came out on Lap 7 for Luke Ryan’s spin in turns three and four.

Restad started to challenge VanMil on the restart with the Jacobsons right there.   Restad would take the lead with about four to go as he found speed on the lower line. VanMil would slide high in turns three and four with some kind of issue and would pull off, ending a likely top 3-4 run.  Restad was on his way to the win but Ryan Seward spun off of turns one and two to bring out the caution.

The restart didn’t last long as Ryan spun for a second time, bringing an end to his night. On the final restart Restad got a great start to open some breathing room as the Jacobsons – who raced each other clean and hard all night in their battle – continued to fight for second.

Restad picked up his second career win by over a second as Kelly Jacobson edged his dad by .246 seconds for second. There was a multi-car pileup at the finish in turn four which included Taves, Kyle VanMil of Barnesville and Johnson. I didn’t see what caused that. Taves was credited with fourth and Johnson fifth, with Bailey Rasmussen of Harwood going from ninth to sixth at the finish. Kelly Jacobson won the 2026 IMCA Sport Mod track championship at Buffalo River.

You had a lot of really good INEX Legends car on hand, a night after there were 40 at Fix It Forward for the World of Outlaws Sprint show.  Once things settled after some early cautions Noah Madler of New England  led Gage Madler New England with Colton Miller in third and Wilke in fourth. Ty Olson and Ryan Braseth were among the cars fighting for fifth.

Noah Madler had about a car length on his brother as Miller, Wilke and Olson fought for third. Olson however broke with just three laps to go and stalled at the top of turn one to bring out the fourth caution. Joseph Lewis of Hawley climbed to fifth as a result.

The Madler brothers were in good shape at the front as they hugged the bottom with Noah Madler winning by .302 seconds over Gage. Miller was third, Wilke fourth and Ryan Braseth of Ulen edged Lewis for fifth. The 15-lapper was slowed by cautions and lasted almost 16 minutes. Braseth is the 2026 Buffalo River track champion.

Seven IMCA Stock cars signed in with Kelly Jacobson leading the first lap. Jonny Carter of Lisbon was battling Rob VanMil of Barnesville for second before taking the spot with Todd Carter in fourth.

Jonny Carter went to work on Kelly Jacobson with VanMil, Todd Carter and Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead fighting for third in a real nice battle.  VanMil would go around in turns one and two to bring out the first caution with 10 laps left. I didn’t ee what happened by Carlsrud was tagged with the caution; VanMil would head to the pit work area and rejoin the field at the tail.

Jacobson resumed up front with Jonny Carter working underneath him. Point leader coming into the night, Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada, was soon joining the battle. Carlsrud and Todd Carter ran side-by-side for fourth.

Kelly Jacobson was running the top line and the 51 was sticking there as Jonny Carter hugged the bottom Carlsrud had moved up to fourth and was closing on the top three.

With two to go Jonny Carter and  Jacobson were dead even at the line and the same held true at the white flag.  Kesselberg got crossed up briefly and lost a spot to Carlsrud. The finish was down to the wire as Jacobson edged Jonny Carter by just .162 seconds. Those two put on a heck of a show at the front.

Carlsrud was a solid third with Todd Carter edging Kesselberg for fourth. Kelly Jacobson is the 2026 Buffalo River stock car champion, winning his second track championship of the night.

Jonny Carter told me he was looking to get some things sorted out in his 46 machine; he plans to race at the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone next month.

Cory Probst of Brewster, the three-time defending IMCA Hobby Stock national champion, took the lead early in the feature in that class with Caleb Gardner of Glyndon in second. Daniel Beckman of Mahnomen was third and Reid Randall of Park Rapids, the point leader going into the night, was in fourth. Todd Gettel of Mahnomen was in fifth. Hunter Goulet of Fargo, with a couple of feature wins in his first season in the IMCA Hobby Stock class, would pull off with a problem.

Probst was flying and his lead grew to 3.8 seconds over Gardner, who had his hands full with Beckman.  Beckman was working a higher lane and took the spot with two to go.

Probst crushed the field by 4.3 seconds with Beckman having a good run in second.. Gardner held off Randall for third with Gettel completing the top five.

Adrian Kubitz of Glyndon took the early lead of the Wissota Hornet feature but a caution came out quickly as Mark Harmon’s 21 machine stalled on the frontstretch. He left on the hook.

There were three Never Alone cars on hand, including Lucas Hinrichs of Breckenidge and Aaron Miller of Fergus Falls. Hrinichs would pass Kubitz for the lead with Miller taking second. Point leader Christian Kast of Fairmount  would soon join the party and take second.

Kast would work the lower line and got around  Hinrichs for second and would take the lead with seven to go. Miller was fighting back on the outside and would take over the top spot briefly but Kast fought back.

Bryce Mueller was having a good run in the top four and would take over third from Hinrichs with two laps to go with Cameryn Taylor of Hankinson running fifth.  Kast put the finishing touches on the points championship with  a narrow .370 win over Miller in what was a very good race to end the night. Mueller was third, Hinrichs fourth and Taylor fifth.

Kast had purchased Chase Golliet’s 30X machine and let Golliet drive his 03 car for some nights.  Kast’s 30x machine had a hard crash on Saturday at Madison and was heavily damaged, he was back behind the wheel of the 03.

Buffalo River notes

--Ashley Taves of Glyndon is in her third year of driving the #26 IMCA Hobby Stock; she is the daughter of James Taves. She recently completed her bachelor’s degree at Grand Canyon University and now will pursue her doctorate in occupational therapy at the school beginning this fall. Look for a story on the Taves family during the week prior to the Corn Cob Nationals.

--I don’t get to see Todd Carter of Lisbon race in-person much anymore; he races IMCA Stock Cars weekly at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan and had his #19 machine on hand Sunday. He served as race director at Sheyenne Speedway this year an did a good job in that role.

--The Corn Cob Nationals are set for Buffalo River on Sept. 19-20. Classes running will be INEX Legends, IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, RaceSaver Sprints and Hobby Stocks, Gen X Late Models and Wissota Hornets. The Sept. 19 program  will be the heat races while the features will take place on Sept. 20.

Casino Speedway wins to Stearns (twice), Bogh, Johnson and Pedersen

Mike Stearns of Aberdeen won two features Sunday night at Casino Speedway in Watertown. He won the Wissota Late Model feature with Chad Williamson of Watertown taking second. Jayson Good of Watertown was third, Trevor Walsh of Watertown fourth and Scott Harrington of Waubay was fifth.

Stearns also won the Wissota Modified feature with Arne Anderson of Watertown second and Nate Heinrich of Bellingham third.

Jayden Bogh of Huron won the Wissota Street Stock feature with Wade Tirrel of White in second. Tony Miller of Browns Valley was third, Wyatt Brooker of Huron fourth and Jodie Michaelsohn of Aberdeen was fifth.

Dalten Pedersen of Estelline won the Wissota Hornet feature with Adam VanDerostyne of Canby second. Jesse Lindner of Watertown was third, Bradley Rossow of Florence fourth and Matthew Moes of Watertown was fifth.

Lorin Johnson of Miller won the Wissota Midwest Modified main event with Dawson Zabel of Selby second. Terry Reilly of Watertown was third, Jake Wranek of Sioux Falls was fourth and Tommy Nichols of Watertown was fifth.

Sunday notes

--The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Show at Nodak Speedway in Minot was rained out for a second time this year.   They will race on Monday night at Nodak.

--Bemidji Speedway rained out on Sunday. Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon completed its season on Thursday as part of the Ransom County Fair.