Cole Schill wins John Seitz Memorial

Cole Schill won his first John Seitz Memorial title. (photo by Speedway Shots).

The 19^th annual John Seitz Memorial concluded on Saturday at River Cities Speedway. Once again the car turnout was excellent with 175 cars on hand in four classes, led by a record 59 Wissota Late Models.

One thing I hope about memorial races is that folks don’t forget the person for whom the event is named. John Seitz was one of my favorite late model drivers of that time and is still missed so many years later.

The super stocks were dropped and you know I’m perfectly OK with four classes at a special. I’d like to see that as a trend but things seem to be going the opposite way.

Seitz Memorial kicks off the invitational season locally, and the intensity increases. The racing is much harder, there is less give-and-take, and naturally there will be drama. The Wissota Late Model 92-lapper was no exception as that is the late model race locally everyone wants to win, I'd argue moreso than the Wissota 100 even.

Mike Greseth of Harwood and former national champion Chad Becker of Aberdeen led the 27-car field to the green with Becker grabbing the Lap 1 lead. Cole Schill of Hawley settled into third with A.J. Diemel of Elk Mound getting by defending champion Cole Searing of Huron for fifth. 

Becker slid high as he approached lapped traffic and Schill, who had passed Greseth for second earlier, took advantage to take the top spot for a a couple of laps.  Diemel and Greseth also were closing on the top two. Pederson was fighting Searing for fifth but Tyler Peterson of Hickson (TPO) was closing, and took over sixth.

Becker opened a .567 second lead on Schill as Greseth moved back to third.  The first caution of the race waved with 74 to go as Scott Ward of Watertown was stalled off of turn four.  On the restart there was contact between Brody Troftgruben of Grand Forks and Canadian Shane Edginton the left both cars with some damage. Edginton was charged with the caution.

TPO made a charge to third on the restart and went to work on Schill as Becker opend some breathing room. Greseth was fourth and Diemel in fifth. The caution would fly with 67 to go when Aberdeen driver Josh Skorczewski was off of turn three.  

Diemel would move into third past TPO as Greseth, Zach Johnson of Lowry and Searing were among the cars fighting for the top five.

At the fuel stop the top five were Becker, Schill, Diemel, TPO and Greseth. Back in the field RCS champion Dustin Strand had climbed into the top 10 after starting 22^nd.

After the fuel stop there were 63 laps to go. Diemel made a move for the lead on the restart but couldn’t make it stick. Schill was third and Greseth fourth, and Johnson had moved to fifth with pressuring from Searing. The caution waved with 57 to go for debris, and on the ensuing restart Becker slid high and lost three spots as Diemel took the lead. Greseth moved to second with Schill in third.  TPO was back on the move and would use the high side to take fifth, and soon was pressuring Becker for fourth.

Schill was closing on Diemel as the leaders approached the back of the field. Schill would take the lead with 47 to go; the stunner was Diemel would pull into the infield a few laps later, ending his hopes of winning a fourth Seitz title. That moved Strand into fifth.

A great three-car battle between Greseth, TPO and Becker with TPO taking the spot with 40 to go.   Becker would work on Greseth for third as Schill opened a 2.7 second lead on TPO with several lapped cars between them. Becker would move to third and Strand would soon follow past Greseth.

With 25 laps to go Schill’s 1.6 second lead on TPO was erased as Jeff Provinzino’s 28 came to a stop with front-end damage in turn two. I also noticed Superman Mike Stearns of Aberdeen had left-front suspension problems.

The 25-to-go restart saw Schill in front with TPO, Becker, Strand and Troftgruben, who was quietly having a good run, in fifth. The restart saw  TPO all over Schill for the lead but the 44 would withstand the early challenges. The caution came out as Jake Redetzke of Menomonie, Wis., slowed on the backstretch. TPO went back to work on Schill on the restart as Strand grabbed third.  With 17 to go TPO made his move with a slider in  turn three and grabbed the top spot.  Travis Robertson of Fargo was also having excellent run and had climbed to fifth behind Zach Johnson as the restart shuffled some of the cars in the top 10.

TPO pulled to a .339 second lead over Schill with Strand in third. Becker had moved past Greseth for fifth. With six to go Trevor Anderson,, who had run in the top 10 much of the night, slowed and would pull off.

The fight intensified over the final laps with very hard, close racing. Schill would seize the lead and was working very hard and using a lot of racetrack to protect the lead, and TPO had a big-time run on the high side out of turn four. There was contact which resulted in the 44 going spinning off of turn one. The anticipation was building on who the call would go on, and it was ruled on TPO, who I can safely guess was not happy with the call and pulled into the pits. Schill would regain the top sot.

It was tense with two cars fighting for $9,200 to win, a leader using the track to protect the lead and another driver hungry to win…that’s the essence of racing. When there is contact late in the race and a call to be made – someone will leave pissed off. You can find the video online and make up your own mind.

Schill now had to contend with Strand on the restart, and all of a sudden, Jesse Glenz of Chippewa Falls was in the top four – he had gone a lap down earlier in the race.

Strand, who desperately wants a Seitz title, was driving very hard to try and make a run at Schill, and slid high and would go off. That moved Glenz into second and Johnson into third.

Schill would pull away for the biggest win of his career with Glenz holding off Johnson for second. Edginton made a recovery from the caution earlier to finish fourth with Travis Robertson capping off a nice weekend in fifth. Greseth would cross the line fourth but was DQed postrace.

FYE promoter Chris Stepan announced that next year, the winner of the Seitz Late Model feature will receive $9,292. The change will be that second and third place finishers will reach receive $9,200, which is a big boost. He also announced the other classes in attendance will be racing for more money.

Cole Greseth of Harwood is having a monster summer – four track championships and 27 wins along with being second in the Wissota Street Stock  national points.  He grabbed the lead of the 22-car Wissota Street Stock feature over Trey Hess of Grand Forks.

There was a dogfight for second between Hess and former national Parker Anderson of Phillips. Hunter Carter of Mapleton was running in that group but would pull off with a problem. With 20 to go Shane Swenson pasted a tractor tire in turn three.

On the restart things were very close up front between Greseth, Hess and Anderson initially before Greseth opened some breathing room. The Wolverine, Justin Vogel of Brooten, was charging on the outside and climbed into fourth. The caution waved with 18 to go for debris. That set up a crazy restart where things went three-wide, and Anderson, a former national champion, pulled slider on Greseth to take the lead. Anderson, however would have his hands full with Hess. Greseth and Vogel were fighting for third with Greg Jose of Grand Forks in fifth.

Levi Randt of Siren, who was a DNF in his when the caution waved for Rodney Hulst in turn two with 14 to go.  On the restart Vogel looked to make a move on the outside as Hess worked on Anderson on the bottom.  Jose

The racing intensified for the lead, going three-wide with Hess, Vogel and Anderson with some contact. After that calmed for a moment, it turned into a very tense fight between Anderson and Vogel, and the gloves came off. Anderson nearly squeezed Vogel off the backstretch as he didn’t give an inch of room while Vogel fought back with some contact of his own. It was old-school street stock racing right there.

By the white flag Anderson had a couple of car lengths on Vogel and made that margin stand to win by .35 seconds. Vogel, who started 13^th, ran a strong second with Hess taking third. Randt completed a big move through the field after starting 22^nd to take fourth ahead of Greseth.

If you think that is tense racing, just think of what the Wissota 100 will be like in that class…

Joe Thomas of Glyndon led much of the Al Delaine Memorial on Friday – but ran out of fuel on the final lap, giving the win to Bryce Sward of Nelson, Minn. Thomas would grab the lead from the outset.

TPO, doing double duty and still stung from the disappointment of the late model race, was hauling. He got by Stearns and Sward for second and was closing quickly on Thomas.

A couple of lapped cars got together in front of Thomas, who had nowhere to go but into John Toppozini’s 23 to bring out the caution. For the second straight night, Thomas’s luck was bad as he would pull pitside with damage.

A determined TPO took over the lead with Stearns and Sward giving chase. National point leader Blake Adams was fourth and Watertown driver Cayden Schmeling was in fifth, ahead of Canadian Ward Imrie, who was all over him.

Sward made a run at TPO but couldn’t make it go; Stearns would slow and pull off with 14 to go, ending a likely top five finish. TPO meanwhile was demolishing the field, opening a nearly six-second lead on Adams, who had grabbed second as Sward pulled off. Schmeling was running a solid third with Imrie fourth and Canadian Jeff Davis in fifth.

TPO cruised to a 7.3 second win over Adams in a butt-kicking of the field. Imrie, who always runs well at the Seitz, was a solid third with Schmeling fourth and Davis in fifth. In his postrace interview, TPO didn’t hide his feelings on the disappointment of the late model ending, and said there was no way he was losing the mod race. He left no doubt.

Reise Stenberg of Argusville took the lead of the Wissota Midwest Modified feature but a hard crash four laps into it left Phil Christlieb’s 3 car a complete mess. Brina Seng was brave to grab an interview with Christlieb after the crash, and he was blunt in his reaction.

Dawson Zabel of Selby and Jory Berg of Grand Forks were on Stenberg’s tail on the restart. The drama continued in this feature as Berg came into turn four hot and got into Stenberg coming out of turn four and Stenberg was not a fan of It and returned the favor into turn one as the B4 went spinning. However, the caution flew for a different car – or at least that is the only explanation I can think of why no one went to the back up front.

After a caution for a two-car spin, Stenberg resumed the lead but Randt would take the lead with 16 to go. Jake Smith of St. Joseph was running in second with Memphis Klassen running fourth and Zabel fifth.

Things went three-wide for a moment between Randt, Smith and Stenberg as the fight for the lead intensified. Smith took many looks at Randt and there was contact as the two battled for the top spot. With three to go the caution waved for  Jess Mckuski’s stalled car in turn four.

Aftr the late caution Smith took the top spot from Randt and would go on to take the win. Randt was second, Stenberg was third, Matt Schow of McIntosh – who had gone to the back earlier in the race – made a big time move to fourth ahead of Zabel.

RCS/Seitz notes

--One of the things I like at specials like the Seitz is to see some different faces, who are in some cases underdogs, that make the big show in the late models. This year that included two drivers who don’t race a ton during the summer – Dan Dowling of Davenport and Troy Schill of Thompson. Dowling qualified through the heat races while Schill finished second in his B feature. Another driver who races part time, Nate Reynolds of Manvel, also made the late model show by winning the last chance race. When there are 59 late models in attendance,

--Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls was leading the second B main of the Wissota Modifieds when his car slowed with a mechanical problem about midway through. Blacklance, who won the Wissota Midwest Modified track title at Norman County Raceway this summer, and his wife Shayna welcomed their second daughter to the world recently.

--2025 River Cities Midwest Modified champion Austin Hunter of Winnipeg had a long road to get into the A main after recording a DNF in his heat on Friday. He started 12^th in B feature #3, and but worked through the field to finish third and earn the last transfer spot of the night.

--The Covid pandemic really took a chunk out of the car counts from Canada at the Seitz for a few years, but that has rebounded big-time. I counted 40 Canadian cars in attendance for the weekend. For many of them, and some other drivers in the northern area, this is their big event they look forward to all year.

--One of the young talents in the Wissota Modifieds, 21-year-old Avery Anderson of Alexandria recorded a couple of top fives at I-94 and at Viking and was looking for a couple of solid finishes this week. His night came to an early end on Saturday with a broken rear suspension very early in his heat.

--There was a father and son who qualified for the late model A main – Joey Pederson and his son, Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks both made the big 92-lap show.

Corn Cob Night 1 wins to Jones, Johnson, Kris Wilke, Waxdahl, Nord and Taves

Justin Jones of Bemidji won the IMCA Sport Mod feature over Ryan Restad of West Fargo. Landon Maatz of Walcott was third, Scott Jacobson of Fargo fourth and Carter Restad of West Fargo was fifth.

Sean Johnson of Kindred topped  Preston Martin of Lincoln for the INEX Legends feature win. Ryan Braseth of Ulen was third, Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes fourth and Gage Madler of New England was fifth.

Kris Wilke of Porter topped Parker Gilbertson of Watson for the Gen X Late Model win. Trevor Walsh of Watertown was third, Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls fourth and Matthew Larson of Lake Elmo was fifth.

Dylan Waxdahl of Hartford topped Tye Wilke for the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature win. Jason Berg of West Fargo was third, Monty Ferriera of Lincoln, Neb., was fourth and Sawyer Grogan of Slayton was fifth.

John Nord of Enderlin  edged Jesse Skalicky of Fargo for the IMCA Modified win. Jacoby Traut of Jamestown was third, Derek Hanson of Britton fourth and Shawn Fletcher of Brainerd fifth.

Only six Lightning Sprints were in attendance and Kate Taves of Detroit Lakes prevailed over Travis Surerus of Fargo.

The IMCA Hobby Stocks had a red flag midway through their feature and the night was called because of curfew. That race and the Short Tracker feature from Saturday will be held on Sunday.