Corn Cob Nationals Champions crowned at Buffalo River finale

The 2026 Corn Cob Nationals champions were crowned on Sunday night at Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon.

It was a long night, not unexpected, with nine classes. I feel it is too many for a year-end race but so is eight classes, seven classes…I won’t belabor it. As a blogger I just don’t care for marathon racing programs — makes for a long long night for me.

If you read the blog regularly you know where I stand.

And for the purse that was offered, which was very good, I expected more cars in some of the classes.

Buffalo River has worked to improve things this year that I applaud, including the track surface and running a quicker more efficient weekly snow.

Buffalo River elected to let drivers who did not race on Saturday race on Sunday, and this does happen at some two-day shows. My thought is as long as you make them pay the $60 entry fees for each of the days, like everybody who raced on Saturday, that’s fine.

James Taves of Glyndon led early in the IMCA Sport Mod feature over Carter Restad of West Fargo, but the caution flew for Corey Hill Jr.’s spin in turn one. Hill was one of several Brainerd-area cars to come up in the class.

Taves had pressure from Ryan Restad of West Fargo was Coy Vlies of Casco, Wisconsin closing. It turned into a three-car fight between Taves, Restad and Vlies with Restad edging ahead with 20 to go.

Austin Veralrud of Audubon was cloing on the top three with Kelly Jacobson climbing into the top five.  Taves regained the lead  with 16 to go but it was about a five-car fight  that saw things go three-wide.  Vlies made what would be the winning move as he went around both Taves and Restad with 12 to go and surged into the lead.  Vlies just took off from there, blasting to a 2.4 second lead. That was erased by a caution with seven to go as Jacob Jordan slid off of turns three and four. The long green-flag run produced some outstanding racing between the top five cars.

Kody Machart, debuting a new car, was also running solid in sixth. On the restart Veralrud grabbed second with Ryan Restad third as Vlies pulled away again. Restad would go around in turn two, however to bring out the yellow, and he would call it a night.

Another car on the move through the field was Kyle VanMil of Barnesvile, who had 17th but climbed to the top five.  Vlies resumed control on the final restart and rolled to the win. Vlies had 17 wins coming into the night; he was second in national points to Jarett Franzen. He put on a heck of a show in what I believe was his first trip to Buffalo River.

Veralrud ran a strong race to take 2nd. VanMil had a terrific run from 17th to 3rd while the Turkey Man Taves was 4th. Justin Jones of Bemidji is always consistent at Buffalo River and he finished 5th after starting 11th.

Ryan Braseth of Ulen led the first lap of the INEX Legends feature but Ty Olson of Mandan was charging on the outside.  The caution flew for a spin in turn two, and on the restart it was chaos at the front which saw Colton Miller take the  lead. Olson would soon grab the top spot with Braseth third and Alex Clark of Moorhead was up to fourth and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes.

Owen Broden spun in turn two and that collected a few cars, including Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids, who would leave on the hook. On the restart Levi Lease of Harwood made contact with another car and flipped his #9 machine. The legend cars don’t roll often, but sometimes when they do it is violent. Lease walked to the ambulance to get checked over.

The race was plagued with cautions with several cars back in the field struggling with two more spins brinbgout out yellows. Olson was challenged by Braseth as Wilke went up to the top to make a charge to the front.  Wilke  grabbed second but yet another caution for a spin, which ended the night for Broden.

Braseth went to the bottom to challenge Olson with Wilke working up high to gain ground. Clark was a solid fourth and Miller was in fifth. Wilke got within a car length of Olson and took a peek down low but Olson would pull away late to pick up the win.  Wilke went from 11th to second while Braseth was third, Miller fourth and Clark, who might be the most improved driver in the class in the region, was fifth.

Parker Gilbertson wasted no time storming to a big lead in the Gen X Late Model feature with Cade Skytland fighting with Kris Wilke of Porter for second. Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls was started seventh but was climbing into fourth. Alex Tschakert of Kent was running fifth but would pull off with an issue.

Gilbertson was whipping the field by a straightaway as it turned a one-laner on the top.  Wolden, who qualified for the Wissota 100 in the late models  last night, spun in turn two to bring out the yellow.

There was no touching Gilbertson who won going away by three seconds over Skytland. Wilke was third, Wolden fourth, Anderson fifth and Lexie Fleming, a young driver from Watertown, was  sixth.

Rob VanMil led the IMCA Stock Car feature  with Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead in second.  Andrew Jochim of Harwood was moving into second past Carlsrud.

Much like the Gen X late models, the top line was the place to be.  The best battle was for third between Carlsrud and Kelly Jacobson; Mike Johnson, driving Kalvin Kesselberg’s 11 car, was running fifth.

VanMil built a comfortable lead over Jochim who had plenty of breathing room on the tbattle for third. It was a ho-hum race with very little passing, and VanMil cruised to the win. Jochim went from fourth to second, Carlsrud was third, Jacobson fourth and Johnson fifth. By the way, it was great seeing Mike Johnson back behind the wheel of a race car; he is wrenching for his son, Brody in the sport mods.

I was curious if the IMCA Mods could get the bottom lane to come in or if the track would continue to be top dominant. Lindsey Hansen of Fargo led the opening lap before Dayton Kent spun in turn two to bring out the caution.

Hansen led on the restart with John Nord of Enderlin working a lower lin. Tom Andring of Detroit Lakes was third, Tyler Hall of Fertile fourth and Jeff Odden of Reiles Acres fifth. There was more contact in the field to bring out the caution; Kent suffered some damage and would pull pitside.

Andring and Nord fought hard for second on the restart as Hansen stretched out another big advantage.  The top line had locked down, unfortunately.  Joshua Wiest would spin in turn two to bring out the caution.

Nord looked on the restart underneath but Hansen kept the momentum going and built a few car length lead. He was not threatened late and one by one second over Nord. Andring was third, Hall fourth and Odden fifth. For Hansen, it was his second feature win of 2026 and should be a good boost of momentum going into the Jamestown Stampede at his home track.

After a spin on the opening lap Reid Randall of Park Rapids and Hunter Goulet of Fargo raced side-by-side for the lead. But it wasn’t long before three-time IMCA Hobby Stock national champion Cory Probst of Brewster was making noise towards the front, but the caution flew for debris as Brandon Fletschock lost a front bumper.

Randall faced pressure from Probst and Tim Otterness of Brainerd for the lead as Daniel Beckman was running fourth. Unlike the previous races, the bottom lane was coming around. Otterness would work around Randall to take the lead, and moments later Randall slid high which opened the door for Probst.   Goulet was running fifth but fighting Caleb Gardner for that spot. Goulet would go around, however and lose a bunch of spots but kept going to avoid a yellow.

Otterness was just blasting the field. The lead grew to 3.4 seconds over Probst and he cruised to a dominant win. Probst was second, Randall – who won three track titles this year – was third. Beckman was solid all night in fourth and Andrea Jacobson of Fargo was fifth.

Christian Kast of Fairmount was dueling with Zander Zuehlsdorff of Fergus Falls for the lead of the Wissota Hornet feature. Tyson Roush of Menahga was up to third with Bryce Mueller fourth and Cameryn Taylor of Hankinson up to fifth. There was a lot of shuffling outside the top five.

Roush was the car making moves. He went to the high side of Kast to take the lead with  12 to go and would keep pulling away from Kast.  Zuehlsdorff and Adam VanDeroStyne of Canby were among the cars fighting for position in the top five.

The first caution did not come out until Colby Fahleen went off of turns three and four with two to go, erasing a big advantage for Roush. Roush wasn’t touched over the final two laps as he won comfortably over Kast.  However, Roush was DQed postrace, giving the win to Kast. VanDerostyne was second, Taylor third, Zuehlsdorff fourth and Bryce Mueller was credited with fifth.

They did track prep before the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature, and the feature, well, was a caution-fest.

Brandon Rekow of Ellendale led Ty Hanten of West Fargo early but Hanten would take the lead.  Laney Moore of Des Moines, Iowa, was running third with Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton in fourth. Tye Wilke

Brett Allen and Marcus Rothenbacher spun in turn four to bring out the caution – which  would become a recurring theme unfortunately. On the restart Logan Moore spun and Jerzee Rosinski spun to avoid to bring out the second caution.

Rekow and Hanten seemed to battle the whole race; Rekow was working a higher lane. Laney Moore was third, Henderickson and Wilke were battling for fourth. The third caution came out of Zanden Braaten spun for the third caution. Hanten and Rekow resumed their battle with Hendrickson climbing to third. Rosinski would suffer a flat and slow to bring out the fourth caution.

On the restart, Hendrickson broke a drive shaft – he had tagged the wall pretty good earlier – to bring out the fifth caution with 16 laps to go. When the race resumed Wilke joined the battle for the lead. Moore was in the fourth spot. 

The sixth caution came out for another spin and Hanten would open some breathing room on Wilke on one of the longer green flag runs of the night. With five to go the seventh caution came out with Bryce Haugeberg sliding off turn four.

Wilke would slow on the next restart and pull to the infield; moments later, Brett Allen would spin for the eighth caution just as Laney Moore was closing in on Hanten.

Fittingly to what was a marathon of a race, Moore would make a run at the lead and got into Hanten in turn four, bringing out the caution. It amazed me Moore was not sent to the tail for that…well I learned later Moore was told to go to the tail and elected not to.

Mercifully the race ended after nine cautions and 28 minutes with Hanten holding off Rekow.  Jason Berg of West Fargo third, Jeremiah Jordahl of Madison, S.D. was fourth and Logan Moore was fifth.  Laney Moore, for the record, was scored as the final finisher which was the right call for not going to the tail laps earlier.

My thought on the race – the battle at the front between Hanten, Rekow and Wilke was terrific. But the nine cautions were simply ridiculous.

Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush has been one of the standard setters in the Lightning Sprints in the region and not surprisingly, he took the lead from the outset of the feature on Sunday.

Hayden Koehmstedt moved into second with Jake Haugeberg of West Fargo, who won Friday at River Cities, moving to third. Evan Yanish of Cavalier was fourth and Brady Heilman pf Fargp settled into fifth.

Once Dvergsten cleared a few lapped cars, he was running away from the field, stretching the lead to 4.1 seconds with two to go and it ended up being a four-second win for the veteran.  Koehmstedt was second with Haugeberg third , Yanish fourth and Heilman fifth.