Dykhoff Claims DRC Street Stock Tour Opener at Viking; Engebretson, Pourrier, Miller and Blascyk Post Wins
- tombergie01
- May 24
- 9 min read
I made it back to Viking Speedway in Alexandria to cover the first night of the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour. A strong 25-car street stock field was on hand.
I was wondering what car counts would be like with Ogilvie running a multi-day special to the east, and they were solid. There were 15 Wissota Mods on hand along with 22 Wissota Midwest Modifieds, 17 Wissota Super Stocks and 16 Wissota Hornets.
It was just the second night of the year at Viking, and after a wet stretch of weather earlier in the week it wasn’t unexpected for the track to have some character.
There will be a new DRC Street Stock Tour champion this year as 2024 champion Ty Agen of Chippewa Falls, Wis., is not racing this summer. It’s interesting that some former champs of the tour are no longer in the street stocks – including Jonny Carter who is now in the IMCA Stock Cars, and Parker Anderson, who raced Scott Bintz’s car late last year but has not been out this season according to myracepass.com.
Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck has been a strong runner in the street stocks for many years. Despite several runner-up finishes, he had never won at Viking Speedway, but that would change on Saturday.
There was a multi-car spin in turns three and four to open the Wissota Street Stock feature that collected several cars. The worst hit was Ashley Wampler of Hecla, S.D., who hit Jeff Ekdahl’s 11 machine hard and damaged the 24 machine. Wampler, who is having miserable luck to start the year, was checked out in the ambulance after the hit. I confirmed with her after a visit to the ER she was released later in the evening.
Ekdahl had some pretty heavy damage as well but got it repaired in the pits and rejoined the field. Craig Gardner of Alexandria also suffered a flat on the wreck and got it changed.
The young 14-year-old Levi Randt of Siren, Wis., took the lead from his pole spot. Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck moved into second with Kyle Bertram of Dallas, S.D., running in third. It was clear from the get-go Dykhoff’s 11 machine was quick. Davey Kruchten of Glenwood, the defending Viking track champion, would pull in early with mechanical issues.
Dykhoff surged into the lead past Randt with 17 to go. Joe Martin of Willmar was running third with Josh Long of Canby in fourth and Eric Riley of Morris in fifth.
Dykhoff opened a 1.83 second lead on Randt, but that was erased for a two-car incident in turn two involving Lucas Boyce and Gardner, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time for a second time. His night would be over; I felt for him as neither deal was his fault.
I was keeping an eye on Tommy Pogones of Zimmerman, who started dead last on the 25-car field. With 12 laps to go he had worked up to 14th. Pogones was leading his heat but broke and did not finish.
Dykhoff led on the restart over Randt. Martin faced pressure from Long for third with South Dakota driver Grady Myers running in fifth. Riley moved into fifth past Myers but had Wisconsin driver Nick Traynor all over him. Traynor would grap the spot.
Long and Martin put on a show in the fight for third with Long eventually moving into the spot. Traynor, who started way back in 19th, then went to work on Martin for fourth.
Riley, fighting for a top five spot, had rotten luck for the second straight night as a tire went down. A night before at I-94 EMR, his steering locked up and he spun, ending his night. He did open the season with two feature wins.
Dykhoff wasn’t going to be touched on this night as it turned into a race for second. He extended the lead to three seconds on his way to a 2.8 second win. Long and Traynor both passed Randt and had a good duel for second in the closing laps with Traynor edging the 71 by .156 seconds for the spot.
I would have been curious, with a caution, to see what Traynor had for Dykhoff as the 40 machine seemed to get faster and faster over the final laps. But the 11 car was superior on this night.
Randt was fourth with Martin in fifth. Pogones was the hard charger, getting up to seventh from 25th.
Travis Engebretson of Cyrus put on a late memorable charge to pull off a big-time win in the Wissota Midwest Modified main event in what was the race of the night.
Ryan Flaten of Madison would lead from the green over Tanner Bitzan of Brandon. Haley Dykhoff of Starbuck and Corey Strock of Dilworth were fighting for spots in the top five.
Flaten had about 3 car lengths on Taylor Bitzan, who had his brother Tanner chasing in the 42B. The ageless Ron Saurer, 72, moved into fourth ahead of Dykhoff. The caution would fly with nine to go for Landyn Randt’s spin in turn four.
Engebretson started 11th and frankly had been pretty quiet early. With 10 to go he was up to eighth.
Flaten had about a half-second lead over Tanner Bitzan. Dykhoff had cleared Saurer for fourth, and with seven to go Engebretson had climbed to fifth. Flaten’s lead grew to 1.2 seconds with six to go.
With a majority of the field running on the bottom, Engebretson went up high, and the 1X found something. He passed two cars on one lap to move into third, and then surged around Taylor Bitzan for second with five to go. Flaten’s lead stood at 1.7 seconds at that point.
Engebretson was eating into the lead and with two laps to go, the lead was down to .63 seconds. On the final lap he pulled beside Flaten on the backstretch and made the pass coming out of turn four at the checkered for a thrilling win. The margin of victory was .199 seconds. Flaten had run well all night but had to settle for second. Taylor Bitzan was third, Dykhoff fourth and Tanner Bitzan was fifth.
Trevor Saurer of Dalton was the early leader of the Wissota Super Stock feature but had 17 Kostreba chasing him. The Mopar of Matt Miller was third with Brady Gerdes of Villard in fourth. William Lund of Brandon was in fifth. Bailey Rosch of Alexandria was chasing Lund for the fifth spot.
Saurer started to pull away from Ryan Kostreba as the leaders hit lapped traffic, but soon Kosttreba found something on the bottom and erased the lead, and would take the lead with 11 to go. Miller was starting to catch the 21 of Saurer as well.
Ryan Satter of Dent was lurking just outside top five as well. The caution waved with 10 to go as Carson Miller spun in turn four; he had some front-suspension damage that required a tow.
Kostreba was humming along on the restart as Miller took second from Saurer. With seven to go, Kostreba got in the marbles and slid high, and Miller capitalized to grab the lead. Gerdes would move into second briefly before Kostreba regained the spot. Lund was running in fifth.
Miller’s lead was 1.573 seconds as Gerdes would grab second from Kostreba, who broke and slowed. That shuffled the top five some late, but Miller had things well in hand at the front to pick up the win by a comfortable 3.3 seconds.
Gerdes was second, Rosch was third, Lund fourth and Saurer fifth.
Chase Pourrier of Fergus Falls dominated the Wissota Hornet field on Friday night at I-94 EMR Speedway, and he had the outside pole next to Bradley Rossow of Florence, S.D.
Pourrier grabbed the lead on Saturday at Viking with Matthew Dittman running in second and Rossow third. Brady Albertson of Sauk Rapids was running fourth and Jeff Rohner of Willmar was running in fifth.
Pourrier’s 35 picked up where it left off on Friday, opening a 2.3 second lead on Dittman was eight to go. Anderson got by Rohner and was challenging Rossow for fourth.
Pourrier was running away with the lead as Dittman fended off Albertson for second. Kreg Anderson of Alexandria, who won the makeup feature earlier, was fourth ahead of Rohner. Albertson’s 16 started to puff off some smoke and he lost third to Anderson, who closed quidckly on Dittman.
There wasn’t a lot to say about the hornet feature as Pourrier crushed the field by 5.4 seconds. Anderson edged Dittman by .105 seconds for third with Albertson fourth and Rohner fifth in a caution-free main event.
Pourrier’s car, by the way, has been in victory lane quite a few times. It is the car driven by former I-94 track champions Shawn Beto and Kevin Youngquist.
Brendan Blascyk of Hoffman and Tony Schill of Oakdale led the Wissota Mod field to the green. Blascyk jumped out front with Schill in second, but he soon faced pressure from opening night winner Josh Thoennes of Nelson.
Gerdes was fourth ahead of Dusty Bitzan of Brandon.. Superman Mike Stearns of Hecla, a former national champion, was lurking outside the top five.
Bitzan would get by Gerdes for fourth. Up front Schill was cutting into Blascyk’s advantage with Josh Thoennes in toe. Bitzan was closing on those two as well.
Blascyk’s 1.3 second lead was erased when the caution waved with 11 to go. On the restart Schill worked the high line, but Josh Thoennes had gotten the positioning on the low line and
A car had struck one of the infield tires in turn one, and the tire slid out on the track enough for Travis Saurer of Elizabeth to catch the tire with his left front and it sent the 21X barrel rolling. The car was pretty tore up, but he confirmed with pit announcer Corey Litton he was OK.
After the red flag Josh Thoennes resumed his fight with Schill for second as Bitzan was threatened by Gerdes for fourth. Jason Thoennes of Garfield was right behind that battle..
With six to go Josh Thoennes seized second, leaving Schill to contend with Gerdes. Jason Thoennes had gotten by Bitzan for fifth. Gerdes was closing on Josh Thoennes for second as Jason Thoennes got by Schill for fourth.
Blascyk had little drama up front with a 1.67 second lead that slowly grew over the final laps, on his way to a 2.1 second win. Josh Thoennes was second, Gerdes was third, Jason Thoennes fourth and Schill fifth.
Viking Notes
--The Wissota Hornets had their makeup feature from opening night, and like their regularly scheduled feature, went caution free. Brady Albertson led much of the race, but Kreg Anderson's late surge allowed him to grab the lead late and pick up the win. Albertson was second, Christopher Winter Jr. of Hoffman was third, Jeff Rohner was fourth and Dittman was fifth. Eleven of the 13 original starters made the call.
--Brandon Copp of Brule, Wis, was in attendance in the Wissota Mod division. He won the feature at Fiesta City Speedway on Friday but was a DNF in the feature.
--Blake Boelens, now driving a late model, hopped behind the wheel of Maddie Swenson’s #52 midwest modified for the weekend. Swenson has been under the weather this week.
--I visited with Travis Scott, driver of the 71X Wissota Super Stock. He was living in Montevideo but moved back to Glenwood for a new job. He plans to run Fiesta City Speedway and Viking this year, and entering the night had struggled to start the year. However, he had a solid run on Saturday, going from 10th to sixth.
Greseth, Weight Lead Jamestown Winners
Cole Greseth of Harwood picked up his second feature win in as many nights with the Wissota Street Stock feature victory Saturday night at Jamestown Speedway. Greseth also won at I-94 EMR Speedway on Friday.
Billie Christ of Jamestown was second, Kasey Ussatis of Nome was third, Dustin Erickson of Jamestown was fourth.
Brennon Weight of LaMoure won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Tanner Theis of New Rockford. Arin Beyer of Jamestown was third, Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown fourth and Phil Christlieb of Fargo was fifth.
Erik Busche of Jamestown won the Bomber feature over Skyler Rohrich of Wilton. Karlie Horner of Bismarck was third.
Noah Madler of New England, N.D., won the INEX Legend feature over Ty Olson of Mandan. Gage Madler was third.
Saturday night notes
--Matt Schow of McIntosh won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Saturday night at Greenbush Race Park. Jory Berg of Grand Forks was second, Cylan Vargason was third and MaKenna Romuld of Grand Forks was fourth.
Greg Jose of Grand Forks topped Trey Hess of Grand Forks for the Wissota Street Stock win at Greenbush.
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