Viking Speedway in Alexandria hosted a $1,000 to win Wissota Midwest Modified feature on Saturday with 17 cars on hand.
Hats off to the drivers and officials at Viking. Four of the features went without a caution and racing was done at 9:35 p.m. My kind of night.
It was a crazy start to the Wissota Midwest Mod feature. Travis Engetbretson of Cyrus moved into the lead from the front row, but Corey Storck of Morris, fresh off of a thrilling win at Fiesta City on Friday, moved into second quickly after starting fifth.
Shane Howell of Buffalo was running third with pressure from Ron Saurer of Dalton.
Storck was within a few car lengths of Engebretson as those two opened a gap on the field. Shawn Olson of Alexandria was running a solid fifth but Taylor Bitzan of Brandon soon took over the spot.
With a 20-lap race Storck was patient, but also was starting to lose some ground to Engebretson as the race reached the halfway point. In lapped traffic, Storck closed the gap and made a run on the low side but couldn’t make much headway as Engebretson had the momentum up top. Howell had opened some distance on Saurer for third.
Storck caught Engebretson again with three to go as lapped traffic was a factor. Meanwhile, Howell was closing quickly on the top two.
Storck went for the slider on the final lap in turns three and four and nearly pulled it off, but Engebretson went for the crossover and it was a drag race to the finish. Engebretson inched ahead by .043 seconds to pick up his first win of the year; it was worth $1,000. Storck is having an outstanding year with six wins and settled for second. Howell was third, Saurer was fourth and Taylor Bitzan rounded out the top five. It was a 20-lap, 17-car caution free feature in the Midwest mods as they did an excellent job.
Fifty-year-old Brad Lorentz took a big lead in the Wissota Street Stock feature with Russ Carlson of Montevideo settling into second. Last week’s winner, Roger Berkness (who won his first career feature last week) was running third. Nitro Jimmy Williams of DeGraff had worked up to fourth and was catching second and third place.
Lorentz built a two-second lead as Berkness moved into second and Williams moved into third. That was the best battle on the track – for second. The happiest guy to see that battle was Lorentz, who had a lot of breathing room.
Berkness was gaining on Lorentz but ran out of time, as Lorentz picked up his first career win by .768 seconds. Berkness was second, Williams was third, Carlson fourth and Davey Krutchen of Glenwood was fifth. It was a good clean race for the streets, going caution free.
The interesting thing about Lorentz was he pretty much totaled a car at Viking last year and is armed with a new car in 2023.
Two drivers who picked up their first career win earlier this season – Nic Hiles of Miltona and Blaine Sweet of Sauk Centre – led the Short Trackers to the green.
Hiles led early but had some smoke coming from the H20 machine. Jeff Rohner of Willmar moved into second and was closing in on Hiles.
Kole Kampsen of Belgrade, the point leader at Viking, was battling Sweet for third with Shawn Beto of Wahpeton settling into fifth.
Sweet was struggling with his car, not sure if there was a mechanical issue, and that moved Beto to fourth. Hiles had a 1-2 car length lead on Rohner, who was patient in the #08 machine.
The biggest question was weather the H20 machine would last until the end as smoke would puff some smoke from time to time. Rohner was right on Hiles’ heels with two to go. Kampsen was slowly reeling in the top two as the white flag waved.
Hiles would hold on for his second win of the season and his career. Rohner, who won Thursday at KRA Speedway, settled for second with Kampsen in third and Beto in fourth. Sweet was fifth. Again, a clean race with no cautions.
Only nine Wissota Super Stocks were on hand. Jeff Crouse of Alexandria and Trent Brutger of Watkins lead the field to the green.
It’s hard to believe Trevor Saurer of Dalton, a multi-time champion at Viking, had one feature win at the half-mile this season entering the night. It speaks to the improved parity in the class.
Crouse took the lead but Saurer was working low and Matt Miller of Glenwood was right there in third.
Crouse and Saurer ran side-by-side for a couple of laps before Saurer moved ahead. Crouse got tight up high for a moment in turns one and two and Miller would move into second. Karter Reents of Glenwood was running a solid fifth.
The super stocks all ran up on the higher lane, and honestly there was not a lot of side by side battles going on. Saurer had about a .8 second lead on Matt Miller. Brutger stayed close to Crouse, and that was the best battle on the track.
Saurer pushed the lead to more than 1.3 seconds as the white flag waved, and the final margin of victory was 1.342 seconds over Miller. Crouse was third, Brutger was fourth and Reents was fifth. It was a caution-free main event, the fourth straight of the night.
Veteran Jason Thoennes of Garfield took the early lead in the Wissota Modified with Blake Boelens facing heavy pressure from Brendan Blascyk of Kensington, who would take over the runner-up spot. A caution would wave early to bunch up the field.
On the restart Blascyk took a peek underneath Jason Thoennes, with Dusty Bitzan of Brandon moving into third and set to tangle with Blascyk. Brandon Copp of Brule, Wis., had moved into the top five after starting eighth.
Bitzan slid off the backstretch and lost a lot of ground on the top two but saved it as that allowed Josh Thoennes to close. Bitzan would catch Blascyk again. Bitzan and Blascyk had the best battle on the track for second as those two raced extremely hard. Copp, meanwhile, had moved into fourth and was right on their tails.
The battle between Bitzan and Blascyk allowed Jason Thoennes to open some breathing room, on his way to his second win of 2023. He has more than 100 career feature wins and is a driver who is steady and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. Bitzan was second. Copp started eighth but edged Blascyk for third with Josh Thoennes rounding out the top five.
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