Froemming wins Fallen Linemen special at Viking

The Race for the Fallen Linemen is the biggest Wissota Mod race of the year at Viking Speedway. It is a $3,000-to-win, $300 to start main event with a lot of contingencies.

A huge credit to Corey Svor for his work with this event, now in its 11^th year. Not only is it a great purse, it also raises money for the Fallen Linemen organization, which provides financial support for families who lose loved ones in electrical-line accidents. Svor has done a terrific job year-after-year raising money for this event.  23 mods were on hand, a good field.

And on Saturday at Viking, it was the 33X of Justin Froemming who stole the show.

Superman Mike Stearns of Aberdeen led early in the Wissota Mod feature with Brady Gerdes of Villard in pursuit. Justin Froemming of Garfield was making a big-time move and moved underneath Stearns into the lead with 27 to go.  Ryan Gierke of Villard closing on Gerdes with Joe Thomas of Glyndon running fifth.

Froemming built a two-second lead as Stearns and Gerdes raced very hard for second. Gerdes would take the spot as Gierke went after Stearns.

Froemming was into lapped traffic with 20 to go, and Gerdes was eating into the lead as the top five stayed the same. With 11 to go the lead was down to .557 seconds as there were several lapped cars ahead. Froemming began pulling away again after clearing some lapped cars as the lead was up to almost two seconds with five to go.

Without any cautions there wasn’t a lot of position swapping as the top five remained the same, although Landon Atkinson of Little Falls was closing on fifth-place Thomas.

Froemming was flawless in lapped traffic, and in a race that went green-white-checkered as the lead was over two seconds. Gerdes would slow and pull into the pits with less than two laps left, ending a likely top three finish for the 2X.

The 33X of Froemming put on a hell of a performance. He not only won $3,000 for the feature win, he also got $250 bonus from RaceChaser blog for leading the most laps.  He also got a $100 bonus for being a first-time winner, so he went home with about $3,400 by my count. There may have been other contingencies as well that I am missing.

Stearns would finish second, taking home $2,500. Gierke was third, Thomas was fourth and Atkinson fifth. By my count, the hard charger was Brendan Blascyk of Hoffman, who went from 18^th to 10^th; he got $500 for getting that.

Dusty Bitzan, who slid off of the track early in the race and lost several spots, is in a fight with Gerdes for the points title.  Gerdes, who won at I-94 on Friday, lost some ground on Saturday and is now down 16 points.

The show ran a bit longer with more mods on hand, but also a red flag in the street stock feature for a rollover and a lot of cautions in the Midwest Modified feature. The heats had a few cautions which drug things along, too. The track seemed to hold up pretty good for the most part.

Scott Tofte of Madison took the lead for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature from the inside pole, and he was challenged by another long-time veteran, Ron Saurer of Dalton. Landyn Randt of Siren was on the move, starting eighth but climbing into the top three. Mason Thoennes ran fourth ahead of two of the Bitzan brothers, Tanner and Tyler.

The race was slowed by five cautions.

Tofte had about two-car lengths on Saurer, who had all kinds of heat from Randt.  The caution flew with eight to go as Brandon Kasten went around for a second time, ending his night. On the restart Randt was working the outside of Saurer, and would grab the spot.

Randt wasn’t through, as he continued on the high side and used that momentum to take the lead with five laps to go.  From there, Randt checked out, building a 1.8 second lead to pick up the feature win. He is second in the national points to Blake Adams of Cameron.

Tofte, with more than four decades behind the wheel, ran a solid second.  The ageless 73-year-old Saurer was third. Tyler Bitzan went from 11^th to fourth and Taylor Bitzan went from 15^th to fifth. Corey Storck of Morris was the hard charger; he broke in his heat and left on the wrecker, but started 20^th in the feature and finished ninth. Buzz Muzik of Alexxandria leads Tyler Bitzan by a slim 2-point margin, unofficially.

Eric Riley of Morris took the lead in the Wissota Street Stock feature with J. J. Nieuwbeerta of Alexandria fought Levi Randt of Siren, the national point leader, for second. Just a few laps into it, however, Brad Lorentz, who entered the night as the point leader rolled his 36 car in turn four. He was OK but was checked out in the ambulance for some lower back pain, it was announced.

When the racing resumed, Riley and Randt checked out on the field. Mark Blom of Glenwood climbed to third ahead of Nieuwbeerta with defending track champion Joe Martin of Willmar in fifth. Chris Winter Sr. was running solid as well in sixth, not far behind Nieuwbeerta and Martin.

The race went down to the wire as Randt put all kinds of heat on Riley for the lead, and they started racing side-by-side for the top spot. Randt got a great run out of turn four to take the lead as the two  continued to fight on the last lap. Riley went for the slider on the final corners and Randt was able to make the crossover to win what was the best race of the night.  Blom ran a solid third with Martin fourth and Kegan Stueve of Greenwald would edge Nieuwbeerta for fifth. Craig Gardner of  Alexandria was the hard charger, going from 16^th to eighth.

Unofficially Nieuwbeerta leads Lorentz by one point after Saturday’s show, and best wishes to Lorenz, hopefully he will be able to get his 36 car put back together.  That points race will go down to the final weekend.

With point leader Jeff Rohner not in attendance – he was DQed postrace at I-94 EMR Speedway on Friday – the points race in the Wissota Hornets got shaken up.

Cameryn Taylor of Hankinson led Karter Kunz of Bertram of in the feature but Kunz was working the outside to take the lead. Chase Golliet of Fargo was third, Eli Green of Osakis was fourth and Lindner was fifth.

Kunz built a one-second advantage on Golliet and continued to pull away. Golliet was well ahead of Green. Taylor was fourth and Brandon Downs of Milbank was fifth. But it was Kunz’s night as he picked up his first career feature win by more than two seconds.

Green made a late pass of Golliet for second. Taylor was fourth and Downs fifth. Green was the hard charger, going from eighth to second in the caution-free feature.

Karter Reents of Glenwood entered the night with a three-point lead over Trevor Saurer of Dalton, and those two were fighting for the lead early in the Wissota Super Stock feature with Travis Scott of Glenwood in pursuit. Bailey Rosch of Alexandria was fourth and Roger Host of Watkins was fifth. The first caution flew for Taohe Norris who spun in turn two. He would head to the pits.

Reents would take the lead and pull away as Scott and Saurer fought for second with Rosch in tow. Jeff Crouse of Alexandria climbed to fifth.

Scott worked the bottom and Rosch followed suit to get by Saurer into third. Reents was all by himself on the front, pushing the lead to 1.9 seconds with six to go. One thing Reents did not want to see was a yellow, and it came out with six to go as Josh Roggatz of Montevideo and Roger Host went around coming out of turn four.  

Scott threatened on the inside of Reents when the race resumed with Rosch in third.  And while Scott stayed close for a few laps, Reents would open some breathing room to close things out and won by almost a second. Scott, who has been so close to a feature win at Viking this summer, settled for second. Rosch was third, Saurer fourth and Roggatz was fifth. From a points standpoint, it was a good night for Reents for sure.

Viking notes

--Jon Carlson of Brandon had an issue right before his Mid Mod heat race. I counted four race teams that came over quick to help, which includes Nieuwbeerta, Hall of Famer Ryan Muzik and Lorentz. Guess what? They got him out for the heat race. Yes there are negative things in racing; but this is one thing that makes this sport great — people helping each other.

--young Noah McFarlane is making strides each week. He won his heat race in the Wissota Midwest Modified class; he finished 11^th in the feature, but you can see the improvement for the teenager.

--It was announced that Josh Thoennes of Nelson was racing in the Wissota Modified class for the last time as he intends to retire. He is a long-time solid runner at Viking. His son, Talan, races in the mods at Viking.

 Kummer Wins DRC Street Stock Tour Finale

Cody Kummer of Medford, Wis., won the finale of the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour Saturday night at Jamestown Speedway. It was Kummer’s first tour win of the year.  Unofficially Justin Vogel of Brooten is the 2026 tour champion.

Jodie Michaelsohn of Aberdeen was second, Cole Greseth of Harwood was third, Billie Christ of Jamestown fourth and Tommy Pogones of Princeton was fifth.

John Nord of Enderlin won the IMCA Modified feature with Jacoby Traut of Jamestown second. John Corell of Jamestown was third, Andrew Kapp of Jamestown fourth and Shawn Wiest of Fargo was fifth.

Travis Edinger of Jamestown won the Bomber feature with Ryker Vetter of Wishek second. Joe Jacobson of Jamestown was third, Brent Wilkinson of Jamestown fourth and Cade Gentzkow of Lamoure was fifth.

Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature for a second straight night with Arin Beyer of Jamestown second. Aaron Michel of Jamestown was third, Kyle Anderson of Jamestown was fourth and Ryan Ost of Adrian was fifth.

Donavin Wiest of Wishek won the INEX Legends feature with Regan Reinke of Lisbon second. Andrew Bargmann of Bismarck was third, Austin Wiest of Bismarck fourth and Zach Reinke of Lisbon fifth.

Saturday notes

--Cole Schill of Hawley won the NLRA late Model feature Saturday night at Greenbush Race Park. Shane Edginton of East St. Paul, Man., was second, Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks third, Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks was fourth and Jason Strand of Portland fifth.

John Halvorson of Warren won the Wissota Street Stock feature with Trey Hess of Grand Forks second. Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Taylor Jacobson of Roseau.  Aaron Holtan of Newfolden won the Wissota Modified feature.

--Greg Jose of Grand Forks won the Wissota Street Stock feature Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway.  Jory Berg of Grand Forks captured the Wissota Midwest Modified feature.