I made it a little late because of family commitments to Buffalo River Speedway for the Corn Cob Nationals. A nice 124-car field was on hand for one of the longest-running specials in Minnesota dirt track racing.
There was plenty of ears of sweet corn on hand for fans and drivers I can tell you that! That is one of the traditions of the event.
It was a very dry and slick track where the bottom was the place to be almost all night, so where you drew made a big difference. A few drivers ventured up to the high line but there wasn’t much there, traction-wise.
I am losing my patience with so many cautions in these features lately. To put in some perspective, the last 60 laps of the John Seitz Memorial went caution-free. Now, we have races with a half-dozen cautions that seem to take forever, and Sunday several felt that way. It's not just a Buffalo River deal, it seems to be happening at almost every track I go to. It led to a longer-than-it should-have been night on Sunday.
Let’s start with the wildest finish of the night — the IMCA Modifieds. Most of the race was pretty uneventful as inside pole sitter Allen Kent of West Fargo led long-time veteran John Corell of Jamestown and Tyler Hall of Fertile.
With about four to go, the leaders caught lapped traffic and it was costly for Kent, who had to check up for a slower car. That gave Corell an opening on the bottom and he moved into the lead, with Hall moving into second.
It looked like Johnny C. Was on his way to a win, but again, it was a lapped car that made the difference. Corell was working to get by Adam Fischer of Kindred during the final corner; the two cars made contact, slowing the #5 enough for Hall to make a surge down the straightway to pick up the win.
Hall was excited for the win; he mentioned in his post-race interview he’d probably led more laps of the Corn Cob nationals than anyone without winning a feature. So he can add Corn Cob nationals champion to his racing career achievements, which also includes winning the 2021 Red River Valley Speedway track championship.
Corell settled for second with Cody Peterson of Glyndon edging Allen Kent for fourth. AJ Viehauser of Brainerd was fifth. Michael Johnson of Harwood started 10th but worked up to sixth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks had their share of cautions where frustrating and a few banged up cars. But in the end it turned into a good fight for the lead between Chris Seidel of Brainerd and Brad Orvedal of Fargo. Seidel led the whole way, but Orvedal, who had run in the top three most of the night, was right there over the final few laps. He was on his bumper but couldn’t make the pass as Seidel got the win.
I do want to say that Orvedal had a few chances to just dump the 15S but did not, racing him clean. After the last few weeks of beating and banging I appreciated that.
Tim Otterness of Brainerd was third, Todd Gettel of Mahnomen fourth and Troy Burnside of Glyndon was fifth.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes has been the INEX Legend car to beat in recent years and he added to his win total on Sunday, surviving several cautions.
Wilke started fifth on the 26-car field and jumped out to the lead quickly — he would lead the rest of the way. Ryan Braseth of Ulen gave persistent chase throughout the race and usually stayed within one or two car lengths but could not get close enough to make a big run at the lead.
One driver who was closing on the top two pretty quickly was Sean Johnson of Kindred, who started 11th. He had worked into the top five and made a pretty serious charge into third and ended up finishing there to cap off a strong run.
Alex Braseth of glen ran a solid fourth, and Alex Kukowski of Edgeley started 12th but worked up to fifth by the checkered.
I remember when I’ve written last year about the car counts in the INEX Legends being down. That isn’t the case anymore locally as the numbers have rebounded nicely in just one year. On Sunday there were 26 on hand.
Scott Jacobson of Fargo had the inside pole and took the lead on the first lap of the IMCA Sport Mod feature — and led the entire way. Again, there were several cautions that plagued the race.
Jacobson had a nice lead but there was a good battle for second between Justin Jones of Bemidji, Andy Wagner of Ada and Chris VanMil of Barnesville. VanMil’s #40 machine seems to work well on the high line but it was not the preferred line on this night and he couldn’t find the speed up there.
Jacobson picked up his sixth win of 2021. An interesting stat about Jacobson — he has finished in the top five in 29 of his 34 starts this season. Talk about remarkable consistency. He is the 2021 Red River Valley Speedway track champion as well.
Jones topped Wagner for second. Mark Martini of Avon, Minn., crossed the line fourth, but was DQed in postface tech. That moved Kelly Jacobson of Fargo up to fourth, capping off a nice run from 17th, and Torey Fischer of West Fargo to fifth.
Alex Truscinski of Greenbush is the 2021 Corn Cob Nationals champion in the POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints after he fended off Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush for the victory. For Truscinski it was his fourth win of 2021.
Dvergsten settled for second; he has 13 feature wins this season as he continues to be a force in the class.
Garrison Miller of Fargo has made a lot of strides in the 5G machine this summer. He tied a career-best finish by taking third. For Miller it was his fourth top five finish this summer. Jake Haugeberg of West Fargo was fourth.
Another driver who has shown a lot of improvement this year is young Kate Taves of Detroit Lakes. She finished in the top five for the fifth time in 2021 after finishing fifth on Sunday.
I figured it was trouble for the field when Travis Robertson of Moorhead drew the inside pole for the IMCA Stock Car feature. Robertson is awful good in his #10 machine. He led the entire way in a race that was shortened because of yellow flags. Again, some very frustrating moments in that race.
Robertson picked up his third win of the year. He made an interesting comment in his post-race interview that he was disappointed laps were cut — but he put the onus on the drivers for all the cautions and not the track. I would agree with his comments.
It was a good run for Chad Hunterman of Moorhead who finished second. Dustin Bluhm of Herman had a good run in the shortened race, going from 11th to third. Ryan Satter of Dent was fourth.
Hats off to Brody Carlsrud of Fargo for recording his first top five in the IMCA Stock Car class (he did record on in the trophy class at Minot last week). He’s a rookie who is learning the ropes in a tough class competition-wise.
Curtis Huseth of Underwood is having a pretty good stretch lately in the Short Trackers. He won at Madison recently and added another win on Sunday. Austin Raths of Donnelly was cutting into the lead but couldn’t get much closer and settled for second.
Hunter Goulet of Fargo crossed the line third but was DQed in postrace tech, moving Casey Stremick of Harwood to third and Levi Lease of Harwood to fourth. David Wahl of Fergus Falls rounded out the top five.
I made it a little late because of family commitments to Buffalo River Speedway for the Corn Cob Nationals. A nice 124-car field was on hand for one of the longest-running
It was a very dry and slick track where the bottom was the place to be almost all night, so where you drew made a big difference. A few drivers ventured up to the high line but there wasn’t much there, traction-wise.
I am losing my patience with so many cautions in these features lately. To put in some perspective, the last 60 laps of the John Seitz Memorial went caution-free. Now, we have races with a half-dozen cautions that seem to take forever.
Let’s start with the wildest finish of the night — the IMCA Modifieds. Most of the race was pretty uneventful as inside pole sitter Allen Kent of West Fargo led long-time veteran John Corell of Jamestown and Tyler Hall of Fertile.
With about four to go, the leaders caught lapped traffic and it was costly for Kent, who had to check up for a slower car. That gave Corell an opening on the bottom and he moved into the lead, with Hall moving into second.
It looked like Johnny C. Was on his way to a win, but again, it was a lapped car that made the difference. Corell was working to get by Adam Fischer of Kindred during the final corner; the two cars made contact, slowing the #5 enough for Hall to make a surge down the straightway to pick up the win.
Hall was excited for the win; he mentioned in his post-race interview he’d probably led more laps of the Corn Cob nationals than anyone without winning a feature. So he can add Corn Cob nationals champion to his racing career achievements, which also includes winning the 2021 Red River Valley Speedway track championship.
Corell settled for second with Cody Peterson of Glyndon edging Allen Kent for fourth. AJ Viehauser of Brainerd was fifth. Michael Johnson of Harwood started 10th but worked up to sixth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks had their share of cautions where frustrating and a few banged up cars. But in the end it turned into a good fight for the lead between Chris Seidel of Brainerd and Brad Orvedal of Fargo. Seidel led the whole way, but Orvedal, who had run in the top three most of the night, was right there over the final few laps. He was on his bumper but couldn’t make the pass as Seidel got the win.
I do want to say that Orvedal had a few chances to just dump the 15S but did not, racing him clean. After the last few weeks of beating and banging I appreciated that.
Tim Otterness of Brainerd was third, Todd Gettel of Mahnomen fourth and Troy Burnside of Glyndon was fifth.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes has been the INEX Legend car to beat in recent years and he added to his win total on Sunday, surviving several cautions.
Wilke started fifth on the 26-car field and jumped out to the lead quickly — he would lead the rest of the way. Ryan Braseth of Ulen gave persistent chase throughout the race and usually stayed within one or two car lengths but could not get close enough to make a big run at the lead.
One driver who was closing on the top two pretty quickly was Sean Johnson of Kindred, who started 11th. He had worked into the top five and made a pretty serious charge into third and ended up finishing there to cap off a strong run.
Alex Braseth of glen ran a solid fourth, and Alex Kukowski of Edgeley started 12th but worked up to fifth by the checkered.
I remember when I’ve written last year about the car counts in the INEX Legends being down. That isn’t the case anymore locally as the numbers have rebounded nicely in just one year. On Sunday there were 26 on hand.
Scott Jacobson of Fargo had the inside pole and took the lead on the first lap of the IMCA Sport Mod feature — and led the entire way. Again, there were several cautions that plagued the race.
Jacobson had a nice lead but there was a good battle for second between Justin Jones of Bemidji, Andy Wagner of Ada and Chris VanMil of Barnesville. VanMil’s #40 machine seems to work well on the high line but it was not the preferred line on this night and he couldn’t find the speed up there.
Jacobson picked up his sixth win of 2021. An interesting stat about Jacobson — he has finished in the top five in 29 of his 34 starts this season. Talk about remarkable consistency. He is the 2021 Red River Valley Speedway track champion as well.
Jones topped Wagner for second. Mark Martini of Avon, Minn., crossed the line fourth, but was DQed in postface tech. That moved Kelly Jacobson of Fargo up to fourth, capping off a nice run from 17th, and Torey Fischer of West Fargo to fifth.
Alex Truscinski of Greenbush is the 2021 Corn Cob Nationals champion in the POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints after he fended off Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush for the victory. For Truscinski it was his fourth win of 2021.
Dvergsten settled for second; he has 13 feature wins this season as he continues to be a force in the class.
Garrison Miller of Fargo has made a lot of strides in the 5G machine this summer. He tied a career-best finish by taking third. For Miller it was his fourth top five finish this summer. Jake Haugeberg of West Fargo was fourth.
Another driver who has shown a lot of improvement this year is young Kate Taves of Detroit Lakes. She finished in the top five for the fifth time in 2021 after finishing fifth on Sunday.
I figured it was trouble for the field when Travis Robertson of Moorhead drew the inside pole for the IMCA Stock Car feature. Robertson is awful good in his #10 machine. He led the entire way in a race that was shortened because of yellow flags. Again, some very frustrating moments in that race.
Robertson picked up his third win of the year. He made an interesting comment in his post-race interview that he was disappointed laps were cut — but he put the onus on the drivers for all the cautions and not the track. I would agree with his comments.
It was a good run for Chad Hunterman of Moorhead who finished second. Dustin Bluhm of Herman had a good run in the shortened race, going from 11th to third. Ryan Satter of Dent was fourth.
Hats off to Brody Carlsrud of Fargo for recording his first top five in the IMCA Stock Car class (he did record on in the trophy class at Minot last week). He’s a rookie who is learning the ropes in a tough class competition-wise.
Curtis Huseth of Underwood is having a pretty good stretch lately in the Short Trackers. He won at Madison recently and added another win on Sunday. Austin Raths of Donnelly was cutting into the lead but couldn’t get much closer and settled for second.
Hunter Goulet of Fargo crossed the line third but was DQed in postrace tech, moving Casey Stremick of Harwood to third and Levi Lease of Harwood to fourth. David Wahl of Fergus Falls rounded out the top five.
Rodin Wins at Madison
Lucas Rodin of Marion picked up the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Sunday night at Madison Speedway in Madison, Minn. The win is a valuable win as he is in a dogfight for national points with Wyoming drivers Troy and Tony Leiker and Watertown driver Mike Nichols.
In a battle of the top two national point drivers in the Wissota Mod national standings, Shane Sabraski of Rice topped Tyler Peterson of Hickson. Peterson had won the previous two nights at the Seitz Memorial at River Cities Speedway.
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