Henkemeyer wins FastLane Super Stock Series at Viking
- tombergie01
- Jun 21
- 7 min read
The FastLane Super Stock Series made its first-ever trip to Viking Speedway in Alexandria on a hot, humid Saturday night.
Some tracks cancelled because of the heat, and I think Viking was in a bit of tough spot in that regard. Because of a scheduled week off and a rainout last week, Viking had not raced since May 31. When you consider that, along with the FastLane Series coming to town for the first time (and several drivers who’d traveled from Wisconsin to follow the tour for Thursday and Friday’s shows), I understand the decision to race. I think you can make a case to make either call on a night like that.
The FastLane series mainly has been at eastern Minnesota and tracks in Wisconsin in previous years. Each show pays $1,000 to win and $160 to start (minimums) with a series payoff of 15 spots. The champion of the series will receive a minimum of $1,200. The best eight of 10 races count for series points this season. It was the first year the tour has expanded to KRA, Fiesta City and Viking. KRA had 27 cars, Fiesta City had 22 and Viking had 24 – so I think that’s a respectable car count for those events, considering the super stock numbers in western Minnesota are not plentiful.
There were some very good supers on hand, including a pair of former national champions, and a full field of 24 for the feature, so I think in spite of the ungodly heat and humidity that was a good turnout.
Defending Wissota Super Stock national champion and defending FastLane series champion Dexton Koch of and Travis Scott of Glenwood led the 24-car Wissota Super Stock field to the green.
Dylan Nelson of Merrifield, a former Wissota 100 champion and a stout competitor wherever he races, made a move on the bottom to take the early lead. Koch ran second Scott in third. Jordan Henkemeyer of Sauk Rapids was on the move after starting sixth, climbing into fourth.
Nelson opened a few car lengths as Koch had Jordan Henkemeyer all over him. Scott was fourth and former national champion Curt Myers of Cameron, Wis., was running in fifth.
Henkemeyer moved into second as Nelson built a .890 second lead. The first caution would wave with when James Trantina went off turn two eight laps into the feature.
On the restart Henkemeyer used a higher lane to take the top spot as Nelson stayed on the lower line.
Myers, meanwhile, moved into third and set his sights on the top two. Bailey Rosch of Alexandria had climbed to fifth after starting eighth.
Scott’s excellent run ended with a mechanical issue with five to go as he pulled in. It was too bad, he had been running well.
Henkemeyer by no means ran away with it but had some breathing room with about a one-second lead on Nelson. Nelson was well ahead of third-place Myers. On the final lap, Henkemeyer briefly got high on the backstretch, and Nelson closed the gap. He ran out of time as Henkemeyer won by .259 seconds.
Nelson, the runner-up to Shawn Fernkes Friday at Fiesta City, was second with Myers, who entered the night as the series points leader, taking third, Koch, who won Thursday at KRA, was fourth and Rosch fifth. DJ Keeler of Superior was the hard charger, going from 17th to 10th. There was only one caution as the supers did a nice job.
Travis Engebretson of Cyrus has set his sights on the track championship at Viking Speedway this summer and is well on his way. He had three of the four feature wins at the half mile so far, and redrew the inside pole for the 11-car main event. Scott Oeltjen of Glenwood, coming off a top five at I-94 EMR on Friday, was on the outside.
Engebretson quickly jumped out front with Haley Dykhoff of Starbuck, third Friday at I-94, grabbing second. Oeltjen was third, with the Bitzan brothers of Tanner and Tyler fighting for fourth.
Oeltjen was getting heat from Tanner Bitzan and Ron Saurer for the third spot. Engebretson was gone with nearly a straightaway lead. Tanner Bitzan had caught Dykhoff for second, and Saurer passed Oeltjen for the fourth spot.
Dykhoff cut the lead to under two seconds but Engebretson was in firm control up front to claim a 1.8 second victory. Dykhoff was second. Tanner Bitzan went from seventh to third while Saurer was fourth. Taylor Bitzan of Brandon worked up to fifth at the checkered.
Kolton Brauer of Eyota and Josh Long of Canby led the 13-car Wissota Street Stock feature. From the get-go the 34J car took off and was simply gone.
Long was second but had Joe Martin of Willmar chasing him. JJ Nieuwbeerta of Alexandria was running fourth.
Martin and Long had the best battle on the track as Brauer had a straightaway on the field. Tyler Kunz of Burtrum and Craig Gardner of Alexandria were fighting for fourth.
Martin took over second with seven laps left as Gardner got around Kunz on the outside. Gardner was closing on Long as well.
Brauer built the lead to more than 5.5 seconds in what was a rout as Gardner worked around Long for third. Gardner was actually closing the gap on Martin over the final laps but ran out of time. Martin badly wanted to see a caution to see what he had for Brauer but there were none.
Brauer’s winning margin was 5.562 seconds in what was a total domination. Martin, who started fourth held off Gardner for second; Long ran a solid fourth and Kunz was fifth.
Gardner seems to have his 8 machine dialed in, he recorded his second straight top three finish. He started eighth on Saturday. Defending track champion Davey Kruchten of Glenwood had a good run from 12th to sixth.
There was a serious medical emergency for a driver after the race. My thoughts and prayers are with that driver and his family but I will say nothing more out of respect for them.
It is not often Brady Gerdes of Villard starts on the front row in a modified feature at Viking and doesn’t win. But that happened on Saturday, thanks to an impressive performance from Dusty Bitzan of Brandon.
Gerdes shared the front row with Austin Chyba, and Chyba’s 11 did not have a good start and slid back.
Bitzan passed Gerdes for the lead with about 14 to go and pulled away. Josh Thoennes of Nelson settled into third.
The lead grew to more than three seconds for Bitzan who was absolutely howling around the half-mile. Gerdes was comfortably in second. Josh Thoennes and Travis Saurer put on a heck of a show for a few laps in the battle for third with some sliders; Saurer finally took the spot with seven to go.
Chyba would stall off the backstretch with an issue with two to go, to bring out the first and only caution of the night. Chyba would go pitside.
Gerdes took a shot on the restart with two left underneath Bitzan on the restart but couldn’t make the pass, and soon had to contend with Saurer for second. Bitzan had no worries up front, opening up a one-second lead over the final two laps to pick up the victory. Saurer topped Gerdes for second with Jason Thoennes of Garfield topping his brother Josh for
Dittman and Travis Bruns of Alexandria were fighting for the lead at the start of the Wissota Hornet feature with Dittman leading lap 1. Chase Pourrier, a fast car plagued with some mechanical issues recently, moved into second. Jeff Rohner of Willmar was fourth
There was Jonathan Hagen lost his right-rear wheel, but decided try and keep going for several laps before finally getting the black flag with four laps to go. I’m not sure that’s the best practice for your suspension. I admire the perseverance, though.
Dittman led by 3.1 seconds over Pourrier. Bruns cleared Rohner for third with Kreg Anderson, a previous winner at Viking, fighting with Eli Green and Rohner for fourth.
Dittman was out for a Saturday night cruise in this caution-free race, winning by 6.1 seconds in a butt-kicking of a pretty good field. Pourrier would cross the line second but would be DQed postrace, shuffling the top five. That moved Bruns to second, Rohner to third, Green fourth and Anderson to fifth. The hornets did a nice job, running their feature in a little more than five minutes.
Gullikson wins DRC Street Stock Tour at Ogilvie
Jim Gullikson of Nowthen became the first driver other than Kyle Dykhoff to win a Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour feature when he captured the main event Saturday night at Ogilvie Raceway.
Gullikson started seventh. Andrew Hanson of Iron River was second while Dykhoff, the series points leader, took third. Levi Randt of Siren was fourth and Nick Traynor of Barron, Wis., was fifth.
Zach Beaulieu of Chetek, Wis., was the hard charger, going from 22nd to 10th.
Tucker Pederson Wins NLRA Show at Devils Lake
Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks won the NLRA Late Model feature Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway. Travis Robertson of Moorhead was second, Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks was third, Cole Schill of Hawley was fourth and Jason Strand of Portland was fifth.
Jess Brekke of Devils Lake won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Jason Halvorson of Devils Lake. Jory Berg of Grand Forks was third.
Trey Hess of Grand Forks won the Wissota Street Stock feature on Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway. Drew Peterson of Langdon was second. Tate Bullis of Lakota won the Pure Stock feature.
Saturday notes
--Cylen Vargason of Edinburg picked up his first career feature win Saturday at Greenbush Race Park by capturing the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls was second.
--Jamestown Speedway cancelled its Saturday program. The Jamestown area was hit hard by severe weather on Friday night leaving a lot of cleanup in that area. It was the right call under the circumstances.
--The Bemidji area was also hit hard by straightline winds on Friday night, leaving a lot of damage in the area. As a result, Bemidij Speedway has canceled its Sunday racing program and understandably so. Casino Speedway in Watertown also cancelled its Sunday program because of the heat; that area is in a heat advisory for Sunday.
Comments