I-94 EMR Wins to Greseth, Reinke, Wolden, Zimpel and Pourrier

Lisbon, ND driver Nate Reinke won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature at I-94 EMR Speedway.

I made it to I-94 EMR Speedway for Military Appreciation Night. The Wissota Mods had the night off but there were still 108 cars on hand, led by 31 Wissota Midwest Modifieds and a strong 27-car Wissota Late Model field.

I-94 got a boost in cars as several River Cities Speedway regulars were on hand. RCS raced on Thursday this week, and those cars boosted a strong field. Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen also cancelled so a few of their late models were in town as well, including former Wissota national champion and Wissota 100 winner Chad Becker.

A stout 19-car Wissota Street Stock field took the green, led by two drivers off to strong starts in 2025, Trey Hess of Grand Forks and Cole Greseth of Harwood. Greseth would take the initial lead. Two other good cars – Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck and Eric Riley of Morris – started in Row 2.

The caution waved for a multi car spin in turn two; South Dakotan Ashley Wampler would go pitside after that incident (I didn’t see it). Wampler will be at the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour opener Saturday at Viking Speedway.

Riley would see the back end of his 51 machine kick around in turn two and he got sideways, and collected Hess and Dykhoff to bring out the caution It was very uncharacteristic of Riley, who already has two feature wins this season. He would go into the pits and be done for the night.  Hess and Dykhoff had damage but drove away, although Hess would pull in a few laps later. Hess finished third at Thunder City Speedway in Thunder Bay, Ontario on Thursday – which is about seven hours away from Fergus.

Wisconsin driver Kammron Rose, Kyle Dykhoff and Cory Dykhoff of Perham were locked in a fight for second with 14-year-old Levi Randt of Siren running fifth.

Greg Platzer of Robbinsdale popped a motor with eight to go that led to a fire and a red flag. He got out safely and the track personnel was there quickly.

On the restart Kyle Dykhoff looked at Greseth on the inside, and that turned into a good battle up front. Rose’s good run ended with a mechanical issue, and that moved Tyler Klugman of Wheaton into the top five.

Levi Randt moved past Cory Dykhoff for third. Also having a good run was Nick Shumansky of Perham who had moved into sixth.

Dykhoff stayed close and was within a car length for much of the race and made one last charge in turn four. But Greseth, who broke Thursday at River Cities, held on for a .301 second win. Kyle Dykhoff settled for second, Randt was third. Cory Dykhoff and Klugman capped off good runs in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls and Kevin Youngquist of scenic Barney, N.D., led the Gen X Late Models to the green. Wolden, the all-time Gen X wins leader at I-94, stormed out front and was never threatened.

The veteran Larry Samuelson of Erhard moved into second. I was keeping an eye on Rick Schroeder of Montevideo, who won the Gen X feature at I-94 earlier this month. He surged into third.

Matthew Larson of Lake Elmo, son of WOO late model driver Brent Larson was making headway into the top three.

Samuelson had his hands full with Schroeder and Larson all over him. Trevor Walsh of Watertown had taken over fifth, ahead of Dave Mass of East Bethel.

Wolden stretched the lead to more than five seconds over Larson, who had captured the battle for second over Schroeder. Mass, driving Scott Rachels’ 66 machine, moved into fourth with Walsh in fifth.

Aside from Wolden, Mass might have been the fastest car on the track, he passed Schroeder for second.  Larson would cut the five-second lead to about two seconds as Wolden encountered lapped traffic. But Wolden would record the win – which is his 50th in a Gen X late model at I-94 by 1.5 seconds. Larson was second, Mass was third, Schroeder was fourth and Walsh was fifth. It was a caution-free main event, wonderful job by the Gen X late models.

There was a stacked Wissota Midwest Modified field on hand, and Canadian Memphis Klassen and Jamestown’s Jaren Wibstad led the field. Wibstad would take the early lead with Klassen in second.

The 72-year-old veteran Ron Saurer of Dalton was third, Haley Dykhoff of Starbuck and Jamie Norman of Battle Lake were in the top five.

Saurer would fight his way into the lead but Wibstad fought back up high. Haley Dykhoff was running a solid third with defending track champion Nate Reinke of Lisbon was charging into fourth.

Wibstad and Saurer fought hard up front as Dykhoff, Reinke and Corey Storck raced hard for third. Reinke and Storck would both get by Dykhoff. Storck was very fast on the bottom.

Reise Stenberg of Argusville was also having a good run and moved into in. Dykhoff’s potential top five run ended with a mechanical problem.

Wibstad opened a 1.5 second lead on Saurer, who had Storck and Reinke closing. Stenberg had moved into fifth. The caution would wave for Zander Compson’s 49 car, which stalled just in the field in turn one. He would need a tow.

Saurer made a run at Wibstad but Reinke was the one with the last charge. He went to the bottom and after passing Saurer, charged past Wibstad for the lead. Stenberg was also surging and moved into third.

Reinke won by .431 seconds with Wibstad finishing second. Stenberg was third after starting 16th. Storck, who started ninth, was fourth with Saurer fifth. It was a good race.

Josh Zimpel of Braham and Rusty Kollman of Carrington led the 27-car Wissota Late Model feature.  Zimpel moved out front with Kollman in second.

Cole Schill of Horace was fighting with Jayson Good of Watertown for third. Don Shaw of Ham Lake was running fifth.

I was watching Chad Becker of Aberdeen and Shane Edginton, two really strong runners. They moved into the top eight.

Zimpel opened up a 2.204 second lead on Kollman who was under duress from Schill. Schill would eventually move into second. Good soon joined the fight. Mass, Shaw and Edginton were closing as lapped traffic came into play.

Zimpel was in control by 3.4 seconds over Schill with Good gchasing him. Shaw and Mass rounded ut the top five.

The race moved along nicely until the first caution waved with three to go. Konnor Spiehrle of Aberdeen slowed in turns one and two and brought out the first caution with three laps to go.

Zimpell did not want to see that caution as it erased a three-second lead, and it brought Schill and Good to his tail.

Edginton was making a late move into the top five, and it turned into a three-car tussel between Schill, Good and the 5E over the final few laps.  Zimpel, meanwhile was the class of the field all night, leading every lap on his way to a 1.5 second win over Schill, who survived the chaos for second. Good was third, Edginton fourth and Shaw fifth.

One driver who put together a good run, in just his second year in a late model, was Blake Boelens of Garfield. He finished seventh after starting 12th. Tyler Peterson of Hickson, the two-time Wissota Late Model national champion, had trouble in his heat race and had to start dead last on the 27-car field; he worked up to ninth. It was the first feature this week I’d seen him lose this week in five tries.

Chase Pourrier of Rothsay was the class of the field in the Wissota Hornets with a dominating win.  Jeff Rohner of Willmar is really fast in the #08 machine., and he climbed into third.

Hunter Goulet of Fargo was running well in the top five but would break and slow and pull in.

Pourrier was 2.8 seconds ahead of Rohner. Christian Kast of Fairmount was having a good showing as well in third as the top three got very spread out.

Ayden Muchow, of Fergus Falls, driving one of the 988 cars put together by the Gronwold race team, was fourth.

Pourrier, the defending King of the Dirt champion, would win by 3.3 seconds over Rohner; those are two drivers I would expect to fight for the Wissota Hornet national title.  Kast’s good night ended in third with Muchow and Nick Shirley rounding out the top five.

The final checkered waved at 10:29 p.m. at I-94, not bad with 108 cars on hand. I-94 is off next week but will host a Friday/Saturday doubleheader in two weeks, which includes the King of the Dirt on June 7.

I-94 Notes

--The Compson siblings were in town from Valley City. Both are graduates of the INEX Legends. Collin Compson is a rookie in the late models, driving one of Steve Laursen’s former MB Customs machines. Zander is a rookie in the Wissota Midwest Modified class.  One thing I will say about both, in watching them in the Legends, is neither drives over their head. They will need seat time in their classes but will definitely get better. Tim, a diehard Mopar guy, still races a Wissota Super Stock.

--Alex Tschakert of Kent has moved into a Gen X late model after racing previously in the B mod class.

--Klugman was making his season debut in his 2K machine. He manages a fertilizer plant in the Wheaton/Dumont area and usually misses the first couple of nights of racing because it’s a busy time with planting. He had a solid opening night, finishing fifth after starting 12th.

RRVS Wins to Carlsrud, Shipley, Wilke, Eisenschenk, Veralrud and Kohl

Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead topped Daniel Aberle of Finley for the IMCA Stock Car win Friday night at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo. Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada was third, Rob VanMil of Barnesville fourth and Jeremy Herr of Wishek, N.D., was fifth.

Dave Shipley of Argusville topped Jesse Skalicky of Fargo for the IMCA Modified win. John Nord of Enderlin was third, Chris Tuscherer of Burlington was fourth and Travis Hagen of McGregor was fifth. Several Dacotah Speedway regulars were in attendance as the Mandan track cancelled.

Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes topped Gage Madler of New England for the INEX Legend win. Sean Johnson of Kindred, the Week 1 winner at RRVS, was third with Carter Restad of West Fargo fourth and Cody Jawaski of Kindred fifth.

Laela Eisenschenk of Fargo topped Ty Hanten of Fargo for the IMCA Sprint feature win. Dan Griep of Minnetonka was third, Wilke fourth and Andy Pake of Felton was fifth.

Austin Veralrud of Audubon topped Ryan Restad of West Fargo for the IMCA Sport Mod win. Thomas Sandvig of West Fargo was third, Jayden Pavlicek of Casselton fourth and Reile Sailer of Fargo was fifth. Torey Fischer of West Fargo went from 21st to seventh in the main event.

Nathan Kohl of Fort Ripley won the IMCA Hobby Stock feature over Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks. Reid Randall of Park Rapids was third, Kyler Safran of Minot fourth and Brad Orvedal of Fargo was fifth.

Fiesta City Wins to Johnson, Albertson, Tourville

Onyx Johnson of Lowry earned his first career Wissota Midwest Modified feature win over Ryan Flaten of Madison Friday night at Fiesta City Speedway. Tim Kanten of Milan was third.

Landon Albertson of Cottonwood topped Colsten Schultz of Grove City for the pure stock win. Justin Erp of Montevideo was third.

Keith Tourville of Janesville topped Mike Jans of Clarkfield for the Wissota Street Stock win. Zachary Flickinger of Madison was third.

Shawn Fernkes of Danube beat Zach Schultz of Grove City for the Wissota Super Stock win. Justin Tammen of Clara City was third.

Brandon Copp of Brule, Wis., won the Wissota Mod feature from the pole. Tony Schill of Oakdale was second and Ryan Flaten of Madison was third.

Jordan Tollakson of Montevideo topped Zach Johnson of Lowry for the Wissota Late Model win. Devin Fouquette of St. Cloud was third.

Jerik Stabler of Mitchell was the winner of the Wissota Hornet feature. Brady Albertson of Sauk Rapids was second and Bradley Rossow of Florence was third.

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