I-94 Opening Night Wins to Brauer, Reinke, Schroeder, Peterson, Sabraski, Rodin and Pourrier
- tombergie01
- Apr 26
- 8 min read
I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls kicked off its 2025 season on Friday night with 142 cars signed in. Weather-wise, for April, you could not ask for a better day – upper 50s, not a ton of wind, and clear skies.
One thing I do not do early in the season is overanalyze car counts or track conditions or how long shows run. It is April, some people are not done with their cars, or are farming, or are waiting for their home track to open. The track had some character; to expect a perfect racetrack early in the season is not realistic. Remember, some years we have had snow on the ground at this point. There are always some hiccups when it comes to moving the show along early in the year too.
I honestly, as a fan, view the racing before Memorial Day as sort of a preseason as tracks and drivers work out the bugs from the long offseason. The Memorial Day weekend is when things kick into real gear at a lot of places and the intensity seems to crank up.
That being said, there were fantastic finishes in the Wissota Street Stock and Midwest Modified main events.
Nick Shumansky of Perham and Kolten Brauer of Eyota led the Wissota Street Stock field to the green. Brauer seized control early and charged into a big lead.
There were several cars battling for the spots behind him, including Shumansky, Wade Bergerud, Levi Randt of Siren, Wis., and former I-94 champion Cole Greseth of Harwood.
Randt moved into second while Greseth survived the early chaos to take over third. Former national champion Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck started ninth but moved up to fourth.
Shumansky was fighting Jeff Ekdahl of North Branch for fifth.
Greseth caught Randt and moved into second as the leaders encountered heavy lapped traffic. Greseth, driving a white car with a Monte Carlo body this year, caught Brauer and started to apply pressure on the lower line and it turned into a great duel between the top two – both who are only 18 years old.
The top two encountered a lapped car on the final lap, and it looked like Greseth had a run on the inside out of turn four for the win. Brauer, however, had enough momentum to edge Greseth for the thrilling win. Brauer’s margin of victory was .118 seconds in what was a terrific race – with no cautions.
Levi Randt, only 14, had closed the gap on the top two and finished a strong third, just .816 seconds back. Dykhoff was a solid fourth while Ekdahl held off Trey Hess of Grand Forks for the fifth spot.
While the street stocks went caution-free, the Wissota Midwest Modifieds did notbut ended up with a great dual between a pair of North Dakota drivers. Former national champion Lucas Rodin of Marion and Jamie Norman of Battle Lake led the Wissota Midwest Modified field, with Norman, hungry for his first career win, took the early lead with a lot of pressure from Rodin, also a former Wissota 100 winner at I-94.
Defending I-94 champion Nate Reinke of Lisbon moved into third ahead of James Trantina with Haley Dykhoff taking fifth over Terry Reilly of Watertown.
The caution waved for Zander Compson’s spin in turn four, I did not see if he had help.
Reinke has figured out something at I-94 over the last two seasons, and he made a big move on the restart to take the lead. Rodin and Norman kept fighting for second as Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown moved up to fourth after starting ninth.
The caution waved for Tate Kelderman’s spin in turn one with 12 laps to go with Reinke in front and Rodin in second.
Reinke and Rodin pulled away with Dykhoff fighting with Wibstad for third. Norman was fifth with Tanner Bitzan of Brandon giving chase.
Reinke’s lead was around a second; those two had more than two seconds on third-place Wibstad. The caution waved for Scott Oeltjen’s spin in turn two; he would leave on the hook. 72-year-old Ron Saurer, who started 16th, had moved into the top eight.
After another spin, the race was shortened from four laps to two and it set up a great finish. Twice, Rodin went for the slider, including on the final lap out of turn four, and looked to have the momentum, but Reinke surged on the bottom to record a win by .027 seconds.
Dykhoff nipped Wibstad for third by .003 seconds with James Trantina taking fifth ahead of Norman.
Derek Quinn of Brandon took the early lead in the Gen X Late Model feature.
Schroeder charged around Quinn on the outside with 11 to go. Quinn soon had to contend with Trevor Walsh of Watertown for second.
The veteran Larry Samuelson of Erhard, with a sharp-looking white car,
Walsh got by Quinn for second as they encountered a lapped car, with Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls – who has 49 Gen X wins at I-94 to lead all drivers in that class – moved into fourth after starting eighth.
Schroeder, once getting by Quinn, took firm control, opening the lead to four seconds at one point. He would cruise to the win in a caution-free main event, ending with a 3.1 second margin of victory. Walsh, a long-time veteran who used to race in the late models, was a strong second. Quinn held off Wolden for third with Samuelson rounding out the top five.
Don Shaw of Ham Lake had the pole and led early, but the 1TPO of Tyler Peterson was making noise early. He jumped into the lead. Shaw would clip a tractor tire hard in turn one and spin; miraculously a major pileup was avoided. Shaw’s night was over as the 42s machine incurred some damage with the hard hit.
TPO – which is what I will call Peterson since he is known by most race fans by that – assumed control after the restart, opening a three second-plus lead on the field.
On the move was the Millennial Farmer, Zach Johnson of Lowry, who moved to second. Laela Eisenschenk and Josh Zimpel of Braham fought for third.
A pair of South Dakota drivers – Cole Searing of Huron and Jayson Good of Watertown – were surging towards the top five. Searing, who started ninth, moved into fourth behind Johnson with Good, running effectively on the bottom, taking fifth.
Former national champion Chad Becker of Aberdeen also was strong and moved into the top six.
TPO’s lead grew to four seconds over Zimpel, who had about two seconds on Johnson. Searing, Johnson and Good put on a great show for the third spot with Searing moving into the spot with six to go.
TPO’s win was by 3.2 seconds. He is undefeated on the year, with three wins in three starts. He has wins at Devils Lake and Ogilvie and if there was betting in Wissota racing, he’d be a good bet to pick as a top contender for a third straight national championship.
Zimpel ran an excellent race, finishing in second after starting seventh, nearly two seconds ahead of third. Good capped off a nice run to take third with Searing and Charlie Olsen of Hendricks, Minn. rounding. With a 27-car field there was only one caution.
The Wissota Super Stocks were on hand; they will not run weekly at I-94 but will be on the schedule for the doubleheader there early in June. A solid 17-car field was in attendance on Friday, and the field included national champions such as Shane Sabraski of Rice and Trevor Nelson of Warner, S.D. Former Wissota 100 winner Dylan Nelson of Merrifield was also in attendance.
William Lund of Brandon seized the lead early in the super feature with Bailey Rosch of Alexandria taking second.
You always have to keep an eye on Sabraski in the super stock feature; he moved into third past James Trantina in third and then cleared Rosch for second. The 7A is incredibly fast and smooth no matter where he unloads.
A caution waived for Carson Miller’s spin with four to go. On the restart Sabraski charged on the lower line and took the lead over Lund. Trevor Nelson had moved into fourth with Dylan Nelson taking over fifth.
A caution flew for a multi-car spin in turn two with two to go. Sabraski rolled to the win, his 935th of his career. Lund was second, Dylan Nelson was third, Rosch was fourth and Trevor Nelson fifth. That is a stout top five.
Lucas Rodin was the early leader in the Wissota Modified feature. TPO moved into second with former Wissota 100 winner Landon Atkinson of Little Falls moving into third, ahead of multi-time I-94 champion Brady Gerdes of Villard.
Atkinson worked the bottom as he challenged Rodin for the top spot. After a restart with 13 to go, Atkinson made his move into the top spot. Rodin had TPO to contend with Sabraski climbing into fourth. Joe Thomas of Glyndon had moved into sixth.
Atkinson, always a formidable foe, led by about a half-second over Rodin. Gerdes had edged ahead of TPO for third. The caution came out with seven to go when Ryan Flaten’s #15F machine stalled in turn four.
Rodin moved back out front with a move with five to go while Sabraski, Peterson and Gerdes ran three-wide for the third spot.
Rodin made the pass stand and opened a 1.921 seconds lead by the checkered to pick up the victory. Rodin has won a ton of Wissota Midwest Modified races, but I have to think this one of his biggest wins. It is his first in a Wissota A Mod. Atkinson settled for second with Gerdes third, Sabraski fourth and Thomas fifth.
Chase Pourrier of Fergus Falls was the early leader of the Wissota Hornet feature, and he opened a 2.6 second lead on second-place Lincoln Miller of Fergus Falls, who was battling Jeff Rohner of Willmar for second. Hunter Goulet of Fargo was running fourth.
Pourrier had a four-second lead while Goulet and Rohner fought hard for the second spot, running side by side for several laps. At the same time, Pourrier was pulling away.
Zander Zuhlsdorf of Fergus Falls moved into fourth with Christian Kast of Fairmount, N.D., fighting for a spot in the top five.
Pourrier’s lead kept growing as Goulet and Rohner dueled for the second spot. Miller was running in a solid fourth but was chased by Kast.
The 35 car pulled away further and won by more than four seconds with Rohner outlasting Goulet for second. Miller was fourth and Kast five in a caution-free main event.
I-94 Notes
--The Gen X late models had a pair of sons of long-time racers in the field. 14-year-old Parker Gilbertson of Watson is the son of long-time late model and modified pilot Matt Gilbertson, while 15-year Cade Skytland, son of long-time modified and late model pilot Cody Skytland, was making his Gen X debut. Matt Gilbertson and
--Travis Saurer is driving for Scott Rachels in the Wissota Late Models this year, with the familiar 21x on the side of the car. Saurer also is piloting his usual Wissota Mod.
--A note about Rick Schroeder. I watched his dad, Matt, race for many years in the modifieds and late models at Fiesta City and Madison many years ago. Rick is a good, solid veteran who is a threat to win every night in the Gen X class.
--Tommy Bawden of Clear Lake, who won Wissota Mod 4 national titles in 2021 and 2023, has moved into the Wissota Super Stocks in 2025. Bawden was consistently good in the Mod 4s and it will be interesting to watch him in a super stock this summer.
--Jeff Nelson of Perham, who has raced in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds and IMCA Modifieds in recent years, has hopped into a Gen X Late Model for 2025. It should be a good fit for the veteran.
--Zach Johnson -- famous for being the Millennial Farmer on YouTube (which I recommend watching, very informative and entertaining) – is back in a late model this year. He raced the car in Arizona over the winter and he will be a formidable foe in that class.
Friday night notes
Andrew Jochim of Harwood won the IMCA Stock Car feature Friday night at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan. It was the season opener for Dacotah.
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