RaceChaser blog made it back to Buffalo River Race Park in Glyndon for a regular Saturday show. I did some video interviews with feature winners Scott Jacobson of Fargo and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes afterwards.
The grandstands were pretty sparse crowd-wise, and car counts in the IMCA Modifieds (seven) and NLSA Lightning Sprints (four) were thin, which is disappointing. Car counts in the other classes were solid with two heats each. The track was dry but smooth and there were two pretty good lanes to race on.
The father-son IMCA Sport Mod team of Scott and Kelly Jacobson of Fargo have had their share of frustrations this summer; usually top runners locally, neither had had a win this season entering Saturday and between them, they have eight DNFs. So it was good to see both run well on Friday. Kelly took the early lead in his #51 and led for much of the way; but Scott found speed on the high line in his #5 car and overtook his son for the lead, on his way to his first win of 2019. Scott Jacobson was interviewed above.
Doug Gardner of Glyndon edged Kelly Jacobson for second; Vince Jegtvig of Dilworth and Chris VanMil of Barnesville rounded out the top five.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, interviewed above, on the other hand, is having quite a season in his #72 INEX Legend. Wilke took the lead early and survived a fierce challenge from Steven Kuntz of Bismarck for the win. Kuntz was second. Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead is just Mr. Consistent; he finished third after starting seventh. He has 21 top five finishes, including two wins, by my count this season.
Tony Brockhouse and Dylan Johnson of Durbin rounded out the top five.
Adam Goff of Minot is 4-for-4 at Buffalo River Race Park in the IMCA Hobby Stocks; he took over the lead early from Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes and went on to win by half a lap. Engen took second, Tim Shiek of Fargo third, Todd Gettel of Mahnomen fourth. Andrea Jacobson of Fargo was fifth, recording the first top five finish of her career.
One downside of the hobby stock feature, in my view, was some pretty rough driving in traffic. Some of that is the product of being on a tight quarter mile track; and some of it was probably just being too aggressive. Alyssa White and Marvin Priem were among the cars who were taken out in wrecks.
Daniel Harstad of Fergus Falls is having quite a year in the Sport Compact/Short Tracker class. He picked up his eighth win of 2019 on Saturday, passing early leader Kevin Youngquist of Barney, N.D.. Harstad has won three of four features at BRRP this season. Matt Pederson of Lake Park was second, Kevin Youngquist of Barney third, Austin Lammers of Pelican Rapids fourth and Chase Golliet of Fargo fifth.
Zachary Kwiatkoski of Grand Forks passed early leader Jason Berg of West Fargo for the lead in the Lightning Sprint feature. Berg and Dev Malmlov of Moorhead rounded out the top three.
Rob VanMil of Barnesville got his second IMCA Modified win of the season at BRRP; he also won on June 1. He passed Cody Peterson of Glyndon about halfway through the feature and picked up the win. Allen Kent of West Fargo was second and Peterson was third.
BRRP notes
—I visited with Goff briefly after his hobby stock win. If you are wondering why he makes nearly a 5-hour trip to Buffalo River, there are two primary reasons — he has some family in the region near Mentor, and he is running for IMCA Hobby Stock national points, where he is chasing a top 10 finish (as of July 25 he is 12th). Plus, he seems to have figured out the 1/4-mile oval — he is unbeaten in four features this season.
—I got to meet long-time area racer Dev Malmlov for the first time. Malmlov was a top modified runner around the valley for many years. And his No. 21 Miller High Life Modified was one of the best looking mods I’ve ever seen. He is in his first year in the Lightning Sprints.
—Caught up a little with long-time area racer Corky Thomas of Glyndon, who was at the track as a spectator (and provided an assist to Scott Jacobson). Corky and his son Joseph run the Wissota Modified class at I-94 Speedway; Joseph is also running the Advantage RV Modified Tour and is seventh in the points, pretty good for a young driver. Corky, by the way, is one of the great characters you will meet in racing.
—Torey Fischer of West Fargo picked up her first IMCA Sport Modified heat win of the year.
Satter, Crouse, Bitzan Win at Viking
Saturday was Jam the Stands night at Viking Speedway in Alexandria. Congrats to veteran Rick Nelson of Alexandria for picking up his first Limited Late Model win of the season at the half-mile oval. Ryan Satter of Dent, Ryan Mikkelson of Alexandria, Bryce Sward of Nelson and Dustin Johanneck of Litchfield rounded out the top five.
Satter picked up the win in the Wissota Street Stocks over 14-year-old Jack Koranda of Bluffton. Andrew Bangsund of Alexandria was third, Jim “Nitro” Williams of DeGraff fourth and Chuck Olson of Evansville fifth.
Jeff Crouse of Alexandria topped Matt Miller of Glenwood for the Wissota Super Stock win.
Dusty Bitzan of Brandon, who was third at I-94 on Friday, topped Danny Bayer of Elrosa for the Wissota Modified win. Shaun Peterson of Alexandria was third, Jason Thoennes of Alexandria fourth and Tyler Kaeter of St. Cloud fifth.
Randy Laage of Brooten topped Shawn Olson of Alexandria for the win in the Wissota Midwest Modified class. Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls was third, Nick Bruder of Long Prairie fourth and Ron Saurer of Dalton fifth.
Area Notes
—Lucas Rodin of Marion, N.D., picked up the $2,000 to win Wissota Midwest Modified special at Devils Lake Speedway. Brennon Weight of LaMoure was second, Preston Carr of Carrington third.
Kasey Ussatis of Nome won the Wissota Street Stock feature for his third feature win of 2019; he picked up $500 for the win.
—Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks won the NLRA Late Model feature Saturday at Greenbush Race Park. Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks was second, Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg third and Tom Corcoran of East Grand Forks fourth. Joey Pederson’s daughter, Kelsi Pederson, won the NLSA Lightning Sprint feature. Dan Aberle of Finley topped Ryan Johnson of Karlstad for the win in the Wissota Street Stocks.
--Nate Reynolds of Hoople won the $2,000 to win Wissota Midwest Modified special at Greenbush.
--Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck won the Wissota Street Stock feature -- and qualified for the Race of Champions -- Saturday at Madison Speedway.
--Wade Nygaard of Grand Forks won the NOSA Sprint feature at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan, which held night 2 of the Governor's Cup on Saturday. Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks was second and Jade Hastings of Grand Forks third.
Austin Arneson of Fargo won the IMCA Modified feature. Andrew Jochim of Glyndon made it 2-for-2 on the weekend with a victory in the INEX Legends. Jonny Carter of Lisbon did the same in the Wissota Street Stocks with another feature win with his uncle, Todd Carter of Lisbon, taking second.
—Jamestown Speedway was idle this week.
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