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Jamestown Stampede champions: Hagen, Michaelsohn, Suckow, Wibstad, VanMil, Strand, Jose and Martin
The Jamestown Stampede, in its 55th year, is the longest racing invitational in North Dakota. Many big names in North Dakota racing have won at the Stampede, including Mitch Johnson, Rick Aukland, Bob Sagen, Leo Burkhardsmier, Jack McDonald and John Corell.
The weather dealt Jamestown officials a crap hand as drizzle/mist started to fall around 8 p.m., leading to a delay for more than an hour. A shoutout to all the cars who came out to pack during that time, by the way. The track did the best it could with the surface under the circumstances.
My knock on this event, like many late season specials is too many classes – eight plus the slingshots. The trend at many invitationals is to add classes, as tracks seek to boost back-gate revenue, but I am not a fan of it. It makes for very long nights.
The humidity and drizzle led to a lightning-fast racing surface. There were a couple of hard rollovers on the night as well, and fans who stuck it out til the end got their money’s worth.
I’ll highlight what I thought was the best race of the night – the IMCA Modifieds. Travis Traut led on the restart as Dave Shipley of Argusville and John Nord of Enderlin fought for second. Travis Hagen was fourth ahead of Marcus Tomlinson. There was another caution when Michel’s machine was stopped in turn four; it seemed like several cars had some damage.
Traut had pressure from Nord as hagen was third and Shipley fourth. Tomlinson was challenging Shipley.
Nord passed Traut on the outside with 17 to go as Johnny C, John Corell, climbed into fifth. Hagen would get around Traut for second and Corell passed Shipley for fourth. Things were heating up at the front as Hagen was creeping closer to Nord, who faced some lapped traffic. With three to go the lead was down to a car length, and Hagen made his move with two to go. He would hold on for a .3 second win in what was the best race of the night.
Nord ran well all night and settled for second with Traut coming home third. Corell was fourth and Shipley fifth.
The Bombers had a rough go of it, especially early with three cautions. On Lap 2 things went four-wide in turn two and that didn’t end well as the Barrett Herr of Wishek ran out of room and struck a concrete barrier off the backstretch. That led to delay to repair the wall and left the 5T really battered.
Brody Michaelsohn of Wishek was the leader with Alex Thompson of Bismarck and Kelly Hoerner of Bismarck chasing. Joe Jacobson of Jamestown was on the move towards the front. The third caution came out when Gavin Edinger spun in turn two. The big development under that caution was the leader, Michaelsohn, and the third-place car of Thompson, both headed to the work area in the pits. Both rejoined the field at the tail, and Michaelsohn was far from done for the night.
Hoerner, the defending champion, inherited the lead with Jacobson in second and Matt gumke in third. Travis Edinger – out of one of the B mains -- was up to fourth and Redge Nohrenberg was up to fifth, ahead of John Gartner Jr.
Hoerner led by .8 seconds over Gumke when the caution came out for Stoppleworth who went off turn four. With the yellow/black being displayed earlier, the night was done for the 79.
The top four stayed close as Ryker Vetter moved into fifth. Bradley Stoppleworth lost a wheel on his 34 machine at that point as well. Michaelsohn was back up to ninth.
There was a lot of three-wide and side-by-side racing as nobody held anything back in this race. Hoerner led Gumke as Vetter was charging past Edinger into third. Michaelsohn, with seven to go, had climbed back to fifth.
Hoerner was in control with a .9 second lead but the best battle was for third between Edinger, Vetter and Michaelsohn. Hoerner looked well on his way to the win, but Vetter lost a wheel with two to go. Brent Wilkinson of Jamestown, the 2026 Sheyenne Speedway champion, was collected in that.
On the restart Michaelsohn made a big charge for the lead on the outside and it set up a crazy finish. He edged ahead on the white flag lap and would go one to edge Edinger – who had got around Hoerner for second – to pick up the win, capping off a great comeback from the tail.
Edinger went from 18th to second while Hoerner was third. Gumke was fourth and Gavin Edinger, who had gone to the tail early in the rac
Iowa driver Cole Suckow led the IMCA Sport Mod feature early but Shawn Pudwill of Sturgis, South Dakota was fighting on the inside as those two put on a show.Kyle VanMil of Barnesville was third. Kaden Woodie of Milaca climbed into fourth and Brody Johnson was in the top five as well. The caution flew for Jayden Pavlicek’s spin in turn four as the mist started to fall; and that led to a weather-delay of more than an hour.
After the delay the track was lightning quick, Suckow led on the restart over Pudwill with Woodie in third. Darren Schatz was up to fourth as Rich Pavlicek of Casselton climbed to fifth. Schatz and Woodie battled for third as Suckow had about a car length advantage on Pudwill.
Lapped traffic provided a nervous moment for Suckow as Pudwill took a shot underneath, but over the final two laps Suckow opened a gap to pick up the win, his second Stampede title. Pudwill was second, Woodie third, Schatz fourth and Pavlicek fifth.
Krogh grabbed the lead of the IMCA Stock Car feature but Jonny Carter of Lisbon was charging on the outside. But the third lap he had taken the lead and was pulling away. Krogh had his hands full with Rob VanMil of Barnesville and Will Matejovic of Burlington. Cole Suckow, doing double-duty, was in the top five, but his race would end with a flat.
After a caution VanMil and Carter raced side-by-side for the lead. Troy Heupel of Williston had moved into third with Matejovic fourth and Austin Brands in fifth.
Jonny Carter’s night would come to an end with 10 to go with a flat right-front tire. Gabe Deschamp would also lose a wheel under the caution. After another restart for Adam Goff’s spin.
VanMil led Heupel as Matejovic was fighting Woodie for third. The caution flew with seven to go for Krogh, who suffered heavy left-front damage after contact and had to leave on the hook. VanMil got a great restart but things were crazy for third between Matejovic, Woodie and Brock Beeter of Minot.
The lead grew to more than a second for VanMil who dominated the final restart to win by 1.4 seconds. Heupel was second, Matejovic third, Woodie fourth and Beeter fifth.
The Wissota Midwest Modified feature was a contrast to the first three – it wasn’t filled with cautions. In fact the first caution flew as the white flag was out.
Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown set the tone, building a one-second lead over Jory Berg of Grand Forks. Aaron Michel of Jamestown was in third, Brennon Weight of Lamoure was fourth and Lucas Rodin of Marion was fifth.
Berg stayed close to Wibstad throughout and was within a half second with five to go. Weight and Michel were racing hard for third with Rodin in fifth.
The race was cruising along until the white flag was in the air as Todd Wallner spun in turn two. Berg and Weight were having a terrific battle for second at that point.
On the final restart, Weight sought to take a shot at the win. He went up to the high side and was closing on Wibstad on the final restart. But Mavrik Strand’s spin brought out the yellow, and the officials elected to end the race under yellow/checkered. If I was Weight I would not be a fan of how this ended at all; if they were going to end the race under checkered/caution they should have done so on the previous spin.
For Wibstad, it was his first Stampede title and win No. 5 on the season. He was the 2026 Jamestown track champion in the class.
Berg, who rolled his machine at the Wissota 100, held off Weight for second. Michel was fourth and Rodin fifth. Zander Compson of Valley City had a good run in sixth. Dusty Peterson of Kindred was the hard charger, going from 20th to eighth.
Billy Kendall of Walker was the early leader of the Wissota Late Model feature but was dogged by Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks on a hammer-down racetrack. Ryan Mikkelson of Alexandria, the 2024 champion, was third with Jason Strand of Portland fourth and defending champion Tyler Peterson (TPO) of Hickson was around Laine Schwehr into fifth.
Kendall was into lapped traffic as Mikkelson and Jason Strand were fighting for second.
Dustin Strand was held up in lapped traffic and Kendall’s lead grew to 1.8 second. TPO meanwhile was working on Jason Strand for fourth.
With 15 to go, things changed dramatically. Kendall made some contact in lapped traffic and ended up with a flat tire. The caution came out for Jamie Trautner, who spun in t urn four.
The restart with 15 to go saw three former Stampede Champions in the top three – Dustin Strand, Mikkelson and TPO. Schwehr was having an excellent run in the top five.
TPO grabbed second on the restart with Schwehr dueling Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks for fifth. Dustin Strand built a 1.4 second lead with lapped traffic right ahead. TPO was charging, though and cut the lead down to .6 econds with six to go.
Strand had a lapped car between him and TPO with four to go; TPO would push that machine to the limit and took a peek, Schwehr, who has having a great run, cut a left-rear tire and slowed to bring out the caution. For Schwehr, after a suffering a broken neck in a crash at the Stampede last year, this season has been an incredible comeback story, regardless of where he finishes.
The caution with three to go set up another duel between Dustin Strand and TPO. Jason Strand had taken third and Devin Fouquette, who was having an excellent night, had climbed to fourth and Jaden Christ had also moved to the top five.
Dustin Strand, however got a good restart late and opened a few car lengths on TPO and picked up his third Stampede title in a late model and first since 2016. TPO was second, Jason Strand third, Fouquette fourth and Tucker Pederson edged Christ for fifth. Cole Schill of Hawley was the hard charger, coming from the B main and starting 24th to take seventh.
Berg and Weight were fighting hard for second.
A multi-car crash opened the IMCA Mod feature as Deschamp went around. Lindsey Hansen, winner of the Corn Cob Nationals, was also collected along iwith Logan Schmitz, who appeared to get the worst of it. Deschamp would pull off
Cole Greseth, a national point contender in the Wissota Street Stock feature, broke on the second lap of the feature, ending his hopes for a Stampede title quickly.
Chris Ritter was the leader with Bob Banish Jr. of Milnor and Woodie in second. Woodie took the lead on a not-perfectly clean slider; moments later Woodie would spin and collect defending champion Hunter Carter and Ashley Wampler; Carter had damage and would call it a night, Wampler was able to continue although with damage.
Greg Jose of Grand Forks took over the lead as Billie Christ of Jamestown seized second. Mike Mund of Milnor and Banish dueled for third and Kasey Ussatis of Nome moved to fifth.
Jose had about two car lengths on Christ, who was closing on the outside. Christ’s 79 took the lead with 12 to go as he was flying around the outside. Banish was working on Jose for second as Christ opened a 1.5 second lead. Ussatis took over fourth from Mund.
Christ’s night came to a sudden end, however with five laps to go as he rolled the 79 machine hard off of turn two. Christ was able to climb out of his car but that was a hard roll.
Jose would inherit the lead after the red flag as Banish and Ussatis fought for second. Mund was fighting Zack Frederick, who was driving Dustin Erickson’s 13 machine, for fourth. Banish closed within a car length on the final lap but Jose held on for his biggest career win.
Banish was second; Ussatis went from ninth to third while Frederick went from 17th to fourth. Mund rounded out the top five. Wampler also ran solid, going from 14th to seventh.
Dusty Mund of Lisbon led the INEX Legends feature early over Ty Olson of Mandan and defending champion Ryan Braseth of Ulen. Austin Wiest was running third with Gage Madler fighting for the top five.
Wiest took the lead with 17 to go but Olson would take over the lead with Preston Martin of Lincoln closing. Braseth was third, Mund fourth and Madler and Wiest were fighting for fifth.
Martin passed Olson for the lead as Braseth pressured Olson for second. Madler was racing hard with Mund for fourth. After a debris caution Martin led Olson with Wiest passing Mund for fifth. Martin was about two car lengths up on Olson as Madler took the third spot. The caution came out for debris again with six laps left.
On the restart Austin Wiest rolled his 471 machine to bring out the red flag. Martin was the class of the field even though Olson made a charge late in the race but fell short. Martin won with Olson second, Braseth third, Gage Madler fourth and Noah Madler fifth. Mason Lemar of Casselton went from 19th to ninth to cap off a good run.
Jamestown notes
--Including the Junior Slingshots, 270 cars competed at the Stampede this year. Korbyn Krogh of Dickinson won the Slingshot feature over Hailey Keller of Bismarck.
--Andrew Jochim of Harwood, driver of the #21 IMCA Stock Car, is planning to step away from racing after 2026 to focus on his kids and their activities. Andrew and his wife Ashley are two of the nice people you will meet in racing.
--Jesse Skalicky of Fargo made his return in the IMCA Modifieds; he wrecked his car during a Dakota Classic Mod Tour race at Dacotah Speedway in July but got the 3S machine back this week. Skalicky was having a good year before that wreck with three wins in his first five starts.
