Johnson, Beckman, VanMil, Kesselberg and Hansen win RRVS finales

Red River Valley Speedway wrapped up its 2025 campaign with season championship night.  

 A late-afternoon downpour left some doubt about whether the program was going to be held, but RRVS officials and drivers decided to press forward with the season finale. Promoter Jake Bitker asked the drivers if they were willing to race in some mud, and the reaction was in favor. After packing in the moisture the racing didn't start too late, and I actually thought the track was pretty decent under the circumstances.

The big news at RRVS happened off the track on Thursday when it was announced there will be a management change for 2026. I will post a blog Saturday morning with my thoughts on that, but for tonight I want to focus on the racing.

The top two cars in the point standings – Sean Johnson of Kindred and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes – led the INEX Legends to the green.   Johnson led by 15 coming into the night.

Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids would slow early in the race and pull off with an issue after starting third.

Wilke’s 72 would also come to a halt in turn three; he would leave on the hook, and his hopes of capturing the track championship were dashed. He is the 2025 IMCA RaceSaver champion at Red River Valley, however.

Johnson opened up 2.3 seconds on Jawaski when the caution waved on the fourth lap. On the restart Johnson opened a solid lead as Joshua Wiest worked by Jawaski for second. Als on the move was Kody Machart of Moorhead as he grabbed third. Regan Reinke of Lisbon, Tyler Riewer and Ryan Braseth were among the cars fighting for spots in the top five. Braseth had started 22^nd on the field.

Johnson pushed the lead to 1.3 seconds over Wiest when the caution flew for debris in turns three and four.

Johnson got a good start but Wiesta took a look on the low side as Riewer and Jawaski battled for third.  Braseth got squeezed into the wall as the racing went three-wide for position and that cost him a lot of positions.  Wiest was applying pressure to Johnson as Riewer was third, Jawaski fourth and Regan Reinke of Lisbon in fifth.

Johnson had about 3-4 car lengths on Wiest as those two were a ways ahead of third-place Riewer.  However the gap for the lead was shrinking as Wiest was persistent in his pursuit of the top spot.

Johnson would hold on – and wrap up the track championship (unofficially) – by just .124 seconds over Wiest. Reinke was a solid third, Riewer fourth and Jawaski held off Braseth for fifth.

The two Fargo veterans – Tim Church and Brad Orvedal – led the IMCA Hobby Stocks to the green. The two were separated by just two points coming into the night.

Orvedal took the lead with Church in second and Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes in third. Reid Rendall of Park Rapids was fourth.

Orvedal had a 1.11 second lead on Church, but it was Randall who would sneak into the second spot as those three cars were fighting harding. Todd Gettel of Mahnomen was fifth.

Randall was within .340 seconds of Orvedal up front and would eventually take over the top spot.

But it was Daniel Beckman of Mahnomen who was putting on a show after starting back in eighth, storming into the lead and then opening a 1.87 second advantage on Orvedal as there was a lot going on for a nine-car race.

Beckman had not won a feature all year, and you would not have known it based on the way the 23 car ran on Friday. He would open a 4.1 second lead on Orvedal to pick up his first feature victory of the year. Orvedal was second, Engen was third, Gettle fourth and Church topped Andrea Jacobson of Fargo for fifth.

By three points, unofficially, Church is the 2025 RRVS track champion.

Ryan Restad of West Fargo had a pretty comfortable point lead in the IMCA Sport Mods, and he and Jayden Pavlicek of Fargo had the front row. Restad stormed out to the lead and had a nice advantage before the caution waved when Cayden Westcott of Ada went off of turn one.

Restad resumed the lead with Pavlicek  and Landon Maatzf fighting for second. Maatz would grab second with Kyle VanMil in third, Pavlicek in fourth and Brennan Urbach of Lisbon in fifth.

Torey Fischer’s 9 would spin in turn  four to bring out the caution, I didn’t see what happened but she got her spot back so I will assume she had some help.

VanMil, a very promising young talent, grabbed second on the ensuing restart and was right on Restad’s tail. Maatz was third while Fischer had climbed to fourth.

VanMil put a slider for the lead on Lap 5 and would take the lead while Fischer trying to track down Maatz in third.  VanMil caugt some lapped cars and while it looked dicey for a moment was able to get through without issue.

VanMil was impressive and had .882 seconds on Restad with six to go. Maatz was solidy in third and Fischer and Urbach were fighting for fourth.

The lead stayed about the same and was up to one second with a lap to go. He would pick up his fourth win of 2025 by 1.5 seconds with Restad clinching the track championship in second. Urbach had a good run in third after starting back in 11^th with Maatz and Fischer rounding out the top five.

Pavlicek was a DNF but should still finish in second in the points, according to my math (forgive me if it’s wrong, my math usually is poor).

Rob VanMil of Barnesville and Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada were tied for the IMCA Stock Car point lead heading into the evening and they were on the front row. Brody Carlsrud, mathematically at least, still had a shot aat the points title but would need bad nights from those two and a feature win, at least by my flawed math.

Kesselberg would edge ahead Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead giving chase in third and Tyler McDougall of Hawley in fourth.

After a caution on the fifth lap Kesselberg took over the lead with Carlsrud grabbing second and VanMil in third. Rick Schulz of Horace moved into fourth and Daniel Aberle of Finley was running fifth, ahead of his uncle and Godfather Todd Heinrich.

Kesselberg was pulling away as the lead grew to more than two seconds over Carlsrud who had VanMil and Schulz close by.   Kesselberg was the dominant car, pushing the advantage to 3.4 seconds with two laps left on his way to a 3.5 second victory, which clinched the track championship at RRVS. Carlsrud survived VanMil for second with Schulz having a good run in fourth and Aberle rounding out the top five.

Lindsey Hansen of Fargo was second in the points to Jesse Skalicky of Fargo entering the IMCA Modified feature, and the 32 jumped out to a big lead. Dave Shipley of Argusville was third, John Nord of Enderlin fourth and Dylan Goplen of Fargo fifth.

Hansen at one point led by more than two seconds but with five to go Skalicky had cut the lead to .689 seconds. Shipley was well back in third with Nord and Goplen close by.

The caution flew with three to go which brought Shipley and Skalicky to Hansen’s bumper. Hansen, though got a good restart and opened the lead to more than a second, on his way to his first RRVS win.  Hansen is having a good rookie year in the IMCA Modifieds as he now has three feature wins, the other two coming at Jamestown.

Skalicky put a wrap on the track championship with his runner-up finish. Shipley was third, Goplen fourth and Lynn Sather of Detroit Lakes rounded out the top five.

Final checkered waved around 10:05 p.m. by my watch, and considering the rain shortly before the show, I thought it was a good, efficient racing program.

Johnson, Saurer (twice), Bitzan, Dykhoff and Rohner victors at I-94

Onyx Johnson of Lowry topped Landyn Randt of Siren for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature victory. Tommy Nichols of Watertown was third, Lucas Rodin of Marion fourth and Tanner Bitzan of Brandon was fifth.

Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck won the Wissota Street Stock feature over Eric Riley of Morris. Levi Randt of Siren was third, Kolton Brauer of Eyota was fourth and Kegan Stueve of Greenwald was fifth.

Travis Saurer of Elizabeth won the Wissota Late Model feature with Josh Zimpel of Braham taking second and Zach Johnson of Lowry in third. Cole Schill of Hawley was fourth and Danny Vang of Deerwood fifth.

Saurer also won the Gen X Late Model feature with Rick Schroeder of Montevideo in second. Matthew Larson of Lake Elmo was third, Blake Boelens of Brandon fourth and Jarrett Huus of Fergus Falls fifth.

Dusty Bitzan of Brandon won the Wissota Modified feature over Brady Gerdes of Villard. Josh Thoennes of Nelson was third, Lucas Rodin of Marion fourth and Avery Anderson of Alexandria fifth.

Jeff Rohner of Willmar won the Wissota Hornet feature over Christian Kast of Fairmount. Hunter Goulet of Fargo was third, Kevin Wahl of Fergus Falls fourth and Wayne Preston of Fergus Falls fifth.

River Cities wins to Greseth, Vargason, Strand, TPO and Hastings

Cole Greseth of Harwood picked up his 25^th feature win of 2025 in the Wissota Street Stocks. Doug VanMill of Bagley was second, Blaine Barnes of Grand Forks was third, John Halvorson of Warren was fourth and Greg Jose of Grand Forks was fifth.

Cylen Vargason of Edinburg topped Memphis Klassen of Winkler for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature win. MaKenna Romuld of Grand Forks was third, Jory Berg of Grand Forks was fourth and Austin Hunter of Winnipeg fifth.

Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks topped Brad Seng of Grand Forks for the Wissota Late Model win. Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks was third, Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks was fourth and Ryan Corbett of Grand Forks was fifth.

Tyler Peterson of Hickson won the Wissota Modified feature over Bryce Sward of Nelson. Dustin Strand was third, Ward Imrie of Headingley fourth and Aaron Holtan of Newfolden fifth.

Jade Hastings of Grand Forks topped Blake Egeland of Climax for the NOSA sprint feature. Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks was third, Austin Pierce of Grand Forks fourth and Jack Croaker of East Grand Forks fifth.