I ventured back to Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon as the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour presented by Shocker Hitch was on hand. There were 23 street stocks on hand and once again the tour is showing to have excellent depth on a nightly basis.
It was Buffalo River’s second night of the year, and they had a few hiccups – starting a bit late, plus some confusion on the running order of the heat races which led to a bit of a delay.
My one thought, and this applies to tracks in general – if you have a tour or series in town, and have drivers who’ve traveled from a long way away, I would run them a bit earlier in the evening. The streets ran last on Sunday, and my personal preference for the travelers would be to run them earlier to get them on the road a little sooner. But that’s just an opinion and I’m sure there are those who disagree.
It was an all Wisconsin front row for the street stocks as Jeff Nowak of Wausau and Ty Agen of Chippewa Falls led a 23-car field to the green. Nowak would take the lead as Kyle Anderson of Jamestown was into second and Jonny Carter of Lisbon was third.
After a multi-car incident in turn one, Nowak resumed the lead as Carter and Anderson battled for second. Agen settled into third while Jamestown driver Jaden Christ moved into fifth.
Carter was closing the gap on the lead when the caution waved with 17 left when Jeff Ekdahl of Oakdale spun.
On the restart Anderson took a shot on the outside and got beside Nowak but couldn’t sustain the momentum. Nowak, meanwhile kept his #79 stuck to the bottom. The Wolverine, Justin Vogel of Brooten, had moved into the top five after starting 10th. Vogel had transmission trouble on Saturday at I-94 and had a rare DNF.
Nowak maintained about a car length on Carter as the track locked down heavy on the bottom, which didn’t lead to much passing or side by side racing unfortunately.
On the restart, Anderson suffered a bad break and he would pull in to the infield off of turn four. Something in the left front broke, ending hopes for a solid top five finish.
Cole Greseth of Harwood was lurking just outside the top five, as was Hunter Carter of Mapleton.
On the restart with three to go, Carter had little time to make a move; with two to go he got a run under Nowak off of turn two and was able to make the pass just before the white flag waved. Carter, the 2020 tour champion, would go on to the win, his second tour victory in a row at Buffalo River. Nowak capped off a solid night in second; Vogel finished third after starting 10th, and you usually find the #10 car in the top five at the end of a tour race. He is remarkably consistent.
Christ and Agen would round out the top five. Kyle Genett was the Hard Charger, going from 21st to sixth.
The last restart shuffled some things in traffic. Trey Hess of Grand Forks went from 17th to seventh while Kasey Ussatis of Nome moved from 19th to eighth.
With five races in the books, there have been four different winners -- Nick Traynor (two wins), Vogel, Carter and Kyle Genett of Auburndale, Wis. Very competitive start to the tour.
The veteran Brad Orvedal of Fargo jumped out to the IMCA Hobby Stock lead with Todd Gettel of Mahnomen in second.
Orvedal stuck his #3XL machine to the bottom and would exit towards the middle and would porve to be fast there.
The car I was watching was Chad Visser of Ironton who started in sixth; he had slid back briefly early but was on the move, and on successive laps he passed Tyler Hehn of Horace for fifth and then Andrea Jacobson of Fargo for fourth. He ran a little higher line that most of the field and it was paying off. It wasn’t long before he caught Nathan Kohl of Fort Ripley for third, and with five to go set his sights on Gettel for second.
Orvedal was steady up front but Visser was closing with three to go. Kohl went to work on Gettle for third.
Visser was on the outside of Orvedal as the white flag was in hand but a caution would wave for a spin in turn four, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. It was ruled Visser had been the leader of the last completed lap, so he would have the lead at the dash to the finish.
Another car who had worked into the top five was William Herron of Brainerd, who had started way back in 10th.
Visser opened up three car lengths on Orvedal as the white flag waved; Orvedal had his hands full with Herron for second. Visser would win by .787 seconds over Orvedal, who had a good run in the 3XL. Herron settled for third with Gettel and Hehn finishing the top five.
It was a good clean feature by the IMCA Hobby Stocks with only one caution, and some good racing.
Jason Kast of Fairmount, N.D., opened a nice lead of the Short Tracker feature with Adrian Kubitz moving into second.
Hunter Goulet of Fargo started in the back but quickly was in the top three.
Kubitz was closing on Kast, who got sideways in turn two. That was the opening Kubitz needed to take the lead. But it was brief as Goulet, who I think I’ve seen drive at least three different cars this season, made a run on the bottom and would take the lead.
Lee Williams of Fargo and Christian Kast of Fairmount were having a good battle for fourth as Goulet had 2-3 car lengths on Kubitz up front.
Christian Kast found some speed on the higher line and passed both Williams and his father Jason to take over third. Goulet won by 1.867 seconds over Kubitz. Christian Kast finished third after starting seventh with Jason Kast and Williams rounding out the top five. The Short Trackers did a good job, running a caution-free race.
Young drivers Skyla Miller of Harwood and Jayden Pavlicek of Casselton, both looking for their first career wins, led the 12-car IMCA Sport Mod feature to the green. Unfortunately a big pileup happened in turn one on the first lap that would end the night for Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, who had dominated Friday at Red River Valley Speedway, and Brandon Caldwell of Fargo as both left on the hook. Luke Johnson of Moorhead and Kamey Leedom of Fargo were also involved but were able to continue.
Jayden Pavlicek led the opening lap as Vince Jegtvig of Dilworth and Scott Jacobson of Fargo settled into second and third.
The long-time veteran Dave Siercks of Princeton moved into fourth ahead of Chris VanMil of Barnesville and Kelly Jacobson of Fargo, the Week 1 winner at Buffalo River.
Jayden Pavlicek was doing a great job up front as Siercks was closing on Jacobson for second. Jacobson pulled a slider for the lead in turns three and four and Siercks would follow into second. A caution would come out moments later with Pavlicek going off of turn one. Scott Jacobson got a break as he had spun in turn four shortly after the caution had waved.
On the restart with 11 to go Scott Jacobson led with Siercks and VanMil in the top three. VanMil and Sierkcs would battle for second. Luke Johnson of Moorhead, who started back in 10th, was up to the top four after passing Kelly Jacobson.
Scott Jacobson grabbed complete control of the race on the final restart, opening up a big lead on Siercks to pick up the feature win. Siercks was second with VanMil capping off a solid run in third. Johnson and Kelly Jacobson rounded out the top five.
It was a promising night for Jayden Pavlicek, however as he led several laps, and that’s something for the young driver to build on.
The POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints, with 15 cars in attendance, didn’t make it off the front stretch on the green as a couple of cars made contact which sent Alex Truscinski to the tail.
Alan Truscinski jumped out to the lead with Bryce Haugeberg of Fargo, who was driving Jason Berg’s #100 machine, closed a pretty substantial lead down to a few feet as lapped traffic quickly became a factor.
Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks, who won the opener at Buffalo River, was solidly in third ahead of Kate Taves of Detroit Lakes in fourth.
The only thing that slowed Alan Truscinski was lapped traffic, and once he cleared those cars, he was in control to pick up the win. Haugeberg was second, Pederson third, Kate Taves fourth and Mark Williams of Grand Forks in fifth.
I was a little nervous with 25 INEX Legend cars taking the green on a quarter-mile track. And I was proven right as cautions plagued the main event. There was some questionable driving back in traffic in my opinion, and that can turn a 20-lap race into a marathon.
Joshua Wiest of Jamestown grabbed the lead quickly with Alex Braseth of Ulen giving chase. Collin Compson of Valley City, who won Friday at Red River Valley Speedway, settled into third. Kody Machart of Moorhead, who won the opener at Buffalo River moved into fourth ahead of Ashton Spieker of Sabin.
The caution would wave as Mike Hart spun in turn two with 15 to go.
Ryan Braseth of Ulen moved into the top five on the restart. Machart passed Compson and Alex Braseth to move into second as the caution waved again for a two-car incident.
On the restart Alex Braseth moved into second and got beside Wiest down the front stretch as another caution waved for debris with 12 to go.
Wiest had a lot of company behind him, but Alex Braseth was the one who would make the move for the lead with nine to go. Machart, Compson and Ryan Braseth also moved up a spot as Wiest slid to fifth.
Machart was right on Alex Braseth’s bumper as lapped traffic soon became a factor. Alex Braseth, however, would clear the cars effectively on his way to the feature win. Machart settled for second with Compson taking a solid third. Ryan Braseth and Wiest rounded out the top five.
Buffalo River Notes
--Dan Dowling of Davenport had his late model on hand to hot lap for a few laps after just finishing it recently. He told me he plans to run bigger money shows this season and not focus on weekly racing.
--I visited with Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls for a while; he picked up the Wissota Modified and Midwest Modified wins at Greenbush Race Park last night. His father, Terry, is back behind the wheel of a street stock which was in attendance and finished a solid fourth.
--I had a chance to visit with Luke Johnson of Moorhead. He had spent the past two years in the IMCA Modified class but has switched back to a IMCA Sport Mod for 2023. He and his wife recently had their first child, and time and cost were a consideration too. Plus frankly he had rotten luck in the mods. He ran solid on Sunday in fourth.
--There were 26 INEX Legends on hand, another clear sign the class is booming locally right now. There are a lot of teenagers in the class with promising talent which is good news for the future of racing. There were 33 at Red River Valley Speedway on Friday.
Broksieck, Becker, Thomas Repeat at Casino
Maria Broksieck of Goodwin won the Wissota Street Stock feature for the second straight week. Andy Rossow of Florence was second, Jason Marko of Watertown third, Tyler Lamb of Clark fourth and Al Schmidt of Watertown fifth.
Chad Becker of Aberdeen topped Blake Swenson of Watertown for the Wissota Late Model feature. Jayson Good of Watertown was third, Trevor Anderson of Watertown fourth and Justin Karlen of Howard fifth.
Joseph Thomas of Fargo is 3-for-3 at Casino in the Wissota Mods, picking up another feature win over former national champion Mike Stearns of Aberdeen. Kenny Mayer of Goodwin was third.
Tyler McFarland of Goodwin topped Scott Hansen of Garden City for the Wissota Midwest Modified win. Adam Brotherton of Huron was third, last week’s winner Mike Nichols of Watertown was fourth and Derek Rieck of Ortonville was fifth.
Nathan Smith of Watertown won the Wissota Hornet feature over Bradley Rossow of Florence. Brayden Begalka of Elkton was third.
Bodie Croninger of Watertown topped Scott Harrington of Waubay for the Gen X Late Model win. Doug Walsh of Watertown was third and Tony Croninger of Watertown was fourth.
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