Mad Town Showdown wins to Rice, Vogel, Adams, Scott, Gerdes, Gilbertson and Lange

Brady Gerdes won the Wissota Modified feature. Photo by Cody Papke)

Night 1 of the Lou’s Mad Town Showdown was held Friday at Madison Speedway with a good field of 131 cars signed in. Unlike some late-season invitationals, Madison runs a pair of complete shows to conclude its season. Thanks to presenting sponsor Dirt Race Central I was able to cover the race remotely.

It was a very long night, way too long for my taste, that went past 1 a.m.  Three of the features took more than a half hour to complete and another took 25 as they were plagued with cautions and a lot of pace laps. Some of that is the way invitational season is and let’s be honest, Madison is not known to run a quick racing program. I admired the folks in the stands who stuck it out until past 1 a.m.

Justin Erp of Montevideo and Jason Best of Clarkfield led the Pure Stocks to the green.  Erp took the lead as Tad Peterson of Dawson fought Jason Best for second. Brady Hagen was running fourth. Three laps into the feature Alex Thorson spun to bring out the first caution.

Best made the move for the lead on the restart as Peterson was fighting Erp for second. Hagen and Carter Rice of Renville were in a good fight for the fourth spot.

Best had 4-5 car lengths on Erp who was getting a lot of heat from Peterson and Rice.  Best got sideways for a moment and Erp was able to move back ahead; however the caution waved for Jesse Timm of Wood Lake, who spun. The big break was for Best; the race went back to the last completed lap, and that meant he was the leader.

The restart was crazy as Peterson and Erp both pressured Best.  However, Erp would loop it entering turn two, and that led to a big pileup that included Rice, Timm, 2025 Madison Pure stock champion Landon Albertson of Cottonwood and Ashton Martin of Willmar.  Timm left on the hook while Martin was pushed to the pits. Erp went to the tail.

After a lengthy cleanup Rice challenged Best for the top spot in the first two but Best held on. Peterson and Rice were both chasing Best as the laps waned, and Rice took a run on the bottom of turn four and took the lead as the white flag waved.  Rice would win by a car length with Best settling for second.  For Rice it was his fifth win of 2025. Peterson was third, Albertson fourth and Hagen would take fifth.

The Wissota Street Stock feature saw the Wolverine Justin Vogel of Brooten take the lead on lap one. The caution would wave when the 9 of Cody Hatch got sideways in turn two that led to a chain reaction.  The restart saw a multi-car spin in the back. Once racing resumed it was Vogel out front with Jans and Randt both close; the caution waved again when Cory Dykhoff of Perham and Chris Behrens were turned in turns one and two.

The race was plagued  with cautions, leading to the yellow/black coming out on the fourth caution. Randt was working on Vogel and took the lead with 15 to go with Jans in third, Coltyn Schuler fourth and Joe Martin of Willmar, the 2025 Viking Speedway track champion, in fifth.  The caution waved with 14 to go for another two-car incident in turn two.

Randt pulled away on the restart as Vogel and Jans dueled for second. On the move was Eric Riley of Morris, who was up to sixth and in close pursuit of Schuler in fifth.

Martin, who was running fourth, spun in turn two to bring out the caution.  With the yellow/black being waved that meant the end of Martin’s night.

Vogel made a move on the restart to take the lead as Riley had climbed to third.  Jans was in fourth as Zach Flickinger of Madison, the 2025 Madison track champion, was lurking outside the top five. With six to go Vogel’s lead stood at .422 seconds as Jans and Riley raced side-by-side for fourth. Flickinger was pressuring Schuler for fifth. Vogel had about two car lengths on Randt as the white flag waved, and the Wolverine prevailed for his sixth victory of 2025.  Vogel surpassed 200 career wins earlier this season.

Randt settled for second with Riley taking third after starting 15^th. Jans was fourth and Schuler held off Flickinger, who started 13^th, for fifth.

Blake Adams took the lead of the 29-car Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Justin Bjorklund of Sacred Heart was second and 2025 Viking Speedway track champion Travis Engebretson of Cyrus was third. The theme of the night was cautions and this race struggled to get going, much like the street stocks.

Adams led with Engebretson in second. Tim Kanten of Milan had moved into fourth with Ryan Flaten of Madison in fifth.  Flaten would take fourth, and a few laps later would grab third from Bjorklund.

Adams opened a 2.3 second lead on Engebretson when the caution waved with 10 to go when Dominick Dieken’s 81 smoking machine stalled.  Once that was cleared Flaten made a run under Adams for the lead but the 40 car would weather that challenge and begin to pull away. Engebretson would regain second as Darren Engesser of Gary moved into fourth ahead of Kanten.

Adams got into lapped traffic which allowed Engebretson to hang around. Brendan Scott would bring the caution out when he spun. Adams took control on the final start as Flaten and Engebretson had a nice battle for second. On the move through the field was Haley Dykhoff of Starbuck; she started 27^th but had climbed into the top five.

Adams, fourth in the national Wissota Midwest Modified points, would cruise to the win. Flaten, who started 12^th, edged Engebretson for second. Engesser was fourth and Kanten topped Dykhoff for fifth.

Travis Scott of Glenwood seized the lead of the Wissota Super Stock feature with Ryan Kostreba of Elk River moving into second. Zach Schultz of Grove City was third, and Doug Koski of Chisholm would get by Josh Roggatz of Montevideo for fourth.

Scott had about a one-second lead on Ryan Kostreba with Schultz running alone in third.  The first caution of the race waved when Matt Fester of Grove City spun. The caution was the last thing Scott wanted to see as on the restart Schultz was applying heavy pressure to the 71X on the outside with Ryan Kostreba in third.  Schultz slid high in turns one and two and Ryan Kostreba slid back in to second.  Russell Kostreba had moved into the top five.

Scott had about .697 lead over Ryan Kostreba and would go on to win by about that margin. Schultz was third, Koski fourth and Andrew Hedtke of Grove City, who started 11^th, grabbed fifth from Russell Kostreba. Only one caution in the super feature, a nice job by that group.

Jacob Knapper took the lead in the Wissota Modified feature over Brady Gerdes of Villard. Justin VanEps was running third ahead of Flaten and Tony Konold of Clear Lake. The caution waved when Austin Chyba’s 11x stalled just off the frontstretch; he has had a frustrating season with several DNFs.

Knapper remained out front with Gerdes chasing. Konold had grabbed fourth. Gerdes was gaining momentum on the higher lane and with 14 to go would grab the lead.  VanEps and Konold were in a good fight for the third spot. Dusty Bitzan of Evansville had climbed into the top five, and passed both Flaten and Konold into fourth.

Gerdes was in control up front by 1.197 seconds while Knapper had a four-second advantage on third-place VanEps with four to go. But Gerdes remained in control up front and prevailed by 1.1 seconds over Knapper, who ran strong the entire race. VanEps capped off a nice night in third with Bitzan and Flaten rounding out the top five. There was just one caution in the modified feature, nice job by that group.

Trevor Walsh of Watertown took control quickly in the Gen X Late Model feature over Kevvin Youngquist of Barney.  Engels was running third with Parker Gilbertson of Montevideo was closing quickly. Kris Wilk of Porter moved into fourth and Bodie Croninger grabbed fifth.

Walsh had a 2.7 second lead on Gilbertson with Youngquist running a solid third and Wilke in fourth.  Gilbertson then started to eat away at the lead and was within a car length with nine to go as the leaders approached lapped traffic. The caution waved for Bodie Croninger with six to go, and he left on the hook.

Gilbertson would take over the lead with five to go as Tony Croninger moved into second ahead of Walsh.  Jarrett Huus of Fergus Falls had climbed to fourth and Wilke had cleared Youngquist for fifth.

Gilbertson was untouchable over the final five laps, winning by 1.2 seconds over Croninger. Walsh was third, Huus fourth and Wilke fifth.

William Lange of Staples seized the lead in the Wissota Hornet feature with Jerik Stabler of Mitchell in second and Jeff Rohner of Willmar in third. Christian Kast of Fairmount had climbed to fourth. After Spencer Smith spun in turn one the caution waved.

Kast had moved to fourth but spun in turn two, and was T-boned hard by the 22 car to bring out the red flag.   Kast was taken to the local hospital, and according to his Facebook post, suffered a concussion but no other serious inuries. Lange faced a challenge from Rohner when the racing restarted. Brayden Begalka  of Brookings was running fifth, ahead of national point leader Anthony Jenson.

Lange had a .463 lead on Rohner with seven to go. With three laps to go Paxton Tjaden, who was running in the top five, slowed and would pull pitside. Stabler and Rohner had a tense battle for second that went to the finish.

Lange captured the victory with Rohner edging Stabler for second. Jenson went from ninth to fourth while Begalka went from 13^th to fifth in the final finishing order.

The second night of the Mad Town Showdown will be Saturday.

Madison notes

--Drivers doing double duty on Friday included Zach  Flickinger (Wissota Street Stock and Wissota Midwest Modified), Blake Adams (Wissota Modified and Midwest Modified), Brian Haben (Wissota Midwest Modified and Modified) and Ryan Flaten (Wissota Mod and Midwest Modified). Haben was driving the 19M midwest modified.

--Brendon Scott of Osakis, who has raced a Wissota Street Stock the last couple of years, was in a Wissota Midwest Modified on Friday night.

Friday notes

Jonny Carter of Fairmount won the Wissota Street Stock feature at Night 1 of the Winter Nationals at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen. Cole Greseth of Harwood was second.

Scott Hansen of Garden City topped Lucas Rodin of Marion for the Wissota Midwest Modified win.  Rodin topped Mike Stearns of Aberdeen for the Wissota Mod win with Adam Brotherton of Huron third.