Nelson, Randt brothers, Walsh, Saurer and Gerdes victorious at I-94

One of the fun things about doing RaceChaser blog is covering drivers who win their first career feature races. On Friday night at I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls, Emma Nelson joined the first-win club this season with a thrashing of the field in the Wissota Hornets.

If I am being honest, I-94 shows can run very long some nights, but Friday, with 103 cars, the last checkered flag waved at 10:28 p.m., a nice job by both the officials and drivers. I thought the feature races were pretty clean with no real big wrecks, and the track was racy. It was a good night.

The feature got off to a bit of a shaky start, when Owen Preston got turned into the turn two wall as he was leading. His night was over.

Christian Kast, driving the 30X car, inherited the lead with Cameryn taylor in second. Nelson started seventh on the grid but was quickly up to the top three. On the restart she passed Kast on the inside and would comopletely check out on the field.

Kast had a couple of car lengths on Taylor for second while Cassidy Hamre of Fargo battled Adam Throener of Swanville for the fourth spot.

Nelson’s lead grew to a straightaway on Kast by the halfway point, and the lead only grew from there.  Throener was closing on Taylor for third, and would take the spot with three to go.

Nelson won by a whopping 8.6 seconds over Kast. Throener was third, Taylor was fourth and Hamre rounded out the top five.

After a chain-reaction caution on the opening lap, which saw Jayden Bogh of Huron go to the tail,  Joe Arndt led early in the Wissota Street Stock feature before Levi Randt of Siren was all over him. Eric Riley of Morris was third. On the move was Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck, who had climbed to third.

Randt led by Riley was staying close. Arndt was fourth ahead of Mark Blom of Glenwood. Maria Broksieck of Goodwin, making her first trip to I-94 this year, was sixth. Arndt and Blom had a really good duel for fourth.

Randt opened a 2-car length lead on Riley who was fighting hard to hold onto second with Dykhoff applying the heat. 

Randt would cruise to a 1.2 second win with Riley nipping Dykhoff at the line for second by ,032 seconds. Arndt was fourth and Blom outlasted Broksieck for fifth. There were 19 Wissota Streets on hand and just one caution, a nice job by that group.

Trevor Walsh of Watertown, who leads the Gen X series points,  flew out to a nice lead in the Gen X Late Model feature with the veteran Larry Samuelson of Erhard in second. Jarrett Huus of Fergus Falls was running in third, Cade Skytland in fourth and Parker Gilbertson of Watson.

Bodie Croninger  of Watertown would spin in turns one and two to bring out the caution; two other cars spun to avoid but there was no major contact. On the restart there was another three-car incident in turns three and four that includes Plaster, Ryan Lubbers and Jon McCain of Fergus Falls.  McCain had some right-front damage and a flat, ending his night.

On the restart Huus grabbed second from Samuelson, who had Gilbertson pressuring him. Skytland had all sorts of company for fifth which included Blake Swenson of Watertown (who is third in the Gen X series points) and multi-time I-94 champion Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls, who is the all-time wins leader in the class at I-94.

Gilbertson moved into third and Wolden would get around Samuelson for fourth. Bryce Borgen, driving Don Shaw’s 151 car, was charging on the outside and would soon get around Wolden for fifth.

Walsh meanwhile had pulled well ahead of Huus and was on cruise control over the final 6-7 laps. He prevailed by a comfortable 2.8 second margin over Huus, adding a big win to try and win the overall series title.

Huus ran a solid second with Gilbertson third, Cade Skytland of Kindred fourth and Bryce Borgen of Perley fifth. After a couple of early hiccups, the race settled down well.

Tanner Bitzan of Brandon started in the second row but would grab the lead in the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Kyle Anderson of Jamestown was second but Jake Smith of St. Joseph soon would grab the spot. Landyn Randt of Siren, the winner at KRA Speedway last night, was running in third. 73-year-old Ron Saurer of Dalton was in fifth, ahead of Tyler Bitzan.

Tanner Bitzan stuck his 42TB to the high side and was flying, but so was Randt.  He quickly cut the gap after passing Smith for second.

It turned into a heck of a fight between Randt and Tanner Bitzan at the front as the leaders hit some heavy lapped traffic.

While Randt was chasing Bitzan, Smith was right in the hunt as well. The top three, all running up on the cushion, were setting a feverish pace.

Lapped traffic late would prove to decide the race as Bitzan was slowed by some lapped cars and Randt made his move with about three laps to go. He would go on to win by 1.12 seconds over Smith, who had also worked around Bitzan.

Bitzan, who probably deserved  a little better fate after being slowed by some lapped cars, settled for third with Anderson fourth and Tyler Bitzan fifth.

Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls and long-time veteran Mitch Johnson of Hickson led the Wissota Late Models to the green but Wolden surged out front.  Travis Saurer of Elizabeth grabbed second while Shawn Meyer of Wahpeton in third. Danny Vang of Deerwood was up to fourth and Skorczewski of Aberdeen, a first-time visitor, climbed to fifth.

The caution flew for rookie Landon Mensen’s spin in turn two, which would be the only yellow of the race.

Saurer got around Wolden for the lead and checked out as Meyer and Vang closed on second.  Cole Schill of Hawley climbed into the top five. Meyer moved into second afte the restart and tried to chase down Saurer as Vang moved into thitd and Skorczewski had moved into fifth.

Blake Boelens of Brandon was making his presence felt as the laps waned and was locked in a duel with Schill for fourth as the top three had spread out by that point. Saurer had no issues at all, winning by 2.8 seconds over Meyer, who unfortunately appeared to lose a motor as he crossed the finish line in second.

Vang was third, Skorczewski was fourth and Boelens would cross the line fifth; however, he was DQed post-race, moving Schill to fifth.

Saurer stuck his 21x to the high side and took the early lead for the Wissota Modified feature. Brady Gerdes of Villard stuck his 2X to the bottom with Borgen running third and Dusty Bitzan of Evansville in fourth, ahead of Joe Thomas of Glyndon.

The caution came out for Dylan Zabel’s 11z car which spun in turns one and two.  Gerdes was working the bottom line on the restart and passed Saurer with 16 to go. Borgen was running up high as Bitzan also stuck his 10x to the bottom.

Gerdes led Bitzan by 2.1 seconds with Saurer third. Ryan Gierke of Villard  had a good battle with Bryce Borgen for fourth before claiming the spot with seven laps to go.  Joe Thomas of Glyndon also worked into the top five.

Gerdes saw a more than two-second lead vanish with four to go as Dylan Zabel spun in turn two.

This gave Bitzan a last shot to make a move on Gerdes, but the 2X was strong on the bottom and prevailed by .925 seconds for his second consecutive I-94 win.  Bitzan was second, Saurer ws third, Gierke fourth and Borgen fifth.

Kelsi Pederson nabs first Wissota Late Model feature win at River Cities

Kelsi Pederson wins first Wissota LM feature at River Cities

Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks won her first Wissota Late Model feature of her career Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks. Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks was second, Shane Edginton of East St. Paul, Man., was third, Mike Greseth of Harwood went from 13^th to fourth and Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks was fifth.

While Kelsi Pederson had wins in the lightning sprints, this was her first in a late model. She is the first female to win a late model feature at River Cities, congrats.

Coe Greseth of Harwood won his ninth RCS feature of the year in the Wissota Street Stocks. Greg Jose of Grand Forks was second, Trey Hess of Grand Forks was third, Adam Dehne of Medina fourth and Scott Messner of Bemidji was fifth.

Austin Hunter of Winnipeg won the Wissota Midwest Modified main event with Jory Berg of Grand Forks second. Connor Drewry of Bemidji was third, Chris Edmonds of Laimore fourth and Travis Klein of Bemidji was fifth.

Mike Stearns of Aberdeen made a big-time surge late to win the Wissota Modified feature in thrilling fashion. Rick Delaine of Stony Mountain, Man., was second, Aaron Holtan of Newfolden third, Ward Imrie of Headingly, Man., fourth and Shawn Teunis of Stony Mountain fifth.

Fix It Forward feature wins to Rothenbacher, Olson, Jacobson, Shipley, Jahnz and VanMil

Marcus Rothenbacher of Ulen won the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature Friday night at Fix  It Forward Speedway in West Fargo. Zayden Braaten of West Fargo finished a career-best second with Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes third, Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton fourth and Jerzee Rosinski of Grand Forks fifth.

Ty Olson of Mandan won the INEX Legends feature with Regan Reinke of Lisbon second. Ryan Braseth of Ulen was third, Sean Johnson of Kindred was fourth and Alex Clark of Moorhead was fifth.

Scott Jacobson of Fargo won the IMCA Sport Mod feature with Austin Veralrud of Audubon second. Kyle VanMil of Barnesville was third, Chris VanMil of Barnesville was fourth and Carter Restad of West Fargo was fifth.

Dave Shipley of Argusville won the IMCA Modified feature with Scott Gartner of Jamestown in second. Travis Robertson of Fargo was third, Tom Andring of Detroit Lakes was fourth and Lynn Sather of Detroit Lakes was fifth.

Austin Jahnz of Lewisville captured another IMCA Hobby Stock feature over Kyler Satran of Minot. Todd Gettle of Mahnomen was third, Reid Randall of Park Rapids was fourth and Daniel Beckman of Mahomen was fifth.

Rob VanMil of Barnesville claimed the IMCA Stock Car feature with Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada second. Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead was third, Jonny Carter of Lisbon was fourth and Rick Schulz of Horace ws fifth.