After a couple of near misses in 2018, Zack Nord of Enderlin, who was interviewed after the races on Sunday (above) had a break through win on Sunday night at the Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon.
The 18-year-old picked up the Hobby Stock win on Sunday, leading from start to finish. Nord’s dad, John is an IMCA pilot and his brother, Nick, is a first-year driver in the Hobby Stocks himself. Zack was a happy guy after Sunday’s win and rightfully so.
A solid field of 64 cars was on hand, and each class had two heats.
The highlight of the night was the first-ever appearance of the INEX Legends at Sheyenne, and a nice 17-car field signed in. Kaitlyn Skalicky of Fargo had rotten luck to start the season but seems to have left that behind with four top six finishes this week, including a pair of seconds. She led a large portion of Sunday’s feature although Andrew Jochim of Glyndon was applying pressure. Jochim made the pass for the lead and opened up a decent advantage on his way to the win.
Skalicky was second, and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes was third after starting 15th. Brody Carlsrud and Alex Braseth rounded out the top five.
I thought the Legends did a good job, and the fourth night of the Minn-Kota tour also produced the highest car count (17) of the four nights so far. They raced hard and there was a great battle for several laps between Skalicky and Jochim. Wilke worked through the field after starting way back and had a good run. The legends cars are pretty even and as a result the racing puts on a good show at pretty much all tracks.
A night earlier I witnessed Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead win his first career feature at Buffalo River Race Park near Glyndon. Nord followed suit with a solid win in the Hobby Stocks. He had some pressure from Bo Gregor of Lisbon for a few laps but by the end had some breathing room in taking the checkered flag. Ryan Mund, Dylan Steele and Paul Morman rounded out the top five.
There was a hard crash in the Hobby Stocks as Ryan Ost broke a front suspension piece and crashed into the guard rail off of turn two. The front of his car had heavy damage, but fortunately the guard rail did its job.
Jonny Carter of Lisbon (interviewed above) is just on fire right now in his No. 46 Wissota Street Stock. He worked through a pretty stout field of cars from seventh starting spot to take the win. His uncle, Todd, is looking good in his 19 car, and finished second. Royce Jawaski of Horace led for a long time and settled for third with Matthew Lesmeister of Lisbon fourth and Kyle Anderson of Jamestown finishing fifth after starting 10th.
Carter has feature wins at three tracks (Dacotah, Sheyenne and Jamestown). Jonny has raced seven times this season and has won six, all coming in a row. That car is just a bullet right now. It will take a heck of an effort to beat him the way he is going right now.
Eric Riley of Morris put on the miles this weekend . He finished second in his No. 51 Wissota Street at River Cities in Grand Forks on Friday, and finished third at Greenbush on Saturday. Riley was a DNF in the feature unfortunately on Sunday at Sheyenne
The Mini Stocks are another class that is pretty evenly-matched at Sheyenne, and it turned into a heck of a battle for the lead between Kevin Youngquist of Barney and Matt Bogart of Minor. Bogart threw everything at Youngquist but he didn’t flinch to pick up the win. Daniel Harstad of Fergus Falls picked up his second third-place finish in as many nights; his 77 car is good right now. Cougar Axtman was fourth and Cole Bogart of Minor was fifth.
I felt for Brennan Urbach in the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. He opened a decent lead early before Randy Klein of Lisbon closed the gap. Urbach encountered a lapped car and had to check up, and Klein capitalized, taking over the lead and winning by several car lengths. Urbach held off Nate Reinke of Lisbon for second, with Jared Wibstad of Jamestown and Zach Reinke of Lisbon finishing in the top five.
The track was better this week, but still not where co-promoter Hunter Carter wants it. Carter puts hours and hours into trying to have a smooth racing surface at Sheyenne, and progress was made. Dust was a problem on Sunday, while just six days earlier, there was too much moisture. It’s going to take some time to blend the new dirt with the old surface, and another week of dry weather will certainly help. He will keep working that 1/4-mile oval.
Doar Wins at Casino
Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis., won the Wollak Construction Wissota Late Model Challenge Series main event Sunday at the Casino Speedway in Watertown, S.D.
Apparently there were some issues about track conditions at Miller Central Speedway as several drivers brought up concerns after hot laps. As a result it was decided that the event would not count as a challenge series race (points wise). As a result nine cars elected not to race. That is an unfortunate deal for both the drivers and track.
It is good to see Chad Mahder back racing again. His father, Duane, passed away a couple of years ago, and was a terrific racer. Chad is a former winner of the John Seitz Memorial at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks.
Comments