North Central Speedway Wins to Myers, Martini, Greseth, Rooker, Schwinn, Anderson and Johnson,

Curt Myers won the Wissota Super Stock feature at NCS (Photo by Stephanie Frederick

One racetrack in Minnesota raced on Saturday – and that was North Central Speedway just south of Brainerd. My view of NCS is they will try everything to get a race program in – sometimes no matter the forecast or weather conditions.  

I want to hit some different tracks when I can, and since my original plan Viking canceled, I thought it was a good chance to cover North Central.

It was overcast and cold with temps in the mid-40s with a slight northwest breeze, and this was coming after rain the previous few days. I would think a 99-car field, considering the conditions, would satisfy management at NCS.

Track officials worked and worked to try and pack the track after each of the heat races. The consideration was not only for Saturday’s racing – but thinking about the long-term of keeping the track in good shape. This was a major challenge since the track was soft and not drying out and there was some character. But I will say if you are a driver, you know what you were signing up for in terms of conditions when you signed in the pit gate.  NCS officials deserve credit for the major-league effort to even get that show in even though it was a long night.

Onto the racing. I’ll start with the 18-car Wissota Super Stock feature, which featured some big guns in attendance.

Max Nelson of Milaca had the lead early in the Wissota Super Stock main event over Josh Schmidt of Elk River. Former national champion Curt Myers of Cameron, Wis., moved into second as Schmidt had trouble and would slow and eventually pull into the infield.  Another former national champion, Tim Johnson of Brainerd, was running in third. Former Wissota 100 winner Dylan Nelson of Merrifield was in fourth ahead of Austin Niemeyer of Brainerd.

Max Nelson’s lead grew to 2.252 seconds over Myers, one of the all-time greats in the Wissota Super Stock ranks. He quickly encountered lapped traffic, and Myers was starting to close quickly. With 12 to go the lead was down to .916 seconds as lapped traffic became a serious problem for the 32 of Nelson. Myers would capitalize and move into the lead.

One of the toughest drivers in racing, Johnson, and Dylan Nelson were closing on the top two.  Myers stuck the 1m to the bottom and was flawless over the final laps to pick up the win in a caution-free main event. Max Nelson was second with Tim Johnson, Dylan Nelson and Niemeyer finishing out the top five.

Kaleb Ruikka of Fort Ripley and Dakotah Corbin of Ramsey led the 10-car IMCA Sport Mod feature to the green.  Ruikka led early but soon faced a major challenge from 70-year-old veteran Dave Siercks, who would take over the top spot two laps into it.

TJ Wyman of Princeton moved into second, and I was keeping an eye on the veteran Bud Martini, who has won two of the three sport mod features at North Central this summer. He soon moved into second when the caution would wave with 11 to go for debris, but that would be the only yellow of the main event.

On the restart Martini launched off the high side out of turn two and grabbed the lead from Siercks. Jake Kierstead of Sartell moved into fourth and was chasing Wyman for third. Martini’s lead was about a second, but Siercks was closing and cut the lead down to .389 seconds.

Devon Charpenter of Staples got by Corbin for fifth but was well back of fourth-place Kierstead, who was chasing Wyman hard for third.

Siercks got within a car length on the final lap and made a run out of the final corner but came up a little short. Martini’s margin of victory was .137 seconds. Siercks settled for a solid second. Wyman outlasted Kierstead for third with Charpenter rounding out the top five.

A solid 10-car Wissota Street Stock field was on hand. Harwood, N.D., driver Cole Greseth is having some kind of start to the season. He entered the night with three wins and five top 5s in six starts. He started third and took advantage of Tommy Pogones of Princeton pushing a bit in turn two to surge into the lead.

Kyle Howland of Zimmerman and Pogones fought for second, with Kolton Brauer, the defending Wissota 100 winner, running third. Nick McCann of Brainerd was fifth ahead of Weston Ramsrud of Bagley.

Greseth was on a rail. He opened up a 2.243 second lead on Pogones, who had his hands full with Brauer. Teenager Levi Randt of Siren, usually a contender, had trouble and would pull in about five laps into it.

The battle was for second as Brauer made the pass out of turn two. But by then Greseth had a four-second lead on the 1/3-mile oval. Pogones would fight back for a moment, but Brauer would clear even though that battle stayed close.

Greseth wasn’t messing around on this night. His lead grew to more than six seconds when the white flag flew, and he would win by a nearly a half-lap (6.868 seconds). Brauer held off Pogones for second with Howland and Ramsrud, who won the earlier street stock feature at NCS, taking fifth. The street stocks did a nice job going caution free.

Patrick Specht of Brainerd was the initial lead of the Wissota Mod 4 but faced a lot of heat from Robert Holtquist from Milbank, S.D. Dustin Holtquist of St. Cloud was running in third with Ashton Schwinn of Little Falls running in fourth.

Things quickly changed as Bob Holtquist surged into the lead, and Dustin Holtquist and Schwinn would follow. The caution waved with nine to go with the 63 car of Nicholas Foster of Pequot Lakes coming to a halt on the backstretch. Specht fell all the way back to fourth.

Dustin Holtquist made a daring move for the lead out of turn four to take over the top spot; however, spun in turn two to bring out the yellow, and he’d have to go to the rear of the field and would pull in shortly after. I felt the 5H was the fastest car on the night.

After the restart Schwinn seized complete control and opened up a commanding nine-second lead on Bob Holtquist. Rowan Tramm of Mora was having a good run in third with Gerrald Nohner of Onamia running fourth ahead of Specht.

Schwinn breezed to a comfortable win with Bob Holtquist in second. Tramm, Nohner and Specht rounding out the top five.

Raeann Hanson of Brainerd was the early leader of the IMCA Sport Compact feature over Brandon Backstrom of Norwood Young America.

The red flag flew two laps into the feature which saw Gary Schumacher of Maplewood end up on its side after contact between several cars. He actually drove the car away but was done for the night.

Hanson led after the red flag with Baylen Rooker of Emily, Backstrom and Johnston going three-wide for second.  Hanson’s lead was about .8 seconds, but Rooker was closing when the caution waved with 10 to go.

Roush and Rooker fought for seconds as Hanson stayed out front.  Rooker would get into second and close the gap on the lead. Roush was right there as well with Backstrom in fourth. Eric Pfundt of Wahkon was running fifth.

Rooker made the pass with eight to go and took Roush with him. Rooker’s lead grew to more than a second as Hanson contended with Backstrom for third. Pfundt was comfortably in fifth.

Rooker would win by 1.6 seconds over Roush. Hanson was third, Backstrom fourth and Kaitlyn Kohl, who started 13th but made a nice run through the field, edged Pfundt for fifth.

Tom Anderson of Brainerd stormed out to the lead in the IMCA Hobby Stock main event with Nicholas Dillenburg of Pillager second and Chris Seidel of Brainerd third. Pole sitter Scott Dillenburg was fourth ahead of Mark Johnson of Brainerd.

Anderson built a 1.9 second lead over Nicholas Dillenburg as things settled down after some tense moments in the early laps. Nicholas Dillenburg had Seidel and Johnson all over him for second as Scott Dillenburg was in fifth.

Seidel would move into second as 5D dropped all the way to fourth.

Anderson, much like Greseth earlier, was in total control and built a 5.545 second lead. Seidel and Johnson fought for second as the Nicholas Dillenburg and Scott Dillenburg and fought for fourth.

The yellow would fly for Reid Randall’s spin on the frontstretch and that wiped out a gigantic lead for Anderson. The caution gave Seidel and Johnson a shot at chasing down the leader, but instead the 2B would open a nice lead again, on his way to a 1.392 second win. Seidel was second, Johnson was third, Nicholas Dillenburg was fourth and Nathan Kohl of Fort Ripley had worked into fifth by the checkered.

Only eight of the 11 IMCA Modifieds on hand took the green in the feature. Erick Thiesse was out there for the parade laps but would pull in shortly before the green flew. After a pileup on lap one, which saw all cars involved continue, Aaron Johnson of Brainerd was the pole car and took the top spot over AJ Viehauser of Brainerd.

Devin Fouquette’s 515 machine went for a ride on the restart and rolled hard in turns one and two, bringing out the second red flag of the night. Fouquette, from St. Cloud, was OK but the car had some significant damage.

Shawn Fletcher of Brainerd was working on Viehauser for second and would claim the spot. Jake Hagemann ran in fourth and Schroeder was in fifth.

Johnson was not threatened after the red flag and breezed to a 7.3 second win as things got spread out at the end. Fletcher, Viehauser, Hagemann and Mike Brenny of Foley completed the top five.

NCS notes and thoughts

--Ashley Wampler of Hecla, S.D., won the long tow award (which is unofficial). She also has made a trip to Ogilvie this year. Her luck has been lousy with either mechanical issues or being in the wrong spot wreck wise so far and it continued with a DNF in the heat. In the feature things went better as she went from 10th to seventh. Ashley is a faithful follower of the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour which starts next week at Viking Speedway in Alexandria.

--Ellen Lange of Staples moved into the Wissota Super Stock class last year; I had seen her race a couple of times at Bemidji. She had success in the IMCA Sport Compact class, placing third in the points at North Central with three feature wins in 2023. She is making progress in the super stocks, and has one top five in five starts so far, taking fourth at NCS on May 10.

--With Ogilvie dropping the Wissota Mod 4s from their weekly program, North Central will be the beneficiary, I think. Through four nights they have averaged 16 Mod 4s. NCS, Bemidji, KRA in Willmar, Granite City Motor Park and Princeton are the tracks in Minnesota that run the Mod 4s weekly.

--NCS is alternating the IMCA Stock Cars and Wissota Street Stock classes this season. I am not a huge fan of alternating classes, in part because you as a fan must pay close attention to the schedule to know which is running. A few other tracks do this, and I am not totally sure how effective it is car count wise. This year will be a test for that at NCS to see if it works.

Thoughts on Mississippi Thunder Speedway

One track braved the forecast and radar to get their show in on Friday night – Mississippi Thunder Speedway near Fountain City, Wis., which is about 10 minutes from Winona, Minn. That is about 350 miles from my home in Fargo.

If you aren’t familiar with Mississippi Thunder, I’d check them out if you get down that way. It’s a high-banked 1/3-mile oval that is plenty wide for 2-3 wide racing. Owners Bob Timm and Tyrone Lingenfelter are about as transparent as any promoters around. They regularly have Facebook live posts explaining their events and WHY they make the decisions they make. They have put a lot of time and money into that facility, and I think it’s one of the best I’ve been to in the MIdwest. If it was closer, it would be included in the RaceChaser blog coverage, but it’s just too far.

I thought about writing a recap on Friday, but I’m guessing most of the followers of this blog wouldn’t know many of the drivers who raced there, aside from a few.  The final checkered flag waved at about 10:15 p.m. last night at MTS. That included a 15-minute rain delay with three feature races to go, a situation where most tracks would have said heck with it. And it included a red flag for a rollover in the B mod feature which took some time to clean up.

It was a heck of an effort by the track crew and the drivers there to get that show in on Friday.