Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon concluded its 2023 campaign on Sunday night. If you subtract the 40 cars in the trophy class, there 102 cars in the seven Buffalo River classes, and the weather was gorgeous for this time of year.
The Wissota Street Stocks took center stage from my perspective. If you want to know why Justin Vogel, Braden Brauer, Tucker Pederson, Trey Hess and Kasey Ussatis were racing on Sunday after racing four straight days at the Wissota 100, it’s simple – national points. As of Sept. 10 Vogel and Brauer were tied for the national point lead although unofficially Vogel is in front after getting a win and a runner-up finish at the 100. Pederson was just 11 points back. Brauer (23 wins), Vogel (22) and Pederson (24) have combined for 69 feature wins this season. Ussatis is seventh in national points and Hess, who went from 15th to 33rd at the Wissota 100 on Saturday, was eighth as of Sept. 10.
The draw would be huge – and Vogel redrew the inside pole for the main event, next to Buffalo River track champion Cole Greseth of Harwood. Pederson was starting third while Brauer started way back in 12th.
Cory Dykhoff’s 3C spun on the opening lap to bring out the caution, and another would follow on the next restart. The two cautions also brought Brauer up to eighth on the starting grid.
Vogel stuck the 10 car to the high line as Pederson fought with Trey Hess for second. Greg Jose of Grand Forks was battling Josh Barker of Thompson for fourth.
Hess would slow coming out of turn two with a mechanical issue with 17 to go; he was running third at the time.
On the restart Pederson peeked under Vogel for the lead but Vogel’s momentum on the higher lane pushed him up front. Weston Ramsrud’s spin with 16 to go brought out another yellow.
On the restart Brauer went around entering turn one; he was charged with the caution and went pitside and I don’t think was happy about it.
Pederson got by Vogel coming out of turn two but Vogel used a slider to regain the lead, and those two put on a show up front.
Vogel and Pederson went at it hard up front, exchanging sliders as they put on one heck of a show. However, after Kasey Ussatis – who had an adventure of a race – was turned in turns three and four -- the caution waved. Then in a stunning development as Vogel went pitside with a problem – a broken rocker arm, which is a sore subject with many street stock drivers -- and Pederson would inherit the lead. In talking to several street stock drivers, the quality of the rocker arms is substandard which leads to many untimely parts failures. Wissota needs to fix this in the offseason.
Vogel and Pederson were putting on some kind of show for the lead, and it was unfortunate a mechanical failure ruined what was one heck of a duel.
After that restart, Pederson pulled away as Cory Dykhoff and Ussatis dueled for second. Greseth had worked back to fourth after going to the rear earlier. However, Greseth would tag the front stretch wall and eventually slow on the backstretch to bring out the caution; the race, which lasted 20 minutes, ended under caution. Pederson gained some valuable ground in the national points with the win. Vogel, Brauer and Hess all were DNF.
Dykhoff had quite a race and would finish second with Greseth credited for third. The veteran Chris Winter of Hoffman – who bought Jaden Christ’s 79 street stock – went from 11th to fourth with Jose rounding out the top five.
There were 15 lightning sprints on hand with Bryce Haugeberg of West Fargo taking the lead over Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush. Dylan Langevin of Thief River Falls was third while the Taves siblings, Matthew and Kate of Detroit Lakes, ran fourth and fifth, respectively.
Dvergsten took a couple of shots at Haugeberg early was all over the 22 car. Haugeberg had a nasty crash at River Cities on Friday.
Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks was running in the sixth spot, but the battle was between Haugeberg and Dvergsten, who had more than three seconds on third-place Langevin with three to go.
Lapped traffic was a factor, but Haugeberg effectively maneuvered and weathered all challenges from Dvergsten for the win by less than a half second. It was Haugeberg’s second win of 2023; he done some ARCA racing earlier this year and hasn’t raced a ton in the lightning sprints. Dvergsten settled for second with Langevin third, Matthew Taves fourth and Kate Taves, the track champion at Buffalo River, rounding out the top five.
The lighting sprints went 20 laps caution free in a race that lasted less than six minutes, nice work by those drivers.
Jacob Jordan of Brainerd took the earlier lead with Austin Veralrud of Audubon moving into second. Rich Pavlicek of Casselton was on the move, like he’s been all year with 16 wins, and got by Veralrud for second – but his drive shaft broke eight laps into the feature, ending his night.
Veralrud took advantage of the restart and used the outside lane to pass Jordan. The long-time veteran Dave Siercks of Princeton was into third with Patrick Brejcha and Skyla Miller of Harwood in the top five.
A multi-car spin in turn four brought out the caution halfway through the main event.
Siercks made a challenge on the restart underneath but Veralrud’s momentum carried him back up front. The caution would wave with six to go when Miller spun in turns two.
Brejcha and Veralrud were fighting for second as Veralrud opened a 1.044 second lead. But yet another caution – the race was plagued with them – bunched the field together with three to go.
Things were close up front as Siercks kept pace with Veralrud. Tony Johnson had moved into fourth and was fighting with Jordan for third. Up front, Veralrud didn’t make any mistakes and topped Siercks by .537 seconds for his first feature win of the season. Siercks settled for second. Jordan, Vince Jegtvig of Dilworth and Brejcha rounded out the top five.
Ryan Braseth of Ulen and Dylan Johnson led the INEX Legends to the green flag. Braseth jumped out front ahead of Ty Olson and Corey Seckerson. The caution would wave on lap 2 for Alex Braseth’s spin in turn.
On the restart Collin Compson moved into fourth as Kody Machart slid up high. The bottom was the place to be the legends.
Braseth had a 1.182 second lead as Compson worked past Olson for second. Seckerson was starting to find some speed on a higher lane and got around Compson and Olson to take over second.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes was one of the few to venture up high and he had charged to fifth. UP front Seckerson was all over Braseth and it turned into a great fight up front. With six to go Seckerson passed Braseth for the lead. The caution would wave for Machart’s spin in turns three and four.
The restart brought Wilke into the mix and he was looking to advance further. But the race up front continued til the checkered as Braseth made another run at the lead, but Seckerson would hold on by .259 seconds for his first win in a legends car. Seckerson is a former modified competitor from the Jamestown area who is no stranger to Buffalo River.
Caleb Gardner edged Reid Randall for the early lead in the IMCA Hobby Stock lead and would fight for the top spot.
Andrea Jacobson of Fargo, who in my opinion is the most improved hobby stock driver locally and has three feature wins this season, grabbed the third spot. Brad Orvedal of Fargo climbed to fourth .
The battle up front was terrific but also allowed Jacobson and Orvedal to start to close the gap with three to go.
Garner and Randall seemed to run side-by-side the entire race – which was caution free – and neither driver let off at all. Randall made a charge in turn four and slid ahead but Gardner did the crossover and would earn the thrilling win by .081 seconds. Jacobson was third, Orvedal was fourth and Nathan Kohl of Fort Ripley was fifth. An excellent race.
There was a good field of 14 Short Trackers set to battle for the feature with hunter Goulet of Fargo leading early. Shannon George, driving the 10 car, was threatening Goulet for the lead. George would take over the top spot about four laps into it.
Josh Maleski went to work on Goulet for second with Adrian Kubitz and Nathan Kelley rounding out the top five at the halfway point.
George built a three second lead on Maleski, who had gotten by Goulet for second. Andrew Malinkowski was having a nice night and moved into the top four.
George dominated this one winning easily by 4.350 seconds. Maleski was second, Goulet was third, Malinowski fourth and Kubitz edged Kelley for fifth. Again, a nice race by those drivers with zero cautions.
An eight-car IMCA Modified feature capped off the season at Buffalo River. Tyler Hall of Fertile moved from the outside pole to the lead with Allen Kent passing Troy Jordan of Brainerd for second. Matt Aukland of Glyndon was fourth.
Hall was running away from the field, extending the lead to 2.698 seconds with seven to go. Brennan Borg was running fifth but had Travis Traut on his trail.
The caution would fly with 12 to go when Brody Carlsrud – making his modified debut in the 12C of Nick Curtis – spun in turn two. Carlsrud races in the IMCA Stock Cars in the region.
The caution erased Hall’s commanding lead. But on the restart he pulled away again as the mods pretty much stuck to the bottom for the remainder of the race.
Hall wasn’t threatened at all in winning by 3.790 seconds. Kent was second, Aukland third, Tory Jordan fourth and Travis Traut fifth.
Clearing the brain
A few more notes about the Wissota 100.
--Three female drivers qualified for main events – Haley Lee (midwest modifieds), Kennedy Swan (modified) and Maria Broksieck (street stocks). Broksieck finished a strong ninth while Lee was solid all night in the top 10 and finished 10th. Swan broke on the opening lap and spun into the infield and had to go on the hook.
--Seven states and Canada were represented at the Wissota 100.
--I thought the street stock field was the best I’ve seen at one event, and midwest modifieds had a lot of depth. The super stocks, late models and mods didn’t have the big numbers of those two but certainly had plenty of quality.
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