The inaugural Moonshine Mod Tour kicked off on Thursday at Sheyenne Speedway. I didn’t have huge expectations car-count wise, and 16 were on hand, but the quality was very good. It may take this tour a year or two to get off the ground and build a following.
The Wissota Street Stocks had the night off. Sheyenne had 57 cars in five classes, not bad. The move to Thursday night also means competing against Tri-County Speedway in Wishek, particularly in the INEX Legend, Pure/Hobby Stock and Wissota Midwest Modified classes. They won’t race the same Thursdays all that often but they did on Thursday.
Two-time Wissota Modified national champion Tyler Peterson of Hickson has been tearing things up lately in the Wissota Late Models – he won challenge series races at Madison and Casino last weekend – and has raced his modified a half-dozen times (with two wins) going into Thursday. He redrew the inside pole with another driver who is running very well, Justin Froemming of Garfield, on his outside. Froemming won the King of the Dirt at I-94 EMR Speedway earlier this month.
Peterson took the early lead over Froemming with Joseph Thomas of Fargo moving into third. The Millienal Farmer, Zach Johnson of Lowry, was in fourth ahead of Matt Aukland of Glyndon.
The caution would wave when Lee Grosz slid off of turn one with 21 to go.
On the restart Thomas and Froemming stayed close to Peterson as Superman Mike Stearns of Aberdeen was making a charge into the top five on the high side. The caution would wave with 19 to go as Dylan Zabel slid off of turn one.
On the restart Johnson went up to the high side and briefly moved into second past Thomas; it would turn into a great battle for second between the two cars.
Peterson pulled away as those cars battled. Froemming was settling into fourth with Stearns running the high side in fifth. The caution would wave for a spin with 13 to go as Zabel slid off of turn one to end his night.
Thomas would take a peek under Peterson for the lead as Peterson ran up high. Johnson was in third but had Froemming and Stearns to contend with.
Johnson and Thomas would duel again for second, much like they did earlier with Johnson up high and Thomas down low. Randy Klein would slide off of turns three and four to bring out another caution with seven to go; the yellow/black had been waved, ending his night.
Brady Gerdes of Villard had been working traffic and moved into fifth on the restart as Johnson and Thomas started to battle again. Gerdes was pressuring Froemming for fourth as Travis Saurer of Elizabeth was closing in on a top five spot.
Peterson built some breathing room over Johnson in second by the checkered to win by .734 seconds. Thomas was third. Froemming outlasted Gerdes for fourth. Saurer was the hard charger, going from 13th to sixth.
Peterson is up to seven overall wins on the year, and when he starts on the front row, like he has during his last three wins, he’s going to be very, very difficult to beat.
Young Regan Reinke, the son of Midwest Modified driver Zach Reinke, led the first lap of the INEX Legends feature before Brian Frederick of Gwinner, took over the top spot. The race was a battle, at least for a while, of drivers looking for their first
Zander Compson of Valley City, looking for his first career win, moved into second as Dusty Mund moved into third ahead of Bo Gregor of Lisbon.
Collin Compson of Valley City, the older of the two brothers, was challenging Taylor Sargent of Gwinner for fifth when the caution waved with nine to go.
On the restart, Dusty Mund became the primary challenger for Frederick and would take over the top spot with seen to go as Zander Compson moved into second.
Collin Compson, already armed with two wins this season, had a good battle with Gregor for third before eventually taking the third spot. He would go up and run a little higher lane and surge past his brother and Mund into the lead with three to go. And he would be in firm control after that.
Mund capped off a very good night in second with Zander Compson taking third. Gregor was fourth and Frederick rounded out the top five.
Billy Carow of Jamestown jumped out to the Hobby Stock lead over Ryan Mund of Milnor.
Jodie Michaelsohn of Aberdeen, last week’s winner, was locked in a good battle for third with Dalton Aabrekke and Kelby Anderson of Fort Ransom.
Mund closed to Carow’s bumper. Aabrekke cleared Anderson and MIchaelsohn, who was desperately trying to make the higher lane work, for third.
Mund was all over Carow as the two drivers fought for the lead on the lower lane. Meanwhile, the trio of Anderson, Michaelsohn and Anderson continued a fierce fight for third and were slowly reeling in the top two.
The caution would wave with four to go as Cade Gentzkow spun in turn four. He was able to continue. The caution would prove to be a game changer, as it often is.
Things got crazy on the restart as Aabrekke went to the middle lane and briefly took the lead. Michaelsohn and Carow would then fight for the lead as Aabrekke slid back. Michaelsohn would take the win with a final-lap pass. Carow, who led all but one lap, settled for second with Aabrekke taking third. Mund and Anderson rounded out the top five.
Nine Mini Stocks were on hand and it was defending champion Tempest Trone taking the early lead on the opening lap.
Opening night winner Mason Bogart of Milnor moved into second while last week’s winner Shawn Beto of Wahpeton was chasing him in third.
Beto got past Bogart for second and was closing on Trone’s lead as the top three broke away from the field. Beto found a run on the lower line and would take over the lead with six to go. Trone was now facing a lot of heat from Bogart for third.
Braiden Mund was running in fourth with John Heacox making noise for that spot.
BEto would go on to a 2.1 second win in the caution-free race. Bogart edged Trone for second with Heacox and Mund rounding out the top five. Beto is riding a big-time hot streak – he’s won his last five starts and has won six of his eight starts this season.
The night capped off with 14 Wissota Midwest Modifieds on hand with Kyle Langland of Enderlin and Brennan Urbach of Lisbon sharing the front row.
Langland would take the early lead while Urbach was facing pressure from Jarod Klein of Jamestown and Zach Reinke of Lisbon.
Langland put his #66 on the bottom lane while Urbach was running up high. It soon turned into a great battle for the lead between Urbach, Klein and Langland as things went three-wide.
Lucas Rodin of Marion was running up high and soon made it a four-car battle for the lead. The battle for the top spot was outstanding. Rodin would slide off of turn three to bring out the caution.
Urbach had actually edged ahead of Langland on the previous completed lap and would have the top spot with 13 to go.
The three-car battle resumed up front with other drivers climbing into the mix, including Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown and Nate Reinke of Lisbon.
Langland kept his car low with Klein running the middle and Urbach running up top. They would go three-wide several times as they put on an outstanding show up front.
Klein would move into second and was all over the outside of Langland as Wibstad was closing on Urbach in third. Klein would make a little higher line work and would make the pass for the lead with three laps left.
Klein would go on to pick up the win by .857 seconds. Langland and Urbach both ran terrific races and finished in second and third, respectively. Rodin’s car was bad fast – he had went to the tail for the yellow but worked back to fourth by the checkered. Wibstad rounded out the top five.
It was the best Wissota Midwest Modified race I’ve seen this season, and it was a good, clean race as all 14 cars finished.
Sheyenne ran a pretty efficient show, with the final checkered waving at 9:20 p.m. If you are going to run on a work night, getting done in a timely matter is vitally important, and not letting shows run 3 ½ or four hours.
VanMil, Eisenschenk Pick Up Big Wins at Norman County
Rob VanMil of Barnesville won the King Pin Klash IMCA Stock Car feature on Thursday at Norman County Raceway in Ada. Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada finished second with Dan Aberle of Finley taking third. Brennan Borg of Harwood was fourth ahead of Brody Carlsrud of Fargo. Sixty cars were on hand at the 3/8-mile oval.
Laela Eisenschenk of West Fargo won her first career IMCA RAcesaver Sprint Car feature over Morgan Nyquist of West Fargo. Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes was third and Ty Hanten of West Fargo was fourth.
Ryan Braseth of Ulen topped his older brother Alex for the INEX Legends win. Ashton Spieker of Sabin was third, Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids fourth and Joseph Lewis of Hawley was fifth.
Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Taylor Jacobson of Roseau. Corey Storck of Morris was third, last week’s winner Matt Schow of McIntosh was fourth and Justin Jones of Bemidji was fifth.
Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks topped Brad Orvedal of Fargo for the IMCA Hobby Stock win. Tim Church of Moorhead was third, Tyler Hehn of Horace fourth and Todd Gettel of Mahnomen was fifth.
Ryan Restad of West Fargo won the IMCA Sport Mod feature over Andy Wagner of Ada. Rich Pavlicek of Casselton was third, ahead of his son, Jayden in fourth. Luke Johnson of Moorhead rounded out the top five.
Thursday Notes
Congrats to Haley Lee of Starbuck for picking up the Wissota Midwest Modified win Thursday at KRA Speedway in Willmar.
Justin Vogel of Brooten was third in the Wissota Street Stock feature won by Braden Brauer of Rochester.
Shane Edginton of East St. Paul, Man., was second in the late models at the Masters at Cedar Lake Speedway on Thursday. Mike Greseth of Harwood, who led the first half of the race, finished a strong third.
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