Peterson, Vogel, Flaten and Prieve win Fiesta City main events

Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo hosted the Structural Buildings Wissota Late Model Challenge Series on Saturday night with a solid 32 late models on hand.  Fiesta City Speedway’s Friday show was rained out, but at least they were able to get one night of their doubleheader in.

I was a little worried about the late model car counts at Fiesta City; there just aren’t many local late models left in that area, plus they were running against a Tri-State Show at Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron. In a little bit of an ironic twist, both tracks had 32 late models on Saturday. I don’t know, maybe Tri-State and Wissota should figure out some ways to work together on scheduling and double-sanctioning an event even…hmmm.

Fiesta City officials spent a lot of time working on the track, not surprising after Friday’s rainout. The last thing you want is a rough track and the other thing you don’t want is a rubbered-up one laner with a 40 lap late model feature, and driver Matt Gilbertson alluded to that in his post-race interview.

It was a long night thanks to far too many cautions but I thought the track held up fairly well. The cautions in some cases were racing deals with a few habitual offenders.

When things like the challenge series come to a track, I always consider the drivers who know the track best as favorites. In the case of Fiesta City, going into the night, that would include Matt Gilbertson of Watson, Zach Johnson of Lowry, Jordan Tollakson of Montevideo and Jon Tollakson of Montevideo.

As far as the late model feature goes, there were plenty of torn up race cars by the end of it as several left on the hook, but Tyler Peterson (TPO) of Hickson eliminated any doubt who was the car to beat at the drop of the green flag.

Gilbertson was the fast qualifier and absolutely ran away with his heat, and he was my pick to win the feature prior to it.  He shared the front row with TPO in a stacked front row i TPO used the outside lane to take the lead over Gilbertson – and would never come close to relinquishing it over 40 laps, although he had to survive several cautions and restarts.

 as Jack Koranda of Bluffton took third and Wisconsin driver Joel Bennett in fourth. Kevin Burdick of Proctor, who won the challenge series opener at I-94 EMR Speedway, was fifth ahead of Ryan Mikkelson of Alexandria, who won the challenge race at Viking Speedway.

Peterson’s lead quickly grew to 2.1 seconds but a crash on the backstretch nullified that, as Todd Frank and Dexton Koch of Becker both ended up turned around with damage.  Both left on the hook. Cory Tammen of Moorhead also suffered some damage in that crash and would pull pitside.

TPO built a big lead again over Gilbertson with the best battle being Bennett and Koranda for third. Back in the field Mikkelson, Jon Tollakson and Shane Sabraski of Rice were in a tussle for sixth.

TPO’s lead stood at 2.3 seconds as he encountered lapped traffic as the second caution flew for Taylor Madrinich’s 34 machine which slowed with damage in turn two. On  the restart Burdick, having a good run in the top five, spun in turn two and collected Jordan Tollakson of Montevideo; both were done.

TPO  was whipping the field, building a 3.4 second lead on Gilbertson, who was contending with Koranda for second. Yet another pileup happened in turns one and two as Cory Crapser of Eau Claire, Wis. and Jon Tollakson were involved in an wreck that also collected Kevin Eder of Cameron, Wis.

Things stayed the same in the top two spots as Mikkelson moved into third. Sabraski and Koranda had a good side-by-side fight for fourth. Gilbertson hung closer to TPO for a few laps but the lead grew to 1.5 seconds. Sabraski and Koranda had an outstanding battle for fourth going side-by-side for many laps as the top three had quite a bit of separation on them.

As the TPO lead  grew to 2.4 seconds with three to go, Koranda cleared Sabrawski for third. TPO, however  was mired in lapped traffic and Gilbertson was closing quicklyon the final two laps, but didn’t have enough as TPO prevailed by 1.2 seconds. Gilbertson was second, Mikkelson was third, Koranda fourth and Joel Bennett would get by Sabraski for fifth.

A strong Wissota Street Stock field of 19 cars (out of 22 signed in) took the green with Zach Flickinger of Madison grabbing the lead.  Cody Hatch fought Alex Grinager for second with Mike Jans of Clarkfield in fourth and the Wolverine Justin Vogel of Brooten in fifth. Unfortunately, this race was plagued by cautions, often as the action at the front was heating up.

Former national champion Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck was a DNF in his heat and started well back in the field but had climbed into the top 10 with 13 to go.

Keith Tourville of Janesville, a usual contender wherever he unloads, pulled off with an issue with about three laps into the main event.

Flickinger had a 1.8 second lead on Hatch when the caution flew for Doug Sik’s 96 off of turn four.  While Flickinger lost a big lead, he was also about to encounter a lot of lapped traffic.

Grinager went to work on Hatch for second as Vogel and Jans fought for fourth as the 16S moved into the top five.  Schuler was having a great run on the high lane and was up to fifth, but got a little too high in turns three and four and slid off to bring out caution #2. Grinager moved into second on the restart as Vogel snagged third. Grinager was about to make a pass for the lead when Jaden Gannott spun in turn two to bring out caution #3.

Flickinger had a lot of heat from both Vogel and Grinager for the lead as the racing intensified but a damn caution came out – the fourth of the race – with eight to go for a spin.  When racing resumed Schultz had climbed to fourth while Dykhoff was challenging Jans for fifth.  The fifth caution flew for Riley Lorensen, who was charged with his second yellow and his night was over.

Also on that yellow, Schultz, who was having a great run, had his car checked over by the track officials and would require a push, ending his hopes for a top five.  That moved Dykhoff into the top five. Officials also cut a couple of laps at that point.

Vogel stuck his 10 car to the bottom and went side-by-sde for the lead and grabbed the top spot with two to go,   Flickinger fought back on the higher lane, and soon joining the battle was Dykhoff. Vogel would prevail by a narrow .158 second margin over Dykhoff, who hipped Flickinger for the runner-up spot. Grinager ran solid all night and took fourth and Jans was fifth. Dykhoff was easily the hard charger, going from 19^th to second.

Ryan Flaten of Madison has been the dominant car in that region in the Wissota Midwest Modified and he flew out to a massive lead over Justin Borklund with Taylor Willms of Willmar in third.

Nick Shumansky’s 17 slowed to bring out the first caution three laps into the feature.

Bjorklund looked under Flaten for the lead briefly but settled into second as Willms was third. Kanten and Damon Vetjruba fought for fourth. On the move was Darren Engesser of Gary; he started xxth but had climbed to seventh and was soon battling for fifth.  Flaten built a 1.6 second lead with 14 to go when Trevor Rush’s 25 car brought out the second caution.

Bjorklund got a good run on the bottom of turns one and two but Flaten would begin to pull away. Engesser moved into fifth, with the best battle being a duel between Kanten and Willms for third. With 11 to go Kanten would snag third but the caution flew for a third time when Celeste Jenkins stalled on the frontstretch.

Engesser moved into fourth on the restart as Kanten and Bjorklund fought for second. Flaten’s dominance for the lead continued as he quickly built a 1.5 second lead with eight to go. Jett Lindgren of Willmar had moved past Willms into the fifth position.  Engesser went to work on Bjorklund for third as the top two pulled away and took the spot with six to go. Damon Vetjruba, who had run in the top five early, slowed with a flat for the fifth caution

Michelle Hutt of Boyd was also closing in on the top five and looked to challenge Willms for fifth.

Engesser’s great run ended when something broke in the left-front suspension; he would pull off on Rush’s second caution of the night.

The yellows had to drive Flaten crazy; when there was a longer green flag run he was in total control. With four to go on the final restart he ran away from Bjorklund by 1.5 seconds for a relatively unchallenged victory. Bjorklund, Kanten, Lindgren and Willms capped off the top five.

Adam Prieve led the Gen X Late Model feature early but soon was pursued by Parker Gilbertson of Watson. Tony Croninger of Watertown was third, Rick Schroeder of Montevideo fourth and Blake Swenson of Watertown fifth.

After the caution came out for Lexie Fleming’s stalled machine in turn one, Gilbertson made a big-time move on the outside of Prieve to take over the top spt. I t was a tight three-car battle for second between Prieve, Swenson and Croninger as Gilbertson pulled away to a 2.5 second lead.

Swenson moved into second with seven laps left as Gilbertson’s dominance continued. But the complexion of the race changed after a pair of cautions, including a multi-car tangle in turn three that ended up with Hope Swenson leaving on the hook.

On the restart Prieve made a run on the low side to take the lead with three laps left as Gilbertson fought back for a couple of laps. Prieve would pull away to a 1.3 second win over Gilbertson as Swenson was a solid third. Tony Croninger and Schroeder rounded out the top five.

Fiesta City Speedway notes

--It was a tough break for Amelia Eisenschenk of Fargo as she rolled her #1 Wissota Late Model during the qualifying hot laps. She was OK, the car was done for the night, however.

---The flagman at Fiesta City Speedway is former Wissota Street Stock national champion Scott Paulson. Paulson, at least in my opinion, is one of the top three Wissota Street drivers of all-time.

--Yes, Parker Gilbertson is the son of Matt Gilbertson and I would expect to see Parker in a Wissota Late Model at some point soon.

--Wissota Midwest Modified rookie Nick Shumansky of Perham is doing his best to get seat time in 2026 in his first year in the class. Fiesta City was the ninth different track he has raced at this summer, according to my count.  He had a tough feature with a DNF with an apparent problem

Hagen wins Don Gumke Memorial at Jamestown

Travis Hagen of McGregor won the Don Gumke Racers Memorial IMCA Modified special Saturday night at Jamestown Speedway. Quentin Kinzley was Bismarck was second, John Corell of Jamestown third, Marcus Tomlinson of Turtle Lake fourth and John Nord of Enderlin fifth.

Kyle Anderson of Jamestown picked up the Wissota Midwest Modified win over Matthew Duscherer of New Rockford. Jarod Klein of Jamestown was third, Phil Christlieb of Fargo fourth and Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown fifth.

Cole Greseth of Harwood picked up his second feature win in as many nights by capturing the Wissota Street Stock main event. Bob Banish Jr. of Milnor was second, Jodie Michaelsohn of Aberdeen was third, Chris Ritter of Jamestown fourth and Kasey Ussatis of Nome fifth.

Cade Gentzkow of Lamoure won the Bomber feature over Travis Edinger of Jamestown. Joe Jacobson of Jamestown was third, Brent Wilkinson of Jamestown fourth and Bradley Stoppleworth of Jamestown was fifth.

Austin Wiest of Bismarck won the INEX Legends feature over Bryce Barnhardt of Washburn. Colton Miller of Bismarck was third, Ryan Erdahl of Jamestown fourth and Joshua Wiest of Fargo fifth.

Saturday notes

--Joe Thomas of Glyndon topped Bryce Sward of Nelson for the Wissota Modified feature Saturday night at Greenbush Race Park.

--Greg Jose of Grand Forks won the Wissota Street Stock feature Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway. Jory Berg of Grand Forks won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature with Kenna Breidenbach of Grand Forks taking third.

Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks topped Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks for the Wissota Late Model win with Jason Strand of Portland third, Shane Edginton of East St. Paul fourth and Travis Robertson of Fargo fifth.