The inaugural Wissota MPH Invitational, which showcased the Wissota Mod 4s, Pure Stocks and Hornets, was held Sunday night at Bemidji Speedway. These three classes had run as part of Wissota 100 week in the past but this year got their own night with increased purses.
Some might ask why I blogged about this event. A big reason is I wanted to give these three classes some due. The drivers put in their time and travel like all drivers and also buy Wissota licenses. In some small way I wanted to give these drivers some publicity.
All three classes did a parade lap, which they don’t get to do often, and announcer Kyle Hall, the regular voice of Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, did a fine job announcing the show. There are hiccups the first year a new event is held at a different venue, but I think there’s something to build on here, and I’m glad these classes got a chance to run for some good money ($2,000 to win Mod 4s, $750 each to win pures and hornets). It’s one of those things where I hope Wissota works to keep improving the event each year.
Let’s compare the numbers to last year. Last year there were 12 hornets, five pure stocks and 22 Mod 4s at the events at I-94 (pure stocks and hornets ran on a practice night while Mod 4s ran Friday and Saturday).. This year, there were 30 Mod 4s, 26 pure stocks and 17 hornets in attendance, which is a definite improvement.
Nine of the top 10 Wissota Mod 4 national points cars were in attendance. The exception was Shelli Lind of Gillette, Wyo., but that would be quite a haul for her. The Wissota Mod 4 point race will go down to the final weekend as Bawden leads Dustin Holtquist of St.Cloud by one point and Dean Larson of Pennock by three. Tommy Pogones of Princeton was fourth, 53 points behind.
The only Wissota Hornets cars in the top 10 in attendance were Adam VanDerostyne (third), Bradley Rossow (seventh) and Ellie Lange (ninth). Grand Rapids driver Justin Barsness is a regular at Bemidji and is the national point leader with 17 feature wins. Likewise, only three of the top 10 in Wissota Pure Stock national points were there – Josh Berg of Bemidji (first), Jake Smith of Cohasset (fifth) and Austin Carlson of Cohasset (sixth). Keep in mind, the hornets and pure stocks are usually not high-budget race teams and don’t have the money to do a lot of traveling.
The pure stocks kicked off the show with Dustin Puffe of Laprote and national point leader Josh Berg on the front row. Berg leads Ryan Olson of Ladysmith, Wis., by 41 points in the national standings.
Puffe led the opening lap with Berg running second with Kade Leeper of Guthrie racing in third. Austin Carlson of Cohasset was running fourth.
Puffe opened a 1.6 second lead on Berg, who had his hands full with Leeper. The caution would wave with Bitker and Binkley spinning in turn four with 17 to go. On the restart Leeper moved into second as Berg fought with Chris Dudley of Bemidji for third. Running sixth was Smith.
Puffe had a lot of pressure from Leeper as those two pulled away. Berg was third and Smith had worked into fourth. Carlson and Dudley were trading some paint for the fifth spot.
Berg grabbed second on the restart and went to work on Puffe as Leeper fought Smith for fourth. Carlson was running a solid fifth. The fourth caution waved when two cars got turned around on the front stretch. One of the cars involved was Cameron Labelle, whose car was resembling a modified with missing front fenders and nosepiece.
It turned into a four-car breakaway up front as Berg was all over Puffe with Leeper Smith right in town. Puffe could ill afford a mistake – and he didn’t make one to pick up the win by just .220 seconds. Berg settled for second, Leeper was third, Smith fourth and Dudley fifth. There were four cautions in the race but no huge pileups, and the fight up front was close over the final seven laps. The hard charger in the race was Wisconsin driver Austin Fencl, who went from 26th to ninth.
Jenna Hagemann of Fort Ripley led the first lap of the Wissota Hornet feature with Ellie Lange of Staples, also a front-row starter, running second. Lange had Brandon Backstrom of Pillager pressuring her, and Adam VanDerostyne of Canby passed Cejay LaVAlley of Bemidji for fifth. LaValley, who picked up her first career win earlier this summer, would pull in with a problem shortly after.
Bradley Rossow of Florence, S.D. was having a good race as he was fighting for a spot in the top five. The first caution would wave with 10 to go.
On the restart Lange gave a look at Hagemann but the 26 car would pull away. The fight was for second as Lange, Backstrom and VanDerostyne put on a great show for that spot. Hagemann loved this – she opened a 2.593 second lead on Lange, who was having a great fight for second.
Brooklyn Vernlund of Bemidji was closing on Rossow for fifth. Hagemann had no issues up front in dominant win by 3.288 seconds. It’s been a good week for Hagemann – she also qualified for the main event in the Sport Compacts at the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, Iowa, finishing 12th. She now has eight feature wins this summer.
The Mod 4s got off to let’s say a shaky start. There was a spin on the first lap and after a lap was completed, a couple of cars got together on the frontstretch to bring out a second caution. One of those cars involved was Tyler Larson of Kandihoyi, who is fifth in the national points, and he would be a DNF.
Bawden, the 2021 Wissota Mod 4 national champ, is very tough no matter where he runs and he surged into a big lead over Josh Litzau of Atwater with Flickinger running third. Blake Erickson of Bagley, a top runner at Bemidji, was fourth with Dustin Holtquist of St. Cloud, the defending national champion, running in fifth.
Bawden’s lead grew to 3.549 seconds with 17 to go as Litzau opened some space on Flickinger. Erickson was chasing Flickinger with Pogones running a solid fifth. Lapped traffic was Bawden’s biggest threat at that point, and the lead shrunk below three seconds before the caution would wave with 11 to go for Kalin Honer’s spin in turns one and two.
Flickinger got by Litzau on the restart, as did Pogones, dropping Litzau to fourth. The caution would wave with 11 to go, and after that was cleaned up, three cars were turned around on the ensuing restart.
Then, a stunning development --- Bawden, who had dominated the feature, slowed suddenly and pulled in, giving the lead to Pogones. Erickson had moved past Flickinger and was now in second. Dustin Holtquist moved into fifth.
Erickson was slowly eating into the Pogones lead but ran out of time. Pogones won by .705 seconds with Erickson taking second. Flickinger, Litzau and Dustin Holtquist rounded out the top five. The race took a long, long time – too long for this fan’s taste – lasting 28 minutes with only 14 of the 24 starters finishing. Some good cars did not finish, including Bawden, Tyler Larson, Tim Johnson and Chad Funt.
Bemidji Notes
--Dudley was leading the heat race, but his 70 machine was pouring out smoke – a perfect mosquito repellant for the woods – but he managed to finish with a 1.810 second victory. The car died in victory lane, he required a push from a competitor, Billy Binkley, to get into the pits!
--In a popular win, Nick Seitz of Bemidji won his Mod 4 heat race. Seitz is the son of the late John Seitz of Bemidji; John’s memorial race was just held at River Cities Speedway. Nick Seitz is a rookie in the Mod 4s. Unfortunately, the 92 car had trouble early in the feature and had to be pushed pitside.
--Willmar driver Craig Gertsema hit the wall hard during his Mod 4 heat – it looked like something broke in his #3G machine and sent him straight to the wall, leaving his machine badly damaged. He did not make the call for the B main.
--Robert Holtquist of Milbank, a long-time good runner in the Mod 4s who is sixth in the national points, was running second and in a transfer spot in the B feature, but slowed late and pulled in and did not make the show.
Pake, Pavlicek, Aukland Lead Corn Cob National Winners
Andy Pake of Felton topped Ty Hanten of West Fargo for the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint win Sunday night at Corn Cob Nationals at Buffalo River Speedway. Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes was third, Laela Eisenschenk of West Fargo was fourth and Jeremy Snow of Princeton was fifth.
Rich Pavlicek started 10th but got to the front of the IMCA Sport Mod feature to complete a weekend sweep. Justin Jones of Bemidji was second, Dave Siercks of Princeton was third, Dev Malmlov of Moorhead was fourth and Scott Jacobson of Fargo was fifth.
Alex Truscinski of Greenbush topped Bryce Haugeberg of West Fargo for the POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint win. Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush was third, Kate Taves of Detroit Lakes was fourth and Hayden Koehmstedt of West Fargo was fifth.
Cole Greseth of Harwood won the Wissota Street Stock feature over Kasey Ussatis of Nome. Jeremy Gust of Strathcona was fourth.
Weston Clauson of Kathryn, N.D., won the Short Tracker feature over Travis Olafson of Wilton. Mason Bogart of Milnor was third, Korbin Sarazin of Staples was fourth and Hunter Goulet of Fargo was fifth.
Matt Aukland of Glyndon topped Allen Kent of West Fargo for the IMCA Modified feature win. Jesse Skalicky of Fargo went from 12th to third. Shawn Fletcher of Brainerd was fourth and Josh Anderson of Barnesville was fifth.
Brainerd driver Tim Otterness won the IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Scott Herron of Brainerd was second, William Herron of Brainerd was third, Reid Randall of Park Rapids was fourth and Caleb Gardner of Glyndon was fifth.
Ryan Braseth of Ulen went back to back in the INEX Legends. Corey Seckerson of Jamestown was second, Collin Compson of Valley City was third, Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids was fourth and Wilke was fifth.
Sunday Notes
--Corey Storck of Morris won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Sunday night at Madison Speedway. Brad Staples of Herman won the Gen X Late Model feature.
--Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks won the Wissota Street Stock feature Sunday night at Lake of the Woods Speedway for his 24th feature win of 2023. He is third in the national points.
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