- tombergie01
Reinke, Walton, Gregor Win Thrilling Points Titles at Sheyenne
RaceChaser was back at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon for Season Championship night. Some of the points races literally went down to the final lap.
Car counts were solid except the Wissota Streets only had eight cars in attendance. Many tracks that raced on Sunday ran streets — Viking Speedway, Greenbush Race Park, Casino Speedway and Devils Lake Speedway — so there was a lot of competition for those cars. Hopefully Sheyenne sees more for Monday’s show.
The closest point race entering the night was in the Wissota Midwest Modified division, where Nate Reinke of Lisbon, led his brother Zach Reinke by five points. And it couldn’t have ended any closer.
Scott “Rebel” Bintz of Jamestown and Randy Klein of Lisbon were battling for the lead early. Klein, who is not having a particularly good year, slide off of turn four to bring out the caution.
Bintz led but Zach Reinke, interviewed above, was in hot pursuit. Bintz moved up into a higher lane and Zach Reinke moved into the lead on the bottom and opened up a decent lead.
Nate Reinke, meanwhile, was back in fourth place battling with Lindsey Hansen of Fargo. Nate Reinke moved into third and then worked on Bintz for second as his brother pulled away.
Zach Reinke picked up his second straight win at Sheyenne and Nate was second. As a result, the brothers ended up in a tie in the standings. However, Zach won the tiebreaker by having two feature wins on the season while Nate didn’t have any at Lisbon. Bintz finished a solid third in the feature while Hansen and Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown capped off nice nights by finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Jayden Michaelsohn of Aberdeen was chasing Bo Gregor of Lisbon in the Hobby Stock points. He needed to win Sunday’s feature, and to three spots ahead of Gregor. He got close.
Michaelsohn did his part, working to the front from the sixth starting spot and picking up the win. Gregor drove a smart race and stayed out of trouble, and finished third to wrap up his second straight track championship in the class. But it was close — Gregor held on for the title by two points.
It was a good night for Hayden Aberle of Lamoure. He started on the inside pole and ran in the top two the whole night, finishing second over Gregor. Dylan Steele of Jamestown, who has two wins at Sheyenne this season, was a solid fourth while Nick Thoreson of Valley City, who has three Sheyenne wins this season, was fifth.
The Mini Stock points saw a dramatic change. Justin Hainline led Kelby Anderson by 34 points going into the night. However, Hainline was not in attendance on Sunday, and that left the points race wide open. Gavin Walton of Englevale, interviewed above, took advantage to pick up his first career track title.
The teenager, son of fellow Mini Stock driver Neil Walton, drove a smooth race and regrouped after a restart where he lost the lead.
Tempest Trone of Litchville got around Walton on a restart, but Walton was patient. When Trone slid high in turn one, Walton ahd the opening he needed to pick up his first win of 2020. Trone was second, Mason Bogart of Milnor third, Cole Bogart of Milnor fourth and Kelby Anderson of Fort Ransom fifth.
Walton also edged out Anderson for the point title by five points in another thrilling points race.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes had all but wrapped up the INEX Legend title heading into the night.
Ashton Spieker of Sabin battled Sean Johnson of Kindred for the lead early in the feature.
There was a rollover in turns one and two early in the race as Bryce Barnhardt of Washburn rolled his #52 machine. It was not a hard rollover -- he tumbled over once -- and he was fine. Cautions plagued the legends early resulting in the yellow/black coming out pretty quickly. Once those were cleared it was a good clean race.
Johnson took over the lead but Wilke was all over him. Also in the hunt was Alex Kukowski of Edgeley. Ryan Braseth of Ulen was also hanging around the top five.
Wilke tried three different lines -- middle of the track, lower line and then tried the very high line -- to get Johnson but the Kindred driver wouldn't flinch to pick up his second win of the year. Kukowski got by Wilke for second while Alex Braseth of Ulen was fourth and Ryan Braseth was fifth.
Wilke, by the way, is the only RaceChaser-area driver to win four track championships in 2020. He won at Norman County Raceway, Red River Valley Speedway, Jamestown Speedway and Sheyenne.
I visited with Johnson afterwards, and the car he is running is actually the car and his brother Dylan started out in. Both Sean and Dylan have had engine trouble with their primary cars.
Jonny Carter of Lisbon already had the Wissota Street Stock track championship in hand, so it was all about the feature win on Sunday.
A small field of eight cars took the green and Spencer Johnson of Jamestown set the pace early but Todd Carter of Lisbon was running a higher line and steadily inched closer.
Todd Carter led by Johnson didn't let him get away; those two had a pretty comfortable advantage over third, which was the best battle in the race was between Royce Jawaski of Horace, Jerry Lamb of Lisbon and Jonny Carter.
Johnson was persistent in that chase of Todd Carter but the long-time Lisbon veteran had opened a few car lengths by the checkered for his seventh win 2020. Johnson was second. Jonny Carter won the three-way battle for third with Lamb taking fourth and Jawaski fifth.
Lamb, by the way, has announced he is retiring after the 2020 season. He did make the announcement last year but kept his car and ran in 2020. If Old Man does retire it will wrap up a 51-year racing career and be a big void in the Lisbon racing area.
Monday’s finale is a draw/redraw format at Sheyenne with racing at 6 p.m.
Viking Speedway Wins to Satter, Blascyk, Zimpel and Atkinson
Viking Speedway in Alexandria wrapped up its 2020 season on Sunday with more than 90 cars in attendance.
Track champion Ryan Satter of Dent started sixth in the Wissota Street Stock feature but picked up the win, his 11th of 2020. Kyle Genett of Auburndale, Wis., who finished fifth on Saturday, took second while Jack Koranda of Bluffton was third. Saturday's winner Eric Riley of Morris was fourth while the all-time street stock wins leader at Viking, Jimmy Nitro Williams of De Graff, was fifth.
Brendan Blascyk of Kensington continues to impress, picking up his second straight Viking Speedway Wissota Midwest Modified win. Track champion Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls settled for second. Randy Laage of Brooten, Sam Zender of Fergus Falls and Justin Froemming of Garfield rounded out the top five. Blascyk now has six wins in what is the best season of his career.
Josh Zimpel of Braham won the Wissota Super Stock feature. Ryan Kostreba of Elk River, who started 12th, finished second with Karter Reents of Villard third. Trevor Saurer of Dalton, Saturday’s winner, took fourth while Jared Zimpel of Braham was fifth.
Landon Atkinson of Little Falls picked up the Wissota Modified win over Ryan Gierke of Villard. Atkinson had quite a weekend with two wins and a third-place finish in three starts. Eric Lamm of Anoka was third, Josh Thoennes of Nelson fourth and Brady Gerdes of Villard fifth.
Nick Panitzke of Lonsdale, Minn., won the Limited Late Model feature for his first Viking win of 2020. Ryan Mikkelson of Alexandria was second, Scott Lehn of Albany third. They were the only three finishers in the race.
Johanson, Schuh Lead Devils Lake Winners
Brian Johanson of Edmore topped Tracy Domagala of Bismarck for the Wissota Street Stock win Sunday night at Devils Lake Speedway. Trey Hess of Lakota finished third. Cliff Reeves of Oberon and Kyle Zittleman of Mandan rounded out the top five.
Jason Schuh of Lakota topped Eric Haugland of Lawton for the Wissota Midwest Modified win. Jory Berg of Grand Forks was third, Cole Haugland of Brocket fourth and Jess Brekke of Devils Lake fifth.
Ross Cummings of Minot won the Western Renegade Non-Winged Sprints over Myles Tomlinson of Turtle Lake. Brandon Palm of Portland was third.
Bismarck driver AJ Davenport won the Pure Stock feature over Dan Arends of Devils Lake.
Hess, Nate Reynolds of Hoople (Wissota Midwest Modified) and Joe Armstrong (Pure Stock) have wrapped up season points titles at Devils Lake.
Greenbush Race Park Notes
Greenbush Race Park had to make up four features on Sunday prior to its regular racing program.
Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature from Saturday at Greenbush Race Park. Cody the Cobra Lee was second, Reise Stenberg of Argusville third and Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck fourth.
Dykhoff captured the Wissota Street Stock feature at Greenbush with Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks taking fifth.
Mike Greseth of Harwood won the Wissota Mod feature on Saturday with Blacklance taking second.
During Sunday’s regular program, Jamie Trautner of Hendrum won the Wissota Modified feature. Blacklance made it 2-for-2 in the midwest modified feature, topping Lee once again. Justin Jones of Bemidji was third and Dykhoff was fifth.
Dykhoff also won his second Wissota Street Stock feature of the weekend on Sunday. Ryan Johnson of Karlstad was fourth.