RaceChaser was back at Viking Speedway in Alexandria on Saturday for the Jerry Kluver Memorial Super Stock special. The winner of that race would receive $1,000. And one thing was confirmed: Shane Sabraski of Rice is in his own area code right now.
First, nice work by Viking officials to run a good, efficient show. Very few cautions which gave them time to work the track at intermission and I was out of there by 9:30 p.m. I can't remember the last time I was out of Alex that fast.
Sabraski not only dominated the super stock feature he also won the Wissota Mod feature against a pretty stout field of cars. Tim Johnson (Wissota Street Stock), Brendan Blascyk (Wissota Midwest Modified) and Mike Mueller (Non-Winged Sprints) also found victory lane at the half-mile oval.
Sabraski, interviewed above, is almost unbeatable in the super stocks; a week ago he took the start from the back challenge at the Fast Lane Super Stock series finale at Ogilvie; he started 26th and had the lead by the time the race showed seven laps remaining. He earned $1,800 plus the feature winnings that night. He won the $800 to win special at I-94 Sure Step Speedway on Friday, so by my calculations, he’s made more than $4,000 in the super stock in a span of a week.
Once I saw Sabraski drew the outside pole for the Wissota Super Stock feature…well, I figured it was big trouble for the rest of the field. And it was. Sabraski took the lead off the green and led the 25-lap caution free event the entire way, winning by nearly a half a lap. He told me after the race that this year’s super stock is the best he’s driven. Scary for the people trying to beat him.
Tim Johnson of Brainerd, a former national champ himself, moved into second but actually lost ground as he went through lapped traffic. The 1JR car though posted a runner up finish. Another strong performance for Trevor Saurer of Dalton, who leads the points at Viking and finished third.
Kevin Burdick of Proctor, Minn., the defending Wissota Super Stock national champion, finished a solid fourth; he was second at I-94 on Friday. By my count, Burdick left the two nights with $1,000, which is a pretty decent haul. By the way, his hometown track, Halvor Lines Speedway in Proctor, announced this week it has cancelled its entire 2020 season. Thanks Gov. Hogg.
Veteran Jeff Crouse of Alexandria was fifth in the supers.
It took Sabraski about three laps to move from sixth to first in the Wissota Mod feature. He stormed to the front and passed leader Blake Jegtvig of Hawley to take the lead for good.
A couple of yellows didn’t deter Sabraski as he rolled to the win. Jegtvig, a former Wissota national champion, finished second, ahead of season points leader Dusty Bitzan of Brandon, who worked his way to third after starting ninth. Danny Bayer of Elrosa ran a solid fourth while Tyler Kaeter of St. Cloud was fifth.
It takes a pretty good performance to beat Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls in the midwest modified class right now. Brendan Blascyk of Kensington was up to the task, although he had to win a battle with Randy Laage of Brooten to take the lead after a restart on lap eight. Blascyk looked to be in good shape but a caution came out for Jamie Thorstad, who had a broken left front, with two to go, and that brought Laage and Gronwold close for a final restart.
Blascyk, interviewed above, didn’t flinch, picking up his first Viking win of 2020 and second overall. Gronwold settled for second; he finished in the top five all three nights this weekend. Laage finished off a good night in third while the ageless Ron Saurer of Dalton was fourth. Shawn Olson of Alexandria ran in the top five all night and finished a solid fifth.
What Gronwold is doing in the mid mods at Viking, Ryan Satter of Dalton is doing to the street stocks — and former national champion Tim Johnson answered the challenge. The Brainerd driver, who has won countless features in the street stocks over the years, was driving Bryan Crandall’s #69 car and quickly got to the front and opened a nice lead. Satter also was on the move, starting sixth and moving into second.
The race ran caution free, and while Satter gained some ground he never got close enough to mount a challenge as Johnson prevailed. Satter, who leads the points at both Viking and I-94, was second with Jack Koranda of Bluffton continuing his great season finishing third. Jimmy “Nitro” Williams of De Graff is always solid at Viking and made a late pass of Andrew Bangsund to finish in fourth. Tyler Kunz of Long Prairie scored his first top five of the year, taking fifth after Bangsund slid off the track on the final lap.
The non-winged sprints went caution free — for the entire night. The interesting aspect of the non-winged sprints was couple of the entries. Jeremy Kerzman, a long-time Mod 4 and B mod driver out of Grey Eagle who’s raced many laps at Viking, was in attendance with Travis Saurer of Dalton hopping into his second car. Saurer can drive about anything and has — midwest modifieds (multi-time national champ), mods, late models (he had a top five finish at I-94 on Friday), and I believe he’s driven a super stock, too. Saurer actually passed Kerzman late in the heat for a second-place finish.
In the feature, Mike Mueller took control and went on to win. Kerzman finished second with Scott Brandt of Andover, Cam Schafer of St. Paul and Jimmy Kouba of Byron, Minn., rounding out the top five. Saurer, by the way, finished seventh in the feature.
Viking Speedway Notes
—The 19-car super stock field wasn’t huge but plenty stout. Three former national champions -- Johnson, Sabraski and Burdick. Couple that with Jim Gullikson and Dexton Koch being in town, along with the local formidable drivers like Jeff Crouse, Jason Cook, Trevor Saurer and Matt Miller.
But, I am surprised there were not more supers. Ogilvie was off this week and Madison rained out pretty early in the day. I’ve seen some people always asking for some super specials that paid more, and I-94 had 17 and Viking had 19. If you don’t support these types of shows they will disappear, trust me. Ogilvie ran the Fast Lane Super Stock tour which was a huge reason it had 43 cars.
—A nice 17-car mod field was on hand, with a ton of quality. That included Sabraski, Zach Johnson, Dusty Bitzan, Brady Gerdes, Blake Jegtvig, Travis Saurer, and the promising teenage talents of Ryan Gierke and Tyler Kaeter.
—The Lethal Chassis seem to be awfully fast right now in Wissota mod racing. Sabraski, Ebert, Bitzan, Johnny Broking up on the Iron Range, Landon Atkinson are among the drivers running that chassis and winning with it. It is built by former NASCAR driver David Stremme.
—I can’t believe there were only 10 midwest modifieds at Viking. That might be the lowest count I’ve ever seen at the track. I-94 was down as well in the upper teens on Friday. The counts have been down at River Cities as well but that’s in part to the travel ban between Canada and the United States. I may have to do some digging on that.
—Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls had his Wissota Street Stock on hand; he’s raced it a few times this season. He ran a solid sixth on Saturday.
Carter Wins Street Tour Stop at Jamestown
Jonny Carter of Lisbon won the Steffes Street Stock tour stop at Jamestown Speedway on Saturday night. It was Carter’s third win on the tour. Eric Riley of Morris has four wins, while Justin Vogel has two. Todd Carter, Nitro Williams, Ryan Satter and Maria Broksieck are the other tour winners.
Royce Jawaski of Horace was second while Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck was third. The finale of the tour is set for Sunday at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes picked up his 16th win of 2020 in the INEX Legends. Ryan Braseth of Ulen was second, Brody Carlsrud of Fargo fourth and Alex Braseth of Ulen fifth.
Jarrett Carter of Lisbon topped John Nord of Enderlin for the IMCA Modified feature. Brennon Weight of Lamoure started 10th but earned the Wissota Midwest Modified feature win. Nate Reinke of Lisbon, who won Thursday at Tri-County Speedway, was fourth with Preston Carr of Carrington fifth.
Dylan Steele of Jamestown was second in the Bomber feature.
Rookie Uhrich Wins First Career Feature at Devils Lake
Rookie Ryne Uhrich of Langdon won his first career Wissota Street Stock feature at Devils Lake Speedway. Trey Hess of Lakota was second, Brian Johanson of Edmore third, Cliff Reeves of Grand Forks fourth and Seth Klostreich of Grand Forks fifth.
Stan Tomlinson of Turtle Lake won the Western Renegade Non-Winged Sprints with Travis Strandell of Grand Forks taking second. Adam Sobolik of Grand Forks was their, Joel Larson of Fertile fourth and Ross Cummings of Minot fifth.
Bryan Kakela of Langdon picked up the Wissota Midwest Modified win, his first of 2020. Nate Reynolds of Hoople was second with Cole Haugland of Brocket taking third. Chris Kruk of Langdon was fourth and Jaden Varnson of Lakota was fifth.
Steven Richards topped Dan Arends of Devils Lake for the Pure Stock win. Joe Armstrong of Crary was third.
Pederson Wins at Greenbush
Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks won the Wissota Street Stock feature Saturday at Greenbush Race Park. John Halvorson of Warren was fourth and Ryan Johnson of Karlstad fifth.
Hunter Hougard of Warren was second to Lance Schill in the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Alex Langland of Casselton was third, Reise Stenberg of Argusville of fourth and Kyle Langland of Casselton fifth.
Dustin Wahl of Greenbush won the Wissota Modified feature over Matt Schow of McIntosh.
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