Sheyenne Speedway crowns 2026 season champions

I was hoping to make it to Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon for the season championship on Thursday, but it didn’t work out, so instead of more of a play-by-play this will be more of an editorial/summary of the results. My goal was to make it to Sheyenne Speedway in-person four times this summer and I did that.

There was some uncertainty in the offseason about whether Sheyenne would even race in 2026, and some locals in the Lisbon area approached Dusty Mund about running the track. He would take the lead and once again a team of volunteers stepped up to work nightly on the track.

Dusty told me the goal this season was to keep the track running while also learning along the way and both things were accomplished, I think. I know this – there are a lot of volunteers in the Lisbon area who care a lot of about the racetrack. Growing up going to a small-town track in Madison, Minn., I have a soft spot for tracks like Sheyenne.

A good move was to put Todd Carter, a driver who has raced for four decades, as the race director. Todd speaks his mind and made clear from the opening night his goal was to run a quicker, more efficient show than in the past. Of the four nights I was there, three of the nights I was out of there before 8:15 p.m. which is EXCELLENT. Sheyenne’s car counts were solid all year and ended with 74 in six classes on Thursday. There are definitely positives to build on in Lisbon.

The two closest points races were in the Hobby Stocks, where Brent Wilkinson of Jamestown led Bo Gregor of Lisbon by six points, and in the Wissota Midwest Modified class, where Kyle Anderson of Jamestown led Nate Reinke of Lisbon by five points.

Gregor won three straight Hobby Stock titles at Sheyenne from 2019-21 and made a return to the class a few years after focusing on driving a Legend car. First, congrats to Dillon Thorpe of Ellendale who won his first feature of 2026 after starting on the outside pole.

Gregor closed the points slightly with a runner-up finish but Wilkinson, a third-year driver, finished third to clinch the point championship, the first of his career.  One other note on the Hobby Stocks is Braiden Mund, who finished fourth in the feature and a solid third in the points.

Nate Reinke did what he needed to do to when it came to the points race – winning the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Anderson finished in second after starting third.  The final margin? Anderson won the season points title by two points.

Dusty Peterson of Kindred was third and Brennon Weight of LaMoure was fourth. There were 18 Midwest mods on hand.

Dale Mittleider of Milnor was in strong position to win the points title in the Short Tracker class, leading Cameryn Taylor of Hankinson by 22 points going into the night. But it was first-time visitor Kaylie Hunter of Shevlin, Minn., who stole the show.

Mittleider did exactly what he needed to do to wrap up the season points championship – and that was finish ahead of Taylor. Mittleider took second after starting third to clinch the title. Brock Kuzel of Wyndmere went from eighth to third while Christian Kast of Fairmount was fourth. Tempest Trone of Litchville, the winner the past two weeks, was fifth.

But it was Hunter, who made the three-hour plus trip from Shevlin (located near Bemidji), who would take home the feature win, which is the first of her career. One of the highlights of doing this blog is seeing drivers win their first feature – congrats to Hunter for doing that.

Regan Reinke of Lisbon shared the INEX Legend track championship with Dusty Mund in 2025, but would not have to share this year. He put the finishing touches on the points championship with a feature victory over a strong runner from Mandan, Ty Olson.

Regan Reinke started third on the field. Zach Reinke of Lisbon was third and Gregor fourth. Kody Machart of Moorhead, driving the 4E car, went from 11^th to fifth.

Cole Greseth of Harwood had dominated the Wissota Street Stock class all year at Sheyenne and finished off the track championship with another convincing win. Greseth won seven of the eight features at Sheyenne this year, with only Kasey Ussatis of Nome beating him earlier in the year. Greseth is in a three-way fight for the national points title with Levi Randt of Siren (Who finished second at KRA Speedway in Willmar) and Keith Tourville of Janesville (who was a DNF in Willmar).

Keep an eye on the 19H of Hunter Carter of Mapleton for the invitational season. He is the defending champion of the Jamestown Stampede and a past winner of the Seitz Memorial in Grand Forks.  Ussatis finished third in the feature and second in the points while Mike and Ryan Mund were fourth and fifth, respectively.

There were no track points on the line for the Gen X Late Models, but there is the overall series title on the line. Trevor Walsh of Watertown leads Parker Gilbertson of Watson in the series points.

Gilbertson boosted his case with the feature win over Mike Anderson of Walcott.  Jeff Nelson of Perham, who is fifth in the series points, finished third with Walsh taking fourth and Jarrett Huus of Fergus Falls fifth.

Thursday notes

Here are the first-time feature winners I’ve compiled for this year:

Gage Pulkrabek, NOSA Sprint, River Cities Speedway (May 15)

Dale Mittleider, Short Tracker, Sheyenne Speedway (June 7)

Kody Crabtree, Wissota Hornet, Buffalo River Speedway (May 31)

Joseph Lewis, INEX Legends, Norman County Raceway (July 9)

Carter Restad, IMCA Sport Modified, Fix It Forward Speedway (July 24)

Noah Lewis, INEX Legends, Norman County Raceway (July 30)

Brooke Erickson, Wissota Mod 4, Bemidji Speedway (Aug. 2)

Howie Briss, INEX Legend, Fix It Forward (Aug. 7)

Karter Kunz, Wissota Hornet, Viking Speedway (Aug. 8)

Kaylie Hunter, Short Tracker, Sheyenne Speedway (Aug. 27)

--Justin Vogel of Brooten won the Wissota Street Stock feature Thursday night at KRA Speedway in Willmar.