Viking Speedway in Alexandria, Minn., was chasing the weather on Saturday. The radar was not looking good and the skies got darker blue as the night went on. Still, part of the show got in.
Officials did the best they could to keep the show moving with a great field of130 cars there. The UMSS traditional and non-traditional sprint cars were on hand as well. The two sprint features were completed, but the B mains for the street stocks, plus the four features for the regular classes, were moved to Sunday as rain started to come down harder during the first street B main. Sunday’s racing begins at 5 p.m. and there are a lot of races for fans to watch that day!
The Steffes Street Stock Tour had a great year in 2020, but the early returns so far have been outstanding. There were 43 at I-94 Sure Step Speedway on Friday and 40 at Viking on Saturday. The car counts are great, but so are the quality. And the fact that some very good Wisconsin drivers (Parker Anderson, Cody Kummer, Hunter Anderson and Kyle Gennett) just added to an already strong field.
Some thoughts on Viking:
—Hunter Carter, formerly of Lisbon and now of West Fargo, took several years off from racing but came back for a few shows last year. He’s the co-promoter at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon, where he does the track prep. This year he plans to race some Steffes Street Stock Tour races in his #19H machine as time allows. He ran an outstanding race on Friday to finish second to Parker Anderson, and won his heat on Saturday at Viking.
—Parker Anderson of Phillips, the winner of the Steffes Street Stock Tour stop Friday at I-94 Sure Step Speedway, had won five features in nine days. That’s a heck of a run. It’s early yet but he is the national point leader.
—Jon Stepan of Brandon is a former super stock track champion at Viking. He hopped behind the wheel of one of Justin Froemming’s midwest modifieds on Saturday and won his heat.
—There was a familiar name competing in the UMSS sprints — Jeremy Kerzman of Grey Eagle. Kerzman is no stranger to Viking, having raced in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds and Mod 4s there for several years. He’s always had bright looking #3K machines. Kerzman was second in the winged sprints and the traditional sprints features on Saturday. Rick Schroeder of Montevideo, a former late model driver, was fourth in the winged sprints feature. Chase Viebrock of New Richmond, Wis., won the winged sprints feature while Jon Lewerer of Andover won the traditional sprint feature.
—The 130 cars were a season high at Viking, and the crowd looked really good. It’s a bummer the rain hit. There were sprinkles off and on throughout the first two hours but the skies got more ominous looking as the evening wore on.
—Street Stock heat winners included Jonny Carter of Lisbon, Parker Anderson, Dan Aberle, Royce Jawaski and Hunter Carter. Among the notable cars to make it into the feature included Ryan Satter of Dent, Justin Vogel of Brooten, Kummer, Andrew Bangsund of Alexandria, Jimmy “Nitro” Williams of De Graff, Eric Riley of Morris, Justin Pogones of Princeton, Gennett, Kyle Anderson of Jamestown and Ryan Pommerer of Oriska, N.D. I checked with the Pommerer racing team on Friday by the way, and the plan is to race the #5P at the Steffes Tour and special events this season.
Among the cars needing to qualify through the B include Joe Potter of Euclid, Kasey Ussatis of Nome, Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck, Scott Witkowski, Kyle Howland of Zimmerman, and Hunter Anderson.
—Normally I don’t talk much about heat races, but since the features were rained out, here are some highlights. Heat winners in the Wissota Modifieds included Brett Hoium of Villard, Danny Vang of Deerwood and Travis Saurer of Elizabeth. Saurer won Friday at I-94 by more than four seconds.
—Heat winners in the Wissota Super Stocks included Jon Crouse of Alexandria, Karter Reents of Villard and Jeff Crouse of Alexandria. A nice 20-car field was on hand.
—Shawn Olson of Alexandria, Jon Stepan of Brandon and Brendan Blascyk of Kensington won Wissota Midwest Modified heats. There were 24 cars on hand.
—Chris Winter of Hoffman, a former street stock driver who also ran a late model for a little while, is back in the super stock class. Jack Koranda of Bluffton has moved from the street stocks to the super stocks.
—Brandon Hoftiezer of Fort Pierre, S.D., and Damon Hoftiezer of Fort Pierre (pictured above) made the 5 1/2 hour trek to Viking Speedway for the doubleheader. Brandon races the #72 Wissota Midwest Modified and Damon races the #81 Wissota Super Stock. The two race weekly at Miller Central Speedway in Miller, SD — which is about 75 miles from their hometown.
They weren’t the only cars from South Dakota to make the trip to Viking. Mike “Superman” Stearns, the 2013 Wissota Mod national champion, brought his #24S machine to town from Aberdeen. Street stock drivers Scott Witkowski of Aberdeen and Cliff Houser of Kimball, SD both were at I-94 on Friday and at Viking on Saturday. Kimball, SD is about 332 miles from Alexandria, by the way. Cory Berquist of Huron, SD also brought his #U2 Wissota Midwest Modified to town.
I personally like to see drivers from all over the place at one track. The street tour has brought drivers from Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota together. And at Viking we’ve seen a few new cars come in other classes, too.
—I talked with Satter, we chatted about the great feature race on Friday. He pointed out that with the bonus money Viking is providing — $100 to win the dash plus $200 more for winning the heat, dash and feature in one night — that he walked out of a regular race night with more than $500. That is a really good night, and I think it’s going to help Viking draw some more cars weekly.
Jose, Carr Win at Devils Lake
Greg Jose of Grand Forks picked up the Wissota Street Stock win Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway. Cody Armstrong of Devils Lake was second, Trey Hess of Lakota third, Ryne Uhrich of Langdon fourth and Drew Peterson of Langdon fifth.
Preston Carr of Carrington won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Jory Berg of Grand Forks. Logan Salazar of Neche was third, Reise Stenberg of Argusville fourth and Jason Halverson of Devils Lake fifth.
Adam Sobolik of Grand Forks is 2-for-2 on the weekend after winning the Western Renegade Non-Winged Sprint feature. Jory Hughes of Redondo Beach, Calif., was second, Ross Cummings of Minot third, Myles Tomlinson of Turtle Lake fourth and Stan Tomlinson of Turtle Lake fifth.
Joe Armstrong of Crary topped Carter Tuenge of Rugby for the Pure Stock win.
Racing Notes
—Torey Fischer of West Fargo might be the most well-traveled IMCA Sports Mod this season in this region. She’s raced in Iowa at Boone and Marshalltown, at Red River Valley Speedway and Buffalo River Speedway locally, and at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Arlington Raceway and on Saturday, made the trip to Worthington Speedway in Minnesota. All very different types of racetracks that will provide good experience behind the wheel. She earned her second top five of the season Saturday at Worthington, taking fifth after starting 10th.
--Jade Hastings of Grand Forks finished second in the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint feature on Saturday night at Park Jefferson International Speedway in Jefferson, S.D. Nick Ranten of East Grand Forks finished third. Tim Estenson of Fargo made a big run through the field, taking fourth after starting in 20th. Veteran Wade Nygaard was fifth.
—Hunter Goulet of Fargo won the Wissota Hornet feature Saturday at Ogilvie Raceway. Justin Froemming of Elbow Lake was third in the Wissota Midwest Modified feature while Scott Bintz of Jamestown was fifth.
—It was a rough night in the weather department for several tracks — Miller Central Speedway in South Dakota, Jamestown Speedway and Greenbush Race Park all rained out.
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