The Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour presented by Shocker Hitch made its first appearance at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon on Thursday night.
Sheyenne switched to Thursday nights this season, and there is a bit of a risk with that. It’s a tough night to draw cars and fans, frankly. KRA Speedway and Norman County Raceway have been racing on Thursdays for a long time but also know the challenges of drawing cars; in large part it’s because people work on Thursdays and getting off work and getting to the track isn’t always easy. Sheyenne clipped through the heat races in an hour, which is a good way to operate on a Thursday night. The final checkered waved at 9:23 p.m., a credit to the drivers and track for running a good, efficient show.
After back to back weekends of tour events, I was curious what the car counts would be for the street stocks. A total of 17 showed up; a lot of good cars, but I don’t think that is the number I would aim for. Several Wisconsin cars have hit the tour the first two weekends; but you can’t expect all of them to travel three weeks in a row (Ty Agen of Chippewa Falls was in attendance). You don’t need to race all of the shows to chase the point title, remember. I was more disappointed in some more cars not coming from tracks that will host tour events this weekend and I’ll leave it at that.
Hunter Carter of Mapleton and Jay Schlotfeldt of Jamestown led the 17-car street stock main event to green. Schlotfeldt took the lead early, running up high.
Moving up quickly was Ty Agen of Chippewa Falls, Wis., as he surged into second. Todd Carter of Lisbon did not get a good redraw after winning his heat (he redrew eighth, the worst number you could draw, but was clearly fast as he took the lead with 18 to go. Carter was running the lower line.
Kyle Anderson of Jamestown was also quick and moved into second and soon was battling Todd Carter for the top spot. Anderson would edge ahead but Carter moved to the middle line and soon was back beside Anderson as the caution waved with 15 left.
Jaden Christ of Jamestown was running a solid fourth ahead of Hunter Carter.
Todd Carter regained the lead on the restart as Anderson was stuck to the tires. Jonny Carter of Lisbon, who won on Sunday at Buffalo River, was making a serious move on the outside after the restart. He surged into third and was pressuring the top two. They would go three wide for the top spot as they put on an outstanding show. Agen wasn’t far behind in fourth.
Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks, already with four wins this season, was lurking just outside the top five behind Christ.
The caution would wave with nine to go and once the race resumed the intense battle up front resumed. The Wolverine, Justin Vogel had also moved into the top five.
With seven to go, Jonny Carter made a run on the outside of turn four of Todd Carter but ran out of room and hit the wall out of turn four; he pulled in and would have been charged with the caution.
That moved Christ into third on the restart with Vogel and Agen in the top five.
Todd Carter would resume the race lead with seven to go with Anderson but a spin one lap later would bring out another caution. Vogel and Christ would battle for third with Agen and Pederson in the hunt right behind. Pederson, however would drop out; he’s been having some issues with the car popping out of gear periodically this season and that would end his hopes for a top five finish.
Christ soon moved past Anderson for second and was within two car lengths of Todd Carter; he would close in a little more but was unable to make the pass. Todd Carter would pick up the win by .284 seconds in what was a pretty entertaining race with a lot of battles throughout the top six.
Christ settled for second ahead of Anderson, who had a solid third-place finish. Agen was fourth and Vogel, the defending tour champion, was fifth.
Christ has emerged as a formidable contender in the street stock class. He has eight wins in the class since 2021, and won the 2022 track championships at Jamestown Speedway and Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen.
One driver who has really risen in the street stock ranks is Jaden Christ of Jamestown.
Zander Bauer of Gwinner took the early lead in the INEX Legend feature over Dusty Mund of Lisbon, who was soon challenging for the top spot.
The Australian, Glenn Mitchell, was on the move on the outside.
Dusty Mund was effectively working the low line and made the past on the third lap as about five cars battling for third; but Collin Compson of Valley City, the defending Sheyenne champion, was making a serious charge on the high lane and surged into the lead with eight laps left.
Mund and Bauer kept close for second with Mitchell settling into fourth ahead of Taylor Sargent of Gwinner. Bo Gregor of Lisbon, a former Hobby Stock track champion, was closing on those two. The caution waved for a spin in turn four with six laps to go.
Compson went up to the high line, where they watered at intermission, and that was the right move. He pulled away quickly on the restart. Meanwhile the battle for second between Mund and Mitchell was heating up with Bauer closing in quickly as he moved to the higher lane.
A caution with three to go led to a single-file restart, and brought Mitchell to Compson’s bumper. Mund kept the 28 machine on the bottom.
Bauer’s hopes for a top three finish ended with two laps left when he pulled in with trouble.
Compson would open up a 1.2 second lead over Mitchell as the checkered waved. Mund capped of a solid night with a third-place finish. Sargent and Gregor finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Seven Hobby Stocks were on hand for a second straight week; on opening night only three cars finished.
Defending champion Jayden Michaelsohn of Aberdeen took the lead over Billy Carow of Jamestown. Opening night winner Kelby Anderson of Fort Ransom was moving into third.
Things got spread out for the hobby stocks in what was a pretty uneventful race. MIchaelsohn built a straightaway lead on CArow, who had a comfortable margin on Anderson for second. Dalton Aabrekke was solidly in fourth ahead of Tyce Boisjolie of Enderlin
Michaelsohn would cruise to a three-second win over Carow, who settled for second. Finishing third was Anderson with Aabrekke and Boisjolie rounding out the top five.
Zach Reinke of Lisbon and Tony Smith of Jamestown led the 12-car Wissota Midwest Modified feature to the green flag.
Smith would take the lead with quite a battle brewing for second between Zach Reinke, Nate Reinke of Lisbon and Jarod Klein of Jamestown. Brennon Weight of Lamoure soon moved past Klein.
Weight was working hard on Nate Reinke of third as Smith maintained a 2-3 car length lead on Zach Reinke. Klein was solidly in fifth. Jared Wibstad of Jamestown, who had started dead last on the field after not finishing in the heat race, had worked up to seventh.
Zach Reinke moved within one car length of Smith with five to go. Nate Reinke still was contending with Weight for third.
The top line was the place to be for the Midwest modifieds, especially in a caution-free race. Zach Reinke could close a little but never got to the point where he could take a shot at the slider as Smith picked up the win by .412 seconds. Zach Reinke settled for second ahead of his brother, Nate, who outlasted Weight for third. Klein rounded out the top five. Wibstad was the hard charger going from 12th to sixth.
The Short Tracker race was crazy early with five cars breaking away up front – Dale Mittleider of Hankinson, Tempest Trone of Litchville, Shawn Beto of Wahpeton, Mason Bogart of MMilnor and Hunter Goulet of Fargo, who won Sunday at Buffalo River Speedway were locked in a battle.
Trone, the defending Sheyenne champion, would pass Mittleider for the lead but soon was contending with Beto for the top spot. Bogart would move into third and was facing a lot of heat from Goulet.
Beto would take the lead and would take control after that. Bogart and Goulet had a good battle for third going.
Beto would take the win by 1.593 seconds over Trone, who went from fourth to second by the checkered. Bogart, the opening night winner at Sheyenne, was third, with Goulet and Mittleider rounding out the top five.
Sheyenne Notes
Anthony Wendel of Enderlin rolled his No. 6 street stock in the second heat race off of turn four. Darak Turner was also involved, but I didn’t see what triggered it. Fortunately it didn’t look like a hard roll for Wendel; Turner also left on the hook. Both were able to make it for the feature, however.
It was good to see Brian Frederick of Gwinner back on the track in his INEX Legend #7F. He went for a tumble at Red River Valley Speedway last Friday and ended up on his roof. It wasn’t a hard roll fortunately and he was able to be back for Thursday’s show. He finished seventh.
It was also good to see Brayden Kunze of Lisbon back in action. He had a rough opening night at Sheyenne on Memorial Day, which was his first in a Midwest modified. He suffered a lot of damage on the #20 machine but could it put back together for Thursday.
There were no cautions in the Midwest modified, Hobby Stock or Short Tracker features.
Schow, Wilke, Ryan Braseth Win at Norman County Raceway
Matt Schow of McIntosh won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Thursday night at Norman County Raceway in Ada. Corey Storck of Morris was second, Reise Stenberg of Argusville was third, Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls was fourth and Taylor Jacobson of Roseau was fifth.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes won the IMCA Racesaver Sprint feature over Brandon Rekow of Ellendale. Morgan Nyquist of Moorhead was third, Andy Pake of Felton fourth and Ty Hanten of West Fargo fifth.
The Braseth brothers finished 1-2 in the INEX Legend feature as Ryan Braseth topped Alex Braseth for the win. Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton was third, Kody Machart of Moorhead was fourth and Ashton Spieker of Sabin was fifth.
Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks topped Tyler Hehn of Horace for the IMCA Hobby Stock win. Brad Orvedal of Fargo was third, Tim Church of Moorhead was fourth and Todd Gettel of Mahnomen fifth.
Tyler Peterson of Hickson topped Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks for the Wissota Late Model feature win. Mitch Johnson of Hickson, making his season debut, was third. Jason Strand of Portland was fourth and Cole Schill of Hawley was fifth.
Andy Wagner of Ada topped Justin Jones of Bemidji for the IMCA Sport Mod feature win. Rich Pavlicek of Casselton was third, Ryan Restad of West Fargo fourth and Luke Johnson of Moorhead fifth.
Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada topped Rob VanMil of Barnesville for the IMCA Stock Car win. Aaron Olson of Mekinock was third and Brody Carlsrud of Fargo fourth.
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