Tourville survives eventful race for DRC Street Stock Tour win at KRA Speedway

The Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour made a stop at KRA Speedway in Willmar on Thursday with a quality field on hand.  The tour had not had a repeat winner yet this year – and that trend continued on Thursday.

How would I describe the race? Cautions. Eventful. A call that puzzled me. A wild final few laps.

I hate to say a race was decided by the redraw, but when Keith Tourville re-drew the No. 1, I figured that was real bad news for the field.  Tourville, from Janesville, had raced four times at KRA this year – and won three.  But here is the most remarkable stat – he entered the night with 18 feature wins in 21 starts this summer He has been dominating at KRA, Fiesta City and Madison Speedways this summer and will be in the national title hunt with Cole Greseth and Levi Randt. With those things in mind, it was still an entertaining race but way too many cautions for my liking.

Tourville and Derek Zieske led a strong field to the green and Tourville wasted no tim e moving out front. I was watching the Wolverine, Justin Vogel of Brooten, an eight-time track champion at KRA, who had climbed to third and was challenging Ethan Iiiams for second. The caution flew for a spin in turn three as Isdal went around.

Vogel went to work on the outside of Tourville and was making a serious threat for the lead. Kammron Rose had moved up to fourth ahead of Joe Martin of Willmar, who was chased by Cody Kummer of Medford, Wis.

A multi-car pileup as Zieske, Kegan Stueve and Jordan Frericks were involved in an incident with 14 to go.    On the restart Vogel went back to work on Tourville with a huge pack of cars fighting for spots 4-10, including Rose, Martin, Kummer, Jeff Ekdahl of North Branch and Levi Randt.  Iiams was driving a good race in third.

Vogel was driving the wheels off of the 10 machine in any effort to get around Tourville but the 111jr maintained a 1-2 car length lead. Iiams meanwhile slid high and Martin got beside him, and Iiams was starting to fade.

 Tourville had built a one-second lead on Vogel when the yellow came out for Jeff Ekdahl in turn three. Ekdahl looked to me like he was checking up for another car that had gotten squirrelly but was charged with the yellow and I am guessing was not happy with the call and I would be inclined to agree with him.

This race had way too many cautions for my taste as there was another three-car pileup one lap after the green.  Tommy Pogones, who won at Granite City earlier this summer on the tour, was one of the cars involved and was done.

Vogel was relentless in pursuing Tourville as Randt had climbed to third. Iiams was trying to hold off Kummer for fifth. As the while flag flew Vogel was right there. On the final lap, Vogel went for broke and made a daring charge into turns t here an four, but got in a little too hot and spun Tourville.  I’ve watched Vogel race for years, and he doesn’t wreck people intentionally. He does drive as hard as any street stock driver out there, and I think just got in too hot going into turn three.  He was tagged with the caution and had to go to the rear.

Randt had some damage as he had contact with Vogel in the incident; he was done after that yellow. Tourville would take control on the restart to pick up his 19^th win of the year.  Martin finished a strong second with Iiams third. Kummer was fourth and defending national champion Kolton Brauer of Eyota went from ninth to fifth.

And how about the run for Zach Flickinger of Madison. He started dead last on the field, avoided several mishaps in the field to finish seventh, earning hard charger honors.

Matt Wartman of Atwater grabbed the lead of the KRA Pure Stock feature but was chased by Trevyn Carr of Morris. Carter Rice of Renville went form ninth to fifth early.

Wartman slide up high as  Carr made his move for the lead. Wartman was trying to fend off Mason Fester for second as Ashton Martin climbed to fourth.

The caution flew for Bentlee Fernkes spinning in turn two. At the same time Rice, who has worked into the top five, headed pitside with a problem.

Carr led with Wartman and Fester now on his heels with four to go.  Carr had to fend off Wartman as Brady Hegen of Montevideo grabbed third.  The caution flew with two laps left as Carr held a slim advantage on the white flag, and would hold off Wartman (second) and Hagen (third). Martin and Fester finished off the top five.

Ryan Flaten of Madison has been the dominant Wissota Midwest Modified in that region all year and surged into the lead in the feature but soon was chased by Landyn Randt of Siren. Kevin Yeager was third, Justin Bjorklund of Sacred Heart moved into fourth with Taylor Willms of Willmar battling him.

The caution flew with 14 to go as Damon Vetjruba went around in turns one and two; fortunately a big mess was avoided.  On the restart Randt went to the outside to take the lead from Flaten . Bjorklund was side by side with Yeager for third, with Willms closing.

Randt was pulling away and Flaten soon had Bjorklund challenging him for second. Bjorklund  made the pass with seven to go but faced a 2.7 second deficit for the lead.  Willms had pulled away from Yeager for fourth.

Randt dominated the race after the caution and won by 3.7 seconds over Bjorklund, who went from fifth to second. Flaten was third, Willms fourth and Yeager rounded out the top five.

Eric Martin  took off from the green flag in the Wissota Super Stock feature, building a three second lead. Zach Schultz of Grove City and Dexton Koch of Becker had a nice duel for the second spot as Andrew Hedtke was fourth ahead of Jayden Friauf.

Martini reassumed control on the restart, building a 1.3 second lead on Koch, a former Wissota national champion. Schulz was fighting Andrew Hedtke for third as Karter Reents of Glenwood had climbed to fifth.

Martini was never challenged as he steadily pulled away from Koch to earn his second straight win. Schultz held off Hedtke for third with Reents going from eighth to fifth.

Braxton Schmitz of Richmond outdueled Christian Kast of Fairmount for the KRA Hornet win. Cole Fredeen of Spicer was third, Tucker Fredeen of Renville fourth and Brantley Bendel of Madison fifth.

Mike Stearns wins USMTS show at Casino

Maria Broksieck of Goodwin won the Wissota Street Stock feature Thursday night at Casino Speedway in Watertown. Jason Marko of Watertown was second, Andy Rossow of Florence was third, Tyler Lamb of Clark was fourth and Jayden Bogh of Huron fifth.

National point leader Blake Adams of Cameron, Wis., won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature with Dawson Zabel of Selby second. Todd Stark of Watertown was third, Scott Hansen of Garden City fourth and Luke Johnson of Miller fifth.

Bodie Croninger of Watertown won the Gen X Late Model feature over Blake Swenson of Watertown. Alex Tschakert of Kent was third, Tony Croninger of Watertown fourth and Ryan Nelson of Castlewood fifth.

Dobmeier wins sprint special at NCR

Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks won the NOSA 410 Sprint special Thursday night at Norman County Raceway in Ada. Christopher Thram of Sanborn was second, Jack Dover of Springfield third, Jade Hastings of Grand Forks fourth and Sean Rayhall was fifth. Laela Eisenschenk of Fargo took sixth.

Monty Ferriera of Lincoln, Neb., won the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature. Cole Vanderhelden of Papillion, Neb., was second, Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes third, Bryce Haugeberg of West Fargo fourth and Brandon Rekow of Ellendale fifth.

Regan Reinke of Lisbon won the INEX Legends feature with Ty Olson of Mandan in second. Ryan Braseth of Ulen was third, Brandon Bunnis of Detroit Lakes fourth and Alex Clark of Moorhead fifth.

Notes:

Thunder City Speedway, Grand Rapids Speedway and ABC Raceway in Wisconsin cancelled because of the smoke and poor air quality in that area, from the fires going on in northern Minnesota and in Canada. I say, based on the MPCA reports that the air was in the hazardous category, that was the right call. Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen cancelled for Friday because of the hot weather.

Here is the bottom line on the very hot weather – it’s brutal for drivers inside the car, it’s brutal for track employees, and in many cases the crowds are sparse because people don’t want to sit out in the heat. So you can’t blame a track for calling off racing because of hot weather.