TPO captures Howie Schill Memorial at Fix It Forward Speedway

The sixth annual Howie Schill Memorial NLRA Late Model special saw 37 Wissota Late Models on hand Friday night at Fix It Forward Speedway in West Fargo.

I talked to Howie’s son, Cole Schill, who along with wife Erica puts together this outstanding event. Last year’s event set a record with 51 cars on hand, but that was the second night of a doubleheader. Cole told me before the race the plan is return to a doubleheader for the event in 2027. The Schills put in a lot of work raising purse money for the Memorial.

Shane Edginton of East St. Paul, Man.,, driving Scott Ward’s 37 Longhorn, and Talon Seckerson of Jamestown led the 27-car field to the green. Edginton, the NLRA point leader, took the lead but Mike Greseth of Harwood was closing quickly and three laps into the feature passed Edginton on the outside for the lead.  Tyler Peterson (TPO) of Hickson, the three-time Wissota Late Model national champion, climbed ot third with Brody Troftgruben of Grand Forks in fourth and Greg Friestad of Valley City in fifth.

TPO moved int osecond with 26 to go as Greseth built a 1.7 second lead.  Greseth was mired in a lot of lapped traffic and TPO was cutting the lead, and capitalized on the traffic to take the lead with 19 to go.

Edginton wasn’t through contending either as he closed on Greseth for second. Troftgruben was a solid fourth and Brad Seng of Grand Forks had climbed to fifth.

TPO was pulling away an with six to go the lead was up to 3.3 seconds. Greseth still had Edginton close as those two were well ahead of fourth-place Troftgruben.

Cole Schill, who started back in 18^th, had put together a heck of a run through the field and had climbed up to sixth.

TPO worked through lapped traffic without serious incidents and was not challenged over the final 12 laps or so, winning by 2.4 seconds. Greseth was second, Edginton third, Seng fourth and Schill fifth.  Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks, who won the B main, climbed from 21^st to seventh, without the benefit of a caution, to earn Hard Charger honors.

The race went caution-free on the smooth and dry-slick track, a credit to the 27 cars out there for a good, clean race.

As I said in my Facebook live earlier this week, the IMCA Sport Mods at Fix It Forward Speedway is a “racing with the gloves off” type class. I’ve done stories on several of them and get along with most everyone in the class, and between a few drivers there is no love lost. They race each other very hard in the class and some nights there is some torn up sheet metal and few pissed off folks afterwards. Last week’s feature was rough to say the least but this week wasn’t quite as physical; unfortunately there were a few wrecks on the evening but I don’t attribute that to overly-aggressive driving.

Landon Maatz of Walcott had the outside pole but spun in turn two on the opening lap. Fortunately a big wreck was avoided but Maatz had to go to the tail.

Paul Colvin of Horace grabbed the lead with Carter Restad of West Fargo moving into second past Zane Johnson of Leonard. Rich Pavlicek of Casselton was fourth ahead of the Turkey man, James Taves of Glyndon. The second caution came out on Lap 2 when Bailey Rasmussen of Harwood and Nicholas Jacobson of Fargo got together in turn two.

Restad was pressuring Colvin at the front as Johnson was trying to fend off Kyle VanMil of Barnesville.  Restad was working a higher line and would take the lead with 15 to go.  VanMil moved to third with Johnson fighting Pavlicek for fourth.

Pavlicek moved into fourth as Kelly Jacobson of Fargo moved into fifth ahead of his dad, Scott, who is the point leader at Fix It Forward. Pavlicek, who has been bitten by plenty of mechanical gremlins this year, would pull off with an issue. VanMil passed Colvin for second by the halfway point. The best battle was between the Jacobsons for fourth.

With nine to go Rasmussen’s 4B machine ended up on its roof in turns three and four to bring out the red flag. She was OK but walked to the ambulance to get checked over. Rasmussen nearly won her first feature earlier this year at Buffalo River and is a promising young talent.

VanMil went with the slider and took the lead as Restad fought back. Scott Jacobson was up to third as it turned into a three-car fight at the front. VanMil was making the high line work.

There was a hard crash into the fencing in turn one involving Jayden Pavlicek of Casselton, with Chris VanMil of Barnesville also being collected. Pavlicek, who won Thursday at Norman County Raceway in Ada, got the worst of it and left on the hook, while VanMil was able to continue. VanMil is still in the points hunt as he entered the night 10 points behind Scott Jacobson.

After some time to clean up that wreck Restad was chasing Kyle VanMil at the front with Scott Jacobson in third. Restad would take a peek on the bottom of the corners but VanMil had the momentum on the higher lane and would grab the win. Restad settled for second with Scott Jacobson third, Kelly Jacobson fourth and Colvin in fifth.

Only six IMCA Stock Cars were on hand – the same as NCR on Thursday. Emmitt Curtis of Rothsay and Kelly Jacobson had the front row. Jacobson led the opening lap with Rob VanMil of Barnesville challenging on the outside. Tim Gonska of Brainerd was third but soon was overtaken by Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead and Jonny Carter of Lisbon.

VanMil and Jacobson raced side-by-side for the lead as Carter got around Carlsrud for third. Jacobson was running about as low as you could on the track while VanMil was running a higher lane.  Carter and Carlsrud were still fighting for third but were closing on Jacobson in second at the same time.

VanMil built a 1.2 second lead by the halfway point as Jacobson was trying to fend off Carlsrud for second. VanMil maintained that advantage the rest of the way to pick up the win with Jacobson second. Carter was third, Carlsrud fourth and Gonska fifth in a caution-free feature.

The IMCA Hobby Stocks had a difficult time getting rolling with two early cautions before a lap was completed. Todd Gettel of Mahnomen led early with Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes in the second spot. Brad Orvedal of Fargo was fighting Jahnz for third with Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks in fifth.

Gettel was steady up front with a half second lead over Engen with Eckerdt up to third. Nicholas Ronnebaum of Kansas was fourth and Reid Randall of Park Rapids was fifth.

Gettel had his hands full up front. Engen was pressuring underneath with Eckerdt and Ronnebaum both closing. Austin Jahnz of Lewisville, who had won four straight hobby stock features at RCS, had climbed into the top five.

The caution came out as Wes Jahnz spun in turn two with six to go. Gettel led Ronnebaum and Eckerdt on the restart and Ronnebaum would take the lead with six to go. Eckerdt grabbed second from Gettel, who soon fell to fourth behind Austin Jahnz. Reid Randall was running fifth.

If you are wondering while Jahnz and Ronnebaum would make the long trek to Fix It Forward, they are 1-2 in the IMCA Hobby Stock national points, with Jahnz entering the night with a five-point lead. Randall, by the way is eighth in the national points.

Ronnebaum, a first-time visitor at Fix It Forward, turned the race into a runaway, winning by nearly a straightaway over Jahnz. Eckerdt was third, Gettel fourth and Randall, the point leader at FFS, was fifth.

--The racing comeback of the year is Laine Schwehr of Sanborn – who broke his neck in a very hard crash at Jamestown last September, went through months of rehab and was able to walk again.  Schwehr made the NLRA late model A main through his heat race which was great to see. It was Schwehr’s third night out in 2026.

--Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks and Collin Compson of Valley City both had mechanical issues in their NLRA Late Model heat races and did not make the call for the B main. Pederson used an NLRA provisional for the feature but Compson was done for the night.  Bismarck veteran Paul Mueller hit the wall hard in his heat and left on the hook and also was done for the evening.

--The hard charger in the IMCA Sport Mod feature was third-generation Brody Johnson of Moorhead, who went from 18th to seventh.

Thomas, Randt win Bob Gierke Memorial features

Joe Thomas of Glyndon won the Bob Gierke Memorial Wissota Modified feature Friday night at I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls. Brady Gerdes of Villard went from seventh to second while Justin Froemming of Garfield went from 14th to third. Travis Saurer of Elizabeth was fourth and Brendan Blascyk of Hoffman was fifth. Ryan Gierke of Villard went from 18th to sixth.

Landyn Randt of Siren, Wisconsin captured the Gierke Memorial Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Taylor Bitzan of Brandon was second, Jake Smith of St. Joseph third, Tyler Bitzan of Brandon fourth and Corey Storck of Dilworth was fifth.

Christian Kast of Fairmount won the Wissota Hornet feature with Braxton Schmitz of Richmond in second. Last week's winner Emma Nelson of Fergus Falls was third, Eli Green of Osakis was fourth and Hannah Koch of Fergus Falls.

Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck won the Wissota Street Stock feature with Eric Riley of Morris second. Levi Randt of Siren was third, Mark Blom of Glenwood fourth and Braedyn Fleck of Cold Spring fifth.

Parker Gilbertson of Watson topped Trevor Walsh of Watertown for the Gen X Late Model win. Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls was third, Saurer was fourth and Tony Croninger of Watertown was fifth.

River Cities winners: Breidenbach, Nikitenko, Greseth, Rekow and Braseth

Kenna Breidenbach of Grand Forks won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks. Jory Berg of Grand Forks was second, Austin Hunter of Winnipeg third, Maddox Klassen of Winkler, Man., fourth and Frank Veert of Winnipeg was fifth.

Minot driver Greg Nikitenko won the NOSA Sprint feature over Amelia Eisenschenk of Fargo. Jack Croaker of East Grand Forks was third, Zach Omdahl of East Grand Forks fourth and Adam Sobolik of Grand Forks was fifth. Eisenschenk went from 14^th to second in the race.

Brandon Rekow of Ellendale won the IMCA RaceSaver sprint feature over Ty Hanten of West Fargo. Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes was third, Marcus Rothenbacher of Ulen fourth and Owen Graf of Glencoe fifth.

Ryan Braseth of Ulen won the INEX Legends feature with Owen Broden of Fertile second. Bryce Barnhardt of Washburn was third, Alex Clark of Moorhead fourth and Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids fifth.

Cole Greseth of Harwood won his 10^th Wissota Street Stock feature of the season at RCS. Greg Jose of Grand Forks was second, John Halvorson of Warren third, Doug VanMill of Bagley fourth and Jeremy Gust of Stratcona fifth.