TPO, Tschakert, Reinke, Gerdes and Goulet victors at I-94; Dykhoff Wins DRC Street Stock Tour at Princeton

I-94 EMR Speedway was where RaceChaser blog was covering on Friday night.  Former NASCAR driver Ryan Newman was in attendance, driving one of Don Shaw’s late models.  Newman will be at Cedar Lake and Hibbing in the coming days. I don’t know what his prior dirt late model experience was going into the night but he certainly held his own. More on that later.

Originally, this was supposed to be an NLRA Late Model show, and the makeup for the King of the Dirt Late Model feature that was rained out. However, with severe weather forecast for the latter evening in the Red River Valley and many NLRA drivers coming from the Grand Forks area on north, the NLRA and I-94 elected to call off that portion of the show so those folks wouldn’t run into the bad weather forecast in that region. I think it was a good call considering the way the radar turned out around 10 p.m. in Fargo.

I-94 was working to move the show along, in large part because of the weather to the west that was building. It wasn’t necessarily affecting the Friday program itself but certainly could impact drivers and fans on the ride home who came from the northwest. The final checkered flag waved at 9:51 p.m., a nice job by I-94 officials and drivers to run an efficient program.

With Newman in town I will start with the late models, which had 16 cars on hand.

Former national champion Zach Johnson of Lowry and two-time defending champion Tyler Peterson (TPO) of Hickson led the Wissota Lates to the green. Johnson, back in a late model for the first time in several years after racing Corey Svor’s 6X modified for a long time, jumped out front ahead of Peterson.

Danny Vang of Deerwood moved into third ahead of Newman with Jared Zimpel of Braham running fifth.

Johnson went up to the high side, a place where he is so fast, and opened a two-second lead on Peterson, who had nearly five seconds on third-place Vang. Josh Zimpel of Braham was closing in on his brother Jared for fifth. Behind them Dave Mass of East Bethel and Travis Saurer of Elizabeth, driving Scott Rachels’ 21x were fighting for position.

Johnson was leading comfortably when trouble struck, and he ended up turned into the wall in turn four with damage which would end his night. To be fair, I did not see the incident, so I have no comment on who caused it.   What I did see, however, was Johnson was livid with fellow competitor Blake Boelens afterward and made his opinion known on the backstretch. I’ve watched Johnson race for more than two decades and never seen him as animated as he was on Friday.  

After the restart, Josh Zimpel, with a win at I-94 earlier this year, pulled a slider to take over third from Newman. Saurer had moved to fifth.

TPO had a 1.5 second lead on Vang when the caution waved when Mike Hart hit the wall in turn four. On the restart Peterson pulled away from Zimpel, who had moved past Vang into second with Newman in fourth.

TPO won by two seconds with Josh Zimpel finishing second. Vang was a solid third,, and Newman did a nice job in fourth. Former I-94 champion Cole Schill of Hawley made a late move into fifth to cap off a good run.

Two young drivers, Shawn Beto of Wahpeton and Alex Tschakert of Kent, led the Gen X Late Models to the green.  It was a race plagued by cautions over the first 8-10 laps.

Scott Harrington of Waubay, a good competitor in the Gen X late models, pulled in early with trouble, which was unfortunate; he started sixth.

Tschakert, who had a top five finish at Sheyenne on Thursday, got off to a strong start on Friday to take the lead. Rick Schroeder of Montevideo was running.

Shawn Beto had Mike Anderson of Walcott pressuring him for third and Anderson soon gained the spot. Trevor Walsh of Watertown soon moved to fourth.

A multi-car crash in turns three and four brought out the first caution. Jarrett Huus of Fergus Falls, the runner-up Thursday at Sheyenne, suffered the worst damage and left on the hook. John Plaster and Derek Quinn were involved but able to drive away.

The caution wiped out a nearly two-second lead for Tschakert, who is only 20 years old and moved into the Gen X class this year after starting in the Wissota Midwest Modified class.

Tschakert led as Schroeder who stayed within 3-4 car lengths. Walsh climbed to third. Anderson got crossed up and made contact with another car to bring out the caution. There was the fourth caution of the race after more contact on the frontstretch that sent Jeff Nelson’s 33 machine spinning.  Nelson got his spot back.

Blake Boelens has put together a Gen X late model and he was running well in the top five.  Ben Wolden, with two wins this year at I-94 so far, had climbed to fifth.

Tschakert pulled away on another restart as Schroeder and Boelens fought for second. Nelson and Derek Quinn were dueling for sixth.

Tschakert was impressive, opening a straightaway lead and won in a runaway by 3.7 seconds for his first career feature win. The 01 crew and his proud dad, Myron had a big celebration in victory lane, and rightfully so.

Schroeder, who entered the night second in the points, survived Boelens for second with Walsh and Wolden rounding out the top five.

Two of the Bitzan brothers, Taylor and Tyler of Brandon, were on the front row for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature.

I was watching Row 2, which consisted of defending I-94 champ Nate Reinke of Lisbon and Haley Dykhoff of Starbuck.

Taylor Bitzan grabbed the lead as his brother Tyler fought Nate Reinke for second. Ron Saurer and Scott Oeltjen were fighting for second.

On the restart Reinke and Tyler Bitzan made contact on the backstretch that sent the 10B spinning, ending the night for Tyler Bitzan as he left on the hook.

On the restart Reinke made a pass in turns three and four and pulled away. Taylor Bitzan had Dykhoff pressuring him for second. Scott Oeltjen was running in fourth and Tanner Bitzan was fending off Saurer for fifth.

After Tate Kelderman’s spin in turn four, there was a restart with six laps to go. Reinke surged well in front of the field. Dykhoff was running down low trying to make progress on Taylor Bitzan but Oeltjen was starting to close on her.

Reinke wasn’t challenged the rest of the way and picked up his third win at I-94 of the season, and his second in as many nights after winning at Sheyenne. Reinke won by a comfortable 3.4 second margin. Taylor Bitzan was a strong second with Dykhoff edging Oeltjen for third. Tanner Bitzan edged Onyx Johnson of Lowry for fifth.

Multi-time I-94 track champion Brady Gerdes of Villard and defending I-94 champion Dusty Bitzan of Brandon led the Wissota Mods to the green.

First-time I-94 visitor Will Krup moved into second; if you are not familiar with Krup, he is an UMP driver from Illinois who I saw race in the USMTS at Ogilvie Raceway a couple of years ago and is damn tough.

Bryce Sward of Nelson, driving Corey Svor’s 6X, was fighting hard with Bitzan for third as he continues to show some real speed in the modified. TPO and Landon Atkinson were putting on a good show for the fifth spot.

TPO would pull in with six to go, ending his hopes of a top five.

Krup didn’t let Gerdes run away but the 2X had a few car lengths for the lead. Krup, however was closing gap slowly as the laps waned, but didn’t have enough as Gerdes prevailed by .668  seconds. Krup was impressive and finished second.  Sward, after some tough mechanical problems the first few nights, is clearly figuring out the Wissota Mod and took third. Bitzan and Atkinson rounded out the top five.

Brady Albertson of Sauk Rapids led the Wissota Hornet feature with Hunter Goulet, the winner Thursday at Sheyenne, running second. Christian Kast of Fairmount, a much-improved racer, was fighting with Chase Pourrier of Fergus Falls for third.  Alexandria driver Travis Bruns was in fifth.

Goulet and Kast were fighting for second – exactly what Albertson wanted to see as Pourrier slid back and faced heat from Bruns.  Goulet was running way up top and was closing on Albertson.

Lapped traffic would enter into play on the final lap. Albertson was running lower, and got slowed by a lapped car, and Goulet made a last surge on the high side and nipped the 16 at the line by .057 seconds in a thrilling finish. Kast was third, Pourrier fourth and Bruns fifth.

I-94 Notes

--The Wissota Street Stocks had the night off at I-94. The Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour was at Princeton on Friday.

--Jerry Hauge of Underwood has moved to the Gen X late model class after spending years in the Wissota Late Model class. The class should be a good fit for Hauge.

--Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls has brought out his 2G Wissota Modified in recent weeks and it’s good to see him back. Gronwold and his wife, Danna, are doing some outstanding work with their Never Alone campaign, which they started after some tragic teen suicides in the Fergus Falls area within the last few years. Never Alone brings teenagers each to their shop to help put together Wissota Hornet cars. Some teens race those cars every Friday at I-94, and it’s a great thing the Gronwolds are doing to build a sense of community.

Kyle Dykhoff in victory lane at Princeton. (Photo by Kayla Koth)

Dykhoff now 4-for-4 on DRC Street Stock Tour

Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck entered Friday unbeaten on the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour heading into Friday at Princeton Speedway. He is now 4-for-4 as he picked up another win on Friday night.

Dykhoff started fourth and topped San Fankhauser of Rice Lake for the win. Andrew Hanson of Iron River was third, Nick Traynor of Barron, Wis., was fourth and Jeff Ekdahl of North Branch was fifth.

The DRC Street Stock Tour is at Ogilvie Raceway on Saturday and Granite City Motor Park on Sunday.

Olson, Taves, Schow and Greseth Win at River Cities

Weston Olson of Warren picked up his first NOSA Sprint feature win Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks. Adam Sobolik of Grand Forks was second, Alex Truscinski of Greenbush was third and Zach Omdahl of East Grand Forks was fourth.

Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes topped Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush for the Lightning Sprint win. Dylan Langevin of Thief River Falls was third.

Matt Schow of McIntosh won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Jory Berg of Grand Forks. MaKenna Romuld of Grand Forks was third, Austin Hunter of Winnipeg fourth and Nathan Raasakka of Grand Forks was fifth.

Cole Greseth of Harwood won the Wissota Street Stock feature over Weston Ramsrud of Bagley. Greg Jose of Grand Forks was third, Scotty Messner of Bemidji was fourth and John Halvorson of Warren was fifth.

The Wissota Late Models had the night off at River Cities.

Friday notes

--With severe weather forecast, Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo canceled their Friday program.

--Shawn Fernkes of Danube won the Fast Lane Wissota Super Stock tour race at Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo.

--Tony Konold of Clear Lake won the Wissota Modified feature Friday night at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen.