Viking Speedway victories to Dykhoff, Riley, Rohner, Rosch and Gerdes

Bailey Rosch wrapped up his second straight track championship with a feature win (Photo by Collin Nelson, Outlaw Action Photography)

Viking Speedway in Alexandria held its Season Championship night Saturday on a sunny August evening.

The track was pretty racy for the features, and the show ran along nicely and was done by 9:10 p.m., which is my kind of night this time of year.  Credit to drivers and officials for a good, smooth racing program.

Tanner Bitzan of Brandon was the early leader of the Wissota Midwest Modified feature as Haley Dykhoff of Starbuck and Ron Saurer of Dalton, who had a pretty hard crash at I-94 on Friday, in third. Corey Storck of Dilworth was fourth and point leader Travis Engebretson of Cyrus was fifth.

Dykhoff was working the low lane on Bitzan up front in a close battle and would pull in front with seven to go as Bitzan slid a bit high. But the fight wasn’t over.

Engebretson passed Storck for fourth as Shawn Olson of Alexandria was

The caution waved for Michelle Hutt and Ryan McCleary’s spin in turn two with five to go; Dykhoff was scored the leader. Hutt and McCleary both  were able to continue.

Dykhoff got a good restart as did Olson, who moved into fifth and was challenging Storck for fourth.

Saurer and Bitzan were dueling for second in a square of the 42s, but Storck was starting to close on Saurer.

Dykhoff meanwhile was opening some breathing room with a .827 second lead with the white flag in the air. She would prevail by .740 for her second win of the year. Bitzan ran a strong second, Storck was third, Saurer fourth and Engebretson would top Olson for fifth.

Olson and Engebretson both moved up four spots from the starting position.  Unofficially, Engebretson is the 2025 Viking track champion, even though Dykhoff did close the gap.

Joe Martin of Willmar and Brendan Scott of Osakis led the Wissota Street Stocks to green, and soon 2024 Viking champion Davey Kruchten was challenging Martin for the lead. Scott got up in the marbles and went off of turn four and lost a ton of ground.

Kruchten and Martin had a good fight for the lead as Eric Riley of Morris joined the battle. The Wolverine Justin Vogel of Brooten and Kegan Stueve were also in the battle.

Martin would edge ahead but Riley was working up high and would pass Martin for the top.

 spot with eight to go. Vogel was up to third while Stueve and Kruchten were side-by-side for fourth with J. J. Nieuwbeerta of Alexandria closing.

Riley had a .808 second lead on Martin as Vogel was working the high line to challenge for second. Stueve would grab third as Kruchten and Nieuwbeerta raced for fifth.

Riley led was just under a second as Vogel and Martin put on a show for second with a few sliders. Riley would cruise to a 1.3 second win; Martin and Vogeld were side by side coming out of turn four on the final lap for second with Vogel edging Martin by .050 seconds for the runner-up spot. Stueve was fourth, and Kruchten held off Nieuwbeerta for fifth. It was a caution-free main event that lasted about six minutes.

Martin is the 2025 Viking Speedway Wissota Street Stock champion.

Bailey Rosch of Alexandria and Karter Reents of Glenwood led the Wissota Super Stock field to green, and it was Rosch storming out front. Reents was fighting William Lund of Brandon for second with Trevor Saurer of Dalton in fourth and Travis Scott of Glenwood in fifth.

Entering the night, Rosch had a nine-point lead on Lund with Saurer 14 points back.

Rosch opened a gap on Lund, who moved into second. The caution waved with 11 to go when Jeff Crouse of Alexandria, who has had a tough season, stalled on the backstretch. Rosch pulled away on the restart as Reents  and Lund were dueling for second once again. Scott was fourth ahead of Saurer.

Rosch pushed the lead to 1.8 seconds with seven to go as Reents  and Lund were racing side-by-side for second in a very good duel. Scott was not far behind, but had some pressure from Saurer, a multi-time track champion.

Rosch was in firm control up front with about a 3/4 of a straightaway on his way to a 2.82 victory to put the finishing touches on his second straight track championship.  Lund was second, while Reents edged Scott by .016 seconds for third. Saurer rounded out the top five.

Kreg Anderson of Alexandria was in good shape with a 53-point lead over Christopher Winter Jr. in the Wissota Hornets.    It was Matt Dittman of Lake Lillian and Jeff Rohner of Willmar who separated themselves from the field early in Saturday’s feature. Those two engaged in a duel for the lead as Anderson was in third, Winter in fourth and Carter Kuntz in fifth. There was some hard racing for the top spot with a little contact.

Alexandria driver Jay Gronewold went off of turn four and got tangled in some cables; it would require a lot of time to get the car free, and out of harm’s way, so officials elected to wait until after the racing program to get that car out.  The driver was OK.

On the restart with seven to go Dittman and Rohner resumed their duel as Eli Green was pressuring Anderson for third. Winter was running fifth. Dittman had about a car length on Rohner, but the 08 made a charge on the outside in turns one and two with four laps left to gain the lead. Anderson was comfortably in third ahead of Green.

Once out front, Rohner, who also won Friday at I-94, pulled away and would prevail by 1.59 seconds. Dittman was second while Anderson put the finishing touches for the track championship by taking third. Green nipped Winter for the fourth spot.

Brendan Blascyk of Hoffman was the Lap 1 leader of the Wissota Modifieds with multi-time Viking track champion Brady Gerdes of Villard battling with him. Gerdes would take the top spot on the second lap.

Jason Thoennes of Alexandria was battling Bryce Sward of Nelson for third with point leader Dusty Bitzan of Evansville in fifth.

Sward grabbed third and soon had Bitzan chasing him as Gerdes had a one-second lead on Blascyk with 13 to go. Bitzan stuck his 10x to the very bottom and was moving as he cleared Sward for third.

Bitzan was flying on the bottom and was catching Blascyk quickly for second while at the same time cutting into Gerdes’ lead.

Gerdes’s lead was shrinking, slowly, and Bitzan was within .860 seconds with four to go, but that was about as close as he would get as Gerdes would prevailed by .875 seconds. Bitzan wrapped up the track championship by finishing second while Blascyk was third, Sward was fourth and Josh Thoennes of Nelson, who started seventh, topped his brother Jason for the fifth spot in a caution-free main event.

Viking Notes

--here is an interesting tidbit about Bailey Rosch. He is a former hockey player; he also is the goalie coach for the Alexandria Blizzard, coached by long-time super stock driver Jeff Crouse. That means, he is racing against his boss each week.

--Travis Scott was the 2025 Wissota Super Stock track champion at Fiesta City Speedway. Bradley Rossow of Florence, S.D., edged Jerik Stabler of Mitchell by two points for the Wissota Hornet title.

--Joe Martin also leads the points at Redwood Speedway heading into Sunday’s track championship at the ½-mile oval. He trails Vogel by 15 points at KRA Speedway in Willmar.

--There was an interesting name driving Justin Froemming’s 33x machine – that was Viking  Speedway Hall of Famer Jon Stepan. Stepan, known for his success in the Wissota Super Stock  class, hasn’t raced regularly since 2017 but has filled in for some drivers in recent years.

Jamestown wins to Wibstad, Edinger

Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Saturday night at Jamestown Speedway. Jason Grimes of Jamestown was second, Ryan Ost of Adrian third, Dev Malmlov of Moorhead fourth and Cole Neset of Fargo was fifth.

Cole Greseth of Harwood won the Wissota Street Stock feature with Billie Christ of Jamestown second. Dustin Erickson of Jamestown was third.

Travis Edinger of Jamestown topped Joe Jacobson of Jamestown for the Bomber feature win. Clay Gentzkow of Berlin was third.

Donavin Wiest won the INEX Legends feature.

RRVS wins to Macedo and Olson

Carson Macedo made a late pass of Sheldon Haudenschild to win the World of Outlaws Sprint Car feature Saturday night at Red River Valley Speedway. David Gravel was third. Fargo driver Donny Schatz finished seventh.

Ty Olson of Bismarck won the INEX Legends feature from 18th with Sean Johnson of Kindred taking second. Kody Machart of Moorhead was third, Regan Reinke of Lisbon was fourth and Noah Madler of New England fifth.

Saturday notes

--Trey Hess of Grand Forks won the Rick Johnson Memorial Wissota Street Stock special Saturday night at Greenbush Race Park. Scotty Messner of Bemidji was second, John Halvorson of Warren was third.

Cylen Vargason of Edinburg won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature with Cory Peterson of Red Lake second and Justin Olson of Thief River Falls was third. Chirs Dudley of Bemidji won the Wissota Pure Stock feature.  Josh Beaulieu of Bemidji topped Patrick Sobolik of Hallock for the Wissota Modified win. Ryan Johnson of Karlstad was third.

--Maria Broksieck of Goodwin topped Josh Long of Canby for the Wissota Street Stock win Saturday night at Madison Speedway. Zachary Flickinger of Madison was third. Ryan Flaten of Madison won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature while Mike Stearns of Aberdeen won the Wissota Modified feature. Blake Boelens of Brandon won the Gen X Late Model feature while Christian Kast of Fairmount won the Wissota Hornet feature.

--Greg Jose of Grand Forks won the Wissota Street Stock feature Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway. Jory Berg of Grand Forks won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature.