Viking Speedway victories to Olson, Vogel, Rohner, Reents and Gerdes

Viking Speedway had an excellent crowd on hand for its “Free Grandstands” night on an overcast evening in Alexandria. NAPA sponsored the free admission to the stands.

The car counts have remained pretty solid at Viking through the first six nights with 74 on hand in the five classes on Saturday. As I said if they hang around 15 Wissota Mods a night weekly (they had 14 on Saturday), I think that is a good number in a racing world where the A mod class numbers have declined (a blog is coming out soon on that).

Shawn Olson of Alexandria, one of the truly nice people you'll meet at Viking led the first lap of the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Tanner Bitzan of Brandon. Michelle Hutt of Brandon was third. The first caution came out just as Olson crossed the line as Brendan Scott and Jonathan Hagen were involved in an incident. Hagen’s night ended on the hook.

Olson led  Bitzan and Hutt while 73-year-old Ron Sauer of Dalton was fourth and Scott Oeltjen of Villard, the defending I-94 champion, was running fifth ahead of Cole Neset of Fargo. I was watching Landyn Randt of Siren, who was pressuing Neset. Randt had a rough night

Tanner Bitzan was pressuring Olson for the lead as Saurer worked on Hutt. Bitzan was working the bottom and Olson ran up top. With five to go Bitzan went for a slider in turns one and two but Olson did the crossover and regained the lead. Meanwhile Hutt was closing on the top two.

Olson, pictured above, and Bitzan put on a terrifc show for the lead exchanging sliders, and the race couldn’t be close as the white flag waved. Bitzan made one last charge in turn four but Olson held on by a slim .148 margin. I found this hard to believe, but according to MRP, it was his first win since 2021, and he was emotional in victory lane.

For Tanner Bitzan, it was a great comeback after rolling his car (lightly) at I-94 on Wednesday to take second.  Hutt ran an excellent race in third, which was a season-best, with Saurer and Oeltjen rounding out the top five.

Craig Gardner of Alexandria, did not take off at the start and he lost several spots. Levi Randt of Siren, meanwhile took the lead with the Wolverine Justin Vogel of Brooten moving into second. J.J. Nieuwbeerta of Alexandria was getting a lot of heat from former Viking champ Mark Blom of Glenwood, who would grab the spot with Eric Riley in tow.

Rookie Kreg Anderson spun in turn four to bring out the caution.  Randt got a good restart as Vogel chased him. Riley and Blom were side-by side for third. Randt, however slowed with a mechanical issue and dropped out with 10 laps to go.

It turned into a battle between two good friends – Vogel and Riley. Blom was third, and defending Viking  champion Joe Martin of Willmar climbed into fourth, ahead of Nitro Jimmy Williams of DeGraff. The caution waved for Josh Schroeder, who went off turns one and two.

Then Vogel got great restart and pulled away as Riley was contending with Blom and Martin. Nieuwbeerta. Riley would cldear the two cars and went back to work on Vogel. Martin took over third.

Gardner might quite a comeback after slipping back on the initial start and was working on the outside of Nieuwbeerta.  Riley made a charge down the backstretch but Vogel had a good run in turns three and four to earn the win. Riley was second, Martin third, Blom fourth and Nieuwbeerta held off Gardner for fifth. It’s too bad Gardner got the start he did,, he might have been a factor up front.

The Wissota Hornet feature did not start well as the PT Cruiser, Carter Kunz, got turned on the frontstretch as they were about to complete the opening lap. Kunz had some front-end damage and was done.

Zander Zuehlsrdorff of Fergus Falls, looking for his first career win, took the lead, but the car who’s been consistently fast all year, jeff Rohner of Willmar, was closing quickly and would take the lead with 10 to go.

Eli Green of Osakis was pursuing Zuehlsdorff with Chace Pourrier running fourth with Chase Golliet of Fargo running fifth.

Rohner was whipping the field by 3.6 seconds as Zuehlsdorff and Green fought for second in the best racing on the track. Pourrier  was closing on those two and with some excellent racing for those spots.

Rohner picked up win No. 8 on the season – in 10 starts – as Zuehlsdorff held off Green for second with Pourrier and Golliet rounding out the top five. After the first-lap caution the race ran caution free.

Karter Reents of Glenwood took the lead in the Wissota Super Stock feature as Travis Scott of Glenwood, who won Friday at Fiesta City Speedway, grabbed second. Roger Host of Watkins was third while Carson Miller of Carlos moved into fiofth.

With 12 to go Reents had a 1.5 second lead on Scott, the best battle was for third as Miller was all over Host. Jordan Henkemeyer of Sau Rapids, who won the special at Viking a few weeks ago, soon joined that battle as the supers pretty much ra towards the bottom.

Miller finally got around Host as Reents extended the lead to nearly two seconds. But that lead vanioshed when Taho Norris spun in turn two.

Reents got a good start and opened some breathing room as Miller tried to catch Scott. Henkemeyer was in fourth but had last week’s winner Bailey Rosch of Alexandria now chasing him in fifth. The second caution flew for a medical situation in the stands.

When the race resumed Reents had Scott and Carson Miller  on his tail, but he once again got a great start as most of the super stocks hugged the bottom.  There was a a decent battle for fourth between Miller and Rosch as Henkemeyer grabbed third.

Reents was never threatened on the final restart, winning by .xx seconds. Scott ran a solid second with Henkemeyer third. The battle for fourth went down to the wire as Rosch edged Miller at the line. For Reents, a nice guy, it was his first win at Viking this season and second overall on the year, as he won at KRA in late May.

I was  wondering how the track would go for the mods, especially when the supers pretty much hugged the bottom. I thought if a driver or two

Jason Thoennes, who blitzed the Wissota Modified last week, was on the front row with Travis Saurer on the outside. On the first lap there was contact back in the field, leading to Todd Berg’s 20 machine going around. John Oeltjen of Glenwood was involved and called it a night.

On the restart Thoennes and Saurer were side by side, with Dusty Bitzan of Evansville battling Brady Gerdes of Villard for fourth. 

Gerdes was hauling. He  found a little higher lane and took over the top spot with 16 left as Bitzan settled into third. Justin Froemming of Garfield, having a solid year at Viking, was third while Saurer, who was trying to make a higher but was unsuccessful. In fact Bryce Sward of Nelson was closing on him.

Gerdes was slowly pulling away as Bitzan was working on the outside of Thoennes. You could make up some ground on the high side of turns one and two; turns three and four were pretty dirty and cars that went up there lost ground.

Much like Thoennes last week, Gerdes was running away the field. The lead was up to 2.8 seconds, but a caution would fly for Taylor Bitzan’s spin in turn two with seven laps left. Suddenly the big advantage Gerdes had was gone.

Bitzan would get around Thoennes for second but faced a 1.1 second as Bitzan, a rookie in the modified class doing double duty this year, was around in turn three, spelling an end to his night.

Gerdes regained control immediately on the restart and pulled away to a 1.3 second lead. Froemming and Thoennes had a good duel for third as the top two had pulled away. Gerdes was never challenged seriously after taking the lead and rolled to a 1.3 second d win. Bitzan was second while Froemming grabbed third. Thoennes and Saurer rounded out the top five. McKenzie Mikkelson of Alexandria also had a solid run, taking home seventh after starting eighth.

Viking notes

--Corey Litton filled in capably as the Viking announcer on Saturday; on Friday he announced at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan, N.D. That’s about 303 miles between those two tracks. Litton will announce Sunday at his usual spot, Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon.

--Viking will hold a doubleheader next Friday and Saturday for the July 4 weekend. Friday’s show will consist of Wissota Super Stocks, Diamond Series Winged Sprints and Diamond Series Traditional Sprints. Saturday will feature Wissota Midwest Modifieds, Wissota Street Stock, Wissota Hornet, Wissota Modifieds, Diamond Series Winged Sprints and Diamond Series Traditional Sprints.

--Brendan Blascyk of Hoffman made his season debut n the Wissota Modifieds last week at Viking, and Saturday was his second night out of 2026.

--There has not been a repeat winner in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds at Viking this summer, with six winners in six different nights. Olson joined Tyler Bitzan, Taylor Bitzan, Landyn Randt, Buzz Muzik and Jon Carlson as feature winners in the class this year.

Saturday notes

--Dylan McCaughan of St. Francis Xavier, Man., topped Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature win Saturday at Greenbush Race Park.  Bryce Borgen of Perley topped Ward Imrie of Headingley, Man., for the Wissota Modified win.

--Trevor Walsh of Watertown won the Gen X  Late model feature Saturday at Madison Speedway.

--Jamestown Speedway had a scheduled off week, they will resume with their July 4 race next Saturday. Devils Lake Speedway rained out.