Viking Speedway wins to Engebretson, Gullikson, Rosch, Anderson and Koranda

Kreg Anderson won a hard-fought Wissota Hornet feature. Photo by Tom Berg

Viking Speedway in Alexandria was back in action on Saturday night with the Wissota Late Models running. With a big race at Ogilvie, the modifieds had the night off.

It was disappointing to see only five late models in attendance; I talked to a few people who were surprised they were racing this week at Viking. I suspect there were several reasons for the low turnout, but it is what it is and no use belaboring the point.

Racing started at 6:30 p.m. and wrapped up around 8:45 p.m. ON a warm and muggy night, that is almost exactly how you’d want the night to go, and that’s a credit to the drivers and officials at Viking for keeping the program moving. There were only two cautions in the five features, and both were single-car incidents.

Travis Engebretson of Cyrus is having the best season of his career and leads the Wissota Midwest Modified points at Viking Speedway. He set a goal of winning the track championship and on Saturday night took another step towards reaching that.

Engebretson and Taylor Bitzan of Brandon were on the front row, and for the first several laps, it was a great duel for the top spot between those two. They traded positions several times as Engebretson ran up high and Bitzan kept the 24TB on the bottom.

Ron Saurer of Dalton, 72, moved into third with Justin Froemming of Garfield, driving Shawn Olson’s 32 machine, was fourth ahead of Scott Oeltjen was running fifth.

Haley Dykhoff of Starbuck, second in the points entering the night, had climbed past Buzz Muzik of Alexandria for fifth, and she set her sights on Oeltjen for fifth.

Bitzan stayed close to Engebretson while Saurer until they encountered a lapped car with four to go, which allowed Engebretson to open some breathing room.  Engebretson slowly extended the lead over the final three laps, winning by 1.3 seconds for his sixth win of the year by Viking. Bitzan ran a strong second with Saurer third and Froemming fourth. Oeltjen held off Dykhoff for fifth in a caution-free race that lasted less than six minutes.

Two first-time Viking visitors – and big guns – were in attendance  in the Wissota Street Stocks. That included two-time Little Dream winner Keith Tourville of Janesville and former Wissota Street Stock national champion Jim Gullikson of Nowthen. I expected both to be factors in the feature, and they were.

J.J. Nieuwbeerta of Alexandria grabbed the lead from the green flag over Brendan Scott of Osakis. Gullikson, who started fifth, quickly moved into third and was soon pressuring for the lead.

Craig Gardner of Alexandria was running fourth and  Joe Martin of Willmar had climbed to fifth but had heat from Tourville in the 148.

Gullikson took over the lead with 12 to go. Scott hd company for third as Gardner, Martin and Tourville quickly closed on him. Scott got high in turns three and four and slid off with 10 to go for the first caution.   On the restart Tourville made a charge into second and was all over Gullikson for the lead as the two went side-by-side.  Nieuwbeerta had some pressure from Martin as Gardner was running a solid fifth.

With six to go Martin passed Nieuwbeerta for third as Tourville continued to fight Gullikson for the lead. But he didn’t have enough as Gullikson would prevail by three car lengths, or .554. Martin ran a solid third with Nieuwbeerta picking up his second top five of the summer in fourth. Gardner capped off a good night in fifth.

Tourville is having some kind of summer. He’s raced 20 features and won 14, including a special $1,000 win at Gondik Law Speedway in Superior on Friday.  He is a clear favorite to win the Little Dream on Tuesday at Rice Lake. 

The points battle in the Street Stocks at Viking couldn't be tighter, as Martin leads Nieuwbeerta by just one point. Scott is only 14 points back.

A pair of Alexandria Blizzard  hockey coaches, Bailey Rosch and Jeff Crouse, led the Wissota Super Stocks to the green.  There was a near wreck on the first lap as Ryan Kostreba and Crouse got tangled, sending Kostreba sideways, but he made a great save to keep things going.

Rosch was opening up a nice lead over Trevor Saurer of Dalton with a big-time melee fighting for third, including Carson Miller of Carlos, Russell Kostreba and Crouse.  Miller moved into third and Russell Kostreba and Ryan Kostreba also moved into the top five.

Rosch opened up a one-second lead on Saurer. Russell Kostreba had some front-end damage and had to pull in, which moved Crouse back to fifth. Rosch, meanwhile had opened the lead to 1.4 seconds.  Karter Reents of Glenwood and Travis Scott of Glenwood both got by Crouse, who slid back to eighth.

Rosch stuck the 28 car to the top in turns one an two and ran a lower line in 3 and 4, and it was effective as the lead grew to more than a half straightaway, Rosch would cruise to a 2.3 second win for his first victory of 2025.. Saurer was second, Carson Miller ran a solid third, Ryan Kostreba was fourth and Scott finished a solid fifth.

With Brady Gerdes, the leader entering the night, not in attendance, Rosch took over the season point lead by 10 points over Saurer. The top six drivers are now separated by just 36 points.

Seven of the eight Wissota Hornets in attendance took the green with Chris Winter Jr. of Hoffman and Kreg Anderson of Alexandria on the front row.

It was Matt Dittman of Lake Lillian who grabbed the lead as there was a big-time jumble of cars behind him, including Bobie Arnes, Jeff Rohner of Willmar, Anderson and Winter.

Dittman was pulling away from Anderson with a 1.25 second lead, but that gap was shrinking at the halfway point.  Anderson was making a run on the bottom and was side-by-side with Dittman’s 22 entering turn one. Rohner and Arnes had a good duel going for third with Travis Bruns of Alexandria in fourth.

With four laps to go Dittman’s 22 started to slow and Anderson would take the lead. Dittman would try to limp to the finish but stalled on the top of turn four to bring out the caution with two to go. That set up a shootout over the final two laps as Arnes edged ahead by the whie flag with Rohner right behind them. Anderson, though got a good run on the bottom on the final lap and that was the difference as he held on for t he win by .251 seconds.  Arnes was second, Rohner third, Bruns fourth and Winter fifth.

The Wissota Late Models capped off the evening.  Late model rookie Jack Koranda of Bluffton surged into the lead with Devin Fouquette of St. Cloud moving into second. Shawn Meyer of Wahpeton was third.

Koranda, who moved up from the Wissota Super Stocks, had a big challenge from Fouquette for the top spot as the 15 went on the outside. With 11 to go Fouquette pulled into the lead as the top two opened a big gap on Meyer. Scott Lehn of St. Cloud was running fourth.

With nine to go Koranda pulled back ahead as the top lane seemed to be going away for Fouquette.  Meyer had about 1.7 seconds on fourth-place Lehn.

Koranda would steadily pull away over the final seven laps to open a commanding lead by the time the checkered waved. The final margin of victory was 3.2 seconds. Fouquette was second and Meyer held off Lehn for third.

Justin Vogel in victory lane at Brown County Speedway (Photo by Kayla Koth)

Vogel Wins DRC Street Stock Tour at Brown County

It is hard to believe former Wissota Street Stock national champion Justin Vogel of Brooten entered Saturday night without a feature win in 2025. He entered with 16 top fives in 22 starts  and had finished second nine times. The veteran broke through on Saturday at the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour race at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen.

Vogel picked up the $1,000 win, leading every lap of the main event.  Former BCS champion Maria Broksieck finished second, tour points leader Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck finished third, Andrew Hanson of Iron River, Wis., was fourth and Sam Fankhauser of Rice Lake was fifth. Dykhoff shared Hard Charger honors with Chris Gonska of Eureka. Dykhoff went from 20^th to third and Gonska went from 24^th to seventh.

Mike Stearns of Aberdeen won the $5,000 to win Tri-State Late Model series feature.

Saturday notes

--Jory Berg of Grand Forks won the Golden Hammer Wissota Midwest Modified special Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway.  Memphis Klassen of Winkler, Man., was second.

Greg Jose of Grand Forks topped Seth Klostreich of Grand Forks for the Wissota Street Stock win.

John Corell of Jamestown won the IMCA Modified feature Saturday night at the Governor’s Cup special hosted by Dacotah Speedway in Mandan.

--Ryan Mikkelson of Alexandria won the Wissota Late Model feature for a second straight night with Cole Schill of Hawley taking second.

Andrew Jochim of Harwood was second in the IMCA Stock Car feature while Jonny Carter of Fairmount was third.

--Zach Flickinger of Madison won the Wissota Street Stock feature Saturday night at Madison Speedway while Brendan Blascyk of Hoffman won the Wissota Modified feature. Christian Kast of Fairmount, N.D., won the Wissota Hornet feature.

--Greenbush Race Park and Jamestown Speedway had scheduled nights off.