Vogel captures DRC Street Stock Tour win at Fiesta City

The Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour moved to Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo on Friday with 25 Wissota Street Stocks signed in.

Because of the heat, Fiesta City moved its start time back by a half hour in order to save some of the sun’s impact on the track. On their Facebook page, FCS was looking to run a quick show to get fans out of there at a good time.

Instead, the opposite happened. It was a long night, in large part due to several cautions, and a big wreck in the Gen X Late Model feature. The tow trucks were busy. Pretty much everything Fiesta City did not want to have happen, in terms of yellows, happened, which was unfortunate for them. I can’t blame the track for wrecks. And Fiesta City has gotten no breaks with the weather at all in 2026.

Two former national champions, Kolton Brauer of Eyota and the Wolverine Justin Vogel of Brooten, led the Wissota Street Stocks to green and Vogel wasted no time building a big lead with Levi Randt of Siren in second. Then it was a weird lap – Brauer would slow with an issue, and so would Eric Riley of Morris and that led to a caution. Both drivers would head to the pit area. Riley either seems to win or break this year when I've seen him; he would have contended for the win had he stayed out there.

Vogel pulled away on the restart but Mike Jans of Clarkfield was challenging Randt for second. Zach Flickinger of Madison was fourth and Alex Grinager of Clarkfield had passed Coltyn Schuler of Montevideo, who had some damage on his 16A machine.

The street stocks went up to the high side; Grinager would pull in with a problem, and that moved Wisconsin driver Kammron Rose into the top five. Schuler would head to the tail.

Jans was pressuring Randt for second as Vogel built a one-second lead but was facing lapped cars with 10 laps down.  The caution would fly with 14 to go as Schuler, who is having a good year with one win and 11 top five finishes, slowed on the frontstretch. Schuler would go to the tail.

Vogel, looking for a big bounce-back after a disappointment on Thursday, resumed the lead with  Rose now up to fourt and Tommy Pogones of Princeton up to fifth. Cody  Kummer, who is in contention for the tour title, was close to Pogones for fifth.

Randt and Jans had been racing very hard for second, and that came to a head when Randt clobbered the wall after some contact in turns one and two. Randt was not happy and showed his displeasure afterwards to Jans, who was charged with the caution. I can almost guarantee those two were not palling around after the race.

Once that was cleaned up Vogel was out front with Pogones in second, Rose in third and Kummer up to fourth. Landon Albertson of Cottonwood was having a real nice run in fifth but had Flickinger on his heels.

Pogones became the next victim of the turn two wall as he got into it while running second; he left on the hook.

Kummer passed Rose for second with Albertson for fourth and Cody Hatch of Olivia moving into fifth. Flickinger, who was running well, got squeezed on the start and nearly got into the wall but made the safe, but it cost him several spots.

Vogel had no drama at the front. On the final restart he pulled away to a two-second lead to pick up his first tour win of 2026. Kummer was second, Rose, third, Albertson fourth and Hatch was fifth.

Vogel was a deserving winner and the dominant car, so this takes nothing away from him. But this race kinda left a bad taste in my mouth – some suspect driving, a few pretty beat up cars, and too many cautions.  Neither tour race this week was very clean and had too many yellows, which was unfortunate because there was some good racing when the green flag was out.

Jesse Timm of scenic Wood Lake (Been there many times) led the opening lap of the Pure Stock feature but the caution came out when Ashton Martin spun in turn two. Martin, only 14, would get his spot back as the yellow was charged to Mason Fester.

Timm opened a decent lead on Hagen who was fighting Martin for third.

Jason Best, who has five wins at Fiesta City this year, got into the wall in turns one and two and would pull off.

Timm led by about a car length on Hagen with Martin in third. Tad Peterson of Dawson was running in fourth with Ian Tjaden of Boyd in fifth. At the halfway point it was a five-car breakaway at the front.

Martin was working on Hagen for second, and this allowed Timm to have a little breathing room at the front.  Martin and Hagen raced side by side for second and were joined by Tjaden as things went three-wide for second as the white flag waved. Tjaden made a daring move on the outside to grab second, and closed quickly on Timm but ran out of time as Timm prevailed; it had been a while since Timm had won a feature at Fiesta City, and it was announced Timm had not won a feature at Fiesta City since 2013.

Tjaden went from fifth to second and was the fastest car late; Martin was third, Hagen fourth and Justin Erp of Montevideo made a late move to grab fifth from Peterson.

Dawson Zabel of Selby, S.D., built a huge lead to open the Wissota Midwest Modified feature.  As Landyn Randt of Siren, who won at KRA on Thursday, grabbed second. It turned into a three-car battle for third with Bepnjamin Beekman of Hawick, Justin Bjorklund of Sacred Heart and Branden Kasten of Alexandria.

Lapped traffic became a real factor as Zabel and Randt were setting a feverish pace, and things got real tight at the front.  Kasten, Bjorklund and Beekman were fighting for third with Corey Storck of Dilworth closing.

The caution flew as Darren Engesser slowed in turn four with six to go. Then, the race turned into a bit of cluster on the next two restarts.

Randt tried a slider on the start, but Kasten would go around in turn two and collected Sophie Anderson; Michelle Hutt of Boyd also had some damage. Anderson is in the midst of a tough year; she had a damaging crash earlier in the year and missed a month while putting a car back together. She is a good young driver learning the ropes in the Midwest modified class but this year has been trying.

The restart saw another three-car mess on the frontstretch where a car got crossed up; Zach Clark was charged with the yellow. Hutt and Anderson, both of whom were in the previous one, which was not of their doing.  Anderson would pull off later, and I hope her luck turns around over the next weeks of the year.

On the restart Storck was fighting Bjorklund for third  with Ethan Waltz now into fifth. Zabel had about a car length at the white flag, but Zabel would hold on by .303 seconds.  Storck went from seventh to third with Bjorklund fourth. Beekman placed fifth.

Parker Gilbertson of Watson was fast from the get-go of the Gen X Late Model feature and took a significant advantage over Trevor Walsh of Watertown. Rick Schroeder of Montevideo had climbed to third with Blake Swenson of Watertown fourth and Jeff Nelson of Perham in fifth.

But just what FCS folks did not want to see as they were trying to get the show done by a reasonable time – the big one happened on the restart that involved more than half the field, and there was some very hard contact. It looked like there was contact that got Walsh turned around and all hell broke loose. Ryan Nelson of Castlewood ended up on his roof and was badly damaged and left on the flatbed. Walsh’s 15 was beat up, and Kris Wilke of Porter Jeff Nelson were also done. Jonathan Olmscheid, Lexie Fleming, Dale Tomes and Tai Engels were also involved but were able to continue.

When racing resumed after a lengthy cleanup Gilbertson led with Schroeder in second, Swenson – who had some damage from the big wreck as well – was third. Olmscheid’s battered machine was fourth and Engels was fighting Tomes for fifth.

Lapped traffic played a role as Gilbertson and Schroeder ran away from the field. Things got close with two lapped cars and Schroeder would edge Gilbertson by inches in a photo finish; the final margin was .014 seconds. Swenson took third. Olmscheid survived for fourth and Engels picked up her first top five of 2026 in fifth.

William Lange of Staples took the lead in the Wissota Hornet feature with Derik Stabler running second and Bradley Rossow of Floence in third. Adam VanDerostyne of Canby was fourth.

Dalton Pederson of Estelline was fifth as Lange was dominating up front. VanDerostyne had closed on Stabler for second and would make the pass. Lange cruised to his fourth Fiesta City win of the year over VanDerostyne, who was well back in second. Stabler was third, Rossow fourth and Pedersen fifth.

RCS wins to Hartmann, Hendrickson, Tomlinson and Taves

The Midwest Sprint Touring Series was at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks on Friday night and Austin Hartmann of Plymouth, Wis., took home the NOSA 410 Sprint feature win. Jack Dover of Springfield, Neb., was second, Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks third, Jack Croaker of East Grand Forks was fourth and Brendan Mullen of Grand Forks was fifth.

Luke Hendrickson of Mekinock won the Lighting Sprint feature over Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush. Emmitt Isane of Badger was third.

Myles Tomlinson of Turtle Lake won the Western Renegade Wingless Sprint feature with Jeremy Lizakowski of Veseleyville second, Ken Hron of Grand Rapids was third, Nick Shirek of Thompson fourth and Eric Guyot was fifth.

Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes won the IMCA RaceSaver sprint feature with Ty Hanten of West Fargo taking second. Marcus Rothenbacher of Ulen was third, Cole Vanderheiden of Papillion was fourth and Jerzee Rosinski of Grand Forks was fifth.

Friday notes

--Andrew Jochim of Harwood won the IMCA Stock Car feature Friday night at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan.

--Fix it Forward Speedway in West Fargo and I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls had scheduled nights off. Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen cancelled because of the heat.