Night 3 of the Steffes Street Stock Tour was at Viking Speedway on Sunday night. Another good field of 25 street stocks were on hand.
Viking had a nice, smooth track all weekend and ran a very efficient show on Sunday. The final checkered flag waved at 8:41 p.m. All in all it was a good weekend at the half-mile and the first three nights have produced solid racing.
Once again the street stock main event came down to the wire with some great racing.
Once again, things got crazy late, Justin Vogel of Brooten, Ty Agen of Chippewa Falls, Wis., and Kolton Brauer of Rochester battled for the top spot. Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck, the runner up by a few feet on Saturday and defending Viking champion Ryan Satter also were right in the thick of that battle.
Just as things were heating up, a caution waved with two to go.
With the green-white-checkered finish Vogel was the leader. Satter went to the outside Brauer with Dykhoff making a charge on the bottom.
Satter was beside Vogel for a while I thought had a shot at the win, but could not make the line stick, and Dykhoff moved into second with Kolton Brauer moving into third.
Vogel would prevail at a track where he has won a lot of features; he is the third Steffes winner in three nights. Vogel has been in the top five all three nights and will be tough on the tour.
Dykhoff hasn’t had the greatest success at Viking in the past but I’ll bet he will take two second-place finishes on the weekend. He has three wins already this year and the #11 has been fast from the get-go.
Kolton Brauer was third with Satter fourth as both had good runs. Kyle Anderson of Jamestown also had a good night, going from seventh to fifth. Hunter Carter, Saturday’s winner, was sixth.
Some contenders suffered DNFs, including 2020 Steffes champion Jonny Carter, now of Fairmont, N.D., Jeff Ekdahl of Oakdale and Nitro Jimmy Williams of De Graff.
Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls was looking to bounce back from a DNF on Saturday and had the front row of the Wissota Midwest Modified feature along with Haley Lee of Starbuck.
Gronwold, the winner Friday at I-94 Sure Step Speedway, wasn’t going to be denied this time.
Brendan Blascyk of Kensington, who finished sixth on Saturday and already with one win this season, had to settle for second. Cody the Cobra Lee, the driver who dominated the field on Saturday, went from eighth to third to cap off two good nights at the half-mile. Haley Lee also had a good run, finishing a season-best fourth, with Taylor Bitzan having his best run in a Midwest modified to take fifth.
The big one almost happened on Lap 1 of the Short Tracker feature as Maddie Swenson’s 52 was struck and got turned, leaving a caution. That left the 52 machine without a bumper, but everybody else avoided serious damage, thankfully.
Swenson was the early leader with Tristan Raaths putting the head on. The 2 car of Kole Kampsen of Brooten also became a factor.
Raths took over the lead but Kampsen soon took control. Also on the move was Jeff Hanson of Barrett as he moved his Mustang into the top five.
Kampsen ran a higher line and it seemed to stick as he pulled away from Raths on his way to the win. Raths was second while Engler held on for third. Swenson had a solid run in fourth with
Bailey Rosch is a second-year Wissota Super Stock driver but looked like a seasoned veteran on Sunday.
The Scott brothers, Brenden and Travis, held the front row. Rosch soon took over the lead with Karter Reents of Glenwood settling into second.
Matt Miller of Glenwood, the opening night winner at Viking, worked on Travis Scott for third. Jeff Crouse of Alexandria and Trevor Saurer of Dalton, Saturday’s winner, battled for fifth. Saurer cleared Crouse and then eventually got around Scott for third.
Rosch stuck the #28 to the bottom line the whole race and never flinched on his way to his first career win. Reents wasn’t far back at the finish but couldn’t get close enough to mount a big threat and settled for second. Miller was third, Saurer was fourth and Travis Scott fifth. Three nights for Viking super stocks with three different winners, I expect the class to have a lot of parity this season.
Travis Saurer of Elizabeth and Zach Johnson of Lowry held the front row of the Wissota Modified feature. Saurer took the lead from the green with Johnson settling into second ahead of Brady Gerdes of Villard.
Saurer opened up 5-6 car lengths on Johnson, who had Gerdes chasing him. Dusty Bitzan of Brandon was also working on Gerdes.
Saturday’s winner Danny Bayer of Elrosa was in fifth with Jason Thoennes of Brandon moving into sixth past McKenzie Mikkelson of Alexandria.
With no cautions, the field got a little spread out although Gerdes was persistent in his chase of Johnson which was a really good race. Bayer and Thoennes also went at it hard for fifth.
Saurer was happy to see the battle for second as he pulled away to a nice cushion. Gerdes finally cleared Johnson for second but the deficit was too much as Saurer prevailed for his first Wissota Mod win of the year. Gerdes, Johnson, Bitzan and Thoennes rounded out the top five
Steffes Street Stock Winners 2022 May 27, I-94 Sure Step Speedway (Ty Agen) May 28, Viking Speedway (Hunter Carter)
May 29, Viking Speedway (Justin Vogel)
Peterson Now 3-for-3 at Casino; Becker, Nichols, Rossow Add Wins
Tyler Peterson of Hickson continued his dominance of the Casino Speedway Bullring on Sunday night.
Considering Casino was running against a $5,000 to win late model special at Huset’s Speedway, 12 late models isn’t bad at all. A few Casino regulars were down in Huset’s for that event.
Nineteen-year-old Bodie Croninger of Watertown went to the high line and took over the lead early over Tony Croninger. Long-time veteran Doug Walsh of Watertown settled into third.
Tony Croninger was in second but got sideways in turn four and lost several spots moving Walsh int osecond. Moments later Tony Croninger spun to bring out the first caution with 15 to go.
Bodie Croninger was cranking on his #811 machine and opened up a few car lengths on Walsh on the restart. Last week’s winner Trajan Schmidt of Watertown moved into third with Keith Konold moving into fourth. Things got a little spread out as Bodie Croninger maintained a little breathing room over Walsh. Schmidt settled into third.
Bodie Croninger picked up the win in impressive fashion with Walsh taking second. Schmidt had a solid run in third with Konold and Scott Harrington of Waubay rounding out the top five. Bodie Croninger was celebrating big-time in victory lane.
The question in the Wissota Mods was if anybody could derail Tyler Peterson of Hickson, who won the first two nights at the bullring and also won Saturday at Greenbush.
Watertown drivers Lee Grosz and Cayden Schmeiling led the Wissota Mods to the feature with Superman Mike Stearns of Heclo settling into third.
Schmeling used the bottom to take the lead over Grosz, a former sprint car driver. The first caution waved for a two-car spin in turns one and two with 23 laps left.
After the restart, a tense four-car battle for third between Grosz, Peterson, Dale Ames of Huron and Brandon Copp of Brule, Wis. Peterson eventually took over the spot.
Stearns, meanwhile was closing the gap on Schmeling using the high line and took over the lead with 17 to go. Peterson, meanwhile was flying and as soon as the leaders hit lapped traffic, Peterson made his move on the bottom into the lead. Stearns moved into second and those two were well ahead of the rest of the field.
The caution waved with 10 to go and I was curious if Stearns had anything for Peterson. But the #1TPO was too strong on this night as he is now 3-for-3 with a four-second win by more than a straightaway. Stearns, the winner on Saturday at Miller, was second.
Ames and Schmeling had a good battle for third with Copp not far behind. Ames took third with Copp taking over fourth. The best race was for third between Ames and Copp with Ames prevailing. Schmeling was fifth; he is a rookie in the mods.
The long-haul award for the night goes to Copp the trip from his hometown of Brule, Wis., to Watertown is about 360 miles, one way.
Trevor Walsh of Watertown quickly moved to the lead of the Wissota Late Model feature.David Carlson of Huron moved into second with Ryan Engels moving into third. Last week’s winner and former national champion Chad Becker was on the move and quickly was in the top four.
Engels slipped up high in turn two and that opened the door for Becker to take third; shortly after he passed Carlson who was running down low.
Walsh had a few car lengths on Becker but the gap was shrinking. Engels settled back into third.
A caution with 14 to go brought Becker to Walsh’s bumper. Becker was working the low line and eventually took the top spot. Walsh now had to contend with Engels and Carlson for second.
Becker was in control although Walsh was only a few car lengths behind. Quietly making his way into contention was Week 1 winner Josh Skorczewski of Aberdeen, who was battling Engels and Carlson for third.
Becker picked up his second win in a row over Walsh, who had a nice run. Skorczewski was third, Engels fourth and Carlson fifth.
Mike Nichols of Watertown prevailed in the Wissota Midwest Modified main event after starting fifth. Lindsey Hansen of Watertown, hungry for that first win, finished a season-best second after starting fourth. The long-time veteran from Miller, S.D., Lorin Johnson was third while Scott Harrington was fourth and Scott Hansen of Watertown fifth. Hansen was the winner last week and has yet to finish outside the top five.
Andy Rossow of Florence won the Wissota Street Stock main event over Maria Broksieck of Goodwin. Broksieck has finished no worse than second in all three nights at Casino. Rossow is the third different winner in three nights in the street stocks at Casino.
Last week’s winner Jason Marko of Watertown was third while Matt Goth of Huron fourth. Tyler Lamb of Clark was fifth with Greg Jose of Grand Forks taking sixth.
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