I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls hosted the Rebel Midwest Mod Tour on Friday while also hosting the Race for the Fallen Linemen Modified race. There were 37 midwest mods on hand and a 29-car modified set in attendance with excellent quality in both classes.
The Red Headed Rebel, Scott Bintz of Jamestown and Ashley Mehrwerth of St. Stephen led the 24-car Rebel Mod Tour. It was about as stacked a Midwest modified field as you will see outside of invitational season.
Bintz led the first lap, but a huge pileup took out a bunch of cars in turns one and two just one lap into the main event. Matt Schow of McIntosh, Ron Saurer of Dalton, Onyx Johnson of Lowry, Terry Reilly of Watertown and Nick Thoreson of Fort Ransom all were the cars I saw in that mess, I didn’t see what started it. Schow, Thoreson and Reilly were all done; Saurer returned after going to the pits for repairs. Johnson, only 13 and the son of long-time veteran Zach Johnson, was able to continue in the 73, the number his dad used for many, many years.
On the restart Mehrwerth took a look under Bintz but couldn’t make it stick. On the move was Brennan Weight of LaMoure who moved past both Mehrwerth and Stenberg to take over second with his sights set squarely on Bintz up front.
Jake Molitor of St. Cloud moved into fourth and the two-time defending Rebel champion, Lucas Rodin of Marion, N.D., moved into fifth. Weight took over the lead with 18 to go and Bintz now had Stenberg on his heel. Molitor soon joined that battle and Rodin was closing fast.
Weight opened up a 1.5 second lead with 14 to go, but the caution would wave when I-94 point leader Mike Nichols of Watertown broke and slowed on the backstretch, ending his night.
On the restart Stenberg moved into second and looked over Weight as Molitor took over third. Rodin was lurking in fifth. Molitor and Stenberg were locked in a great duel for second with Rodin taking over fourth.
Cole Boston of Lindstrom and Corey Storck or Morris had moved into contention for the top five; Storck would pass Bintz, who was fading back, for the spot.
Weight opened up about 1.406 second lead on Stenberg with four to go, and he would go on to pick up the win. Stenberg was second. Rodin went from eighth to third while Storck went from 13th to fourth. Molitor capped off a nice night in fifth. After the early pileup, there were a couple of spins but for the most part the racing was good throughout the field. Weight is the first repeat winner on the tour this year; Jones, Jory Berg of Grand Forks, Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown and Rodin have the other wins. The finale is tomorrow at Jamestown.
Series point leader Justin Jones had trouble in his B main, which was a wreck ‘em rodeo over the final three laps, and did not make the show. Fortunately for Jones you can throw out your worst finish on the tour. Up until Friday he had not finished outside the top three in any Rebel race this summer and had a win at Buffalo River Speedway.
Up next was the Race for the Fallen Lineman for the mods, with a stacked 29-car field on hand. Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls and the veteran Corky Thomas of Glyndon, driving Dusty Bitzan’s backup car, led the group to the green.
The Race for the Fallen Linemen race at Viking was won by Brady Gerdes. That event was organized by Corey Svor, the owner of Zach Johnson’s 6X modified. The event raises money for families of electrical line workers who lost their lives in the line of duty and is a great event.
Gronwold jumped out front but Thomas was applying pressure down low. Travis Saurer of Elizabeth settled into third ahead of Jason Thoennes of Garfield. The caution would wave when Erv Grossman of Fargo spun in turns one and two.
It turned into a battle of two former Wissota Midwest Modified rivals up front as Gronwold and Saurer were fighting for the lead. Saurer would take the lead with 26 to go, but Gronwold fought back. Moving into third was Brendan Blascyk of Hoffman.
Saurer broke with 23 to go and pulled in, giving Gronwold a pretty comfortable lead over Thoennes. Justin Froemming of Garfield was on the move, and got around Thoennes for second with 21 to go. The Ice Man, Don Eischens of Richmond, who won the Bob Gierke Memorial in July at I-94, was into fourth with Brady Gerdes of Villard – who started way back in 13th -- into fifth. Gerdes was far from done.
Gronwold led by a little over a second over Froemming, who was closing. Gerdes was flying in third. Froemming caught Gronwold; Gerdes was catching both, and Eischens was moving too in fourth. Former national champion Dave Cain of Corcoran had moved into fifth.
Gerdes got a huge surge on the bottom of turn two and passed Gronwold with six to go. Gronwold now had Froemming and Eischens to contend with for second.
Once Gerdes got in front, it was over. The 2X was on some kind of rail over the last 20 laps or so and was an impressive a win as he won officially by 3.067 seconds. It was one of the most impressive mod wins I’ve seen in a long time locally.
Froemming went from fifth to second while Gronwold was a solid third. Eischens was fourth and Cain finished fifth after starting 11th.
Greg Platzer and Kyle Anderson led the Wissota Streets to the green with Anderson leading the first lap.
National point leader Braden Brauer of Eyota was moving quickly, taking over second although Cory Dykhoff of Perham was following him. Eric Riley of Morris settled into fourth.
Dykhoff – who has had miserable luck the past few years – broke with 11 to go and slowed on the front stretch to bring out the first caution.
Brauer powered around Anderson on the restart as Riley became Anderson’s challenger. Cole Greseth of Harwood was running well in fourth. The caution would wave as Kasey Ussatis of Nome came to a stop by the wall on the backstretch; it looked like something broke on the front suspension of the 2U.
On the restart Riley made a surge underneath Brauer for the lead but the 34Jr had the momentum up high to retake the lead. Anderson and Greseth were fighting for third with Tyler Klugman of Wheaton running solidly in fifth.
Brauer opened up a two-second lead on Riley with four to go as Anderson and Greseth had the best battle on the track. Greseth has a commanding lead in the points at I-94, by the way. Those two ran side by side for a lot of the race.
Brauer picked up win #21 of the season by two seconds over Riley. Anderson outlasted Greseth for third with Klugman rounding out the top five.
Kris Wilke of Porter led early in the Gen X Late Model main event but Andrew Tysdal of Fergus Falls would take over the lead.
Tysdal’s lead vanished when Mike Hart spun his 24. Tysdal had Scott Zimmerman of Rothsay pressuring him on the restart.
Brad Staples of Herman had moved into third and he was starting to catch Zimmerman for second. Point leader Dave Mass of East Bethel moved into fourth.
Tysdal – aiming for his first career win – opened a few car lengths by the checkered, on his way to his first career win. Zimmerman was second, Staples was third, Mass was fourth and Jarrett Huus of Fergus Falls rounded out the top five. As I’ve mentioned in Facebook posts I can’t remember a year where so many drivers have earned their first career wins, I think I’ve counted 20 so far.
Willmar driver Jeff Rohner took the lead of the Short Tracker feature and opened up a decent advantage. It was a fierce battle for second between Shawn Beto of Wahpeton, Matthew Dittman and Dexyn Habraken.
Beto was reeling in Rohner with Dittman in tow, and Beto would take over the lead with six to go.
Dittman would get around Rohenr for second but faced a 2-3 car length deficit for the lead. Kevin Wahl of Fergus Falls was having a steady run in fourth with Cameron Haas moving past Kole Kampsen for fifth.
Dittman and Beto were locked in a great fight for the lead as the laps waned as Rohner slid back to third. Dittman made a run on the low side on the final lap but Beto had the momentum up top and earned victory #9 on 2023. He has nine wins in 16 starts; he has finished in the top five in every race this season.
Rohner was third, Wahl was fourth and Haas was fifth in a caution-free main event.
Gerdes also won the modified makeup feature from June over Joe Thomas of Glyndon. Blake Jegtvig of Hawley was third, Jason Thoennes of Garfield and Dusty Bitzan of Brandon was fifth. With 108 cars, and a makeup modified feature, the final checkered waved at 10:58 p.m. at I-94, not bad overall.
Mike Greseth Wins Night 2 of Howie Schill Memorial
Mike Greseth of Harwood – who wrecked on the first lap on Thursday – took advantage of lapped traffic to pick up the second night of the Howie Schill Memorial NLRA Late Model feature Friday night at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo. Greseth, the two-time NLRA champion, picked up $2,404 for the win.
The ageless Mitch Johnson of Hickson finished in the top three for a second straight night, taking second. Another long-time veteran, Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg, finished third. Tyler Peterson of Hickson, who led the first several laps, finished fourth – but picked up an extra $444 as a result of finishing in that spot. The hard charger, by my calculations, was Troy Schill of Thompson – who is the brother of the late Howie Schill.
Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada topped Tyler McDougall of Hawley for the IMCA Stock Car win. Keaten Froemke of Glyndon was third, Rob VanMil of Barnesville was fourth and Rick Schulz of Horace was fifth.
Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton won the INEX Legends feature over Corey Seckerson of Fargo. Australian Glenn Mitchell was third, Isaac Kitzmiller of Maysville, W.V., was fourth and Keelan Harvick of Harrisburg, N.C., was fifth.
Rich Pavlicek of Casselton ran away with the IMCA Sport Mod win over Brandon Ferris of Moorhead, who recorded his best finish of the year. Drew Papke of Bismarck was third, Reile Sailer of Fargo fourth and John Sandvig of West Fargo was fifth.
Hastings Wins Blazin’ Challenge at River Cities
Jade Hastings of Grand Forks topped Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks for the Blazin’ Challenge Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint feature win Friday night at River Cities Speedway. Austin Pierce of Grand Forks was third, Gage Pulkrabek of East Grand Forks was fourth and Brendan Mullen of Grand Forks was fifth.
John Halvorson of Warren topped Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks for the Wissota Street Stock feature win. Shane Swenson of Devils Lake was third, Weston Ramsrud of Bagley fourth and Josh Barker of Thompson fifth.
Lance Schill of Langdon topped Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Brandon Bahr of Tenstrike was third, Brennan Schmidt of Bemidji was fourth and Austin Hunter of Winnipeg.
National point leader Tyler Drueke of Eagle, Neb., won the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature over Dan Griep of Minnetonka. Tyler Rabenberg of Princeton was third, Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes fourth and Morgan Nyquist of Moorhead was fifth.
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