Two drivers picked up their first career wins Sunday night at the Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon. And one is only 12 years old.
Think about that -- a feature winner who just turned 12 years old. That is Cole Greseth of Harwood, who won the Mini Stock feature Sunday at Sheyenne. Cole is the nephew of Wissota Modified driver Mike Greseth of Harwood, who is one of the top runners in this region.
Joining Greseth as a first time winner was Jamestown driver Jaren Wibstad, who captured the Wissota Midwest Modified feature on Sunday. Other feature winners included Todd Carter of Lisbon in the Wissota Street Stocks, Zack Nord of Enderlin in the Hobby Stocks, Jarrett Carter of Lisbon in the IMCA Modifieds and Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead in the INEX Legends.
Another twist of the night -- Todd Carter is Jarrett's father. So it was a father-son victory night for those two, marking the second time the two have won features on the same night.
There is some good momentum at Sheyenne right now. The stands had another good crowd, and car counts were solid at 78 for the six classes. The numbers were down a bit in the INEX Legends with nine, and the hobby stocks matched that with nine, but overall the IMCA Mods (16), mini stocks (21), midwest mods (12) and street stocks (11) had good numbers. I can't comment on the track condition -- it rubbered up for the features up high on Sunday from my reports -- but I think the track overall has had a good first half of the year. Last week I thought the track was pretty racy.
Greseth, a rookie in the mini stocks, entered victory lane on the wrecker after a crash on the final lap. He started second on the 21-car field to pick up the win. Roger "Pokey" Lukes of Lisbon was second, Matt Bogart of Milnor was third, Drew Bixby of Milnor fourth and Gavin Walton of Englevale fifth.
Wibstad, 19, in just his second year of racing, picked up his first career feature win in the midwest modifieds. He started third and topped Lucas Rodin of Marion and Brennan Urbach of Englevale for the win. Zach Reinke of Lisbon was fourth and Nate Reinke of Lisbon, who won at Jamestown on Saturday, was fifth. Wibstad has been running well of late at Sheyenne with some top five finishes.
Nord picked up win #2 of the season -- and career -- with the hobby stock feature victory. Last week's winner, Jordan Sours of Lisbon, finished second with Austin Wimer of Gwinner third.
Carlsrud followed suit, picking up his second win of 2019 and second career win in the INEX Legends. Sean Johnson of Kindred was second and Alex Kukowski of Edgeley was third. Carlsrud won at Buffalo River Race Park earlier this season.
Todd Carter picked up his second win of 2019 in the Wissota Street Stocks; he is the only driver to win a feature other than Jonny Carter this season. Now, this isn't Todd Carter's second career win, he's had more than a few in his long career. Matthew Lesmeister of Lisbon was second, Jerry Lamb of Lisbon third, Eric Riley of Morris, Minn., fourth and Cory Rodin of Marion fifth.
Jarrett Carter picked up his first IMCA Modified feature win of the year. He started on the pole of the 15-car field and earned the win. Myles Tomlinson of Turtle Lake was second, Dave Shipley of Argusville third, Allen Kent of West Fargo moved up from 12th to fourth while John Corell of Jamestown place fifth.
More notes
--Sheyenne, of the RaceChaser tracks, draws the most mini stock/hornet cars weekly; they have averaged 20 per night. The track has benefitted some from rainouts at other tracks but has a good, local base which is important.
Englevale driver Neil Walton is one guy who wants to grow the class in that area by getting younger drivers involved, and the Bogart family also has several cars out there. By the way, there have been six different winners in six nights in the minis at Sheyenne.
--Sheyenne has had much better luck weather wise than a lot of tracks. Sunday was the sixth consecutive night the 1/4-mile has raced; only River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks has matched that streak in this region.`
--Sheyenne is off now until August. With July 4 and a lot of area events going on the track worked a schedule to try and maximize the crowd capability. The track has some big events on the docket -- SpeedFest on Aug. 4 and the NLRA Late Models on Aug. 18 being among them. A challenge for the promoters is to re-establish that momentum after basically a month off.
--Randy Klein of Lisbon sold his Wissota Midwest Modified but still has his IMCA modified.
Other Notes
--Tyler Peterson of Hickson has sure figured out Casino Speedway in Watertown, S.D. He won his third Wissota Modified feature in a row at the 1/4-mile oval on Sunday. He started fourth on the grid. I've talked to Peterson and he absolute loves that bullring, which might be the most unique track in this part of the country..
--Daniel Harstad of Fergus Falls won the Wissota Hornet feature Saturday night at Madison Speedway in Madison, Minn.
First-Time Wins Club
By my count, the following eight drivers, in the RaceChaser coverage area, have picked up their first wins of their career in 2019:
Tucker Pederson, East Grand Forks (Wissota Street Stock at River Cities, June 28)
Kelby Anderson, Fort Ransom (Mini Stocks at Sheyenne Speedway)
Brody Carlsrud, Moorhead (INEX Legends at Buffalo River Race Park, June 1)
Zack Nord, Enderlin (Hobby Stock at Sheyenne Speedway, June 2)
Jaren Wibstad, Jamestown (Wissota Midwest Modified at Sheyenne Speedway, June 30)
Cole Greseth, Harwood (Mini Stock at Sheyenne Speedway, June 30)
Zach Kort, Fergus Falls (Short Tracker at I-94, June 28)
Dillon Thorpe, Monango (Bombers at Jamestown Speedway, May 11)
If there is anybody that I might be missing (these are first career wins and not first win in a new division) please let me know.
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