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Adams, Labelle, LaValley, Tourville, Schwinn and Berg burn up the track as Bemidji season comes to a close for 2026

By Dennis Peterson

BEMIDJI, MN (October 3) - Fans came prepared for the second day of the Stampede dressed in parkas and hoodies, as northwest winds blew into the grandstands. They were all ready for the final day of racing at Bemidji Speedway in 2026, however. Former WISSOTA track owner and National Champion Don Shaw had the track in incredible condition and the racers were ready to battle.

Scotty Messner and Charlie Paridis led the Streets on track with the two racing wheel to wheel for the lead. But, from third starting spot Keith Tourville powered up to secure the top spot on lap two with Messner and Levi Randt close behind. The top three raced out alone on the track leaving the contenders behind. In turns one and two Randt passed Messner for second, but Tourville had a three-car-length lead and picked up the clean sweep win for his first Stampede championship. Randt and Messner finished second and third.

Ron Saurer and Joey LaValley brought the WISSOTA Midwest Mods on track with a door to door battle for the lead for two laps. On lap three LaValley drove to the advantage ahead of Saurer with Justin Olson third. LaValley was once again incredibly fast and quickly grew his lead ahead of Saurer and Olson. A caution in turn one brought out the yellow.

Racing back under green, along the high side of the track, LaValley quickly regained his lead and pulled into victory lane to a cheering crowd. The local kid who hadn’t raced all summer, racing in a borrowed car, picked up the Stampede trophy. Olson was second and Saurer third in a thrilling race.

Christian Kast and Chad Reller led the WISSOTA Hornets to the green flag, with Kast in the top spot early. He was followed by third-row starter William Lange, who made his way into second as Reller slipped back to third. Adam Kessler displaced Reller back another spot as Kessler the final podium spot. Kast and Lange raced bumper to bumper before Lange chose to ride the high side and proved it was working, taking the lead in the flag-to-flag feature race. Lange picked up the Stampede victory, trailed by Kast and Kessler on the podium.

The WISSOTA Pure Stocks drove on track led by Alex Berg and Kade Leeper in row one. Berg had the early advantage, while Leeper and Chad Puschinsky raced in the top three. Jake Smith moved into contention, as multiple side-by-side duels occurred in the pack. Berg and Leeper were side by side for the lead, while Puschinsky and Smith were side by side for a top three spot. Behind them, Austin Carlson and Mason Smith were door to door in terrific Pure Stock action. A caution changed it all and put them back in line for a restart.

Once the green flag waved again, Jake Smith moved into third but following another caution was forced to pit with a flat tire and Leeper was sent tailback.

Berg held the lead following the caution, with Mason Smith looking for a double Stampede victory for the weekend. Berg held his line and picked up the win in impressive fashion, however, with Mason Smith second and Carlson third.

Making the trip north for the second day of Stampede action, Dylan Nelson found himself on the pole with Cameron Labelle to his right. Labelle picked up where he left off the night before, screaming to the lead with Nelson and Dalton Carlson trailing. The field of Supers spread around the fast track until a spin in turn four brought out the caution.

Back under green, Labelle was ready and once again quickly powered to the lead and a sweep of the Super Stock feature at the 48th Stampede. Nelson was second with Carlson third.

The Mod Fours were led to the green by Jeffrey Marthaler and Brooke Erickson. Looking for her second win of the weekend, Erickson grabbed control early, trailed by Ashton Schwinn and Marthaler. Robert Holtquist moved up and passed Marthaler for third.

The duel between Erickson and Schwinn became a side-by-side fight, with neither driver giving an inch. Schwinn raced low in turns three and four and made the clean pass for the top spot. Holtquist joined the leaders and after a side-by-side race with Erickson, he took over second along the back straight. Schwinn picked up the feature win trailed by Holtquist and Erickson on the podium.

The WISSOTA Modifieds entered the track with Eric Thiesse and J.T. Johnson in row one. Lap one was led by Johnson, ahead of Thiesse and Blake Adams in the top three. Adams dropped down to the bottom and made the pass for second. Track conditions were ideal and the leaders put on a show high and low.

Following a caution and restart Johnson and Adams and Travis Saurer dueled back and forth with each gaining the lead for a moment — only to have the next take their turn and power into the top spot. Saurer led, and then Johnson came back with a high-low pass while Adams waited for his moment to pounce. First it was on the back straight inside for second, and then a few laps later it was in turns three and four, racing high and then low into the lead on the last lap to claim the victory. Johnson was second, with Saurer third.

In another tight side-by-side race to the checkered flag, this time in the track’s Mini Stock class, Conrad Schwinn won by a nose ahead of Nick McCann, completing a clean sweep on the day. McCann and Ashton Schwinn trailed on the podium.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 2. 89-JT Johnson[2]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[5]; 4. 22-Davey Mills[4]; 5. 17B-Zach Benson[7]; 6. 13-Devyn Weleski[8]; 7. 2R-Jeff Reed[3]; 8. 15R-Raice Westover[10]; 9. 15T-Eric Thiesse[1]; 10. 5-Cole Shake[11]; 11. 41-Ron Westover[9]; 12. 15-Tanner Thiesse[13]; 13. (DNF) 267-Nic Lewis[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 89-JT Johnson[2]; 3. 13-Devyn Weleski[5]; 4. 15T-Eric Thiesse[4]; 5. 41-Ron Westover[6]; 6. 15-Tanner Thiesse[7]; 7. 267-Nic Lewis[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Davey Mills[2]; 2. 21X-Travis Saurer[4]; 3. 2R-Jeff Reed[1]; 4. 17B-Zach Benson[3]; 5. 15R-Raice Westover[6]; 6. 5-Cole Shake[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 27C-Cameron Labelle[2]; 2. 25-Dylan Nelson[1]; 3. 57-Dalton Carlson[4]; 4. 81X-Matt Sparby[5]; 5. 32-Butch Butcher[3]; 6. 72-Mike Johnson[6]; 7. 4A-Allan Cleveland[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Dylan Nelson[1]; 2. 57-Dalton Carlson[6]; 3. 27C-Cameron Labelle[2]; 4. 32-Butch Butcher[3]; 5. 81X-Matt Sparby[4]; 6. 72-Mike Johnson[7]; 7. 4A-Allan Cleveland[5]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 74B-Joseph LaValley[2]; 2. 169-Justin Olson[3]; 3. 42-Ron Saurer[1]; 4. 07-Carter Matthews[5]; 5. 18X-Connor Drewry[4]; 6. 32-Brennan Schmidt[6]; 7. 11K-Travis Klein[8]; 8. 317-Austin Polonoski[11]; 9. 3B-Phil Christlieb[15]; 10. 115-Kalin Honer[9]; 11. 17-Nick Shumansky[12]; 12. 62K-Ryan Kough[7]; 13. 21W-Bruce Hislaw[16]; 14. (DNF) 16-Skyler Smith[10]; 15. (DNS) 6K-Noah Bitz; 16. (DNS) 19-Darrin Lawler

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 07-Carter Matthews[6]; 2. 74B-Joseph LaValley[4]; 3. 62K-Ryan Kough[3]; 4. 11K-Travis Klein[1]; 5. 115-Kalin Honer[7]; 6. (DNF) 21W-Bruce Hislaw[8]; 7. (DNF) 19-Darrin Lawler[5]; 8. (DNF) 6K-Noah Bitz[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 169-Justin Olson[1]; 2. 42-Ron Saurer[2]; 3. 18X-Connor Drewry[5]; 4. 32-Brennan Schmidt[6]; 5. 16-Skyler Smith[7]; 6. 317-Austin Polonoski[3]; 7. 17-Nick Shumansky[4]; 8. (DNF) 3B-Phil Christlieb[8]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 111JR-Keith Tourville[3]; 2. 11-Levi Randt[7]; 3. 18-Scotty Messner[1]; 4. 39-Deryk Weleski[4]; 5. 29P-Charlie Paradis[2]; 6. 49S-John Halvorson[6]; 7. 67X-Chad Ramsrud[5]; 8. 15-Rodney Hulst[9]; 9. 34-Aaron Bitker[10]; 10. 11C-Cody Bush[11]; 11. (DNF) 28-Greg Jose[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 111JR-Keith Tourville[3]; 2. 18-Scotty Messner[2]; 3. 39-Deryk Weleski[1]; 4. 67X-Chad Ramsrud[4]; 5. (DNF) 15-Rodney Hulst[5]; 6. (DNF) 11C-Cody Bush[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[4]; 2. 49S-John Halvorson[1]; 3. 29P-Charlie Paradis[3]; 4. 34-Aaron Bitker[5]; 5. 28-Greg Jose[2]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[4]; 2. 5-Robert Holtquist[3]; 3. 99E-Brooke Erickson[2]; 4. 37-Dean Larson[6]; 5. 44-Chad Erlandson[7]; 6. C92-Jeffrey Marthaler[1]; 7. 6-Conrad Schwinn[5]; 8. 118-Brandon Backstrom[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[1]; 2. 99E-Brooke Erickson[2]; 3. C92-Jeffrey Marthaler[3]; 4. 6-Conrad Schwinn[7]; 5. 5-Robert Holtquist[6]; 6. 37-Dean Larson[4]; 7. 44-Chad Erlandson[5]; 8. 118-Brandon Backstrom[8]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 18B-Alex Berg[1]; 2. 21-Mason Smith[8]; 3. 57-Austin Carlson[7]; 4. 15-Caylyn Binkley[12]; 5. 3-Kade Leeper[2]; 6. 86J-Jake Smith[5]; 7. 52W-Austin Fencl[6]; 8. 25-Billy Binkley[9]; 9. 22H-Justin Honer[10]; 10. 88-Chad Puschinsky[3]; 11. 8-Karen Puschinsky[4]; 12. (DNF) 10-Anthony Ravina[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[4]; 2. 18B-Alex Berg[6]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[5]; 4. 8-Karen Puschinsky[2]; 5. 25-Billy Binkley[1]; 6. (DNF) 15-Caylyn Binkley[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Mason Smith[4]; 2. 57-Austin Carlson[5]; 3. 3-Kade Leeper[1]; 4. 88-Chad Puschinsky[3]; 5. 22H-Justin Honer[2]; 6. 10-Anthony Ravina[6]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature (10 Laps): 1. 40-William Lange[5]; 2. 03-Christian Kast[1]; 3. 8X-Adam Kessler[4]; 4. 11-Bryce Mueller[7]; 5. 28R-Chad Reller[2]; 6. 72-Aiden Kessler[3]; 7. 35F-Brianna Feda[8]; 8. 67A-Avery Ramsrud[10]; 9. (DNF) 28-Logan Delaney[6]; 10. (DNS) 19-Josh Backstrom

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-William Lange[2]; 2. 11-Bryce Mueller[1]; 3. 03-Christian Kast[3]; 4. 8X-Adam Kessler[4]; 5. 35F-Brianna Feda[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 72-Aiden Kessler[2]; 2. 28-Logan Delaney[1]; 3. 28R-Chad Reller[3]; 4. 67A-Avery Ramsrud[4]; 5. (DNS) 19-Josh Backstrom

Mini Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[3]; 2. 50-Nick McCann[7]; 3. 94-Ashton Schwinn[1]; 4. 77-Hayden Engen[8]; 5. 72-Evan Hepsak[6]; 6. 14-Cooper Francis[12]; 7. 7G-Jayme Gordon[5]; 8. 3H-Kaylie Hunter[2]; 9. 5-Cody Meyers[4]; 10. 117-Gordon Hunter[9]; 11. 26-Brooke McCann[10]; 12. 7-Karlie Feda[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 94-Ashton Schwinn[1]; 2. 3H-Kaylie Hunter[3]; 3. 77-Hayden Engen[6]; 4. 5-Cody Meyers[2]; 5. 117-Gordon Hunter[4]; 6. 7-Karlie Feda[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[5]; 2. 50-Nick McCann[1]; 3. 72-Evan Hepsak[2]; 4. 7G-Jayme Gordon[6]; 5. 26-Brooke McCann[3]; 6. (DQ) 14-Cooper Francis[4]