10-21 Page 5 | ATD Racing News

Vesel, Broking, Blom, Jensen and Fosso serve up some Hot Dish at Hibbing’s final 2025 show

By Jackson Braun

HIBBING, MN (October 11) - The 2025 season for Hibbing Speedway came to a close on a beautiful autumn day, perfect for some hot dish with a side of racing at the Hot Dish Nationals. In the pits, 115 race cars in five WISSOTA classes all competed for $1,000-to-win, and the Crown Vics class had its inaugural race at Hibbing Speedway in a preview of what’s to come weekly in 2026.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Derek Vesel, Austin Blom, Bob Broking, Joey Jensen, and Brady Fosso.

In the WISSOTA Super Stocks, Dylan Nelson made his first Hibbing appearance of the season, starting from the pole alongside Rick Simpson. Nelson took command of the contest and held the top spot for the first nine laps. Unfortunately, going down the backstretch, Nelson's car came up lame and he exited the track, surrendering the lead to Austin Blom. Blom held strong ahead of a group of drivers vying for second through fifth. Blom drove on to the victory ahead of track champion Dalton Carlson, Simpson, Doug Koski, and the Upper Penninsula’s Patrick Beeksma.

Next up were the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, who had a strong field of 39 racers on hand. WISSOTA National Champion Tyler Vernon led the field to green, but Michael Blevins, Sr. got the jump from the outside of the front row. Blevins moved out to a 1.5 second-lead by lap seven ahead of Vernon. Vernon's car ended up slowing coming into turn three, leaving Mikey Blevins and Joey Jensen nowhere to go. Mikey's car took quite a tumble, ending the up-and-down season for the younger Blevins.

His dad again pulled out to a decent lead after the race resumed, but this time, Jensen was lurking. Blevins and Jensen caught lapped traffic a few laps before the end of the race; Blevins took the white flag and made a slight mistake in turn two, which was enough for Jensen to slip past him. Blevins attempted a “hail mary” move in turns three and four, but did not have enough juice to complete the winning pass. Jensen took the win to cap off his amazing 2025 season, but ended up just short of Vernon in the national title hunt. Track champion Andy Davey, David Simpson and Paul Ripley completed the top five.

Eighteen WISSOTA Late Models were present for the final 25-lap feature race of the season. Kyle Peterlin and Derek Vesel led the field to green, and Vesel shot around the high side of the speedway to the early race lead. Peterlin gave chase, but Vesel's green-and-white throwback machine, honoring his father Steve, was a rocketship. Vesel led every lap en route to his first Hibbing victory of 2025 ahead of Peterlin, Kevin Burdick, Jeff Provinzino and Zach Wohlers in the top five.

Asked about winning in the tribute car to his dad, Vesel was very grateful he was able to have one more chance to park it in victory lane at his home track.

The WISSOTA Modifieds feature race was the penultimate race of the night, as an autumn chill set over the facility. Tanner Gehl led the field to green with veteran Bob Broking to his outside. Broking looked just as fast as he has all season at Hibbing, dominating the field ahead of WISSOTA National Champion Blake Adams, Jack Rivord, Mervin Castle III and Jeffrey Wood in the top five.

The 30-lap WISSOTA Hornet contest had $1,000 on the line and they were led to green by McKenna Folstad and Selena Owen. Folstad settled into first, as track champion and Labor Day Shootout winner Brady Fosso lurked behind. Folstad and Fosso had the cars to beat at Hibbing in 2025, and the Hot Dish Nationals proved to be no different. Folstad, Fosso and Owen set a pretty torrid pace ahead of the rest of the 23-car field. Fosso moved by Folstad during the middle of the race to claim the lead, while a late-race restart was bad juju for Owens, who was knocked out of the racing line and fell all the way to the back of the pack.

Fosso claimed the win to complete the sweep of “specials season’ after winning the track championship with no regular season victories. Folstad was second ahead of hard charger Calvin Skaja, who completed an impressive run of 14th-to-3rd over the course of the 30 laps.

The Crown Vic division has been added as a weekly class for 2026 and their feature was a preview for next year. Mike Layne, Andy Oksa, and Wayne Nelson pulled ahead of Dustin Hammer and Jason Jensen to begin the 10-lap showdown. Layne led the field until a broken rear end took him out of the race. Nelson took the lead after the restart and never looked back, claiming the first-ever Crown Vic win at Hibbing Speedway. Oksa, Hammer, Jensen, and Layne completed the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 16-Derek Vesel[2]; 2. 23-Kyle Peterlin[1]; 3. 30-Kevin Burdick[4]; 4. 28-Jeff Provinzino[9]; 5. 71-Zach Wohlers[5]; 6. 12X-Ben Heinle[3]; 7. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[8]; 8. 34-Taylor Madrinich[12]; 9. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[15]; 10. F15-Devin Fouquette[7]; 11. 42-Paul Niznik[14]; 12. 73-Brandon Englund[11]; 13. 55S-Ryan Schaufler[13]; 14. (DNF) 12-Mark Heinle[6]; 15. (DNF) 13-Roger Paolo[16]; 16. (DNF) 54-Rick Niemi[10]; 17. (DNF) 37X-Skeeter Estey[18]; 18. (DNS) 6M-Jeff Massingill

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Derek Vesel[1]; 2. F15-Devin Fouquette[2]; 3. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[4]; 4. 54-Rick Niemi[6]; 5. 42-Paul Niznik[5]; 6. 13-Roger Paolo[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Kyle Peterlin[3]; 2. 12-Mark Heinle[1]; 3. 28-Jeff Provinzino[4]; 4. 73-Brandon Englund[2]; 5. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[5]; 6. (DNS) 37X-Skeeter Estey

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12X-Ben Heinle[1]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[3]; 3. 71-Zach Wohlers[5]; 4. 34-Taylor Madrinich[2]; 5. 55S-Ryan Schaufler[6]; 6. (DNF) 6M-Jeff Massingill[4]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 45-Bob Broking[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 19J-Jack Rivord[3]; 4. 10-Mervin Castle III[5]; 5. 55W-Jeffrey Wood[7]; 6. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[10]; 7. 2R-Jeff Reed[6]; 8. 22-Tyler Kintner[9]; 9. 2-Tanner Gehl[1]; 10. M2-Chris Magistad[13]; 11. 43-Lance Schilling[8]; 12. 12-TJ Heinle[12]; 13. 46H-Ken Hron[11]; 14. (DNS) 11-Jody Bellefeuille

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 45-Bob Broking[2]; 2. 2-Tanner Gehl[5]; 3. 2R-Jeff Reed[1]; 4. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[4]; 5. 55W-Jeffrey Wood[7]; 6. 12-TJ Heinle[3]; 7. (DNF) 11-Jody Bellefeuille[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 19J-Jack Rivord[4]; 3. 10-Mervin Castle III[6]; 4. 22-Tyler Kintner[3]; 5. 43-Lance Schilling[7]; 6. 46H-Ken Hron[2]; 7. (DNF) M2-Chris Magistad[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 3B-Austin Blom[4]; 2. 57-Dalton Carlson[3]; 3. 77K-Rick Simpson[2]; 4. 76-Doug Koski[6]; 5. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[8]; 6. 69X-Andy LaBarge[9]; 7. T26-Nic Lewis[10]; 8. 11-Kevin Salin[5]; 9. 65-Ron Reed[15]; 10. 17-Faye Lewis[11]; 11. (DNF) 01-Trevor Arens[7]; 12. (DNF) 25-Dylan Nelson[1]; 13. (DNF) 30-Dan Severson[14]; 14. (DNF) 41X-Mikey Vajdl[12]; 15. (DNF) 37-John Garrity[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Dalton Carlson[2]; 2. 76-Doug Koski[1]; 3. 11-Kevin Salin[5]; 4. 01-Trevor Arens[6]; 5. 69X-Andy LaBarge[7]; 6. 17-Faye Lewis[4]; 7. 37-John Garrity[8]; 8. (DNF) 30-Dan Severson[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3B-Austin Blom[1]; 2. 25-Dylan Nelson[6]; 3. 77K-Rick Simpson[8]; 4. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[5]; 5. T26-Nic Lewis[2]; 6. 41X-Mikey Vajdl[4]; 7. (DNF) 65-Ron Reed[7]; 8. (DQ) 19-Tristan LaBarge[3]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[7]; 2. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[2]; 3. 91-Andy Davey[8]; 4. 70-David Simpson[5]; 5. 28-Paul Ripley[3]; 6. 1-Jake Stai[4]; 7. 15-Sam Blevins[11]; 8. 33-Jake Hagemann[19]; 9. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[20]; 10. 76-Keith Koski[9]; 11. 69-Mark Kangas[16]; 12. 74-Gary James Nelson[23]; 13. 428-Kevin O'Dell[15]; 14. 7P-Cory Peterson[14]; 15. 22E-Ethan Elhardt[10]; 16. 7A-Eric Anderson[24]; 17. 41-Austin McClellan[12]; 18. 31-Randy Haupt[13]; 19. M2-Chris Magistad[22]; 20. 47-Don Craig[21]; 21. (DNF) 57JR-Robert Squitti[17]; 22. (DNF) 41V-Tyler Vernon[1]; 23. (DNF) 10JR-Mikey Blevins[6]; 24. (DNS) 50-Brady Caul

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Stai[3]; 2. 28-Paul Ripley[7]; 3. 69-Mark Kangas[1]; 4. 76-Keith Koski[8]; 5. 21R-Ross Siiter[2]; 6. 26K-Sam Kolar[4]; 7. 44-Brayden Rewertz[5]; 8. (DNF) 12A-Alex O'Dell[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[1]; 2. 91-Andy Davey[3]; 3. 50-Brady Caul[2]; 4. M2-Chris Magistad[4]; 5. 7A-Eric Anderson[7]; 6. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[5]; 7. 20-Matthew Anderson[6]; 8. 33L-Travis Tupa[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 41V-Tyler Vernon[8]; 2. 15-Sam Blevins[1]; 3. 22E-Ethan Elhardt[5]; 4. 31-Randy Haupt[7]; 5. 9-Bobby Carpenter[3]; 6. 68G-Eric Gruba[2]; 7. (DNF) 27B-Dave DeVente[4]; 8. (DQ) 14G-Brant Gruba[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[2]; 2. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[4]; 3. 57JR-Robert Squitti[1]; 4. 47-Don Craig[5]; 5. 1J-Joe Pangrac[7]; 6. 6-John Norris[8]; 7. (DNF) 57-Blake Higginbotham[3]; 8. (DNS) 76K-Mitch Kieber

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[5]; 2. 41-Austin McClellan[2]; 3. 428-Kevin O'Dell[4]; 4. 7P-Cory Peterson[7]; 5. 33-Jake Hagemann[6]; 6. 74-Gary James Nelson[1]; 7. 13X-Frank Paolo[3]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 33-Jake Hagemann[3]; 2. 47-Don Craig[1]; 3. 74-Gary James Nelson[5]; 4. 1J-Joe Pangrac[2]; 5. 21R-Ross Siiter[4]; 6. 12A-Alex O'Dell[10]; 7. 14G-Brant Gruba[11]; 8. 26K-Sam Kolar[6]; 9. 20-Matthew Anderson[8]; 10. 13X-Frank Paolo[7]; 11. (DNS) 57-Blake Higginbotham

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[6]; 2. M2-Chris Magistad[2]; 3. 7A-Eric Anderson[1]; 4. 44-Brayden Rewertz[7]; 5. 27B-Dave DeVente[9]; 6. 68G-Eric Gruba[5]; 7. 33L-Travis Tupa[8]; 8. (DNF) 6-John Norris[3]; 9. (DNF) 9-Bobby Carpenter[4]; 10. (DNS) 76K-Mitch Kieber

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 27-Brady Fosso[3]; 2. 25K-McKenna Folstad[1]; 3. 38-Calvin Skaja[14]; 4. 34-Mark Gangl[6]; 5. 76K-Kaitlyn Kohl[9]; 6. 2X-Nathan Penney[7]; 7. 19-Josh Backstrom[5]; 8. 46-Louis Skaja[8]; 9. 34EH-Selena Owen[2]; 10. 9-Landin Lucente[17]; 11. 0X-Dylan Black[18]; 12. 78JR-Chris Manska[15]; 13. 22-Paige Kintner[19]; 14. 21-Tiffani Hauta Sanders[16]; 15. (DNF) 31-Zeb Graves[10]; 16. (DNF) 33-Alexis Hagemann[20]; 17. (DNF) 24JR-Jada Lore[13]; 18. (DNF) 79JR-Mikayla LaBarge[11]; 19. (DNF) 74-Jacob Petrich[4]; 20. (DNF) 218-Astion Schelde[21]; 21. (DNF) R20-Riley Terry[12]; 22. (DNF) 96-Benny Galli[23]; 23. (DNF) 7-Abby Baum[22]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 74-Jacob Petrich[2]; 2. 27-Brady Fosso[5]; 3. 34EH-Selena Owen[8]; 4. 31-Zeb Graves[7]; 5. 38-Calvin Skaja[1]; 6. 0X-Dylan Black[6]; 7. 22-Paige Kintner[4]; 8. 218-Astion Schelde[3]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 25K-McKenna Folstad[3]; 2. 76K-Kaitlyn Kohl[1]; 3. 2X-Nathan Penney[6]; 4. 24JR-Jada Lore[2]; 5. 78JR-Chris Manska[5]; 6. 21-Tiffani Hauta Sanders[4]; 7. 33-Alexis Hagemann[7]; 8. 7-Abby Baum[8]

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 19-Josh Backstrom[2]; 2. 34-Mark Gangl[4]; 3. 46-Louis Skaja[6]; 4. R20-Riley Terry[1]; 5. 79JR-Mikayla LaBarge[7]; 6. 9-Landin Lucente[5]; 7. (DNF) 96-Benny Galli[3]

Crown Vics:

A Feature (10 Laps): 1. 12-Wayne Nelson[3]; 2. 18-Andy Oksa[2]; 3. 99-Dustin Hammer[4]; 4. 22-Jasen Jensen[5]; 5. (DNF) 17-Mike Layne[1]

Heat (6 Laps): 1. 17-Mike Layne[4]; 2. 18-Andy Oksa[1]; 3. 12-Wayne Nelson[3]; 4. 22-Jasen Jensen[5]; 5. 99-Dustin Hammer[2]