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Sunday, September 22

The racing season at Bemidji Speedway concluded on Sunday afternoon, September 22. It was either the 45th or 46th running of the Paul Bunyan Stampede, depending on what source of information you were reading from the track.

The normal seven-class program was supplemented by the addition of the WISSOTA-sanctioned Street Stocks for the first time in 2024.

It was a sunny but cool early fall day in northern Minnesota and with a 28-event program to be completed—and lots of necessary track prep due to the afternoon racing—it was a full day of racing, to be sure.

For lots of drivers from this region, this was their last race of 2024 and they were out to get as much as they could out of the weekend. There were drivers on hand from two Canadian provinces as well as both Dakotas and Wisconsin, and the homestate Gophers.

There were some surprise entrants, driven by the allure of points and chasing national points.

I thought the national points in the Modifieds was a sealed deal heading into Bemidji, but it wasn’t apparently. Mike Stearns was still on the hunt for more wins and points as he chased Cole Chernosky in the Modified class. Stearns was looking for a win or at least a second place on Sunday, and then looked forward to a doubleheader the following weekend at Madison to help him out. He left after the races in Casino on Saturday night, arriving in Bemidji sometime after 3 a.m. With Stearns looking for extra shows, Chernosky felt like he had to head from Thunder Bay to Bemidji as well. Was it worth it? Read on.

There was also a national points battle in the Pure Stocks between Dustin Puffe and Brent Mindock and both were present. Bemidji remains ground zero for Pure Stock racing in WISSOTA, with 24 of them signing in to race on Sunday and requiring a B feature.

While national points are seldom even mentioned at tracks in my area by this time of the year, and actually hardly at all period, it is still a big deal in this area with much talk about that very subject.

It was good to see new drivers on hand for this weekend, while others experimented in different classes. Alexa Sparby, daughter of Matt, has been driving Pure Stocks for a couple years or so. This weekend she got to drive one of dad's Super Stocks and she did quite well.

A new Pure Stock driver from northern Wisconsin appeared for the first time (to my knowledge). Dnae Rose was racing as part of the Rose racing team out of Gordon, Wisconsin. She was very careful to stay out of the way on what can be a very busy track, and to pull off when she was lapped.

Let's cut to the chase and start with the two feature races with the most implications, points wise.

Unfortunately, after several hours of racing and the track badly used up—despite attempts to revive it with water—the Modifieds hit the track to rubber. Stearns had an excellent redraw and started on the pole, getting the jump on Joseph Thomas and Josh Beaulieu to take the early lead.

The rubbered-up track was very fast but passing was hard; Stearns continued to lead as the laps ran off without a single yellow. Drivers were starting to smoke right rear tires off the corners and the smell of burning Hoosiers started to fill the air. Thomas and Beaulieu continued to press Stearns as the laps started to run down.

The first driver to get a flat was Jeff Reed, who had really been boiling his right rear. When John Farrington flew off the end of the track after Reed slowed, the yellow waved with just three laps to go. Unfortunately for Stearns, his right rear was junk, too; when the race restarted, he was quickly passed by Beaulieu but the yellow waved when another driver had a flat.

Chernosky, who started seventh and was trying to get into the top five, also got a flat at this time and roared to the pits for a new Hoosier. The second restart was even worse for Stearns, with Joseph Thomas getting into the rubber and, along with Beaulieu, passing Stearns. Within a lap Stearns’ right rear gave up the ghost and he went flying off the end and called it a night.

Thomas held on for the one-lap sprint to the finish ahead of Beaulieu, while Chernosky, with a fresh tire, managed to work his way back to third after a banging battle with Tanner Williamson for that spot. Likely, no one other than Thomas was pleased after this race.

Things ended up even murkier in the Pure Stocks. Eighteen cars started this slugfest that included five yellows plus a red flag. The red flew when Deryk Weleski took a wild flip in turn three. He was okay, but his car—plus a number of others—took a pounding.

Kade Leeper started on the outside pole and led the entire race through all the yellow flags, etc. There was so much crashing that the race was cut two laps short, apparently due to curfew. This was unfortunate, given the importance of the circumstances. Leeper crossed the line as the winner with Mindock starting fourth and finishing second. Puffe, on the other hand, was involved in the big crash as part of the rollover and after pitting to remove the hood and with the entire front end shoved backward, he finished an unofficial 10th.

It was still unofficial following the race night because after the drivers headed for tech, there was apparently a teardown on winner Leeper. It must have required deeper examination, because as of Monday morning, there was still no official finish of the race reported. With Mindock next in line to perhaps receive the win, this was an important matter.

In other WISSOTA classes, Scotty Messner led from start to finish to take the Street Stock feature win. Weston Ramsrud, who arrived hours after the program started, still raced to second place after starting in the back.

Brady Fosso and Jayme Gordon both led in the Hornet feature, before Russell Kiker, Jr. took over the lead on lap four. After that, he pulled away for the win over a late-charging Chad Reller and Gordon.

Blake Hawker started on the pole and led all 12 laps to top the Mod Four feature. Tommy Bawden pushed hard but had to settle for second, with Dean Larson coming home third.

The biggest field of cars was in the Mid Mod class, but Skyler Smith handled things, leading all 15 laps to take the win. Michael Blevins, Sr. and Landon Gross crossed the line behind Smith.

The last race of the night was the Super Stock feature and Andy LaBarge was in front for all 15 laps of this race to take the win. Dalton Carlson was one of the most effective passers throughout the night, as he came from seventh to finish second on a track that was pretty used up by this time. Nathan Sletto completed the top three.

The 27-race program, including eight feature races, had the final checkered at just after 8 p.m. The full show, which lasted just under six hours, was a lot of racing for everyone.

Thanks as usual to the management and staff at Bemidji as they wrap up another successful season.

Thursday, September 26

The 52nd annual Silver 1000 was held on Thursday night, September 26 at Proctor Speedway in Proctor, Minnesota, following the rainout from August.

I can't imagine a nicer night. The late September weather we have been experiencing in our area has been fantastic!

Normally, shows are hurt by the postponements, and are never quite what the original would have been. This event was again the exception. The crowd was very good, the racing was spectacular, and the car counts in the Late Models and Modifieds were both right where they were expected.

A threat to win this race is Travis Budisalovich, but he was out with an injury suffered at another race recently, and it might require surgery. I did see his car owner, Hall-of-Famer Norris “Johnny” Johnson, in the grandstands watching Thursday.

This event, with 52 years of history, is considered the grandfather of all special events held in northern WISSOTA.

And this is one of three year-end specials in this area that I can say that I have been to all installments. The other two specials I have never missed are the Punky Manor and, if I can hold on for another day upright, the Red Clay Classic.

In fact, back when I was somebody, I was hired by Proctor to do the timing for the first two Silver 1000s, as I had access from the folks at Rice Lake Speedway to one of the only Chrondek electronic timing systems back then. I brought the system up and timed the cars for two years until they decided that timing the cars took too long. From there they decided to just draw a number.

I reminded Crash Carlson of this on the way out after the races on Thursday. Crash was one of the folks responsible for coming up with what was a hairbrained scheme back in that day and as vice president of the racing association back then, he had to fight tooth and nail with president Jerry Eld to get them to even have the race. It has since produced very memorable nights and races over the years.

Jeff Wood has redone his Modified as a tribute car to the late Scott Bloomquist with the “Black Sunshine” colors. Jeff Provinzino was also in his Bloomquist look-alike car on Thursday, after he jumped back and forth between cars for the WISSOTA 100. It was a tough night for Wood, who scratched out of all racing events. Provo had a good race, just getting nipped for third in the feature by Ashley Anderson coming to the checkers.

Making his first-ever appearance at Proctor was Dustin Strand, from East Grand Folks. He was on hand with his Late Model. He showed there is a reason why he is second in national points, as he ran top five in the feature throughout. Interesting that his father Brian is a previous winner of this race on the Modified side.

Will Moelter was in a walking boot in the pits, having dropped a race car on his foot this week at work at SSR. He will, however, try to race on Friday at Ashland. The injury is to his braking foot, so there should be no problem. What racer ever uses the brake?

The Silver came full circle this year. Following a disturbing trend, to me at least, more and more of the Late Model races in this area are using time trials to set the running order for the events. The caveat was that there was no inversion of starting positions for the heats; they were lined straight up from qualifying. How you finished the heats was how the feature and B feature were lined up. They did redraw the winners against themselves, the second-place finishers and the third-place finishers. Not surprisingly using this system, the heat race winners all came from the front row of their heats and there were only two drivers who didn't start in a feature qualifying spot who worked their way forward to do so.

In defense of the system, which I prefer to not do, the track was so fast and “juiced up” for the heats that there might not have been much change of position anyway, no matter what system was used.

One of my biggest gripes about time trials is that seldom are the races then started on time. The time needed for the qualifying usually exceeds the amount of time allotted. However, that was not the case on Thursday; they got qualifying started by 6:30 p.m. and while the show did start about 15 minutes late, that was because the track needed some extra rolling in, not due to the time trials.

Kevin Burdick, who seemed to have a knack for running time trials successfully, was the quickest of the Late Models with a time of 15.137 seconds, flying around this track. All four sessions had quick qualifiers within a couple tenths of each other. Burdick was part of the final session, proving the track did not slow down at all.

There were a few surprises in the events leading up to the feature. Shane Sabraski had a tough go of it in his Modified heat, losing a number of positions and seeming to struggle. He did not make any further appearances with the Mod and also scratched out of the Late Model show. I'm guessing the demanding track might have been a little to much for him to take, but I planned to investigate that further.

Sam Mars had car trouble during qualifying and after starting dead last in his heat, failed to make the show and scratched out of the B feature.

Jeff Massingill, who has had some strong runs since the specials season started, also failed to qualify out of a B feature and failed to earn the one track provisional start.

There were also two rollovers during the program, which is abnormal for an event like this. Derek Vesel got turned in a heat race and flipped down the back chute and Cole Spacek slid off the end of the track on the first lap of the Modified feature and also flipped. No injuries were reported but some hard work will be needed to get either car back on the track yet this weekend.

This race was started as a Late Model special, so it was appropriate that the best race of the night was the Late Model feature. It should certainly go down in the history books as one of the best seen for the Silver.

It was a great two-car dog fight for the win, with Jake Redetzke and Pat Doar battling it out right down to the last straightaway. Redetzke started on the outside pole and got the jump on Jamie Lautigar, with Provo quickly taking over second. The race was slowed twice in the first laps for spins and tangles. Doar was on the move and by lap 15 he took over second and started to put the pressure on Redetzke. Strand and Anderson were also coming and they were in the top five by the halfway point of the race.

During the second half of the race Doar stalked Redetzke lap after lap, trying both high and low. Redetzke was just fast enough to hold off every challenge provided. The leaders caught lapped traffic and this proved to be a challenge; the back half of the pack was flying and on lap 28, Doar made a big move off turn four and squeezed past Redetzke on the outside to take over the lead.

However, they weren't done yet, as Redetzke managed to stay close. Then Doar had lapped traffic troubles, as he got forced high down the back chute and Redetzke dove to his inside and retook the lead.

The last few laps were a shootout, with Doar trying every trick in the book but Redetzke refusing to yield. What a finish it was—on the last lap, Doar blasted down the back chute in pursuit, floored it in turn three and cut left. He got a great run down the front chute and edged out Redetzke as the crowd went wild. The third-place finish was also a close one, as mentioned, when Anderson edged out Provo at the line by inches. Strand completed the top five. Eighteen of the 25 starters were still on the track with five of them a lap down.

While perhaps not quite as dramatic, the Modified feature was also entertaining. Kaden Blaeser continues to show that he is one of the best young wheelmen around, leading from start to finish to top the Modified feature.

Short on engines, Blaeser is continuing to run the MB house car this week, wrapped to celebrate the 500th Modified chassis built by Mars Race Cars.

Blaeser started on the pole, but the first attempt to get the racing going was not a good one. A multi-car tangle ended with a Spacek flip and also eliminated Mike Anderson.

Blaeser then got the jump on track champion Nick Oreskovich and took off from there. Blaeser gained some ground on the field as Bob Broking moved in on Nick O. A lap 13 yellow slowed the field once again. Broking threw a slider on the restart to get to second and then gave Blaeser his biggest challenge of the night. Broking nearly got past down the back chute as Blaeser was run off the edge of the track, but Blaeser didn't lift and regained the lead with a slider in turn three. However, Broking remained close behind as the race continued.

At the halfway point, Tanner Gehl and Jody Bellefeuille moved into the top five and one lap later, the last yellow waved. Blaeser again got away but Nick O. regained second from Broking, with Broking soon suddenly shutting down and heading for the pits with an ill motor. This moved Bellefeuille into third as he passed Gehl.

Blaeser had gained quite a lead by this time but during the last few laps, he seemed to be changing his line on the track. However, he did finish up with a comfortable lead still, quite an accomplishment for a high school student from the fastest school in the state, Chippewa Falls.

Nick O. settled for second while an unhappy Bellefeuille claimed third. Brady Uotinen made a strong drive late to take fourth and Mod rookie Tanner Gehl was impressive in fifth.

Blaeser had to be pushed to the winner's circle so there was clearly some sort of problem. As it turns out, I learned later that Blaeser did indeed have a problem near the end of the race. If the race had been one lap longer, it’s possible he wouldn’t have finished.

With about two laps to go, the motor started missing and it was a fuel starvation issue. That's why Blaeser was taking such an unusual line and throwing the car so hard into the corners; he was trying to get as much fuel thrown to the right side of the fuel cell so it could be picked up. They weren't out of fuel, but there was a crack in the fuel line and it was sucking air. On the last lap, the motor shut off and Blaeser coasted from turn four to the finish line. Lucky for him he had a big enough lead that he could hold on for the win.

According to dad Todd, they now have fully identified the problem and have it fixed. By the way, the same thing happened at Menomonie while he was challenging for the Red Cedar win the week prior. He could have certainly won that race also, if not for the problem.

It was a tough night for Darrell Nelson, who dropped out after charging into the top five.

Kennedy Swan also had an interesting night, as she took a wild ride off the first turn and nearly turned “turtle,” before landing back on earth and calling it a night.

The final checkered waved just past the 10:30 p.m. hour on what was a very good program and a strong finish to Proctor’s season.

On an unrelated note, I talked with Bill Engelstad, the head WISSOTA tech man about the situation in Bemidji. The heads were found to be okay and Dustin Puffe was still the point leader as he and Brent Mindock headed into the last two weekends of the year for national points.

Friday, September 27

The 49th annual Red Clay Classic at ABC Raceway in Ashland, Wisconsin kicked off on Friday night, September 27. Another one of the “staple” races on the fall racing calendar for many WISSOTA fans, this race was also graced with spectacular weather.

Track announcer Nick Gima was nearly dying to break the big news about next year's event, which will be the celebration of its 50th year. However, he allowed club president Eric Erickson to tell the crowd the purse will be raised nearly 100 percent for next year’s celebration. While I don't have the figures in front of me, I do remember that the Late Model feature will pay $15,000 to win, with the other three classes also receiving a big increase through the finishing positions.

This will be a nice thing for the drivers, for an event which already pays very well.

The number of race cars on hand in perfect weather conditions was actually down in three of the four classes from 2023, including double digit losses in both the Super Stocks and Modifieds. Still, 185 race cars to race is plenty and many more than that creates as many problems as it provides additional entertainment.

Thirty-eight Late Models is a fine number of cars, but there were many former competitors who weren’t on hand for whatever reason. I counted more than 15.

It was good to see Andy Nezworski got his car fixed from his ill-fated trip to Ogilvie and was back in his home area to race. On Friday he was able to make the main event for the weekend, a bonus for him.

After deliberation earlier in the week regarding the program’s format, they went back to the draw, redraw format it’s always been.

On Friday night, of the 20 heat races contested, 11 of them were won off the front row. That’s actually a lower percent than for most of these shows. Five of six were won from the front row in the Mods, while just one of five were won from the front in the Super Stocks. Many drivers commented that the track was faster and wetter than they can remember for most Red Clays. I think the lack of wind and relatively high humidity for this time of year also played a positive part in this. They later watered the track a few times to help keep it widened out.

The highlight of the heat races was Mike Anderson's charge from dead last to win a 9-car Modified heat. He passed, among others, Shane Sabraski, Brandon Copp and Dave Cain to get the win. It looked like starting in the back, Anderson had a plan to go to the cushion on the drop of the green and either fly to the front or go over the first turn guardrail! It worked for him as the seas parted and he found a path to the front, finally passing Cain, who was hugging the inside instead of using the cushion like Anderson did.

The crying shame is that in passing that many cars, he should be guaranteed the pole. Instead, he had to redraw with four other winners to see who got the choice pole starting spot.

These are a few items noted from my “pit walk” before the first green flag dropped. Due to a fortunate bye week, Coach Mark Thomas was able to participate in the Red Clay this year. As an assistant coach for the UW-Stout football team, his weekends this time of the year are filled with Saturday collegiate football games. Last weekend he had to miss the Saturday show of the Punky Manor, after racing on Friday. Friday night at the Red Clay, he missed making the main by one spot, so he was set to start up front in one of the B features Saturday.

Michael Blevins, Sr. was running as a Mid Mod for the weekend after racing with the Mods on Thursday at Proctor. He used that night for a test session, not having changed anything on his Mid Mod for that race. He reported that a couple other drivers had “problems” with him running with the Mods, but he said he was careful not to get in their way and actually, missed making the main by only one position!

Rich Bishop was driving a “one off” in a friend's Mid Mod for the Red Clay, having convinced the owner that while trying to sell the car, it was much better to show it off. The car is a former Jason VandeKamp car and has not been run for a couple years. Bishop still has his Street Stock, which he said he enjoys racing very much and loves the class. His car is a one-of-a-kind, using the longer chassis which provides him with a totally different handling experience than most of the other cars. Bishop tells me that he has been taking it easy this summer, tending to some family business after his employer in Wisconsin abruptly and coldly shut down their operations.

Shane Kisling rolled in with his Modified on his open trailer in a somewhat surprise. I thought perhaps that was in the past after he came back with a Super Stock this year, and had good success with that car. However, he told me that his plan was to race the Mod, but he was so busy he just didn't get around to it until now. He also raced the Super Stock, so I was doubly surprised. He put the Super in the main solidly, while the Mod became a magnet for every spinning car in his heat. He was eventually eliminated by another's error, leaving the track on the bad end of the wrecker.

Les Duellman always seems to make the Red Clay and he was again on hand driving the Runkle tribute car in the Mid Mods. Mechanical issues ended his heat and he was buried in a B feature on Saturday.

Perhaps the best heat of the night was the two-car duel between Curt Myers and Shane Sabraski, with Sabraski nipping Myers by inches at the line after swapping lines on the track several times. The Supers, as a whole, were by far the most brutal of the classes. There were some really heavy crashes and smashes, as aggressive driving was the order of the night.

Kevin Eder was driving a second car for the Wagamon racing team in the Modified class. Of course, Eder had to come up with a unique number, so the “W” on Wagamon's car was changed to “UU.” At least it wasn't as bad as that Super he ran that was labeled “ICU.”

Veteran Tony Bahr was behind the wheel of Jerry Brummond's Longhorn again this weekend, and he solidly put it in the field for Saturday night.

The last couple of years track officials have done a nice job of getting the first night's racing done at a decent hour, perhaps because the band is waiting and everyone wants to start boogalooing. In any event, the final checkers waved by 10 p.m., and the total program was less than three hours. I can remember back in the day when bars were closing for the night and the heat races were still taking place. That is a very nice change.

Saturday, September 28

The Red Clay Classic was completed on Saturday, September 28, as the spectacular weather continued.

Just to remind all of us that Mom Nature is still in control, the ever-present threat of fog struck later in the evening, just as it has many times for this event. The warning was posted on the weather apps, and the fog first appeared between the Modified and Late Model feature. The activity on the track kept it at bay. But, it came in with force during the last two laps of the Late Model finale and it's a good thing the race ended when it did.

In speaking with other drivers throughout the pits prior to Saturday’s action, Jimmy Latvala was extremely happy to have made the main and won a heat race with his Mid Mod. He said the year has been a struggle at times, trying to get his car to handle better, but things have been looking up lately. He was even happier later when he redrew the pole for the Mid Mod feature. His final finish of sixth later was probably just a bit of a disappointment, but at least he will be taking the car home in one piece and knowing he beat other fast competitors. He will be keeping the same car for 2025, with a new body and perhaps a few other upgrades. Red Clay will mark the end of his 2024 racing season as the following week he planned to attend the Apple Festival with his wife.

Mike Grover reported he was enjoying his weekend in Ashland, even though he wishes he could get just a bit more speed out of his Mid Mod. He said that after 13 years driving a Pure Stock, he was happy he made the upward move and is enjoying the special events he can run in that class. He plans to race the same car next year, but with the hope that an engine overhaul will give him a bit more speed. Grover races on a budget, and enjoys doing the best he can. He is at the track to have fun, and there is nothing wrong with that.

George Dalbeck is making only his sixth start of the 2024 racing season, a drastic cutback from previous years. He used to do a lot of traveling and ran a lot of special events. The work situation caught up with him this year, being short key employees and having to do a lot more of the work himself. He is running a car that he purchased from the Haas racing team, but says that in 2025 he will have a new car and he plans on doing a lot more racing and traveling.

Faces were really long in the Ashley Anderson pit before the show. His car was smoking badly as he completed his heat race, and he reported that they found a cracked piston on his Pro Power motor. He was debating his options, which included running it until it blew, perhaps disconnecting one cylinder and running it on seven, or just taking the green and pulling off. He said the motor was due for a rebuild and he didn't want to run up that bill by tearing it up worse.

I am not sure which option they settled on, but I know the motor wasn't smoking in the feature. In fact, after drawing the outside pole, he led the first 17 laps until he was forced up into the wall and passed for the lead with a questionable slide job. He did fade back a little after that, but ended up sixth with the car still running. That seemed like a much better outcome than what was in the cards earlier.

Darrell Nelson was busy with his crew getting both his cars ready for the main events. He was happy he put both into the field on Friday and didn’t have to deal with any B features. Nelson says he's feeling pretty good but does get tired, and he said he didn't have any trouble sleeping on Friday night after putting both cars in their mains.

He is one week into his latest round of treatments and reports that for the next four weeks, he and his wife will be driving daily to Rochester, Minnesota for his treatments. The price for being treated by the best in the world is that he has to go to Rochester daily, certainly a grind if there ever was one. He also said that Red Clay will be it for his 2024 racing season. His son Cade has a couple of other trips planned, including perhaps one in Florida where he may run against a couple hundred other Limited Late Models, in addition to races at Ogilvie and I-94.

As with everyone else involved with racing in this area, I’m wishing the best for steady progress and a full recovery for Nelson in the months ahead.

The track was considerably different for racing on Saturday than it was on Friday night. This is not surprising, given the number of laps on the track on Friday that pounds it down. It makes it harder to get moisture into it on Saturday, and racing starts 90 minutes earlier with the sun higher in the sky.

The B features were a test of man and machine. Testing the patience of officials, drivers and fans, the eight B features had an average of four yellows per event. At one point, they went to using a one-spin rule to try and keep things moving. This should probably be used for preliminary races at events like this, just to keep them from becoming epically long.

Track officials stayed with it, watering the cushion after nearly every race and they gradually widened it out. By feature time, they had a fine track for the four mains to run on.

The first turn guardrail was the target of several angry outbursts by the race cars, with consecutive giant hits into the rail damaging it to the point that it needed repairs. This took about 45 minutes, which was actually shorter than the estimate. But, it did throw the program agenda off a bit. They made up time by eliminating the out-of-car introductions that were planned for all four classes at the same time. This was a necessary move and showed good awareness, but I'm sure track announcer Nick Gima was disappointed, having probably prepped for that moment all week.

As for the four feature races themselves, they were all good, with both the Super Stock and Late Model mains exceptional.

The Mid Mod feature provided quite a surprise when former Pure Stock national champion Michael Blevins, Sr. led from start to finish to win his first-ever feature in the class at ABC. He took the lead from the outside pole and then led all 20 laps. He ran a smooth race, riding the cushion and in an equally balanced field, never even had a lapped car to deal with. There was only one yellow, with four laps completed.

When Joey Jensen, who started sixth, finally worked past Latvala into second, I thought we might see a challenge for the lead. However, Blevins was more than up for the task, as he maintained his lead and never allowed Jensen to close in on him. At the finish, he still had a comfortable lead over Jensen and the smooth running Vendela, who finished third. It was a surprising outcome but well deserved.

The Super Stock feature was a two-car battle for the win with Steve Stuart leading the first 20 laps until he was passed by Shane Sabraski, who then pulled away at the end. Stuart was riding the high groove and when Sabraski moved into second on lap nine, he then challenged Stuart repeatedly for the lead. However, it took many laps for him to finally get by.

Stuart gave it everything he had but just came up short as Sabraski was finally, after many tries, able to maneuver past Stuart and take over the lead. The battle for third was just as good, with Terran Spacek getting the spot ahead of Curt Myers and Tommy Richards, who were right with him.

In the Modified feature, Clayton Wagamon provided a butt kicking. Al Uotinen took the early lead and many around us were hoping the Superior veteran could get the win. However, Wagamon moved by Mike Anderson and then Uotinen and took the lead on lap eight; after that, he was gone and steadily pulled away from the field.

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