5-26 Page 18

Wednesday, May 20

They had to wait one week due to the late-arriving spring, but Thunder City Speedway, located on the outskirts of Thunder Bay, Ontario, began its racing season on Wednesday night, May 20. Racers and fans alike were chomping at the bit to get the new racing season started. Though temperatures dipped into the 30s before the final checked flag waved, a near-capacity crowd was on hand to see the five-division WISSOTA program.

The night was very special, more so than what a normal opening night might be. It was the Cheyenne Memorial, for beloved track worker Cheyenne Vaillant, who was killed last winter in a highway accident on an icy road just west of the track.

Cheyenne was the lineup person who worked in “the chute,” getting the cars lined up correctly before they pulled onto the track for their race. She was known and admired by all; she came from a racing family and married into another racing family, and the sport was in her blood. In fact, she was married at the track, the only couple to ever do so at Thunder City.

As you can imagine, it was a difficult night for a lot of people, but also a night for healing for her family and friends. All cars lined up on the track before the show started and made several laps, similar to how the feature qualifying cars handle their parade laps at the WISSOTA 100. With more than 130 cars on the track, it made for an impressive show. It would be a fair statement to say that the drivers were racing for Cheyenne Wednesday.

The track made it a double purse night, so Modified drivers raced for nearly $2,000 to win, and drivers in other classes saw an uptick in their pay also. Due to many sponsors who jumped on board, all drivers were admitted to the pit area for free.

As usual, a race at Thunder City produces a packed pit area, even for an opening night. Remember my concerns about Street Stock numbers? Not a problem at Thunder City—30 of them signed in for opening night. The quality of the cars racing was just as impactful. This class has been a WISSOTA class here for just a couple years and before that, they raced rougher-looking stuff that they called Street Stocks. Not now, however, as the quality of the field has been upgraded considerably.

Remember those huge numbers of Midwest Mods they were getting here last year? Well, they're back, with 41 who signed in for the opener. With these huge numbers, I believe there are some drivers who have been racing here for a couple years and yet, they are still waiting to qualify for their first main event.

Nineteen Modifieds signed in for the opener as well, as that class continues to grow here.

There were six American drivers who crossed the border to race on opening night, including Cory Crapser, Brandon Copp, Steve Stuart, Paul Ripley and the Randts. Their winning percentage was darn good; both Copp and Stuart won feature races. Levi Randt had mechanical issues in his heat, or he would have likely been in the running for a victory as well.

A lot of Canadian drivers have been crossing over the border early in the year to race in the states, and based on where those drivers finished Wednesday night at Thunder City, it’s clear we are seeing the best of the Ontario drivers on hand. Many were among those battling for wins on Wednesday.

Thunder City does have a curfew, although last year they got it extended to 11 p.m. This seems rather liberal for a weeknight show, but perhaps the governmental fathers are paying attention to what kinds of crowds and money this track is bringing in to the region. They do, however, have to get the last race on the track by 10:30 p.m., much like Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie.

When you have more than 130 drivers on hand, things must go smoothly to meet the curfew. And for an opening night with so many extra things going on, it was a really smooth night of racing. Two of the feature races went green to checkers and only the Street Stocks had some issues. But everything was done well in advance of the curfew.

The track was smooth and dry for opening night, racing very slick like it often does up here for shows that I have seen. They did very little maintenance between races except for a couple of light mistings and a little packing work on a couple ripples. This track is one that is hard to get ahold of but those drivers who are just plain sharp seem to figure it out quickly.

Canadian drivers who do well in the States were among the most successful again on Wednesday, like Cole Chernosky and David Simpson.

The Hornet class has been sanctioned for a couple years now and they provide good, if not overwhelming numbers. Quite a few who raced in this class moving onward to other racing.

The Hornets ran a nonstop 12-lap feature on Wednesday, led for the first five laps by Jimmy Owen. He was not able to hold back the charge of Curtis Oleksuk, however, who drove past him, pulled away from the field, and then led the rest of the race unchallenged.

Owen was third ahead of Sam Bolt, who was chased by Rick Breukelman and Connor Danylko. Only two drivers failed to finish.

The Midwest Mod feature also went green to checkered, and for 24 drivers to not have a yellow on opening night is bulletin-producing material. Shocking, really. Tanner Ulakovic took the initial lead and maintained the top spot for several laps. Eventually David Simpson tracked him down and made what was the winning pass. The top five did stay close to one another and there was a lot of battling between them as they traded positions on nearly every lap.

Ulakovic held off a late charge from Jamie Davis to finish second, while Michael Shalley and Kolby Reed completed the top five.

And remarkably, only one driver failed to finish the race.

The Super Stock feature was a three-car battle from start to finish, as Steve Stuart held off Cole Chernosky and Rick Simpson to get the win. Stuart grabbed the lead on lap two from Shawn Polonoski and led the rest of the way, while Chernosky and Simpson battled him each lap. This race was slowed by three yellows and every time it seemed that Stuart had found some rhythm, the yellow flew and he had to hold them off again.

However, to his credit he never wilted against the constant pressure and drove home with the win. The other two fought it out to the line; Chernosky nipped Simpson by inches for second. Danny Young and Tyler Kostecki completed the top five.

No big wrecks were recorded in this race either and only two drivers didn't finish.

The situation in the Modified feature was similar to the Super Stocks. American driver Brandon Copp grabbed the opening lap lead, then pushed up the track. David Simpson then passed him for the top spot, but one lap later Copp powered around the outside of Simpson to retake the lead.

After that, Copp fought to hold off Simpson and Chernosky on a lap by lap basis. They were dueling each other and also pushing Copp.

A late yellow set up a two-lap sprint to the finish but Copp pulled away to take the victory. Simpson held off Chernosky. Scott McKinnon come for the sixth row to finish fourth in one of the best charges of the night, while Riley Matthews trailed him. Every single driver that started the Modified feature was still racing at the end.

The only race that included iron-grinding action was the last race of the night, the Street Stock feature. This race was a good one though, with three different leaders in 20 laps, as the top five drivers raced in tight formation.

Kyle Bolt led lap one, but then was passed by Andrew Piilo for the lead. He maintained the top spot for several laps but couldn't hold off the charge of eighth-starter A.J. Kellar. Kellar moved one lane up the track and drove by others in that big group battling for the lead; on lap 12, he took over the top spot.

Kellar continued to lead until the red flew with just three laps remaining. There was a big stack-up in turn three: Piilo went end over end, and a couple of other drivers also suffered damage. Everyone was okay, but there was considerable damage to some of the cars.

During the last three laps Kellar pulled away and grabbed the win while Justin Tougas and Nathan Henny moved up to second and third by way of late-race charges. Early leader Bolt settled for fourth and Brendan Makkinga completed the top five.

An impressive opening night crowd, particularly so for such a cool night, led to another gigantic 50/50 cash prize to the lucky winner. It was an impressive start to what seems like it will be another very successful season for racing North of the border.

I need to send out special thanks to everyone from the Thunder Bay Truck Centre, who once again graciously found room for me to sit on their “can” and enjoy the races with them. Clarence Downey tells me that along with sponsoring a division at the track and the season-ending invitational, they have their name on 25 race cars running at Thunder City weekly. That, my friends, is the kind of sponsor support that makes the sport. If I needed a new Peterbilt, I know where I would go.

Thursday, May 21

The thunder in the pines is alive again! After a long, quiet winter at the Itasca County Fairgrounds in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, the sound of racing engines again rung out Thursday, May 21, as Grand Rapids Speedway kicked off its 2026 racing season. As has been the norm for most tracks in the area this year, they were delayed one week by the weather, but Thursday night turned out to be a pretty nice night.

For many of the drivers it was their first racing action of 2026; the practice session here last week was also washed out. It was also the first racing action on the track following new dirt. Bob Broking told me they put some dirt on last fall and for the first night, with no practice night to help pound it down, the surface turned out pretty good. It was lightning fast for the heats but just a bit loose in the corners. A good blading job at intermission took care of that.

This did cause the track to change. It became slicker in the lower racing groove, some drivers found this difficult and that created more yellows for the main. By the end of the night it was racing much like it has in other years. The top side was especially good in one and two, and the lower groove preferred in turns three and four.

It was a rather stormy off-season for the track and club. Several meetings were held but no one stepped forward to head the track so Broking, who had resigned after the completion of the 2025 racing season, again agreed to run the track. However, it’s under a different operating procedure. It is no longer a club with voting ability; instead, it’s now Broking’s track and the final decision is made by him. I think he'd still rather be just a racer at the track, but he has agreed to run things, in large part, to keep racing going in Grand Rapids.

Car counts were all over the place on opening night. There was a nice field of Late Models, a decent field in the Modifieds and Supers, and the program was very light on Hornets and Pure Stocks. It is interesting to watch how patterns change in the different classes. Certain classes can be so popular and then — poof — things change dramatically without warning. Only single heat races were needed for the two classes, while the other classes had a pair of heats plus their main event.

Even though they didn't get a practice night, there were no hot laps on Thursday. The first green flew just after 6:30 p.m. They do have a curfew at Rapids so it is important that they do get started on time and they do a good job of that.

Three of the longtime drivers in the area, all of whom raced for years, made their first racing appearances in WISSOTA’s premier class for the very first time. Aaron Johnson, Josh Beaulieu and Scott Engholm joined the ranks of the Late Models Thursday, all giving it a go for their first time on the same night.

Johnson has raced Modifieds and a mixture of many other classes throughout his racing career. Thursday was his first night driving a Late Model, and was in a former Ryan Gustin Infinity chassis. He was racing for the Donahue family.

Beaulieu is also a seasoned veteran, most recently having raced Mods for a number of years. Thursday he was in a Longhorn Late Model for the first time.

Engholm has raced both Mods and Midwest Mods for a number of years, mostly in the Brainerd Lakes area, but he also showed up Thursday with a Late Model, a Capital chassis for him.

Results for the three were decidedly mixed in what was a solid field of entrants for opening night. Beaulieu was involved in the biggest crash of the night and also found himself pointed in the wrong direction a couple times. He did soldier on for an eighth-place finish in the feature.

Johnson got a piece of that same big wreck and front end damage caused him to park the car for the night. He’ll be ready for next Thursday, when Late Models will be on the card once again.

Engholm received nose damage in a collision in the feature but also completed the race, trying to get laps. It appears 2026 is going to be the year where a number of surprises are revealed in the Late Models, with drivers like Donnie Lofdahl and Cory Jorgensen also adding to the field of racers.

And while we added three new names to the list of Late Model racers, we will also have to deduct one at least for some time. Cory Crapser was involved in a gigantic crash during one of the heat races. In heavy traffic it appeared that he was turned by another driver. His car dug into what was a loose track at that point and he took off in a series of wild flips, getting an impressive amount of “air time” while tossing through turn three. Fortunately he was okay, but his car looked worse for the wear. In fact, it was quite the procedure to even get it back on the trailer. Fortunately his brother Chris brought the Late Model on an open trailer, which made it just a bit easier.

Showing his fire and refusal to quit, Crapser finished off the night racing his Modified which he also had, and son of a gun if he didn't make a late-race pass past Bob Broking and take the win. It must have made him feel just a bit better, as he has been struggling with that car.

The Midwest Mods acted like, well, Midwest Mods on Thursday. All their spins and slowdowns caused their main event to be trimmed by six laps for hitting the time limit. Blake Adams led from start to finish in that race, but he was under fire for most of the contest.

Paul Ripley actually looked faster than Adams, but in his haste to make a pass for the lead, he caught a corner of Adams’ car as he tried to pass him in turn one and turned Adams around. Ripley went to the tail but worked his way back into the top five, though late-race problems sent him for the pits before the checkered flag.

The Midwest Mods raced right after track prep and the track was quickest right on the hub. Eric Anderson found a lane higher that worked for him, however, and he made some nice passes. He worked from the fifth row into second. I thought he might have something for Adams, but following a yellow flag something changed. Adams was not challenged thereafter. Anderson and Justin Jones trailed at the finish.

It was of the same for Steve Stuart. Even though he started in the second row, by the end of lap one he was in the lead and with just a single yellow to slow things down, he drove away and was a full straightaway ahead at the finish. Dalton Carlson did a nice job to hold off Dylan Nelson for second.

Johnny Broking won one for the hometown folks as he drove past Skeeter Estey near the halfway point to win the Late Model feature. Estey led from the beginning but Broking gradually worked his way forward. A mid-race yellow worked nicely for him, as he got a good restart and pulled up alongside Estey when the green waved again.

They battled side by side for a couple laps before Broking won out. However, the story of this race was the charge put on by Kyle Peterlin. He broke right at the start of a heat race and was forced to start 15th in the main event. He was clearly the fastest car on the track during the main, as he marched to the front. He got to second but ran out of time to catch Broking.

Crapser's Modified win came after a crazy start to that feature, when front-row drivers Broking and Adams crashed together just as the green flag waved, before they even got to the starting line. Adams was done with heavy front end damage, while Broking then led for a number of laps in the race. In fact, he looked to have a solid lead until a restart allowed Crapser to duck under him and grab the top spot. After that, Crapser put some distance on the pack, while Broking hung on for second ahead of Ryan Jensen.

Only four drivers started the Pure Stock feature and after Alex Berg blew up, winner Austin Carlson put his car on cruise control and motored away from the field. Dylan Elhardt and Bob Klein followed.

Brady Fosso started in the second row but had the lead before one lap was completed in the Hornet feature. After his main competition Zeb Graves stalled out, it was a breeze for Fosso. Tucker Smith and McKenna Folstad were next in line.

A nice-sized opening night crowd was on hand and racing wrapped up just before 10 p.m.

Overall the opening night went off smoothly, but I noted apparent communication issues between the tower and the flagman. Several times the white flag was not shown to the drivers. Opening night glitches are, however, a part of this and every sport.

On another note, the passing of a couple of racers should be noted.

The passing of “Horsethief” Harry Johnson, a household name on the West Range and longtime engine builder as well as racer, was mentioned often. He was one of the founding fathers of racing in the Rapids area and was well known by many.

Also this week, we lost Mod Four and Super Stock driver Forest Foster to a motorcycle accident. Forest raced mainly at KRA, Fiesta and other central Minnesota tracks. With his unique car number, No. Six6 and his lyrical name, he was well recognized by many. Condolences to his family and friends.

Saturday, May 23

Saturday was an action-packed night of racing at Rice Lake Speedway. First point of mention is the win by Kennedy Swan — congratulations to her on her first-ever Modified feature win at the track. This was a monumental achievement and deserves top billing. Congratulations to her, her family and all the sponsors who have helped her along the way. Rice Lake has been running Modifieds since 1980, so to be the first female to get a feature win is a big deal.

It was a perfect night for that to happen as well. It was Kid's Night and kids both young and old saw just what is possible.

I have to say that acceptance for women racing is one of the biggest steps forward our sport has made at the local level. My goodness, I'm old enough to remember when the same pit area where Swan and her team parked was an area that females were not even allowed to enter until the races were over and they could bring down the food to the teams!

Even in the few years Swan has raced, things have changed a lot. When she started, she was one of few females racing, following in the footsteps of pioneers like Dalora Williams and Chanda Fjorden-Nord. Saturday, however, there were many female racers, all of them young and likely to stick with the sport for years to come.

Rice Lake Speedway really does a nice job with their Kid's Night promotion. It has become one of their most successful nights of the year and despite it being a gloomy, cool night, the place was packed.

There is nothing more fun that having a full house in the stands and they are always enthusiastic fans too. Even announcer Ben Brost was more pumped up than normal, if that's possible!

I also enjoyed listening to Scott Erickson, who was called in to help out since Brost was going to be arriving late. Erickson interviewed the winners and also interviewed a few drivers down on the track before the show. I always enjoy his interviews because he asks good, insightful questions and it shows he is paying attention to what is going on. I always learn something when he asks drivers questions and that is not always the case with others.

Because it was Kid’s Night, a very difficult night to reschedule, track management decided to go ahead with the show despite less-than-optimal conditions. The overnight rain on Friday and poor drying conditions during most of the day on Saturday led to concerns about the track condition. The track turned out to be very fast, but it did have some chop in the corners and also built up a berm they kept trying to beat down. I suspect there was more torn-up equipment than normal, some due to track conditions and some due to overdriving. Some drivers can't handle going as fast as the track allowed them to.

I suspect track owner Kolby Kiehl will probably catch more than his fair share of complaints. But if he would have cancelled, not only would they have lost a great night for the kids, but there would have been just as many folks complaining they didn't race when it wasn't raining. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Two physical qualities ideal to be a promoter are very thick skin and a deaf condition.

Let's be honest here — Rice Lake Speedway continues to benefit from the poor luck and bad weather facing ABC Raceway and to a lesser degree, all the tundra-area tracks. They benefitted again on Saturday, when ABC had to pull the plug on their program due to weather. Perhaps not all of the local teams are excited to see these drivers show up — they bring in some good fast equipment and have been taking their share of feature wins back north with them, like Shawn McFadden did Saturday. For the racing fan who likes to see as many good, drivers as possible and a full pit area, this is a blessing that we likely saw for the last time this year.

In pit news this week, Brady Larson ran Rice Lake for the first time this year with his black car. This car seems just as fast as the other one, as he drove to another solid third place finish later on.

Jake Hartung made his first appearance with his new SSR Modified on Saturday. He was looking to get some laps on the new car before the racing specials start to heat up. He also had a good run, trailing just Swan in the final finish.

It was good to welcome back the racing brothers from Phillips, Parker and Hunter Anderson. Parker ran that same Street that he debuted late last year and it was just as fast. He was running away with the feature race until he got tangled up with a lapped car. While he was able to restart as the leader, the car was not the same due to some front end damage and he had to settle for third at the checkered flag. However, he showed much speed and will be one of those to beat, where ever he races.

Brother Hunter has not raced for a couple years and now lists his home as Bruce, Wisconsin. He was running a Mod and had some first night mechanical issues but hopefully both will be regular competitors at the track.

Rookie Pure Stock driver Alyson Karshbaum was involved in a grinding feature race wreck last week that included her father. With basically two destroyed race cars, the easy thing to do would be to call it an early season. However, Karshbaums went out this week and got themselves a new car, which I believe was the one raced by Sean Duffy last year. She was back at it on Saturday with taped on numbers and a body that consisted of many colors but she was racing and she did finish the feature.

The DRC Tour got rained out on Saturday so defending WISSOTA National Champion Kolten Brauer dropped in to race. If nothing else, this gave him the chance to get some laps on the track before the Little Dream race come July. And he did get a top-five finish on Saturday.

Here is the tough side of the sport that can sometimes rear its ugly head. Jacen Skogrand is in his first full year of racing Street Stocks. He comes from Shakopee, Minnesota, not exactly a hot bed for dirt track racers. He has been running at Granite City on Sunday nights but went to Rice Lake Saturday, a considerable pull. Perhaps he did so because it’s a holiday weekend and Granite City is not racing.

In any event, he drew the pole for his heat but at the drop of the green flag, his transmission exploded. Shrapnel flew all over the track and a couple of other drivers ran into his dead-in-the-water machine. So, he made that long drive and didn't even get to run a lap. That has to be discouraging.

The Midwest Modified feature provided one of the closest finishes of the year and perhaps even much longer. Mike Schnider has been trying to hard to get to victory lane and he got oh, so close on Saturday. Nick Koehler had a great run off turn four on the final lap, however, and when they crossed the line, it was too close to tell who had won. I actually scored it for Schnider, but thank goodness for the transponders. Back in the day, we would have probably spent the rest of the night arguing about who won, but the machine said that Koehler won by .003 seconds. Wow, that is close.

Ryan Olson is trying just as hard to win his first feature since he moved to the Super Stocks. He has been close a number of times, and again on Saturday he did everything right. However, McFadden just got a great break on a restart and was able to slip under him for the lead. Olson has been running consistently better this year and that night will come sometime soon, just like it did for Swan.

Several Midwest Mod drivers with very limited experience at the track who I thought did well on Saturday included Judd Skubal, Jacob Anderson and Calin Haas. Another driver on hand Saturday who has not been at the track for years was “The Italian Stallion” Antonio Pintaro.

Meanwhile, Travis Anderson can't seem to catch a break with his Midwest Mod. He has been close to victory lane and really wants to get there. However, running well in his heat, he got run over and was given a flat tire in a meaningless battle for redraw position. Instead, Anderson had to start 21st in the main. He did, however, race his way to sixth at the finish.

Sunday, May 24

The 21st annual Mod Nationals concluded on Sunday, May 24 at Ogilvie Raceway near Ogilvie, Minnesota. This event, one of the longest running in-season special events, was originally scheduled to be a three-night program but Friday was rained out.

Finally, for the finale on Sunday, actual spring weather arrived. The Mod Nationals included five WISSOTA classes in action — the Mods, Mid Mods, Super Stocks, Mod Fours and Hornets. Obviously, the Modifieds are the featured division but the other classes were racing for a chance at good money as well.

It is strange how the holiday mood has changed over the years. There was a point when any holiday race was a really big deal, and now it's hard to get both drivers and fans to come out and watch a holiday race.

The car counts for Saturday night’s opening show seemed small to me, but in checking with FYE Motorsports head Chris Stepan, the 2026 car counts in the various classes were very similar to past years. The exception was in the Midwest Mods and what happened to all of them this weekend, I do not know. I suppose the positive way to look at this is to say that everyone who signs in to race will get to run a feature event, with no B features needed Saturday or on Sunday, when the Midwest Mod count did go up slightly.

The word was that Shane Sabraski had finally debuted the long-awaited new Elite chassis on Saturday night, so I went over to find out for sure. It turns out Sabraski didn't feel the car was yet up to speed after running it on Saturday, and he decided a special event was not a good way to break it in. It still needed some fine tuning and testing. So he rolled out his older car, the J-Car that has served him well over the last year-plus. Later, he was involved in the most competitive race of the night, the Modified feature, which was fitting for it being a Modified special.

The Jason Gross racing team went home on Saturday night to change a motor, as they continued to be baffled about an oiling problem in their primary motor. They believe they have finally discovered the source of the oil smoke that has puzzled them for weeks. In putting in their smaller motor, the track was dry and slick on Sunday, which played right into their wheelhouse.

Zach Benson still has a strong affinity for the Midwest Mods, though he is now racing in the Modified class. He drove one of the Paull team’s Midwest Mods on Sunday, along with his WISSOTA Mod.

I was told the track was very “elbows up” on Saturday night, a condition that was the result of the rain on Friday. It was much more like the normal Big O on Sunday: dry and slick and a completely different track than the previous night. One of the big challenges but also the beauty of dirt track racing is that you never know exactly what you're going to get for a racing surface from week to week. Maddening sometimes, but always interesting.

FYE shows are always passing points shows. Heats started shortly after 7 p.m. It took quite a while for the groove to widen out on Sunday, so the draw position was probably more important than normal for a passing point show.

All 25 Modified drivers on hand took the green flag for 30 laps of racing. Shane Sabraski started on the pole and was a heavy odds favorite to win. Good thing I didn't bet the farm on this result, however, as I would have been walking home afterward!

Sabraski did lead the first 19 laps of the race, which was slowed four times by yellow flags. However, his lead was anything but comfortable as Ryan Gierke was all over Sabraski, trying both high and low to get past him for the top spot. Sabraski was left to play defense, trying to guess just which way Gierke would be coming at him and then trying to beat him to the spot. It was very entertaining racing and there was plenty of other position fighting right behind the two leaders.

During lap 15, top-five runner Nick Ayotte plunked the turn two wall, which ended his night and bunched the field once again. This was also the first time Saturday night’s winner Jody Bellefeuille cracked the top five.

The restart was wild; after Sabraski had been worrying about Gierke for so long, suddenly the fastest driver on the track seemed to be J.T. Johnson. Johnson immediately started throwing sliders at both Gierke and Sabraski and on lap 20, found his way into the lead.

But Gierke wasn't done and over the next five laps, he and Johnson exchanged several sliders as they traded the lead back and forth, while Sabraski tried to stay with them. Gierke nailed Johnson in the rear end during one of the sliders, sending him off course and he lost several spots.

The yellow flew again with just four laps to go for a slowing car with Johnson the leader. Bellefeuille was now up to fourth and he exploded on the green, diving to the low side. He drove under all those battling for the lead and took over the top spot. Talk about sneaking up on everyone! His drive to the front from ninth was not flashy in any way, but it was effective!

There was one more yellow as they couldn't quite get the final lap completed; things were even more shuffled up on that final lap. Bellefeuille pulled away for the win but the final running order was no reflection of what it had looked like all race. Travis Schulte started 14th and did not appear in the top five until lap 26. However, he continued to make a charge at the end and raced up to second, just ahead of Johnson. Thomas only appeared once at the halfway point in the top five but his surge at the end saw him race up to fourth with Sabraski settling for fifth after heading so many laps. It was a wild finish and hard to keep up with.

It was a very lucrative weekend for Bellefeuille, taking back-to-back $2,500-to-win races. There was also a clean sweep bonus of $2,500 but that may have changed, given they didn't race three nights. Either way, Bellefeuille went home with some extra cash in his sock.

There was a lot of passing in the Hornet main as well. There were three different passes for the lead in the first five laps of the race until Brady Fosso finally moved into the top spot. Nathan Penney and Randy Jacoboski battled before Fosso passed them and they continued to battle each other even when Fosso moved to the point.

Just past halfway, Jacoboski spun and went to the tail. Fosso then had to hold off Penney and William Lange, who were also battling each other as well. Fosso had a driver right on his tail the rest of the way, with that challenger switching back and forth.

Fosso held the inside line to the finish as he drove on for the win. Penney come out on top of the last-lap battle with Lange, who settled for third.

In the Midwest Mod feature Jake Smith dominated the field. He started on the outside pole and got the jump on Tate Kostreba, after which he built his lead to a full straightaway over the pack. Kostreba and Jason VandeKamp, Saturday's winner, had a great battle for second with Kostreba doing a great job holding off Vandy.

There was only one yellow flag during the race for a minor spin just before the halfway point, but once again Smith just drove away from the field.

Late in the race, VandeKamp finally got past Kostreba for second but he couldn't put a dent in the advantage of Smith.

The Super Stocks went 25 laps nonstop and Dylan Nelson's win was just about a mirror of the previous race. It took him three laps to get past Tommy Bawden for the lead but once in front, he pulled away by a full straightaway. Sabraski started sixth and by the halfway point of the race was up to second but he was far behind Nelson. While he closed up the distance some, he was never in a position to threaten Nelson, who drove home for the win.

Kolby Kiehl drove a consistent race to finish third and all 13 starters were still on the track at the finish.

Dustin Holtquist started in the second row of the Mod Four feature, but he was able to get past both Gerry Nohner and Tyler Larson before a lap was completed and after that, he was gone. He built up a big lead for a race that was stopped just once when top five racers Rowan Tramm and Nohner collided on the front chute after Tramm suddenly lost power; both were eliminated.

Holtquist picked up the pace and pulled away again for the win. Tom Burgard had a fine drive around Larson in the late going to grab second.

Thanks to FYE for a good night of racing as they continue to be one of the few track offering up holiday racing action. There appeared to be a good-sized crowd in the stands, which is important toward keeping these shows happening.

In an update from Saturday night racing action, I was informed that Aiden Hoffman, who took a wild ride in his Modified at Rice Lake on Saturday, was found to have suffered a concussion. He will likely be out of action for a period of time. Hopefully he's feeling better soon, as concussions are nothing to mess with.