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Tristan LaBarge (Jennifer Tomczyk Photo)

Kendall claims Late Model main while Kintner and Jones beat fenderless foes at Hibbing Speedway

By Jackson Braun

HIBBING, MN (May 31) - Racing returned to the city of Hibbing, Minnesota with a bang Saturday, May 31. Fans lined the nearby streets to support the project to revitalize the nearly 100-year-old racing facility, now known as Hibbing Speedway once again.

Five WISSOTA classes were in action on the reshaped quarter-mile oval, and winners included Justin Jones, Billy Kendall, Tyler Kintner, Tristan LaBarge, and McKenna Folstad.

WISSOTA Super Stocks kicked off the night with Trevor Arens and Tristan LaBarge leading the field to green for their 20-lap contest. LaBarge took the lead on lap one and never looked back, taking the checkered flag in his campaign to win a fourth-straight track championship.

Eighth-starter Dalton Carlson slowly and methodically moved his way through the pack, moving into second place on a lap 12 after a restart. Carlson finished 0.6 seconds behind LaBarge, and 10th-starter Andy LaBarge completed the podium. Austin Blom and Doug Koski were top-five finishers.

In the 25-lap WISSOTA Late Model feature event, Jack Koranda and defending track champion Johnny Broking led the field to green. Koranda, a rookie in the division after racing in the Super Stocks, led the first four laps. Third-starter Billy Kendall got around Broking to complete the first lap in second position. He dove to the inside of Koranda on lap five, taking the lead and extending it more than two seconds during the middle of the race.

Seventh-starter Jeff Massingill passed Travis Budisalovich for second on lap 15, and got as close as 0.5 seconds behind Kendall, but Kendall took his first WISSOTA Late Model win by 1.3 seconds ahead of Massingill with Budisalovich in the top three. Kevin Burdick and Broking rounded out the top five.

The WISSOTA Modifieds hit the track next and readied for their 20-lap affair. The race got off to a hairy start as polesitter Skeeter Estey’s car did not fire right away. Estey and outside polesitter Tyler Kintner made contact, stacking up the field and bringing out a caution.

After the full restart, Kintner stormed around the outside of Estey and came across the line for lap one in first. Estey and 2024 track champion Andrew Inman battled for second in the early stages, with Estey eventually prevailing.

Farther back veteran Bob Broking rode around the high side of the speedway in third when on lap 16, he collided with the pile of tires at the end of the frontstretch retaining wall. The hard collision briefly stopped the race, but Broking was okay.

Kintner had the jump on the restart and led all 20 laps to claim the season-opening victory at his home track, with Estey, Tanner Williamson, Jeff Wood, and Jeffrey Wood in the top five.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds took the track next for another 20-lap contest. Alex O’Dell and Justin Bassa led the 24-car field to the start, and O’Dell was able to lead the first lap with fierce competition between Bassa and Mervin Castle III behind him; Castle vaulted his way forward to lead the second and third laps. Eight-starter Justin Jones found good track position early on, moving into fifth after lap one and advancing three more spots to second a lap later. He powered into the lead by lap four, but had heavy pressure from Bassa in the form of haymaker sliders. Jones settled into the top spot with Castle following behind.

After a few cautions, that is how the top two finished - Jones hit victory lane ahead of Castle, 13th-starter Andy Davey, Bassa and Mikey Blevins in the top five.

Youngster Tucker Smith and Mark Gangl brought the WISSOTA Hornets to the green flag. Gangl got the jump and led the majority of the race before he was passed by McKenna Folstad in the late stages of the competition. Folstad became the first female feature winner of the 2025 Hibbing season, with Gangl and Brady Fosso rounding out the final podium of the night. Calvin Skaja and Louis Skaja were top five finishers.

In the Renegade Sprint feature, Paul Schultz was victorious ahead of Jesse Grife and Ken Hron in the top three.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 99-Billy Kendall[3]; 2. 6M-Jeff Massingill[7]; 3. 31-Travis Budisalovich[5]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick[4]; 5. 45J-Johnny Broking[2]; 6. 37X-Skeeter Estey[8]; 7. 54-Rick Niemi[9]; 8. 16-Derek Vesel[6]; 9. 79-Kevin Carlson[11]; 10. 12X-Ben Heinle[10]; 11. 22-Jack Koranda[1]; 12. (DNF) 12-Mark Heinle[12]; 13. (DNF) 23-Kyle Peterlin[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Kevin Burdick[1]; 2. 31-Travis Budisalovich[3]; 3. 16-Derek Vesel[4]; 4. 99-Billy Kendall[6]; 5. 54-Rick Niemi[7]; 6. 79-Kevin Carlson[2]; 7. 23-Kyle Peterlin[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 45J-Johnny Broking[1]; 2. 6M-Jeff Massingill[4]; 3. 22-Jack Koranda[2]; 4. 37X-Skeeter Estey[5]; 5. 12X-Ben Heinle[3]; 6. 12-Mark Heinle[6]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 22-Tyler Kintner[2]; 2. 37X-Skeeter Estey[1]; 3. 88-Tanner Williamson[6]; 4. 55-Jeff Wood[4]; 5. 55W-Jeffrey Wood[10]; 6. 85-Jeff Davis[12]; 7. 12T-Tony Caissie[9]; 8. 12-TJ Heinle[14]; 9. M2-Chris Magistad[7]; 10. (DNF) 11JR-Andrew Inman[3]; 11. (DNF) 45-Bob Broking[8]; 12. (DNF) 4A-Dawson Allen[13]; 13. (DNF) 05-Mark Prueser[11]; 14. (DNF) 21-Matt DePiero[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Tyler Kintner[4]; 2. M2-Chris Magistad[3]; 3. 21-Matt DePiero[2]; 4. 88-Tanner Williamson[6]; 5. 12T-Tony Caissie[1]; 6. 05-Mark Prueser[7]; 7. 4A-Dawson Allen[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 45-Bob Broking[3]; 2. 37X-Skeeter Estey[1]; 3. 55-Jeff Wood[2]; 4. 11JR-Andrew Inman[5]; 5. 55W-Jeffrey Wood[7]; 6. 85-Jeff Davis[6]; 7. 12-TJ Heinle[4]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 19-Tristan LaBarge[2]; 2. 57-Dalton Carlson[8]; 3. 79A-Andy LaBarge[10]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[9]; 5. 76-Doug Koski[3]; 6. 41-Mikey Vajdl[7]; 7. 40C-Chaston Finckbone[4]; 8. 47J-Justin Barsness[12]; 9. 01-Trevor Arens[1]; 10. 41X-Brian Vajdl[6]; 11. (DNF) 11-Kevin Salin[5]; 12. (DNF) 5-Danny Doran[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Mikey Vajdl[1]; 2. 11-Kevin Salin[4]; 3. 01-Trevor Arens[2]; 4. 76-Doug Koski[3]; 5. 3B-Austin Blom[6]; 6. 5-Danny Doran[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40C-Chaston Finckbone[1]; 2. 19-Tristan LaBarge[3]; 3. 57-Dalton Carlson[6]; 4. 41X-Brian Vajdl[2]; 5. 79A-Andy LaBarge[5]; 6. 47J-Justin Barsness[4]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 8-Justin Jones[8]; 2. 10M-Mervin Castle III[3]; 3. 91-Andy Davey[13]; 4. 69-Justin Bassa[2]; 5. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[5]; 6. 15-Sam Blevins[4]; 7. 14*-Adam Shinn[16]; 8. 22-Chad VanDuker[6]; 9. M2-Chris Magistad[7]; 10. 26K-Sam Kolar[12]; 11. 18X-Dylan Miller[22]; 12. 44-Brayden Rewertz[17]; 13. 14G-Brant Gruba[14]; 14. 76-Keith Koski[19]; 15. 12A-Alex O'Dell[1]; 16. 22E-Ethan Elhardt[20]; 17. (DNF) 7A-Eric Anderson[11]; 18. (DNF) 16-Garrett Paull[10]; 19. (DNF) 10X-Matthew Cunha[15]; 20. (DNF) 33L-Cejay LaValley[18]; 21. (DNF) 10-Michael Blevins Sr[9]; 22. (DNF) 1-Joe Pangrac[21]; 23. (DNF) 31-Randy Haupt[23]; 24. (DNS) 68G-Eric Gruba

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Justin Jones[2]; 2. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[1]; 3. 12A-Alex O'Dell[3]; 4. 16-Garrett Paull[8]; 5. 91-Andy Davey[4]; 6. 14*-Adam Shinn[7]; 7. 76-Keith Koski[6]; 8. 1-Joe Pangrac[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 69-Justin Bassa[2]; 2. 15-Sam Blevins[3]; 3. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[5]; 4. 7A-Eric Anderson[6]; 5. 14G-Brant Gruba[8]; 6. 44-Brayden Rewertz[7]; 7. 22E-Ethan Elhardt[1]; 8. 18X-Dylan Miller[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10M-Mervin Castle III[6]; 2. 22-Chad VanDuker[3]; 3. M2-Chris Magistad[4]; 4. 26K-Sam Kolar[5]; 5. 10X-Matthew Cunha[7]; 6. 33L-Cejay LaValley[2]; 7. 68G-Eric Gruba[8]; 8. 31-Randy Haupt[1]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 25K-McKenna Folstad[9]; 2. 34-Mark Gangl[2]; 3. 27-Brady Fosso[5]; 4. 38-Calvin Skaja[8]; 5. 46-Louis Skaja[13]; 6. 188-Ian Vanvickle[7]; 7. 4-Brian Barker[3]; 8. 71-Nathan Bird[10]; 9. 24JR-Jada Lore[11]; 10. 79JR-Mikayla LaBarge[14]; 11. 21-Tiffani Hauta Sanders[15]; 12. 24-Jerry Adams[12]; 13. (DNF) 11-Tucker Smith[1]; 14. (DNF) 31-Zeb Graves[4]; 15. (DNF) 96-Trenton Beel[17]; 16. (DNF) 22-Paige Kintner[16]; 17. (DNF) 9-Nick Ruzich[6]; 18. (DNF) 92S-Zachary Sims[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Calvin Skaja[2]; 2. 27-Brady Fosso[3]; 3. 11-Tucker Smith[1]; 4. 34-Mark Gangl[5]; 5. 25K-McKenna Folstad[6]; 6. 24JR-Jada Lore[7]; 7. 46-Louis Skaja[9]; 8. 21-Tiffani Hauta Sanders[8]; 9. (DNS) 96-Trenton Beel

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Ruzich[2]; 2. 31-Zeb Graves[4]; 3. 188-Ian Vanvickle[6]; 4. 4-Brian Barker[1]; 5. 71-Nathan Bird[5]; 6. 24-Jerry Adams[7]; 7. 79JR-Mikayla LaBarge[3]; 8. 22-Paige Kintner[9]; 9. 92S-Zachary Sims[8]

Renegade NW Sprints:

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 101-Paul Schultz[4]; 2. 11-Jesse Grife[1]; 3. 46H-Ken Hron[6]; 4. 17B-Erik Bjorklund[2]; 5. 5J-Chris Lewis[8]; 6. 56-Josh Braford[10]; 7. 17C-Hunter Colton[3]; 8. 92-Danny Wait Jr[7]; 9. 59-Jamie Reberg[5]; 10. 22-Tyler Hamilton[11]; 11. 17-Mariah LaPatka[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5J-Chris Lewis[5]; 2. 59-Jamie Reberg[4]; 3. 17B-Erik Bjorklund[1]; 4. 92-Danny Wait Jr[2]; 5. 17-Mariah LaPatka[3]; 6. 22-Tyler Hamilton[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 46H-Ken Hron[2]; 2. 17C-Hunter Colton[4]; 3. 11-Jesse Grife[1]; 4. 101-Paul Schultz[5]; 5. 56-Josh Braford[3]