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Thursday, June 12

Earlier in the week, the XR Northern Storm Series was set to include consecutive races at Proctor, Superior, Grand Rapids and Hibbing for June 12-15. It was cancelled by series organizer Barry Braun due to wet weather and cold temperatures. The way the press release was written, or perhaps the way I misread it, I assumed that all four race programs were cancelled for this weekend.

Then I discovered that both Grand Rapids and Hibbing were going to continue with their programs on the nights they had planned for the series, on Saturday and Sunday. There just wouldn’t be the extra payouts.

After spending a bit of time on the internet, I confirmed that Proctor was also going to run a regular program, just as they had planned on Thursday. That green light, with so much rain in the area, was like manna from heaven!

Instead of just sitting home and being crabby, which can happen to me when I get rained out, I was able to go to the races and it was just 90 minutes away from home — terrific!

It was not that many years ago when something like this just couldn't have happened. My how the world of racing, even for short tracks, has changed in the last few years. There would have been no way to get the updated information out to people and once a race was cancelled, it was cancelled and couldn't be called back.

I was discussing this with another old fossil, Tim McMann, in the pits later on Thursday. We agreed that to be informed and stay up-to-date, even the “veteran” race fans and drivers like us have been forced to get up to speed with the 21st century, even if it has just about killed us.

Proctor presented a four-class program, featuring the Late Models, Modifieds, Mid Mods and Pure Stocks. There were solid fields in all, except the Mods, which also had trouble turning out cars for their first Sunday night program just over a week ago. Incredibly, we are near the middle of June and Proctor had only raced twice as of this writing.

Despite the cool and cloudy conditions, the track was in excellent shape for the program. It was smooth and tacky with — it appeared — two good lanes to race on and very little dust. Kyle Peterlin later commented on that fact, but it always seems better when you win two features in a row!

So far this year, they have also been doing a good job with time management at the track. The first green flag flew right at 7 p.m. as advertised.

I observed a rare sight tonight —when the grader was fired up before the races, to do just a bit of touch up on the track, the driver was none other than 80-plus-year-old Hall-of-Famer Norris “Johnny” Johnson behind the wheel! He was minus his “stogie,” but that appeared as soon as he was done with the touch-up.

Tonight was my first chance of the new season to talk to Kevin Carlson to find out about his new car. Kevin has a 28 Special from Provo this year, and for the first time ever he is using a 525 crate motor for power. So far, it has been a handful, as he tries to dial in the proper shock package for the car. He used shocks he got from Devin Van House Thursday, which seemed to smooth out the ride. He said that last week it was so bouncy that his ribs ached all week. He is still getting used to the crate motor, which he said is a totally different animal than what he is used to.

A brand-new SSR Modified rolled out of the trailer for Kennedy Swan Thursday. It might not have looked new because they used the same body, but it was a totally new fresh car. Too many hard hits during what has been a rocky start to the 2025 season is the reason for a new car. The final blow was a big crash two weeks ago in an open competition show.

Jason Swan said they now need some good luck, but unfortunately Thursday didn't bring it. She made only a couple laps in a heat before pulling off and failed to grid for the feature race, so it must have been something pretty serious. She came mostly to get laps in, which the small field of drivers would have provided. It was a long drive from Chippewa Falls for what they accomplished.

In talking to race director Benji Pearson before the show, the goal was to put on a quick two-hour show and get folks on the way home early on a weeknight. They didn't quite accomplish that, but they did produce a speedy show, which was appreciated — especially since it was brutally cold.

Remember that wind off the lake that kept the rain away? Well, since the lake hasn't warmed up yet, it also provided us with one of the coldest nights of the racing season. It was officially 46 degrees, but with the wind chill, it was estimated to be about -5 degrees! I may be stretching just a bit, but that wind cut right to the quick and I was wearing everything that I would wear to a snowmobile race in January — except for “the longees,” which I refuse to wear in June, unlike McMann. I was froze to the bone and a heated seat in my car was a blessing on the trip home.

Some good racing prevailed Thursday, including a couple of wild finishes in the feature races, plus a couple of dominating runs by other drivers.

Blake Adams won the Mid Mod feature but it was a struggle and he ended up in a wild scramble in the last laps. Adams took the lead early but Tyler Vernon was on the move after starting sixth. By the halfway point of the race Vernon was up to second. Paul Ripley was also on the move, showing good speed as he moved to third.

The race then turned into a three-car battle with Adams fighting off both drivers, who took turns putting the pressure on. A couple of late-race yellows made things even tighter, until an unfortunate incident occurred. Vernon was putting heavy heat on and going for the lead. Entering turn one, Adams zigged and Vernon zagged and the result was Vernon catching the back of the Adams’ car and turning him around. Vernon immediately called it a night, Adams was restored to the lead, and he then held off Ripley for the win. Cole Boston was one of the fastest cars on the track at the end as he came from 12th to finish third.

The other feature with a lot of action was the Hornet main event, though most in the crowd had lumbered to their cars to thaw out. The field was not large but it contained many of the top drivers in WISSOTA so far. On the speedy track, they put on a good show with hard battling.

Russell Kiker, Jr. grabbed the lead from the start but the driver to watch was Nikota Larson, moving forward from the third row. He passed fast drivers like Anthony Jensen and Bobie Arnes to get to second. Kiker was fighting to hold onto the lead as Larson put the pressure on him.

There were three late yellows, and then a red when impressive rookie Nathan Penney flipped while trying to keep up with the pack. Twice Larson got past Kiker on the restarts, only to have the yellow wave, restack the field, and negate his pass.

Finally, on the third try, he passed Kiker and took over the lead. Then, in turn one, Kiker got into the back of Larson and spun him out. The restart was going to put Kiker to the back until, at the last second, Larson let track officials know that his car had slowed and that Kiker hadn't taken him out.

This great act of sportsmanship allowed Kiker to restart up front and he held on for the win. Arnes made a last-corner pass on Jensen to take second.

Brandon Copp started on the pole for the Modified feature and he ran away for an easy win over a small field. Jody Bellefeuille came from the third row to make a late-race pass on Tanner Gehl to finish second.

A solid field of 18 Late Models signed in and it was Peterlin who scored his second win in a row here. He started on the pole and pulled away immediately. He was never really challenged during the contest, which was slowed twice by yellow flags. Danny Vang had one of his better runs so far this year as he finished a solid second, with ninth-starter Kevin Burdick passing the most cars to finish third.

The final checkers waved before 10 p.m. and those of us left headed for our vehicles to crank up the heat!

Thanks to Proctor KME officials for putting on the show, which was a bonus for everyone. We saw good racing.

Friday, June 13

It didn't dawn on me until far after the fact, but Friday was Friday the 13th, so that tells you ahead of time about how the day went.

It was a miserable day for nearly everyone in racing, as rain fell across much of the region.

There was one bright spot in all the gloominess, however, to the north and west of me. River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota was north of the rain line.

Would we make a banzai run up there? Should we make a banzai run up there?

In the end, the desire to see races and visit a track that generally provides great racing action won out over common sense. Off we went, six hours and two states away, to see races at the famous “Bullring.”

It was their normal four-class program with the addition of the WISSOTA Modifieds.

The stars were aligning to provide us with a memorable field of race cars for Friday. With all of South Dakota wet and a big race scheduled on Saturday at Devils Lake, a number of the top dogs from South Dakota were reportedly on the way.

Folks do funny things sometimes when their local track rains out early. Even the Randt family, who lives just over the hill from me to the west in Siren, were on the way with their two race cars.

Promoter Brad Seng implored the teams to park tight together in the rather small pit area, which has now been left at Grand Forks thanks to the new jail. In the end, even though the county probably didn't like it, it was necessary to pit some cars outside the pit gate in jail parking spots. No one was reported to be arrested for such violations, although the arrests would have been easy — it’s just a matter of walking in the back door!

There were 108 cars signed in to race in the four WISSOTA classes, including a spectacular count of 33 Late Models, all racing for the regular Friday night purse. B features were needed for both the Mid Mods and Late Models, and the first green flag of the night flew just as advertised at 7 p.m.

Of the drivers entered, it was good to see Cole Searing back behind the wheel after his recent appendectomy during the last Challenge Series week.

It's always fun to visit with Tom Corcoran, who doesn't get to many tracks anymore outside of River Cities. The design of this year’s car is a match to that of his first Late Model decades ago.

River Cities has a nice crop of rookie drivers in their Late Model class, with about a half dozen first-year drivers. This might be more than any other track. It seems that this area, along with South Dakota, are thriving when it comes to Late Models.

Friday was the second visit of the Modifieds to the track this year, and with 25 drivers on hand and certainly some of the best around, no one could complain about having them as a part of tonight’s show. They are always wild and crazy here and there are many regular fans who would like to see them added to the weekly show. I'm guessing the drivers in this area would also like another area track added to their possibilities.

The race fans got more than they bargained for perhaps, as 19 qualifying races were needed to set the main events. One of the highlights of the heat race action was the bunny rabbit that appeared suddenly in the infield in turn four ... and decided right in the middle of a Mid Mod heat to head out on the track. Showing tremendous speed and agility, Mr. Rabbit managed to avoid several racing Mid Mods and cut right through the racing pack, escaping off the fourth turn driveway to the stunned roar of the crowd. We were expecting “rabbit stew” but fortunately, everyone lived to see another day.

The track was a bit different than normal on Friday, and I felt like track prep may have been thrown a bit off their game. They didn’t treat the track as often as I’ve seen them do in the past. I'm certainly not qualified to throw out any more advice, but I thought the track didn’t end up offering the many grooves it normally does. It was bottom dominant for much of the night.

Whether it was just one of those nights or due to the increase in competition on hand, it seemed like there were many more yellows than normal, which made for some frustrating events and a long, long night.

The exception was the Late Model feature. Twenty-six drivers were crammed onto the “Bullring” but they managed to go 20 laps nonstop. Only two drivers were DNFs.

Dustin Strand started on the outside pole and normally that might spell victory over the field for the No. 71 car. Not to be discounted was TPO, who started sixth and quickly moved to the front. He pulled up to challenge Strand for the lead, and unlike most everyone else, TPO moved to the top side of the track and he blew past Strand to take over out front.

However, Strand hung right with Peterson and stayed close for much of the race. They had to do some serious navigating through lots of traffic; several times Strand was right up alongside or behind Peterson. For all the world it still looked like the inside line was faster and TPO left that door open time and time again, but then managed to fight off all Strand’s challenges.

The top side was the place to be to get through traffic and when TPO put six cars a lap down, he was able to gain an edge he carried to the finish.

John Seng drove a great race, starting third and maintaining that position all the way. That was by far the best I have ever seen him run. Don Shaw also drove a steady race to finish fourth, as he held off the No. 12s of Chad Becker and Seng.

Peterson was in line for a double win, and perhaps would have done so ... if not for a mechanical issue he said slowed his progress in the Modified feature. All 25 drivers on hand started that race, with Aaron Holtan taking the initial lead. He was only able to hold the top spot for two laps as Preston Carr, who started outside of him on row one, drove his car deep into turn three using the low line and took over out front.

TPO started seventh but was soon challenging Bryce Sward, Joseph Thomas and Mike Stearns for position. Yellow flags were a constant for this race, with three of them in the first six laps. The third yellow saved Carr from being passed by TPO.

And then, controversy reared its head. Carr was setting the pace for the double-file restart when things became bottled up as the race restarted; several cars spun and came to a stop. The yellow flew once again and the call was made to send Carr to the tail for “brake-checking.” To say that Carr was not pleased was an understatement. After stopping for consultation, he went to the back of the pack after revving up his engine to about 15,000 RPMs.

Did he do something wrong? I don't know for sure. He set a slow pace which was his choice. Did he speed up and then slow, thus brake-checking the field? I don't know. I didn't see it as obvious, but those calls are tough to see and even tougher to make.

In any case, this awarded Peterson the top spot and it seemed like game-over. Once back underway, however, Peterson was running the middle line and just didn't seem to have the dig he needed coming off the corners. Sward drove inside him down the backstretch and took over the lead. Once in front, he maintained his poise to fight off the pack over a total of seven yellow flags and hold off Stearns and TPO for the win. TPO reported he lost a spring on his car, which hampered his efforts.

With a thrilling lap-19 pass, Matt Schow “stole” the win in the Mid Mod feature from Ryan Flaten, who had led from the start of the event.

Flaten, who was impressive in a feature win at Madison I saw recently, was just as fast on Friday. After starting on the pole, he motored away from Austin Hunter, the law firm of Schow and Schow, and Aaron Blacklance in the early going. This race had more than its share of yellow flags as well, with a couple of grinding wrecks slowing the action.

Matt Schow is plenty tough here and he eventually worked his way into the runner-up slot, and then began to pressure Flaten for the lead. The top two drivers were running distinctly different lines, with Flaten letting his momentum carry him high off the corners, while Schow was running a tight low line.

Several times in the last few laps, Schow stuck a nose under Flaten, but Flaten was able to fight him off. Finally, as they were coming to the white flag, Schow had the boost he needed down the back chute and beat Flaten to corner three.

He extended his lead during the final lap to take the win with Flaten undoubtably a frustrated second. Hunter edged past Ryan Schow on the final lap for third.

Three different drivers held the lead at one point or another during the Street Stock feature, but when Cole Greseth grabbed it on lap seven, he maintained the top spot the rest of the way.

The race was stopped four times before it was half over in another feature that was plagued by the yellow flag.

Weston Ramsrud came from the second row to sneak into the lead early, but then he was passed by Greg Jose to take over the top spot. Some fans were surprised to see Jose in the front after he spun on the initial green, but was awarded his spot back.

No matter, Greseth was cooking on the low side and moved ahead quickly. On lap seven he got past Jose to take over the lead and the rest was history. He did have to endure one more slow down but he maintained a steady pace and had the field covered.

Levi Randt started eighth, but with some smooth driving and by keeping his nose clean he was able to pass Jose in the late going and earn the runner-up honors. Nearly half the starting field was in the pits by the time the checkers waved.

It was a long show between the number of drivers on hand, the number of events, and seemingly a lot more yellow flags than typically occur here. With the unsanctioned 410 Sprints also a part of the program, the final checkered flag didn't wave until midnight with only a fraction of the crowd, which seemed to be good-sized one, still in the bleachers.

Thanks to Darren Evavold for his help with the late notice, Brad Seng and the rest of the staff at River Cities. River Cities is one of the best tracks to catch great racing action in WISSOTA and I hope to return for the Outlaw Late Models and, of course, the Seitz.

Saturday, June 14

One man’s misfortune often turns into another man’s luck. That was the case on Saturday, June 14. With most tracks still under water and unable to race on Saturday, those few who were not in the path of our latest typhoon were able to garner the full benefits of many racers and fans looking for a place to race. In Saturday’s case, the place to be was Grand Rapids Speedway in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

They originally planned to race on Saturday, not their normal Thursday night, due to hosting the Northern Storm Series, which had been postponed. Like Proctor, they decided to go ahead with the race and boy, I'll bet they are glad they did.

They were even gifted with a surprise from the weather man — not only did it not rain, but the sun came out and the 70 degree temperature mark was broken, more than unexpected for the kind of weather that surrounded the track to the west, south and east.

The car count was epic, right to the levels of the annual WISSOTA Classic race on Labor Day weekend. In the six WISSOTA classes offered, 123 racers signed in for action. That included 25 Mid Mods and 24 Supers. I knew it was going to be something special when the line of haulers was backed up around the corner, even before the pits gates were scheduled to open. It looked like much of the Bemidji pit area had descended upon Grand Rapids, and there was an eclectic field of drivers on hand. It even included some drivers who had raced way up in Thunder Bay the night before. There were also some who had been in Grand Forks the night before and were suffering a bit of sleep deprivation, which sounds familiar. It was an invitational-type atmosphere.

The track had solicited help from Caley Emerson, who — armed with a map of the pits and who had reserved parking spots — was sprinting around the pits, trying to get everyone settled in.

I had a nice conversation with Tanner Williamson, who was in Grand Rapids after having had a tough go of it in Thunder Bay the night before. No need to get to into the details, but he was glad for a breath of fresh air and a chance to start over from scratch.

Continuing my visit with the “Up North” contingent, I spoke with Ed Brown, on hand to spin wrenches for the Cameron Brown Modified team. He always a good one to visit with and Saturday was the first time I had seen him in 2025.

One of the drivers I ran into in the pits was Hornet driver Trenton Beel. He thought I was a tech inspector so I had to reassure him that I wasn't, but noted that his car looked nice, to which he agreed. Later that was not the case; after losing a wheel during the main event, he performed one of the harder flips of the season to date, going over quickly at least four times in a nasty barrel roll. He was reported to be okay as he walked to the fire rescue vehicle.

Sometimes that can be misleading though, as after Eric Olson was involved in a grinding crash at Rice Lake during the Fastlane Super Stock special, he walked away from the scene. Not feeling well in the days that followed, he made a visit to his doctor and found out he had a few injuries that do need to be addressed. I don't know how long he will have to sit out, or even if he has a car to drive, because I think his was reduced to junk. That was a shame, since he was leading the track points. (Saturday’s rainout at Rice Lake may have helped him.)

I spotted a couple of promoters who were visiting on Saturday, including Nate Fischer in the crowd. I also spoke to Hibbing’s Barry Braun briefly. The news will probably be out before this column sees print, but Braun tells me the July 1 Late Model special scheduled for Hibbing, originally an open-motor show, will now be for WISSOTA Late Models. All those details will also come out shortly. He also said that everything was in order for his special Sunday night edition of racing in Hibbing, which we now know fell apart on race morning.

Good and full fields in all six classes made for a lot of qualifying events. There were 18 heat races scheduled, but no B features.

Again, I am seeing the heat race fields divided up into pretty small numbers, like four six-car heat races instead of three eight-car heat races. That is probably a bit of overkill. I'm seeing this a lot this year and continue to wonder if it’s because drivers are now getting heat race points, so we want to spread the wealth.

There were a couple of significant developments during the heat race action. Michael Blevins, Sr. was leading a Mid Mod heat when his car's motor starting smoking and making bad noises. He managed to limp it home and get the win, but then failed to return to the track for the main event.

Austin Niemeyer was leading a Super Stock feature when he broke something and quickly dove into the infield. He returned for the feature and raced from 24th to 11th in that race, but his evening was essentially ruined by the mechanical failure in the heat.

The six feature races produced a wide variety of story lines on Saturday. There were a couple of dominating performances, a double winner, a shocking last-corner pass and a wild late-race scramble in another.

Let’s go first to the dominating performances and the double winner. If you guessed Shane Sabraski as the winner of two mains, you were correct. While it is par for the course for Sabraski to win multiple times in the same night, when you consider all the races held, a double win doesn't happen very often — unless you’re Sabraski.

His first win was in the Super Stocks. This one was pretty easy as he started on the pole and led all laps. Probably his biggest challenge was staying awake — this race was slowed by seven yellow flags and there were more spins than ticks on a bloodhound.

Finally, with the same cars pointed south in the north bound track, a couple were sent to the pits, a fork was stuck in the whole proceedings, and the checkered flag was waved with half the laps completed. There were some pretty good battling going on for second when they could actually race, with Kolby Kiehl getting second ahead of Tristan LaBarge.

Sabraski started from the pole in the Modifieds and he led all laps, although Bob Broking stayed close for a while before Sabraski gradually pulled away. Sabraski has figured out that the fast line around this track is generally to ride the banking in turns one and two and then hug the tires on the other end. Once he gets locked in that groove and isn't required to move out of it to pass cars, the race is pretty much decided.

In one of his best runs to date in 2025, Danny Vang put on a dominating run to lead from start to finish to win the Late Model feature. He controlled the action from start to finish in a race that was stopped just once for the yellow flag.

Billy Kendall stayed relatively close to Vang and was the only one to give Vang pause, as he tried several times to race under the leader. Vang stayed true to his line and never faltered, however. Rick Niemi had a good run with his SSR chassis, as he came home third.

The last-corner shocker came in the Mid Mod feature where Blake Adams led for 19.75 laps, only to go wide on the last corner and open the door for Mervin Castle to drive under him for the win.

The Mid Mods ran their feature first, right after track prep was done, and the groove was right on the tires. No passing was done in this race on the top side and if you hugged the inside tires, you were going to be hard to get by.

Adams started right on the pole and that's what he did, easing away from Mikey Blevins and Castle. Castle was clearly quicker than Blevins, but with the inside line blocked, he had to be content with third in the early going.

They stayed in that order past the halfway point of the race with Adams receiving little in the way of challenges. Finally, with about eight laps to go, Castle drove past Blevins and he began to reel in Adams, who appeared to be cruising. With a couple of laps left, Adams backed off a little more as he caught the back of the pack and smartly, didn't want to deal with those cars.

Castle began to reel in the leader, but still, unless Adams pulled over for him, there was no way he was going to be able to pass. Castle closed to within a car length on the last lap and then, inexplicably, Adams drifted too high leaving turn four and left a lane for Castle to drive under him, and Castle did, grabbing the checkered flag.

The crowd was thrilled with the unexpected change in events, as Castle is a local driver. Adams had to be really shaking his head after this one. I suspect this one will be bugging him for quite some time.

It reminded me of when I lost my first no-hitter as a pitcher in Little League. But then the second batter in the first inning came to the plate and he also hit a home run and I realized that pitching wasn't my forte!

The Pure Stock feature ended up with a wild scramble near the end that produced a surprise winner, and again had the crowd on their feet.

Eric Crosby took the lead in the Pure Stock feature and as strong as he has been running, he appeared hard to beat. However, the track was very slick by the time the Pure Stocks came out and he started to slip and slide off the corners. When Jake Smith passed Billy Binkley for second, he began to close on the leader at a rapid pace.

Chris Dudley and Austin Carlson were also closing in and Crosby had a series of slower cars in front of him to worry about as well. The lead pack raced into turn one, with those four cars bunched in among a couple of slower cars and there wasn't room for everyone. Smith gave Crosby a hard shot in the shorts, which caused Crosby to shoot up the track. The seas parted and Carlson drove between all the scrambling into the lead with just two laps to go. He held his line and fought off Crosby and Smith to take the win. Later, Crosby was DQ'd from second for an unknown reason (to me, anyway), which elevated Dudley to third.

The Hornets wrapped up the night with a relatively tamer main event, minus of course the flipping car, flying wheels and other fun stuff. Tristen McLynn and Brady Fosso actually did some of the finest racing of the night, running side by side for several laps around the track. McLynn was able to pull away late, while Russell Kiker, Jr. finished third.

Besides the packed pit area, the biggest crowd of the year was on hand for the Saturday night show, with certainly a lot of different factors responsible for both.