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Fans meet the drivers, then Reed, Nelson, Schmidt, Schwinn, Carlson and Lange visit victory lane at Bemidji

By Dennis Peterson

BEMIDJI, MN (July19) - Bemidji Speedway and Great River Rescue hosted the “Meet the Drivers” night at the speedway, with all who donated to the cause for animals given reduced admission.

“Meet the Drivers” night is always a special night with fans of all ages allowed to go down on track and meet their favorite drivers and pick up hero cards and lots of treats.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Jeff Reed, Dylan Nelson, Brennan Schmidt, Ashton Schwinn, Austin Carlson, and William Lange.

There were 13 entries in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified class with Brennan Schmidt on the pole and Cejay LaValley to his outside. Schmidt grabbed the early lead ahead of LaValley and Josh Beaulieu. Connor Drewry moved up high and around LaValley for third as the field spread around the track. Schmidt and Beaulieu battled for the remainder of the race, with Schmidt taking the checkered flag with a three-car length lead. Beaulieu and Drewry held the top three. It was a clean sweep for Schmidt.

The WISSOTA Pure Stocks were next with 13 entries led by Caylyn Binkley and Billy Binkley to her right. Caylyn took the first lead with Josh Bitker and Billy Binkley in the top three, and Alex Berg coming fast in fourth. Austin Carlson was on the charge from his last place starting spot into third.

Continuing along the low side, Carlson worked up side by side with the leaders and grabbed the top spot in impressive fashion going low in turns one and two. Carlson had to fight off a side-by-side duel with Billy Binkley one more time following a caution. With a final green, white, checkered finish, Carlson took the checkered flag for the win, his seventh of the summer at Bemidji. Billy Binkley and Bitker the remaining podium spots.

Nine WISSOTA Hornets were led to the green by former National Champion Travis Olafson on the pole and Logan Delaney to his right. Making a rare appearance, Olafson outraced Delaney to the lead. Olafson built a strong lead when something broke in Delaney’s No. 28, as he slowed to the back of the field. Chad Reller started in the third row and was in third behind Olafson and William Lange in second. Lange and Reller dueled side by side for second with Olafson way out front.

A couple of cautions slowed the racing and set up restarts, and each time Olafson returned to the lead. Olafson won with Lange and Reller in the top three, but Olafson was DQ’d in post-race inspection, giving the win to Lange. Reller and Kody Crabtree were second and third, respectively.

The WISSOTA Mod Four feature was up next, and Conrad Schwinn and Christopher Roller led the field to the green. Schwinn took the lead with Shannon George and Dexyn Habraken trailing. Schwinn flew out to a three-car length lead with the second- to fifth-place Mod Fours tightly bunched. A multi-car spin sent George tailback for a restart, moving Ashton Schwinn into the top three.

Back under green, the younger Schwinn passed Habraken on the highside and moved up to challenge his dad for the lead. Quickly he made the pass and cruised to the win with Habraken and Conrad Schwinn in the top three. In another strong showing, Brooke Erickson was fourth. For Ashton Schwinn it was a clean sweep and his fifth feature win.

Adam Johnson and Jeff Reed led the field of WISSOTA Mods down the front straight to the green flag, and Reed had the early advantage ahead of Johnson and Davey Mills in the top three. Reed quickly built on his lead, leaving Johnson and Mills to battle for second. The two raced side by side with Johnson holding the backup position.

In a fast flag-to-flag race, Reed picked up his third feature win of the summer and a clean sweep. Johnson finished a strong second with Mills, Alan Olafson and Devyn Weleski in the top five.

Matt Sparby and Nic Lewis led the WISSOTA Super Stocks to the green; on lap one Sparby, while fighting for the lead, slid sideways in turn one, was given the yellow flag and sent to the rear for the restart.

The restart was all Dylan Nelson needed to move up to the front row, and he blasted ahead of Lewis and Dalton Carlson. Nelson, making a rare appearance at Bemidji, built a huge lead with Lewis and Carlson dueling for second. Carlson finally used a highside pass to clear Lewis for second as Nelson took the checkered flag for the win. Carlson, Lewis, Justin Barsness and Cameron Labelle finished in the top five.

In a wild and exciting Mini Stock feature, Conrad Schwinn won the race with son Ashton in second, while Nick McCann took advantage of multiple restarts and worked his way into third.

There will be no races on Sunday, July 27. Racing returns on August 2 for 2026 “Hall of Fame” night when nine new members will be inducted. This year's new inductees are Ted Carlson, Mike Spaulding, Loren and Jeff Tardy, Al Sadek, Sr., Dan Sadek, Todd McClellan, Jimmy Pierce, and Dennis Peterson.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 2R-Jeff Reed[2]; 2. 72-Adam Johnson[1]; 3. 22-Davey Mills[4]; 4. 77-Alan Olafson[5]; 5. 13-Devyn Weleski[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2R-Jeff Reed[1]; 2. 13-Devyn Weleski[4]; 3. 22-Davey Mills[2]; 4. 72-Adam Johnson[5]; 5. (DNF) 77-Alan Olafson[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 25-Dylan Nelson[3]; 2. 57-Dalton Carlson[5]; 3. T26-Nic Lewis[2]; 4. 47J-Justin Barsness[6]; 5. 27C-Cameron Labelle[4]; 6. 81X-Matt Sparby[1]; 7. X81-Alexa Gross[8]; 8. 72-Mike Johnson[9]; 9. 10-Gordon Hunter[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 81X-Matt Sparby[1]; 2. 27C-Cameron Labelle[6]; 3. 25-Dylan Nelson[5]; 4. 57-Dalton Carlson[9]; 5. T26-Nic Lewis[4]; 6. 47J-Justin Barsness[8]; 7. 10-Gordon Hunter[3]; 8. X81-Alexa Gross[2]; 9. 72-Mike Johnson[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 32-Brennan Schmidt[1]; 2. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[3]; 3. 18X-Connor Drewry[4]; 4. 9W-Hunter Weeks[6]; 5. 19-Darrin Lawler[7]; 6. 07-Carter Matthews[10]; 7. BO-Jory Berg[8]; 8. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[11]; 9. 33L-Cejay LaValley[2]; 10. 15-Landon Gross[12]; 11. (DNF) 15B-Kenna Breidenbach[9]; 12. (DNF) 6K-Noah Bitz[5]; 13. (DNS) 21W-Bruce Hislaw

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Brennan Schmidt[2]; 2. BO-Jory Berg[1]; 3. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[4]; 4. 19-Darrin Lawler[3]; 5. 15B-Kenna Breidenbach[6]; 6. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[5]; 7. 21W-Bruce Hislaw[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18X-Connor Drewry[2]; 2. 33L-Cejay LaValley[1]; 3. 9W-Hunter Weeks[3]; 4. 6K-Noah Bitz[5]; 5. 07-Carter Matthews[4]; 6. (DNF) 15-Landon Gross[6]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[8]; 2. 10-Dexyn Habraken[4]; 3. 6-Conrad Schwinn[1]; 4. 99E-Brooke Erickson[7]; 5. T34-Christopher Roller[2]; 6. 29J-Jayden Bahr[6]; 7. 25-Jordan Thayer[3]; 8. 26L-Lily Knute[10]; 9. (DNF) 11C-Cody Bush[9]; 10. (DNF) 87-Shannon George[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. T34-Christopher Roller[2]; 2. 6-Conrad Schwinn[3]; 3. 25-Jordan Thayer[1]; 4. 29J-Jayden Bahr[4]; 5. 11C-Cody Bush[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[4]; 2. 10-Dexyn Habraken[1]; 3. 99E-Brooke Erickson[2]; 4. 87-Shannon George[3]; 5. 26L-Lily Knute[5]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 57-Austin Carlson[13]; 2. 25-Billy Binkley[4]; 3. 62-Joshua Bitker[1]; 4. 3-Kade Leeper[5]; 5. 9L-Landon Weeks[12]; 6. 18B-Alex Berg[6]; 7. 15-Caylyn Binkley[2]; 8. 7-Jenny Smith[8]; 9. 55-Aaron Bitker[3]; 10. 7K-Quintyn Karl[9]; 11. 8-Karen Puschinsky[11]; 12. 22H-Justin Honer[10]; 13. (DNF) 38-Nate Zanter[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Billy Binkley[1]; 2. 62-Joshua Bitker[6]; 3. 3-Kade Leeper[2]; 4. 38-Nate Zanter[4]; 5. 7K-Quintyn Karl[7]; 6. (DNF) 9L-Landon Weeks[5]; 7. (DNF) 57-Austin Carlson[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Jenny Smith[1]; 2. 55-Aaron Bitker[3]; 3. 18B-Alex Berg[5]; 4. 15-Caylyn Binkley[4]; 5. 22H-Justin Honer[2]; 6. 8-Karen Puschinsky[6]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature (10 Laps): 1. 40-William Lange[7]; 2. 28R-Chad Reller[6]; 3. 27-Kody Crabtree[8]; 4. 72-Aiden Kessler[5]; 5. 67A-Avery Ramsrud[9]; 6. (DNF) 7M-Mateja Dreyer[3]; 7. (DNF) 28-Logan Delaney[2]; 8. (DQ) 00-Travis Olafson[1]; 9. (DQ) 80K-Nathan Kelley[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 00-Travis Olafson[3]; 2. 28-Logan Delaney[5]; 3. 7M-Mateja Dreyer[6]; 4. 72-Aiden Kessler[4]; 5. 80K-Nathan Kelley[7]; 6. 28R-Chad Reller[1]; 7. 40-William Lange[2]; 8. 67A-Avery Ramsrud[9]; 9. (DNF) 27-Kody Crabtree[8]

Mini Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[2]; 2. 18-Ashton Schwinn[14]; 3. 50-Nick McCann[5]; 4. 90-Cory Nelson[6]; 5. 26-Brooke McCann[3]; 6. 19-Troy Foster[12]; 7. 87-Kurt Derby[4]; 8. 7G-Jayme Gordon[15]; 9. 117-Zack Honer[16]; 10. 72-Evan Hepsak[11]; 11. 3E-Easton Derby[9]; 12. (DNF) 5-Cody Meyers[8]; 13. (DNF) 7H-Ethan Hunter[13]; 14. (DNF) 7-Karlie Feda[10]; 15. (DNF) 94-Cameron Schwinn[7]; 16. (DQ) 77-Hayden Engen[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Nick McCann[3]; 2. 26-Brooke McCann[2]; 3. 94-Cameron Schwinn[5]; 4. 87-Kurt Derby[1]; 5. 3E-Easton Derby[7]; 6. 72-Evan Hepsak[4]; 7. 7H-Ethan Hunter[8]; 8. 7G-Jayme Gordon[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[5]; 2. 77-Hayden Engen[6]; 3. 90-Cory Nelson[4]; 4. 5-Cody Meyers[7]; 5. 7-Karlie Feda[3]; 6. 19-Troy Foster[2]; 7. 18-Ashton Schwinn[8]; 8. (DQ) 117-Zack Honer[1]