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Weleski, Carlson, Schmidt, Randt, Schwinn & Carlson top Bemidji features on a night dedicated to Michael Fullerton

By Dennis Peterson

BEMIDJI, MN (July 5) - The racing family is something special. Each year Bemidji Speedway shows what stock car racing is all about - family - with its evening dedicated to Michael Fullerton.

Fullerton is a young man who is non-verbal and grew up watching his dad Matt Fullerton race in the WISSOTA Modified class. Michael grew to love the sport and all the other drivers at the track, who also grew to love him. Though non-verbal, he screams with joy in seeing the race cars and the many drivers and fans who appreciated his enthusiasm. The Micheal Fullerton 500 is a race created for him. Years ago, former racing champion Josh Berg created a special seat in his race car for Fullerton. Strapped in, helmet and all, Fullerton and Alex Berg - who has taken over the duties of racing with Michael - went on track along with 13 other drivers from various classes Sunday night. The race car with Fullerton always starts in the back and gradually works its way through the field to the front to a cheering crowd in the stands. Fullerton is undefeated once again and pulled into victory lane to a thunderous applause. Michael was joined by his dad, mom and sister and his racing family in victory lane - certainly a victory for all of the racing family to celebrate.

The Matt Fullerton “team” celebrates on his special night at Bemidji Speedway. (Dennis Peterson Photo)

The racing family also honored longtime track worker and now pit steward Rick Karns, who was injured in a boating accident recently after he was struck while fishing by another boat. A pass-the-helmet collected $2,500 for Rick and his family for his recovery expenses.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners on the night included Devyn Weleski, Dalton Carlson, Brennan Schmidt, Levi Randt, Ashton Schwinn and Austin Carlson.

Fourteen WISSOTA Pure Stocks roared on track for the initial feature of the hot night. Josh Bitker and Austin Carlson led the pack to the green flag and Carlson was the early leader, followed by Bitker and Alex Berg. After several spins and cautions, the race was restarted single file; Landon Weeks and Kade Leeper started deep in the field and with each restart gained positions. Carlson drove off to win his sixth feature at Bemidji, while Bitker, Weeks, Leeper and Brandon Puschinsky completed the top five.

In some of the best racing of the night, the WISSOTA Street Stocks were led to green by Weston Ramsrud and Deryk Weleski. Several failed attempts at a start led to Weleski taking the lead, followed by Cole Greseth and Ramsrud. Levi Randt charged from 11th on the grid and made steady progress toward the front. Randt was up to fifth and with each lap gained a position until he was in the fight for the lead. Randt caught and passed Greseth, and then pulled up side by side with Messner; finally, after a side-by-side duel with Weleski, Randt took the lead with an inside line pass. Randt picked up the impressive last-to-first win ahead of Greseth, Ramsrud, Weleski and Doug VanMill in the top five.

Ashton Schwinn (center), Brooke Erickson (left) and Rowan Tramm (Dennis Peterson Photo)

The WISSOTA Mod Fours were racing for a beefed-up payout Sunday, and Ashton Schwinn and Brooke Erickson led the field to green. However, failed attempts with cautions for debris slowed the start.

Once the field went green, Schwinn and Erickson dueled for the top spot. Schwinn moved to the front followed by Erickson and Rowan Tramm. Once out front, Schwinn quickly pulled out to a healthy lead while Erickson, Tramm and Dean Larson battled for second. Several spins led to restarts mid race, but each time Schwinn held his line and the lead. Schwinn cruised to his fifth feature win at Bemidji, ahead of Erickson, Tramm, Dexyn Habraken and Larson.

A tremendous field of 16 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were led to green by Hunter Weeks on the pole and Jory Berg to his right. Cautions ruled the early part of the race, but when the field finally put laps together Berg was the early lead ahead of Weeks and Landyn Randt. Fourth-row starter Brennan Schmidt was on the move and split several cars racing up the middle of the track into third. Fifth-row starter Carter Matthews also looked strong and entered into the top five.

Schmidt was on a mission, and on the back straight along the wall, he blasted to the lead ahead of Weeks. Matthews moved up and caught Berg and after a door-to-door battle, took over third and then passed Weeks for second. It was a tremendous effort by the two young drivers. Schmidt picked up his first feature of the summer at Bemidji and a clean sweep for the night. Matthews finished a very strong performance to finish second with Berg third.

Matt Sparby and Dalton Carlson led the field of WISSOTA Super Stocks to the green flag, as Carlson performed a perfect high-low pass in turns one and two to take the lead over Sparby. Cameron Labelle chased the two leaders for third. The field quickly spread out around the track chasing the top three.

Late in the race, Labelle moved up high on the track in turns one and two and passed Sparby for second. In a fast and furious race with a single caution, Carlson picked up his third feature win ahead of Labelle, Sparby, Butch Butcher and Brandon Bahr in the top five.

Devyn Weleski and Jeff Reed roared to the green flag in the WISSOTA Modifieds, with Weleski taking command over Reed and Davey Mills. Weleski raced out to a comfortable lead ahead of Reed, Mills and Alan Olafson. A good duel developed with Mills and Olafson for third with the two racing side by side. Olafson gained the advantage to take third while Weleski finished the task of winning his first-ever race in the Modified class. It was a clean sweep as well. Reed was second followed by Olafson and Mills.

Troy Foster and Hayden Engen led the pack of Mini Stocks down the front straight with Engen taking the lead, followed by Foster and Nick McCann. McCann quickly raced up alongside Foster for second. Fourth-row starter Conrad Schwinn moved forward through the field and raced low in turn three to take third.

The race became a three-car battle for the win among Engen, McCann and Schwinn. McCann raced down low and into the lead where he stayed to pick up the clean sweep and his third feature win in 2026. Conrad Schwinn was second with Cameron Schwinn charging forward to third.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 13-Devyn Weleski[2]; 2. 2R-Jeff Reed[1]; 3. 77-Alan Olafson[4]; 4. 22-Davey Mills[3]; 5. (DNS) 10-Michael Blevins Sr

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Devyn Weleski[3]; 2. 77-Alan Olafson[2]; 3. 2R-Jeff Reed[4]; 4. 22-Davey Mills[1]; 5. (DNS) 10-Michael Blevins Sr

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 57-Dalton Carlson[2]; 2. 27C-Cameron Labelle[3]; 3. 81X-Matt Sparby[1]; 4. 32-Butch Butcher[6]; 5. 29-Brandon Bahr[4]; 6. X81-Alexa Gross[7]; 7. 10-Alex Morgan[5]; 8. 72-Mike Johnson[9]; 9. 30-Dan Severson[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 81X-Matt Sparby[1]; 2. 57-Dalton Carlson[6]; 3. 10-Alex Morgan[5]; 4. 27C-Cameron Labelle[3]; 5. 29-Brandon Bahr[7]; 6. 32-Butch Butcher[9]; 7. X81-Alexa Gross[2]; 8. 30-Dan Severson[8]; 9. (DNF) 72-Mike Johnson[4]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 32-Brennan Schmidt[7]; 2. 07-Carter Matthews[9]; 3. BO-Jory Berg[3]; 4. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[8]; 5. 18X-Connor Drewry[6]; 6. 6K-Noah Bitz[13]; 7. 11R-Landyn Randt[5]; 8. 11K-Travis Klein[15]; 9. 92-Nick Seitz[14]; 10. BAN1-Casey Kintner[10]; 11. 15-Landon Gross[11]; 12. (DNF) 9W-Hunter Weeks[2]; 13. (DNF) 21W-Bruce Hislaw[16]; 14. (DNF) 19-Darrin Lawler[1]; 15. (DNF) 15B-Kenna Breidenbach[4]; 16. (DNS) 10-Michael Blevins Sr

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. BO-Jory Berg[2]; 2. 11R-Landyn Randt[4]; 3. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[1]; 4. 18X-Connor Drewry[3]; 5. 07-Carter Matthews[7]; 6. 15-Landon Gross[5]; 7. 21W-Bruce Hislaw[8]; 8. (DNF) 11K-Travis Klein[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Brennan Schmidt[1]; 2. 9W-Hunter Weeks[3]; 3. 15B-Kenna Breidenbach[4]; 4. 19-Darrin Lawler[5]; 5. BAN1-Casey Kintner[2]; 6. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[8]; 7. 6K-Noah Bitz[7]; 8. 92-Nick Seitz[6]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[11]; 2. 19-Cole Greseth[4]; 3. 67-Weston Ramsrud[1]; 4. 39-Deryk Weleski[2]; 5. 8T-Doug VanMill[7]; 6. 18-Scotty Messner[8]; 7. 34-Billy Binkley[3]; 8. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[5]; 9. 57-Spencer Smith[9]; 10. (DNF) 77D-Adam Dehne[10]; 11. (DNF) 70-Chris Dudley[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Scotty Messner[1]; 2. 34-Billy Binkley[3]; 3. 70-Chris Dudley[6]; 4. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[5]; 5. 57-Spencer Smith[2]; 6. (DNF) 11-Levi Randt[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Cole Greseth[4]; 2. 67-Weston Ramsrud[2]; 3. 39-Deryk Weleski[1]; 4. 8T-Doug VanMill[5]; 5. 77D-Adam Dehne[3]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[1]; 2. 99E-Brooke Erickson[2]; 3. 14T-Rowan Tramm[3]; 4. 10-Dexyn Habraken[13]; 5. 37-Dean Larson[4]; 6. 87-Shannon George[5]; 7. 29-Brandon Bahr[9]; 8. 6-Conrad Schwinn[8]; 9. 11C-Cody Bush[14]; 10. (DNF) 4-Dawson Oelrich[10]; 11. (DNF) T34-Christopher Roller[11]; 12. (DNF) 25-Jordan Thayer[7]; 13. (DNF) 20-Connor Bruss[6]; 14. (DNF) 29J-Jayden Bahr[12]; 15. (DNS) 26L-Lily Knute

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Dean Larson[1]; 2. 20-Connor Bruss[4]; 3. 14T-Rowan Tramm[5]; 4. 25-Jordan Thayer[2]; 5. 29-Brandon Bahr[6]; 6. T34-Christopher Roller[3]; 7. 10-Dexyn Habraken[7]; 8. (DNF) 26L-Lily Knute[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[3]; 2. 99E-Brooke Erickson[1]; 3. 87-Shannon George[5]; 4. 6-Conrad Schwinn[6]; 5. 4-Dawson Oelrich[4]; 6. 29J-Jayden Bahr[2]; 7. 11C-Cody Bush[7]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 57-Austin Carlson[2]; 2. 62-Joshua Bitker[1]; 3. 9L-Landon Weeks[9]; 4. 3-Kade Leeper[8]; 5. 88B-Brandon Puschinsky[5]; 6. 7K-Quintyn Karl[12]; 7. 18B-Alex Berg[4]; 8. 25-Billy Binkley[7]; 9. 55-Aaron Bitker[3]; 10. 15-Caylyn Binkley[6]; 11. 22H-Justin Honer[10]; 12. 8-Karen Puschinsky[13]; 13. (DNF) 35B-Josh Berg[14]; 14. (DNF) 38-Nate Zanter[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Austin Carlson[1]; 2. 55-Aaron Bitker[2]; 3. 18B-Alex Berg[5]; 4. 25-Billy Binkley[4]; 5. 9L-Landon Weeks[7]; 6. 38-Nate Zanter[6]; 7. (DNS) 35B-Josh Berg

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Kade Leeper[2]; 2. 62-Joshua Bitker[3]; 3. 15-Caylyn Binkley[4]; 4. 88B-Brandon Puschinsky[5]; 5. 22H-Justin Honer[6]; 6. 7K-Quintyn Karl[7]; 7. 8-Karen Puschinsky[1]

Mini Stocks:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Nick McCann[1]; 2. 19-Troy Foster[3]; 3. 72-Evan Hepsak[5]; 4. 90-Cory Nelson[6]; 5. 26-Brooke McCann[4]; 6. 3E-Easton Derby[7]; 7. 117-Zack Honer[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[4]; 2. 77-Hayden Engen[2]; 3. 94-Cameron Schwinn[3]; 4. 7-Karlie Feda[5]; 5. 7G-Jayme Gordon[6]; 6. 87-Kurt Derby[1]