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Smith and Puffe post up their rivals and score Saturday feature wins at Greenbush Race Park

By Daniel Wiskow

GREENBUSH, MN (August 16) - One of the most anticipated events of the year kicked off with a gorgeous evening Saturday at Greenbush Race Park. With just a little hint of fall in the air, the Northern Outlaw Sprint car Association made its presence heard and felt by those fans in attendance, and WISSOTA Dirt Track Series Midwest Mods and Pure Stocks were also part of the program.

Winners in WISSOTA-sanctioned action included Skyler Smith and Dustin Puffe.

The first class to hit the track was the WISSOTA Pure Stocks. Puffe and Aaron Sigerud started at the front of the field. When the green flag dropped, Puffe moved out to a five-car length lead and appeared to be setting sail to another feature win.

As the cars just behind him were trading paint for position, Kade Leeper picked off one car and then another, as he made his way toward the front. The last seven laps, Leeper closed in on the rear of the Puffe and tried every line imaginable to get to the lead. Although he had the chance to use his front bumper to move Puffe, Leeper kept his nose clean and crossed the line second behind Puffe. Mason Scholin, Mason Smith, and Chris Smeby were top-five finishers.

Justin Olson and Brennan Schmidt led the charge into turn one in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods. Early in the race they battled side by side for several laps, but eventually Olson pulled away to an eight-car length advantage.

Behind him, there were good battles for position among Aaron Blacklance, Connor Graff, and Taylor Jacobson, as they tried their best to keep pace with the leader. With just a handful of laps to go, the race appeared to be Olson’s as he had a commanding lead. A late yellow changed the complexion of the race, however, and not in Olson’s favor.

Smith took advantage of the tiny opening on the low side of the track and stole the lead away from Olson following the restart. Olson fought hard all the way to the checkered flag, but Smith prevailed with the win. Olson was second ahead of ninth-starter Cylen Vargason, Schmidt and Blacklance in the top five.

In the Lightning Sprints, Mathew Taves pulled away to a full straightaway lead by the mid-point of the race. Taves hung on through a few more cautions and took the victory ahead of Dexter Dvergsten, Dylan Langevin, Evan Yanish, and Hunter Bugge in the top five.

The finale was definitely a show worth waiting for as the NOSA Sprints put on a clinic in short track speed and passing. Brendan Mullen was the early leader, and turning lower 12-second laps it didn’t take long for the laps to wind down and for the leaders to get into lapped traffic. Mullen put half the field a lap down by the time the checkered flag flew. Behind him several good battles were waged among Weston Olson, Blake Egeland, and Nick Omdahl. The battle for second wasn’t over until the last corner as Jade Hastings slid past Jack Croaker to steal the runner-up honors. Omdahl was fourth followed by Olson in fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 16-Skyler Smith[3]; 2. 169-Justin Olson[1]; 3. 29-Cylen Vargason[8]; 4. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[2]; 5. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[5]; 6. 33G-Connor Graff[6]; 7. 18X-Connor Drewry[9]; 8. 007-Alex Johnson[11]; 9. 469-Aaden Olson[4]; 10. 74N-Gary James Nelson[10]; 11. 7P-Cory Peterson[13]; 12. (DNF) 3L-Logan Salazar[12]; 13. (DNF) 46J-Taylor Jacobson[7]; 14. (DNF) 26-Levi Undeberg[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33G-Connor Graff[2]; 2. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[4]; 3. 16-Skyler Smith[1]; 4. 46J-Taylor Jacobson[7]; 5. 18X-Connor Drewry[5]; 6. 007-Alex Johnson[3]; 7. 7P-Cory Peterson[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 469-Aaden Olson[1]; 2. 29-Cylen Vargason[3]; 3. 169-Justin Olson[4]; 4. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[6]; 5. 74N-Gary James Nelson[7]; 6. 3L-Logan Salazar[5]; 7. 26-Levi Undeberg[2]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 21X-Dustin Puffe[1]; 2. 3-Kade Leeper[4]; 3. 92-Mason Scholin[3]; 4. 21-Mason Smith[6]; 5. 11C-Chris Smeby[5]; 6. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[2]; 7. 45K-Kiefer Kainz[8]; 8. (DNS) 86J-Jake Smith

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11C-Chris Smeby[2]; 2. 92-Mason Scholin[1]; 3. 21X-Dustin Puffe[8]; 4. 3-Kade Leeper[7]; 5. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[4]; 6. 21-Mason Smith[6]; 7. 86J-Jake Smith[5]; 8. 45K-Kiefer Kainz[3]

410 Sprints - Winged:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 11M-Brendan Mullen[1]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings[6]; 3. 8BALL-Jack Croaker[3]; 4. 17-Zach Omdahl[2]; 5. 27-Weston Olson[9]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland[4]; 7. 0-Nick Omdahl[5]; 8. 41T-Travis Strandell[8]; 9. 10-Alex Truscinski[12]; 10. 14-Tom Egeland[11]; 11. 52-Adam Sobolik[13]; 12. 6-Zach Wilde[7]; 13. 72-Kate Taves[10]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11M-Brendan Mullen[3]; 2. 17-Zach Omdahl[4]; 3. 26-Blake Egeland[7]; 4. 27-Weston Olson[2]; 5. 41T-Travis Strandell[6]; 6. 14-Tom Egeland[5]; 7. 52-Adam Sobolik[1]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 8H-Jade Hastings[6]; 2. 0-Nick Omdahl[4]; 3. 8BALL-Jack Croaker[5]; 4. 6-Zach Wilde[3]; 5. 72-Kate Taves[2]; 6. 10-Alex Truscinski[1]

Lightning Sprints:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 87-Matthew Taves[1]; 2. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[4]; 3. 4-Dylan Langevin[9]; 4. 40E-Evan Yanish[7]; 5. 21B-Hunter Bugge[2]; 6. 18-Emmitt Isane[6]; 7. 22-Luke Hendrickson[11]; 8. 3-Arlen Rygg[3]; 9. (DNF) 96Z-Zander Anderson[12]; 10. (DNF) 11B-Loki Bjerke[14]; 11. (DNF) 118-Isaac Olson[13]; 12. (DNF) 04-Richard Rygg[10]; 13. (DNF) 18K-Hayden Koehmstedt[5]; 14. (DNS) 1W-Brendan Mullen

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[3]; 2. 18K-Hayden Koehmstedt[2]; 3. 21B-Hunter Bugge[1]; 4. 40E-Evan Yanish[4]; 5. 4-Dylan Langevin[5]; 6. 22-Luke Hendrickson[6]; 7. (DNS) 118-Isaac Olson

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Matthew Taves[6]; 2. 3-Arlen Rygg[3]; 3. 18-Emmitt Isane[5]; 4. 1W-Brendan Mullen[2]; 5. 04-Richard Rygg[7]; 6. (DNF) 96Z-Zander Anderson[4]; 7. (DNF) 11B-Loki Bjerke[1]