8-25 Page 24 | ATD Racing News

Delaney wins first career feature while Carlson, Beaulieu, Dudley, Smith & Schwinn lead the way Sunday at Bemidji

By Dennis Peterson

BEMIDJI, MN (August 23) - Helping the United Way with “Back to School” supplies, the Sanford Center and McKinnon Company sponsored Sunday nights races at Bemidji Speedway. Racers and fans donated various school supplies and more than $500 to the cause.

Seven classes of cars raced, including an exhibition race for the Crown Vics in a preview of 2027.

Josh Beaulieu, Jake Smith, Chris Dudley, Logan Delaney, Dalton Carlson, and Ashton Schwinn celebrated WISSOTA Dirt Track Series victories on Sunday.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were led on track by Dean Eggebratten and Cejay LaValley. Eggebratten had the advantage into the first turns, chased by LaValley and Josh Beaulieu. LaValley and Beaulieu put on a spirited duel racing side by side for a couple laps before Beaulieu gained the lead. Eggebratten’s car slid in turn four and the caution fell.

Back under green, LaValley held the front-row spot ahead of Beaulieu and Carter Matthews. LaValley and Beaulieu raced door to door for several laps before Beaulieu gained the advantage to take the top spot. A series of spins and restarts ended LaValley’s quest for her first-ever feature win and sent Matthews tailback.

Beaulieu inherited the top spot for the restart and drove on to the victory ahead of a recovered Eggebraaten, Hunter Weeks, Travis Klein and Noah Bitz in the top five.

A tremendous field of WISSOTA Pure Stocks was on hand, with several racers in the top 10 in national points on hand. Landon Weeks and Aaron Bitker led the pack down the front straight and Weeks was the early leader ahead of Jake Smith and Bitker. Smith moved forward and challenged Weeks door to door for the lead, while fourth-row starter Cameron Labelle passed Bitker for third.

Following a caution, LaBelle raced to the lead with Weeks and Smith in the top three, but a crash in turns one and two sent both Labelle and Weeks to the pits. Smith inherited the lead, as Austin Carlson and Alex Berg moved into the top three. Smith picked up his second feature of the summer at Bemidji ahead of Carlson, Berg, Kade Leeper and Nate Zanter in the top five.

Charlie Paradis and Chris Dudley led the WISSOTA Street Stocks to the green flag with the two battling side by side for the first two laps. Finally Dudley gained the advantage, with Paradis to his bumper. Deryk Weleski held third behind the leaders. The yellow caution flag waved, slowing the action and sent Alaina Chaplin to the back.

Racing resumed with Dudley in control. Weleski caught and passed Paradis for second as Dudley took the checkered flag for the win, his third of the summer. It further tightened the points battle with Weleski, who is currently in first place going into next week’s points championships. Weleski was second, Paradis was third and Aaron Sigerud was the final finisher in the field.

The WISSOTA Hornet feature was led to green by Logan Delaney and Adam Kessler. The two young drivers battled side by side for the lead, with former WISSOTA National Champion Travis Olafson third. The top three then ran in bumper-to-bumper formation.

Delaney has made huge advances each week and was impressive in holding off the more experienced drivers to pick up his first-ever feature win. In victory lane he was saluted by his fellow competitors for a job well done and also by a very appreciative crowd.

Kessler, Olafson, Astion Schelde and Chad Reller completed the top five.

Dalton Carlson and Brandon Bahr raced door to door down the front straight as the green flag waved in the WISSOTA Super Stocks, and Carlson gained the early advantage, followed by Bahr and Cameron LaBelle.

By lap three, Carlson had a four-car-length lead ahead of the field, as Labelle raced to the inside on the back straight to get by Bahr for second. Labelle was able to reel in Carlson close enough to reach his bumper, but each time Carlson pulled away into the straightaways. Carlson picked up his sixth win of the year to maintain his points lead going into the track championships next week. Labelle and Bahr were second and third, while Nic Lewis and Alexa Gross rounded out the top five.

The WISSOTA Mod Fours were led to green by Lily Knute and Conrad Schwinn. Charging down the front straight, it was a three-wide battle among Knute, Ashton Schwinn and Conrad Schwinn for the lead. Conrad won that battle with Ashton Schwinn second and Brooke Erickson charging into third.

Conrad Schwinn held the lead for most of the race, but Ashton Schwinn - in the hunt for national points - passed his father and took the lead late to complete a clean sweep of the Mod Fours and his eighth win of the summer. He was followed across the finish line by Conrad Schwinn and Brooke Erickson on the podium.

In the fastest growing class, the Mini Stocks rolled on track led by Conrad Schwinn, who is in a tight points battle with Nick McCann. Unfortunately for Schwinn, a flat tire undermined his efforts and McCann took advantage, moving into the lead and taking the win. Hayden Engen and Cameron Schwinn trailed in the top three.

Hunter Morris won both the Crown Vic heat and feature race, trailed by Dustin Hammer, Logan Hammer and Marty Serbus.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 57-Dalton Carlson[1]; 2. 27C-Cameron Labelle[4]; 3. 29-Brandon Bahr[2]; 4. T26-Nic Lewis[3]; 5. X81-Alexa Gross[5]; 6. 72-Mike Johnson[6]; 7. (DNS) 10-Gordon Hunter

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27C-Cameron Labelle[4]; 2. 57-Dalton Carlson[5]; 3. T26-Nic Lewis[3]; 4. 29-Brandon Bahr[7]; 5. X81-Alexa Gross[1]; 6. 72-Mike Johnson[6]; 7. (DNF) 10-Gordon Hunter[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[3]; 2. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[1]; 3. 9W-Hunter Weeks[5]; 4. 11K-Travis Klein[8]; 5. 6K-Noah Bitz[10]; 6. 07-Carter Matthews[4]; 7. 33L-Cejay LaValley[2]; 8. (DNF) 15-Landon Gross[6]; 9. (DNF) 21W-Bruce Hislaw[9]; 10. (DNS) 16-Skyler Smith

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33L-Cejay LaValley[1]; 2. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[3]; 3. 9W-Hunter Weeks[4]; 4. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[5]; 5. 07-Carter Matthews[6]; 6. 15-Landon Gross[7]; 7. 21W-Bruce Hislaw[9]; 8. (DNF) 16-Skyler Smith[8]; 9. (DNF) 11K-Travis Klein[2]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 70-Chris Dudley[2]; 2. 39-Deryk Weleski[3]; 3. 29P-Charlie Paradis[1]; 4. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[5]; 5. (DNF) 5-Alaina Chaplin[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 70-Chris Dudley[4]; 2. 39-Deryk Weleski[3]; 3. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[1]; 4. 5-Alaina Chaplin[2]; 5. 29P-Charlie Paradis[5]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[3]; 2. 6-Conrad Schwinn[2]; 3. 99E-Brooke Erickson[4]; 4. 29J-Jayden Bahr[5]; 5. 25-Jordan Thayer[6]; 6. 26L-Lily Knute[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[1]; 2. 6-Conrad Schwinn[6]; 3. 29J-Jayden Bahr[3]; 4. 99E-Brooke Erickson[5]; 5. 26L-Lily Knute[2]; 6. (DNF) 25-Jordan Thayer[4]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[3]; 2. 57-Austin Carlson[6]; 3. 18B-Alex Berg[9]; 4. 3-Kade Leeper[8]; 5. 38-Nate Zanter[4]; 6. 62-Joshua Bitker[11]; 7. 15-Caylyn Binkley[5]; 8. 55-Aaron Bitker[2]; 9. 22H-Justin Honer[13]; 10. 8-Karen Puschinsky[10]; 11. 7K-Quintyn Karl[12]; 12. (DQ) 87-Cameron Labelle[7]; 13. (DQ) 9L-Landon Weeks[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[2]; 2. 57-Austin Carlson[6]; 3. 3-Kade Leeper[5]; 4. 38-Nate Zanter[1]; 5. 18B-Alex Berg[3]; 6. 62-Joshua Bitker[7]; 7. 22H-Justin Honer[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Cameron Labelle[2]; 2. 9L-Landon Weeks[6]; 3. 15-Caylyn Binkley[3]; 4. 55-Aaron Bitker[5]; 5. 8-Karen Puschinsky[1]; 6. 7K-Quintyn Karl[4]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature (10 Laps): 1. 28-Logan Delaney[1]; 2. 8X-Adam Kessler[2]; 3. 0X-Travis Olafson[3]; 4. 218-Astion Schelde[4]; 5. 28R-Chad Reller[5]; 6. 67A-Avery Ramsrud[7]; 7. (DNF) 72-Aiden Kessler[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 0X-Travis Olafson[3]; 2. 28R-Chad Reller[2]; 3. 28-Logan Delaney[4]; 4. 218-Astion Schelde[1]; 5. 8X-Adam Kessler[5]; 6. 72-Aiden Kessler[6]; 7. 67A-Avery Ramsrud[7]

Crown Vics:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 07H-Hunter Morris[1]; 2. 99SR-Dustin Hammer[3]; 3. 99JR-Logan Hammer[4]; 4. (DNS) 7S-Marty Serbus

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 07H-Hunter Morris[1]; 2. 7S-Marty Serbus[4]; 3. 99SR-Dustin Hammer[3]; 4. (DNF) 99JR-Logan Hammer[2]

Mini Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 50-Nick McCann[4]; 2. 77-Hayden Engen[5]; 3. 94-Cameron Schwinn[10]; 4. 72-Evan Hepsak[2]; 5. 26-Brooke McCann[6]; 6. 5-Cody Meyers[7]; 7. 7-Karlie Feda[11]; 8. 3H-Kaylie Hunter[8]; 9. 75-Weston Ramsrud[14]; 10. 3E-Easton Derby[12]; 11. 87-Kurt Derby[9]; 12. 117-Zack Honer[13]; 13. (DNF) 6-Conrad Schwinn[1]; 14. (DNF) 7G-Jayme Gordon[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[3]; 2. 26-Brooke McCann[4]; 3. 7G-Jayme Gordon[2]; 4. 3H-Kaylie Hunter[1]; 5. 87-Kurt Derby[6]; 6. 7-Karlie Feda[5]; 7. 117-Zack Honer[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Nick McCann[2]; 2. 77-Hayden Engen[3]; 3. 72-Evan Hepsak[5]; 4. 5-Cody Meyers[4]; 5. 94-Cameron Schwinn[7]; 6. 3E-Easton Derby[1]; 7. 75-Weston Ramsrud[6]