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Monday, September 1

The annual Labor Day special was held Monday, September 1 at Madison Speedway in Madison, Minnesota. This was also season championship night at the track, the final point night of the 2025 racing season. The only dates that remain on the calendar for the track include the fair race and the Madtown Showdown. There were five 2025 champions crowned in the WISSOTA divisions that run here.

My evil luck at Madison nearly held for another time. I generally only get here a couple times a year, and more often than not, I am battling the weather. It nearly happened once again, with nasty looking thunderheads blossoming in the sky. A clap of thunder in the pits got everyone's attention but that storm rode north and no rain fell at the speedway.

This race always brings out an interesting mix of drivers, with at least four teams making the long tow from Wisconsin (besides me), plus the local drivers and a few point chasers as the 2025 season quickly winds down.

Jason Havel made the long pull from Rice Lake to get only his second race of the year in. He works at Rice Lake Speedway, so he doesn't race there. He is too busy to race other local tracks. He wanted to get his Super Stock out once again after racing it the night his father was inducted into that speedway's Hall of Fame. He also normally races the Seitz, but Supers were dropped this year. No problem — he planned to borrow his former Street Stock ride from Courtney Rose to race it in Forks.

Seventy-two drivers signed in to race in the five WISSOTA classes, including a very impressive 25 Street Stocks, a class that seems by far the strongest in this part of WISSOTA.

The heat races produced smooth racing and recognizing it was a school and work night, they pushed the program along as fast as they possibly could. It can be challenging at Madison to do so, with so many classes and the logistics of the layout of the grounds, which includes the scale and tech area in the middle of the track and a split pit area.

The Randt brothers from Siren, Wisconsin, have had quite the year. Landyn has raced in the Midwest Mods and Levi has raced in the Street Stocks. They have won a considerable number of feature races between the two of them at far-flung tracks all over WISSOTA, as they are one of most well-traveled families in WISSOTA, supported fully by their parents.

Landyn was dropped off at his new “home” on Monday, as he will be playing junior hockey for Jeff Crouse this year and will be living in Alexandria. However, he will get to race a couple more weekends, commuting to the Seitz and the 100, which will probably complete his season. He will likely be playing hockey every weekend after that.

Levi, as long as he can keep sneaking away from school each week, will probably be running a full fall schedule of races, wherever the Street Stocks are running. He added another win to his total for 2025 Monday, as he led from start to finish in the Street Stock feature. He started on the outside pole for the main, and after getting away from Maria Broksieck at the start, he led all laps without a serious challenge for the win. This race was stopped three times by the yellow, but each time Randt pulled away from Broksieck to gain the advantage he carried to the checkered flag. Coltyn Schuler edged out Zach Flickinger in a good battle for third. Cory Dykhoff came from 23rd to round out the top five.

Darren Engesser led the first five laps of the Midwest Mod feature before Tim Kanten passed him to take over the lead. It seemed to me that the loss of the lead woke up Engesser, as I swear he drove more “elbows up” after that.

He caught back up to Kanten and on lap 11 regained the lead. After that, Engesser had to withstand a stiff challenge from Ryan Flaten, but did so to earn the win. Justin Bjorklund moved up to also pass Kanten for third.

It was a battle of the two No. 71s for honors in the Super Stock feature. Justin Tammen started on the pole and led the first two laps but then Trevor Nelson moved to the lower line and drove under Tammen to take over the lead.

Once in front, the issue was settled in what was a nonstop main event. Andrew Hedtke moved up late in the race to pass Tammen for second as all cars that started the race were still on the track at the finish.

Before the races on Monday, I had a chance to talk to Brian Haben. He told me he has had a good car this year, but just hasn't been able to race it much. He regrets losing Fiesta City Speedway as a place to race, given the fact that it is close to home and he ran very well there. He has adjusted by racing more at KRA on Thursday nights.

He is the point leader here at Madison and finished off the regular season on a strong note, leading from start to finish to top the Modified feature race.

A spin in heavy traffic late in the race resulted in the only yellow; in the short scramble to the finish, Mike Stearns held onto second, but Blake Adams took advantage to move into third. Perhaps that made the long trip worthwhile.

Tony Jensen and Jeff Rohner are both in the conversation for the national title in the Hornet class, so their feature race was an important one. Monday Jensen came out on top.

After Paxton Tjaden led the first two laps, Jensen went roaring by to take over the lead and then led the rest of the way for the win. Rohner moved into second and stayed close to Jensen, but could never provide a serious challenge. It seemed Rohner backed off slightly after his car started to smoke quite heavily, but he did hang on for second ahead of Tjaden.

All racing was complete by 10 p.m. with everyone rushing to get ready for the dreaded work or school week. I, however, chose to sleep in on Tuesday morning and I missed the school bus once again!

A special thanks goes out to track announcer Scotty Ireland for his generous efforts in keeping some of the workers behind the scenes fortified and able to complete the evening. It was much appreciated.

Wednesday, September 3

In recent years the Northern Nationals at Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wisconsin, has started with a fun event on Wednesday, done during practice night.

Dubbed “The Showdown in Souptown,” this event is an invitational match between Super Stocks and Midwest Modifieds for bragging rights and a nice payout.

The top eight in track points in both divisions are invited to participate in this race; if for some reason someone can't or won't participate, they move down the list until they find eight drivers in each class to race.

They run heads up between the two classes in a 20-lap feature race. The evening starts with an open practice and then the 16 drivers in the “Showdown” qualify, which is something they recently added to the program.

Despite a reported 1.5 inches of rain overnight on Tuesday, the track was dry and slick. with the black still showing from the last race run there. It must have been so hard the rain just ran off it.

Most drivers were hugging the inside line during qualifying and tip-toeing around the track. It was quite a surprise when Paul Ripley, the 11th driver out, set the fast time at 18.993 seconds. He was the only driver under 19 seconds.

Starting straight up by time, Ripley was flanked by David Simpson with Joey Jensen (Midwest Mod) and Kyle Copp in row two. Ryan Savoy had problems early in practice and he scratched out of the rest of the program.

The opening lap produced the most excitement of the entire race, as Ripley got off the bottom down the back chute, with Simpson getting under him, while Copp went high and they raced three wide down the back chute. Staying nearly three wide through turns three and four, Simpson edged into the lead with Copp close behind.

Simpson was hugging the “ditch,” while Copp continued to work the middle line. It looked several times like he might be able to swing around Simpson for the lead. Later in post-race interviews, Copp revealed he dropped a valve around the halfway point and began to struggle, with Ripley driving under him for second.

Simpson was still in control in the waning laps, but he started to slip up the track — particularly off turn four. It made the last two laps exciting, with Ripley having a decent chance of pulling the upset off the final corner.

Simpson was able to hang on by half of a car length to take the win ahead of Ripley and Copp, with Jensen and Andy Grymala completing the top five. The Midwest Mods got the win this year and also three of the top five. Only three drivers failed to finish, two were lapped, and the 20-lapper ran green to checkered.

Simpson probably earned his highest cash versus laps run for the season, as the 20-lapper paid $2,000 to the winner (American). Ripley earned $1,000 for second and Copp $500 for third. Fourth place on back received a handshake and perhaps a participation trophy for entering (not sure about that). XR Events pays the whole purse for this event, which they show for free, no doubt as a “teaser” for the rest of the weekend.

Before the event, drivers talked about pulling off the track if they weren't right in the running by the halfway point of the race, but that didn't really happen.

After this race is completed, the track is opened back up again for more practice laps until either 9 p.m. or the snow flies, whichever comes first.

Eventually the temperature dropped like a rock and a stiff northwesternly gale howled through the grounds, as the first taste of winter hit the Northland. I'm glad we weren't racing until the wee hours on Tuesday.

Friday, September 5

The 19th annual John Seitz Memorial race at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota began on Friday, September 5. Unfortunately, the Prelude To The Johnny was rained out Thursday.

Without the Prelude on Thursday, the overall show was whittled down to a one-night show spread over two days for the Late Models, Street Stocks and Midwest Mods, just as it normally has been from year to year for the event. The Modifieds also raced two full shows, with the Big Al Delaine Memorial Modified feature on Friday night paying the most money of the weekend for that class.

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