(Lansing, MN)Its was big weekend of AMSOIL Dirt Track Racing Series action at Chateau Raceway in Lansing, powered by Miners Outdoor Power and Recreation.   Chateau is hosting the “Fourth Annual Midwest Modified Fall Nationals” Friday and Saturday Night with two great nights of racing action.  The weekends action was sponosred by “L and D Ag and Manufacturing of Hartland” with Larry Nelson President.  Associate Sponsors for the weekends racing were Tiny’s Body Shop of Austin, Olympic Fire Protection, and Yeager Machine.   Both nights action featured the Power 96 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, RS Auto Rebuilders WISSOTA Street Stocks, Farm Boy BBQ WISSOTA Super Stocks, Frenches Repair and Fabrication USRA Modifieds as well as the Pizza Ranch Pure Stocks.   It was a great opportunity for the top drivers in the three points chases for the National WISSOTA Championships as well as the Natiional USRA Modified Champion contenders to go head to head.

Friday Nights action saw some of those drivers in some of the tight races make up ground, or in the case of others maintain there advantage.   Among those trying to maintain there advantage was current WISSOTA Super Stock National Points Leader Dave Maas of Princeton.  Maas, making his first visit of the year to Lansing, came home with the feature win for the class.   The race opened with Jeff Brauer of Rochester coming off the pole to lead the first lap only to fall to third on lap two when Cole Queensland of Grand Meadow and Maas swept around him for first and second.  Dave pulled along side Cole on lap three and the two ran a pair of laps side by side with Maas getting the lead on lap four.   As Maas cleared Cole he wasted no time in stretching out a lead.  He held a half a straight away lead in just a couple laps only to see a couple mid race cautions wipe his advantage out.  Queensland did a nice job on the restarts trying to make things interesting for a lap or two but each time Maas would pull away after a few laps.  Cole held on for second ahead of Brett Dulas of Waseca, Brauer and another first time visitor to the track Paul Erickson of Abbotsford Wisconsin.  Erickson had a nice start to the night in his first trip to the track as he scored the classes lone heat win.

In WISSOTA Street Stock action A.J. Zvorak of Blooming Prairie who has won the Track Championship the last two years put on a great show racing from row three up towards the front where he had a great battle with Bobby Kilby of Austin.  Kilby started on the pole for the race and wasted no time in getting the lead off the drop of the green.  Jimmy Patzner of St Charles who started outside the front row fell in line second ahead of Danny Hansen of Alma Wisconsin who currently sits second in the National Points Race.    Side by side battles turned in to three wide scrambles as Zvorak worked his way up to third ahead of Hanson.  Just past the halfway point of the race Zvorak got to the inside of Pratzner and the two ran side by side a couple laps before A.J. took control of the spot and set his sights on Kilby.   With four to go the two were nose to tail.  With three to go Zvorak got to the inside of Bobby in turn three and the two crossed the strip side by side with A.J. ahead by a nose.  Zvorak finished the pass only to have Kilby do a nice cross over and come back to the inside of him.  The two stayed paired up all the way around to the white flag with Kilby getting the advantage.   A.J. tried to cross back over on Bobby and went back to the inside out of turn two.  The two raced to the checkers with Kilby holding off  Zvorak for his first feature win of the season.  Hanson passed Patzner for third with Ben Goldsmith of Chatfield rounding out the top five after he started tail end in the race.   Heat winners on the night for the Street Stock class were Zvorak and Dan Holland of Brownsdale.  Holland had a good run going in the feature until mechanical problems sent him out.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds featured a nice field of twenty-seven cars vying for the top prize on the opening night of there “Fall Nationals”.  Four very spirited heat races were won by A.J. Wiste of Adams, Dan Wheeler of Columbia Heights, Kenny Wytaske of Lansing, and Brandon Davis of Medford.   Wiste’s win was the most impressive as he started third row in his heat and cleared the entire field in one lap as he shot to the front and never looked back.   The class also featured one “B Feature” before the main event and that was claimed by Jerry Young of Blooming Prairie who lead flag to flag from the outside of the front row.  Despite a barrage of cautions during the “A Main” there was some very good racing.  Ben Anderson of Winona outdueled Jason Born of Medford for the lead on lap one.  Davis came out of row two to move into third.  Four cautions in the races first five laps slowed the early pace of the race.  After the restart after caution four the field ran eleven good laps of racing before the next caution.  During that run Davis made his way to the front and was able to open up a lead while Wiste and Anderson put on quite a show for the crowd.  Lap after lap they went side by side swapping the lead at all points around the track.  Finally Anderson nosed ahead to take control of the spot only to have the next caution negate his pass and put him back behind Wiste.  Off the double wide restart behind Davis, A.J. got a great jump and pulled ahead of Anderson and went side by side with Brandon for the lead.  That battle was short lived as the sixth and final caution of the race came out putting him back behind Anderson.  The track called for a single file restart to try and get the laps in and Anderson was able to keep Wiste behind him while he himself put the pressure on Davis over the final eight laps of the race.  Davis was up to the challenge as he claimed his third Chateau Feature win of the season and completed his second sweep of the year as well.   Davis is currently in a good battle for the National WISSOTA Midwest Modified Points Title.  He currently sits third in a battle where the top three are separated by just six points.   His good night should have helped him take a couple points off that deficit depending on how the other top two drivers did if they were racing elsewhere on Friday Night.  Just the drivers top thirty shows count toward there final total in the WISSOTA Classes  Other drivers finishing in the top five were Bryan Hernandez of Blooming Prairie third, followed by Wiste and Young.

In USRA Modified action, National Points Leader Steve Wetzstein of West Concord, despite finishing second in the feature, should of added to his points lead in that race.  With a nineteen car field and passing seven cars in the feature for bonus points he certainly should have been able to eliminate a lower point total night from his top twenty shows of the year which decides the Championship under USRA rules.   In the main event it was Bob Timm of Rolling Stone who set the pace on lap one only to see Shawn Peterson of Cottage Grove go by him on lap two.  The lead would change four times in the races first seven laps as Todd Scharkey of Kasson went to the point on lap four only to see Tommy Myer of Blooming Prairie use the high line to his advantage to take over the lead on lap seven.   Once Myer got to the front he streaked away from the field leaving a wild scramble for positions behind him.   Much of the field was two and three wide through out the race.  Wetzstein worked his way from his row five starting spot up to fifth by lap five and to fourth two laps after that.  He followed Myers line around the top of the track and swung around Timm for third on lap eleven.  He stayed on that top line and skirted by Scharkey for second a lap later.  He was having no luck reeling in Tommy but a late caution put him right on his back bumper.  Despite the restart after that yellow with six laps to go Steve had nothing for Myer and simply chased him home for the runner up finish.  For Myer it was his second feature win of the year at Lansing, and after also taking home a heat win gave him a sweep on the night at the track for the first time this season.  Scharkey held onto third followed by Timm and Josh Angst of Winona.   Peterson and Jay Ihrke of Dover claimed the classes other two heat wins.

Also on the program for the night were the Pure Stocks with 2009 Track Champion Kylie Kath of Owatonna picking up his sixth feature win of the season at Chateau.  Kath took advantage of a late caution that wiped out a solid lead by Ryan Henderson of Holmen Wisconsin.  Henderson had lead a good share of the race.  Kevin Vogt of Rose Creek lead the opening three laps of the race before Henderson went by for the top spot.  Ryan stretched out a nice advantage but a late caution put Kath on his back bumper and Kylie was able to make the late pass for the win.  Henderson tried hard to come back and put appeared to over drive the car into turn four coming to the checkers spinning out.   He ended up falling all the way back to a tenth place finish.  Jason Newkirk of Austin took second followed by Dylan Nelson of Freeborn, Wayne Bellrichard of Albert Lea and Stacy Krohnberg of Walters.  The finishes by Nelson and Krohnberg were impressive since both drivers, who had run in the top five early in the race, went tail end after cautions and spins during the running of the race.  Both fought there way back through the field for solid runs.   The classes heat wins on the night went to Nelson and Vogt.

Saturday Night the stakes were higher.  Both the WISSOTA Midwest Modified and USRA Modified feature drivers were gunning for a $1500 first place paycheck.  Second place in each of the races would be for a cool $1000 and with both classes also paying $100 just to start the feature it made for some very exciting heat and consy races as well.   Two drivers, Brandon Davis in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified class and Tommy Myer in the USRA Modified had extra incentives as there was a $500 bonus waiting if either of Friday Nights Modified Feature winners could double up on the weekend.  Other classes had big money on the line as well with WISSOTA Super Stocks and Street Stocks each chasing $400 first prize money, while the Pure Stocks were looking for a $300 pay day.

The “Midwest Modified Fall Nationals” 30 lap main event was a fitting finale to the night and the weekend as there were plenty of lead changes and passing going on through out the twenty car starting field.   Kenny Wytaske out dueled Brandon Davis for the early lead after the two were paired up on the front row.   Davis dropped from his outside starting spot to an inside line and went to the lead on lap five.  Brandon survived several restarts and would open a nice lead each time however as the race went into the final ten laps Kenny closed back up on Davis and the two went side by side for several laps until Wytaske went back to the lead on lap twenty-four.  Davis fought back but a lap later he suddenly slowed with mechanical problems and pulled to the infield ending his night.  Two drivers starting deep in the field were putting on quite a show moving toward the front.   Ben Anderson backed up his Friday Night showing with another good run on Saturday night as he picked his way from a row five spot up to third with just five laps to go.   Jerry Young who was buried back in row eight at the start of the race moved into the top five about the same time.   A caution paired Anderson on the outside of Greg Pfeifer JR and off the restart he moved around Greg to take over second and pulled right up along side Kenny as the two circled the track the next two laps side by side with Anderson taking over the lead just before another caution came out with three laps to go.  Off the final restart Ben pulled away as he came home with the win.  Pfeifer JR took second with Young coming up to third at the checkers ahead of Dan Wheeler and Chris Gilbertson of Trempuleau Wiscosnin.   Heat winners on the night for the class were Davis, Darran Jonsgaard of Winona, Bryan Hernandez, and Wytaske.  Joe Horgdahl of Kasson picked up a win as well with a win in the classes Consy event.   The “Hard Charger Award” went to Young who advanced twelve spots in the feature from fifteenth to third.

In the USRA Modified feature Jay Ihrke and Jacob Dahle of Morristown lead the field to the green.  Dahle lead the field on lap one with Todd Scharkey slipping by Ihrke for second.  Todd stayed tucked up behind Dahle, taking a peak outside for a lap or two before swinging way wide out of turn four coming to the line to complete lap three to take over the lead.  Friday Nights feature winner Tommy Myer followed Todd forward as he moved up to second looking for that extra $500 bonus money for taking both nights feature wins.  Myer could close right up on Todd going into turns one and three but each time Todd would out pull him coming out of turns two and four to maintain his lead.  The field ran the first twenty laps of the main event caution free and that first caution was a killer for Myer.  He was making his move coming out of turn four to the inside of Todd to take over the lead when the caution came out for a mess behind them in the middle of the turn.  The caution wiped out his pass for the lead and put him back behind Todd for the restart.  A couple more quick cautions slowed the finish of the race but when it finally went back green for the final time with two to go Scharkey got a good jump on the drop of the green and was able to drive off to his second feature win of the season at Lansing.  Myer had his hands full holding onto second as Steve Wetzstein pulled along side him for the final dash to the checkers.  Myer, who took a heat win on the night held onto the spot followed by Wetzstein, Dahle, and Bob Timm of Rolling Stone.  Jay Ihrke who also picked up one of the heat wins on the night took sixth.  Scharkey also had a heat win on the night giving him his first sweep of the season at Chateau.

The WISSOTA Super Stock class was the only group to run a caution free feature on the weekend.   Paul Erickson lead the opening laps of the twenty lap main event before Cole Queensland came up to challenge him and take the lead away from him on lap four.  From there Cole pulled away from the field for his seventh Chateau feature win of the season.  Brett Dulas came home in second followed by Brauer, Greg Mattick of Hayfield, and Mark Wytaske of Austin.  The classes heat win went to Brauer.

There was just one caution flag in the WISSOTA Street Stock Main Event.  Tyler Peterson of Hollandale held the lead on the first lap before giving way to Dan Holland.   Holland lead until just before the halfway mark of the twenty lap feature.  AJ Zvorak worked his way up to third on lap two and moved up to second a lap later.  The races only caution flew on lap four.   Holland and Zvorak put on a good show over the next several laps as they raced hard for the lead.  AJ got the better of the battle on lap nine taking over the top spot.  Once he got to the point he wasted no time stretching out his advantage and racing off to his seventh feature win of the year and his fourth sweep as he also picked up a heat win on the night.  Holland meanwhile had his hands full with Friday nights feature winner Bobby Kilby.  Dan held on for the spot.  Donny Ganz of Alma Wisconsin who was not there on Friday night put on a nice showing as he came from a row four starting spot to finish in fourth just ahead of Danny Hanson.   Ganz won the “Hard Charger Award” for advancing the most positions in the feature from eighth to fourth.  Also picking up a heat win in the class for the night was Kilby.

Ryan Henderson, who lead much of the Pure Stock Feature on Friday Night before it got away from him was looking for better things on Saturday Night as he started on the pole for the fifteen lap main event.   Jason Newkirk of Austin, who started alongside Ryan took the lead off the outside line at the drop of the green.  Henderson fell in line second and after a lap four caution he got a good run on the restart and went to the lead.  Newkirk stayed with in striking distance for much of the remainder of the race but Henderson drove his line and came home with his third feature win of the season at Lansing.  He also had a heat win on the night giving him a sweep for the first time this year.  Newkirk took second followed by Kevin Vogt, Dylan Nelson and Stacy Krohnberg.   Newkirk had the classes other heat win on the night.

The track will host one more weekend special in three weeks before wrapping up the 2009 Season.  The opening weekend of October, Friday and Saturday the 2nd and 3rd, the track will host the “Third Annual Buzz Festival”.  All classes that were on hand for this last weeks show will be on hand as well as the “S and S Auto Salvage Hornet classes” which are the host class for the “Buzz Festival”.    The top drivers chasing there various National Points Championships will get another go at each other will two more full shows over the two nights.

Chateau Raceway in Lansing, powered by Miners Outdoor Power and Recreation, lost another one to Mother Nature Friday Night.

The cancellation of the scheduled night of AMSOIL Dirt Track Racing Series action leaves just three points nights left in the regular season to determine Track Championships. Several fall specials are on the schedule after the season championship night August 28. The Annual Cedar River races featuring the USMTS Modifieds is on the schedule for Labor Day weekend, Friday September 4th, with the Power 96 WISSOTA Midwest Modified Fall Nationals two night special the following weekend, Friday Night September 11th and Saturday Night September 12th. The Labor Day weekend show will include the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds as well as the Pure Stocks and Hornet classes in support of the USRA Modifieds. The Fall Nationals will be two complete shows featuring the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, Street Stocks, and Super Stocks as well as the Frenches Repair and Fabrication USRA Modifieds and the Pizza Ranch Pure Stocks. Also on the fall schedule is the 3rd Annual “Buzz Festival” which highlights the S and S Auto Salvage Hornet Class. All classes who ran during the 2009 Season run the “Festival” to give everybody one more chance to run before concluding the 2009 racing season. The Festival Nights are Friday Night October 2nd and Saturday Night October 3rd. Again like the Fall Nationals the Festival will be a complete show each night with a full lineup of heats and features.

Despite a few sprinkles at the end of the evening its was a perfect Friday night for AMSOIL Dirt Track Racing Series Action Racing at Chateau Raceway in Lansing, powered by Miners Outdoor Power and Recreation, as the track rolled out the red carpet for the 12th Annual Mike Guttormson Memorial Races. The night that remembers the life of the former driver who had multiple track championships at Lansing and was a former WISSOTA 100 Champion. Mike started racing in the early 70’s at Chateau and worked his way up through several classes before finally settling into the Modified Division over the final years of his life. Guttormson passed away shortly after collapsing after winning his final feature that Friday night, the last Friday of May in 1997 (May 30th). Heart issues were something he had dealt with but he raced right up till the checkers fell twice for him on the same night, one for the feature race on the track and again for the race of life. Mike was a gutty driver and one of the friendliest people you could sit down in the pits and chat with and that’s why ever driver who straps up the harness’s and pulls on their helmet on this night each year goes a little harder to have there name associated with his as a “Guttormson Memorial Champion”,
no matter what class there running in. You talk to any of the drivers, pit crew members or fans, and they all be able to share
there favorite “Mike” story with you and a lot of them were being shared this weekend as the track once again saluted one of the most loyal drivers the track ever had. Over his career he missed very few shows at his home track, heading out to, as he referred to it, as “going out to heaven for the night”, as you got the feeling he lived for being at the track with his car, his crew, his family, and the fans.

A nice field of cars rolled in for the nights action with eighteen cars entered for the French’s Repair and Fabrication USRA Modifieds. Mike Sorensen of Rochester who had picked up one of the classes three heat wins earlier in the night drew the pole for the 12th Annual Guttormson Memorial Feature Event. On the parade lap Mike fell back into the second row leaving the pole vacant in memory of Guttormson. However when the field regrouped for the start of the race he wasted no time in going straight to the point and stayed there all the way to the end as he stretched his lead out to almost a full straightaway in between the few yellows that fell during the race. The final caution set things up for a wild finish. A spinning car with just two laps to go brought out the caution just as a light rain started to fall. Officials quickly reset the field and turned the cars loose for the two lap shoot out. Todd Scharkey of Kasson, who had run second since lap four made a run to the inside of Sorensen on the restart but Mike was up to the challenge and opened up a lead again and left Todd in the middle of a six car swarm for second on back. Scharkey held on for second as Doug Hillson of Blooming Prairie and Tyler Clark of Rochester ran side by side right on his back bumper all the way to the checkers. Hillson nosed out Clark for third with Tim Donlinger picking up a couple spots over the final few laps to finish fifth after starting back in row five. Claiming heat wins for the class along with Sorensen were Steve Wetzstein of West Concord and Donlinger.

In the Pizza Ranch Pure Stock feature nineteen cars took the green flag but just ten of them were around when the checkers fell. With the track full of cars the field raced through the first nine laps of the fifteen lap event clean and green. However three cautions, two in the final three laps made the finish a bit sloppy. Kevin Vogt of Rose Creek and Brandon Shaner of Owatonna were having a good race for second but they were involved in some of the late cautions and both of them ended up in the pits relegated to disappointing finishes. Kylie Kath of Owatonna started in row three and took advantage of the restart on the first yellow on lap nine to slip by Vogt, who had the early lead off the drop of the green to take over the top spot. He was able to stay out ahead of the carnage over the final laps to score his first feature win of the season and put together a sweep on the night as well after also claiming his heat win. Vogt also had a heat win on the night as well as Brady Krohnberg of Walters.

The broom also came out in the RS Auto Rebuilders WISSOTA Street Stock class as Dan Holland of Brownsdale put together a pair of wins taking his heat and the nights feature for the class. After working out of row two to take the lead on lap three of his heat he started on the pole for the feature and lead flag to flag in the caution free main event. AJ Zvorak of Blooming Prairie put on the nice show coming from row three up to second to claim the runer up spot ahead of Jesse Stahl of Austin. The two along with Tyler Peterson of Hollandale provided some excitement on lap two as they battled for second. They went three wide with Zvorak in the middle, Peterson on the outside and Stahl on the bottom. AJ completed the pass on the inside of Peterson for second as they came around to complete lap three and than dropped back down to the inside of Stahl to take away second on lap four. He was then able to close up a bit on Holland during the race but never threatened to challenge for the win. Peterson ended up falling to fifth behind Stahl and Mitch Thomson of New Richland. Thompson picked up the tracks other heat win in his first appearance at the track this season.

Farm Boy BBQ WISSOTA Super Stocks have been struggling in there cars counts and had just nine cars on hand for the nights program. Cole Queensland of Grand Meadow took advantage of a pair of front row starting spots to run away with a pair of wins. Jeff Brauer put some pressure on Queensland getting a fender up along side him a couple times during the feature but Cole had what it took to stay up front as he picked up his second feature win of the year at Lansing. Ryan Siegle of Grand Meadow, Josh Bartel of Kasson, and Dave Moffit of Austin rounded out the top five.

Bryan Hernandez of Blooming Prairie has been close a couple times this year to scoring a feature win in the Power 96 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and on Friday night he was finally able to seal the deal. Bryan lined up second row outside and after Bobby Kilby of Austin, who started just in front of him slid up into the wall on the initial start he inherited a front row spot for the restart. There were three cautions before a lap was completed making for a slow start to the race. When the green finally was able to get out there Beau Lammers of Owatonna grabbed the early lead with Hernandez falling in line second. On lap four Bryan found his line all the way down to the bottom of the track and pulled along side Lammers and took over the lead. Greg Pfeifer Jr of Austin won a wild four car battle for second as he outdueled Brandon Davis of Medford, AJ Wiste of Adams and Albert Wytaske of Lansing for the spot. The group raced side by side throughout the race and swapped spots a number of times before coming home in that order. In the classes heat races it was Davis and Dave Stevens of Albert Lea who claimed the checkers.

S and S Auto Salvage Hornets had a pair of familiar faces in victory lane. In the Junior Division Michael Wytaske of Lansing completed his fifth sweep in six weeks of racing action with yet another night of taking home the wins in both his heat and the feature. The only race heat or feature he has not won this year was the feature on week two when his car broke and he fell out of the race. It was announced at the end of the night Michael will be asked to move up to the Senior Division next week to try and make the Junior Divison more competitive and making it more challenging for him as well. He has lead most laps of each of his races being able to jump to the front from the middle of the field in very few laps each week. Jacob Stark of Austin came out of row two to take second over Brandon Vogt of Rose Creek. Pole sitter Cole Lonergan of Dexter took fourth followed by Matt Brooks of Austin. In the Senior Hornet division things have been just about as one sided with Mike Blowers of Waseca scoring his fifth feature win in six weeks of racing to match the five heat wins he has as well. The only other driver to take a win in the class has been Gary Stahl of Kasson who has a heat and a feature win on the year now after picking up the heat win on Friday Night. He scored the classes only feature win that Blowers doesn’t own last week. That stopped Blowers undefeated run to start the year.

Another big night or racing action is set for next Friday Night at Chateau Raceway with the Northern Vintage Race Car Drivers joining the show for the night. Race time is set for 7:30.

Mathew Gage

LANSING, MINN. – The Chateau Raceway powered by Miner’s Outdoor & Rec was coming off two straight weekends of rain-outs coming into Friday night’s big Memorial Day Weekend Blowout featuring the big guns of the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour. Cloudy skies and light sprinkles off and on during the day had everybody hoping that the weather would cooperate and allow the fans and drivers to enjoy an exciting night of racing action.

As the clock rolled around to race time, all eyes turned from the sky to the track as Mother Nature kept the rain to the south, allowing the show to go on.

Thirty-four cars and drivers from eight states checked in for the show with Wednesday night’s winner at the Marshalltown (Iowa) Speedway, Jon Tesch, drawing the pole position for the 40-lap Sunoco “A” Main with the eighth and final draw among the inverted qualifiers.

Jason Hughes drew the second spot but came from the outside of the front row to lead Tesch, Dereck Ramirez, Kelly Shryock and Scott Green around the 1/3-mile semi-banked clay oval for the first lap.

Back in the field, defending USMTS National Champion Tim Donlinger was trying to move forward from his eighth row starting spot, picking up four spots in two laps and moving into tenth on the fourth lap.

With Hughes holding back challenges from Tesch and Ramirez, Donlinger was up to eighth by lap 11 as the second caution of the race came out when Al Hejna went off in turn 1. Another quick caution followed one lap later, but afterward the action started to pick up.

Donlinger jumped up to sixth on the restart while Tesch and Ramirez hooked up in some exciting side-by-side action for second, swapping the spot several times before Tesch took control.

Another caution came out on lap 16 when Mike Sorensen and Mark Noble got together in turn 4, then again three laps later for a car sitting sideways in turn 1.

That was the last time the field would see the dreaded yellow flag as the remaining 21 laps ran caution-free.

Hughes maintained a slim lead throughout, but held it all the way to the finish with Tesch holding off Steve Wetzstein for second and Donlinger snagging the fourth spot and earning the PBM Performance Products Hard Charger Award. The three swapped positions several times during the second half of the race with Wetzstein moving up to second a couple of times only to have Tesch come back on him.

Donlinger was able to get alongside Wetzstein on three occasions but never was able to finish off the pass.

Ramirez took fifth, followed by Zack VanderBeek, Shryock, Green, Ryan Gustin and Corey Dripps rounding out the top-10 in the second of five Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region main events in a row this Memorial Day Weekend.

Hughes also led wire to wire in the Isky Cams First Heat Race to make it a perfect night in grabbing his series-leading fourth win of 2009. The Westville, Okla., chassis builder also has four victories this season in the USMTS Southern Series.

In the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region points, VanderBeek and Donlinger are tied at the top of the rankings with 194 points each, with Wetzstein just three markers back in third. Fourth is Ramirez with 165 points, followed by Shryock (159), Hughes (154), Dripps (144), Green (140) and Dan Bohr (138).

(Lansing, MN)- Chateau Raceway in Lansing, powered by Miners Outdoor Power and Recreation, was coming off two straight weeks of rainouts coming into the big Memorial Day Weekend Blowout Races Featuring the United States Modified Touring Series Big Guns. Cloudy skies and light sprinkles off and on during the day had everyone hoping that Mother Nature would cooperate and allow the fans and drivers to enjoy an esciting night of racing action. With big money on the line cars started filing in early hopeful that the trip would be worth while. Many of the drivers had already raced much of the week on the series having been in Oskaloosa Iowa on Tuesday Night, Marshalltown Iowa on Wednesday Night, and coming off a big night of action the night before in Cresco Iowa. From Lansing on Friday Night the series was scheduled to move on to Racine on Saturday Night, Kasson on Sunday Night and then to Fountain City Wisconsin on Monday Night. That making for seven straight nights of action. As the grandstands were opened about 5:30 light sprinkles were still in the area and radar was showing a large area of rain that was pretty much running right along the I-90 corridor just five miles south of the track. With extra money on the line for the special, drivers wanted to get the show in. The USMTS Modifieds were running for a $2000 to win paycheck, the Power 96 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were hunting a $400 first prize check, Pizza Ranch Pure Stocks had there minds on what could be there
biggest payday of the year, $200 to win. The S and S Auto Salvage Hornet Divisions had extra money on the line as well with the Senior Class gunning for a $125 win, and the Juniors a $75 to win payout. As the clock rolled around to race time the watching turned from the sky to the track for a full night of exciting action as Mother Nature kept the rains south allowing the
show to go on.

A special moment occurred right at the start of the night featuring Mark Noble of Blooming Prairie who had his “Special Pink 3 Day Race Car” which he is running over the Memorial Day Weekend in the USMTS Shows. The car is part of a fund raiser for the “Breast Cancer 3 Day Susan G. Komen race for the cure event this year. The fund raising effort was put on by “Team Jolene” who will be walking in the 60 mile three day walk later this year with the goal of raising $5000 dollars. The non profit 50/50 drawing on the night was used to raise money for the cause as well with the winner kicking back a share of his winnings. There were Pink T Shirts for the cause sold as well and anyone in attendance with one of these shirts went down on the track before the show into Victory Lane and gathered around the car and Mark for a special picture. On the track Noble was able to race the car to a second place finish in his heat but struggled to a twelfth place finish in the feature. He started in row three but was involved in an early caution and ended up restarting in twenty-first and had to work the rest of the night to try to salvage a good finish.

Thirty-Four cars from eight states checked in for the USMTS portion of the show with one of those being scratched before the nights action got started because of mechanical issues. The remainder of the cars put on a solid show led off by four very exciting heats. In the first heat of the night Jason Hughes of Westville Oklahoma used his front row starting spot to put together a flag to flag win. In fact all four heat winners used front row starting spots to their advantage for wins. Kelly Shryock of Fertile Iowa held off Rodney Sanders of Happy Texas for the win in heat two. Todd Scharkey of Kasson walked away from the field on his way to taking home the win in heat three, while Scott Green of Derby Kansas took home the win in heat four. Two Consys were run with Al Hejna of Clear Lake Iowa holding off a hard charging Tim Donlinger of Rochester for the win in Consy number one. Donlinger had some tough luck in his heat forcing him to try and make the feature through the consys. Donlinger had moved from deep in the field in his heat up to third but he was the victim of somebody elses accident on the last lap of his heat which dumped him to the back of the field and forced him to the consy. Starting back in row four of the consy he quickly picked his way through the field jumping to fifth on the first lap and up to third on lap three. One lap alter he was up to second where he battled Hejna down the stretch but Al was able to hold him off for the win. Consy number two went to Corey Dripps of Waterloo Iowa who held off Zack VanderBeek of New Sharon Iowa to take the checkers.

In the lead up to the main event the top eight drivers from the heats based on passing points redrew on the front straight away for positions. As driver after driver stepped up to draw nobody picked up the pole. The last driver of the eight, Jon Tesch of Watertown South Dakota ended up with the pole as it was the only position not drawn. Jason Hughes drew the second spot with Derek Ramirez of Woodward Oklahoma and Kelly Shryock getting the second row starting spots. Steve Wetzstein of West Concord and Scott Green got the third row positions with Mark Noble and Todd Scharkey getting the row four spots. Scharkey actually made the first of the redraws and drew the eighth and final spot right off the bat. So with the field all set it was time to fire the cars up for the forty lap finale. Hughes came off the outside of the front row and lead Tesch, Ramirez, Shryock, and Green around for the first lap. Back in the field Donlinger was trying to move forward from his row eight starting spot, fifteenth on the grid. He picked up four spots in two laps and moved into the top ten on lap four. He made it up to eighth on lap eleven just as the second caution of the race came out when Al Hejna went off turn one. Another quick caution followed a lap later and after that third restart the action started to pick up. Donlinger jumped up to sixth off the restart while Tesch and Ramirez hooked up in some exciting side by side action for second swapping the spot several times before Tesch took control of it. Another caution on lap sixteen, the third of the race, came out when Mike Sorensen of Rochester and Mark Noble got together in turn four. It was starting to look like the yellow flag was going to dominate the race when three laps later it waved again for a car sitting sideways in turn one. But as it would turn out that would be the last time the yellow would be out for the night as the next twenty-one laps of the forty lap main event ran off caution free. Hughes maintained his lead all the way to the
finish with Tesch holding off Wetzstein and Donlinger for second. The three swapped positions several times over the second half of the race with Wetzstein moving up to second a couple times only to have Tesch come back on him. Donlinger was able to get along side Wetzstein for third a time or two but never was able to finish off the pass. Derek Ramirez took fifth folllowed by Kelly Shryock, Scott Green, Ryan Gustin of Marshaltown Iowa, and Corey Dripps rounding out the top ten.

In other AMSOIL Dirt Track Racing Series Action the Power 96 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds saw a first time winner on the year as Jerry Young of Blooming Prairie took advantage of an early restart to put himself in the lead. Eric Condit of Austin took the lead off the drop of the green. A spinning car on lap two brought out the first of three cautions in the race. it was a wild
restart with Young going to the inside of Condit while Greg Pfeifer JR of Austin went to the outside of him and they crossed the line three wide heading to turn one. Young came out of the scramble with the lead and Pfeifer fell in line second. Condit fell back to fourth as Bryan Hernandez of Blooming Prairie moved up a spot as well. Hernandez would move up to second on the restart after the races second caution. Pfeifer fell back to third where it looked like he would finish until Bryan slide up high in turn four coming to the checkers. Pfeifer went under him to take second with Brandon Davis of Medford and Albert Wytaske of Lansing moving by for third and forth shuffling Hernandez back to fifth at the finish. The class ran two heats on the night with Dan Wheeler of Columbia Heights taking home the nights first heat win for the class. Albert Wytaske took the win in heat two.

The Pizza Ranch Pure Stocks had a solid twenty car field on hand. Kevin Vogt of Rose Creek took the lead at the start of the race ahead of Jake Siemers of Dexter and Jason Newkirk of Austin. Vogt was looking strong out front but once again it would be a restart that would make a change in the running order. A caution on lap eight worked to Newkirk’s advantage has he
jumped from third to first when the green flag came out and set sail for his first feature win of the season at Lansing. Vogt ended up in second ahead of Brady and Stacy Krohnberg of Walters who finished third and fourth. Siemers had some mechanical problems over the course of the second half of the race and ended up dropping out with a disapointing seventeenth place finish. The class ran three heats with Brandon Shaner of Owatonna, Tom Kasier of Waseca, and Siemers taking those wins.

The S and S Auto Salvage Junior and Senior Hornets also ran on the night. In the Junior Division Michael Wytaske of Lansing took his fourth feature win in five weeks of action at the track. It looked like Brandon Vogt of Rose Creek who had the early lead might have been able to hold off Wytaske but a slower car boxed him in as he was trying to put him down a lap and Michael was able to take advantage to go to the front. Wytaske also took the classes heat win. In the Senior Division it was a thrilling finish
that stopped the dominating run of Mike Blowers of Waseca. Blowers was undefeated at the track on the season having scored four sweeps in the first four weeks of racing action and that added to a heat win earlier in the night had him nine for nine on the season in combined heats and features at the track to open the season. He was in position to make it ten for ten as he jumped from the inside of row three to the front on the first lap of the feature. Gary Stahl of Kasson meanwhile who started outside row two ran third on lap one. After a second lap caution for a lost tire off one of the cars Gary moved up to second following the restart. From there he patiently reeled in Mike and the two came to the white flag side by side with Blowers still in the lead at the line. Things changed in turn one as Stahl hugged the bottom of the track and nosed to the lead. Blowers tried to cross back
over in turn two and came back along side as they headed throug turns three and four heading for the checkers. Stahl was up to the challenge as he scored his first feature win of the season. Jim Briggs of Waseca took third ahead of Briana Grinstead of Austin and Jamie Tapp of Austin.

Next week Chateau Raceway will run there 12th Annual Mike Guttormson Memorial race. Another big night of racing action with all seven of the tracks classes back in action for the Memorial and the extra purse money and trophys on the line. Race time next Friday Night for the Guttormson Memorial will be 7:30.