By Mike Spieker
ADA, Minn. (July 26, 2018) – Brandon Schmidt of Hillsboro, N.D. claimed the biggest win of his career Thursday night at Norman County Raceway in Ada, Minn. With a season-high number of Norman County Implement IMCA Stock Cars in attendance for the King Pin Klash, presented by The Bowler, Schmidt picked up his second win of the season at NCR.
Rick Schulz showed the way in the early going of the Stock Car feature, but a caution with 10 laps to go regrouped the field. Schmidt took advantage of the restart and took the lead from Schulz. Once out front, Schmidt would not relinquish the lead. Behind him, the best battle on the track was for second. Schulz, Rob VanMil and IMCA Modified regular, Tyler Hall, all fought for the runner-up position.
At the checkers, VanMil finished second behind Schmidt as Schulz, Hall, and Kevin Mattox, who made the haul to Ada from the Minot, N.D. area, rounded out the top five.
Photo: Brandon Schmidt of Hillsboro, N.D. picked up the big IMCA Stock Car win Thursday at Norman County Raceway.
The Christian Motors WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds got off to a wild start as the third-place starter, Lance Schill, looped his No. 17 machine in front of the field. Everyone was able to avoid him and Schill rejoined the pack at the back for the complete restart.
As the race resumed, Cody Lee of Starbuck, Minn. held the lead over Aaron Blacklance. Lee had a close call with lapped traffic at the halfway point when he made fairly significant contact with the rear of a lapped car. Lee only suffered cosmetic damaged on his No. 50 machine as he went on to cruise to his first career NCR victory.
Matt Schow, Jeff Nelson, Bryan Kakela and Brock Gronwold rounded out the top five.
Aaron Wetterlin of Moorhead collected his third win of the season in the Titan Machinery IMCA SportMods. The race got off to a wild start as Chris Evoniuk and Paul Colvin made contact at the drop of the green flag, which sent Colvin spinning in front of the field. Colvin’s car came to rest on the low side of turn one and retired his No. 13 machine from the race.
On the restart, Luke Johnson took the lead after running three wide in turn one. Wetterlin, who started sixth, quickly reeled in Johnson and took the point with a slide job in turn two. Wetterlin opened up a somewhat comfortable five car length lead at the halfway point. Wetterlin withstood a challenge from Johnson on a restart with six to go to get the win.
For the second week in a row, Jason Strand of Portland, N.D. picked up the Sanders Metal Products IMCA Modified win. Strand grabbed the lead over Jamie Trautner in the early going and checked out from the rest of the field.
As the race advanced, Strand’s lead became smaller with each lap as Tyler Peterson began reeling him in. What was a full straightaway lead was cut down to just two car lengths on the final lap as Peterson had caught the No. E85 of Strand.
Strand was able to hold off the hard-charging Peterson at the checkers to claim his second win of the season. Dale Kraling, Brady Petermann, and Bryce Borgen rounded out the top five.
Tim Estenson of Fargo raced to his second win of the season at NCR and 17th overall. Estenson took the lead on the opening lap with a four-wide pass for the lead. Estenson went on to lead the remainder of the event but never opened up a comfortable gap as Steven Kuntz remained within striking distance.
Kuntz finished second by a mere three car lengths, while Ryan Braseth, Tye Wilke, and Kaitlyn Skalicky rounded out the top five.
Racing returns to Norman County Raceway on August 9th, featuring the seventh annual Sander’s Modified Challenge. Green flag drops at 7 pm.
SUMMARY
IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature: 1. E85-Jason Strand, [2]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [8]; 3. 7-Dale Kraling, [6]; 4. 88B-Brady Petermann, [7]; 5. 99B-Bryce Borgen, [4]; 6. 25-Jamie Trautner, [1]; 7. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [9]; 8. 60-Tyler Hall, [5]; 9. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [3]; 10. (DNF) 69-Justin Jones, [10]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Jamie Trautner, [1]; 2. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [5]; 3. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [2]; 4. 88B-Brady Petermann, [4]; 5. 60-Tyler Hall, [3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. E85-Jason Strand, [1]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [4]; 3. 7-Dale Kraling, [3]; 4. (DNF) 69-Justin Jones, [5]; 5. (DNF) 99B-Bryce Borgen, [2]
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
A Feature: 1. 50C-Cody Lee, [2]; 2. 2S-Matt Schow, [8]; 3. 33-Jeff Nelson, [5]; 4. 11-Bryan Kakela, [7]; 5. 2G-Brock Gronwold, [16]; 6. 1S-Scott Bintz, [9]; 7. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [11]; 8. 25A-Jesse Aho, [6]; 9. 17-Lance Schill, [3]; 10. 01-Zach Bruer, [1]; 11. 81-Daniel Pederson, [12]; 12. (DNF) 50H-Haley Lee, [13]; 13. (DNF) 1SX-Rusty Kollman, [10]; 14. (DNF) 5-Aaron Blacklance, [4]; 15. (DNF) E85-Jason Strand, [15]; 16. (DNF) 7T-Joseph Thomas, [14]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 50C-Cody Lee, [2]; 2. 25A-Jesse Aho, [1]; 3. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [3]; 4. 33-Jeff Nelson, [6]; 5. 1S-Scott Bintz, [7]; 6. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [5]; 7. 50H-Haley Lee, [8]; 8. 7T-Joseph Thomas, [4]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 01-Zach Bruer, [1]; 2. 2S-Matt Schow, [5]; 3. 17-Lance Schill, [8]; 4. 11-Bryan Kakela, [7]; 5. 1SX-Rusty Kollman, [3]; 6. 81-Daniel Pederson, [4]; 7. (DNF) E85-Jason Strand, [2]; 8. (DNF) 2G-Brock Gronwold, [6]
IMCA SportMods:
A Feature: 1. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [6]; 2. 0-Robby Rosselli, [9]; 3. 8J-Luke Johnson, [4]; 4. 3X-Andy Wagner, [7]; 5. 40-Chris VanMil, [10]; 6. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [5]; 7. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [8]; 8. 19D-Noah Metzger, [15]; 9. 2X-Brady Moore, [2]; 10. 47-Kreig Kasin, [13]; 11. 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [12]; 12. 9-Torey Fischer, [11]; 13. 3E-Chris Evoniuk, [1]; 14. (DNF) 1RM-Taylor Grove, [14]; 15. (DNF) 13C-Paul Colvin, [3]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 8J-Luke Johnson, [4]; 2. 3E-Chris Evoniuk, [1]; 3. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [5]; 4. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [6]; 5. 40-Chris VanMil, [7]; 6. 9-Torey Fischer, [2]; 7. 47-Kreig Kasin, [3]; 8. 1RM-Taylor Grove, [8]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 3X-Andy Wagner, [6]; 2. 0-Robby Rosselli, [7]; 3. 13C-Paul Colvin, [4]; 4. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [5]; 5. 2X-Brady Moore, [1]; 6. 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [3]; 7. (DNF) 19D-Noah Metzger, [2]
INEX Legends:
A Feature: 1. 14T-Tim Estenson, [8]; 2. 1-Steven Kuntz, [9]; 3. 29-Ryan Braseth, [2]; 4. 72-Tye Wilke, [6]; 5. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [7]; 6. 20-Alex Braseth, [5]; 7. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [3]; 8. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [4]; 9. 5G-Garrison Miller, [1]; 10. 22-Corey Hansen, [10]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 1-Steven Kuntz, [5]; 2. 20-Alex Braseth, [3]; 3. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [4]; 4. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [2]; 5. 5G-Garrison Miller, [1]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 14T-Tim Estenson, [4]; 2. 72-Tye Wilke, [3]; 3. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [2]; 4. 29-Ryan Braseth, [1]; 5. 22-Corey Hansen, [5]
IMCA Stock Cars:
A Feature: 1. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [5]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, [9]; 3. 4-Rick Schulz, [1]; 4. 14-Tyler Hall, [6]; 5. 99M-Kevin Mattox, [8]; 6. 21-Tim Church, [3]; 7. 73H-Dustin Hoffert, [7]; 8. (DNF) 48-Larry Niemi, [2]; 9. (DNF) 28-Norm Olson, [10]; 10. (DNF) 96-Erv Grossman, [11]; 11. (DNF) 76Z-John Sandvig, [13]; 12. (DNF) 85-Ernest Geist, [4]; 13. (DNF) 18-MIke Anderson, [12]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 21-Tim Church, [1]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, [3]; 3. 14-Tyler Hall, [4]; 4. 99M-Kevin Mattox, [6]; 5. 28-Norm Olson, [2]; 6. 96-Erv Grossman, [5]; 7. (DNF) 76Z-John Sandvig, [7]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 4-Rick Schulz, [6]; 2. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [4]; 3. 73H-Dustin Hoffert, [1]; 4. 48-Larry Niemi, [2]; 5. 85-Ernest Geist, [5]; 6. (DNF) 18-MIke Anderson, [3]