Johnson records career win No. 98 in Midwest modified feature race
Posted
Mike Carroll of the Plainsman
HURON —After just missing earning his second 2018 Wollak Construction Inc. WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series victory of the season on Thursday at Dakota State Fair Speedway, Ricky Weiss of Headingley, Manitoba, capitalized in his second opportunity in three days and recorded the win during the $10,000-to-win Challenge Cup XVIII held Saturday at the Huron oval.
From his starting spot on the inside of the front row, Weiss snagged the lead on the opening lap and led for the duration of the 40-lap feature race.
“We just had a better heat race. We have actually been struggling a little bit through our heats and getting put back that far in the feature and wearing ourselves out before we got there,” Weiss pointed to as a big factor in securing his second victory on this season’s series. “Tonight with the two heat races, we managed to pull them off and put us up front. Then you can kind of maintain yourself a little bit and push on it at the end.”
Weiss won his first heat race, moving to the front from his No. 5 starting spot. He started 11th in his second heat race and was able to move from the back of the field to claim the top spot in the 10-lap race.
With the highest amount of passing points during the heat races, Weiss was awarded the pole for the feature event, but had Don Shaw of Ham Lake, Minn., who had won Thursday’s $5,000-to-win Iverson’s Dakota Challenge, sitting beside him on the front row.
Weiss managed to put some distance between himself and Shaw before reaching the final car on the lead lap on lap 12. As he dealt with trying to make his way around the slower traffic, his advantage slowly slipped away.
“I could feel him coming closer and closer,” Weiss said of Shaw. “I knew if I could get around those lapped cars I’d be good.
“I just really didn’t want to bump into one, spin one out or go somewhere where they didn’t know I was and ram me,” he said of dealing with the slower traffic. “It was just kind of a waiting game. I knew it was getting close, but if we could get clean air, I knew that we would be good.”
Despite having Shaw, who won the two Challenge Series events at DSFS in 2017, reach his back bumper on a couple of occasions as he bidded his time in lapped traffic, Weiss was able to stay on front in the feature, which went caution free.
Shaw would finish second, followed by Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis., and Marshall Fegers of Mound, Minn. The top four drivers finished in the order they started the race.
Kent Arment of Aberdeen, who led 33 of the 40 laps in the feature race on Thursday before being overtaken by Shaw, started 10th on the 25-car grid on Saturday and moved up to record a top-5 finish.
Finishing in spots No. 6-10, respectively, were Chad Becker of Aberdeen; Darrell Nelson of Hermantown, Minn.; Jake Reditzke of Eau Claire, Wis; Chad Olsen of Hendricks, Minn.; and Shane Edginton of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Lance Matthees of Winona, Minn., and Chad Williamson of Watertown earned wins in the B-main events to advance to the 40-lap feature race.
Lorin Johnson of Miller, who is the second winningest driver at DSFS, added to his win total on Saturday with a victory in the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest modified feature race. He led from start to finish in the event to earn win No. 98 on his career at the Huron oval.
Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls, Minn., finished second to Johnson after starting fifth in the 24-car field. He was able to get past Mike Nichols of Watertown on lap 10, but was never able to get past Johnson during the second half of the race, which was slowed just once for a caution.
Nichols was third, followed by Cory Berquist of Huron and Tony Konold of Clear Lake. Rounding out the top 10 in the Midwest modified feature race were Scott Hansen of Garden City; David Carlson of Huron; Joey Rowell of Fargo, N.D.; James Reiner of Wessington Springs and Scott Bintz of Jamestown, N.D.
Hansen, Johnson, Gronwold and Nichols were the heat race winners in the Midwest modified division.
The Wollack Construction WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series moved to Casion Speeway in Watertown on Sunday and will be back in South Dakota on June 22 and 23 for events at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen and Miller Central Speedway, respectively.
Saturday’s racing program was the second of just two events slated at Dakota State Fair Speedway this season. With long-time track promoter Orville Chenoweth coming back to put on the two events this season after stepping away in 2017, officials are hoping a new promoter can be found to take over the Huron track for the 2019 season.
For more information on the opportunity, contact the South Dakota State Fair office at 605-353-7340.
Heat 1: Ricky Weiss, Headingley, Manitoba; 2, Darrell Nelson, Hermantown, Minn.; 3, Jake Redetzke, Eau Claire, Wis; 4, Steve Laursen, Cumberland, Wis; 5, Shane Edginton, Winnipeg, Manitoba; 6, Kelly Duffy, Winner; 7, Dustin Arthur, St. Lawrence; 8, Jim Bruggeman, White Bear Lake, Minn.; 9, Casey Skyberg, Rapid City; 10, Scott Borkowski, Mitchell; (did not finish) 11, Roger Bitz, Aberdeen.
Heat 2: 1, Jordan Tollakson, Montevideo, Minn.; 2, Don Shaw, Ham Lake, Minn.; 3, A.J. Diemel, Elk Mound, Wis.; 4, Marshall Fegers, Mound, Minn.; 5, John Kaanta, Elk Mound, Wis.; 6, Lance Matthees, Winona, Minn.; 7, Curt Gelling, Aberdeen; 8, Curt Kranz, Watertown; 9, Doug Walsh, Watertown; 10, Chad Chenoweth, Huron; 11, John Hoefert, Sioux Falls.
Heat 3: 1, Brian Diede, Huron; 2, Chad Olsen, Hendricks, Minn.; 3, Nick Grehl, Hitchcock; 4, Chad Becker, Aberdeen; 5, Jeff Wildung, Nassau, Minn.; 6, Rick Hanestad, Boyceville, Wis.; 7, Chad Williamson, Watertown; 8, Ryan Engels, Watertown; 9, Robert Bladow, Cogswell, N.D.; 10, Blair Nothdurft, Sioux Falls; (did not finish) 11, Jordan Heiman, Sioux Falls.
Heat 4: 1, Ryan Mikkelson, Alexandria, N.D.; 2, Pat Doar, New Richmond, Wis.; 3, Eric Mass, Rapid City; 4, Cole Schill, Horace, N.D.; 5, Blake Swenson, Watertown; 6, Kent Arment, Aberdeen; 7, Jeffry Massingill, Keewatin, Minn.; 8, Scott Ward, Watertown; 9, Lyndon Bolt, Rapid City; 10, Buddy Hanestad, Boyceville, Wis.; (did not finish) 11, Troy Nothdurft, Sioux Falls.
Heat 5: 1, Ward; 2, Arment; 3, Doar; 4, Bolt; 5, Olsen; 6,Wildung; 7, Kaanta; 8, B. Hanestad; (did not finish) 9, Arthur; 10, Mikkelson; (did not start) T. Nothdurft.
Heat 6: 1, Shaw; 2, Laursen; 3, Engels; 4, Chenoweth; 5, Nelson; 6, Mass; 7, Gelling; 8, Bladow; 9, Tollakson; 10, Bitz (did not finish) 11, Bruggeman.
Heat 7: 1, Heiman; 2, Becker; 3, Massingill; 4, Kranz; 5, Edginton; 6, Swenson; 7, Redetzke; 8, Schill; 9, Skyberg; (did not finish) 10, B. Nothdurft; 11, Grehl.
Heat 8: 1, Weiss; 2, Fegers; 3, Williamson; 4, Diede; 5, Matthees; 6, Borkowski; 7, Duffy; 8, Hoefert; 9, Walsh; (did not finish) 10, R. Hanestad; 11, Diemel.
B-main event 1: 1, Matthees; 2, Mikkelson; 3, Grehl; 4, Massingill; 5, Borkowski; 6, B. Hanestad; 7, Chenoweth; 8, Hoefert; 9, Walsh; (did not finish) 10, Bitz; 11, Kaanta; (did not start) Gelling; Bolt.
B-main event 2: 1, Williamson; 2, Swenson; 3, Kranz; 4, Diemel; 5, Skyberg; 6, R. Hanestad; 7, Heiman; 8, Duffy; 9, Bladow; (did not finish) 10, Arthur; 11, Bruggeman; 12, B Nothdurft; 13, T. Nothdurft.
Main event: 1, Weiss; 2, Shaw; 3, Doar; 4, Fegers; 5, Arment; 6, Becker; 7, Nelson; 8, Redetzke; 9, Olsen; 10, Edginton; 11, Mass; 12, Schill; 13, Ward; 14, Mikkelson; 15, Matthees; 16, Grehl; 17, Swenson; 18, Kranz; 19, Tollakson; (did not finish) 20, Diede; 21; Williamson; 22, Wildung; 23, Laursen; 24, Engels; 25, Kaanta.
PHOTOS BY MIKE CARROLL/PLAINSMAN Ricky Weiss of Headingley, Manitoba uses the outside groove to pass Darrell Nelson of Hermantown, Minn., in their late model heat race during the Challenge Cup XVIII presented by Prostrollo General Motors on Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway.
Next, Brian Diede of Huron leads Chad Olsen of Hendricks, Minn., in their late model heat race during the Challenge Cup XVIII presented by Prostrollo General Motors on Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway.
And next, Ricky Wiess of Headingley, Manitoba (center) earned the top prize of $10,000 for winning the Challenge Cup XVIII on Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway. He is flanked by runner-up Don Shaw of Ham Lake, Minn., left, and third-place finisher Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis.
