Todd Narveson

A huge crowd turned out for the annual fireworks night presented by Dahle Enterprises and Miner’s Outdoor & Rec. Mike Blowers and Jason Born are as hot as the July heat as Blowers won his sixth WISSOTA Street Stock feature in a row and Jason Born topped his fourth WISSOTA Midwest Modified main.

The Y-Waste Removal Hornets started the feature action with nine cars in the race. After going upside down last week, Travis Morris returned with a different car and picked up his first career win this week with Jared Boumeester second and Jeremy Wenzel third.

Jason Newkirk led the first lap in the Misgen Auto Parts Pure Stock as Cole Lonergan wrestled with Daniel Guttormson for second. Lonergan made the pass on lap four and brought Adam Godeke with him to third. Lonergan then stalked Newkirk for the lead as Matt Brooks shot past Godeke for third on the seventh circuit.

Lonergan grabbed the lead on lap seven and drove to his third feature win of the season. Newkirk finished second and Stacy Krohnberg made a late race surge to wind up third. Brooks finished in the fourth position and Godeke was fifth.

The L&D Ag USRA B-Mod feature was another caution festival this week. Kadden Kath led early with Charlie Steinberg second. Josh Mattick was cranked up on the top of the track and entered the top five on lap three. All of this went on despite the yellow flag flying twice.

Kath broke on lap five and sent the field in a big scramble and the yellow was out again. Steinberg was the leader on the restart with Josh Mattick second. Kylie Kath made a big move on the inside from third as he tried to take the lead. Kath and Steinberg connected and the yellow came out yet again with Steinberg being sent to the tail. That was the fifth yellow on lap nine and five laps were cut from the 15-lap race to make it a green, white, checkered race to the finish.

Mattick was now the leader and he held on to take his first career USRA B-Mod feature win. Kath finished in second with Scott Demmer third. Dustin Sorensen was fourth and Ryan Stebbins was fifth. Stebbins also picked up a $99 bonus from Action Builders for being the ninth place car on lap nine in memory of the legendary Dick Trickle.

The Albert Lea Steel WISSOTA Street Stock feature was a wild and wooly race that was also loaded with yellow flags. Right off the start Brandon Shaner got turned around and collected Mike Blowers, Allen Gessell Jr. and Kyle King. Kory Adams was sent to the back for the incident.

Nathan Schumacher led lap one as Andrew Lokenvitz snuck past Derek Kilby for second. Shaner made a move on Kilby for third and they made contact on the frontstretch and Blowers was once again collected in the mishap. On the restart, Lokenvitz bumped Schumacher and everyone stacked up. This allowed Lokenvitz to take over, but the pass was negated by another caution for a stalled Kelby Johnson. On the start Blowers, Gessell Jr. and Shaner were three wide for third. Shaner came out on top and also got Lokenvitz for second.

Blowers zoomed up to challenge Shaner for second and took the spot on lap three. Blowers then spun in turn two and dropped a number of positions. But before the lap was completed Kilby and Noah Grinstead collided in turn three to trigger the caution lights on again. It was a huge break for Blowers, who was placed back in second behind Schumacher.

On the start, Shaner got past Blowers and tapped Schumacher as they both got loose. Blowers, Gessell Jr. and Lokenvitz all got by to the top three, but yet another caution came out one lap later as Kilby and Grinstead got together again for the fifth yellow flag of the event. Five laps were shaved of the race at that point. Blowers held on to win his sixth straight feature with Gessell Jr. second. Shaner rallied back to third as Jason Barber got to fourth and Kory Adams came back to finish fifth.

The Farm Boy BBQ WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature was a dandy. Jayme Hiller led lap one with Robbie Franklin in second from the fifth spot. Jesse Hernandez spun on lap three and that set up a wild restart. Hiller, Franklin, Tim Myhre and Greg Pfeifer Jr. went into turn two four wide for the lead. Somehow they made it through and Pfeifer Jr. powered to the lead.

Jason Born quickly entered the picture from the eighth spot and was right on Franklin for second with Pfeifer Jr. slightly ahead of them. Born took second on lap six and a caution came out for Luke Hainka on lap six. This bunched the field back up and caused a three-car pileup on the restart.

Pfeifer Jr., Born and Franklin then put on a show up front. They remained very close on laps seven thru nine. Pfeifer Jr. pulled away, but then Born reeled him in as they battled for the lead. Born charged past for the lead on lap 12 and scored his fourth win of the season. Franklin also got by Pfeifer Jr. second as the right rear tire of Pfeifer Jr. was going flat in the final laps. Troy Dahle raced fourth and Jeff Born had a good run from 14th to fifth.

Seven Power 96/KQAQ 970 AM IMCA Stock Cars ran their 20-lap feature. Ryan Goergen led lap one but Travis Shipman took over on lap two. Shipman held off a couple of challenges from Goergen for his fourth win of the year. Norman Chesmore finished third.

Darwyn Karau and Todd Scharkey drew the front row and both turned down the chance at the Brew Pub Pizza Front Row Challenge bonus. Scharkey and Karau drove hard upfront as Scharkey stormed to the lead. Scharkey checked out while Karau settled into second as Greg Jensen fended off Pat Graham for third. Mike Sorensen moved to fourth and Keith Foss was in the top five.

The races lone yellow flag came out on lap 18 and that tightened the pack for the restart. Scharkey held the lead, but Karau hung right on him. Foss came alive and passed Sorensen and then Greg Jensen for third. Foss then made things interesting and he got close to Karau.

Scharkey scored his first win of the season and his 47th career triumph at the speedway. Karau had another great run and held off Foss for second. Sorensen would finish in fourth and Jensen was fifth.

Next week the Brew Pub Front Row Challenge for the USRA Modifieds goes up to $1200. The drivers that draw the front row have the opportunity to give that spot up and go to the back. If they can race their way from the tail and win the feature, they take home the big bonus plus the $600 feature winner money. To date no driver has even attempted the challenge, but as the money increases someone will take the bait and give it a shot.