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By Matthew Grage

Chateau Speedway is always looking for fun ways to get the kids involved in the nights program.

Last year they came up with the idea to give the kids water balloons and let them throw them at the flagman. They called it “Cool The Flagman Night,” and with temps near 90 Friday night, it turned out to be a perfect night.

Regular flagman Ross Spitzer and substitute flagman Donnie Svoboda stood tall in the flag stand at intermission and took the kids best shots. Some good natured fun to go along with another spectacular night of racing action.

Once again over 100 cars filled the pits for the racing action in seven classes sponsored this week by Action Builders of Hayfield and Meadow Greens Golf Course of Austin.

There was a bit of a somber moment at the beginning of the night as it was announced that one of the original members of the Chateau Speedway Hall of Fame, which was started last year, had passed away during the week. Three time track champion Dave Noble of Blooming Prairie passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86. Dave took championships at Lansing in 1963, 1967 and 1977. Records also show him with at least seven other championships at places including Kasson, Rochester, St Charles, Elko, Independence, Iowa, and Fountain City, Wisconsin.

Friday nights main events were a group of some of the best features of the year. There were some cautions along the way, with the two biggest coming in the French’s Repair USRA A Mod Main Event, but there was still great racing and a fantastic finish.

Jason Cummins of New Richland and Dustin Sorensen of Rochester came from rows three and four into the top five quickly, along with Brad Waits of Rochester, who started back in row five.  By lap five they were the top four along with Joel Alberts of Mantorville.

The two battled all the way until five to go, when Sorensen got the spot. The pair moved up on Alberts and, going to the outside in turn one with two to go, Sorensen snatched the lead. Sorenson drove into victory lane for the first time this year, while Alberts held off Cummins for second. Waits came home fourth ahead of Ryan Wetzstein, who drove a patient race up from row six to snag a top five.

Power 96 WISSOTA Pure Stocks ran one of two caution free main events. Troy Maas of Faribault, after missing out on a win late in the feature a week earlier, led flag to flag for his first of the season. Andrew Eischens of Taopi, who won the last two Features in the class, closed up late on Troy, but had to settle for second. Brady Krohnberg of Walters came home in third.

The other caution free feature was run by the Brauer Roofing WISSOTA Super Stocks, where Braden Brauer of Eyota picked up his first career win in the class. AJ Zvorak of Blooming Prairie led the first eight laps with several of those side by side with Brauer, who finally got the advantage on lap nine and scored the win. Neil Eckhart of Rochester came home in third behind Zvorak and ahead of Dylan Kromschroeder of Cambridge and Dan Nissalke of Winona.  It was the first time this year that someone other than Nissalke took the win.

Brauer also had a heat win earlier in the night when he laid down the fastest Super Stock lap of the season. Ryan Kostreba of Elk River had the class’ other heat win.

Kruckeberg Services WISSOTA Hornets did run a clean 15-lap feature event, but that was after a caution on the initial start. After that it was clean sailing. Nate Coopman of Mankato took over the top spot and drove into Victory Lane for the first time this year. Justin Schelitzche of Cologne followed him in ahead of Matt Wieman of Owatonna, Daniel Knish of Kilkenny, and Bryce Lisowski of Faribault, who had started last car in the 14 car field.

USRA B Mods were slowed by just two cautions as Garitt Wytaske of Austin scored his first feature win of the year. A caution on the first start of the race before a lap was completed and a debris caution a handful of laps in is all that slowed them. Wytaske led flag-to-flag off the pole, but had his hands full with Dustin Steinbrink of Austin. Steinbrink had to hold off AJ Hoff of Mantorville the final lap with Noah Grinstead of Austin and Scott Demmer of Ellendale making up the rest of the top five. Wytaske also took a heat win, giving him a sweep on the night, while the other heat went to Alex Schubbe of North Mankato, who lowered the 2020 speed mark for that class.

There were a pair of two lap shootouts in the other two features as late cautions grouped the fields for the final runs. Both times the leader was able to protect his spot and pocket the win. The first of those was in the Adams Graphix WISSOTA Street Stocks, where Dustin Doughty of Oakdale rolled into town for one of his rare visits and came home with top honors. Zach Elward took second while Kory Adams of Stacyville, Iowa, after starting back in row six, made a late run up to third, followed by Jesse Stahl of Austin and Cody Hyatt of Waseca.

Dan Wheeler of Savage picked up his first Chateau Speedway feature win of the year in Action Builders WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds. Trevis Underdahl of Northfield worked from row four up to second, while Spencer Stock of Racine started row six and finished third. Greg Pfeifer Jr. of Austin took fourth and Ryan Goergen of Stacyville came all the way from row seven to garner a fifth place finish. Underdahl, who lowered the 2020 speed mark for the class in his heat, and Tianna Mithun of New Richland got the class’s heat wins.

Next week The Track will wrap up the month of July with Zumbrota Ford Night. Steve Johnson, the dealer for the people, will be by and usually brings along one of his nice new cars to show off for everyone.

Results

Power 96 WISSOTA Hornet

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9-Nate Coopman-Mankato[10]; 2. 14-Justin Schelitzche-COlogne[6]; 3. 16M-Matt Wieman-Owatonna [8]; 4. 33-Daniel Knish-KIlkenny[12]; 5. 02-Bryce Lisowski-Faribault [14]; 6. 7X-Ridge Oien- Bloomington [5]; 7. 97X-Josh Winsky-Rochester [1]; 8. 5-Nick Sillman-Minnesota Lake[4]; 9. 20T-Troy Tuma-Owatonna[7]; 10. 3X-Brandon Blanchard-Spring Valley[3]; 11. 15-Bo Noble[-Faribault9]; 12. 169-Taylor White-Rochester [13]; 13. 6-Timothy Barnett-Owatonna[11]; 14. (DNF) 21-Brandon Downs-Austin[2]

Action Builders WISSOTA Midwest Mods

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. RED1-Dan Wheeler-Savage[4]; 2. 17-Trevis Underdahl-Northfield [8]; 3. 28S-Spencer Stock-Racine[12]; 4. 00JR-Greg Pfeifer Jr-Austin[5]; 5. G12-Ryan Goergen-Stacyville IA[14]; 6. 4-Brayten Cisneros-Blooming Prairie[11]; 7. 79-Jeremy Misgen-New Richland[3]; 8. 44Z-Anton Nelson-Hayfield[10]; 9. 33-Darryl Hainka-Wannamingo[15]; 10. 98D-Christopher Deno-Kasson[2]; 11. 79H-Luke Hainka-Wannamingo[9]; 12. 86-Noel Hoppe-New Richland[1]; 13. (DNF) 5-Tyler McFarland-New Richland [16]; 14. (DNF) 15-Cole Neisius-Hastings[6]; 15. (DNF) 53-Tianna Mithun-New Richland [7]; 16. (DNF) 28-David Gustafson-Pine Island[13]

Power 96 WISSOTA Pure Stock

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1-Troy Maas-Faribault[2]; 2. 7X-Andrew Eischens-Taopi[8]; 3. 26-Brady Krohnberg-Walters[6]; 4. 17-Michael Wick-Faribault[4]; 5. 31-Raey Hastings IV-Austin[1]; 6. 96-Kyndra Neis-Chatfield[12]; 7. 1G-Michael Gift-Faribault[7]; 8. 33-Jim Briggs-Waseca[3]; 9. 41-Jordan Allen-New Richland[11]; 10. 81-Broderick Diekman-Waltham[13]; 11. 21-Noah Lund-Waseca[9]; 12. (DNF) 08-Kyle Kotek-Owatonna[10]; 13. (DNF) 3-Jack Paulson-Faribault[5]

Adams Graphix WISSOTA Street Stock

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. D1-Dustin Doughty-Oakdale[8]; 2. 15-Zach Elward-Hayfield[7]; 3. 01-Kory Adams-Stacyville IA[12]; 4. 21-Jesse Stahl-Austin [5]; 5. 42-Cody Hyatt-Waseca[1]; 6. 32-Jason Newkirk-Austin [6]; 7. 99-Greg Lammers-Owatonna[3]; 8. KOL34-Kolton Brauer-Eyota[14]; 9. 39J-Dan Klingfus-Austin [2]; 10. 46-Stacy Krohnberg-Walters[4]; 11. 11S-Kyle Sivesind-Stewartville[9]; 12. 14-Caden Neisius-Hastings[13]; 13. (DNF) 2-Marcus Berndt-Austin[11]; 14. (DNF) 4-Chris Hotovec-Dodge Center[10]

USRA B-Mods

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 35JR-Garitt Wytaske-Austin [1]; 2. 33S-Dustin Steinbrink-Austin[3]; 3. 55H-Aaron Hoff-Mantorville[7]; 4. 99-Noah Grinstead-Austin [2]; 5. 30-Scott Demmer-Ellendale[9]; 6. 55-Brody Shaw-Brownsdale[10]; 7. 44-Matthew Brooks-Austin [6]; 8. 38-Michael Wytaske-Hartland[8]; 9. 72-Alex Schubbe-North Mankato[5]; 10. 54-Jett Sorensen-Rochester[16]; 11. 02K-Hunter Kennedy-St Ansgar IA[4]; 12. 45-Cole Longergan-Dexter[12]; 13. 81K-Caleb Korpi-Claremont [11]; 14. 17-Justin Murray-Owatonna[15]; 15. 0D-Thomas Rolfes-Carpenter IA[13]; 16. (DNF)

French’s Repair USRA Modifieds

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen-Rochester [7]; 2. 4A-Joel Alberts-Mantorville[1]; 3. 71-Jason Cummins-New Richland  [5]; 4. 24W-Brad Waits-Rochester[10]; 5. 90-Ryan Wetzstein-West Conocrd [11]; 6. 1A-Dwaine Hanson-Lakefield [3]; 7. 51W-JT Wasmund-Pine Island[13]; 8. 96-Taton Hansen-Spicer[6]; 9. 23-Darwyn Karau-Kasson[9]; 10. 33-Joe Ludemann-Grand Meadow [15]; 11. 72-Doug Hillson-Blooming Prairie [17]; 12. (DNF) 98M-Mitchel Madery- Kasson[18]; 13. (DNF) 65D-Dustin Brown-Thornton IA[2]; 14. (DNF) 77-Jacob Stark-Austin[14]; 15. (DNF) 21-Troy Gudmonson-Savage[16]; 16. (DNF) 8S-Tony Schill-Oakdale[8]; 17. (DNF) 00-Mark Gartner-Mapleton[12]; 18. (DNF)

Brauer Roofing WISSOTA Super Stock

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 34JR-Braden Brauer-Eyota[5]; 2. Z29-Anthony (AJ) Zvorak-Blooming Prairie [2]; 3. 7E-Neil Eckhart-Rochester [4]; 4. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder-Cambridge[7]; 5. 22N-Dan Nissalke-Winona[8]; 6. 17R-Ryan Kostreba-Elk River[6]; 7. 55S-Ryan Schaufler-Hutchinson[9]; 8. 22-Ryan Jacobsen-LeRoy[3]; 9. 17-Harland Morehart-Rochester[1]; 10. (DNF) 35-Dennis Dunbar-Winona[10]