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Season Opener
Outlaw Mini Mods join the action at Chateau Speedway
A beautiful night greeted fans and drivers for racing action Friday night at Chateau Speedway in Lansing, Minn. With sunshine and temperatures in the ’70s everyone settled in for another night of action with an appearance by the Outlaw Mini Mods.
A nice field of 14 Drury Outlaw Mini Mods put on an exciting feature as well as there two heats. Justin Winkler of Boone, Iowa, took the group's first heat with their 2023 series champion Ben Kraus of Kanawa, Iowa, taking the second heat.
At feature time, contact at the front of the field took out Kraus as well as series regular Logan Brown of Clear Lake, Iowa.
A wild three-car scramble at the front of the field was finally sorted out when Matthew Grobe of Austin went from third to first in the final two laps with Buzz Pool of Glenville moving into second.
Ben Mattick of Mantorville, who led much of the race, was shuffled back to third.
Steve Wetzstein of West Concord dominated the field in the French’s Repair USRA A-Mod main event as he ran away from the field and finished a half-lap ahead of the second-place car in the caution-free event.
Ryan Wetzstein worked his way from fourth up to third, moving past Kylie Kath of Claremont and Nick Herrick of West Conocrd during the second half of the race. Ryan Wetzstein had the lone heat win.
Lucas Schott of Chatfield roared from a fifth row starting spot to take the win in the Skjeveland Enterprises Stock Car feature event. Schott also had a heat win on the night, giving him a sweep for the evening.
Jesse Brown of Nashua, Iowa, outran Lynn Panos of Calmar, Iowa, for second. The other heat win went to Travis Shipman of Mason City, Iowa.
Power 96 USRA Hobby Stocks were led by Gavin Bartel of Kasson who swept his way to a pair of wins taking his heat and the feature on the night. After starting on the front row in the heat, he came out of row two on lap three to take the lead in the feature and led the rest of the way.
Brady Krohnberg of Walters came home in second winning a three-way battle over Daryl Moss of West Union, Iowa, and Dustin Doughty of Hudson, Wis. The three got stuck in the middle of lapped traffic and shuffled back and forth several times before the end of the event.
Doughty had the other heat win.
In the Double M Transport USRA B-Mods, Zach Elward took his second feature win of the short fall schedule, holding off Mark Noble of Blooming Prairie for the win. Noble, along with Lilli Repps of Utica and Kaeden Bronner of Austin, had heat wins.
Kadden Kath of Ellendale swept the Hanson Tire Midwest Modified class with a feature win to back up his heat win.
Kath also lowered the track record for the class which he had set last season. His fastest lap of the night was 16.241 seconds—about one-tenth of a second faster than his old mark. The time equates to an average speed of 73.880 mph.
Josh Mattick of Rose Creek and Jayme Hiller of Waseca claimed the other two heat wins.
Two more nights of action lay ahead for the Chateau Speedway which has run unsanctioned since reopening last month. Next Friday it will be another night of action featuring six classes. The Hornets will return in place of the Outlaw Mini Mods, along with the other regular classes.
In two weeks it will be the a big money “Stock Car Shootout” featuring the Stock Cars in a $1,000-to-win feature event. There will be plenty of extra money and bonuses spread through out the purse as many sponsors have come together to make it a special night of action.
Joining the Stock Cars will be the Hobby Stocks and B Mods as well as the Hornet class. Action both nights gets underway with the first green flag at 7:15 p.m.
