Chateau Raceway 5/5

May 5, 2017 | by Matthew Grage

The 2017 Racing Season officially kicked off Friday Night at Chateau Raceway in Lansing. The Season Opener had been delayed with three straight weeks of rain, wet and cold conditions pushing back the start of the action. A beautiful sunny Friday finally greeted fans, drivers and officials as everyone was anxious to get the new season underway. One thing that’s always interesting to look at in the early part of the season, and especially opening night is to see which drivers have decided to move up to a new class and who the new drivers are who have decided to take up the sport. Two of the six defending Track Champions were among those drivers who have moved up in class. Jason Newkirk of Austin who was coming off his third Championship season in the last 7 years in the Pure Stock Class has made the move up to the WISSOTA Street Stock class. Bobby Blowers of Waseca who has taken two of the last three Hornet Track Championships made the move up to the WISSOTA Street Stock class as well.

The night started out with some tightly contested heat races setting the scene for some exciting features. Leading off the parade of features were the Hornets. 10 cars took the track for there 20 lap single event of the night. Caylie Blowers of Waseca grabbed the early lead off the pole with Pat Wells of Waseca keeping the pressure on sticking his nose inside and than outside letting her know he was right there. The pressure seemed to work as about mid-race Caylie spun the car out bringing out a caution and sticking her to the back of the field on the restart. Wells inherited the lead but didn’t hold it long as Brian Adams of Shakopee who started tail end in the race had been working his way to the front. Adams started third on the restart with Tommie Cruz of Janesville in between him and Wells. The trio went three wide on the restart with Adams on the bottom and using that line to his advantage as he moved to the front, Wells won the battle for second with Cruz falling in line third. The three road out the race in that order the rest of the way with Cody Hyatt of Waseca taking fourth and Blowers rebounding for a fifth place finish. With the win Adams added his name to the list of drivers with at least one feature win in the history of Chateau Raceway. Two more drivers would add there name to that list as well before the night was done.

The Chateau Pure Stocks were next to roll onto the track for there main event. After picking up a heat win earlier in the night Jesse Stahl lined up outside of Beau Stevens of Albert Lea on the front row. The nights other heat winner, Chris Hotovec of Dodge Center sat outside of row two and on the drop of the green the two heat winners jumped to the front running one-two. The pair stayed that way the entire race despite a couple of cautions. Brady Krohnberg of Walters came home in third ahead of Daniel Guttormson and Stevens.

In WISSOTA Midwest Modified action Jason Vandekamp of Scandia who has made a name for himself in the National WISSOTA Points Standings over the last several years made an appearance at the track and wasted little time in showing what he had. In his heat event he drew outside front row and jumped straight to the front and ran away from the field. The classes other heat win went to Dan Wheeler of Savage who was making his first trip to the track since his season was cut short last year by some health issues. Always a tough runner he come out of the second row of his heat on the first lap and lead flag to flag for a nice win in his return to action at Lansing. At Feature time the two heat winners started midpack with Dan in row three and Jason right behind him in row four. Garritt Wytaske of Austin and Ryan Wetzstein of West Concord lead the field to the green. Wetzstein had the advantage on the first lap but Garritt came back around him to take the lead on lap two. Wheeler made his way up to fourth right away and Vandekamp followed him up to fifth. On lap three Jason swung around to take fourth and two laps later jumped up to second. A lap five caution slowed the action for a moment but on the restart it was quickly on again. Wytaske and Vandekamp went side by side for the next couple laps before Jason took over the lead on lap eight. Garritt chased him all the way to the checkers but it would be Vandekamp who went to victory lane with his first career Lansing feature win. Wheeler made his way up to third with Wetzstein taking fourth ahead of Jeremy Misgen of New Richland.

Next on the track were the WISSOTA Street Stock drivers who reeled off a nice feature that was marred by just one yellow flag. Kyle King of Hastings sat on the pole and lead the field to the green. Kyle used it to his advantage to grab the early lead. Noah Grinstead of Austin who sat right behind him on row two followed him right up into second. The two had a nice duel with Noah getting the better of the action on lap six as he moved to the lead. Defending Track Champion in the class, Mike Blowers of Waseca, who took eight of the classes thirteen feature wins last year had moved up to second and was in position to take advantage of a line up error that had him start the race in row three instead of back in row six. Mike and his son Bobby have identical looking cars with identical numbers, the only difference being the “JR” after the number on Bobby’s car. The posted line up sheet actually show the “JR” car on the outside of the third row and Mike inside of row six, but the two lined up in the opposite positions and took the green with Mike five positions closer to the front. Mike moved up to third on lap six and was up to second when the caution came out on lap nine. Noah kept his car to the bottom of the track protecting the inside line as he tried to hold off the hard charger. Blowers got along side and actually lead at the line as the two came by to complete lap thirteen but as they came back around to take the white Grinstead moved back to the point and held on for the win. King came home in third.

Kadden Kath of Owatonna had lady luck on his side to start the season as he drew pole position for both his heat and feature and lead flag to flag in both races to claim a clean sweep to kick off the season. Kath had some company down the stretch in the feature as Jayden Larson of Mankato put on one of the finest runs of the night as he came from the back of the field in the caution free eighteen lap main event to push Kath to the finish line. Larson went from outside row six (the twelfth starting spot) up to fourth in just three laps and was up to second just past the halfway point of the race when he sat to reeling in Kadden. But as they say “catching somebody is one thing, passing them is another” and Larson was unable to make the winning move. Jett Sorensen of Rochester came home in third ahead of Matt Brooks of Austin and Nate Chodur of Lake Mills Iowa. Chodur had the classes other heat win.

The final race of the night would be the USRA A Mod twenty-five lap main event. Heat winners Greg Pfeifer JR of Austin, and Jason Cummins of New Richland started in the front rows along with Keith Tourville of Webster Wisconsin, and the trio laid down some exciting early laps with some three wide action off the drop of the green. Tourville lead at the line to complete lap one with Pfeifer coming back to take the lead on lap three. His time at the front lasted just one lap however as Cummins took over the top spot on lap four. But if the three of them had rear view mirrors in there care they would of seen Dustin Sorensen of Rochester fixing to break up there little party. As Jason went to the lead Sorensen made his move for second. A caution slowed the action a lap later and off the restart Dustin got the jump on Jason and went to the point and proceeded to build up a nice lead. One more caution about ten laps into the race bunched the field again but Dustin was up to the task and went back out to building his lead up. Steve Wetzstein of West Concord was starting to make some moves of his own and after starting back in row five he moved up to third after the restart. As the laps wound down Cummins car seemed to be getting stronger and he reeled Sorensen back in but could never make the move to get back to the front. With the win Dustin became the third driver on the night to make his first career visit to Victory Lane at Chateau.

Racing action will resume next Friday night with the first green flag set to drop at 7:00. Joining the action next week will be the Liquid Nitro Outlaw Mini Mod Series. The Series has 48 shows on there 2017 schedule including 8 trips to Chateau Raceway. The class will run every other week for the summer at the track starting with next Friday nights show.

Results

Chateau Pure Stocks:

Feature: Jesse Stahl-Austin, Chris Hotovec-Dodge Center, Brady Krohnberg-Walters, Daniel Guttormson-Austin, Beau Stevens-Albert Lea, Tyler Nelson-Albert Lea, Dalton Ludington-Zumbrota, Troy Maas-Faribault, Brandon Dunbar-Zumbrota, Jim Briggs-Waseca, Danielle Maas-Owatonna, Jack Dunbar-Zumbrota, Cole Kroneman-Zumbrota
Heat 1: Stahl, T Maas, Krohnberg, Briggs, Stevens, Ludington, J Dunbar
Heat 2: Hotovec, Guttormson, B Dunbar, D Maas, Kroneman, Nelson

WISSOTA Midwest Modified

Feature: Jason Vandekamp-Scandia, Garritt Wytaske-Austin, Dan Wheeler-Savage, Ryan Wetzstein-West Concord, Jeremy Misgen-New Richland, Ryan Goergen-Stacyville IA, Jesse Hernandez-Blooming Prairie, Casey Trom-Zumbrota, Brayten Cisneros-Blooming Prairie, Scott Simmons-Lakeville, Brad Minske-Northfield, Noel Hoppe-New Richland, Brady Larson-Amery WI, Luke Hainka-Wannamingo, Darryl Hainka-Wannamingo (no show: Harland Morehart-Rochester)
Heat 1: Vandekamp, Wytaske, Wetzstein, Trom, Misgen, Minske, D Hainka, Larson
Heat 2: Wheeler, Cisneros, Goergen, L Hainka, Simmons, Hoppe, Morehart (no show: Hernandez)

WISSOTA Street Stock

Feature: Noah Grinstead-Austin, Mike Blowers-Waseca, Kyle King-Hastings, Kory Adams-Stacyville IA, Blake Adams-McIntire IA, Stacy Krohnberg-Walters, Bobby Blowers-Waseca, Ken Adams-Stacyville IA, Fred Prudoehl-Winona, Jason Newkirk-Austin, Brent Holland-Glenville, Cody Hyatt-Waseca, Jacob Bennett-Austin
Heat 1: M Blowers, Grinstead, Prudoehl, Ke Adams, Newkirk, B Blowers, Bennett
Heat 2: King, Ko Adams, B Adams, Krohnberg, Holland, Hyatt

USRA B Mod

Feature: Kadden Kath-Owatonna, Jayden Larson-Mankato, Jett Sorensen-Rochester, Matt Brooks-Austin, Nate Chodur-Lake Mills IA, AJ Zvorak-Blooming Prairie, Taylor Ausrud-Hayfield, Eric Condit-Austin, Mike Mehling-Grand Meadow, Jesse Baer-Minnesota Lake, Raey Hastings IV-Austin, Tom Kaiser-Waseca, Tim Gerber-Austin
Heat 1: Chodur, Sorensen, Condit, Mehling, Hastings, Baer, Gerber
Heat 2: Kath, Zvorak, Ausrud, Brooks, Kaiser, Larson

USRA A Mod

Feature: Dustin Sorensen-Rochester, Jason Cummins-New Richland, Steve Wetzstein-West Concord, Keith Tourville, Webster WI, Joe Horgdahl-Kasson, Greg Pfeifer JR-Austin, Doug Hillson-Blooming Prairie, David Wytaske JR-Grand Meadow, Kenny Wytaske-Lansing, Greg Jensen-Albert Lea, Darwyn Karau-Kasson, Charlie Steinberg-Kasson
Heat 1: Cummins, Wetzstein, Sorensen, Karau, Jensen, Wytaske JR
Heat 2: Pfeifer JR, Hillson, Horgdahl, Tourville, K Wytaske, Steinberg

Hornet (Single Feature Event)

Feature: Brian Adams-Shakopee, Pat Wells-Faribault, Tommie Cruz-Janesville, Cody Hyatt-Waseca, Caylie Blowers-Waseca, Corbin Giesler-West Concord, Tyler Wright-Grand Meadow, Dallas Burris-Altura, Cale Giesler-West Concord, Nick Sillman-Minnesota Lake