Chateau Raceway 7/1/16

July 1, 2016 | by Matthew Grage

Chateau Raceway kicked off he month of July with plenty of excitement Friday Night as 78 cars filled the pits for the nights action. As always six classes of cars kept the track busy as they ran through an exciting set of heats and features for the crowd.

The Hardest Charger of the night was Robbie Franklin of Shakopee who came all the way from row 7 to take the WISSOTA Midwest Modified Feature in his first visit to the track this season. Franklin is the defending Track Champion in the class but because of his work schedule has been unable to race Friday Nights but he showed he still has the track figured out and the set up to make it work. Brayten Cisneros of Blooming Prairie lead the early laps off the front row while Franklin picked his way through the field. He took just five laps to moved from the fifteenth starting spot into the top five. From there he moved up a spot on lap seven and another on lap eight while Austin Schrage of Cresco Iowa was wrestling the lead away from Cisneros. He than jumped to second a lap later and set his sights on the lead. On lap eleven of the eighteen lap main event Franklin pulled outside Schrage and the two dueled side by side until Robbie took the lead with two to go. Dustin Steinbrink of Austin and Jesse Hernandez of Blooming Prairie eventually moved up to second and third. Cisneros ended up slipping back to 5th just behind Garitt Wytaske of Lansing who took over the points lead for the class on the night. Schrage and Hernandez picked up heat wins on the night along with Jeremy Misgen of Ellendale.

Another change atop the point standings occurred in the USRA A Mod class where Jason Cummins of New Richland made a run from row four to the front to pick up his first feature win of the season at the track and take over the top spot in the points chase at the same time. Dustin Sorensen of Rochester, making his first visit to the track this year had picked up a heat win earlier in the night and had the early lead in the feature. Cummins meanwhile picked off five cars in the first four laps to move up to fourth. Than starting on lap six he picked off the top three one lap at a time as he used the top shelf of the track to go to the front. Greg Pfeifer JR of Brownsdale drove a solid race to come home second ahead of Mike Densberger of Lincoln Nebraska. Mike, who was making a stop at the track ahead of the Guttormson Memorial later this month as he drives in several of the USMTS shows, had scored a heat win earlier in the night.

The USRA B Mod feature turned into a crash fest as the race was plagued by eight cautions which eventually had the race cut five laps. Coming into the race, which was the 17th of 19 on the night, the yellow had only been displayed three times. In the final two races after there was just three more meaning they had more yellows than all the other races on the night combined. A J Zvorak of Blooming Prairie, who eventually won the race which took 27 minutes to run, said afterwards in victory lane that it was a “frustrating” race to be a part of. Zvorak had made two other passes for the lead in the race that were wiped out by cautions before finally getting the top spot on lap six. Derek Clement of Spring Valley had also made three passes for the lead earlier in the race that were erased by the caution flag .Jayden Larson of Mankato had the early lead and was constantly under fire from those two through those early restarts before finally seeing it slip away. Larson did pick up a heat win earlier in the night with Kylie Kath and Kadden Kath of Owatonna who finished second and third also getting heat wins.

Chris Hotovec of Dodge Center became a first time feature winner at Chateau as he scored a hard fought win in the Pure Stock class. Chris did start on the front row and lead flag to flag but it wasn’t a easy win as Matt Brooks of Austin, the defending Track Champion in the class was on him the entire 15 laps. It was bumper to bumper and door handle to door handle as Chris held off Matt, who had the classes lone heat win on the night, to make it to victory lane. Jason Newkirk of Austin took third ahead of Cole Kroneman of Austin and Greg Lammers of Owatonna.

In WISSOTA Street Stock action Mike Blowers of Waseca scored his 5th feature win in 6 outings at the track this year. Noah Grinstead of Austin had the lead early before Durand Peterson of Glenwood took over the lead on lap six but he was there for just three laps before Blowers took over the lead. Peterson held on for second ahead of Kory Adams of Stacyville Iowa. Grinstead was in line for a fourth place finish before troubles on the last lap dropped him to ninth. Adams along with James King of Hastings had heat wins for the class.

In the Hornet class Ralph Hanks of Waseca picked up his second feature win of the year as he made a late pass for the lead taking over the top spot as the white flag came out. Nick Silman of Waseca had lead most of the race and he along with much of the top five were in a tight group the entire race as exciting side by side action swapped spots constantly with drivers moving up and than back and than up again. Marissa Wolff of Janesville came out second in the battle ahead of Bobby Blowers of Waseca, and Bailey Wolff of Janesville. Silman slid to fifth at the finish. Marissa along with Hanks were the classes heat winners.

Next weekend will bring the exciting Fireworks show to the track which always follows the local Fireworks shows of the 4th of July putting an official wrap on the Holiday Celebrations. Also as part of the show NASCAR driver Michael McDowell who is driving part time in the Cup Series this year will be on hand with his car and crew for pictures and meet and greet opportunities starting at 2:00 Friday afternoon at the track. Michael, who scored a top 10 finish this past weekend in Daytona, also will be getting behind the wheel of a USRA A Mod car Friday Night which is being specially prepared and lettered for him by Chateau Raceway themselves. Looking ahead further into the month of July, in two weeks on the 15th the exciting UMSS (Upper Midwest Sprint Series) 360 Sprints will be on hand in addition to the tracks regular classes. Also the 19th Annual Mike Guttormson Memorial, postponed from Memorial Day Weekend will roll out with the USMTS traveling A Mods on hand on the 29th, the last weekend of July. All part of the exciting 60th Anniversary season of racing at Lansing.

Pure Stock

Feature: Chris Hotovec-Dodge Center, Matt Brooks-Austin, Jason Newkirk-Austin, Cole Kroneman-Austin, Greg Lammers-Owatonna, Tyler Nelson-Albert Lea, Troy Maas-Faribault, Jim Briggs-Waseca (DNS: Brandon Shaner-Owatonna)

Heat 1: Brooks, Newkirk, Lammers, Hotovec, Kroneman, Maas, Nelson, Briggs, Shaner

WISSOTA Midwest Modified

Feature: Robbie Franklin-Shakopee, Dustin Steinbrink-Austin, Jesse Hernandez-Blooming Prairie, Garitt Wytaske-Lansing, Brayten Cisneros-Blooming Prairie, Michael Wytaske-Lansing, Jeremy Misgen-Ellendale, Elizabeth Toepper-Hugo, Ryan Goergen-Stacyville IA, Jacob Toepper-Hugo, Matt Stark-Austin, Tianna Mithun-Freeborn, Harland Morehart-Rochester, Daryl Hainka-Wannamingo, Zach Sonnek-Apple Valley, Luke Hainka-Wannamingo, Jaiden Bastyr-Austin, Austin Schrage-Cresco IA

Heat 1: Hernandez, Goergen, Cisneros, G Wytaske, Franklin, Mithun

Heat 2: Misgen, E Toepper, Stark, L Hainka, D Hainka, Sonnek

Heat 3: Schrage, M Wytaske, Steinbrink, Morehart, J Toepper, Bastyr

WISSOTA Street Stock

Feature: Mike Blowers-Waseca, Durand Peterson-Glenwood, Kory Adams-Stacyville IA, Kyle King-Hastings, Blake Adams-Stacyville IA, Bernie Adams-Stacyville iA, Zach Elward-Hayfield, Fred Prudoehl-Winona, Noah Grinstead-Austin, Brent Holland-Glenville, James Connors-Waseca

Heat 1: King, BL Adams, Peterson, Elward, Holland, Connors

Heat 2: K Adams, Be Adams, Blowers, Grinstead, Prudoehl

USRA B Mod

Feature: AJ Zvorak-Blooming Prairie, Kylie Kath-Owatonna, Kadden Kath-Owatonna, Taylor Ausrud-Hayfield, Kenny Wytaske-Lansing, Jayden Larson-Mankato, Cole Lonergan-Dexter, Mark Wytaske-Austin, Greg Erickson-Stewartville, Raey Hastings IV-Austin, David Henderson-Mason City IA, Christian Warner-Owatonna, Casey Struckman-Grand Meadow, Anton Nelson-Hayfield, Morgan Schrage-Cresco IA, Derek Clement-Spring Valley (DNS: Chris Bruns-Owatonna)

Heat 1: Ky Kath, Warner, Ausrud, Hastings, Henderson, Bruns

Heat 2: Ka Kath, Clement, Zvorak, Erickson, Nelson, Lonergan

Heat 3:Larson, K Wytaske, M Wytaske, Schrage, Struckman

USRA A Mod

Feature: Jason Cummins-New Richland, Greg Pfeifer JR-Austin, Mike Densberger-Lincoln NB, Darwyn Karau-Kasson, Mick Glenn-Minnesota City, Joe Horgdal-Kasson, Dustin Sorensen-Rochester, Keith Tourville-Webster WI, Doug Hillson-Blooming Prairie, Todd Scharkey-Kasson, Greg Jensen-Albert Lea, Jim King-Hastings, Matt Stark-Austin

Heat 1: Sorensen, Horgdal, Glenn, Karau, Hillson, Scharkey, Jensen

Heat 2: Densberger, Cummins, Tourville, Pfeifer JR, King, Stark

Hornets

Feature: Ralph Hanks-Waseca, Marissa Wolff-Janesville, Bobby Blowers-Waseca, Bailey Wolff-Janesville, Nick Sillman-Minnesota Lake, Alan Schmidt-Hayward, Tommie Cruz-Waseca, Nikolas Aasen-Hayfield, Caylie Blowers-Waseca, Justin Murray-Waseca

Heat 1: Hanks, B Blowers, Murray, Cruz, Aasen

Heat 2: M Wolff, B Wolff, Sillman, Schmidt, C Blowers