2018 Chateau Speedway Season Officially Concluded With Awards Banquet

December 1, 2018 | by Matthew Grage

2018 Chateau Speedway Season Champions (L to R) Track Owner Mark Wytaske, French’s Repair USRA A Mod Champion Darwyn Karau – Kasson, USRA B Mod Champion Kadden Kath – Owatonna, WISSOTA Midwest Modified Champion Mitch Weiss – Scandia, WISSOTA Street Stock Champion Kory Adams -Stacyville IA, Power 96 Pure Stock Champion Jesse Stahl – Austin, Y Waste Hornet Champion Brian Adams – Shakopee, Annette Wytaske.

The book on the 62nd Season of Racing Action at Chateau Speedway in Lansing was officially closed Saturday Night as the Annual Banquet was held with Awards handed out to the top drivers in each class. Owners Mark and Annette Wytaske hosted the event at the Eagles Club in Austin with about 150 people on hand to see the 2018 Top 5 drivers in each class pick up there Trophy’s. Weather played a part in the Awards Banquet much the way it does every week at the track. Eleven of the award winners were not on hand, many likely due to the winter storm that blew in for the weekend.

The new owners took over the track in mid-season after the track sat idle for the first half of the year. It had been announced in the spring that the track was up for sale and would not open unless it was sold. It took several months to get something worked out with the sale finally getting finalized in June with racing resuming in July. With adding a few specials at the end of the year the track ended up hosting 10 race nights. There were 6 regular season nights that determined the Track Champions for 2018. The Track hosted 3 Specials in September, an Open Invitational at the beginning of the month and a 2 Night Extravaganza at the end of the month. The other event they hosted was the Season Finale event for the Southern Minnesota Enduro Drivers.

During the course of the season race fans were treated to action in 8 different classes. Chateau ran 6 regular weekly classes, Y Waste Hornets, Power 96 Pure Stocks, WISSOTA Midwest Modified, WISSOTA Street Stock, USRA B Mods, and French’s Repair USRA A Mods. The KEVKO Outlaw Mini Mods made 3 appearances during the regular season as well as joining in on the 2 Night Extravaganza. WISSOTA Super Stocks were part of the Open Invitational in early September. In amongst those classes 281 different cars and drivers took part in the action with 85 of those taking home at least one win of some sort in a heat, consolation, or feature event. 13 drivers took part in racing action in more than one class with 4 drivers taking wins in multiple classes.

One new speed record was set during the course of the season with Jesse Stahl of Austin resetting the top speed for the Pure Stock Class while on his way to his 3rd Track Championship, and 2nd in a row. The old mark was a lap of 18.656 set by Marcus Berndt in 2015. The tracks computerized scoring showed Stahl lowered that by just .002 with a fast lap of 18.654 on August 10th. Jesse, who also won the Championship in 2007, lead the class with 5 feature wins. Brady Krohnberg of Walters, with 3 feature wins on the year took second in points ahead of Troy Maas of Faribault. Chris Hotovec of Dodge Center, the only other driver to garner a feature win finished fourth in points followed by Michael Wick of Faribault.

Top Gun for the Hornets was Brian Adams of Shakopee who was the only driver in the class with multiple feature wins claiming 3 of them. Andy Knutson of Rochester finished second, Nick Sillman of Minnesota Lake was third, Ashley Bell of Farmington fourth and Shawn Grabinger of Farmington fifth. Knutson and Grabinger each had a feature win with Bell finishing runnerup 3 times.

Kory Adams of Stacyville Iowa picked up his second straight Track Championship in the WISSOTA Street Stock Class and his third overall. Kory, with a pair of feature wins on the year, also took the top honor in 2015 at Chateau. Finishing second in points was Bernie (Kenneth) Adams of Stacyville Iowa. Rounding out the top five were Zach Elward of Hayfield, Jason Newkirk of Austin, and Greg Lammers of Owatonna. Bernie and Zach each had one feature win on the year while Jason had two. Jason, a 3 time Track Champion in the Pure Stock class, 2010, 2014, and 2016, was leading the points going into the final points night but engine problems prevented him from having a chance to run for the title. Newkirk, who moved up to the Street Stock class this year, had to watch from the pits as the final feature went out to decide the title. Elward has the distinction of being the only driver to roll twice on the season.

Mitch Weiss of Scandia added his name to the list of Champions at Chateau Speedway with his first title in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified Class. Weiss picked up his only feature win of the season on the tracks opening night but stayed on the top of the list all season long. Brayten Cisneros of Blooming Prairie captured his first two career feature wins on his way to finishing second in the points chase. Ryan Goergen, a 4 time Track Champion, ended up third in points with one feature win during the year. Ryan Took the Midwest Mod title in 2016 and also won IMCA Stock Car Track Championships in 2011, 2012, and 2013 when the track ran that class for a few years. Michael Wytaske of Hartland, the 2008 Junior Hornet Track Champion, with two feature wins finished fourth in points followed by Luke Hainka of Wannamingo.

Sitting on the top of the mountain for the third time in his career in the USRA B Mod Class was Kadden Kath of Owatonna. It was his second straight title to add to his 2013 Championship. Kadden lead the class with four feature wins. AJ Zvorak of Blooming Prairie, with one feature win on the year finished second in points. AJ is a four time Track Champion with WISSOTA Street Stock Championships in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Two time Track Champion in the Pure Stock Class from 2013 and 2015, Matt Brooks of Austin finished third while claiming his first career USRA B Mod Feature win during the season. Hunter Kennedy of St Ansgar Iowa and Jesse Baer of Minnesota Lake rounded out the top five honorees.

In the USRA A Mod Class Darwyn Karau of Kasson claimed his second Championship Crown. Darwyn, who also took top honors in the class in 2015, claimed his first USRA A Mod Feature win during the course of the season. Greg Pfeifer JR of Austin, a three time Champion in WISSOTA Midwest Modified action in 2005, 2011 and 2012, finished second in points with one feature win during the season. Another former Track Champion, Doug Hillson of Blooming Prairie finished third in points. Doug was the USRA A Mod Champion in 2009. David Wytaske JR of Grand Meadow and Charlie Steinberg of Kasson were the rest of the top five. Charlie picked up his first career A Mod Feature win during the course of the season.

During the Fall Extravaganza the Track allowed Fans to vote on there Favorite Driver and that award was given out on Saturday Night as well. Picking up the most Fan Votes was Kadden Kath. The track also choose to give out a Chateau Speedway Rookie of the Year award and gave that to TJ Barnett of Owatonna who competed in the Hornet Class.

Although not a part of the Awards since they only ran 3 nights during the regular season and were not a full time class the KEVKO Outlaw Mini Mods did have a points System in place. Top 5 drivers at Lansing during the year were Nathan Kilwine of Glenville, Matt Prehn of Mason City Iowa, Ryan Hensel of Forest Wisconsin, Michael Bryant of Mason City Iowa and Cole Bennerotte of Kasson. The Class runs at numerous tracks over the upper Midwest and encourages drivers to run multiple tracks. At least 12 tracks were listed on there 2018 schedule. As they run for there National Championship they are only allowed 3 point shows from any one track to apply toward there overall totals. Kelly Steele of Zimmerman, who made two appearances at the track, won there National Title. In fact the entire top 5 in there final Natiional Points made appearances at the track, just not finishing in the top 5 group, reflecting there traveling show billing.

So now the full focus can be on the preparations for the 63rd Season next spring. The Schedule has not been released yet but fans will be excited to know that all the fall specials are being planned on again as well as several more during the course of the year. When the final touches are completed that information should be out. Fans and Drivers are asked to keep Friday Nights open, as well as a few other special nights in 2019, to gather with Family and Friends in Lansing where Memories have been made and relived since 1956. Fans can follow the track and get there information on there website at chateauspeedway.com, or by following them on there Facebook page, ChateauSpeedway. There is also the fun History Group page, Chateau Speedway/Chateau Raceway History Page, where fans can join the group and look at and share old Chateau Racing Photos, Videos and Stories.