IMCA Modifieds

Defending track champion Jason Wolla is eyeing up a repeat. The Ray native has been on a mission since not finishing the opening weekend feature. After the disastrous start, Wolla rattled off five straight heat wins and four features. Yet, he has since gone winless at Nodak in the month of June with a pair of second places and a third last weekend.

A couple of DNFs, including last Sunday, has Williston’s Travis Hagen lurking in second place, 21 points back. When Hagen has got his No. 14t modified across the finish line, it’s been at the front with back-to-back wins at the start of June on the 4th and 11th. In addition, he has finished second twice, third once and fourth once.

Minot natives Wayne Johnson (five points) and Justin Medler (nine points) trail Hagen by single digits.

Garrick Hodge/MDN Various race cars fight for position during the Nodak Speedway races earlier this month in Minot.

Minot’s Robert Hellebust, fifth overall, and Saskatchewan’s Tyler Wagner, 13th overall, have the other two victories this year in the class. Shocking the field, Wagner got his lone win last week. His best feature result prior to leading everyone to the checkered flag at Nodak was a 10th place on May 14 and May 21.

IMCA Sport Mods

Engaged in a tortoise and the hare type of competition, Westhope’s Robbie Conway and Turtle Lake’s Isaac Sondrol are deadlocked at the top of the Sport Mods’ standing with 293 points each.

Conway has taken the faster, more direct approach with three victories. While Sondrol has yet to crack the Top 2 spots in a feature race this season. However, Sondrol is the only driver in the field to finish in the Top 10 of every feature so far.

Not far behind the co-leaders is the defending track champion Erik Laudenschlager from Minot with two wins on the year. Ironically enough, last year’s second and third place drivers in the points are behind him in Brock Beeter and Robby Rosselli. Making the 1-2-3 from 2016, the current 3-4-5 in the standings.

Other victories this season have come from Minot’s Jeff Hooker on May 28 and June 4, plus Minot’s Nathan Burke on opening night (May 7).

IMCA Hobby Stocks

The class with the most diverse group of feature winners by having six different drivers reach victory lane. As a result, the Top 12 IMCA Hobby Stock racers are within 52 points of each other.

Kenmare native Riese Dignan and Minot native Kevin Tvedt each have nabbed two wins to lead the pack, but are in third and eighth place in the standings.

It’s the consistency of Minot’s Andrew Bertsch with seven Top 10’s, six Top 5’s and a victory on May 29 that gives him a 12-point lead over Max’s Vance Tomlinson at the top of the standings. Tomlinson has nearly identical tallies in comparison to Bertsch, except he has two fewer Top 5 finishes.

Last season, Bertsch and Tomlinson finished 2-3 in the final standings with those same 12 points separating them.

The defending track champion Dana Brandt took a 19th place last week and missed one race, which subsequently has knocked him down to 11th overall and 47 points off the pace. With three heat wins and two ‘B’ feature triumphs, Brandt is certainly capable of making a second half surge.

Adam Goff (23 points back) and Zach Lutz (27 points back) round out the Top 5.

IMCA Stock Cars

Last season, Dalton Flory drove away with the Stock Car crown by winning the track championship by 55 points. The other three classes had a combined margin of victory of 35 points between first and second place.

It hasn’t been that easy this time around, as Dalton Flory has found his rival: Joe Flory, his dad. The veteran Joe Flory returned to Stock Cars full-time this year after a couple seasons driving the Modifieds.

Joe Flory leads the class over his son Dalton by 18 points. The family duo has won six out of the eight races; Joe with four and Dalton with two. Joe is going for his third straight feature win this weekend.

Chasing the Florys is Austin Daae from Saskatchewan. He placed on the podium with a third overall in the standings last year. Daae is currently 36 points back of first place, but he could have been a lot closer if it wasn’t for an early trip to the hauler on May 28.

Other feature winners include Minot’s Scott Yale, on the day Daae didn’t finish, and Brendon LaBatte, who is a part-timer at Nodak and is also an offensive lineman for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League.

Closing out the Top 5 in the standings are Cody Nelson, Kenmare, and Michael Vennes, Minot.

Racing resumes this Sunday at Nodak Speedway with the Magic City Dirt Series. All four featured classes will take to the track starting at 6 p.m. with the heat races. Gates open at 5 p.m.

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.