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Opening Night at Chateau Raceway Matthew Grage LANSING, MN (May 09) - Chateau Raceway, powered by Miners Outdoor and Recreation opened its 2008 season of AMSOIL Dirt Track Racing Series action with a nice field of cars scattered over six classes of action Friday Night. After five weeks of rain, snow, and generally cold miserable weather wiped out the first month of racing it was great to see the cars take to the 1/3 mile oval and its fresh new layer of clay that was laid down last fall. The track was able to sneak a test and tune session in early in April to give drivers a chance to see how the new surface ran and gave track promoters a chance to see how well they did laying it in last fall and preparing it this spring. As expected there was some rough spots in the track by the end of the first full night of racing but the prospects for some very fast racing looked real good as cars were turning some very fast laps on the new surface. Also included in the category of fresh things for the new season was the return of the WISSOTA Super Stock Class. The class was dropped a few years back but the decision was made during the offseason to give them another try this year. The car count wasn't as high as it could have been but it is hoped the class will go and drivers will start making Lansing there Friday night stop on the weekend for "Triple J Disposal WISSOTA Super Stock" racing. Seven cars made the show for the opening night with Cole Queensland of Grand Meadow leading the way with a pair of wins. Chris Klinger of Austin came home second in the main event as he worked his way through the field to put some pressure on Cole over the final laps. Josh Bartel of Kasson was third followed by Tony Shaner of Owatonna and Jason Gabrielson of Austin. Lots of fresh faces took to the speedway on the night. That’s was most evident in the "S and S Auto Salvage of Hayfield Hornet Class" where seven rookie drivers started there racing careers. It was veteran driver Gary Stahl of Kasson however who lead the way with a pair of wins. Randy Rauen of Austin finished runner up to Stahl in both events but the two put on a good show in both races. In the heat the two swapped the lead several times before Stahl eventually took the checker. Than in the featue the two got out first and second rather quickly and lead the field from start to finish. Rounding out the top five in the feature were Bob Weber of Waltham who took third, followed by Jesse Harang of Northwood IA, and Kevin Vogt of Rose Creek who was the highest placing rookie on the night. Harang took the classes other heat win. In "Affordable Portable WISSOTA Street Stock" action the first feature win of the 2008 season went to Bobby Kilby of Austin. Kilby started inside second row and moved past pole sitter Scott Olson of Rochester on the first lap and lead flag to flag for the win. Ryan Goergen of Stacyville IA who started outside front row outdueled Olson for second with Dave Stevens of Albert Lea and AJ Zvorak of Blooming Prairie completing the top five. Olson and Goergen took the heat wins for the class. "Albert Lea Pizza Ranch Pure Stocks" saw a handful of drivers debut in the class for the start of the new season but once again it was one of the drivers with a couple years of racing under his belt that lead the way. Brandon Skalicky of Claremont who picked up a pair of feature wins last season started off the new year by picking up the openig night trophy in victory lane. Skalicky got a good jump on Billy Steinberg of Kasson and jumped out of the second row to the front on the first lap. Skalciky went on to lead the whole race while Tyler Peterson of Hollandale worked his way toward the front and out raced Peterson for second. Jason Newkirk of Austin who took one of the heat wins on the night came home fourth followed by Dylan Nelson of Freeborn picked up a top five finish in his first night of racing at Lansing. Steinberg did pick up a heat win on the night. Leading the way with a field of twenty-one cars was the "Power 96 WISSOTA Midwest Modified' field. Defending Track Champion Kenny Wytaske of Lansing picked up where he left off last season by heading to victory lane after a wild feature win over Dan Wheeler of Columbia Heights and Jerry Young of Blooming Prairie. Young came off the pole to lead the race early and in fact lead it up until lap sixteen. A caution regrouped the field with four laps to go when Wheeler was clipped as he was working lapped cars. Wheeler was given his spot back in third behind Wytaske and off the restart Kenny made the move to the front and he slipped past Young. Jerry came right back on the next lap to take the lead back on lap eighteen. Coming to the white flag however Wytaske went back past Young to regain the lead which he would not give back. Young made a hard charge in turn four down low trying to get back past Kenny as they came to the checkers but it didn't work out for him and in fact it cost him a spot as Wheeler went around him to take the second spot. Albert Wytaske of Lansing and AJ Wiste of Adams rounded out the top five. Heat winners for the class were Young, Dustin Steinbrink of Austin, and Greg Pfeifer JR of Austin. The final feature event of the night with the "Frenchs Repair and Fabrication of Dodge Center USRA Modifieds" was one of the wildest feature races of the night. An excellent field of drivers put on a great display of racing as they not only raced each other but a track which was showing the signs of not having been run on much yet. A rut formed in the bottom grove in turn one and a bit of a hole in turn four had the drivers racing each other as much as the track. However it seemed they were more into racing each other as they rather ignored the two rough spots and bounced through them instead of going around them as they drove hard for the win. Mike Sorensen of Rochester started on the pole and went to the lead off the drop of the green flag. Row three starters Mark Noble of Blooming Prairie and Kelly Shryock wasted little time moving toward the front and along with Sorensen made it a three car show as they swapped positions and sent there cars flying in the air at times as they bounced across the rough spots. On lap five Shryock moved to second and Noble came to third a couple laps later and than the fun began. On lap ten Noble went to the outside of Shryock to take second. He than pulled along side Sorensen and on lap twelve went to the lead down the back stretch with Shryock following him past Sorensen to take second. Bobby kept on charging and on the next lap went past Noble to take the lead and Sorensen followed him as they shifted Noble back to third. Mike kept on coming and he puled along side Shryock and the two ran side by side for the most part for the next couple laps with Sorensen going back to the front as they completed lap eighteen. Kelly made a few more runs back at Mike as the laps wound down by Sorensen had the lead back and he wasn't about to give it up again. Kelly held off Noble for second while Brad Bakken of Garner Iowa came home in fourth with Doug Hillson of Blooming Prairie rounding out the top five. Heat winners were Hillson, Shryock and Sorenson. Week two of racing next Friday night will feature car rides for the kids
on the raceway before the start of racing so everyone is encourage to get
the kids out there early next week for the excitement. Than in two weeks,
May 23rd, it will be the 11th Annual Mike Guttormson Memorial. The Memorial
event this year will once again be a USMTS Special so there should be plenty
of great action ahead as all the rainouts to start the year has everyone
geared up for some exciting racing action. |