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Puschinsky and Johnson score career-first feature wins on a full night of Sunday night Bemidji action

By Dennis Peterson

BEMIDJI, MN (June 30) - Bemidji’s own Aircorp Aviation sponsored the speedway’s action on Sunday night, with six classes racing on a beautiful sunny summer day.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Brandon Puschinsky in the Pure Stocks, Cade Johnson in the Hornets, Blake Erickson in the Mod Fours, Mike Blevins, Sr. in the Midwest Modifieds, and Davey Mills in the Modifieds.

Twenty WISSOTA Pure Stocks drove on track, led by Lilian Farrington and Brandon Puschinsky. Puschinsky powered to the lead with Farrington, Billy Binkley, Alex Berg and Jake Smith in the top five.

After several green-flag laps, the leaders made it through lapped traffic before Smith drove into the infield out of the race. Fifth-row starter Dustin Puffe had made his way into the top-five fold, with Austin Carlson right behind him. Puffe, Carlson, and Deryk Weleski raced three wide for third in intense action; Puffe and Carlson displaced Farrington for second and third, while out front Puschinsky took the checkered flag for his first-ever feature win with the crowd cheering its approval. Puffe, Carlson, Farrington and Billy Binkley finished in the top five.

Fifteen WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds roared out of turn four, led by Mikey Blevins and Mike Blevins, Sr. The first lap was controlled by Blevins, Sr. with Brennan Schmidt, Skyler Smith, Mikey Blevins and Hunter Weeks in the top five. Mikey challenged Schmidt for second, but a caution flag slowed the action. Dane Durbin joined the top five for the restart.

Following the green flag, it was action-packed with Schmidt racing alongside Blevins, Sr., though the leader held off the challenges and pushed to a more comfortable lead.

Making his second start of the season, Gary James Nelson started the race in the sixth row and flew high on the top of the track, making good progress toward the leaders when something broke; he slowed and stopped at the top of turn one, bringing out the caution flag yet again. The race ended with a green, white, checkered finish, with Blevins, Sr. driving to victory lane. Schmidt, Mikey Blevins, Durbin and Skyler Smith finished in the top five.

Cade Johnson and Mateja Dreyer led the field of WISSOTA Hornets to the green flag, with Dreyer taking the lead over Johnson. Chad Reller, Jayme Gordon and Chase Pourrier made up the top five. Gordon raced around Reller for third, but then slid and dropped back to fifth. Dreyer raced out to a five-car length lead, but then slowed into the infield with mechanical issues. Johnson took over the lead and picked up the win, his first at Bemidji. Gordon came back to take second, as Pourrier and Reller were DQ’d in tech inspections. This moved Blake Watson into third, Calli Watson fourth and Aiden Kessler fifth.

Brooklyn Vernlund and Conrad Schwinn drove the field of WISSOTA Mod Fours down the front straight to the green flag, with Schwinn taking the lead followed by Vernlund, Blake Erickson, Nick Seitz and Ashton Schwinn. Ashton Schwinn raced alongside Erickson, with Erickson holding third behind Vernlund as the elder Schwinn powered away from the field.

Debris on the track slowed the race for a restart, with Ashton Schwinn pulling into the infield out of the race. Seitz was gaining momentum and raced up into third as Conrad Schwinn joined his son in the infield with mechanical issues, handing the lead to Erickson, but with Seitz gaining on the leader.

Erickson won the race followed by Seitz, with Kevin Bahr and Brooke Erickson trailing. Vernlund was DQ’d in tech inspection.

The WISSOTA Modified feature was led on track by polesitter Davey Mills, with Jeff Reed to his right. The intense start of the race featured Mills powering to the front followed by Lance Schilling, Josh Beaulieu, Jeff Reed and Bryce Borgen. Mills powered out to a five-car length lead. A caution reset the field.

The restart was fast and furious with Mills retaining his lead, but with Schilling on his bumper - then moving inside to race side by side with the leader. Reed was also on the gas, racing topside to pass Beaulieu for third. Borgen passed Beaulieu for fourth as Mills won his second feature of the summer at Bemidji Speedway. Schilling raced valiantly for second followed by Reed, Borgen and Beaulieu.

Nick McMann led on the final lap of the Mini Stock feature, but Ashton Schwinn dove low in the last set of turns and beat McCann to the line for the win. Due to tech inspection violations, McCann was DQ’d, moving Conrad Schwinn into second with Hayden Engen, Cody Bush and Jonah Espe in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22-Davey Mills[1]; 2. 43-Lance Schilling[4]; 3. 2R-Jeff Reed[2]; 4. 7-Bryce Borgen[5]; 5. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[3]; 6. 77-Alan Olafson[6]; 7. (DNF) 34-Scott Engholm[7]; 8. (DNF) 5JF-Jonathen Feda[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 43-Lance Schilling[2]; 2. 2R-Jeff Reed[4]; 3. 22-Davey Mills[6]; 4. 7-Bryce Borgen[1]; 5. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[3]; 6. 77-Alan Olafson[7]; 7. 34-Scott Engholm[5]; 8. 5JF-Jonathen Feda[8]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[2]; 2. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[4]; 3. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[1]; 4. 19D-Dane Durbin[8]; 5. 16-Skyler Smith[6]; 6. 99-Doyle Erickson[5]; 7. 10S-Sam Blevins[7]; 8. 13-Devyn Weleski[15]; 9. 15-Landon Gross[10]; 10. 7P-Cory Peterson[12]; 11. 87Z-David Hangsleben[9]; 12. (DNF) 11K-Travis Klein[14]; 13. (DNF) 6K-Noah Bitz[13]; 14. (DNF) 74-Gary James Nelson[11]; 15. (DNF) 9W-Hunter Weeks[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10S-Sam Blevins[1]; 2. 19D-Dane Durbin[5]; 3. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[4]; 4. 9W-Hunter Weeks[2]; 5. 87Z-David Hangsleben[3]; 6. 74-Gary James Nelson[8]; 7. 6K-Noah Bitz[6]; 8. 11K-Travis Klein[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Skyler Smith[1]; 2. 99-Doyle Erickson[4]; 3. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[2]; 4. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[6]; 5. 15-Landon Gross[7]; 6. 7P-Cory Peterson[5]; 7. (DNF) 13-Devyn Weleski[3]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 99-Blake Erickson[4]; 2. 92-Nick Seitz[5]; 3. 29-Kevin Bahr[6]; 4. 995-Brooke Erickson[7]; 5. (DNF) 6-Conrad Schwinn[2]; 6. (DNF) 18-Ashton Schwinn[3]; 7. (DQ) 77-Brooklyn Vernlund[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 92-Nick Seitz[1]; 2. 99-Blake Erickson[5]; 3. 18-Ashton Schwinn[3]; 4. 6-Conrad Schwinn[7]; 5. 77-Brooklyn Vernlund[4]; 6. 29-Kevin Bahr[2]; 7. 995-Brooke Erickson[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 88B-Brandon Puschinsky[2]; 2. 21X-Dustin Puffe[9]; 3. 57-Austin Carlson[8]; 4. 59F-Lilian Farrington[1]; 5. 25-Billy Binkley[4]; 6. 39-Deryk Weleski[7]; 7. 38-Nate Zanter[5]; 8. 15-Caylyn Binkley[10]; 9. 47J-Justin Barsness[11]; 10. 62-Joshua Bitker[12]; 11. 55-Aaron Bitker[13]; 12. 21-Mason Smith[14]; 13. 54S-Collin Sander[19]; 14. 47-Terry Hill[15]; 15. 8-Karen Puschinsky[16]; 16. 488-Kevin Kimmes[20]; 17. (DNF) 18B-Alex Berg[3]; 18. (DNF) 3-Kade Leeper[17]; 19. (DNF) 86J-Jake Smith[6]; 20. (DNS) 87-Shannon George

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Deryk Weleski[2]; 2. 25-Billy Binkley[4]; 3. 38-Nate Zanter[6]; 4. 15-Caylyn Binkley[1]; 5. 55-Aaron Bitker[5]; 6. 54S-Collin Sander[7]; 7. 8-Karen Puschinsky[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[2]; 2. 57-Austin Carlson[3]; 3. 88B-Brandon Puschinsky[1]; 4. 47J-Justin Barsness[6]; 5. 21-Mason Smith[4]; 6. (DNF) 3-Kade Leeper[5]; 7. (DNF) 87-Shannon George[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 18B-Alex Berg[2]; 2. 21X-Dustin Puffe[5]; 3. 59F-Lilian Farrington[3]; 4. 62-Joshua Bitker[4]; 5. 47-Terry Hill[1]; 6. 488-Kevin Kimmes[6]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 10Z-Cade Johnson[1]; 2. 7G-Jayme Gordon[8]; 3. 25-Blake Watson[7]; 4. 00C-Calli Watson[9]; 5. 72-Aiden Kessler[6]; 6. (DNF) 77-Megan Vernlund[3]; 7. (DNF) 7M-Mateja Dreyer[2]; 8. (DQ) 35-Chase Pourrier[5]; 9. (DQ) 28-Chad Reller[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Megan Vernlund[1]; 2. 35-Chase Pourrier[6]; 3. 28-Chad Reller[4]; 4. 10Z-Cade Johnson[5]; 5. 7M-Mateja Dreyer[2]; 6. 72-Aiden Kessler[8]; 7. 25-Blake Watson[3]; 8. (DNF) 00C-Calli Watson[9]; 9. (DNF) 7G-Jayme Gordon[7]

Mini Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 18-Ashton Schwinn[2]; 2. 6-Conrad Schwinn[8]; 3. 77-Hayden Engen[4]; 4. 11C-Cody Bush[6]; 5. 20JE-Jonah Espe[1]; 6. 94-Cameron Schwinn[9]; 7. G17-Gabriel Espe[7]; 8. (DQ) 50-Nick McCann[3]; 9. (DQ) 87-Shannon George[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Nick McCann[6]; 2. 18-Ashton Schwinn[2]; 3. 20JE-Jonah Espe[1]; 4. 87-Shannon George[9]; 5. 77-Hayden Engen[7]; 6. 11C-Cody Bush[4]; 7. G17-Gabriel Espe[3]; 8. 6-Conrad Schwinn[5]; 9. (DNF) 94-Cameron Schwinn[8]