8-20 Page 23 | ATD Racing News

Hawker, Puffe and Schelitzche split time in victory lane after WISSOTA features Thursday at Grand Rapids

By Shannon Reigel

GRAND RAPIDS, MN (August 14) - Grand Rapids Speedway kicked off Itasca County Fair week Wednesday with the Dean Olafson Memorial Race, a WISSOTA Pure Stock and Hornet special, along with special visiting classes - including the WISSOTA Mod Fours.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Blake Hawker, Dustin Puffe, and Justin Schelitzche.

Casey Traxler and Hawker led the WISSOTA Mod Four feature to the green flag, but a caution for debris re-racked the field. Traxler had the lead back under green ahead of Hawker, as Tommy Bawden raced to third. Blake Erickson was close behind in fourth and Doug Fredrick was fifth.

After a couple of laps, Bawden got by Hawker for second. As the race wore on, another caution regrouped the field.

Bawden was now the leader for the restart, while Traxler, Hawker, Erickson, and Chad Funt held the rest of the top five. Hawker and Traxler continued to battle for second behind Bawden, right down to the wire. Following post-race tech, Hawker was declared the winner, ahead of Erickson, Funt, Rowan Tramm and Nick Seitz in the top five.

Austin Carlson and Chaston Finckbone led the WISSOTA Pure Stocks onto the track for their feature. Finckbone was the early leader, while Dustin Puffe raced to second past Carlson. Justin Barsness raced in fourth while John Farrington made his way to fifth, before the caution fell for an Alex Berg spin.

Finckbone kept out front for the restart, with Puffe close in second. Farrington raced into third, with Barsness very close before another caution flag halted the race - this time for Alexa Sparby’s stalled ride. Another caution kept the field at a standstill.

Once back under green, Finckbone kept Puffe behind, Farrington held third, and Jake Smith made his way through the pack to fourth, challenging Farrington for his podium spot. One final caution fell when Michael Hawkins spun on the track.

Back under green, Puffe made a move on Finckbone along the high side, and stole the lead. Puffe drove on to the win ahead of Finckbone, Smith, Farrington and Barsness in the top five.

Last on the track for the evening were the WISSOTA Hornets. Justin Schelitzche stole the lead on green from Cade Johnson, and Nikota Larson quickly moved past Johnson to second. Zeb Graves raced to fourth and Riley Ament raced in fifth. Graves looked to the inside of Johnson and made the pass for third, while Makayla LaBarge followed through to fourth. A caution halted the race when Ryker Larson stalled on the track.

Following the restart, Schelitzche drove back out to the lead and took home the win, followed by Larson, Folstead, Russell Kiker, Jr., and Graves in the top five.

In the track’s other action, Paul Schultz won from his fifth starting spot in the Northern Renegade feature, while Waylon Current topped the Mini Stock feature.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1: 1. 21-Blake Hawker[2]; 2. 99-Blake Erickson[4]; 3. XL1-Chad Funt[7]; 4. 14T-Rowan Tramm[10]; 5. 92-Nick Seitz[9]; 6. 78-Andrew Milz[11]; 7. D5-Doug Frederick[6]; 8. 995-Brooke Erickson[13]; 9. 29J-Jayden Bahr[15]; 10. 14-Gene Traxler[14]; 11. (DNF) 18-Ashton Schwinn[12]; 12. (DNF) N88-Gerrald Nohner[16]; 13. (DNF) 60-Maeghan Milz[3]; 14. (DNF) 37-Dean Larson[5]; 15. (DQ) 81X-Tommy Bawden[8]; 16. (DQ) 13-Casey Traxler[1]

Heat 1: 1. XL1-Chad Funt[4]; 2. D5-Doug Frederick[3]; 3. 81X-Tommy Bawden[7]; 4. 21-Blake Hawker[6]; 5. 92-Nick Seitz[1]; 6. 78-Andrew Milz[5]; 7. 995-Brooke Erickson[2]; 8. 29J-Jayden Bahr[8]

Heat 2: 1. 99-Blake Erickson[4]; 2. 37-Dean Larson[5]; 3. 60-Maeghan Milz[1]; 4. 13-Casey Traxler[3]; 5. 14T-Rowan Tramm[7]; 6. 18-Ashton Schwinn[2]; 7. 14-Gene Traxler[8]; 8. (DNF) N88-Gerrald Nohner[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1: 1. 21X-Dustin Puffe[4]; 2. 40C-Chaston Finckbone[2]; 3. 86J-Jake Smith[18]; 4. 89F-John Farrington[6]; 5. 47J-Justin Barsness[3]; 6. 22E-Ethan Elhardt[7]; 7. 70-Chris Dudley[11]; 8. 25-Billy Binkley[16]; 9. 18B-Alex Berg[17]; 10. 47X-Jake Barsness[9]; 11. 59F-Lilian Farrington[14]; 12. 88H-Michael Hawkins[5]; 13. 15-Caylyn Binkley[12]; 14. 8-Karen Puschinsky[15]; 15. 7-Bob Klein[13]; 16. (DNF) 15H-Dusten Holub[19]; 17. (DNF) 57-Austin Carlson[1]; 18. (DNF) 88B-Brandon Puschinsky[10]; 19. (DNF) 81X-Alexa Sparby[8]; 20. (DNF) R00T-Jonathan Root[22]; 21. (DNS) 47-Terry Hill; 22. (DNS) 56E-Stephen Erickson

Heat 1: 1. 57-Austin Carlson[4]; 2. 47J-Justin Barsness[6]; 3. 88H-Michael Hawkins[1]; 4. 88B-Brandon Puschinsky[7]; 5. 7-Bob Klein[2]; 6. 8-Karen Puschinsky[5]; 7. 18B-Alex Berg[8]; 8. (DNF) R00T-Jonathan Root[3]

Heat 2: 1. 21X-Dustin Puffe[6]; 2. 47X-Jake Barsness[4]; 3. 22E-Ethan Elhardt[3]; 4. 70-Chris Dudley[2]; 5. (DNF) 86J-Jake Smith[1]; 6. (DNF) 15H-Dusten Holub[7]; 7. (DNF) 47-Terry Hill[5]

Heat 3: 1. 89F-John Farrington[2]; 2. 40C-Chaston Finckbone[3]; 3. 81X-Alexa Sparby[4]; 4. 15-Caylyn Binkley[1]; 5. 59F-Lilian Farrington[5]; 6. 25-Billy Binkley[7]; 7. (DNF) 56E-Stephen Erickson[6]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1: 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche[1]; 2. 26N-Nikota Larson[4]; 3. 25K-McKenna Folstad[10]; 4. 13-Russell Kiker Jr[8]; 5. 31-Zeb Graves[6]; 6. 10Z-Cade Johnson[2]; 7. IV188-Ian Vanvickle[13]; 8. 10A-Riley Ament[5]; 9. 10-Easton Pfeiffer[11]; 10. 92S-Zachary Sims[20]; 11. 4-Brian Barker[16]; 12. 13K-Anastashia Chavez[18]; 13. (DNF) 27-Brady Fosso[12]; 14. (DNF) 16-Joey Tracy[15]; 15. (DNF) 11-Tucker Smith[17]; 16. (DNF) 81R-Ryker Larson[9]; 17. (DNF) 40R-Bonnie McLynn[3]; 18. (DNF) 47J-Tristen McLynn[19]; 19. (DNF) 83-Zachary Rusich[14]; 20. (DQ) 79JR-Mikayla LaBarge[7]

Heat 1: 1. 31-Zeb Graves[1]; 2. 26N-Nikota Larson[3]; 3. 79JR-Mikayla LaBarge[2]; 4. 25K-McKenna Folstad[4]; 5. IV188-Ian Vanvickle[6]; 6. 4-Brian Barker[5]; 7. 13K-Anastashia Chavez[7]

Heat 2: 1. 13-Russell Kiker Jr[2]; 2. 10A-Riley Ament[4]; 3. 40R-Bonnie McLynn[5]; 4. 10-Easton Pfeiffer[1]; 5. 83-Zachary Rusich[3]; 6. (DNS) 47J-Tristen McLynn; 7. (DNS) 92S-Zachary Sims

Heat 3: 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche[5]; 2. 81R-Ryker Larson[4]; 3. 10Z-Cade Johnson[1]; 4. 27-Brady Fosso[3]; 5. 16-Joey Tracy[6]; 6. 11-Tucker Smith[2]

Northern Renegades:

A Feature 1: 1. 101-Paul Schultz[5]; 2. 67-Chad Wulff[2]; 3. 51E-Peyton Emerson[13]; 4. 24-Terry Lillo[9]; 5. 46-KC Hawkinson[3]; 6. 17B-Erik Bjorklund[4]; 7. 5J-Chris Lewis[7]; 8. 10-Doug Taubert[6]; 9. 92-Danny Wait Jr[11]; 10. 17-Mariah LaPatka[10]; 11. 56-Emma Braford[12]; 12. 29-Chris Sirucek[14]; 13. 2-Teal Arnason[1]; 14. 11-Josh Braford[16]; 15. Z15-Zach Olson[8]; 16. 22-Tyler Hamilton[15]

Heat 1: 1. 17B-Erik Bjorklund[1]; 2. 10-Doug Taubert[2]; 3. 46-KC Hawkinson[6]; 4. 2-Teal Arnason[3]; 5. 24-Terry Lillo[4]; 6. 92-Danny Wait Jr[5]; 7. 51E-Peyton Emerson[7]; 8. (DNS) 11-Josh Braford

Heat 2: 1. 5J-Chris Lewis[1]; 2. 101-Paul Schultz[3]; 3. Z15-Zach Olson[5]; 4. 67-Chad Wulff[4]; 5. 17-Mariah LaPatka[7]; 6. 56-Emma Braford[8]; 7. 29-Chris Sirucek[6]; 8. 22-Tyler Hamilton[2]

Mini Stocks:

A Feature 1: 1. 9-Waylon Current[1]; 2. 50-Nick McCann[2]; 3. 6-Conrad Schwinn[3]; 4. 18-Ashton Schwinn[4]

Heat 1: 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[1]; 2. 9-Waylon Current[3]; 3. 50-Nick McCann[2]; 4. 18-Ashton Schwinn[4]