8-6 Page 27 | ATD Racing News

Zanter and LaBelle lock up their first feature wins to highlight Sunday night at Bemidji Speedway

By Dennis Peterson

BEMIDJI, MN (August 4) - A highlight each summer at Bemidji Speedway is honoring the legendary racers of the past. Sunday night at Bemidji Speedway they did just that inducting eight new members to the Bemidji Speedway Hall of Fame.

Jim and Ila Corcoran, Gary Nelson, Andy Efta, Mark Higginbotham, Lynn Lucken, Bill Puschinsky, Greg Caspers and John Seitz were added to the Hall of Fame.

It was also “Great River Rescue Night” with a dog kissing booth and $2 off admission to those providing a pet item donation. All donations were matched by the speedway.

An even 100 cars filled the pits with many of the top drivers nationally in attendance. WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Devin Fouquette, Cameron Labelle, Hunter Weeks, Dean Larson, Nate Zanter, and Russell Kiker, Jr.

A massive WISSOTA Pure Stock field produced 21 cars on track, led to green by Shannon George and Caylyn Binkley in row one. George surged into the top spot early, with Alex Berg, Nate Zanter, Binkley and Dustin Puffe trailing. The first of many cautions waved when Jimmy Rich, Jr. went over the top of turns three and four.

On the restart, Zanter powered up along the inside back straight into second, while Puffe raced around Binkley for fourth.

Following several more cautions and restarts the race was green, as a three-wide battle among Binkley, Josh Berg, and Justin Barsness for top-five spots had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Zanter charged ahead during the single-file restart, passing George for the lead on the white flag lap. Zanter picked up his first-ever feature win, while George, Puffe, Berg, and Deryk Weleski finished in the top five.

Twelve entries in the WISSOTA Hornet class entered the track, led by Ryker Larson on the pole and Megan Vernlund outside. Vernlund took command with Larson, Josh Backstrom, Russell Kiker, Jr., and Mateja Dreyer trailing. Vernlund ran away from the field, looking very much like she was headed for the victory, but late in the race her Hornet slowed into the infield. Kiker, Jr. inherited the lead and drove on to the win in a flag-to-flag race. Bobie Arnes, Ryker Larson, Jayme Gordon, Chad Reller made up the top five.

A blistering-fast WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature was led to the green flag by Hunter Weeks racing high on the track. Matthew Cunha, Gary James Nelson, Mike Blevins, Sr. and Skyler Smith trailed the leader.

Cunha, Blevins and Nelson raced under a blanket for second as Weeks held off the challenges behind him. Nelson moved down low and into second place on the back straight. The field raced high and low on the fast track. Cole Chernosky worked his way up into the top five from his eighth starting spot with the white flag waving. Weeks crossed the finish line for his second feature win of the season. Nelson, Cunha, Chernosky, and Blevins completed the top five.

A dozen WISSOTA Modifieds entered the track led by Alan Olafson on the pole with Josh Beaulieu to his outside. Beaulieu surged to the lead ahead of Olafson, Devin Fouquette, Ricky Jacobson and Jeff Reed in the top five. Reed raced low in turn two into third. Fouquette raced inside, while Jacobson was on top in a tight duel, as Beaulieu raced out to a five-car length lead over the field. The caution flag waved when four Modifieds converged in turn one in a tangle, with Jacobson sent tailback for the restart.

Beaulieu led the restart, with Olafson, Reed, Fouquette and Lance Schilling in a war for the lead coming out of turn four. The restart was a mess and the caution again waved, with Beaulieu sent tailback as a result.

The race was finally green once again and this time Fouquette took to the high side to move into the lead, with national point leader Kevin Adams flying high into second. Fouquette powered out to a large lead late in the race and held on for the win. Adams, Reed, Chernosky and Olafson trailed in the top five.

Once again nationally ranked drivers were on track in the WISSOTA Mod Fours, led by point leader Dean Larson on the outside of row one with Kevin Bahr to his inside. Larson surged to the lead with Bahr, Blake Erickson, Conrad Schwinn and second-place in national points Tommy Bawden in fifth. Bawden was quick on the gas moving up on the high side into third. Following a caution for debris on the track, Bawden raced up side by side for the lead with Larson in a tight duel of two excellent racers. Veteran racer Larson held off the challenge to secure the victory, ahead of Bawden, Erickson, Schwinn, and Casey Traxler in the top five.

The WISSOTA Super Stocks feature was led to green by Faye Lewis and Ellen Lange. Second-row starter Cam Labelle charged up to take the lead with Brandon Bahr, Lange, national point leader Dexton Koch, and Dalton Carlson in the top five. Labelle was flying far ahead of the pack before the caution flag fell and sent Simon Hachez to the back.

Labelle held his lead on the restart with Koch right behind him. Bahr and Koch dueled side by side for second, but both were chasing Labelle looking very confident ahead of them. Another caution waved for a crash on the front straight that had Ron Reed and Faye Lewis spinning up against the wall.

Once again Labelle held his line and the lead, and fought off the challenges of Koch to win his first feature in the Super Stocks. Koch, Carlson, Jack Koranda, and Bahr filled the top-five spots.

In the Mini Stocks, Conrad Schwinn cruised to his third victory on the season with Ashton Schwinn, Hayden Engen, Cameron Schwinn and Rowan Tramm in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 515-Devin Fouquette[5]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams[7]; 3. 2R-Jeff Reed[4]; 4. 33C-Cole Chernosky[8]; 5. 77-Alan Olafson[1]; 6. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[2]; 7. 32C-Curtis Stieh[10]; 8. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[9]; 9. 4A-Dawson Allen[11]; 10. (DNF) 43-Lance Schilling[6]; 11. (DNF) 7J-Rick Jacobson[3]; 12. (DNS) 5JF-Jonathen Feda

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[2]; 2. 2R-Jeff Reed[1]; 3. 515-Devin Fouquette[3]; 4. 77-Alan Olafson[4]; 5. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[6]; 6. 4A-Dawson Allen[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7J-Rick Jacobson[1]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 3. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[6]; 4. 43-Lance Schilling[2]; 5. 32C-Curtis Stieh[5]; 6. (DNF) 5JF-Jonathen Feda[4]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 27C-Cameron Labelle[3]; 2. 78K-Dexton Koch[8]; 3. 57-Dalton Carlson[5]; 4. 22-Jack Koranda[7]; 5. 29X-Brandon Bahr[4]; 6. 67-Ryan Satter[6]; 7. 40-Ellen Lange[2]; 8. T26-Nic Lewis[10]; 9. 15G-Andrew Groom[9]; 10. 11-Riley Groshong[13]; 11. 13-Simon Hachez[11]; 12. (DNF) 81X-Matt Sparby[16]; 13. (DNF) 17-Faye Lewis[1]; 14. (DNF) 65-Ron Reed[12]; 15. (DNS) 26M-Garrett Masurka; 16. (DNS) 44-Maxwell Dondelinger

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[2]; 2. 22-Jack Koranda[1]; 3. 17-Faye Lewis[4]; 4. 15G-Andrew Groom[3]; 5. (DNF) 26M-Garrett Masurka[5]; 6. (DNF) 81X-Matt Sparby[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 29X-Brandon Bahr[4]; 2. 27C-Cameron Labelle[1]; 3. 67-Ryan Satter[3]; 4. T26-Nic Lewis[5]; 5. 13-Simon Hachez[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Dalton Carlson[3]; 2. 40-Ellen Lange[2]; 3. (DNF) 65-Ron Reed[4]; 4. (DNF) 11-Riley Groshong[5]; 5. (DNF) 44-Maxwell Dondelinger[1]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9W-Hunter Weeks[3]; 2. 74-Gary James Nelson[4]; 3. 10X-Matthew Cunha[1]; 4. 33C-Cole Chernosky[8]; 5. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[5]; 6. 16-Skyler Smith[7]; 7. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[2]; 8. 99-Doyle Erickson[6]; 9. 15-Landon Gross[13]; 10. 115-Kalin Honer[11]; 11. 7J-Tony Jacobson[9]; 12. 03-Jami Oshust[12]; 13. (DNF) 6K-Noah Bitz[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[2]; 2. 10X-Matthew Cunha[6]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 4. 74-Gary James Nelson[5]; 5. 7J-Tony Jacobson[1]; 6. 115-Kalin Honer[3]; 7. 03-Jami Oshust[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9W-Hunter Weeks[2]; 2. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[3]; 3. 16-Skyler Smith[5]; 4. 99-Doyle Erickson[6]; 5. 6K-Noah Bitz[1]; 6. (DNF) 15-Landon Gross[4]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 37-Dean Larson[2]; 2. TB81-Tommy Bawden[8]; 3. 99-Blake Erickson[6]; 4. 6-Conrad Schwinn[3]; 5. 13-Casey Traxler[7]; 6. 29-Kevin Bahr[1]; 7. 18-Ashton Schwinn[5]; 8. 14T-Rowan Tramm[4]; 9. 995-Brooke Erickson[10]; 10. (DNF) 29J-Jayden Bahr[13]; 11. (DNS) 77-Brooklyn Vernlund; 12. (DNS) 7L-Tyler Larson; 13. (DQ) 92-Nick Seitz[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. TB81-Tommy Bawden[6]; 2. 14T-Rowan Tramm[2]; 3. 18-Ashton Schwinn[1]; 4. 13-Casey Traxler[3]; 5. 92-Nick Seitz[5]; 6. 77-Brooklyn Vernlund[4]; 7. 29J-Jayden Bahr[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Dean Larson[6]; 2. 6-Conrad Schwinn[2]; 3. 99-Blake Erickson[5]; 4. 29-Kevin Bahr[4]; 5. 995-Brooke Erickson[3]; 6. (DNF) 7L-Tyler Larson[1]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 38-Nate Zanter[4]; 2. 87-Shannon George[1]; 3. 21X-Dustin Puffe[8]; 4. 35B-Josh Berg[12]; 5. 39-Deryk Weleski[11]; 6. 15-Caylyn Binkley[2]; 7. 25-Billy Binkley[14]; 8. 88B-Brandon Puschinsky[19]; 9. 59F-Lilian Farrington[15]; 10. 22E-Ethan Elhardt[6]; 11. X81-Alexa Sparby[13]; 12. 8-Karen Puschinsky[16]; 13. 55-Jimmy Rich Jr[18]; 14. 54S-Collin Sander[17]; 15. 88-Cale Puschinksy[20]; 16. 47-Terry Hill[21]; 17. (DNF) 47J-Justin Barsness[5]; 18. (DNF) 57-Austin Carlson[7]; 19. (DNF) 18B-Alex Berg[3]; 20. (DNF) 21-Mason Smith[10]; 21. (DNF) 3-Kade Leeper[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Caylyn Binkley[6]; 2. 87-Shannon George[5]; 3. 18B-Alex Berg[2]; 4. 21-Mason Smith[7]; 5. X81-Alexa Sparby[4]; 6. 8-Karen Puschinsky[1]; 7. 88B-Brandon Puschinsky[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Austin Carlson[1]; 2. 47J-Justin Barsness[2]; 3. 38-Nate Zanter[3]; 4. 39-Deryk Weleski[6]; 5. 25-Billy Binkley[5]; 6. 54S-Collin Sander[4]; 7. 88-Cale Puschinksy[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22E-Ethan Elhardt[2]; 2. 21X-Dustin Puffe[1]; 3. 3-Kade Leeper[4]; 4. 35B-Josh Berg[6]; 5. 59F-Lilian Farrington[5]; 6. 55-Jimmy Rich Jr[7]; 7. 47-Terry Hill[3]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 13K-Russell Kiker Jr[6]; 2. 94-Bobie Arnes[5]; 3. 81R-Ryker Larson[1]; 4. 7G-Jayme Gordon[9]; 5. 28-Chad Reller[7]; 6. 72-Aiden Kessler[8]; 7. 29-Michael Johnson[12]; 8. 40-William Lange[11]; 9. 19-Josh Backstrom[4]; 10. (DNF) 77-Megan Vernlund[2]; 11. (DNF) 7M-Mateja Dreyer[3]; 12. (DNS) 10Z-Cade Johnson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13K-Russell Kiker Jr[3]; 2. 81R-Ryker Larson[1]; 3. 94-Bobie Arnes[5]; 4. 7M-Mateja Dreyer[2]; 5. 72-Aiden Kessler[4]; 6. 29-Michael Johnson[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Megan Vernlund[1]; 2. 19-Josh Backstrom[4]; 3. 28-Chad Reller[3]; 4. 40-William Lange[6]; 5. (DNF) 7G-Jayme Gordon[2]; 6. (DNF) 10Z-Cade Johnson[5]

Mini Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[5]; 2. 18-Ashton Schwinn[7]; 3. 77-Hayden Engen[6]; 4. 94-Cameron Schwinn[3]; 5. 14T-Rowan Tramm[11]; 6. 50-Nick McCann[8]; 7. 11C-Cody Bush[4]; 8. 5-Brandon Hunter[10]; 9. 117-Zack Honer[1]; 10. 26-Brooke McCann[2]; 11. 22-Tania Denny[9]; 12. (DNF) 22H-Justin Honer[12]; 13. (DNF) 3H-Kaylie Winge[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Nick McCann[6]; 2. 94-Cameron Schwinn[5]; 3. 117-Zack Honer[1]; 4. 26-Brooke McCann[7]; 5. 22-Tania Denny[3]; 6. (DNF) 22H-Justin Honer[2]; 7. (DNF) 3H-Kaylie Winge[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Conrad Schwinn[4]; 2. 77-Hayden Engen[1]; 3. 18-Ashton Schwinn[6]; 4. 11C-Cody Bush[3]; 5. 5-Brandon Hunter[5]; 6. 14T-Rowan Tramm[2]