I made it back to Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon for the track’s 45th anniversary night. A solid 77 cars were in attendance in the six classes, and the nearly full grandstand was treated to some of the best racing of the summer with a pair of photo finishes at the quarter-mile oval.
Two Wissota national point leaders were in attendance – Lance Schill of Langdon in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds and Justin Vogel of Brooten, Minn., in the Wissota Street Stocks. Schill might be the most traveled Midwest modified this season aside from Dan Wheeler and Scott Bintz; Sheyenne was his eighth track he has competed at this season. Vogel was coming off of a huge win at the Richard Jordan Memorial at Southwest Speedway in Dickinson on Saturday which paid him $3,065.
It was nice to see the pure stock and Wissota Street numbers bounce back after being down the last time at Sheyenne. There were 16 pures and 17 streets (one did not start the feature). The IMCA Mod count was solid at 14.
This was a really good night at Sheyenne — good car counts, good crowd, and a nice racing surface come feature time. A credit to race director Hunter Carter, who has worked tirelessly to improve the track and make it more racy. Feature-time there were two grooves which led to a lot of side-by-side feature racing.
We will start with the streets as that race had action all over the place.. They put on a heck of a show as they normally do at Sheyenne. Bob Banish Jr. of Milnor, who won at Devils Lake on Saturday, grabbed the lead, but Jonny Carter of Lisbon was in hot pursuit using the high line. Jamestown driver Kyle Anderson settled into third. Meanwhile, there was some intense racing for the fourth spot with Kasey Ussatis of Nome, Eric Riley of Morris, Minn., Royce Jawaski of Adrian among the cars in that tight pack of cars.
Carter eventually took the lead but Banish put all kinds of pressure on him using the low line. It was a thrilling finish as Carter nipped Banish at the line by .150 seconds for his fifth win at Sheyenne this summer. Anderson ran a solid third, with Ussatis holding on for fourth. A shoutout to 68-year-old Jerry Lamb of Lisbon; he started 13th on the field and did a nice job, climbing to fifth at the finish line ahead of Jawaski.
It was good to see Riley in town. He might be the most improved driver in the Wissota street division, and ran in the top five much of the race before settling for seventh. Vogel started 14th but worked his way to eighth in his first trip to the track.
The IMCA Modifieds, making their second trip of the season to Sheyenne, were not about to be outdone. John Nord of Enderlin led early but was soon overtaken by IMCA mod rookie Jesse Skalicky of Fargo.
Skalicky was fast on the high side built a nice lead but the car on the move was Dave Shipley of Argusville. He started ninth and using an effective low line steadily moved through the field and took over second, and he started closing the gap on Skalicky. As the laps wound down Shipley got closer and closer and eventually got beside Skalicky as the two ran side-by-side by the final few laps. The fans were at the edge of their seats as the two raced to the line, where Shipley won a thriller by just .049 seconds in a true photo finish. Nord had a nice run to finish third, followed by Randy Klein of Lisbon and Tyler Peterson of HIckson.
Speaking of Peterson, he looked solid again and capped off a very busy week. He was third at Norman County Raceway in Ada on Thursday, sixth at I-94 on Friday (Wissota mods), 10th at the USMTS race Saturday at Devils Lake, and had another top five finish. Peterson and Skalicky are two young drivers who look awfully good in the A mods right now with great futures ahead.
The Pure Stock feature saw some very good, hard fender-to-fender racing. The race turned into a tense three-car battle between Clay Gentzkow of Lamoure, who is unbeaten at Sheyenne this season, Bo Gregor of Lisbon and Jayden Michaelsohn of Aberdeen. Gregor was making his season debut. Gentzkow took the lead from Jordan Sours but soon was pressured on the outside by Michaelsohn. After a caution, it was Gregor who put the heat on Gentzkow using the lower line. Some paint was traded among the leaders, and Michaelson appeared to be taking the lead but Gentzkow fought back and recorded the thrilling win, his fifth of the year at Sheyenne. Michaelsohn settled for second and Gregor third.
Usually, when Brian Bernotas of Colfax jumps into the lead in the Wissota Super Stocks at Lisbon the race is pretty much over. That wasn’t the case on Sunday as John Miller of Enderlin found speed on the high line and cut the lead down to a couple of car lengths when the caution came out. Bernotas made the adjustment after the restart and moved to the higher line and went on to take the win. Miller ran second, followed by Shawn Schabel of Aberdeen.
Zach Muralt of Gwinner is rolling along in the Mini Stocks at Sheyenne. He started eighth and picked up the win, which is his fourth in five starts this summer. Neil Walton was second, followed by Kelby Anderson, Cole Bogart and Matt Bogart. A solid 13-car field signed in to compete in the Mini Stocks. On July 15 there is a Mini Stock special at Sheyenne, and stay tuned for some updates on what could be a very nice purse.
Veteran Royce Jawaski of Adrian took the early lead in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds. The race turned into a five-car breakaway for several laps including Randy Klein of Lisbon, Nate Reinke of Lisbon, Zach Reinke of Lisbon and Lance Schill. Eventually it turned into a three-car battle between Jawaski, Klein and Nate Reinke. Klein threw everything but the kitchen sink at Jawaski and pulled beside him several times in a heck of a battle. Jawaski survived the challenge for a thrilling win with Klein second, Zach Reinke third, Nate Reinke fourth and Schill, making his first appearance at the track this season, taking fifth.
by Tom Berg (Chasing Racing)