Wagner Secures First Track Championship at Norman County Raceway

ADA, Minn. (August 24, 2017) – Norman County Raceway closed its 2017 season on Thursday as KRJB 106.5FM presented championship night at the three-eighths mile dirt oval.

Joseph Thomas led all 20 laps of the Christian Motors WISSOTA Midwest Modified main event to record his first ever win. Thomas took the lead over polesitter, Noah Metzger, on the opening lap as Lucas Rodin followed him into second.

At the halfway point, fifth place starter Brock Gronwold challenged Rodin for the second spot, but Rodin was able to fend off the challenge. Rodin set his sights on Thomas once again for the lead, but Thomas drove a nice, smooth line.

Thomas went on to hold off Rodin by 1.3 seconds at the checkers to score a popular win among the fans. Dylan Goplen stole the third spot from Gronwold on the final lap, while Aaron Blacklance rounded out the top five.

Goplen was crowned the 2017 track champion.

Brady Petermann scored his first career Sanders Metal Products IMCA Modified feature win. Just like Thomas, Petermann led every lap during his feature from his front row starting position. Cale Arneson drove by Michael Johnson into second on lap two, but was never able to muster a serious challenge on Petermann.

Petermann took the win by just under a half second over Arneson. As Petermann pulled into KRJB Victory Lane, his right rear tire was completely shredded from the uncharacteristically abrasive racing surface.

Tyler Hall secured the Modified track championship by just one point over Tyler Peterson. Hall finished in the top 10 in 13 of the 14 events, the most of any other driver.

Jesse Skalicky scored his sixth win of the season in the Titan Machinery IMCA SportMods, but it was Ada’s own Andy Wagner, who claimed the track championship. Entering the night, Wagner just had to finish fourth or better to claim the championship, no matter how Skalicky, who was second in points, fared.

Skalicky led all 15 laps to take the win, while Wagner battled his way forward from the sixth starting position. Wagner raced his way up to second, which clinched the title for him by a mere three points. The championship was Wagner’s first at his hometrack.

Tim Church capped off a dominating season a NCR with another Christian Brothers Ford IMCA Hobby Stock feature win and the 2017 track championship. Church took the lead at the halfway point before cruising to the win. He was followed to the line by Brandon Schmidt, Tim Shiek, Nick Nelson, Alyssa White and Kalvin Kesselberg.

It may have taken the whole season, but Rich Schulz finally got a feature win at NCR in the Norman County Implement IMCA Stock Cars. Schulz led every lap of the feature, but it was a hard fought win to the end. A caution with two laps to go put Aaron Olson and Rob VanMil right on Schulz’s rear bumper.

However, VanMil and Olson got caught in a battle for second on the restart, which allowed Schulz to pull away and take the win and become just the third different Stock Car winner at NCR this season. Olson took the track championship behind his 11 wins this season.

Fifteen-year-old Tim Estenson claimed the Seedex INEX Legends track championship with a dominating feature win. Estenson held off fellow teenage driver, Tye Wilke, en route to his sixth win of the season at NCR and 19th overall.

2018 will mark the 100th anniversary of racing at the Norman County Fairgrounds. A lot of new, exciting things are in the works to mark the historical anniversary. Stay tuned to ncraceway.com for all the details this offseason.

RESULTS:

IMCA Modifieds:

A Feature 1: 1. 88B-Brady Petermann, [1]; 2. 99-Cale Arneson, [4]; 3. 84-Michael Johnson, [3]; 4. 25-Jamie Trautner, [2]; 5. 19-Lucas Rodin, [5]; 6. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [8]; 7. 7-Dale Kraling, [10]; 8. 60-Tyler Hall, [9]; 9. 96A-Alex Engelstad, [7]; 10. 99B-Bryce Borgen, [6]; 11. 60X-Patrick Brejcha, [12]; 12. (DNF) K9-Tom Cummings, [11]

Heat 1: 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [5]; 2. 7-Dale Kraling, [6]; 3. 99B-Bryce Borgen, [4]; 4. 99-Cale Arneson, [3]; 5. 25-Jamie Trautner, [2]; 6. K9-Tom Cummings, [1]

Heat 2: 1. 84-Michael Johnson, [2]; 2. 19-Lucas Rodin, [3]; 3. 88B-Brady Petermann, [1]; 4. 96A-Alex Engelstad, [4]; 5. 60-Tyler Hall, [5]; 6. 60X-Patrick Brejcha, [6]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:

A Feature 1: 1. 7T-Joseph Thomas, [2]; 2. 19-Lucas Rodin, [4]; 3. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [7]; 4. 2G-Brock Gronwold, [5]; 5. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [8]; 6. 2S-Matt Schow, [6]; 7. 169-Justin Olson, [3]; 8. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [10]; 9. 19D-Noah Metzger, [1]; 10. 11*-Larry Samuelson, [9]; 11. 22S-Tyler Schow, [11]; 12. 27B-Wyatt Bertram, [12]

Heat 1: 1. 19-Lucas Rodin, [3]; 2. 169-Justin Olson, [1]; 3. 7T-Joseph Thomas, [6]; 4. 19D-Noah Metzger, [2]; 5. 11*-Larry Samuelson, [4]; 6. 22S-Tyler Schow, [5]

Heat 2: 1. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [1]; 2. 2G-Brock Gronwold, [3]; 3. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [4]; 4. 2S-Matt Schow, [5]; 5. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [2]; 6. 27B-Wyatt Bertram, [6]

IMCA Hobby Stocks

A Feature 1: 1. 21-Tim Church, [5]; 2. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [3]; 3. 31X-Tim Shiek, [4]; 4. 37N-Nick Nelson, [2]; 5. (DNF) 14-Alyssa White, [6]; 6. (DNF) 069-Kalvin Kesselberg, [1]

Heat 1: 1. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [4]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek, [5]; 3. 21-Tim Church, [6]; 4. 37N-Nick Nelson, [3]; 5. 069-Kalvin Kesselberg, [1]; 6. 14-Alyssa White, [2]

IMCA SportMods

A Feature 1: 1. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [4]; 2. 3X-Andy Wagner, [6]; 3. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [5]; 4. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [3]; 5. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [9]; 6. 29-Greg Schilling, [8]; 7. 76-Reile Sailer, [2]; 8. (DNF) 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [7]; 9. (DNF) 13C-Paul Colvin, [1]

Heat 1: 1. 13C-Paul Colvin, [2]; 2. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [6]; 3. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [8]; 4. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [9]; 5. 76-Reile Sailer, [5]; 6. 3X-Andy Wagner, [7]; 7. 29-Greg Schilling, [1]; 8. 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [3]; 9. (DNF) 22-Vince Jegtvig, [4]

INEX Legends:

A Feature 1: 1. 14T-Tim Estenson, [4]; 2. 72-Tye Wilke, [3]; 3. 5-Dean Julsrud, [5]; 4. 79-Scott Richardson, [1]; 5. H20-Darrell Buckingham, [6]; 6. 69-Brian Hanson, [7]; 7. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [2]; 8. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [8]; 9. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [9]

Heat 1: 1. 14T-Tim Estenson, [7]; 2. 72-Tye Wilke, [6]; 3. 79-Scott Richardson, [1]; 4. 5-Dean Julsrud, [9]; 5. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [2]; 6. H20-Darrell Buckingham, [8]; 7. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [3]; 8. 69-Brian Hanson, [5]; 9. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [4]

IMCA Stock Cars:

A Feature 1: 1. 4-Rick Schulz, [2]; 2. 14-Aaron Olson, [4]; 3. 40-Rob VanMil, [3]; 4. 87-Eric Harpole, [5]; 5. 76Z-John Sandvig, [1]; 6. 187-Eric Lundon, [6]

Heat 1: 1. 4-Rick Schulz, [2]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, [3]; 3. 14-Aaron Olson, [4]; 4. 76Z-John Sandvig, [1]; 5. 87-Eric Harpole, [5]; 6. 187-Eric Lundon, [6]