Following a successful opening night at the Elko
Speedway Spring Dirt Nationals on April 20, the recent
adverse weather has wreaked havoc with the early season
Upper Midwest Sprintcar Series (UMSS) winged sprint car
division schedule. With the April 21 Elko Speedway
show falling victim to rain and two straight Saturday
night attempts at the Cedar Lake Speedway unable to run
due to the wet weather, the UMSS was looking forward to
kicking off the St. Croix Valley Raceway season on
Friday May 11.
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Shryock nets 177th victory in USMTS debut at West Plains
WEST PLAINS, Mo. (May 5) – With 176 career wins, there’s
not many race tracks on the United States Modified
Touring Series schedule that Kelly Shryock hasn’t won
at.
One of those tracks was the West Plains Motor Speedway
where the USMTS Modifieds paid their first visit in the
series’ 14-year history Saturday night, and now the
nine-time USMTS National Champion can add the legendary
3/8-mile red clay oval to his résumé.
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USMTS Casey’s Cup Series rocks
all-new
Granite City Speedway
June 14
SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. (April 6) – The Granite City Speedway
has a new name, new owner and new management team ...
and the United States Modified Touring Series will
deliver it's brand of unmatched racing excitement to a
new track this season.
The 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval in Sauk Rapids, Minn., was purchased during the off-season by
GRC Properties, LLC of St. Cloud, and has made many
improvements to the former Golden Spike Speedway
including remodeled VIP suites and a new restaurant area
for fans.
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Hall of Fame Inductee passed
away
Junior Thaemlitz, Lakefield, MN
passed away April 3, 2012. He was 84.
Junior raced stock cars in his
younger years in New York, Ontario, Jackson, Fairmont
and at Spencer. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in
Central New York, and in 2009 into the Jackson Speedway
Hall of Fame. Junior collected model stock cars in his
later years surrounding himself with them and showing
them off to his visitors.
Junior's funeral was April 7, 2012.
Sioux Speedway to celebrate 40th
Anniversary in 2012
SIOUX CENTER,
IA
Sioux Speedway is looking forward to another great year in 2012. 2012
marks the 40th Anniversary of the first racing season at Sioux Speedway.
Starting as a figure 8 track built by the Sioux Center Jaycees in 1972,
the track became a small oval in 1973 and ran through the mid-1970s.
Other than enduro races, no auto racing events were held again until the
1998 Sioux County Youth Fair on the half-mile speedway. Sid Mosher -
Sioux City, IA
(Chargers/Hobby Stocks); Darrin Korthals - Rock Rapids, IA (Street
Stocks); & Wayne Brooks - Bald Knob, AR (Modifieds) became the first
“new era” winners in front of a capacity crowd during that event.
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Drivers plans for 2012
Once the final checkered flag
dropped at the end of the 2011 racing season, drivers,
owners and crews started looking ahead to 2012.
Here the plans of some of the local
drivers. Drivers are encouraged to email Pilot Raceway
News with their plans for the upcoming season.
CLICK
HERE TO PARTICIPATE.
Steve Mejia, Fulda, Minnesota, Hobby Stock
Mejia racing will be
alive once again in the Hobby stock class after a 3
year lay-off. Number is still being discussed but
Derrick Hotovek and Steve Mejia will be switching off
driving the car at the Nobles county speedway. To back
racing was a tough decision but after a lot of talking
to the family it was decided that this would be a family
adventure and family fun. We hope to see everyone at the
race track.
Derrik Lusk,
Jackson, Minnesota, #93 305 Winged Sprint
Derrik
will be entering his first full season behind the wheel
of the #93 305 sprint. He ran a hand full of races in
2011 to get his feet wet and will be looking at running
weekly at Jackson and making some appearances with the
Midwest 305’s, and even making a trip or two to
Knoxville in the 305 class.
Blaney Markman,
Jackson, Minnesota, #77z IMCA Sport Compact
After finishing 4th in
the IMCA Sport Compact division in her rookie season,
2012 will mark her 11th season of racing. The
soon to be 15 year old will again drive the Markman
Motorsports, Heser Auto, Sasker Auto Glass, Classic
Hair, C.A.U.G., Bretzman Farms, United Prairie Bank,
Embroidery Touch, Perkins Appliance/Hilltop Video, Karls
Carquest, Sonic Drive Inn of Austin, Texas, Dave’s Lawn
Care #77z and looks to race at Jackson, Redwood Falls
and maybe some at Slayton and Fairmont.
Chukuske Racing,
Sherburn,MN, #7C & #7N IMCA SportMods
Ben Chukuske will once again be in the #7C sportmod
after a rookie season in 2011 which seen him have some
success. Ben won the Rookie of the Year award at
Fairmont Raceway, finished top 10 in National Rookie of
the Year points, and also won a few heat races.
Ben's younger brother, Nathan, will be in the #7N
sportmod for the first time after spending his first
season (2011) racing a hornet and winning Fairmont
Raceway's Jr. Hornet Track Championship. Ben and
Nathan plan to race Fairmont
and Jackson weekly, with the
possibility of traveling to a couple other tracks
throughout the season. They would like to thank
their sponsors, Curtis Urban Trucking, Stockmen's
Supply, Bill Chukuske Insurance, Shari Marie
Photography, and David Maday Farms for their support and
making everything possible.
Justin Nehring, Storm Lake,
Iowa,
#20N IMCA Hobby Stock
After winning our very FIRST IMCA
Track Championship at the Jackson Speedway in Jackson
MN, we plan on returing there to defend our title, and
run Alta full time. We will also make some specials here
and there at Denison, and Spencer, and
maybe some other area tracks.. We would like to thank
all our sponsors and fans, as if it
wasnt for them we
couldnt do any of this. We look forward to seeing all of
you at the local track in 2012
Greg
Sidles,
Emmetsburg,Ia, # 1 I.M.C.A. Sport Mod
After
winning the point championships at the Fairmont
Raceway,the Clay County Fairgrounds Speedway,finishing
tenth in I.M.C.A. national points and also making both
the A feature and the race of champions at the Supernationals
in Boone in 2011, Sidles Racing plans on running various
tracks in 2012. We aren't really going to do any points
racing, we want to travel and race different tracks in
the area. Sidles Racing does plan on running many
specials in the area including the Britt Sport Mod
Nationals, the Harris Clash in
Knoxville, and the Supernationals at Boone
in September. The area tracks we plan on running include
Fairmont, Redwood, Slayton, Algona, Britt, Arlington, Alta, Spencer and Webster City.
Sidles Racing wants to thank all of our sponsors and
loyal supporters in the area. We hope to see you at the
track soon.
Jeff Luhmann,
Jackson, Minnesota, #GF2, IMCA Stock Car
Luhmann will strap himself into an
IMCA stock car this season after being out of racing
since the 2006 season. This will be his first year in a
stock car after racing hobby stocks and 305
winged sprints for eight years. He will be driving a
terminator car he purchased from Trent Schroeder.
Luhmann will call Jackson Speedway his home track.
Roger Verdoorn,
Sibley, Iowa, #04, USRA/IMCA Stock Car
We will be returning to Rapid
Speedway in 2012 to defend our 2011 USRA Stock Car track
championship. We will also be at special events at Sioux
Center, Spencer, Jackson, and other area tracks. Check
out our website at
www.verdoornracing.com and
like us on FaceBook. Verdoorn will be driving a 2011
Medieval car and will call Rapid Speedway in Rock
Rapids, Iowa, his home track. We’d like to thank our
sponsors for their support: Jackrabbit Junction and
Cenex of Sibley, Woelber Construction, Bousema Farms,
Hull Pharmacy, Sioux County Index-Reporter, Lyon County
Reporter, Dyke’s Auto Salvage, Arnold Motor Supply of
Worthington, 3D Installers and MJ’s Concrete.
Casey Heser,
Jackson, Minnesota, #75c, 360 Winged Sprint
The 2010 Jackson Speedway track
champion and runner-up in 2011 will enter his 7th
season of racing sprint cars. Driving his Schnee
sprinter, he will call Jackson Speedway his home but
also plans on running the JSTS schedule, the Jackson
Speedway specials, the Knoxville 360 Nationals and wants
to get to the Devils Bowl in Dallas, Texas, in March.
Check out his website at
www.caseyheser.com.
Murray
County
sets eight IMCA Modified race dates
SLAYTON,
Minn. (Dec.
19) – Eight Friday dates for IMCA Modifieds have been
announced for next season at Murray County Speedway.
Point
races for the sanctioned division at Slayton in 2012
will be opening night May 25, June 15, June 29, July 13,
July 27, Aug. 3, Aug. 17 and Aug. 24. The date of a
$1,000 to win Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot
qualifying event is to be determined.
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