The Tapfan Tour decided to make a journey to the northwest to the Fairmont Raceway in Fairmont, Minnesota. I've been there a couple of times for special events, but this would mark the first time at a weekly event. I've read the message boards on the internet and noticed Fairmont seems to always have a great car count, so I wanted to see what it was like in person.
While driving down I-90 the clouds were starting to make me worry about deciding to venture all this way. Fortunately only a quick light shower would be all that dropped from the skies and the racing action would go on as scheduled. Promoter Joe Ringsdorf had the track in good condition, although it was plenty dry in case of weather. The surface appeared to be very smooth for the drivers and multiple lanes of racing would be used on this night.
Blair Schultz would take command of the junior hornets from start and lead every lap on his way to victory lane. Jay DeVries looked to have the hornet feature under control, but Nate Coopman made the winning pass as the field took the white flag. Coopman would go on to the win, or so it appeared. For the first time that I can remember, Cory Peters attempted to claim Coopman after the race. Apparently when there is a claim in the hornets, the person doing the claiming gets the ENTIRE CAR! Coopman would deny the claim and therefore forfeiting the feature win to Bentley Glaser.
Fourteen hobby stocks took the green flag for their twelve lap feature. Nate Manderfield grabbed the lead early on, but would quickly give way to Dustin Wannarka on the second lap. Manderfield would battle back and make a move to the inside of Wannarka, but pushed it a little hard as his car spun in turn four. A few laps later, Wannarka would experience the same as he spun out while leading by several car lengths. This handed the lead over to Brandon Mosloski, but he quickly received heavy pressure from Dustin Larson. Larson would snare the lead away in turn two and never look back on his way to the checkers. Mosloski was second, Chad Carlson had a good run to finish third, Wes Jahnz was fourth, and Ryan Black rounded out the top five.
The 360's (bmods) were up next as a great field of twenty-six cars started the feature. Travis DeBoer took the narrow lead on the first lap, but a huge pileup in turn three slowed the field down in a hurry. Eleven cars were involved in the wreck that may have been caused by the dust on the backstretch. Nonetheless, several cars suffered extensive damage and retired to their pits.
When the green flag came back out, Dan Hanselman took over the top spot, making the pass on the bottom side of the speedway. Josh Ruby was making a charge to the front as he took over third on lap four. By the time the crossed flags were shown to the drivers signaling the halfway point of the race, Jake Simpson had recovered nicely from the pileup and raced his way back to the top five. Simpson kept his momentum up by using the top side of the track, picking off cars at will, and made the pass on Hanselman with two laps to go. Hanselman moved up to try to track Simpson back down, but it wasn't enough and Simpson took home the top prize. Hanselman settled for second, Josh Ruby finished third, Troy Gochanour was fourth after starting fifteenth, and early leader Travis DeBoer finished fifth.
Sixteen IMCA stock cars were set to do battle next on the big half-mile speedplant. Brad Scheibel took the lead early on from the pole, but his luck ran out as he pulled into the pits while the race was under caution on lap three. Crew members looked under the hood, but the damage must have been done as a push truck assisted him to his trailer. Tom Suess inherited the lead from the point, but he quickly received pressure from last week's feature winner Ken Tietz and Jake Masters. The three raced three wide for a couple laps before Suess gained the advantage. Tietz and Suess swapped the lead for a couple laps, but Suess hammered his way back to the lead on the top side and would never look back as he took the checkered flags first. Ned Kalis made a few moves late in the race to finish in a strong second place, Jeffrey Larson battled his way up to third, Ken Tietz slipped back to fourth, and Jake Masters rounded out the top five.
A great field of IMCA modifieds were on hand tonight as twenty-two cars started the main event. Paul Burger, making only his second start of the season at the Fairmont Raceway, jumped out to the early lead from the outside front row. Pole sitter Travis Peterson wasn't about to let Burger race away from him as he challenged the leader on the bottom side. Burger would maintain a slight edge for the lead lap by lap as he worked the high side while Peterson's car was working great on the bottom side. Peterson's persistence paid off as he took the lead with just four laps remaining and went on to take the win. Jeff Ignaszewski and Paul Burger made contact on the front stretch with a few laps to go that resulted in "Iggy" suffering a flat tire. The contact also slowed Burger down as he lost several positions. Clint Hattlestad would get by to finish second, Troy Swearingen was third, Jason Cummins fourth, and Terry Hanning finished in fifth after starting dead last (22nd).
The night was filled with great racing action as the show was moved along in quick fashion. I believe the final checkers waved sometime around 9:45. Hard to beat that for a Friday night. It also allowed me a little extra time to stop and eat on the way before making the 3+ hour trip home. If you're in the Fairmont area on Friday nights, be sure to check out the races at the fast half-mile. Hot laps get under way at 7pm every Friday with racing to follow.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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