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Opening Night of the 2024 XR Northern Storm Series Kicked Off at Wagamon's Ogilvie Raceway Tuesday Evening after Monday's Rain Out

By: Tami Jo Kuehn and Chris Stepan

Ogilvie, MN (August 6) - The opening night of the 2024 XR Northern Storm for the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series powered by Momentum Truck Group, Freightliner, Western Star kicked off at the Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie, MN after the opening round was washed out at the Princeton Speedway on Monday night. Under near perfect weather conditions, the night of WISSOTA Dirt Track Race Action featured 127 drivers battling throughout the night but Tyler Peterson, Clayton Wagamon and David Swearingen went home victorious.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds kicked off the feature races with James Vendela and Jason VandeKamp on row one, and when the green waved, VandeKamp shot into the lead. As drivers began to battle for points, the first caution occurred. The drivers battled their way through a series of cautions with VandeKamp holding the lead followed by David Swearingen and Justin Bassa. After 10 laps were in the books, VandeKamp had established a solid lead and prepared to lap slower drivers as a final yellow was triggered. The race resumed with VandeKamp, Swearingen and Ashton Schulte three-wide and VandeKamp edged out the point. With just five laps to go though, Swearingen was within striking distance of VandeKamp. Swearingen dove low on the track and was door-to-door with the leader as the white flag waved high. Swearingen nosed ahead, and as the top drivers came down the front-chute, David Swearingen grabbed the win by 0.042 seconds. Jason VandeKamp finished in a close second with Ashton Schulte, Blake Adams and Zach Benson rounding out the top points.

42 Late Models checked in for the series opener with Kyle Peterlin setting the Hiller Auction Inc. Quick Qualifying lap with a time of 15.232 seconds around the banked oval.

Cory Crapser, Gunner Frank, Rick Niemi, Jake Redetzke and Billy Kendall won the five qualifying heat races to start the night, with Steve Laursen and defending series champion Pat Doar winning the twin b-mains to set the feature field.

Niemi and Redetzke earned the front row for the night’s 40-lap, $2,500-to-win feature event with Redetzke getting the upper hand on the initial start and leading the field into turn number one. With Redetzke out front, Billy Kendall and Niemi were waging a side-by-side war for the runner up spot, as the top three ran in close proximity to one another for the first dozen laps.

Redetzke opened up a slight gap on the battle for second while Kendall’s #99 and Niemi’s #54 ran side by side for second from lap 5 through lap 15, before Tyler Peterson, who started 7th added his name to the mix.

Peterson snuck by Kendall for third and then got by Niemi for the runner up spot on lap 20 and began to chase down Redetzke, who had built up a 2+ second advantage out front. Peterson chipped away at Redetzke’s lead lap after lap until he was able to pull alongside Jake with less than ten laps to go.

With the 1tpo and 27 battling for the lead out front, James Giossi managed to race by Niemi into third and was starting to track down the leaders until he suddenly pulled to the infield, ending his night.

All eyes were on the tussle for the top spot, which Peterson was able to finally secure the lead on lap 35 and was able to race away during the lap five circuits for the victory. Redetzke finished second with Niemi in third. Shane Sabraski, was the Rookie of the Race with by virtue of his fourth-place finish, while Kendall rounded out the top five finishers in the non-stop affair.

The WISSOTA Modifieds closed out the night with Kennedy Swan and Nick Oreskovich earning their row one positions. As the green waved, racers were three, four and almost five-wide as they fought for points. Oreskovich grabbed the top point with Swan and Darrell Nelson in second and third as drivers settled in. After a quick caution, Oreskovich retained the lead and Nelson in second. Clayton Wagamon made his way around Swan, then Nelson and took over the top point. Wagamon then pulled away with the lead, however Ryan Gierke was on his trail, and with five laps to go, Gierke caught and passed Wagamon’s #14w. Cars covered the entire race surface which put the leaders with slower drivers. Wagamon kept after Gierke and on the final lap and final curve, Gierke got stuck in traffic. Clayton Wagamon shot low on the track, sped forward and took the checkers in a thrilling finish. Nick Oreskovich, Jody Bellefeuille and Kennedy Swan grabbed points three through five as Ryan Gierke took second.

The night was a bit long, full of racing, however every feature was an exciting battle to the end making the night worth every moment. The XR Northern Storm will continue throughout the week, but the Ogilvie Raceway will be back in action on Saturday night with NVSR Vintage Cars for our annual Bike Giveaway night. Racing will resume at 6:30pm.

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