Dustin Sorensen won the USRA Modified feauture.

The 2017 racing season officially kicked off Friday night at the Chateau Raceway in Lansing, Minn.. The season opener had been delayed with three straight weeks of rain, wet and cold conditions pushing back the start of the action, but a beautiful sunny Friday finally greeted fans, drivers and officials as everyone was anxious to get the year season underway.

The night started out with some tightly contested heat races setting the scene for some exciting features, and one driver added his name to that list of Chateau Raceway feature winner before the night was done.

Kadden Kath of Owatonna had lady luck on his side to start the season as he drew pole position for both his heat and feature, and led flag to flag in both races to claim a clean sweep in the Out-Pace USRA B-Mods to kick off the season.

Kath had some company down the stretch in the feature as Jayden Larson of Mankato put on one of the finest runs of the night as he came from the back of the field in the caution-free 18-lap main event to push Kath to the finish line.

Larson went from outside row six up to fourth in just three laps and was up to second just past the halfway point of the race when he set to reeling in Kath.

But as they say “catching somebody is one thing, passing them is another,” Larson was unable to make the winning move.

Jett Sorensen of Rochester came home in third ahead of Matt Brooks of Austin and Nate Chodur of Lake Mills, Iowa. Chodur had the other heat win.

Kadden Kath won the Out-Pace USRA B-Mod feature.

The final race of the night for the Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series was the USRA Modified 25-lap main event.

Heat winners Greg Pfeifer Jr. of Austin and Jason Cummins of New Richland started in the front row along with Keith Tourville of Webster, Wis., and the trio laid down some exciting early laps with some three-wide action off the drop of the green.

Tourville led at the line to complete lap one with Pfeifer coming back to take the lead on lap three. His time at the front lasted just one lap, however, as Cummins took over the top spot on lap four.

But if the three of them had rear-view mirrors, they would have seen Dustin Sorensen of Rochester fixing to break up their party.

As Cummins went to the lead, Sorensen made his move for second. A caution slowed the action a lap later and off the restart Sorensen got the jump on Cummins, went to the point and proceeded to build up a nice lead.

One more caution about 10 laps into the race bunched the field again but Sorensen was up to the task and went back out to building his lead up.

Steve Wetzstein of West Concord was starting to make some moves of his own and after starting back in row five he moved up to third after the restart.

As the laps wound down, Cummins's car seemed to be getting stronger and he reeled Sorensen back in but could never make the move to get back to the front.

With the win, Sorensen became the third driver on the night to make his first career visit to victory lane at the Chateau Raceway.

Racing action will resume next Friday night, May 12, with the first green flag set to drop at 7 p.m. Joining the action next week will be the Liquid Nitro Outlaw Mini Mod Series.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Racing Association
Summit Racing USRA Weekly Racing Series
Chateau Raceway, Lansing, Minn.
Friday, May 5, 2017

OUT-PACE USRA B-MODS

Feature: 1. Kadden Kath, Owatonna; 2. Jayden Larson, Mankato; 3. Jett Sorensen, Rochester; 4. Matt Brooks, Austin; 5. Nate Chodur, Lake Mills, Iowa; 6. AJ Zvorak, Blooming Prairie; 7. Taylor Ausrud, Hayfield; 8. Eric Condit, Austin; 9. Mike Mehling, Grand Meadow; 10. Jesse Baer, Minnesota Lake; 11. Raey Hastings IV, Austin; 12. Tom Kaiser, Waseca; 13. Tim Gerber, Austin.

Heat #1: 1. Chodur; 2. Sorensen; 3. Condit; 4. Mehling; 5. Hastings; 6. Baer; 7. Gerber.

Heat #2: 1. Kath; 2. Zvorak; 3. Ausrud; 4. Brooks; 5. Kaiser; 6. Larson.

USRA MODIFIEDS

Feature: 1. Dustin Sorensen, Rochester; 2. Jason Cummins, New Richland; 3. Steve Wetzstein, West Concord; 4. Keith Tourville, Webster, Wis.; 5. Joe Horgdahl, Kasson; 6. Greg Pfeifer Jr., Austin; 7. Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie; 8. David Wytaske Jr., Grand Meadow; 9. Kenny Wytaske, Lansing; 10. Greg Jensen, Albert Lea; 11. Darwyn Karau, Kasson; 12. Charlie Steinberg, Kasson.

Heat #1: 1. Cummins; 2. Wetzstein; 3. Sorensen; 4. Karau; 5. Jensen; 6. D. Wytaske.

Heat #2: 1. Pfeifer; 2. Hillson; 3. Horgdahl; 4. Tourville; 5. K. Wytaske; 6. Steinberg.