Memorial Day Weekend is considered the official start of summer.  At Chateau Raceway for the last 20 years its also been the weekend for the Mike Guttormson Memorial.  Guttormson won multiple championships and features over the years at Lansing, his last coming 20 years ago this month.  After taking the checkered flag and getting the traditional photo taken in victory lane, Guttormson went back to his trailer, where after getting out of his car collapsed from a heart condition and left a lot of friends and family missing a good friend and spirited competitor.

The USRA Modified class purse was bumped up to $1,083 to win in recognition of the No. 83 that Guttormson displayed on his car.  Than they added $83 to the first place money for all the other classes competing.  Mikes number was flipped around to 38 and used for the number of laps the feature field would run instead of the usual 25.

It seems it wouldn’t be a Friday night this season without some threat of rain and the chance was there again this week.  The track suffered its fifth weather related cancellation last week but this week belonged to the fans and drivers to enjoy a night at the track as 106 cars filled the pits for the nights action with the highlight of the night the USRA Modified Guttormson Memorial main event.

The field lined up for the feature with Steve Wetzstein of West Concord drawing the pole alongside Keith Tourville of Webster, Iowa.  On the drop of the green Tourville grabbed the early advantage with Wetzstein falling in line second ahead of Greg Pfeifer Jr. of Austin and Jason Cummins of New Richland.  Cummins, starting in row three, went by Pfeifer for third on lap three and set his sights on the leaders.  Cummins pulled up on Wetzstein and the two ran a few side-by-side laps before Cummins nosed ahead for the spot on lap 10.

Tourville had built up a pretty nice lead but Cummins was flying as he quickly reeled him in, and six laps later he was in the lead.  In not much more than 12 minutes the field had completed a scorching 38-lap, non-stop, caution-free main event.

Cummins's pace left just four cars on the lead lap when the checkers fell. Tourville held off Wetzstein for second with Pfeifer coming home in fourth.   Cummins also picked up a heat win on the night as he scored the sweep with his first feature win of the season at Lansing.  Joe Horgdahl of Kasson captured the classes other heat win.

The Out-Pace USRA B-Mods also gave the caution flag some extra use on the night with the worst of the yellows coming with three torn up cars in the middle of turn one.  Jerry Young of Blooming Prairie ended up sideways in the middle of the track and with nowhere to go Tim Gerber of Austin and Anton Nelson of Hayfield ended up being collected.  All three had there nights end with plenty of work ahead to put the cars back together for next week.

Meanwhile, Kadden Kath of Owatonna used a front row starting spot to his advantage as he lead flag to flag for his second feature win of the year.  Jayden Larson of Mankato, who had one of the two heats wins for the class, came home second ahead of A.J. Zvorak of Blooming Prairie and Scott Demmer of Waseca.  Demmer had the other heat win as it was the only class that did not see a heat winner also take home the feature win.

Racing action continues next Friday night with hot laps scheduled for 6:30 and racing at 7:00.

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

OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Racing Association
Summit Racing USRA Weekly Racing Series
Chateau Raceway, Lansing, Minn.
Friday, May 26, 2017

USRA MODIFIEDS

Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. 29H-Joe Horgdal[1]; 2. 90-Steve Wetzstein[3]; 3. 1-Greg Jensen[5]; 4. 23-Darwin Karau[6]; 5. 45-Levi Nielsen[9]; 6. 61T-Tammy Soma Clark [2]; 7. 44-Alan Wagner[7]; 8. 38-Ken Wytaske[8]; 9. 8-Cale Slawson[4].

Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. 71-Jason Cummins[3]; 2. 73JR-Greg Pfeifer Jr[1]; 3. 98-Kevin Stoa[5]; 4. 111JR-Keith Tourville[6]; 5. 86D-Dagan Heim[2]; 6. 72-Doug Hillson[4].

Feature 1 (38 laps): 1. 71-Jason Cummins-New Richland[5]; 2. 111JR-Keith Tourville-Webster WI[2]; 3. 90-Steve Wetzstein-West Concord[1]; 4. 73JR-Greg Pfeifer Jr-Austin[4]; 5. 45-Levi Nielsen-Evansdale IA[3]; 6. 1-Greg Jensen-Albert Lea[7]; 7. 23-Darwin Karau-Kasson[10]; 8. 72-Doug Hillson-Blooming Prairie[12]; 9. 38-Ken Wytaske-Lansing[14]; 10. 8-Cale Slawson-Chatfield[15]; 11. (DNF) 29H-Joe Horgdal-Kasson[8]; 12. (DNF) 44-Alan Wagner-Orchard IA[13]; 13. (DNF) 98-Kevin Stoa-Albert Lea[9]; 14. (DNF) 86D-Dagan Heim-Rosemount[6]; 15. (DNF) 61T-Tammy Soma Clark-Rochester [11].

OUT-PACE USRA B-MODS

Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. 36K-Jayden Larson[1]; 2. 88-Nate Chodur[2]; 3. 83X-Kadden Kath[5]; 4. 411-Jerry Young[7]; 5. 83-Kylie Kath[3]; 6. 43-Nick Wagner[6]; 7. 44-Matthew Brooks[4]; 8. 91-Tom Kaiser[8].

Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. 30-Scott Demmer[1]; 2. 4-Derek Clement[3]; 3. Z29-Anthony (AJ) Zvorak[7]; 4. 54-Jett Sorensen[4]; 5. 27-Channing Warner [8]; 6. 31-Raey Hastings IV[2]; 7. 44Z-Anton Nelson[6]; 8. 26G-Tim Gerber[5].

Feature 1 (18 laps): 1. 83X-Kadden Kath-Owatonna[1]; 2. 36K-Jayden Larson-Mankato[10]; 3. Z29-Anthony (AJ) Zvorak-Blooming Prairie[6]; 4. 30-Scott Demmer-Ellendale[9]; 5. 88-Nate Chodur-Lake Mills IA[4]; 6. 83-Kylie Kath-Owatonna[5]; 7. 54-Jett Sorensen-Rochester[7]; 8. 27-Channing Warner-Owatonna [3]; 9. 44-Matthew Brooks-Austin[13]; 10. 91-Tom Kaiser-Waseca[15]; 11. (DNF) 4-Derek Clement-Spring Valley[2]; 12. (DNF) 43-Nick Wagner-Osage IA[11]; 13. (DNF) 26G-Tim Gerbe-Austinr[16]; 14. (DNF) 44Z-Anton Nelson-Hayfield[14]; 15. (DNF) 411-Jerry Young-Blooming Prairie[8]; 16. (DNF) 31-Raey Hastings IV-Austin[12].