LANSING, Minn. — Chateau Raceway powered by Miners Outdoor & Recreation opened its 2008 season with a nice field of cars scattered over six classes of action Friday night. After five weeks of rain, snow and generally cold miserable weather wiped out the first month of racing, it was great to see the cars take to the one-third-mile oval and its fresh new layer of clay that was laid down last fall.

The track was able to sneak a test and tune session in early in April to give drivers a chance to see how the new surface ran and gave track promoters a chance to see how well they did laying it in last fall and preparing it this spring. As expected there was some rough spots in the track by the end of the first full night of racing but the prospects for some very fast racing looked real good as cars were turning some very fast laps on the new surface.

The final feature event of the night with the French's Repair & Fabrication of Dodge Center USRA Modifieds was one of the wildest feature races of the night. An excellent field of drivers put on a great display of racing as they not only raced each other but a track, which was showing the signs of not having been run on much yet.

A rut formed in the bottom grove in turn one and a bit of a hole in turn four had the drivers racing each other as much as the track. However, it seemed they were more into racing each other as they rather ignored the two rough spots and bounced through them instead of going around them as they drove hard for the win.

Mike Sorensen of Rochester started on the pole and went to the lead off the drop of the green flag. Row 3 starters Mark Noble of Blooming Prairie and Kelly Shryock of Fertile, Iowa, wasted little time moving toward the front and, along with Sorensen, made it a three-car show as they swapped positions and sent their cars flying in the air at times as they bounced across the rough spots.

On lap 5, Shryock moved to second and Noble came to third a couple of laps later ... then the fun began.

On lap 10, Noble went to the outside of Shryock to take second. He then pulled alongside Sorensen on lap 12 and went to the lead down the back stretch with Shryock following him past Sorensen to take second. Shryock kept on charging and went past Noble on the next lap to take the lead as Sorensen followed him in shifting Noble back to third.

Sorensen kept on coming and pulled along side Shryock. The two ran side by side for the most part for the next couple laps with Sorensen going back to the front as they completed lap 18. Shryock made a few more runs back at Sorensen as the laps wound down, but Sorensen had the lead back and he wasn't about to give it up again.

Shryock held off Noble for second while Brad Bakken of Garner, Iowa, came home in fourth with Doug Hillson of Blooming Prairie rounding out the top -5.

Heat winners were Hillson, Shryock and Sorenson.

Week two of racing next Friday night will feature car rides for the kids on the raceway before the start of racing, so everyone is encourage to get the kids out there early next week for the excitement. In two weeks on May 23, it will be the 11th Annual Mike Guttormson Memorial featuring the O'Reilly USMTS National Tour.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
USRA Casey’s General Stores Weekly Racing Series
Chateau Raceway, Lansing, Minn.
Friday, May 9, 2008

French's Repair & Fabrication USRA MODIFIEDS

Feature - 1. Mike Sorensen, Rochester;  2. Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa;  3. Mark Noble, Blooming Prairie;  4. Brad Bakken, Garner, Iowa;  5. Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie;  6. Steve Wetzstein, West Concord;  7. Jacob Dahle, Morristown;  8. Joe Wernecke, Dodge Center;  9. Wally Bustad, Austin;  10. Dave Wytaske Jr, Mapleview;  11. Alan Mondus, Lakeville;  12. Shaun Olson,  Albert Lea; 13. Greg Jensen, Albert Lea;  14. Thomas Wasmund, Rochester; DNS - Brady Peterson, Cottage Grove; Shawn Peterson, Cottage Grove.

Heat 1 - Hillson, Wernecke, Wasmund, B. Peterson, Olson.

Heat 2 - Shryock, Dahle, Mondus, Bakken, S Peterson.

Heat 3 - Sorensen, Noble, Jensen, Bustad, Wyaske, Wetzstein.