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Apr 17, 2024

Stock Car Racing: Points titles secured at NCS

BARROWS — Entering the final night of points racing Saturday, Aug 27, at North Central Speedway, there were two hotly contested points races. One ended early and the other saw a race filled with

BARROWS — Entering the final night of points racing Saturday, Aug 27, at North Central Speedway, there were two hotly contested points races.

One ended early and the other saw a race filled with drama.

Sport Compact driver Jenna Hagemann held a six-point lead over Josh Maleski at the start of the 15-lap feature which meant Maleski needed to finish seven spots better than Hagemann to win the championship. That seemed unlikely when Hagemann started from row four in the feature and Maleski started from the sixth row.

But things got interesting when Hagemann drew a caution flag and was sent to the back of the pack. She barely escaped damage to her car in a caution that ended with seven cars leaving the track.

Only nine cars remained and Maleski claimed the checkered flag, but Hagemann fought off a challenge from two other cars on the last lap to finish fourth and win the championship by three points over Maleski.

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The night’s last race was the Modified feature event. Aaron Johnson held a one-point lead with a tiebreaker edge over Shawn Fletcher. Fletcher needed to finish two spots higher than Johnson to claim the championship. That scenario vanished on the first lap as Fletcher exited the track with a broken drive shaft. Johnson placed second behind AJ Viehauser, but walked away with the points championship by nine points over Fletcher.

In the other five features, drivers needed to just take the green flag to claim their points crown and Nick McCann claimed his first points championship in 30 years of racing for the Mod 4 class. McCann arrived at the track in pain, but stayed in the car for the heat race and finished 10th in the feature.

Dustin Nelson claimed his 23rd overall championship in the Super Stock class. The race wasn’t drama-free as the front straightaway lights went out three laps into the feature. The drivers chose to continue and Jack Koranda won the feature with Nelson placing third.

David Siercks won the points championship for the Sport Mod class and Tim Otterness was the winner for the Hobby Stocks. Tim Gonska won the Stock Car points championship and he announced he is stepping away from full-time racing next year to be with family

In the Stock Car feature, Kaden Woodie registered a first-place finish, but was pushed hard by Brody Carlsrud who was looking to get his second consecutive feature win.

Carlsrud started from the second row and battled with Aaron Johnson, Gonska and Jaden Christ and grabbed second from Aaron Johnson with nine laps to go.

Carlsrud raced a partial season with just six appearances. He recorded a top-five finish in all of those races.

Carlsrud was diagnosed with autism when he was younger.

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"There are a lot of challenges being autistic," Carlsrud said. "Growing up I never had the easiest time in school and had to get help. With racing it helps me as a person because when you are out there all by yourself you are relieved of stress and everything else going on around here. I am fortunate to be in the position I am today. Being autistic is never an easy task. It is hard to understand things a lot of times and get used to something new.

"I feel like I have built myself up to where I am today, but I could not have done it without my parents (Cory and Amanda) and my sister (Barb) and friends and family who have been helping guide me through life in racing and outside of it and I hope to keep building that up and keep on racing."

Brody's love for racing started early, too.

"My dad took me to my first race when I was around six and he took me out to Buffalo River Speedway, which is a couple of hours from here," Carlsrud said. "I enjoyed that and kind of wanted to go back every week and looked up my favorite driver which is the No. 60 Tyler Hall. He has been there since the beginning for me and he is like a brother to me and a great person overall."

The racing bug hit Brody hard. He raced go-karts for five years and moved to the INX Legends where he raced for four years before moving into Stock Car.

"This is my third season in the stock car," said Carlsrud. "I really enjoy it and I have no desire to move on to anything else anytime soon with the success we have had. I love driving stock cars."

The 22nd Mighty Axe will run over Labor Day Weekend with racing on Saturday, Sept. 2, and Sunday, Sept. 3. Carlsrud would like nothing better than to have an Axe in his hand next weekend.

"I could have it a lot worse," he said. "I could be in a wheelchair. I have just grown up with autism and that's how it is. It's never an easy path down the road of life but I get through it as a person. I try to take it one step at a time and enjoy life.

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"We've had a really good season up here. I don't think we have finished worse than fourth since we have been up here. I wish we could have been up here every week this summer and contend for a points championship but we had some other big plans and trips. Deep down inside I really enjoy coming here every week and now we will be battling for the axe next week and hopefully, we can steal one."

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