4/4/2016
Wissota Late Model Challenge Series
WISSOTA rolls out 2016 OneMain Challenge Series schedule
The 2016 OneMain WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series schedule is out, features upwards of 15 events, and looks to kick off with a bang, featuring 4 straight nights in eastern South Dakota dubbed as the Dakota Challenge, where a driver can walk away with upwards of $19,000 in winnings over the 4-day weekend swing.
The OneMain Series has opened in the state of South Dakota in each of the past 6 seasons, but never with quite this big of a bang. Thursday, June 2nd, the Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, South Dakota with a $5,000 winner’s paycheck on the line for the Iverson’s Dakota Challenge before heading 90 miles north on highway 281 to the Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, SD for a Friday night, $2,000 to win event, dubbed the Bullet Sportswear Challenge. The teams will turn right back around and head back down to the Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron for Challenge Cup XVI on Saturday night, the richest tour race, featuring a $10,000 payday for whoever can tame the 3/8 mile on Saturday night and the 4-day weekend wraps up with another 90 mile trip to the Casino Speedway in Watertown, SD for a $2,071 to win Marilyn Olson Memorial on Sunday night. Watertown, South Dakota’s Scott Ward is the most recent Challenge Series victor at both Dakota State Fair and Casino Speedway’s while Hibbing, Minnesota’s Jeff Provinzino topped the series stop at Brown County in 2015.
The tour then takes a month off and kicks back into action at the Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa on Friday, July 15th where defending WISSOTA Late Model National Champion Ricky Weiss from Headingley, Manitoba, Canada won the inaugural event in 2015. Saturday, July 16th is pending and will be announced once details become official.
After a weekend off, a trio of events is scheduled to wrap up the month of July, kicking off at the Proctor Speedway in Duluth, MN on Friday, July 29th. Proctor has not hosted a WISSOTA Challenge Series event since 2006, where Elk Mound, Wisconsin’s AJ Diemel was victorious. Steve Laursen also owns one career Challenge Series victory at Proctor back in 2000. Proctor and AMSOIL Speedway in Superior, flip flop nights of the week with Proctor running on Friday and AMSOIL running on Sunday this weekend.
The following night, the series will make the 100 mile trek down highway 53 to the Rice Lake Speedway in Rice Lake, Wisconsin for the first Challenge Series event since 2008. Rice Lake was on the original Challenge Series schedule in 1999 when the series began and hosted an event in each of the first ten seasons, but has been absent over the past 7 years. Canadian driver Joel Cryderman is the series’ most recent and winningest driver at Rice Lake, having won 4 Challenge Series races at RLS, including the last time the series visited in 2008.
The series will then head back up Highway 53 to AMSOIL Speedway in Superior, WI on Sunday, July 31st as the annual Twin Ports Twin 25’s will be a part of the Challenge Series for the first time in the event’s history. AMSOIL Speedway has hosted a Challenge Series event in each of the past five seasons, but never in conjunction with the Twin 25’s. Combining these two events should provide some extra excitement as driver vie for twin $1,500 paychecks on a Sunday night special in Superior. Darrell Nelson won the Challenge Series stop in Superior in 2015, while Elk Mound, Wisconsin veteran John Kaanta and Keewatin, Minnesota’s Jeff Massingill topped the Twin 25’s a year ago.
The next two series events will take place in Mid-August as the King of the Dirt at the I-94 Speedway in Fergus Falls, Minnesota plays home to the Challenge Series for the first time on Thursday, August 18th in a $3,000 to win event. Fargo, North Dakota racer Cody Skytland topped the 2015 edition of the King of the Dirt at I-94. The series will then make the 105 mile drive down highway 59 to the Chippewa County Fairgrounds, where the Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo, Minnesota will host the cars and stars of the Challenge Series on Friday, August 19th in a $2,000 to win event. Fiesta City hosted a Challenge Series event for the first nine seasons that the series existed from 1999 to 2007 and then got back on the schedule in 2015, where Ham Lake, Minnesota’s Don Shaw was victorious.
The 2016 OneMain Challenge Series will then wrap up on Labor Day weekend with a tripleheader, with the possibility of a 4th event being added soon.
Friday, September 2nd is a tentative date and will be announced when details become available then Saturday and Sunday, September 3rd and 4th will see the series head to the Hibbing Raceway in Hibbing, Minnesota and be a part of both days of the annual Labor Day Shootout in Hibbing. The series has been a part of the Labor Day Shootout in years past, but never both nights. The series drivers will be running for identical $3,000 paychecks each night during the weekend. Minnetonka, Minnesota racer Justin Fegers topped the last stop by the Challenge Series in Hibbing back in 2012.
And for the first time ever, the Challenge Series will crown its champion at the newly renamed St. Croix Speedway in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin on Labor Day Monday. St. Croix has hosted a WISSOTA Late Model special on Labor Day weekend in each of the past several seasons, providing incredible racing action, but for the first time ever will be a part of the Challenge Series and will play host to the series finale. New Richmond, Wisconsin’s Pat Doar won the Late Model Invitational at St. Croix in 2015.
Fans can check out the OneMain Financial WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series on Facebook or www.WISSOTA.org for more information as the season gets closer.
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2016 OneMain WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series Tentative Schedule
Thurs. June 2
Dakota Stata Fair Speedway Huron, SD $5,000
*Iverson’s Dakota Challenge
Friday June 3
Brown County Speedway Aberdeen, SD $2,000
*Bullet Sportswear Challenge
Saturday June 4
Dakota State Fair Speedway Huron, SD $10,000
*Prostrollo’s Challenge Cup XVI
Sunday June 5
Casino Speedway Challenge Watertown, SD $2,071
*Marilyn Olson Memorial
Friday July 15
Rapid Speedway Rock Rapids, IA $2,000
Saturday July 16 TBA
Friday July 29
Proctor Speedway Proctor, MN $2,000
Saturday July 30
Rice Lake Speedway Rice Lake, WI $2,000
Sunday July 31
AMSOIL Speedway Superior, WI $1,500 x2
*Twin Ports Twin 25’s
Thurs. Aug. 18
I-94 Speedway Fergus Falls, MN $3,000
*King of the Dirt
Friday Aug. 19
Fiesta City Speedway Montevideo, MN $2,000
Friday, Sept. 2 TBA
Saturday Sept. 3
Hibbing Raceway Hibbing, MN $3,000
*Labor Day Shootout (Day 1)
Sunday Sept. 4
Hibbing Raceway Hibbing, MN $3,000
*Labor Day Shootout (Day 2)
Monday Sept. 5
St. Croix Speedway St. Croix Falls, WI $2,000
*Laursen Classic
Submitted By: Craig Sullivan
