Alex Eisen/MDN A cluster of IMCA Stock Cars led by Minot’s Jason Kniffen (34) compete in a heat race at the Nodak Speedway earlier this season in Minot.

UPDATE: The IMCA Sport Mods lost a competitor Monday evening with the passing of Robbie Conway. This article was published without that knowledge and the IMCA Sport Mod section of the article has been omitted out of respect to Conway’s family and friends.

There are only three race weekends left at Nodak Speedway for the featured classes. Making for a mad dash to the checkered flag after the lengthy one month layoff because of the North Dakota State Fair.

Here is a refresher on how the four classes currently stand before racing gets underway again this Sunday.

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IMCA Modifieds

Coming off a fourth place in the Dakota Classic Modified Tour, Jason Wolla is in the driver’s seat to defend his track championship in the Modifieds. The Ray native has gone 41 points clear of second place Wayne Johnson, the largest margin between the Top 2 drivers in any class.

Wolla’s five wins this season at Nodak is also a track high across all divisions.

Willison’s Travis Hagen, who leads the track standings in Williston, fell off the pace in Minot after not finishing a feature on June 18. Although, he is only other Modified driver to have multiple victories (two) at Nodak besides Wolla.

Behind Johnson for third place in the standings is fellow Minot native Justin Medler (54 points back). Both realistically need a malfunction, or two, from Wolla to steal the track championship.

It’s highly possible that Wolla could have the track title wrapped up even before Championship Night on August 27.

But, that’s not all Wolla is racing for. He is currently second in the IMCA Modified national points standings, trailing William Gould by four points. He also leads the Modified regional and state standings.

Other Modified feature winners this season at Nodak included Robert Hellebust, Steven Pfeifer, Tyler Wagner and Chase Conway. All of which are outside the Top 10 in the point standings.

IMCA Hobby Stocks

Minot’s Andrew Bertsch lost out on winning the Tougher than Dirt Tour for the Hobby Stocks by two points to Tyler Lucy. Three more solid races this season and he’ll get the last laugh with a track championship.

Bertsch holds a 15-point lead over Vance Tomlinson from Max and 27 points on third-place Lucy.

Bertsch is one of three drivers to win at Nodak twice this season. The other two being Kenmare’s Riese Dignan in fifth place overall and Minot’s Kevin Tvedt in eighth.

Williston’s track points leader Adam Goff sits in fourth overall, 29 points back, without a win.

There will be a new track title holder this season for this class at Nodak with defending champion Dana Brandt not racing full-time and missing a handful of races this season.

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IMCA Stock Cars

Consistency counts when it comes to the Stock Cars.

In 11 races, there have only been four different winners with Williston’s Joe Flory and Minot’s Scott Yale claiming four victories each.

Yet, neither is at the top of the point standings or in the Top 3 for that matter. It’s the Canadian Austin Daae from Estevan, Saskatchewan, that is leading the pack without a win, but with 10 Top 5’s instead.

The son of Joe Flory, Dalton, is in second place and 18 points back of Daae. It’s rather unfamiliar territory for Dalton Flory having blitzed through the field last year to win the track championship by 55 points.

A month ago, it was Dalton trying to track down his dad Joe for first place. How quickly things can change in racing.

Joe Flory went from leading the standings to fourth overall after not finishing the race on June 25 and placing 11th on July 2. He is now 26 points behind Daae.

Three points ahead of Joe Flory in the third place is Kenmare’s Cody Nelson, who hasn’t won or even gotten a Top 3 finish this year. Goes to show how important not crashing out can be in preserving a place high up in the overall standings.

For some drivers, that will be the goal this weekend. For others, it’s going to be victory lane or bust.

Racing at Nodak Speedway resumes on Sunday at 6 p.m.

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.