Alex Eisen/MDN Makenzie Hagen (10z) leads a pack of IMCA Sport Mods, which includes Dennis Chapman (27) and Taylor Kuehl (2), in a heat race Sunday evening at Nodak Speedway.

Three drivers in their respective race classes — Jerad Thelen, Brandon Honrud and Brock Beeter — made their first trip to victory lane this season Sunday evening at Nodak Speedway.

Plus, out-of-state phenom Taylor Kuehl became the first female to win a heat race this season at the Playground of Power.

The only repeat feature winner was Christopher Zenz in the IMCA Sport Compacts, which featured arguably the best racing of the night as plenty of paint was traded up front.

Race recaps of the four weekly classes are below.

IMCA Modifieds

Thelen started outside of pole-sitter Mike Tomlinson in the 25-lap feature and used the high groove to grab the lead after the first lap.

Season points leader Jason Wolla dropped back to 11th place after sliding off the top of the track in the middle of turns No. 1 and No. 2 with 19 laps remaining. He managed to claw back for a sixth-place finish.

Thelen caught lap traffic with 12 laps left and was slowed up considerably, which allowed Marcus Tomlinson and Travis Hagen to enter the picture. They both narrowly avoided lap car Steven Seibel spinning out in front of them with eight laps left to bring out the first caution.

Tomlinson was bumped off the track on a slide-job pass three laps later but got his spot back when Tim Dignan crashed in the same corner, unrelated to Tomlinson, to regroup the field for a final time.

Thelen was untouchable on the restart and held off a hard-charging Hagen and Tomlinson for his first win of the season at Nodak Speedway.

IMCA Sport Mods

Multiple wrecks plagued the second heat race. Mackenzie Hagen led the first few laps before meeting her fate in a crash.

Kuehl, making a guest appearance out of Arizona, took over the top spot and brought home the checkered flag for the women. It marked the first win by a female driver this season at Nodak Speedway.

Heat 1 winner Beeter started on the pole for the main feature next to Isaac Sondrol. Kuehl slotted in behind them to start third.

Sondrol led the first four laps before Beeter got back around to regain control of the lead.

Darren Medler and Jeff Hooker got tangled up with 10 laps left to reset the pack. Beeter was driving away from everybody but now had to contend with Sondrol and Kuehl again. Brady Bjella was also knocking on the door for a podium finish.

Kuehl passed Sondrol on the restart to take second. But, Sondrol had the better car on the long run and got back around with five laps remaining.

Regardless, nobody could catch Beeter. Not even with the help of a spinning Cole Hanshew, who found himself stopped on the inside of corner No. 4 with four laps left. Barely out of harm’s way, according to the race officials, the race went on without a caution.

Bjella passed Kuehl on the last lap to finish third, behind winner Beeter and runner-up Sondrol. Beeter won earlier this season in his IMCA Hobby Stock — before loaning it off to announcer Nick Hulberg for a special one-off race on June 28 — but this was his first time in victory lane with his No. 48 IMCA Sport Mod.

IMCA Hobby Stocks

Robert Seekings crashed out of the second heat race with a frightful ride into the tire barrier in the middle of corners No. 1 and No. 2. He got out the car under his own power and watched his beat-up machine get towed back to the garage area.

In the same heat race, John Flory Jr. was spun around and was lucky Caden Appelt didn’t flip him over. Flory Jr. got his spot back and finished second behind Brad King.

Another fellow female, Kylee Englert from Glenburn, started on the pole alongside Scott Joern for the main feature. Behind her, starting in third place, was Heat 1 winner Honrud.

Fifteen cars lined up for the 15-lap feature.

Honrud took the lead from Englert before the field even reached the flag stand for the first time.

Appelt, second in the season points, brought out the first caution with a spin in turn No. 2 just two laps in.

Brad King won a three-way battle for second place between Joern and Alex Tvedt before another caution reshuffled the order.

The Top 5 with five laps remaining had a big gap on the rest of the field: Honrud, Tvedt, Shawn Green, King and Appelt.

Appelt bumped and banged his way passed King for a fourth place right before Seekings wrecked on the backstretch to end the race under a yellow flag. The race was called because the white flag had already been shown before the yellow came out.

It was Honrud’s first feature win at Nodak Speedway this season. Tvedt, who also finished second behind Honrud in the heat race, took another runner-up finish.

IMCA Sport Compacts

The fireworks kicked off following a restart with eight laps remaining. Larry King, Christopher Zenz and Greg Zenz went right at each other. The bulk of the batting was between King and Christopher Zenz for the lead with Greg Zenz lurking behind them in third place.

King and Christopher Zenz traded the top spot multiple times and were even rubbing doors coming to the white flag.

Christopher Zenz made the winning move in the first corner and kept King behind him. After taking the checkered flag, King gave one last shot to Christopher Zenz coming around the corner in retaliation/frustration.

King received a black flag for his behavior, costing him his second-place finish and pushed him back to sixth. Greg Zenz moved up to place second and finished behind his son.

Season points leader James Gilbert wasn’t in attendance on Sunday and lost out on a chunk of points. The Zenz father-son pairing are now tied atop of the point standings.

Magic City Dirt Series racing resumes at 7 p.m. next Sunday, August 2, at Nodak Speedway.

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