Alex Eisen/MDN IMCA Sport Mod drivers Robby Rosselli (0) and Chad Strachen (132) race side-by-side in a race held earlier this season at Nodak Speedway in Minot.

An unprecedented season at Nodak Speedway reaches Championship Night on Sunday evening. It will be the 14th straight week of racing after a delayed start due to the COVID-19 pandemic and no North Dakota State Fair to work around.

The point standings for all five weekly classes remain up for grabs with track titles on the line.

“I don’t think we have seen a Championship Night like this in a long time,” said Brandon Beeter, president of Nodak Speedway. “It will all be settled Sunday night.”

Former 1985 Nodak Speedway president and fire crew volunteer, Jim Clifford, will also be honored Sunday for being inducted into the Nodak Speedway Hall of Fame. The only inductee this season has provided over 25 years of service with the fire crew at Nodak Speedway.

Volunteers like Clifford help keep Nodak Speedway running.

The track crew, led by Chris “Fluffy” Reuer, was recognized by Beeter for their behind-the-scenes work to get Nodak Speedway ready each week.

“There are guys that have stepped up this year,” Beeter said. “We have had drivers help out when they aren’t racing during the week. Fluffy took over about halfway through the year and leads the track crew on race day. Adam Goff is down there blading during the week. The track shape is where we want it; we just have to get enough moisture in it, so it holds up all night — not a lot of dust and two lanes of racing.”

Here is the situation with the point standings for the five weekly classes heading into Championship Night.

IMCA Modifieds

The elephant in the room is the aftermath of the Jason Wolla and Drew Christianson exchange last week that escalated into Wolla being disqualified and doing a burnout on the front stretch.

That dropped Wolla, a former IMCA Modifieds national champion, into fifth place in the season standings at Nodak (16 points back) when he had a sizable points lead and another track title in his sights.

“Ultimately, what it comes down to is Jason Wolla got disqualified for the night — zero points, zero pay — for his display on the front straightaway,” Beeter said. “That’s where it starts and ends. He is welcome to come back and race on Championship Night… But, we can’t have somebody doing what he did on the front straightaway without any punishment.”

That said, Beeter doesn’t expect Wolla to be in attendance on Sunday.

Minot’s Robert Hellebust takes over as the new points leader with three challengers in hot pursuit: Turtle Lake’s Marcus Tomlinson (three points back), Minot’s Wayne Johnson (four points back) and Christianson (six points back), also from Minot.

IMCA Sport Mods

Robby Rosselli finds himself in a similar position to last season. The Minot native is once again in second place heading into Championship Night with a chance to capture the track title.

Last season, Rosselli trailed Erik Laudenschlager by five points. Rosselli is one point closer this season (four points back) trying to track down Minot’s Chad Strachen.

Strachen doesn’t have a feature win at Nodak Speedway this season. Instead, he has been Mr. Consistent with seven Top 5’s in 10 feature races.

Rosselli has picked up two wins on the season, tying Kelly Henderson and Jeff Hooker for the most in the class.

Others with an outside shot at the track title include Washburn’s Logan Schmitz (18 points back) and Minot’s Darren Medler (23 points back).

IMCA Hobby Stocks

The budding up-and-comer and the grizzled veteran will square off one last time to decide the 2020 track champion.

Points leader Caden Appelt has quickly developed into a threat to win every week. The once unpredictable rookie has won five out of the 10 feature races this season.

“The progression of Caden Appelt has been impressive,” Beeter said. “When he first started a couple of years ago, he was kind of known as a wild man and out of control. This year, he really stepped up his game. He came to play, and it shows in the points.”

Appelt leads former track champion and last year’s runner-up Andrew Bertsch by six points. Looking to avoid another second-place finish, Bertsch hopes his reliability pays off. He is the only driver to place in the Top 10 of all the feature races this season.

Last year’s track champion, Brad King, is on the outside looking in. He is 27 points back in third place.

IMCA Stock Cars

The defending track champion Mike Hagen, out of Williston, holds the largest points lead across the five classes with a 10-point advantage back to a pair of drivers tied for second place: Max’s Will Scheresky and Minot’s Brett Woznicki.

Hagen was involved in a three-way battle for the feature win last week, but couldn’t find a way around Dalton Flory and Joren Boyce. He has collected two feature wins at Nodak Speedway this season.

Scheresky’s lone feature win this season came on June 14, beating out hard-charging Flory and Hagen. Woznicki has yet to visit victory lane on the year.

IMCA Sport Compacts

The son-father duo of Christopher and Greg Zenz hold the top spots in the IMCA Sport Compacts point standings. Two points separate the pair with son Christopher leading the way.

Larry King has made a late push and only trails by eight points, but closing that margin is highly unlikely given the car counts the IMCA Sport Compacts usually get every week.

Three drivers have won two races in the six feature races: Christopher Zenz, James Gilbert and King.

Championship Night drops the green flag at 7 p.m. Sunday evening. The following week will be Motor Magic with races being held Sept. 4-6.

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