Mike Kraft/MDN Caden Appelt (70) leads the pack around the corner in the hobby stock feature race during the Magic City Dirt Series Championship Night on Sunday. Appelt took home first place in the race and second overall for the 2025 season.

The Sunday night conditions on the race track were moist and compact, just the way Caden Appelt likes it.

The Nodak Speedway in Minot hosted the Magic City Dirt Series Championship on Sunday night, one of their last events of the regular season. The event held races in five different car classes: sportmods, sport compacts, stock cars, hobby stock and modifieds.

Minot’s Caden Appelt races in the hobby stock class.

“It was my favorite kind of race track,” said Appelt. “It was hammered down, moisture from the top to the bottom and wide open racing. I mean, we don’t build these cars to go slow.”

Appelt said that he and his dad do everything together to get the car ready for the races. They will check each and every nut and bolt around the car, tire prep and tune the motor to make sure they are in tip top shape to race.

“We go through the car week in and week out. Our maintenance program is pretty intense,” said Appelt. “It’s a lot more complex than just going around in a circle like people think.”

All the hard work paid off for Appelt, as he was able to secure first place in the hobby stock race during Sunday night’s championships. The fifteen lap race consisted of fifteen other racers, including seven others from Minot.

Appelt and his wife just had a baby, so he is unsure what the rest of the racing season looks like for him and his family. He says he plans to race in the Ole Olson Memorial Race during the All-Stars of August Series at Nodak. He also says that he would like to try and go down south to Iowa to race, but he still has to talk his wife into it.

Although he won Sunday night’s race, Appelt came up just 15 points shy of winning the hobby stock championship series. That honor goes to another Minot racer, Kyler Satran.

Satran placed top ten in all nine feature races this season, including eight top five finishes. He ended the season with 337 points, marking his fourth year winning the track championship.

“Just like the first time, it feels absolutely astonishing to win it,” said Satran.

Satran said that he plans to keep racing during the off season down south for some of the fall specials in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.

Travis Hagen of McGregor, North Dakota won the IMCA modified feature race, Chris Tuchscherer of Burlington, North Dakota won the IMCA stock car feature race, Gabriel Deschamp of Westhope, North Dakota won the IMCA SportMod feature race and Krys Yost of Balfour, North Dakota won the IMCA sport compact feature race during Sunday night’s events.

The Nodak SPeedway will host the World of Outlaws Late Model Series this Sunday, June 29. This will be the first time the event has been held in Minot since 1989.