Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights return to Fairmont for another Minnesota show

FAIRMONT, Minn. – A Minnesota track that made Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights Tour history last summer welcomes traveling IMCA Modifieds back on Wednesday night. 

Fairmont Raceway became the first speedplant in the North Star State to host the IMCA tour in August of 2019. The Dirt Knights will be back in town on Aug. 5, running for $1,000 to win the Bob Shryock Memorial headliner. 

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 5 p.m. Hot laps are at 7 p.m. with racing to follow for the 98th event in the tour’s 10-plus seasons. 

One thousand dollars is also the top prize when the tour is at Kossuth County Speedway in Algona, Iowa, for the Thursday, Aug. 6 Denny Hovenga Memorial 

Pit gates and the grandstand open at 5:30 p.m., with 7 p.m. hot laps to precede racing. Six previous Dirt Knights events have been held at Algona since 2011. 

Modified features at Fairmont and Algona are qualifying events for the 2020 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. Also running each night are IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods and Mach-1 Sport Compacts.

2016 champion Chris Abelson was the Monday night tour winner at Clay County Fair Speedway. Point leader Ethan Braaksma topped the first two events, at Park Jefferson Speedway and at Buena Vista Raceway, and Joel Rust took the checkers at Hancock County Speedway.

The 2020 finale and 100th tour event is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 30 at Benton County Speedway in Vinton, traditional home track of the IMCA Modified division. 

Speed Shift TV Dirt Knights Tour top 10 point standings – 1. Ethan Braaksma, Newton, 155; 2. Kyle Brown, Madrid, 123; 3. Chris Abelson, Sioux City, 116; 4. Corey Dripps, Reinbeck, 115; 5. Jason Brees, Meriden, 110; 6. Kelly Shryock, Fertile, 107; 7. David Brown, Kellogg, 99; 8. Cody Laney, Torrance, Calif., 94; 9. Bob Moore, Sioux City, 90; 10. Ricky Stephan, Sioux City, 83.