Anderson to try short-track racing
Rookie Sye Anderson of Baxter has already raced his 650-horsepower Wissota Championship Sprint Car a few times this season, nabbing a season-best third-place finish at West Fargo in only his second race.
But the Wissota Sprint Special Saturday night at North Central Motor Speedway concerns the 20-year-old because it will be the first short track on which he has raced.
"I'll be pretty nervous," Anderson said.
NCMS, located five miles south of Brainerd on Highway 371, is one-third mile. Other tracks Anderson has raced on this season include a half-miler in West Fargo and a quarter-miler in Glyndon.
This won't be the first time Anderson has raced at NCMS. Last year he raced a Wissota Midwest Modified (also an open-wheeled racer) and finished fourth in the final points standings. Last season also was his first of racing. He raced at NCMS, Bemidji, St. Cloud and Princeton.
What prompted him to strap himself into a Sprint Car that weighs 1,550 pounds?
"I always wanted to race them since I was little kid," he said. "I used to watch them all the time on TV."
His first race in his Sprint car powered by a Chevrolet 360 cubic-inch engine was at West Fargo earlier this spring and he finished fourth.
Anderson won two Wissota Midwest Modified features at Princeton last season and is currently third in points at Red River Raceway in West Fargo.
Anderson, whose father raced late models, intends to keep racing Sprint Cars for several years with a goal of winning the Wissota Championship Sprint points title.
Race notes
-- Gates open at 4 p.m. Hot laps will start between 6 and 6:30 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m.
-- Greg Nikitenko of Minot, N.D., is the current season points leader, followed by Raleigh Sandberg of Long Prairie, Tony Norem of Dassel, Jimmy Kouba of Byron, Loren Langerud of Harwood, N.D., Matt Folstad of Harwood, N.D., Gary Walton of Baxter, Joseph Kouba, Donovan Peterson and Ehren Leyton of St. Louis Park.
-- Walton finished seventh in a race at Jamestown, N.D.. last Saturday and eighth in a race at Glyndon last Sunday. Anderson finished 10th at Glyndon.