It was the earliest racing action ever at Brown County Speedway Aberdeen, but a variety of drivers looked to be in mid-season form Friday night.

Despite the quick start to the campaign, racers displayed their usual aggressive nature as they circled the local oval.

“It’s normally good to run with some momentum right at the beginning at the get-go, and then you can start carrying from there,” said Taylor Schmidt of Bath, who not only won his heat race, but went on to win the Midwest Modified feature race.

Schmidt said this season started about a month earlier than when he originally got into racing.

“When I first started we used to have to wait for the horse races,” Schmidt said, “where we’d normally start the first weekend in June.”

Schmidt said the most important part about opening night was just to not wreck his car.

“I don’t care what position I finish I just want it in one piece,” Schmidt said. “Saves me the work week.”

Warner’s Chris Serr was involved in a tight battle during his heat race in the Street Stock division. He won the race during the final lap.

“There’s some really good guys in this class,” Serr said.

While it was just his first race of the season, Serr said all of the races count and have value.

“Well, now heat race points count, so you’ve got to win heat races, too, not just features,” Serr said. “You’ve got to be on it no matter what. Everything matters.”

He said even a simple heat race could come into play by the end of the season.

“It could cost you a (track) championship, just by getting third in that heat race,” Serr said.

Aberdeen’s Cory Moser was the first official winner of the 2025 season, rallying to win his Street Stock heat race.

“It acctually feels pretty darn good. I’ll take it,” Moser said following the race.

While Moser thought he would be well prepared for the opening night, he soon found out otherwise.

“You feel a little pressured coming off the off-season and you’d think you’d be a little more ready with the winter that we had, but we weren’t,” Moser said.

He said he actually had to turn around on his way to the track.

“I was leaving the house today to come to the track and I had to double back and grab a few things,” Moser said, “because I thought I had the trailer ready to go and it turned out I didn’t.”

Aberdeen’s Chad Becker passed multiple vehicles on his way to a second-place finish in a Late Model heat race. Unlike most drivers, Becker had a couple of races under his belt from competing in Minnesota last weekend.

“We got out feet wet last week, racing over east for a couple of nights, so we got a little experience in it so far,” Becker said. “New style car, new brand, everything like that, so we’re trying to get it dialed, so I gotta know where I’m at.”

Becker talked about the early start to the season.

“It seems like every year everybody moves it up earlier and earlier until you get a bad winter, then they start backing them down again,” Becker said. “But we’ve had it pretty lucky the last couple of years for winter-wise.”

Nobody has experienced more opening nights at Brown County Speedway than Rich Thomas of Aberdeen, who is currently in his 55th year of racing.

“I don’t have to win,” Thomas said. “If I can get close to the top five, that’s good enough for me.”

Thomas, who now has three sons and a grandson that races, said he enjoys competing against the younger drivers.

“I don’t expect to win, but I want to just be able to run with them,” Thomas said. “That’s all I care about. Just be somewhat competitive.”

Other feature winners on opening night included Andy Rossow of Florence in Street Stock, Kent Arment of Aberdeen in Modified, Trevor Nelson of Warner in Super Stock, and Trevor Anderson of Watertown in Late Model.

Racing continues at 7 p.m. Friday.

To see complete results, click on the following link:

https://www.myracepass.com/events/581418/races