RECAP: River Cities Speedway

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (July 7, 2017) – A stout field of 97 race teams among four division packed the pit area of River Cities Speedway on Northdale Oil night. Mark Dobmeier picked up both the make-up feature and regularly scheduled feature in the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints. Brad Seng, Rick Hamel, and Ryan Johnson scored the WISSOTA PolyDome Dirt Track Series wins.

Brad Seng stole the show with a thrilling last lap, last corner pass on Dustin Strand during the Performance Auto Late Model feature.

The three-time and defending NLRA series champion had a six car length deficit on Strand as the lead duo stormed down the backstretch for the final time. Strand entered turn three down low and got held up by lapped traffic, while Seng rode the middle groove and drifted high coming out of turn four.

Seng got a tremendous run exiting the corner and pulled even with Strand on the front stretch.

At the line, Seng took the win by 0.037 seconds to halt Strand’s RCS winning streak at two.

“That was the closest finish I’ve been a part of and there’s not a scratch on the car. What more can a guy ask for,” said Seng in RydellCars.com Victory Lane.

Strand led nearly 19 and three-quarters of the 20 laps around the Bullring in what was a dominating performance, but Seng was still able to find a way around the defending WISSOTA Late Model national champion.

“The car was pretty good. It’s just that Dustin is darn smooth,” continued Seng. “You need to capitalize on a mistake and I don’t even know if he made a mistake.”

Bill Mooney picked up the final podium position after a spirited battle with Mike Balcaen. Joey Pederson rounded out the top five.

Mark Dobmeier added two more Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Car checkered flags to his impressive River Cities Speedway résumé. Dobmeier began the night by claiming the June 9th make-up feature, albeit with some controversy.

Twenty-one year-old Jordan Adams set a blistering pace to begin the feature and held off Dombeier, Austin Pierce and Wade Nygaard restart after restart.

Adams led the first 21 laps of the event until he and Dobmeier made contact in turn four, which sent Adams hard into the turn four water barrels. The collision ended Adams’ race and forced him to a backup car for the rest of the evening.

“It was a racing deal. Jordan actually got off the backstretch there and got sideways so I shot underneath him,” said Dobmeier in victory lane. “He tried to hang around on the topside where there wasn’t room while I had already made my move. I’m never going to intentionally take someone out. We made the best of it, moved on, and won the race.”

In the second main event of the night, Austin Pierce got out to the early lead until Dobmeier came storming through the field.

Dobmeier took the lead with five laps in the books and survived a couple restarts in the late going to take the win. Behind him, a fierce battle for second through seventh ensued as Chris Ranten, Pierce, Wade Nygaard, Casey Mack, Thomas Kennedy, and Nick Omdahl all vied for position.

At the checkers, Ranten, Pierce, Nygaard and Omdahl rounded out the top five.

“The track was really tricky for that second feature,” continued Dobmeier. “It was fairly smooth and dry and had a cushion around the top. If you really slowed it down you could make that bottom work, but I was running wherever you had to go to get by one of them lapped cars.”

A B-main narrowed the 29-car Happy Harry’s Midwest Modified feature to the fastest 24 for their 18-lap main event. Defending track champion, Austin Hunter, led the field on the opening lap as Rick Hamel and Todd Johnson filed into second and third, respectively.

On a lap three restart, several cars got stacked up on the front stretch, which resulted in Eric Haugland tipping over on his roof to bring out the red. Haugland was uninjured from the incident.

Hunter continued to pace the field until Hamel found a way by with five laps remaining, but a caution with three laps to go gave Hunter one last shot. On the Evergreen Insurance restart, Matt Schow harassed Hunter for the runner-up spot, which allowed Hamel to pull away.

Schow took the position on the final lap as Hamel went on to score the victory. Hunter, Todd Johnson, and Nate Reynolds rounded out the top five.

Ryan Johnson scored his third RCS win of 2017 in the Wells Concrete Street Stocks. Johnson led all 15 laps around the three-tenths mile oval.

With five laps to go, a caution gave Dan Aberle a shot at Johnson, but the Karlstad, Minn. driver was able to fend off Aberle in the final stages to take the win. Dan McNamee, Matt Beehler, and Aaron Blacklance rounded out the top five.

Next week the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Models invade River Cities Speedway and will be joined by the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Cars and Schill Construction WISSOTA Modifieds.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 12S-Brad Seng, [2]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand, [1]; 3. 2-Bill Mooney, [5]; 4. 10-Mike Balcaen, [4]; 5. 7P-Joey Pederson, [3]; 6. 4-Shane Edginton, [9]; 7. Z17-Zach Naastad, [6]; 8. 1R-Travis Robertson, [8]; 9. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [7]; 10. 9-Steve Anderson, [11]; 11. T1-Tom Corcoran, [12]; 12. 11-Troy Schill, [10]; 13. 71S-Steffen Snare, [13]; 14. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [15]; 15. F9-Brandon Fuller, [14]; 16. 345-Bryce Reimer, [17]; 17. (DNF) 1M-Nicholas Minske, [16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, [1]; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson, [2]; 3. 2-Bill Mooney, [3]; 4. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [4]; 5. 4-Shane Edginton, [6]; 6. 9-Steve Anderson, [5]; 7. 71S-Steffen Snare, [9]; 8. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [7]; 9. 345-Bryce Reimer, [8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12S-Brad Seng, [2]; 2. 10-Mike Balcaen, [1]; 3. Z17-Zach Naastad, [3]; 4. 1R-Travis Robertson, [5]; 5. 11-Troy Schill, [7]; 6. T1-Tom Corcoran, [4]; 7. F9-Brandon Fuller, [6]; 8. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [8]

 

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22-Rick Hamel, [6]; 2. 2S-Matt Schow, [8]; 3. 44-Austin Hunter, [1]; 4. 21-Todd Johnson, [4]; 5. 6R-Nate Reynolds, [2]; 6. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [10]; 7. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, [12]; 8. B0-Jory Berg, [9]; 9. 10C-Cole Haugland, [19]; 10. 87-Chris Kruk, [24]; 11. 111-Jason Halverson, [13]; 12. 22S-Tyler Schow, [22]; 13. 35-John Halvorson, [5]; 14. 17-Dallas Brevik, [7]; 15. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [14]; 16. 16-Randy Thompson, [17]; 17. (DNF) 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [23]; 18. (DNF) 11-Kyle Schell, [21]; 19. (DNF) 68-Joe Henninger, [11]; 20. (DNF) 01-Zach Bruer, [16]; 21. (DNF) 32-Eric Haugland, [20]; 22. (DNF) B4-Tim Berg, [18]; (DNS) 17S-Lance Schill, ; (DNS) 96-Brent Loftsgard,

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 68-Joe Henninger, [1]; 2. 87-Chris Kruk, [2]; 3. 16-Randy Thompson, [5]; 4. M1-Ryan Oppegaard, [9]; 5. 77B-Logan Bauer, [7]; 6. 43-Dean Selmanson, [3]; 7. (DNF) 75-Aaron Vigness, [6]; 8. (DNF) 96-Brent Loftsgard, [4]; 9. (DNF) 3A-Adam Unrau, [8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Eric Haugland, [7]; 2. 17S-Lance Schill, [2]; 3. 111-Jason Halverson, [1]; 4. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [4]; 5. 35-John Halvorson, [3]; 6. 68-Joe Henninger, [5]; 7. 16-Randy Thompson, [6]; 8. M1-Ryan Oppegaard, [8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [1]; 2. 44-Austin Hunter, [4]; 3. B0-Jory Berg, [2]; 4. 22-Rick Hamel, [6]; 5. B4-Tim Berg, [3]; 6. 87-Chris Kruk, [5]; 7. 75-Aaron Vigness, [7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Todd Johnson, [6]; 2. 01-Zach Bruer, [1]; 3. 17-Dallas Brevik, [5]; 4. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [3]; 5. 22S-Tyler Schow, [4]; 6. 43-Dean Selmanson, [2]; 7. 77B-Logan Bauer, [7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, [1]; 2. 10C-Cole Haugland, [5]; 3. 6R-Nate Reynolds, [3]; 4. 11-Kyle Schell, [2]; 5. 2S-Matt Schow, [4]; 6. 96-Brent Loftsgard, [6]; 7. 3A-Adam Unrau, [7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 25-Ryan Johnson, [1]; 2. 33-Daniel Aberle, [2]; 3. 29-Dan McNamee, [3]; 4. 18B-Matt Beehler, [4]; 5. 39-Aaron Blacklance, [13]; 6. 35-John Halvorson, [9]; 7. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [5]; 8. 03-Bryce Reimer, [6]; 9. 3-Zach Lee, [15]; 10. 18X-Riley Gregoire, [7]; 11. 7-James Meagher, [11]; 12. 48-Chase Boen, [20]; 13. 9-Jason Rethemeier, [10]; 14. 17-Casey Vargason, [14]; 15. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [12]; 16. 4-Trey Hess, [21]; 17. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, [8]; 18. 11P-Jeremiah Porter, [19]; 19. 99-Josh Barker, [16]; 20. 76-Ron Olafson, [23]; 21. (DNF) 77-Benjamin Coopland, [17]; 22. (DNF) 11F-Brandon Fah, [18]; (DNS) 10-Thomas Neihart,

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Aaron Blacklance, [1]; 2. 35-John Halvorson, [4]; 3. 3-Zach Lee, [2]; 4. 03-Bryce Reimer, [5]; 5. 9-Jason Rethemeier, [3]; 6. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [8]; 7. 17-Casey Vargason, [6]; 8. (DNF) 10-Thomas Neihart, [7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Ryan Johnson, [2]; 2. 48-Chase Boen, [4]; 3. 11P-Jeremiah Porter, [1]; 4. 18B-Matt Beehler, [3]; 5. 18X-Riley Gregoire, [6]; 6. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [8]; 7. 29-Dan McNamee, [7]; 8. (DNF) 76-Ron Olafson, [5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Daniel Aberle, [2]; 2. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, [3]; 3. 11F-Brandon Fah, [6]; 4. 99-Josh Barker, [1]; 5. 7-James Meagher, [7]; 6. 4-Trey Hess, [5]; 7. 77-Benjamin Coopland, [4]

 

NOSA 410 Sprint Cars:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 13-Mark Dobmeier, [4]; 2. 27-Chris Ranten, [3]; 3. 2A-Austin Pierce, [1]; 4. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [6]; 5. 0-Nick Omdahl, [10]; 6. 8-Casey Mack, [2]; 7. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [7]; 8. 31-Shane Roemeling, [15]; 9. 8H-Jade Hastings, [5]; 10. 7-Trent Stengl, [11]; 11. 20A-Jordan Adams, [28]; 12. 91M-Jackson Moffett, [18]; 13. 8C-Jack Croaker, [9]; 14. 26-Blake Egeland, [16]; 15. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [13]; 16. 13T-Ty Hanten, [12]; 17. 6-Zach Wilde, [8]; 18. 14-Tom Egeland, [17]; 19. 51-Alex Larson, [20]; 20. 42-Rick Bates, [25]; 21. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [26]; 22. 4M-Cale Mack, [22]; 23. 99-Jordan Graham, [21]; 24. 35-Brenden Wilde, [14]; 25. 27X-Trevor Mell, [23]; 26. 3M-Marcus Rothenbacher, [24]; 27. (DNF) 6N-Greg Nikitenko, [19]; (DNS) 22-Tanner Wisk,

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [1]; 2. 13-Mark Dobmeier, [8]; 3. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [7]; 4. 0-Nick Omdahl, [6]; 5. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [3]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland, [4]; 7. 6N-Greg Nikitenko, [10]; 8. 4M-Cale Mack, [5]; 9. 42-Rick Bates, [9]; (DNS) 20A-Jordan Adams,

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 8-Casey Mack, [1]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings, [3]; 3. 6-Zach Wilde, [4]; 4. 7-Trent Stengl, [2]; 5. 35-Brenden Wilde, [7]; 6. 14-Tom Egeland, [6]; 7. 51-Alex Larson, [8]; 8. 27X-Trevor Mell, [9]; 9. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [5]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 27-Chris Ranten, [2]; 2. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [1]; 3. 8C-Jack Croaker, [7]; 4. 13T-Ty Hanten, [5]; 5. 31-Shane Roemeling, [3]; 6. 91M-Jackson Moffett, [6]; 7. 99-Jordan Graham, [4]; 8. 3M-Marcus Rothenbacher, [9]; 9. (DNF) 22-Tanner Wisk, [8]