Dustin Strand Doubles Down at River Cities!

 

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – After three weeks of specials, all Premier Racing Series weekly classes were back at River Cities Speedway on Friday night. Dustin Strand, Matt Schow, and Dan McNamee claimed the WISSOTA PolyDome Dirt Track Series wins, while Wade Nygaard won in Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Car action.

Zach Lee grabbed the early lead of the Wells Concrete Street Stock feature. With four laps in the books, Lee, John Halvorson, and Riley Gregoire raced three wide for the lead.

Positions two through five were swapped each turn until Adams Burrows emerged as the race leader on lap six. The caution flew on lap eight, where Burrows went pitside for a flat tire, relinquishing the race lead.

On the restart, Lee led the field but he was spun in turn one, bringing out the yellow again.

The Evergreen Insurance restart resumed the race, where Dan McNamee grabbed the lead from Lee. Once out front, McNamee went on to take the win by a full straightaway over Gregoire.

The win marked McNamee’s first win at the bullring since July 10th, 2011.

Matt Schow picked up his first win of the season at River Cities Speedway Friday night in the Happy Harry’s Midwest Modifieds. The driver out of McIntosh, Minn. took the lead on the opening lap over Jason Halvorson and Ryan Schroeder.

Schroeder and Halvorson battled for the second spot, which eventually went to Schroeder.

Schow had a comfortable lead up front until Schroeder’s machine broke, which brought out the caution.

With defending track champion, Austin Hunter, lined up right behind him, Schow had to be on his toes for the final Evergreen Insurance restart. As the green flag waved, Schow got a good jump while Hunter and Todd Johnson battled for the runner-up spot. That allowed Schow to pull away even more, as Johnson cleared Hunter for the position.

Schow cruised to the win over Johnson, Ricky Hamel, Hunter and Joey Rowell.

The NLRA Late Models brought in a stout field of 25 cars as they geared up for twin 25-lap features, which included the June 16th make-up race.

For Dustin Strand, the night couldn’t have gone any better.

The driver out of Grand Forks swept both features in dominating fashion. In doing so, Strand has established a healthy points lead atop the NLRA standings.

“This is huge,” said Strand, the defending River Cities Speedway track champion. “To get a good start with the NLRA is everything. If you start out with a couple DNF’s, your chasing the whole season just to catch up. Granted, it could happen later on, but it’s always great to start out good that’s for sure.”

In the first Performance Auto feature, Strand took the lead from Joey Pederson on lap two before having to hold off Donny Schatz in the closing stages. Schatz came from 10th to second, but ran out of time to catch Strand.

Fourteenth place starter, Bill Mooney, rounded out the podium with an impressive drive through the field.

The race was marred by several multi-car incidents, including a seven car pile up on lap two. The red flag was also displayed in the first half of the event after Kevin Robertson barrel-rolled his No. 10 machine in turn one. Robertson was okay and had his machine repaired for the second feature.

With the lineup already determined for the second feature by the June 16th heat races, Dustin Strand and Joey Pederson led the field to the green once again.

Strand used the low groove to take the lead on lap one, as Zach Naastad and Pederson battled for second. As the field entered lapped traffic, Ricky Weiss and Schatz began moving their way forward, and found themselves running second and third at the halfway point.

Meanwhile, Strand had a full straightaway lead, but Schatz quickly reeled in the No. 71. A caution with three laps to go put the eight-time and defending World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series champion on the back bumper of Strand.

On the restart, Strand protected the bottom, which forced Schatz to run the less preferred high groove. Schatz remained within striking distance of Strand, but wasn’t able to mount a serious charge as Strand took his second checkered flag of the night. Schatz, Weiss, Brad Seng, and Mooney rounded out the top five.

“The track was really good tonight,” said Strand in RydellCars.com Victory Lane. “For this second feature, it was awesome. It was smooth and you could race top or bottom. It was really fun.”

Casey Mack and Chris Ranten led the field of 27 Buffalo Wild Wings Sprint Cars to the green flag for their 25 lap main event.

Mack grabbed the early lead over Ranten, but Ranten came back with a slidejob on lap three to take the point. On the following lap, Mack had a parts failure in turn three, which sent him flying off the banking at a high rate of speed. Mack was able to keep his machine on all fours, but his night had come to an end.

On the ensuing Evergreen Insurance restart, Ranten held the lead over Wade Nygaard. Two laps later, third place runner and NOSA point leader, Austin Pierce, spun out in turn four to bring out the yellow.

Ranten continued to pace the field as the race went back green.

In the closing laps, 24th place starter, Thomas Kennedy, ran in the third position. However, a push in turn one sent him over the banking, ruining his strong run.

On the final restart, Ranten and Nygaard put on a show as they traded slidejobs corner after corner. Nygaard cleared Ranten for the lead with three laps to go and hung on to take his first win at The Bullring in 2017 and third overall.

Pierce rebounded nicely to steal second from Ranten on the final lap. Jordan Adams and Shane Roemeling rounded out the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA NLRA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, [2]; 2. 15S-Donny Schatz, [10]; 3. 2-Bill Mooney, [14]; 4. 7W-Ricky Weiss, [4]; 5. 10-Mike Balcaen, [17]; 6. 11-Troy Schill, [18]; 7. T1-Tom Corcoran, [12]; 8. 71S-Steffen Snare, [21]; 9. 7P-Joey Pederson, [1]; 10. 9-Steve Anderson, [16]; 11. 1R-Travis Robertson, [22]; 12. 4-Shane Edginton, [8]; 13. 44-Cole Schill, [25]; 14. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [26]; 15. F9-Brandon Fuller, [15]; 16. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [11]; 17. 9R-Erik Robertson, [23]; 18. 345-Bryce Reimer, [20]; 19. (DNF) 15-Ryan Mikkelson, [5]; 20. (DNF) 105-Terry Blacklance, [19]; 21. (DNF) 1S-Scott (Rebel) Bintz, [6]; 22. (DNF) 1M-Nicholas Minske, [24]; 23. (DNF) 10R-Kevin Robertson, [9]; 24. (DNF) 12S-Brad Seng, [3]; 25. (DNF) 4C-Ryan Corbett, [13]; (DQ) Z17-Zach Naastad, [7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss, [1]; 2. Z17-Zach Naastad, [2]; 3. 15S-Donny Schatz, [3]; 4. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [6]; 5. 10-Mike Balcaen, [7]; 6. 71S-Steffen Snare, [5]; 7. 9R-Erik Robertson, [4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7P-Joey Pederson, [1]; 2. 4-Shane Edginton, [4]; 3. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [2]; 4. 2-Bill Mooney, [5]; 5. 11-Troy Schill, [6]; 6. 1R-Travis Robertson, [3]; 7. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, [4]; 2. 15-Ryan Mikkelson, [2]; 3. T1-Tom Corcoran, [3]; 4. F9-Brandon Fuller, [6]; 5. 105-Terry Blacklance, [5]; 6. (DNF) 44-Cole Schill, [1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 12S-Brad Seng, [3]; 2. 1S-Scott (Rebel) Bintz, [1]; 3. 10R-Kevin Robertson, [6]; 4. 9-Steve Anderson, [5]; 5. 345-Bryce Reimer, [4]; 6. (DNF) 14-Brody Troftgruben, [2]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 2S-Matt Schow, [2]; 2. 21-Todd Johnson, [8]; 3. 22-Rick Hamel, [10]; 4. 44-Austin Hunter, [5]; 5. 1R-Joey Rowell, [11]; 6. 17S-Lance Schill, [13]; 7. 6R-Nate Reynolds, [7]; 8. 10C-Cole Haugland, [6]; 9. 32-Eric Haugland, [17]; 10. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [14]; 11. 35-John Halvorson, [18]; 12. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, [16]; 13. X5-Rob Gordon, [21]; 14. 22S-Tyler Schow, [22]; 15. 8T-Doug VanMill, [20]; 16. (DNF) 111-Jason Halverson, [1]; 17. (DNF) B0-Jory Berg, [12]; 18. (DNF) 01-Zach Bruer, [3]; 19. (DNF) 77R-Ryan Schroeder, [4]; 20. (DNF) 57-Nathan Raasakka, [19]; 21. (DNF) 16-Randy Thompson, [9]; 22. (DNF) 17-Dallas Brevik, [15]

B Feature 1 (7 Laps): 1. X5-Rob Gordon, [2]; 2. 22S-Tyler Schow, [5]; 3. 12-Jaden Varnson, [6]; 4. 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [1]; 5. 77B-Logan Bauer, [3]; 6. (DNF) 96-Brent Loftsgard, [4]; (DNS) 43-Dean Selmanson,

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2S-Matt Schow, [6]; 2. 44-Austin Hunter, [1]; 3. 16-Randy Thompson, [2]; 4. 17S-Lance Schill, [5]; 5. 32-Eric Haugland, [7]; 6. 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [3]; 7. 22S-Tyler Schow, [4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6R-Nate Reynolds, [2]; 2. 21-Todd Johnson, [3]; 3. 22-Rick Hamel, [5]; 4. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [4]; 5. 35-John Halvorson, [1]; 6. X5-Rob Gordon, [7]; 7. 12-Jaden Varnson, [6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 01-Zach Bruer, [2]; 2. 10C-Cole Haugland, [4]; 3. 1R-Joey Rowell, [6]; 4. 17-Dallas Brevik, [3]; 5. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [5]; 6. 77B-Logan Bauer, [7]; 7. (DNF) 43-Dean Selmanson, [1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, [2]; 2. 111-Jason Halverson, [4]; 3. B0-Jory Berg, [5]; 4. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, [6]; 5. 8T-Doug VanMill, [3]; 6. 96-Brent Loftsgard, [1]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 29-Dan McNamee, [6]; 2. 18X-Riley Gregoire, [3]; 3. 3-Zach Lee, [1]; 4. 48-Chase Boen, [12]; 5. 33-Daniel Aberle, [11]; 6. 18M-Matt Beehler, [7]; 7. 25-Ryan Johnson, [9]; 8. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [10]; 9. 7-James Meagher, [13]; 10. 00-Dustin Ebensteiner, [20]; 11. 4-Trey Hess, [19]; 12. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, [14]; 13. 99-Josh Barker, [18]; 14. 21J-Brian Johanson, [16]; 15. 9-Jason Rethemeier, [2]; 16. 11P-Jeremiah Porter, [15]; 17. (DNF) 03-Bryce Reimer, [21]; 18. (DNF) 18B-Adam Burrows, [8]; 19. (DNF) 35-John Halvorson, [4]; 20. (DNF) 1M-Nicholas Minske, [5]; 21. (DNF) 77-Benjamin Coopland, [17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18B-Adam Burrows, [3]; 2. 18X-Riley Gregoire, [1]; 3. 9-Jason Rethemeier, [5]; 4. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [2]; 5. 7-James Meagher, [7]; 6. 21J-Brian Johanson, [4]; 7. 4-Trey Hess, [6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 35-John Halvorson, [3]; 2. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [6]; 3. 29-Dan McNamee, [2]; 4. 33-Daniel Aberle, [5]; 5. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, [4]; 6. 77-Benjamin Coopland, [7]; 7. (DNF) 00-Dustin Ebensteiner, [1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Ryan Johnson, [3]; 2. 3-Zach Lee, [1]; 3. 18M-Matt Beehler, [6]; 4. 48-Chase Boen, [5]; 5. 11P-Jeremiah Porter, [2]; 6. 99-Josh Barker, [7]; (DNS) 03-Bryce Reimer,

NOSA Sprints:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [4]; 2. 2A-Austin Pierce, [3]; 3. 27-Chris Ranten, [2]; 4. 20A-Jordan Adams, [5]; 5. 10TRB-Robert Martin, [6]; 6. 0-Nick Omdahl, [14]; 7. 31-Shane Roemeling, [17]; 8. 13T-Ty Hanten, [10]; 9. 26-Blake Egeland, [7]; 10. 2JR-Kelly Miller, [26]; 11. 91M-Jackson Moffett, [15]; 12. 99-Jordan Graham, [12]; 13. 8H-Jade Hastings, [19]; 14. 14-Tom Egeland, [9]; 15. 6-Zach Wilde, [16]; 16. 35-Brenden Wilde, [8]; 17. 4M-Cale Mack, [25]; 18. 82K-Thomas Kennedy, [24]; 19. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [23]; 20. (DNF) 24-Jon Sorenson, [18]; 21. (DNF) 8C-Jack Croaker, [22]; 22. (DNF) 7-Trent Stengl, [11]; 23. (DNF) 8-Casey Mack, [1]; 24. (DNF) 22-Tanner Wisk, [13]; 25. (DNF) 67X-Justin Berg, [20]; 26. (DNF) 47-Sabrina Hockenson, [21]; (DNS) 27X-Trevor Mell,

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 27-Chris Ranten, [3]; 2. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [4]; 3. 99-Jordan Graham, [1]; 4. 26-Blake Egeland, [6]; 5. 91M-Jackson Moffett, [5]; 6. 31-Shane Roemeling, [7]; 7. 8H-Jade Hastings, [9]; 8. 8C-Jack Croaker, [8]; 9. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [2]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 20A-Jordan Adams, [1]; 2. 8-Casey Mack, [9]; 3. 14-Tom Egeland, [2]; 4. 7-Trent Stengl, [5]; 5. 35-Brenden Wilde, [8]; 6. 24-Jon Sorenson, [7]; 7. 47-Sabrina Hockenson, [4]; 8. (DNF) 82K-Thomas Kennedy, [3]; 9. (DNF) 4M-Cale Mack, [6]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [3]; 2. 10TRB-Robert Martin, [1]; 3. 13T-Ty Hanten, [2]; 4. 22-Tanner Wisk, [4]; 5. 6-Zach Wilde, [5]; 6. 0-Nick Omdahl, [8]; 7. 67X-Justin Berg, [7]; 8. (DNF) 2JR-Kelly Miller, [6]; (DNS) 27X-Trevor Mell,