Weiss, Nygaard & Haugland Record Devils Lake Wins Saturday

CRARY, N.D. (July 22, 2017) – Devils Lake Speedway had a packed house Saturday night as both the NLRA Late Models and Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Cars invaded the high-banked quarter-mile dirt oval. WISSOTA PolyDome Dirt Track Series wins went to Ricky Weiss and Eric Haugland. Wade Nygaard claimed the NOSA Sprint Car win, while Colton Laber won in the Pure Stocks.

Twenty-three NLRA Late Models were on hand for their first of two appearance at Devils Lake Speedway. Dave Smith took the early lead of the 25-lap main event, but he was quickly surpassed by four-time WISSOTA Late Model national champion, Ricky Weiss.

Once out front, Weiss set sail and checked out from the field. The Headingley, Manitoba driver looked to have the race in hand, but lapped traffic played a major role in the closing stages. Weiss enjoyed a full straightaway lead over defending WISSOTA Late Model national champion, Dustin Strand, but Weiss’ advantage was erased with under five to go.

Strand put the pressure on Weiss as the white flag flew and threw everything he had at him in the final set of corners. Strand drove to the top side of the speedway in turns three and four as Weiss battled a lapped car in the middle groove. Strand got a great run exiting the corner, but came up a half car length short at the line as Weiss narrowly hung on in a photo finish.

For Weiss, it was his third career win at Devils Lake and first since 2012. Weiss and Strand are now tied atop the NLRA series point standings.

Eric Haugland dominated the WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature. The driver of the No. 32 machine started outside of the front row before taking the lead. Haugland was forced to fend off Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Austin Hunter throughout the mid-portion of the event, but did so successfully to claim his second win of the season.

Hunter, Logan Salazar, who drove from 12th to third, Jeremy Lizakowski and Cole Haugland rounded out the top five.

Wade Nygaard collected his series leading 13th career NOSA win at Devils Lake after starting in the fourth position.

Blake Egeland and Brant O’Banion led the field of 22 NOSA Sprints to the green flag, with Egeland grabbing the point on lap one. O’Banion battled back on lap two before Wade Nygaard entered the fray to fight the Sioux Falls, S.D. driver for the runner-up spot.

On lap three, Nygaard and O’Banion made contact exiting turn four, which caused O’Banion to lose three positions.

As Egeland entered lapped traffic on lap seven, he held a five car length advantage over Nygaard. Meanwhile, Casey Mack and Austin Pierce advanced their way into the top five as they ran third and fourth, respectively.

At the halfway point, both Mack and Pierce were able to move by Nygaard down the back straightaway, but fortunately for Nygaard the caution flew for a two-car spin in turn four.

“We got lucky there with that yellow flag,” said Nygaard after the race. “I was trying to figure out how to get by (Blake) Egeland. He was running really well tonight. Then Casey and Austin both got by me at the same time. Right after that, the yellow came out, which really saved us.”

On the restart, Egeland, who was in search of his first career NOSA win, led Nygaard, Mack and Pierce.

As the race resumed, Egeland, Mack, Nygaard, and a hard charging Shane Roemeling briefly went four wide for the lead off of turn four. Mack and Nygaard used the extreme low and high grooves to distance themselves from the pack down the frontstretch as a thrilling race for the lead ensued.

“Casey was running really well on the bottom. I just had to calm down and not spin the tires,” Nygaard continued. “I think it worked because I lost him out of my peripheral vision. Then I just told myself not to drive in the corner too hard and screw up.”

After four laps of side by side racing, Nygaard prevailed on the top side to take the lead. Once out front, Nygaard cruised the win; his fifth of the season overall.

Mack, Nick Omdahl, Pierce and Egeland rounded out the top five. Jade Hastings was the hard charger of the event, cruising from 14th to sixth.

SUMMARY

NLRA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 7-Ricky Weiss, [4]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand, [3]; 3. 44-Cole Schill, [9]; 4. 2-Bill Mooney, [8]; 5. 9H-Robert Hellebust, [1]; 6. 12S-Brad Seng, [10]; 7. 10R-Kevin Robertson, [7]; 8. 4-Shane Edginton, [13]; 9. T1-Tom Corcoran, [16]; 10. 9-Steve Anderson, [17]; 11. 71S-Steffen Snare, [12]; 12. 06-David Smith, [2]; 13. 11M-Paul Mueller, [20]; 14. 1R-Travis Robertson, [15]; 15. 10-Mike Balcaen, [6]; 16. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [19]; 17. 11-Troy Schill, [11]; 18. 86-Matthew Smith, [14]; 19. 9R-Erik Robertson, [23]; 20. 16-Layne Opstedal, [22]; 21. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [21]; 22. (DNF) 21-Aaron Turnbull, [5]; 23. (DNF) 71B-Brian Strand, [18]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, [3]; 2. 21-Aaron Turnbull, [2]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng, [5]; 4. 4-Shane Edginton, [4]; 5. 9-Steve Anderson, [1]; 6. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [6]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 9H-Robert Hellebust, [2]; 2. 10-Mike Balcaen, [6]; 3. 71S-Steffen Snare, [1]; 4. 86-Matthew Smith, [3]; 5. 71B-Brian Strand, [4]; 6. (DNF) 9R-Erik Robertson, [5]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 7-Ricky Weiss, [2]; 2. 2-Bill Mooney, [1]; 3. 11-Troy Schill, [4]; 4. 1R-Travis Robertson, [3]; 5. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [5]; 6. 16-Layne Opstedal, [6]

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 06-David Smith, [2]; 2. 10R-Kevin Robertson, [3]; 3. 44-Cole Schill, [5]; 4. T1-Tom Corcoran, [1]; 5. 11M-Paul Mueller, [4]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 32-Eric Haugland, [2]; 2. 44-Austin Hunter, [4]; 3. 3L-Logan Salazar, [12]; 4. 96-Jeremy Lizakowski, [3]; 5. 10C-Cole Haugland, [8]; 6. 69-Stoney Kruk, [6]; 7. 16-Randy Thompson, [10]; 8. 87-Chris Kruk, [1]; 9. 11X-Lee Dahl, [16]; 10. 12-Jaden Varnson, [13]; 11. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [11]; 12. 16L-Taran Langland, [9]; 13. 66-Kyle Langland, [7]; 14. 8-Jason Schuh, [17]; 15. 29N-Steve Nordrum, [15]; 16. (DNF) 17-Lance Schill, [5]; 17. (DNF) 20K-Kyle Lovcik, [14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 96-Jeremy Lizakowski, [2]; 2. 87-Chris Kruk, [1]; 3. 69-Stoney Kruk, [3]; 4. 16-Randy Thompson, [6]; 5. 12-Jaden Varnson, [4]; 6. 11X-Lee Dahl, [5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Eric Haugland, [5]; 2. 16L-Taran Langland, [4]; 3. 66-Kyle Langland, [2]; 4. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [6]; 5. 20K-Kyle Lovcik, [1]; 6. (DNF) 8-Jason Schuh, [3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Lance Schill, [1]; 2. 10C-Cole Haugland, [3]; 3. 44-Austin Hunter, [4]; 4. 3L-Logan Salazar, [5]; 5. 29N-Steve Nordrum, [2]

NOSA Sprint Cars:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [4]; 2. 8-Casey Mack, [7]; 3. 0-Nick Omdahl, [5]; 4. 2A-Austin Pierce, [8]; 5. 26-Blake Egeland, [1]; 6. 8H-Jade Hastings, [14]; 7. 27-Chris Ranten, [11]; 8. 31-Shane Roemeling, [12]; 9. 6-Zach Wilde, [13]; 10. 92-Mitch Mack, [10]; 11. 47-Brant OBanion, [2]; 12. 35-Brenden Wilde, [9]; 13. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [3]; 14. 20A-Jordan Adams, [6]; 15. 4M-Cale Mack, [20]; 16. 99-Jordan Graham, [18]; 17. 14-Tom Egeland, [15]; 18. 55-Sam Miller, [16]; 19. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [17]; 20. 6A-Terry Arneson, [19]; 21. (DNF) 51-Alex Larson, [21]; 22. (DNF) 91M-Jackson Moffett, [22]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 8-Casey Mack, [6]; 2. 20A-Jordan Adams, [5]; 3. 92-Mitch Mack, [1]; 4. 8H-Jade Hastings, [2]; 5. 14-Tom Egeland, [3]; 6. 55-Sam Miller, [4]; 7. (DNF) 6A-Terry Arneson, [7]; (DNS) 51-Alex Larson,

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [7]; 2. 47-Brant OBanion, [2]; 3. 27-Chris Ranten, [1]; 4. 26-Blake Egeland, [5]; 5. 6-Zach Wilde, [6]; 6. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [4]; (DNS) 91M-Jackson Moffett,

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 0-Nick Omdahl, [1]; 2. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [3]; 3. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [6]; 4. 35-Brenden Wilde, [5]; 5. 31-Shane Roemeling, [7]; 6. 99-Jordan Graham, [4]; 7. 4M-Cale Mack, [2]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 850-Colten Laber, [6]; 2. 1J-Joe Armstrong, [4]; 3. 5-Bradon Miller, [7]; 4. 43-Dan Arends, [2]; 5. 11-Juliann Salazar, [3]; 6. 19-Mark Bromstad, [5]; 7. 7-David Barker, [8]; 8. 21B-Lane Bachmeier, [1]; 9. 35-Daniel Bromstad, [9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 850-Colten Laber, [4]; 2. 21B-Lane Bachmeier, [1]; 3. 5-Bradon Miller, [5]; 4. 19-Mark Bromstad, [3]; 5. (DNF) 35-Daniel Bromstad, [2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1J-Joe Armstrong, [2]; 2. 43-Dan Arends, [3]; 3. 11-Juliann Salazar, [4]; 4. (DNF) 7-David Barker, [1]