Dobmeier Cruises to Victory Lane in First Night as Team Owner at River Cities

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (May 12, 2018) – River Cities Speedway returned to action Friday night, celebrating its 20th anniversary season. Ricky Weiss, Lance Schill, and Ryan Johnson scored WISSOTA wins, while Mark Dobmeier was victorious with the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints.

Dustin Strand and Brad Seng led a strong field of 16 Performance Auto WISSOTA Late Models to the green flag. The action intensified immediately as Strand, Seng and Bill Mooney raced three wide for the point. Mooney dove to the inside of both drivers in turn one to move from third to first on lap two.

Strand battled back on the high side, however, and they raced door to door for the top spot for the next three circuits. Mooney eventually prevailed, running a smooth, patient line on the low side. With Strand and Seng still within striking distance, Mooney quickly had his hands full with defending NLRA champion, Ricky Weiss.

Weiss made quick work of Strand and Seng and challenged Mooney for the lead on lap five. Mooney didn’t give up the spot easy, but Weiss eventually drove around the outside of him to take the lead on lap seven.

One caution slowed the field, but as the race resumed Weiss regained his advantage up front. The four-time WISSOTA Late Model national champion ran the remainder of the 20-lap event relatively unchallenged as he took the win. Strand, Mooney, Mike Balcaen, and Ryan Corbett rounded out the top five.

Lance Schill dominated the Happy Harry’s WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature for his second win of the season. Schill started eighth on the field, but gained four positions on the opening lap after a four wide pass for fourth. From there, Schill moved by defending track champion, Austin Hunter and Scott Bintz for second.

The race was plagued by several cautions, but once the race resumed, Schill made the pass for the lead on Jory Berg.

Once out front, Schill fended off challenges from Todd Johnson to claim the win. Berg, Matt Schow and Scott Bintz rounded out the top five.

Ryan Johnson was the only defending track champion to visit RydellCars.com Victory Lane on Friday’s opener. The Karlstad, Minn. driver picked up a dominating win in the Wells Concrete WISSOTA Street Stock feature as he led every trip around the three-tenths mile bullring.

Johnson started on the pole and jumped out to the lead as Aaron Blacklance and James Meagher battled for second behind him. After a mid-race restart, Blacklance’s machine suffered a mechanical failure, which also forced Meagher to slow. That opened the door for Daniel Aberle and Adam Burrows to move into second and third, respectively.

Aberle put heavy pressure on Johnson in the closing laps. Aberle pulled up to Johnson’s left rear quarter panel on a couple of occasions, but could never get any further alongside the No. 25. Johnson went on to pick up his 14th career Street Stock win at River Cities, which ties him with Ryan Flaten for fourth on the all-time Street Stock wins list.

The field of 19 Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints were led to the green by Thomas Kennedy and Chris Ranten. Kennedy grabbed early lead as Dobmeier drove from fourth to second on the opening lap. Kennedy pulled away from Dobmeier and the rest of the pack, but the field was slowed on lap four after Cale Mack got upside down. Mack was ok.

On the restart, Kennedy and Dobmeier engaged in a spectacular battle for the lead. The lead duo exchanged the lead no less than eight times over the course of three laps as they traded slide jobs at each end of the three-tenths mile oval.

On the ensuing lap six restart, Dobmeier got the best of Kennedy to claim the lead. Once out front, Dobmeier put his Buffalo Wild Wings No. 13 Maxim up on the cushion and checked out.

Dobmeier cruised to his 131st career win at River Cities by four seconds over Kennedy and Ranten.

A excited and emotional Dobmeier celebrated in victory lane with family, friends and his crew.

“It’s been crazy. This last month has been absolutely insane,” he said in RydellCars.com Victory Lane. “I’ve never been more prouder and confident in life right now. I’ve got a ton of people to thank to help get this team together in such a short order.

RESULTS:

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss, 07:20.728[5]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand, 09:13.130[1]; 3. 2-Bill Mooney, 09:15.487[3]; 4. 10-Mike Balcaen, 09:17.984[6]; 5. 4C-Ryan Corbett, 09:18.967[7]; 6. 44-Cole Schill, 09:20.733[12]; 7. 12S-Brad Seng, 09:22.396[2]; 8. 11-Troy Schill, 09:25.464[16]; 9. F9-Brandon Fuller, 09:26.220[13]; 10. 1R-Travis Robertson, 09:13.212[10]; 11. 14-Brody Troftgruben, 09:14.632[8]; 12. 1M-Nicholas Minske, 09:17.698[14]; 13. 48-Larry Niemi, 09:25.971[11]; 14. (DNF) 4E-Shane Edginton, 09:03.672[4]; 15. (DNF) 16S-Jeff Hapala, 07:20.728[9]; (DNS) 7P-Joey Pederson, 09:12.175

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss, [6]; 2. 4E-Shane Edginton, [3]; 3. 71-Dustin Strand, [5]; 4. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [2]; 5. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [4]; 6. 48-Larry Niemi, [8]; 7. (DNF) 7P-Joey Pederson, [7]; 8. (DNF) 11-Troy Schill, [1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Balcaen, [2]; 2. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [1]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng, [6]; 4. 2-Bill Mooney, [5]; 5. 1R-Travis Robertson, [4]; 6. 44-Cole Schill, [7]; 7. F9-Brandon Fuller, [3]; 8. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [8]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 17S-Lance Schill, 17:34.094[8]; 2. 21-Todd Johnson, 17:36.559[7]; 3. B0-Jory Berg, 17:40.314[1]; 4. 2S-Matt Schow, 17:41.415[14]; 5. 1S-Scott Bintz, 17:41.580[6]; 6. 44-Austin Hunter, 17:42.074[3]; 7. 87S-Reise Stenberg, 17:42.224[4]; 8. 16S-Skyler Smith, 17:43.206[9]; 9. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, 17:44.245[20]; 10. 11X-Tanner Armstrong, 17:46.141[13]; 11. 01-Zach Bruer, 17:46.151[17]; 12. B4-Tim Berg, 17:46.477[12]; 13. 39-Jamie Dietzler, 17:47.399[11]; 14. 77B-Logan Bauer, 17:42.681[15]; 15. 96-Brent Loftsgard, 17:45.830[19]; 16. (DNF) 81X-Matt Sparby, 13:18.094[2]; 17. (DNF) 68-Joe Henninger, 04:48.196[21]; 18. (DNF) 17-Dallas Brevik, 04:47.179[10]; 19. (DNF) 28S-Ryan Schow, 04:45.473[5]; 20. (DNF) 33A-Austin Overwater, 04:49.854[16]; 21. (DNF) 43-Dean Selmanson, 00:57.266[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Todd Johnson, [2]; 2. 16S-Skyler Smith, [3]; 3. B0-Jory Berg, [4]; 4. 17-Dallas Brevik, [5]; 5. 11X-Tanner Armstrong, [6]; 6. 33A-Austin Overwater, [7]; 7. 96-Brent Loftsgard, [1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28S-Ryan Schow, [2]; 2. 81X-Matt Sparby, [1]; 3. 17S-Lance Schill, [3]; 4. 39-Jamie Dietzler, [4]; 5. 2S-Matt Schow, [5]; 6. 01-Zach Bruer, [7]; 7. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, [6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Scott Bintz, [6]; 2. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [3]; 3. 44-Austin Hunter, [7]; 4. B4-Tim Berg, [5]; 5. 77B-Logan Bauer, [4]; 6. 43-Dean Selmanson, [1]; (DNS) 68-Joe Henninger,

WISSOTA Street Stocks

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 25-Ryan Johnson, [1]; 2. 33-Daniel Aberle, [6]; 3. 18B-Adam Burrows, [7]; 4. 67-Ryan Satter, [12]; 5. 21X-Dustin Puffe, [9]; 6. 3-Steven Richards, [8]; 7. 2U-Kasey Ussatis, [22]; 8. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [10]; 9. 28-Greg Jose, [21]; 10. 17-Casey Vargason, [25]; 11. 99-Josh Barker, [16]; 12. 29-Dan McNamee, [14]; 13. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, [13]; 14. 9A-Blake Anderson, [20]; 15. 92-Megan McNamee, [18]; 16. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [15]; 17. (DNF) 7-James Meagher, [3]; 18. (DNF) 539-Aaron Blacklance, [5]; 19. (DNF) 48-Chase Boen, [4]; 20. (DNF) 00-Dusten Ebensteiner, [11]; 21. (DNF) 35-John Halvorson, [2]; 22. (DNF) 7B-David Barker, [23]; 23. (DNF) 9-Jason Rethemeier, [24]; 24. (DNF) 4-Trey Hess, [17]; 25. (DNF) 14C-Jeremy Castro, [19]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Steven Richards, [7]; 2. 21X-Dustin Puffe, [4]; 3. 48-Chase Boen, [3]; 4. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [5]; 5. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, [8]; 6. 99-Josh Barker, [1]; 7. 92-Megan McNamee, [9]; 8. (DNF) 7B-David Barker, [2]; 9. (DNF) 17-Casey Vargason, [6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Ryan Johnson, [7]; 2. 539-Aaron Blacklance, [5]; 3. 18B-Adam Burrows, [8]; 4. 00-Dusten Ebensteiner, [1]; 5. 29-Dan McNamee, [4]; 6. (DNF) 28-Greg Jose, [6]; 7. (DNF) 2U-Kasey Ussatis, [3]; 8. (DNF) 9-Jason Rethemeier, [2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7-James Meagher, [2]; 2. 33-Daniel Aberle, [1]; 3. 35-John Halvorson, [7]; 4. 67-Ryan Satter, [3]; 5. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [5]; 6. 4-Trey Hess, [6]; 7. 14C-Jeremy Castro, [4]; 8. 9A-Blake Anderson, [8]

 

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 14:44.601[4]; 2. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, 14:48.635[1]; 3. 27-Chris Ranten, 14:53.935[2]; 4. 2A-Austin Pierce, 14:58.859[13]; 5. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 14:44.827[5]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland, 14:45.589[7]; 7. 20A-Jordan Adams, 14:48.175[11]; 8. 8H-Jade Hastings, 14:48.345[12]; 9. 13T-Ty Hanten, 14:50.030[3]; 10. 14-Tom Egeland, 14:52.440[9]; 11. 55-Nick Ranten, 14:52.928[10]; 12. 0-Nick Omdahl, 14:54.145[15]; 13. 10TRB-Bob Martin, 14:58.302[6]; 14. 22-Tanner Wisk, 14:58.585[17]; 15. 31-Shane Roemeling, 14:47.767[16]; 16. 12-Brayden Pengilly, 14:53.318[8]; 17. 4M-Cale Mack, 01:17.106[19]; 18. (DNF) 11M-Brendan Mullen, 06:52.741[14]; 19. (DNF) 6-Zach Wilde, 01:16.163[18]

 

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [3]; 2. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [1]; 3. 13-Mark Dobmeier, [6]; 4. 20A-Jordan Adams, [4]; 5. 26-Blake Egeland, [8]; 6. 8H-Jade Hastings, [7]; 7. 2A-Austin Pierce, [9]; 8. 11M-Brendan Mullen, [10]; 9. 22-Tanner Wisk, [2]; 10. 4M-Cale Mack, [5]

 

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 27-Chris Ranten, [3]; 2. 13T-Ty Hanten, [4]; 3. 14-Tom Egeland, [2]; 4. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [6]; 5. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [8]; 6. 55-Nick Ranten, [9]; 7. (DNF) 0-Nick Omdahl, [7]; 8. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling, [5]; 9. (DNF) 6-Zach Wilde, [1]