I was at Red River Valley Speedway for Night 1 of the third annual Howie Schill Memorial, with a great 36-car late model field in attendance. There were good car counts in the IMCA Mods (22) and IMCA RaceSaver Sprints (14) as well.
I think the Schill family will be thrilled with the turnout, and I know they put a lot of work into organizing this event. The second night is Friday which pays $2,404 to win and $444 to start. There is also a $444 hard charger bonus and a $444 bonus for finishing fourth (Howie Schill’s number was 4). Thursday’s show was a usual NLRA purse which paid $1,250 to win.
What sucked was the start of the race was ugly. There was some contact up front on the opening lap – I didn’t see what triggered it – that sent outside pole car Mike Greseth crossed up towards the wall. Josh Zimpel of Braham, who won his heat race going away, had nowhere to go and piled into Greseth. Both cars had pretty significant damage and left on the hook. For Greseth, the two-time NLRA champion, entered the night in the series point lead, it was a costly night in the points.
After the restart Nickeson took the lead over Mitch Johnson of Hickson. National point leader Tyler Peterson of Hickson was running up high and moved into second soon flew by Nickeson up front.
Defending national champion Chad Becker of Aberdeen moved into third and was working on Nickeson for second. Becker would take over the second spot with 20 to go as Peterson checked out.
Multi-time NLRA champion Dustin Strand of Grand Forks had worked into the top five.
Becker stuck his #12 machine to the bottom and would pass Peterson for the lead. Soon, the top two were into lapped traffic. Peterson stayed right on Becker’s heels through the lapped traffic. With 10 to go, however, Becker moved up a lane in turns one and two and Peterson ran out of room and slid off; the 1TPO was charged with the yellow and would pull in under yellow.
Becker led on the restart as Johnson, who was running very well, was pressuring Nickeson for second. Cole Schill of Hawley was running way up high and moved into fourth, right next to Brad Seng of Grand Forks.
The bottom was the place to be as the laps waned as Becker pulled away on his way to a 2.448 second win. Nickeson would hold off Johnson, who had an excellent night, for second. Seng and Cole Schill rounded out the top five.
The hard charger was Kevin Robertson of Enderlin, who started dead last in 25th but worked up to 11th. Dave Mass of East Bethel started 17th after winning his B main but worked up to seventh.
Becker is chasing Peterson in the national points and the win is valuable that way. It’s going to take a driver to get hot to catch the TPO in the national standings, in my estimation as he entered the night with 23 top fives in 27 features, including 13 wins. Friday they will get another shot, this time with $2,404 on the line.
There was a makeup late model feature from Norman County Raceway run early, and Peterson ran away with that win over Don Shaw of Ham Lake. Canadian Shane Edginton was third. Shaw would hit the wall in his heat, however and would be done for the night.
Ty Hanten of West Fargo led the first lap of the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature but it was Detroit Lakes driver Tye Wilke who was on the move from his fourth spot. He took over the lead on the third lap. The national point leader was on hand, Tyler Drueke of Eagle, Neb., and he was working on Hanten for second.
Andy Pake of Felton has been on a terror lately and had moved into fourth. He soon was in third and went after Hanten for second.
Wilke had built a 3.153 second lead by the halfway point as Pake continued to battle Hanten for third. Drueke was running fourth.
With six to go Pake got together with a lapped car and went airborne off turns three and four which brought out the red flag. He was out of the car and was checked over for precautionary reasons.
Wilke reestablished control with a great restart as Drueke moved into third. Tyler Rabenberg of Princeton was running well and pressuring Hanten for third.
Wilke was impressive in picking up a 2.364 win over Drueke. Wilke was never challenged after taking the lead early. Hanten was third, Rabenberg fourth and Jeremy Snow, who had a nasty crash last week, rounded out the top five. Wilke added to his point lead in the Red River Sprint Series with the win, and Pake being credited for 13th.
Blake Anderson and Tyler Hehn of Horace led the IMCA Hobby Stocks to the green. Hehn would lead over Brad Orvedal of Fargo.
Anderson had his hands full with four cars pressuring him – Andrea Jacobson of Fargo, Tim Church of Moorhead, Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks and Caleb Gardner of Glyndon.
Orvedal would take over the lead as Church and Eckerdt were gaining on second. The caution would wave with six to go as Anderson stalled in turn two.
Eckerdt, who leads the points and has five wins at RRVS this season, moved into fourth and was pressuring Hehn for third. Hehn had not given up on second as Church was pressuring Orvedal for the top spot.
Church and Eckerdt got together, dropping the 21 car to fourth. More on that in a moment.
Eckerdt, meanwhile was now after Orvedal, who got tight in turns one and two and slid up on the final lap. Eckerdt would get by and slide in front and hold on for the win after starting seventh. Orvedal was second, and Church was third. Hehn was fourth and Andrea Jacobson of Fargo rounded out the top five. The caution flag was the downfall for Orvedal, who I think was on his way to a win before that caution waved.
Church was none too happy with Eckerdt after the contact earlier and was giving him a pretty good chase after the checkered to let him know and Eckerdt was likely aware of that and drove a pretty fast cool down lap. We are at the time of year where patience is about gone, and tempers are very short.
Travis Traut was up front early but it was Kollin Hibdon of Pahrump, Nev., who would make the charge to the lead early in the IMCA Modified main event from his fifth starting spot. The caution would wave three laps into it to bunch up the field, bringing Jacoby Traut and Lynn Sather to Hibdon’s bumper.
Dave Shipley of Argusville, who started 11th had worked into the top five past Josh Anderson of Barnesville. I thought Anderson’s name and number looked familiar; he formerly raced out of the Princeton area in the super stocks, among other classes, and is a formidable foe.
Shipley got a great restart and moved into second as there were about five cars fighting for sixth. Unfortunately, that didn’t last as there was a multi-car tangle in turns one and two with 13 to go, which involved Bill Wadeson of Leonard, Jamie Schulz of Harwood, Jeff Nelson of Perham, Cody Peterson of Glyndon, and Traut and left a lot of cars with damage and on the wrecker.
On the restart Shipley was working on Hibdon with Jesse Skalicky of Fargo, who started 15th, working into third past Anderson. Jordan Sours of Lisbon, who held a slim one-point lead over Shipley going into the night, was working on Anderson for fourth, ahead of last week’s winner Matt Aukland of Glyndon, who started back in 12th.
Aukland got a good restart and moved into fourth as Anderson and Sours continued to fight for fifth. Shipley was trying valiantly to catch Hibdon but the 48K car was the class of the field, winning by 1.424 seconds. Shipley would take over the point lead with a runner-up finish with Skalicky, who nearly had a win the week before, taking third. Aukland was fourth and Sours was fifth.
RRVS/Thursday Notes
--I got a chance to say hi to Erik Robertson, part of the father/son late model team with his dad Kevin. He hasn’t raced a ton this summer as life as been busy. I suspect it was nice for both to race at West Fargo again.
--Corey Seckerson’s debut in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprints was, well, a disaster. He flipped his #7 machine in turn one of his heat. He was OK; the only consolation about the heat race was some money in the rollover fund that announcer Corey Litton compiles after a car goes end over end. But he was able to get the car repaired for the feature.
--Justin Vogel of Brooten won the Wissota Street Stock feature at KRA Speedway in Willmar on Thursday over national point leader Braden Brauer.
Braseth Wins INEX Legends Tour at Sheyenne
Ryan Braseth of Ulen picked up the INEX Legends Tour win Thursday night at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon. Collin Compson of Valley City was second, Dusty Mund of Lisbon was third, Kody Machart of Moorhead was fourth and Zander Compson of Valley City was fifth.
Jonny Carter of Fairmont, driving his uncle Todd’s #19 car, topped Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks for the Wissota Street Stock feature win. Kyle Anderson of Jamestown was third, Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls fourth and Mike Mund of Milnor was fifth.
Aberdeen driver Jayden Michaelsohn has only lost one feature in the Pure Stocks at Sheyenne and he added another to his list on Thursday. Cade Gentzkow of Lamoure was second, Kelby Anderson of Fort Ransom third, Ryan Mund of Lisbon was fourth and Billy Carow of Jamestown was fifth.
Weston Clauson of Kathryn picked up his first career feature win in the Mini Stocks over Mason Bogart of Milnor. Chandler Dick of Lisbon was third, Braiden Mund of Lisbon was fourth and Dale Mittleider of Hankinson was fifth.
Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown topped Lucas Rodin of Marion for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature win. Nate Reinke of Lisbon was third, Aaron Michel of Jamestown was fourth and Zach Reinke of Lisbon was fifth.
Randy Klein of Lisbon won the Wissota Modified feature over point leader Joe Thomas of Fargo. Mike Stearns of Aberdeen was third, Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls fourth and Blake Jegtvig of Hawley was fifth.
Comentarios