Carlsrud and Kohl capture special victories at RRVS; Hendrickson, Jacobson, Wilke and Goplen winners

The Sanders IMCA Stock Car Challenge and the Dakota Tire IMCA Hobby Stock special highlighted Friday night’s program at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo.  The first nights of those specials were rained out on Thursday at Norman County Raceway in Ada.

The show started on time, and the heats and INEX Legend B main were done by just after 8 p.m. The final checkered flag waved just after 10 p.m., hats off to RRVS drivers and officials for a good, efficient show. I know I say a lot of about shows that run too long but I need to also recognize when a night goes along in a smooth matter, and credit the drivers and officials for that.

The IMCA Stock Car numbers are down this year locally, and there were just 12 on hand for the $800 to win special on Friday which surprised me. However, as I’ve said previously, you don’t need a ton of cars in that class for a good race, and there are several at RRVS that can contend for the win. I will start with the Sanders Stock Car challenge which had no shortage of action.

Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead surged into the lead of the IMCA Stock Car feature but had a ton of heat from Todd Heinrich of Fargo. Rick Schulz of Horace was third.

Heinrich grabbed the lead as Carlsrud fought back. The caution waved with 12 to go when Tyler McDougall spun.  On the restart Schulz joined the battle up front.  Modified veteran Tyler Hall hopped behind his good friend Brody Carlsrud’s backup stock car and was running fourth but had a lot of company.

Carlsrud was working hard on Heinrich for the lead as the top two had a few car lengths on Schulz when the caution waved for Kalvin Kesselberg’s spin in turn one with seven to go. Kesselberg, who started in the back row, had climbed to fourth.

The restart saw a three-car fight between Carlsrud, Heinrich and Schulz with Carlsrud taking over the lead. Rob VanMil of Barnesville joined the battle and he moved to second.  VanMil was pushing hard but got sideways in turns one and two and spun, and Schulz spun to avoid the wreck. VanMil was charged with the yellow.

Carlsrud was all over Schulz on the restart and moved ahead briefly but Carlsrud fought back with a slider in turns three and four to regain the lead in what was a intense battle.

Schulz’s night would end in heartbreak when he spun in turn two; since the white flag had waved, it was called a race and Carlsrud would prevail in one of his biggest career wins.  If you have not met Brody, he is a genuinely good guy and he and his family truly love racing. He was plenty excited in victory lane.

Heinrich ran a strong second with Daniel Aberle of Finley climbing up to third at the checkered. Hall did well in Carlsrud’s backup car, taking fourth with VanMil recovering from the caution to get back to fifth.

The IMCA Hobby Stocks were racing for $500 to win, and it was a good night financially for Nathan Kohl of Fort Ripley.  Kohl and Brodee Eckerdt, were on the front row for the IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Kohl led early but former RRVS champion Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes would move out front. Kohl fought back at the halfway point to regain the lead. Engen stayed close, and those two were well ahead of Eckerdt, who had a lot of heat from Chris Seidel of Brainerd

Reid Randall of Park Rapids had his hands full with Andrea Jacobson of Fargo for the fifth spot.

Kohl, who won the dash earlier in the evening, started to pull away, opening a more than two-second lead on Engen, who was more than 4.7 seconds ahead of Seidel, who had cleared Eckerdt for third.

Kohl rolled to the win by 2.06 seconds with Engen taking second. Seidel was third, Eckerdt was fourth and Randall was fifth. The caution-free race lasted 4 minutes and 29 seconds.

Kohl is one of the strong runners at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, and I like seeing a few of the Brainerd cars pull up this way to race at RRVS. The only downside is it is a big haul from Brainerd to West Fargo.

Josh Johnson of Harwood and Justin Lundeen of Grand Forks led the IMCA RaceSaver Sprints to the green.  Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton got off to a good start to take the lead on Lap 1 before Ty Hanten assumed the top spot. Dan Griep was in third with Johnson pressuring him and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes moving into fifth.

Hanten opened a 1.5 second lead on Hendrickson while Wilke was all over Griep for third. Brandon Rekow of Ellendale was having a solid run into fifth.

Hanten’s lead grew to more than two seconds at one point but Hendrickson was  closing, and with five to go Hendrickson surged into the top sot. Wilke finally cleared Griep for third.

Hendrickson took complete control after making the pass and stretched the lead to 4.3 seconds on his way to his first sprint car win. Hanten finished second, Wilke was third, Griep was fourth and Rekow fifth in a caution-free feature that lasted four minutes.

Torey Fischer grabbed the lead of the IMCA Sport Mod main event with Thomas Sandvig settling into second. Paul Colvin was applying heavy pressure to Sandvig with Scott Jacobson of Fargo and Reile Sailer of Fargo right in the hunt.  Fischer had built more than a one-second lead but the caution waved for Brennan Urbach’s spin on Lap 2.

Fischer resumed the lead with Jacobson moving into second ahead of Colvin, but the caution came out for Reile Sailer’s spin in turn two.

It was a battle of two of the Northwest Auto Body cars as Fischer led Jacobson. Point leader Ryan Restad of West Fargo, who started 12^th, was charging into third. Chris VanMil of Barnesville had climbed into fourth.

Restad’s 7R was absolutely hauling as he went to a higher lane and was closing on Fischer, who ran a lower line.  The caution waved with five to go when Kyle VanMil of Barnesville spun.

The restart was crazy with contact in turns one and two between the top 3-4 cars. Jacobson made a charge underneath Fischer and edged ahead. The Pavliceks, Rich and Jayden, were running in the top five as well. Jayden had started 17^th and Rich, driving the car Jayden normally drives at Glyndon, had started 15^th.

Fischer stayed close to Jacobson and mounted a huge surge on the bottom of turn four on the final lap but came up inches short as Jacobson held on for a thrilling .125 second win. Fischer finished second in her best finish of the year while Restad was third. Jayden Pavlicek was fourth ahead of his dad, Rich. Despite a few cautions, it was a hard-fought race at the front.

The INEX Legends had a difficult time getting started with two cautions before the opening lap was even completed which eliminated a few cars.

The early leader was Ben Lundquist, but Sean Johnson and Tye Wilke went up to the high side and were making a lot of progress. Wilke would stick the 72 up high and seize the lead as Johnson, who went down low, trying to mount a charge in second. Cody Jawaski of Kindred was running third with Joshua Wiest moving to fourth. Clay Smith of Wahpeton was fifth.

Like he has done many times before, Wilke pulled away, stretching the lead to 2.8 seconds over Johnson, who had a comfortable margin on third-place Jawaski. Wiest was close to Wiest with Regan Reinke of Lisbon having a good run into fifth.

Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids, who advanced through the B main, had climbed up to seventh and was nearing a spot in the top five.

Clay Smith went for a ride down the frontstretch and rolled his 79s machine after the white flag waved; it was called a race with Wilke winning. Smith was OK but went for a ride. It’s the second night I have seen a Legend roll, as Brian Frederick of Gwinner went for a ride at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon on Thursday.

Wilke had a 3.2 second lead on the final lap. Johnson was second, Jawaski third, Wiest fourth and Reinke fifth.

Here is my observation on the Legends class: the more experienced drivers, guys like Wilke, Johnson and Richardson, won’t hesitate to go up to the high side to make a move, especially early. The younger drivers, in most cases, tend to hug the bottom. So if there is grip up high in the feature, and you go up there to find it, it is a big advantage, and Wilke and Johnson showed that early in Friday’s feature.

Jamie Schulz of Harwood moved ahead in the IMCA Modified feature over Dylan Goplen, but by the fourth lap Goplen took over the lead. Jordan Sours of Lisbon was running third with Josh Anderson of Barnesville running fourth and John Nord of Enderlin in fifth.

Point leader Dave Shipley and last week’s winner, Jesse Skalicky of Fargo, started back in the fifth row but both had climbed into the top seventh by Lap 7.

Goplen had a 1.198 lead on Schulz when the caution waved with nine to go when Anderson spun.  That moved Shipley into fifth and Skalicky into sixth.

Nord grabbed second on the restart with Shipley moving into third ahead of Schulz. Tyler Hall of Fertile moved into fifth. Shipley moved into second on lap 9 and set his sights on Goplen.

Shipley was driving his 72 machine hard but Goplen was smooth up front and opened the lead to .833 seconds as the white flag waved, but the caution flew as Lynn Sather spun in turn two.  John Miller of Enderlin was charged with the caution.

On the restart Nord, who had won the Bison Battle earlier this summer at RRVS, took a shot on the low side into turns one and two but spun the 98 on the restart. He had been running third but would go to the tail.

Goplen got a great restart on the final green to open more than a half-second lead, and would prevail for his first feature win since Aug. 9, 2019. A couple of interesting notes on Goplen: it was only his second night out this summer and he had not raced since 2022. Based on those two facts alone, that’s a heck of a win for the 6D.

Shipley took second as he added to his point lead with Schulz capping off a solid run in third. Skalicky went from 10^th to fourth while Sours rounded out the top five.

Bogh Holds off Hess for DRC Street Stock Tour win at Brown County

 Jayden Bogh of Huron won the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour race Friday night at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, holding off Trey Hess of Grand Forks for the win. Broc Stout of Winner was third, Levi Randt of Siren, Wis., was fourth and tour point leader Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck was fifth. The Hard Charger was Kasey Ussatis of Nome, who went from 24^th to 13^th.

The DRC Street Stock Tour will also be at Brown County Speedway on Saturday before going to Casino Speedway in Watertown on Sunday.

River Cities wins to Pake, Greseth, Hunter and TPO 

 Andy Pake of Felton picked up the NOSA Sprint feature Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks. Weston Olson of Warren was second, Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks third, Jade Hastings of Grand Forks was fourth and Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks was fifth.

Cole Greseth of Harwood won the Wissota Street Stock feature over Scotty Messner of Bemidji. John Halvorson of Warren was third, Seth Klostreich of Grand Forks was fourth and Greg Jose of Grand Forks was fifth.

Austin Hunter of Winnipeg topped Taylor Jacobson of Roseau for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Jory Berg of Grand Forks was third, Brennan Schmidt of Bemidji was fourth and Cylen Vargason of Edinburg was fifth.

Tyler Peterson of Hickson (TPO) topped rival Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks for the Wissota Late Model win. Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks was third, Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks was fourth and Jamie Trautner of Hendrum was fifth.

Peterson was 2-for-2 in feature wins as he topped Aaron Holtan for the Wissota Mod win as well. Dustin Wahl of Greenbush was third, Ward Imrie of Headingly, Man., fourth and Jordan Duray of Halma was fifth.

Friday notes

--Ryan Mikkelson of Alexandria topped Dave Mass of East Bethel for the Wissota Late Model win at Night 1 of the Governor’s Cup at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan. Cole Schill of Hawley went from 15^th to third..