- tombergie01
Clanton and Pierce Pick Up Big River Cities Speedway Victories
I made it to River Cities Speedway on Friday with the World of Outlaw Late Models in town. The first night of the IRA vs. Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints were also on hand; it was the first time the IRA Sprints had visited the Bullring since 2003.
A great 38-car late model field was on hand as the River Cities regulars supported the show well. There were also 35 sprints on hand, including eight of the top 10 in points in the IRA series. A good field of 18 POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints were in attendance. There was a good crowd in the stands and they got to see a lot of laps.
With time trials for both the sprints and late models, heat races got going late, around 8 p.m., so I figured it was going to be a later night. For the record I am not a fan of time trials, but that is another blog entirely. It got to be a late night with the final checkered waving after midnight.
I’m always curious how the local late models will fare against the touring WOO cars, and I counted seven local cars who made the show. Keep in mind, the WOO cars have a 250-300 horsepower edge on the Wissota cars, while also having superior shocks and springs and access to technology. So for the local cars, it’s an uphill climb.
Georgia driver Shane Clanton and Tanner English of Benton, Ken., led the World of Outlaw Late Models to the green flag with Clanton jumping out to the lead.
English had point leader Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill. to contend with, and soon Tyler Bruening of Deborah, Iowa, closed in on that battle.
Quickly, the leaders got into lapped traffic as Clanton set a frantic pace.
Erb got by English, who still had Bruening on his heels. Erb then caught Clanton as the leaders were in heavy lapped traffic.
The feverish pace continued as Clanton and Erb were flying around the bullring, but the caution flew with 20 to go when Josh Richards spun in turns three and four.
On the restart, Bruening put pressure on Erb for second. Ricky Weiss was also applying the heat to Tanner English for fourth with Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., lurking outside the top five.
Clanton meanwhile opened some breathing room, but the caution came out with 11 laps to go.
As the laps waned, Erb applied pressure to Clanton up front as things got tense. Marlar, one of the few drivers to go to the high side, was moving up, and passed Bruening for third.
Clanton would take the win, with Erb surviving Marlar’s late charge for second. Bruening was fourth and English fifth. Clanton now has 47 WOO wins; he is fourth on the all-time wins list. Friday was his first win of 2022.
Canadian Ricky Weiss was sixth, he ran close to the top five all night.
Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks was the top local finisher. He was in the top 10 much of the race before settling for 11th. He also received the $500 bonus that goes to the non-WOO regular who has never won a tour race. Pederson is a veteran who I respect as a good, clean racer and is well thought of among his competitors. Brad Seng of Grand Forks was 13th and Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg was 15th.
I’m a big believer that home-track advantage makes a difference, and it certainly did in the sprint cars in the heats. Three River Cities/NOSA Regulars — Mark Dobmeier, Nick Omdahl and Jade Hastings — won heat races. Jordan Goldesberry of Springfield, Ill., who is the IRA points leader, won the final heat. In the feature, the NOSA cars rose to the top.
Jade Hastings of Grand Forks and Jordan Goldsberry of Springfield, Ill. led the sprint cars to the feature with Hastings gaining the early advantage.
Goldsberry faced a stiff challenge from Grand Forks veteran Wade Nygaard, who soon took over second. Goldsberry was dropping back as soon Mark Dobmeier had moved into third.
Hastings led by was in a pile of lapped cars ,and Dobmeier, who had overtaken Nygaard for second, was closing quickly. Thomas Kennedy of Winnipeg had climbed from 10th to third. The caution came out with 18 to go with Hastings, Dobmeier, Kennedy, Nygaard and Goldsberry manning the top five spots.
The top was the fast lane as Hastings continued to lead. With 12 to go, Dobmeier was within a couple of car lengths as Hastings hit heavy lapped traffic, and Kennedy was in the hunt as well. Austin Pierce of Grand Forks had pulled a slider to get past Goldsberry for fifth.
Blake Egeland of Climax, who was running in the top 10, was the turned on the front stretch and left not he hook with some front suspension damage.
Pierce was the car to keep an eye on; he had started eighth, but had quietly gotten into the top three. He cleared Dobmeier for second and was chasing Hastings.
Brendan Mullen of Grand Forks was running in fifth but slowed off of turn four, and had to go to the tail. That set up a three lap shootout.
Pierce put on one heck of a slider after the restart in turns three and four, and got by Hastings and went on the big win. Hastings finished second; he’s had a great week as he won the NOSA shows at Brown County Speedway and Casino Speedway last weekend. Dobmeier was third, Kennedy fourth and Jake Neuman of New Berlin, Wis., took fifth. Neuman, who started 16th, was the top finishing IRA sprint.
Pierce, the defending River Cities Speedway champion hasn’t run the full NOSA schedule; Friday was only his sixth show of 2022, and he has two wins on the season.
Kennedy was the fast qualifier with a time of 10.295 seconds. A shoutout to Jack Croaker of East Grand Forks, who ran in the top 10 almost all race and finished a solid eighth.
The POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints were quick around the 3/10-mile oval as well. Alex Truscinski of Greenbush started fourth, but got to the lead quickly and opened a big lead.
Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush started fifth but had moved into the top three, and once he took over second, began closing the gap on Alex Truscinski. Alan Truscinski of Greenbush and Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks also were having good runs in the top five.
The caution came out with three to go when a car broke and needed a push truck, and in a way, that may have helped Alex Truscinski, who was mired in a lot of lapped traffic as Dvergsten cut the gap.
Alex Truscinski got a great final restart with three to go, and Alan Truscinski got by Dvergsten for second on that restart.
Alex Truscinski picked up his seventh win of 2022, topping his dad Alan for the win. He is having some kind of season, placing first or second in all 13 of his starts, which is a pretty remarkable feat. Alan Truscinski was second, Dvergsten third and Kelsi Pederson fourth. Dylan Langevin of Thief River Falls rounded out the top five. Garrison Miller of Fargo went from 10th to sixth to have a good run. There was only one caution in the lightning sprints as the 18 cars did a nice job.
RCS Notes
—East Grand Forks driver Dustin Strand, who had a top five at the WOO event a few years ago, blew a motor in his heat race and his night was over. Jimmy Mars was among the cars who did not start the B main.
—Brad Seng of Grand Forks and Mike Greseth of Harwood advanced out of the first WOO last chance race while Jason Strand of Portland and Jesse Teunis of Lockport, Man., made it out of the second one.
—Grand Forks driver Nick Ranten was leading the third heat and was under a lot of pressure from Jade Hastings when he slid off the backstretch and hit the water barrels and went over, landing on his wheels. He was done for the night.
Satter Wins Steffes Street Stock Race at I-94
Ryan Satter of Dent won the Steffes Street Stock Tour event Friday night at I-94 Sure Step Speedway in Fergus Falls.
Steffes Point leader Justin Vogel of Brooten was second with Kaden Woodie of MIlaca taking third. Jeff Nowak of Wausau, Wis., was fourth and Ty Agen of Chippewa Falls, Wis., took fifth.
Zach Kort of Fergus Falls won the Short Tracker feature over point leader Shawn Beto of Wahpeton. Waylon Current of Bemidji was third, Brady Molter of Rothsay was fourth and Kevin Wahl of Fergus Falls fifth.
Dexton Koch won the Wissota Super Stock feature over Jake Froemke of International Falls. Karter Reents of Villard was a solid third with Justin Tammen of Clara City fourth and Larry Lund of Brandon fifth.
Brendan Blascyk of Hoffman won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Shane Howell of Buffalo. Travis Saurer of Elizabeth was third, Matt Schow of McIntosh was fourth and Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls fifth.
Jason Thoennes of Garfield topped Corky Thomas of Glyndon for the Wissota Modified feature. Tyler Peterson of Horace was third, Joseph Thomas of Glyndon fourth and Blake Jegtvig of Hawley fifth.
Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls won the Viessman Late Model feature over Derek Quinn of Brandon. Larry Samuelson of Erhard was third.