Greseth, Berg, Johnson, TPO and Pake victors at River Cities

River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks moved from Friday to Thursday this week, ahead of the holiday weekend, with 89 cars on hand in five classes.

I thought RCS had a nice track for the WOO Late Model show last week and as a fan spectating that is how I like the track there. On Thursday the track had some character in spots; the best feature of the night turned out to be the INEX Legends, who were making their second trip to RCS this season.

The question in the Wissota Street Stocks, at least at River Cities, Jamestown and Sheyenne, is who can slow down Cole Greseth’s 19 machine. He entered the night with 15 wins and had not finished worse than third in a race this season.

Adam Dehne of Medina took the initial lead in the Wissota Street Stock feature and Greseth quickly went from sixth to second.   On the fourth lap, Dehne’s machine slowed suddenly and he would go off of turn three.  Something broke on the 77 and he had to leave on the hook.

Greseth inherited the lead with Greg Jose of Grand Forks in second and Blaine Barnes of Grand Forks running third. John Halvorson of Warren was fourth and Aaron Sigerud of Goodridge and Josh Barker of Thompson were fighting for fifth. The caution flew with 13 to go for Trey Hess, who is driving the 49s car for a second straight week. He would go to the pits.

Greseth pulled away from Jose as Halvorson solidified third. The real race was for fourth between Barnes, Kyle Betram of Dallas, S.D., Doug VanMill of Bagley and Barker, who were really battling hard for position.

Barker would grab fourth with VanMill all over him.  Greseth had a half straightaway on Jose, who had a big advantage  on Halvorson, who was comfortably ahead of fourth-place Barker. VanMill was getting pressure from Bertram as those two dueled for a top five spot.

Greseth cruised to win #16 on the year with another comfortable victory. Jose, is the only driver to beat Greseth at RCS this year, was a strong second, and the always-solid Halvorson was third.  Sheyenne had a $200 bounty on Greseth last week, and it might be time RCS puts one up.

Barker picked up his best finish of the year in fourth; it was good to see him have some luck after four DNFs this year. RaceChaser blog did a story on Barker earlier this week check it out here.  VanMill survived Bertram in the battle for fifth.

Jory Berg emerged as the leader of the Wissota Midwest Modified feature and soon was chased by Austin Hunter of Winnipeg. Brennan Schmidt of Bemidji was third, Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls fourth and Kenna Breidenbach of Grand Forks fifth.

The caution flew with 14 for a two-car spin in turn two, and flew for Ryan Johnson’s spin one lap later.

Berg resumed out front but Hunter was right there. Blacklance passed Schmidt for third as Breidenbach as Casey Jenkins spun for a second time. He would call it a night.

While Berg opened a couple of car lengths Blacklance and Hunter raced side-by-side for second as Schmidt was trying to hold off Breidenbach. Kody Machart of Moorhead was also running well in the sixth spot.

Much like the street stocks, the bottom lane was the place to be for the Wissota Midwest Modifieds. Berg suck his machine to the bottom and led by a little less than a half second at the white flag and would prevail by .441 seconds for his sixth win of 2026. Blacklance went from sixth to second while Hunter held off Schmidt for third. Breidenbach earned her ninth top five in 17 starts by taking fifth.

Nate Raasakka of Grand Forks had a good run from eighth to sixth.

19 INEX Legends were competing at RCS on Thursday as Ryan Braseth of Ulen surged into the top spot. Ty Olson of Bismarck, Sean Johnson of Kindred, Zach Reinke of Lisbon and Mason Lemar were locked in a tense fight for second with Olson claiming the spot.  The caution few with 16 to go for debris.

Braseth now had Olson on his heels and Zach Reinke  working the outside to make it a three -car battle. Johnson was fourth. Olson and Reinke made contact in t urn four, and Reinke’s night would come to an end as he pulled into the pits.

Olson would take the lead from Braseth, and Johnson went up to a higher lane to grab the second spot. The caution came out with 11 to go for a three-car pileup in turns one and two. On the restart both Johnson and Braseth went up to the high lane in their attempt to chase down Olson. Riewer had climbed to fourth ahead of Regan Reinke of Lisbon.

Johnson was dang near running off turn two and would get a good surge out of turn two. Olson though would stick his 7 machine to the bottom. The top three were well head of Regan Reinke,, who had passed Tanner Riewer for fourth.

Johnson’s persistence paid off. He worked and worked that high lane, and by the white flag was side-by-side with Olson. He was slowed briefly by a lapped car in turns one and two but regained the momentum out of turn two and made one last charge – and in a thrilling finish, would edge Olson by just .020 seconds for the win. It was the only time in the race Johnson led – and for about two feet. It was some great racing.

Olson was second, Braseth third, Regan Reinke fourth and Alexander Clark made a late move to take fifth.

Veterans Cole Schill of Hawley and Brad Seng of Grand Forks led the 25-car Wissota Late Model field to the green with Seng take the lead. Dustin Strand of East Gand Forks soon moved into third,  as Tyler Peterson of Hickson moved into fourth. Cole Searing of Huron had moved to fifth.

Strand was all over Seng at the front as Peterson pressured Schill for third. Searing would slide off of turn two to bring out the caution with 14 laps to go.

The battles resumed up front as Peterson grabbed third from Schill. Brody Troftgruben of Grand Forks and Jason Strand of Portland were squaring off for fifth.

TPO used a slider to grab second and Dustin Strand would come down and make contact with Schill’’s right front ; Strand would spin halfway down the frontstretch while Schill went around in turn four.  Schill got his spot back and I believe Strand was tagged with the yellow. I am not sure how much damage came from the contact but he pulled into the pits.

John Buchner of Warren rolled his 5 machine on the restart coming out of turn four to bring out the red flag. I didn’t see what happened, but all drivers involved were OK; I didn’t see what triggered it. 

Another development occurred at this point – Seng headed to the pit area with a flat tire; That would put TPO in the lead. Seng had fought Dustin Strand for several laps to hang on to the top spot and now his hopes for a win were all but dashed with the flat.

TPO led with Jason Strand now in second. Schill was third while Troftgruben was foufth but getting challenged by Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks. The caution waved with three to go for Collin Compson’s spin in turn one, erasing a 1.4 second lead for TPO.

Schill would go high in turns one and two and lose three spots, and that moved John Seng into the top five.  TPO reassumed control on the restart and would win by 1.1 seconds. Jason Strand had a great night in second with Troftgruben running a solid third. John Seng – who started 17^th, had a heck of a night, moving to fourth with Joey Pederson rounding out the top five. 16 of the 25 starters finished; there was some good racing at times but TPO controlled the final laps after the restart.

Weston Olson of Warren and Laela Eisenschenk of Fargo fought for the early lead, but Olson would slide off the backstretch to bring out the first yellow. I didn’t see if there was contact.

Eisenschenk led on the start with Andy Pake of Felton in second. Gage Pulkrabek of Fargo was third but battle

Pake took the lead with 19 to go, sailing around the outside and would quickly encounter lapped traffic. Pake built a commanding four second lead on Eisenschenk who was chased by Hastings for second.  With 10 to go Brody Graham went around in turns one and two for the second caution.

Pake flew to the lead as Hastings passed Eisenschenk for second. Pake was an absolute rocket on this night and destroyed the field, building a 3.8 second advantage over the final 10 laps to record the win.  Lapped traffic proved to be no deterrent.

Hastings was second, Eisenschenk a solid third, Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks fourth and Pulkrabek in fifth. Only two cautions in the sprint feature .

RCS notes

--There were three former Wissota Late Model national champions on hand on Thursday – Strand, Peterson and Searing. Peterson has won the last three in a row.

--Brody Graham went over in his NOSA Sprint heat; it wasn’t a multi-time flip but did do some damage. He made it out for the feature.

--One of the drivers who has made a lot of progress in the NOSA Sprint class in recent years is Colton Young of Devils Lake. He entered Thursday second in track points, trailing Nick Omdahl by 7. He has two top fives and four top 10s in four starts this season going into the night but ended up with a DNF in both the heat and feature.