RaceChaser was back at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks for Night 2 of the the inaugural POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint Shootout. It was a good night of racing at the 3/10-mile bullring.
We are also beginning to get into part of the busier farming season in the Red River Valley. Wheat is being harvested as we speak and we aren’t far from the start of sugar beet harvest. As a result, car counts tend to be a bit down this time of year at some of the northern RaceChaser tracks with many either farming or involved in some job in agriculture.
As a result of this, and with standout Mark Dobmeier competing at the Knoxville Nationals, only 13 Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints were on hand. RCS has been steadily at the 18-20 range most of the summer. There was also a new car I didn’t recognize, the #199 of Ryan Bowers of Nowthen, Minn., which is outside the Twin Cities.
The lightning sprint shootout saw 29 cars in attendance on Thursday at Norman County Raceway, 30 were on hand on Friday. Each night will pay at least $750 to win and $125 to start. There is also a $3,000 point fund and a $25 per lap leader bonus.
Tour director Jason Berg has to be happy with the car counts through two nights, especially bringing cars in from California (seven), Illinois, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri in addition to cars from Minnesota and North Dakota. The shootout heads to Greenbush Race Park on Saturday and concludes Sunday at Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon.
And it turned out to be the biggest win of young Bryce Haugeberg’s racing career. The West Fargo driver, interviewed above, started on the inside pole next to Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush — arguably the fastest lightning sprint in this region the last few years — for the 20 lap main event.
Haugeberg took the lead and then faced another challenge — lapped cars. And he maneuvered through that traffic flawlessly.
Braden Chiaramonte of El Cajon, Calif. (outside of San Diego), who started third, gave chase at Haugeberg throughout the race, but the 18-year-old held tough and didn’t lose his composure, despite working through lapped traffic. Haugeberg couldn’t afford a mistake with the race going non-stop, and he didn’t make any to pick up the $750 win. Chris Crowder of Colorado Springs was third, Dvergsten was fourth and Scott Kinney of Citrus Heights, Calif. fifth. The lightning sprints did a great job going 20 laps without a caution.
Nathan Raasakka of Grand Forks, who won his first career feature on July 31, was in contention for another win as he dueled with defending RCS champion Matt Schow of McIntosh, interviewed above, in the Wissota Midwest MOdifieds. However, Raasakka spun in turns one and two and had to go to the tail. Schow remained in front , this time with Preston Carr of Carrington in hot pursuit.
Schow and Carr went at it hard for he lead, with Schow running the lower line and Carr working up high. It was quite a race. There was also a good race for third between Reise Stenberg of Argusville and season-point leader Jory Berg of Grand Forks with Jamie Dietzler of Larimore also in the hunt.
Carr worked and worked the higher line, and even tried the lower lane a few times, but Schow didn’t make any mistakes and picked up his third win of the year. Carr ran a solid second. Stenberg fended off Berg for fourth with Dietzler taking fifth.
Schow, by the way, was in his second night in a car built by himself, his brother Ryan and his brother-in-law Reise Stenberg. Stenberg has raced one built by those three all year. And no, those three confirmed to me they are not getting into the chassis-building business, but wanted to try to build their own cars this year.
Berg and Dietzler are locked in a very tight points race in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds. Berg entered the night ahead by two over Dietzler and finished one spot ahead in
Third starter Seth Klostreich of Grand Forks was the early Wissota Street Stock leader ahead of veteran Dan McNamee of Arvilla.
After a restart, Klostreich opened up a little space between him and McNamee, who had pressure from 17-year-old Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks, interviewed above. Trey Hess of Lakota, winner at was running solid in the top five as well. Also moving into the top five was season points leader Ryan Johnson of Karlstad.
After a caution seven laps into the race, Pederson used the high lane to pass Klostreich and take over the top spot. But the battle wasn’t over as Klostreich fought back on the lower lane for a few laps. McNamee and Johnson had a great race for third with Greg Jose of Grand Forks challenging Ryne Uhrich of Langdon for fifth.
Pederson had opened up about 4-5 car lengths on Klostreich by the checkered to pick up his third win of the year. Klostreich capped off a great run in second. Johnson edged by McNamee for third as the white flag waved and took home that spot. Uhrich took home fifth.
Ryan Johnson of Karlstad entered the night with a 19-point lead in the Wissota Street Stocks over John Halvorson of Warren in another competitive race. Johnson finished five spots ahead of Halvorson to add to the lead.
It hasn’t been a great year by Dustin Strand’s usual standards, but he looked awful good on Friday in his #71s Wissota Late Model.
Ryan Corbett of East Grand Forks led the late model feature early; he was pressured by season-point leader Shane Edginton of Winnipeg. Late model rookie Greg Moore was running in the top five.
Strand, who frankly didn’t look very strong in his heat, looked like a different car in the feature. He powered on the outside into the top five and was pressuring Tom Corcoran of East Grand Forks for fourth. Edginton cleared Corbett for the lead and held it when a caution flew.
On the restart, Strand powered into the lead with a slider and checked out on the field and capped off a dominant performance with a win by 3.387 seconds over Edginton. Veteran Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks made a nice run up to third, while Corbett held off Corcoran for fourth.
Edginton looks on his way to his second Wissota Late Model title in three years; he entered the night with a 79-point lead over Brad Seng of Grand Forks. Grand Forks driver Brody Troftgruben was 81 points back, but realistically, they will need Edginton to have a bad night, maybe two, to erase that gap.
Speaking of points titles, Austin Pierce of Grand Forks leads the NOSA Sprint standings, and is in a good position to defend that title. He led teenager Brendan Mullen of Grand Forks by 14 going into the night, and added to that lead with his seventh win of 2021.
Pierce started seventh on the 13-car field but got to the front, and outlasted veteran Wade Nygaard of Grand Forks for the win. Jade Hastings of Grand Forks was third after starting dead last on the field. Bowers, a RCS newcomer, was fourth ahead of 2019 NOSA champion Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks.
Ebert Wins Advantage RV Mod Tour Race at I-94 Sure Step
Dan Ebert of Lake Shore topped Brady Gerdes of Villard for the Advantage RV Mod Tour feature win Friday night at I-94 Sure Step Speedway in Fergus Falls. Ebert also won the last tour stop at I-94.
Gerdes settled for second with Jeremy Nelson of Alexandria third. Tyler Peterson of Hickson, who started 16th, was fourth with Dusty Bitzan of Brandon topping Johnny Broking of Grand Rapids for the fifth spot. Peterson leads Broking in the tour points.
Brad Staples of Herman topped Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls for the Viessman Late Model win. Larry Samuelson of Erhard was third, Scott Zimmerman of Rothsay fourth and Zach Tysdal of Fergus Falls was fifth.
Kevin Youngquist of Barney added to his point lead in the Short Trackers with a feature win over Madison Schreiber of Dalton. Zach Kort of Fergus Falls was third, David Wahl of Fergus Falls and Brady Molter of Rothsay was fifth.
Don Shaw of Ham Lake topped Greg Meyer of Wahpeton for the Wissota Late Model win. Blake Swenson of Watertown was third, Shawn Meyer of Wahpeton fourth and Cory Tammen of Wolverton fifth.
Ryan Satter’s dominance in the Wissota Street Stocks continued as he picked up another win. He’s on his way to another point title at I-94. Ryan Pommerer of Orissa was second, Royce Jawaski of Horace third, Cole Greseth of Harwood fourth and Tyler Klugman of Wheaton fifth.
Justin Froemming of Elbow Lake prevailed in the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Scott “Rebel” Bintz of Jamestown. Ashley Mehrwerth of St. Stephen, who started 14th, finished third with Jeff Nelson of Perham fourth. Cole Boston of Wyoming was fifth.
Friday Notes
--Congrats to Justin Vogel of Brooten for winning the Wissota Street Stock feature Friday at Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo.
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