Hunter, Greseth win at River Cities as Hoffman captures WOO Late Model prize

Austin Hunter won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. (Photo by Speedway Shots)

The World of Outlaw Late Models made their annual stop at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks on Friday night with 31 late models signed in.  The Wissota Midwest Modifieds and Wissota Street Stocks were the support classes with 29 and 22 cars signed in, respectively.

Since I have sponsors who race regularly at River Cities, I will focus on the Wissota Midwest Modified and Wissota Street Stock features before digging into the WOO show.

RCS point leader Austin Hunter of Winnipeg and Jamie Dietzler of Larimore led the Wissota Midwest Modifieds to green.

The third row intrigued me – Justin Jones of Bemidji is a good runner wherever he unloads, and Matt Schow of McIntosh has been lightning quick at RCS so far with three feature wins in three starts.

Hunter grabbed the lead on the low line with Dietzler giving chase. Winnipeg Frank Veert moved into third with Jones taking the fourth spot.

Logan Bauer of Erskine was running fifth but had a boatload of cars behind him fighting for position.

The caution waved for a two-car incident in turn two with Malachi Klassen and Connor Drewery got together in turn two with 16 to go.

Jones moved into third past Veert for a few moments but Cylen Vargason of Edinburg’s 29 ended up turned in the third turn after a chain reaction deal when a car brake-checked. Schow, who was fighting to get into the top five, was hit during that incident, as was his brother Ryan, and both would pull in.

After a restart, Dietzler was within striking distance of Hunter as Veert was third and Luke Johnson of Miller, S.D., now in fourth after starting 12th.

With eight to go a big pileup occurred in turn two as Jory Berg got turned around. Jones, Bauer, Memphis Klassen and Cylen Vargason all involved. Vargason and Bauer both left on the hook and Jones would pull off with damage.  Bauer had made pretty hard contact with Jones after the original spin. Berg and Klassen were able to keep going.

Up to that point, Hunter had pressure from Dietzler, who had his hands full with Veert. Veert took over second as Johnson ran fourth and Jory Berg of Grand Forks, who started 10th, moved into fifth.

After a final caution with eight to go, Hunter took control up front. He pulled away after the final restart and cruised to a 1.466 win, his second at RCS and fifth of 2025.

Dietzler was able to move past Veert into second at the finish. Johnson was fourth and Jory Berg topped Memphis Klassen for fifth.

Two drivers made good progress through the field: Taylor Jacobson of Roseau went from 17th to seventh, and Onyx Johnson of Lowry went from 21st to ninth.  Only 15 of the 23 starters finished in a race that was plagued by cautions over the first 12 laps.

Nick Shumansky of Perham and Chris Dudley of Bemidji led the Wissota Street Stock main event to the green.

Dudley, who picked up his first career win earlier this summer, grabbed the lead. John Halvorson of Warren was third, Trey Hess of Grand Forks was fourth and Cole Greseth of Harwood climbed to fifth.

Hess made a charge for the top spot to take over the lead as Dudley dropped four spots. Shumansky was second, but Cole Greseth of Harwood closing quick and would take second.

The Wolverine Justin Vogel of Brooten made the long trek up north and after starting 10th had surged up to sixth and was pressuring Halvorson for fifth.

Greseth, having the best year of his career and entered the night with 10 wins, applied a lot of heat to Hess up front and with 10 to go took over the top spot and started to pull away. Dudley was up to third but was more than six seconds back of Hess.

Halvorson passed Shumansky for fourth. Greseth had built a 1.667 lead over Hess before the first caution of the race waved with six to go.

Greg Jose of Grand Forks had started ninth but was running well and into the top five and would chase Hess for second.

Greseth was the dominant car once again as he built a 1.5 second lead over the final six laps to pick up win No. 11 on the summer. He has 11 wins in 22 starts, an excellent batting average. Hess is having a big year as well with eight wins and now has 31 top fives in 38 starts; he took second.  Jose finished third with Halvorson fourth and Johnson fifth. Chris Ekren of Grand Forks went from 12th to seventh to cap off a good run.

Ashton Winger of Hampton, Ga., led the opening lap of the WOO feature over Nick Hoffman of Mooresville. The Squirrell Brian Shirley of Chatman, Ill., was running third with 2022 series champion Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill. running fifth.

Shirley would get around Hoffman after the 9 car slid high in turn two.  Series point leader Bobby Pierce was dueling with Tyler Bruening for fifth.

Winger was closing on lapped traffic as Shirley was inching closer when the first caution came out 10 laps into the main event when Tyler Peterson went off the backstretch. H

Winger led with Shirley looking down low. Hoffman remained in third with Erb in fourth and Pierce fifth. The Reaper Ryan Gustin had climbed to the sixth spot.

There was contact between the leaders, leaving Winger with some sheet metal damage on his left-rear. Winger also suffered some damage after contact with a lapped car.  Shirley had fallen back briefly but closed back in on Winger as the lapped traffic came back into play.

Lapped traffic brought Hoffman close to the top two as things heated up at the front, but Sam Mars would slow with 14 to go to bring out the caution.

Drake Troutman of Hyndman, Pa. had climbed into the top five; Troutman won the $100,025 modified special at Mississippi Thunder earlier this summer.

Hoffman made a furious slider for the lead on the restart going into turn three and made it stick to take the lead with 13 to go. Erb and Troutman were fighting for fourth.

Once out front, Hoffman absolutely flew from the field, building nearly a three-second advantage over Winger. Erb had passed Shirley for third.

Blair Nothdurft’s 76 slowed to bring out the caution, and on the ensuring restart Erb moved into second as Drake Troutman fought Winger for third.

Dustin Strand’s hood flew up with three to go to bring out the next caution, fortunately there was no major contact involved.

Hoffman cruised over the final three laps, winning by 1.517 seconds to claim the $12,000 prize. Erb was second, and Winger held off Troutman for third. Shirley rounded out the top five.

RCS/Friday notes:

--Dacotah Speedway canceled because of severe weather forecast for the area (which did arrive late that evening). Also calling off because of rain/wet conditions were Princeton Speedway, Gondik Law Speedway in Superior and Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie. I-94 EMR Speedway and Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo both had scheduled nights off.

--The WOO Late Models are at Norman County Raceway on Saturday. The popular IMCA Stock Cars are the support class.

--Zach Lee of Horace made his season debut in his #3L Wissota Street Stock on Friday, but had some rough luck in the heat. He tagged the frontstretch wall after contact, and then got turned and looked for a moment like he might roll before being turned off of turn one into the barrier.