The weather totally botched up my plans for the weekend. My original plan was to go to I-94 Speedway for the King of the Dirt on Friday -- but rain wrecked that plan. Shortly after Red River Valley Speedway cancelled as well, which was another local option. So I explored going to Dacotah Speedway in Mandan on Friday -- it is one of my favorite places and I simply don't get there enough -- but again, rain.
So, the plan was to hit River Cities Speedway on Friday (which I did), and then stay over (my birthday present from my wife is a racing weekend) and go to the NLRA Late Model show in Greenbush on Saturday. Of course, as usual, the rain derailed that plan. So with a hotel paid for in Grand Forks (thinking Greenbush would race), I decided to stick close to there so I headed to Devils Lake Speedway near Crary, ND for the first time this year and second time overall.
Well, not sure that was my best call. Four classes ran with 42 cars -- and it was $20 to get in. The classes were Wissota Midwest Modifieds, Wissota Street Stocks, Pure Stocks and NLSA Lightning Sprints.
To me, speaking as a fan, charging $20 to get in without the NOSA Sprints, NLRA Late Models or A mods running is outrageous. Purely my opinion. But I won't belabor that point.
The wind did Devils Lake a favor, drying out the track and pit areas that were pretty soggy earlier in the day. The track had some ruts, understandable with the rainfall from Friday but the racing in the street stocks and pure stocks was pretty good.
Winnipeg driver Austin Hunter, who was second in the Wissota Midwest Modified national points in 2018, had that class covered on Saturday, winning by a comfortable margin over fellow Canadian Bailey Cousins, who held off Cole Haugland of Brocket for second. Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls was fourth. By my count it was the 10th track Blacklance has raced at in 2019.
Bradon Miller of Lakota proved patience pays off in winning the Wissota Street Stock feature. He started sixth on the field and survived numerous cautions to get his first win at Devils Lake this season and second overall. With four laps left, Miller was in second and chasing Brian Johanson of Edmore. After the final restart with four laps left, Miller found speed on the lower line, made the pass and picked up the feature win.
Miller was the Wissota Street Stock Rookie of the Year runner-up (to Kasey Ussatis) in 2018.
Johanson was second, Dan Aberle of Finley third, Dan McNamee of Arvilla fourth and Trey Hess of Lakota, who won at River Cities Speedway on Friday, was fifth.
Grand Forks driver James Meagher got turned in the street stock feature and rolled his #7 machine with four laps left. He was OK, the car suffered some significant damage.
Alex Truscinski of Greenbush was definitely the fastest lightning sprint in the feature, winning by several car lengths over fellow Greenbush driver Dexter Dvergsten. Jason Berg of West Fargo ran well, taking third.
There were 11 lightning sprints on hand. It will be interesting to see how many are at River Cities Speedway on Sunday, as two -- Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks and Mark Williams of Grand Forks -- blew motors on Saturday. It was a big reversal of fortune for Pederson, who picked up her first feature win of the season Friday at River Cities.
Daniel Bromstad of Luverne won a thrilling Pure Stock feature over Tony Bundy of Balta, N.D. by .031 seconds. Bromstad made a trip to Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon earlier this summer and has one of the better-looking pure stocks around.
Jonny Carter Picks Up Win No. 9 at Jamestown
Jonny Carter of Lisbon is rolling along right now in the Wissota Street Stocks; he picked up his ninth win of the season with a feature victory Saturday at Jamestown Speedway.
Kyle Anderson of Jamestown was second, Bob Banish Jr., of Milnor, N.D., was third.
Casey Arneson of Fargo topped veteran Marlyn Seidler of Underwood for the IMCA Modified feature. Dale Mathison of Clearwater, Minn, was third.
Brennon Weight of La Moure won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature with Reise Stenberg of Argusville secon and Jim Morlock of Pembone third.
Jared Klein of Jamestown topped Billy Carow of Jamestown for the Bomber win. Seth Howe-Kellar of Wilton was third.
Drew Papke of Bismarck topped Andrew Jochim of Glyndon to pick up the INEX Legend win. Donavin Wiest of Wishek was third and Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead was fourth. Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes was fifth.
A field of 120 cars competed at Jamestown.
Bangsund Wins Special at Viking Speedway
Andrew Bangsund of Alexandria won the Florian Sprinzel Wissota Street Stock special, taking home $1,000 for the win. Ryan Satter of Dent was second, Justin Vogel of Brooten third and Jim Williams of DeGraff fourth.
Shaun Peterson won the Wissota Modified feature over Jason Blascyk of Hoffman. Dusty Bitzan of Brandon was third.
Ron Saurer scored one for the 60-something crowd, picking up the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Justin Bjorklund of Glenwood. Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls was third, Corey Storck of Morris fourth and Austin Chyba of Browerville fifth.
It was a good night for the Saurer family as Trevor Saurer, Ron's son, won the Wissota Super Stock feature over Jeff Crouse of Alexandria.
Ryan Mikkelson of Alexandria prevailed in the Limited Late Models over teenager Bryce Sward of Nelson. Veteran Rick Nelson of Alexandria was third.
A field of 72 cars competed at Viking.
Other Racing Notes:
--Buffalo River Race Park is having a brutal year weather-wise. The track cancelled again on Saturday -- too much rain and simply too wet. The track is now 1-of-7 on shows run. I wonder if the track should consider running a couple of Wednesdays for makeup nights just so some of their regulars could get some shows in.
--River Cities Speedway runs the NLRA Late Models on Sunday along with the Wissota Midwest Modifieds and Lightning Sprints. That is the final night of the Greater Grand Forks Fair. By the way, the fair had quite a fireworks show on Saturday, I witnessed most of it on my drive back to GF from Devils Lake.
--The first annual Dakota Dream is set for Sunday at Sheyenne Speedway. It is $1,000 to win and $100 to start for both the Wissota Street Stocks and Midwest Modifieds. There are also really nice purses for the Hobby Stocks ($300 to win, $50 to start) and the Mini Stocks ($150 to win, $30 to start). I encourage anyone in the Fargo-Moorhead area or eastern North Dakota who is a race fan to check out this event. For a small-town track this is a pretty big deal.
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