RaceChaser blog ventured up to Devils Lake Speedway for week 2 action. POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints were on hand and a nice 85-car field overall signed in for the five classes. Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks, Dusty Lawson of Minot, Joe Armstrong of Crary, Daniel Aberle of Finley and Nate Reynolds of Hoople found victory lane.
The weather was great and track very racy in the features. It was a good night to be at the track.
I'll try to highlight the drivers from the RaceChaser area.
The NLSA Lightning Sprints, the Western Renegade Non-Winged Sprints and the Pure Stocks all had one thing in common in their features -- no cautions.
East Grand Forks driver Kelsi Pederson took control from the green in the Lightning Sprints and never was challenged, winning by a straightaway over Alan Truscinski of Greenbush. Alex Truscinski and Dexter Dvergsten, both of Greenbush, had a great battle for third with Alex Truscinski taking the spot at the checkered. West Fargo driver Jason Berg rounded out the top five.
Dusty Lawson of Minot crushed the field in the Non-Winged Sprints. In fact, I didn't see the start of the race, and when I started watching, I thought Lawson was running at the rear of the field. Turns out, he was that far ahead of second place and won by more than half a lap! Brian Trembath of Grand Rapids, Minn., was second.
The racing in the non-winged sprints will get better and better as drivers get a feel for things. Right now, there is a lot of new drivers to the class feeling things out.
Christopher Rangeloff of Bismarck jumped out to a big lead in the Pure Stock feature and looked to run away. But that lead didn't last to the checkered. Joe Armstrong of Crary made a charge from eighth and made the pass with less than two laps left to secure the win. Rangeloff was second. Dylan Steele of Jamestown ran well in the top three all night and took third over Vance Tomlinson of Max, N.D.
The Wissota Street Stock Feature had only one caution, and after that, the racing intensity picked up. John Halvorson of Warren, Minn., led early but Dustin Ebensteiner of Devils Lake used the low line to work his way into the lead. Meanwhile, there was about five cars also in the battle, including Kasey Ussatis of Nome, Kyle Anderson of Jamestown, Seth Klostreich of Grand Forks and Trey Hess of Manvel.
But the car on the move was Aberle. He started 12th in the 16-car starting grid and charged into the top five. He moved into second and waged a great battle with Ebensteiner that went down to the final laps. Aberle edged Ebensteiner by a half-car length at the line for the win, capping off a great run from back in the field. Klostreich looked strong all night and was third with Anderson fourth and Halvorson of fifth.
The midwest modified feature went down to the wire as well. Jamie Dietzler of Larimore led early but dropped out with mechanicl trouble. Nate Reynolds of Hoople took over the lead with some fierce battling behind him for about six positions.
Week 1 winner Preston Carr of Carrington moved into the top five and then went to the top line to make a charge once again. He closed the gap on Reynolds, setting up for a wild finish but a caution waved with two to go.
Carr ran high and Reynolds ran low, and Carr made a final run off of turn four. Reynolds protected his lead, taking away part of Carr's line which led to some contact at the lin to win by a few feet in a thrilling finish. I'm sure Carr wasn't thrilled but it was good hard racing for the win, in my view.
Kyle Lovcik of Rugby was third.
What a great run for Jared Wibstad of Jamestown in the midwest modifieds. He started 22nd in the field, avoided a couple of small pileups and finished in fourth with a pretty fast race car.
Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls and Jim Morlock of Pettibone both looked strong and ran in the top five for much of the feature but with so much shuffling for positions ended up outside the top five. Blacklance was seventh while Morlock as 11th, with neither finish indicating how well they fan.
Notes:
--Devils Lake pulled several cars from the Jamestown/Lisbon area and also had some more Minnesota cars back as well. The track was probably missing a few Canadian drivers who are unable to come to the United States because of the ban on non-essential travel.
--Todd Carter's fortunes sure changed from last week. The Lisbon veteran won the Wissota Street Stock feature in convincing fashion last week and was off to a strong lead in his heat before popping a motor, ending his night.
--I talked to West Fargo driver Jason Berg (no relation to me) who is involved with the NLSA Lightning Sprints locally. He's working to get the class to grow. Berg is the host of Track Talk on Mondays at WDAY radio and look for a RaceChaser blog on him in the days ahead.
Berg told me they were missing a few Canadian drivers (Who can't travel here because nonessential travel is banned at the border). Quite a contrast in the class in terms of driver ages: 79-year-old Lawrence Velarud of Oslo was in the field, while 13-year-old Kate Taves of Fargo was making her debut in teh class. She's hopping up from the go-karts. There are several lightning sprints in the Greenbush area.
--Myles Tomlinson of Turtle Lake, owner of the Western Renegade Non-Winged sprints, was pleased to see 14 Non-Winged sprints on hand and says there are more getting ready.
One interesting name in the wingless sprints was Ken Hron of Grand Rapids, Minn., who was a long-time modified driver. Track owner Nolan Olmstead, a long-time modified pilot himself, also has a non-winged sprint.
--It was the first night out for several cars -- Reise Stenberg of Argusville, who won two track titles a year ago in the midwest modifieds; many lightning sprints were out for the first time; Mikara Johansen of Edmore also was out for the first time in her Pure Stock.
--Bradon Miller of Lakota has moved from the street stocks to the midwest modifieds.
Area Notes
--Congrats to Cole Schill of Horace for picking up the Wissota Late Model feature win Saturday at Miller Central Speedway in Miller, S.D. It was a good weekend for Schill who finished second on Friday.
Justin Vogel of Brooten, Minn., was second in the street stocks on Saturday.
--A tip of the hat to teenager Bryce Sward of Nelson, Minn. He raced against a strong field of cars at the Dirt King Late Models at Mississippi Thunder Speedway on Friday, a field that included Ryan Gustin, Jimmy Mars, John Kaantz, Rodney Sanders, Chad Mahder and Jake Redetzke. Sward finished second in his B feature and finished 13th in the A main. Saturday's show at MTS was rained out.
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