I headed over to Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon for the season opener at the ¼-mile. A solid field of 67 guys was on hand on a breezy June evening.
I’m of the school of thought that a track just needs to get its season opener in – and then work out the bugs. BRS had to cancel its first three nights because of wet conditions and rain and I think main people were happy just to get a show in.
The track was challenging in the heats – dusty and marbly – and improved some for the features. But like I said first night of the year gives you a starting point. Keep in mind there hasn’t been a lot of time to work the surfaces because it’s been so wet.
Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks took the lead from the green flag of the POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint main event, and set a torrid pace. Giving chase was Alan Truscinski of Greenbush, who was involved in a hard crash on Friday at Red River Valley Speedway.
Pederson had a big lead but slowly, Alan Truscinski was cutting the gap. Alex Truscinski of Greenbush, already armed with two feature wins this weekend, moved into third with Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush moving into fourth.
Two drivers who were running in the top five – Travis Surerus of Fargo and Jason Berg of West Fargo – had trouble. Sureus dropped out during the first caution with mechanical trouble while Berg clipped a tractor tire in turn one and spun, and left on the hook.
On the restart with nine to go, Alan Truscinski continued to pursue Pederson, but Alex Truscinski was starting to pressure him for second. Alex Truscinski would make the pass for second and then look to close in on Pederson.
Pederson was too strong on this night, winning by 1.1 seconds for her first victory of 2022. She has finished no worse than fourth in three starts this season. Alex Truscinski was second after starting sixth while Alan Truscinski was third. Dvergsten was fourth. Garrison Miller of Fargo had a nice run as well, going from ninth to fifth.
One driver very hungry for a win was IMCA Sport Mod driver Kelly Jacobson, who after leading several laps on Friday at Red River Valley had to settle for second. The #51 was not going to be denied on Sunday.
Veteran Justin Jones of Bemidji took the early lead, but Jacobson was on the move on the high side. A caution came out for a medical situation in the stands just as Jacobson was making a run around Jones on the outside.
On the restart, Jones moved up to the higher line and took the lead. Dave Siercks of Princeton and Scott Jacobson of Fargo were battling for third.
Jones maintained his lead but with six laps to go, encountered a lapped car and slowed just enough for Jacobson to make his move on the low line coming out of turn two. Jacobson completed the pass and dominated from there, winning by more than two seconds.
Jones ran second with Siercks, Scott Jacobson and Vince Jegtvig of Dilworth rounding out the top five.
Eleven of the 13 IMCA Hobby Stocks on hand took the green with Marvin Priem of Moorhead taking the early lead. Scott Herron of Brainerd soon took over the lead.
Brad Orvedal of Fargo began working on Priem for second, and that allowed Todd Gettel of Mahnomen and Chad Visser of Ironton to close in. Orvedal tried different lines but Priem stayed consistent and held the spot.
Herron had a big lead, but had a scare on the last lap when a lapped car came in too hot in turn three and moved him up the track. He recovered to still win by 2.5 seconds over Priem. Orvedal, Gettel and Visser rounded out the top five.
Starting Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes on the front row is almost unfair, considering how dominant he has been the last few years. But opening night is a draw/redraw and Wilke got the inside pole. And as I would expect, he checked out on the field.
The 11 car moved into second Ashton Spieker of Sabin and Ryan Braseth of Ulen battling hard behind them.
Wilke just blistered the field, leading by as much as seven seconds. Spieker and Alex Braseth battled for second; Spieker spun in turn four with two to go and had to go to the rear of the field.
That left Wilke in front with the Braseth brothers, Alex and Ryan, in tow with two left.
Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids also was having a solid run in the top five.
Ryan Braseth was determined to make a run at the win but he got into Wilke and turned him on the white flag lap; Braseth was dcharged with the caution and Wilke got the top spot back.
After that restart Wilke pulled away by several car lengths to the win. Alex Braseth was second with the veteran Tony Brockhouse of Glyndon in third. Richardson ran a solid fourth with Joshua Wiest of Jamestown taking fifth.
Jamie Schulz of Harwood and Nick Curtis of Rothsay paced the IMCA Modifieds to the green.
Schulz stormed out to the lead. Curtis would spin one lap into the race and have to go to the rear.
On the restart Schulz reestablished the lead with Luke Johnson of Moorhead moving into second and Jesse Skalicky of Fargo third. Matt Aukland of Glyndon, who dominated the IMCA Mod field Friday at Red River Valley, moved into fourth.
Johnson and Skalicky were gaining some on Schulz, but they were battling each other as well. Johnson ran a higher line and Skalicky was on the bottom.
Johnson was closing quickly on Schulz with Skalicky right there as well. There was contact on the front stretch and Johnson scraped the wall, and would pull in as his terrible luck from last year continued. Skalicky would make a run a few times in turns one and two, but Schulz would get a great run out of turn two to reestablish some breathing room.
Schulz would take the win. Remember, he won an IMCA Mod feature last year at Red River Valley for his first feature win in the class – and first feature victory since 2002. So Sunday getting into victory lane was a nice start to the season.
Skalicky would go from eighth to second while Aukland went from ninth to third. Tyler Hall of Fertile ran a solid race and finished fourth with Cody Peterson of Glyndon going from 12th to fifth.
Mike Hart of Erhard seems to have raced in every class locally – Mod 4, Hornet, Limited Late Model, Late Model and Street Stock come to mind. On Sunday he was at Buffalo River with a INEX Legends Car.
Greseth Wins NLRA Show at Sheyenne
Mike Greseth of Harwood picked up the NLRA Late Model win on Sunday at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon. Greseth was coming off of a fifth-place finish on Saturday at I-94 Sure Step Speedway.
Brad Seng of Grand Forks went from 11th to second while Brody Troftgruben of Grand Forks, the winner Friday at River Cities, was third. Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg was fourth and Cole Schill of Horace went from 17th to fifth for his third top five of the weekend. Twenty-three late models were on hand
Jonny Carter of Lisbon topped Kasey Ussatis of Nome for the Wissota Street Stock feature win. Todd Carter of Lisbon was third, Kyle Anderson of Jamestown fourth and Scott “Rebel” Bintz of Jamestown fifth.
Zach Reinke of Lisbon won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature with Kyle Langland of Enderlin taking second. Nate Reinke of Lisbon went from 14th to third while Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown was fourth and Alex Langland of Enderlin fifth.
Tempest Trone of Litchville won the Mini Stock feature over Devin Goulet of Fargo. Mason Bogart of Milnor was third and Layton Thompson of Lisbon fourth.
Jayden Michaelsohn of Aberdeen won the Hobby Stock feature over Dalton Aabrekke of Lisbon. Hayden Aberle of Edgeley was third, Ryan Mund of Milnor fourth and Kelby Anderson of Fort Ransom fifth.
Bo Gregor of Lisbon, a multi-time Hobby Stock champion at Sheyenne, made his debut in the INEX Legends – and came home with a win. Gregor topped Glenn Mitchell of Australia, who won Saturday at Jamestown, for the win. Zander Bauer of Gwinner was thirdk, Brian Frederick of Gwinner was fourth and Collin Compson of Valley City fifth.
Gregor is not the only driver who moved to the Legends from the hobby stocks – that includes Dylan Steele of Jamestown.
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