Peterson wins Night 1 of Howie Schill Memorial at RRVS

I made it to Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo for night 1 of the fifth annual Howie Schill Memorial. While I expected a good field of NLRA/Wissota Late Models, I was a bit stunned, in a good way, to see a whopping 47 in attendance!

The race is honor of the late Howie Schill, a long-time late model pilot who passed away in 2020. Cole Schill, his son who pilots the 44* late model, has put a lot of work into raising the purse for this two-night, two-show event, and that was reflected by the turnout. Hats off to the Schill family, and I’d expect a big field on hand on Saturday as well for Night 2, which was announced will pay $2,604 to the winner.  Howie’s brother, Troy, also pilots a late model and was recently inducted into the River Cities Speedway Hall of Fame.

I talked to some late model guys like Erik Robertson, Mike Greseth and Dan Dowling who haven’t raced a ton this summer because of family and other commitments, and you know what, that’s totally fine. There are several others in that boat, and there is more to life than racing even though we all enjoy the sport.

While there were a lot of good cars on hand, let’s be honest here: the 71 of Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks and the 1TPO of Tyler Peterson of HIckson have dominated this region in the late models this summer.  Strand entered the night with 10 wins and 18 top fives in 19 starts while TPO had nine wins and 21 top fives on the season, and was the national point leader.

The top two finishers in each heat redrew, and it was a bad redraw for teammates Dave Mass and Don Shaw, who ended up 11^th and 12^th.  It was an interesting front row for the NLRA Late Model main event – Eric  Edwards of Edgeley and Ryan Dahl of West Fargo, two drivers looking for their first-ever NLRA win.

The race didn’t make it a lap as Jason Strand spun in turn one. On the restart Peterson, back in his familiar blue, surged to the front from his third spot.

Brody Troftgruben of Grand Forks started strong and grabbed second with the Mopar of Collin Compson taking over third. Canadian Shane Edginton climbed to fourth ahead of Edewards.

TPO was flying. The lead was more than a straightway, 4.4 seconds, by Lap 6.  Compson would lose some ground when he got sideways into the infield.

Shaw had moved up for fourth from 12^th while Cole Schill of Horace, who had to qualify from the B main started way back in 21st, made a big-time charge to fifth. Brad Seng of Grand Forks was running sixth.

TPO got into lapped traffic, but he had a five-second lead on Troftgruben. Edginton had moved to third and Schill had passed Shaw for fourth.

The biggest obstacle for TPO was lapped traffic, and that allowed Troftgruben to close to within 3.5 seconds. Schill and Shaw had a good battle for fourth while Edginton was catching Troftgruben for second.

Mass was chasing his teammate, Shaw for the fifth spot and would grab it with six to go.

The lead was down to 2.2 seconds with three to go as TPO was in the midst of a lot of lapped cars, and it was down to 1.5 with two to go.  By the white flag Troftgruben was within a half-second, and while he made a valiant church, would come up short as TPO prevailed by .437 seconds. The win was huge for the 1TPO as he looks to win a third straight Wissota Late Model national title.

Troftgruben capped off a great night in second with Edginton in third, Schill in fourth and Mass in fifth.  Schill was the hard charger, going from 21^st to fourth to cap off a great run.

Dylan Waxdahl of Hartford, S.D., led early in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature with Ty Hanten of West Fargo running second. Point leader Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes ws third as the top three broke away. Marcus Rothenbacher of Ulen was running fourth.

Hanten would take over the lead on Lap 6 but the caution waved, and Waxdahl would get the lead back.

Wilke went up to the high side to take the lead, but the caution would wave again, and since things went back to the last completed lap, Waxdahl was moved back to the lead.

Jerzee Rozinski of Grand Forks, who won her first career feature two weeks ago at RRVS, had moved to fifth. Waxdahl opened up a 1.2 lead on Wilke as Hanten ws third, Roth

Wilke had a right-side header fall off his 72 machine but still was able to continue. With eight to go Waxdahl’s lead was up to 1.83 seconds. Wilke was more than three seconds ahead of Hanten. Rosinski was closing on Rothenbacher.

Wilke’s night ended with smoke as the 72 left some moisture on the track. It was an, let’s call it an eventful race for Wilke, but didn’t end up well unfortunately.

On the restart Waxdahl pulled away with a big surge and would pull off a 2.4 second win over Hanten. Brandon Rekow of Ellendale capitalized on the late restart to move into third. Nebraska driver Monty Ferriera was fourth and Rosinski made a late ass of Rothenbacher for fifth.  I am honestly surprised the sprint race wasn’t shortened because of time – it ran more than 24 minutes.

Wilke and Rekow are now tied for the point lead heading into the final points race of the season on Saturday. Hanten is only two points back.

Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes stormed out to the lead in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature and opened up a 1.5 second lead.  Andrea Jacobson spun on Lap 3 to bring out the caution.

Engen had the lead over Worthington driver Jaeden Strandberg, who was about three car lengths back. Jacobson made a charge back to third but was dueling with Tim Church of Moorhead for that spot. Brad Orvedal of Fargo, who had a hard crash Thursday at NCR, was in fifth.

Engen had opened a 1.38 second lead over Strandberg, but the J3K would spin with four laps to go. He would pull into the work area and return at the tail.

On the restart Church seized second with Jacobson in third and Orvedal fourth. Reid Randall of Park Rapids, who won a nailbiter on Thursday at NCR, was fifth but Strandberg soon got by him

Engen cruised to another win by more than 2.5 seconds for his second victory of 2025 with Church finishing a solid second. Orvedal finished third as Jacobson slid back on the final lap, with Strandberg and Randall rounding out the top five.

The points race in the IMCA Hobby Stocks got shaken up, as point leader Brodee Eckerdt was not in attendance. Church entered the night trailing by 11 points but now has a six-point lead on Orvedal in the point standings.

Jesse Skalicky of Fargo and Dave Shipley of Argusville entered the night tied for the IMCA Modified point lead; however that would change as Shipley was not in attendance. There is only one points night left at RRVS on Aug. 29.

Jordan Sours of Lisbon grabbed the top spot early in the IMCA Modified feature over Skylar Seckerson. Lynn Sather of Detroit Lakes was third with John Nord of Enderlin in fourth.

Sours had built a 2.3 second advantage by the fifth lap over Seckerson who had Nord closing quickly. Skalicky had moved up to fourth with nine to go. Seckerson would slide high and lose a bunch of spots, moving Nord to second and Sather  to third.  Skalicky would move to third with six to go.

Nord had reduced the lead to 1.8 seconds with four laps to go.  Sather was having a good run in fourth but spun with four to go for the first caution of the race. The last person who wanted to see that yellow was Sours, who had a 1.83 second lead at that point.

Nord made a run at the lead on the restart and made the pass, while Skalicky, who had some left front suspension damage, was holding on to third.

Nord would prevail by .714 seconds over Sours, who was doomed by the late caution. Skalicky took over the point lead with a third-place finish with Hansen a solid fourth and Tyler Hall of Fertile taking fifth. Skalicky now has a 19-point lead on Hansen in the points.

RRVS notes

---All three members of the Pederson family made the feature in the NLRA late models. Joey made it in his 7P while his son Tucker and daughter Kelsi, a late model rookie, both qualified as well. Tucker was the highest finisher in 10^th.

--Orvedal told me he spent a lot of time during the night and day working on his 3XL machine after a hard crash at NCR on Thursday.

--I felt for Jamestown’s Greg Moore his heat race. One of the squirrels in the front row got crossed up in his heat, causing Dustin Strand to spin and Moore had nowhere to go but T-bone Strand. It wasn’t a huge hit as the 71 continued, but it was bad enough for Moore, who would try to race but would go pitside and would not start the B main.

--Three-time NLRA champion Mike Greseth wasn’t planning to race a ton this summer because of family commitments, so Friday was his eighth night out in his 17 car. It’s been a bit of a struggle in 2025 for Greseth, who has one top five but also has three DNFs.

==Andrew White made his racing debut on Friday in the IMCA Hobby Stock class. If the last name sounds familiar in the region, it’s because his older sister, Alyssa raced in that class for several years at the area tracks. For his first night, he didn’t too bad at all – finished the race and on the lead lap, taking seventh.

Ryan Gierke, Rodin win Bob Gierke Memorial at I-94

It was an emotional night for the Gierke Family at I-94 EMR Speedway on Friday night for the eighth annual Bob Gierke Memorial Wissota Modified race.

Bob’s son, Ryan, fended off challenges from Bryce Sward to win the race in honor of his father for the first time, taking home $2,626 for the feature win.  Sward was second, Lucas Rodin of Marion was third, Travis Saurer of Elizabeth was fourth and Shane Sabraski of Rice was fifth.

Rodin did pick up a feature win in the Wissota Midwest Modified portion of the event to take home $1,026.  Jake Smith of St. Joseph was second, Cole Boston of Lindstrom third, Landyn Randt of Siren, Wis., fourth and Tanner Bitzan of Brandon fifth.

Jim Gullikson of Nowthen topped Levi Randt of Siren for the Wissota Street Stock win with Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck third and Tommy Pogones of Princeton fourth. Jordan Johnson of Jamestown was fifth.

Trevor Walsh of Watertown topped Travis Saurer for the Gen X Late Model feature win. Rick Schroeder of Montevideo was third, Blake Boelens of Brandon fourth and Scott Harrington of Waubay fifth.

River Cities wins to Greseth, Schmidt, Johnson and Hastings

Cole Greseth of Harwood topped Trey Hess of Grand Forks for the Wissota Street Stock feature win Friday night at River Cities Speedway. Doug VanMill of Bagley was third, Greg Jose of Grand Forks fourth and John Halvorson of Warren fifth.

Brennan Schmidt of Bemidji won for the second straight night in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds with Austin Hunter of Winnipeg going from 12^th to second. Connor Drewry of Bemidji was third, Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls fourth and Frank Veert of Winnipeg was fifth.

Sean Johnson of Kindred won the INEX Legends main event over Kody Machart of Moorhead. Joshua Wiest of Jamestown was third, Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids was fourth and Ryan Braseth of Ulen was fifth.

Jade Hastings of Grand Forks fought off Andy Pake of Felton for the NOSA Sprint win. Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks was third, Jack Croaker of East Grand Forks fourth and Laela Eisenschenk of Fargo was fifth.