I ventured up to River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks for their second night of the season with 81 cars on hand in five classes.
The Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints had a rare night off at River Cities; 15 Wissota Mods and 16 POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints were in attendance to help offset their absence. A great 23-car late model field was hand.
Next Friday is the first of two World of Outlaw Sprint Car shows at River Cities; the NLRA Late Models will also race that night.
Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks was coming off a hard-fought win at Buffalo River Speedway last Sunday and drew the outside pole for Friday’s Wissota Street Stock feature. He did not get a good start, however as veteran James Meagher took the first lap lead.
John Halvorson of Warren soon was contending for the lead with Weston Ramsrud of Bagley in tow. The top line seemed a little greasy early.
Halvorson, a guy who has raced numerous classes in his career, took over the lead two laps into the race. Ramsrud went to work on Meagher for second as the caution waved with 16 left.
On the restart, Ramsrud went to the outside and powerd by Halvorson for the lead. Pederson wasn’t through, either, he was back into third as Trey Hess of Grand Forks right on his heels.
Pederson was all over Halvorson for second and Hess was right there to move into third. Ramsrud had opened up a bit of breathing room; but Pederson was slowly closing the gap with seven to go. Hess also was quick and was closing the gap on the top two.
Seth Klostreich of Grand Forks, the Week 1 winner at RCS, had went to the tail for a caution earlier but had worked back into the top five.
Pederson gave Ramsrud everything he could handle over the final laps but couldn’t make the pass as Ramsrud held on for a thrilling win. Pederson settled for second with Hess a srong third. Halvorson and Klostreich rounded out the top five.
Jamie Dietzler, who went back to his Harris Chassis this year, took the early lead over Austin Hunter of Winnipeg. Week 1 winner Lance Schill of Langdon went to work on Nate Raasakka of Grand Forks for third.
Dietzler opened up a decent lead on Hunter, and the top five got pretty spread out for a while. Hunter switched to a higher line and soon was closing the gap on Dietzler. Jory Berg of Grand Forks also had set his sights on Schill in fourth.
The caution came out with seven laps left, and then another came out for a multi-car tangle. Nate Raasakka of Grand Forks had contact with Schill and the 17 car went off the backside; Raasakka was sideways and soon Taylor Jacobson of Roseau, Chris Edmonds of Larimore and Justin Olson of Thief River Falls were involved in the pileup. Olson was able to continue; Jacobson would go pitside and Edmonds left on the hook, a victim of having nowhere to go. The yellow would be charged to Raasakka.
Hunter made a move to the outside of Dietzler on the first lap after the restart to take the lead as Schill moved into second. Nate Reynolds of Hoople was also now in contention and making a run on the outside. Schill and Reynolds made hard contact under the flagstand to bring out another caution. Reynolds’s once pristine looking 6R suffered significant damage and left on the hook. The RCS announcer stated Schill was sent to the pits for apparent rough driving; he was listed as a DQ in the myracepass results.
Finally when things resumed Hunter was able to open up a nice lead by the checkered to pick up the win. Dietzler held off Berg for second with Olson recovering from the earlier mishap to finish in fourth. Veteran Phil Christlieb finished fifth.
Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks and Lance Schilling of Laporte led the 15-car Wissota Modified feature to the green flag. Strand, who knows RCS as well as any driver, took the early lead and blasted to a big advantage.
Ryan Johnson of Karlstad moved into second with Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls moving into third. Blacklance soon moved into second. Joe Thomas of Fargo moved into fourth and was able to get by Johnson.
Last week’s winner, Tyler Peterson of Horace, was working on Josh Beaulieu of Bemidji and Johnson as a three-way battle for fourth waned as the caution waved with 11 laps to go; Strand, who had opened a 3.1 second lead on Blacklance, did not want to see that caution flag.
After the restart Blacklance and Thomas ran side by side for second with Blacklance running up top and Thomas low. Peterson moved into fourth. Thomas passed Blacklance for second, but Strand was well out in front by then. Peterson and Blacklance began to battle for third as the laps wound down.
Strand capped off a dominating performance with a 2.819 second win over Thomas. Blacklance held off Peterson for third with Beaulieu rounding out the top five.
Alex Truscinski of Greenbush stormed out to a big lead in the lightning sprint main event. Jason Berg of West Fargo moved into second ahead of Kate Taves of Detroit Lakes. Lapped traffic became an issue as several cars closed in on Berg, including Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush and Weston Olson of Warren.
The caution waved with six to go, wiping out Truscinski’s big lead. The restart brought Berg and Dvergsten right to Truscinski’s bumper.
Dvergsten moved into second with Olson passing Berg for third. Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks, who won at Buffalo River last Sunday, was pressuring Kate Taves for fifth when another caution came out.
Olson moved into second on the restart as Pederson got by Taves for fifth.
Truscinski would go on for the win, by 0.512 seconds, as Olson fended off a late challenge from Dvergsten for third. Berg and Pederson rounded out the top five.
Lance Schill stormed out to the lead in the Wissota Late Model feature with Tyler Peterson and Ryan Corbett of East Grand Forks battling for second. Mike Greseth of Harwood, the two-time NLRA Late Model champion, settled into fourth ahead of East Grand Forks veteran Joey Pederson.
The caution came out with 14 to go as car went off the backstretch.
On the restart Greseth moved into third; Peterson pulled a slider in turns three and four on Schill to take the lead. Greseth would soon move into second. Schill would pull in shortly after to cap off a night he’d rather forget.
Dustin Strand was also making some headaway an moved into fourth past Corbett when a caution waved with six to go.
With six to go Greseth tried to work the low line to get by Peterson as Pederson and Strand battled for third. Brody Troftgruben of Grand Forks was also having a good run into the top five.
Tyler Peterson stuck the 1TPO to the top and would weather one last charge from Greseth on the low side of turn two to pick up his first win in a late model. Strand got a big run on the outside to nip Greseth for second. Troftgruben capped off a good run going from 10th to fourth while Corbett rounded out the top five.
RCS Notes
--Doing double duty at River Cities were Tyler Peterson (mods and lates), Dustin Strand (mods and lates) and Lance Schill (mid mods and lates).
--Blacklance plans to race three cars this year --- Wissota Mod, Wissota Street and Wissota Midwest Mods. Blacklance had his MB Customs Wissota Mod at River Cities and ran in the top three all night, looking solid.
--Rachael McNamee of Grand Forks made her debut in the Wissota Street Stock class, driving her father, Dan’s former car. Rachael is the older sister of former street stock competitor Megan McNamee. Dan McNamee of Arvilla is racing a late model in 2023.
--Tom Corcoran began his 54th season of racing in his famed #T1 machine. The East Grand Forks veteran won his heat race.
--Rusty Kollman of Carrington has moved into the late model class; he was previously in an IMCA Modified.
Sours, Jochim Lead Red River Valley Speedway Victors
Jordan Sours of Lisbon picked up his first career IMCA Modified win on Friday night at Red River Valley Speedway in Fargo. Dave Shipley of Argusville was second; Matt Aukland of Glyndon went from 15th to third. Jesse Skalicky of Fargo was fourth and Darren Pfau of West Fargo was fifth.
Andrew Jochim of Harwood picked up the IMCA Stock Car win over Keaten Froemke of Glyndon. Rob VanMil of Barnesville was third, Kalvin Kesselburg of Ada was fourth. It was Jochim’s second IMCA Stock Car feature win.
Marcus Rothenbacher of Ulen won the IMCA Racesaver Sprint feature over Jeremy Snow of Princeton. Ty Hanten of West Fargo was third and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes was fourth.
Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton topped Kody Machart of Moorhead for the INEX Legends win at RRVS. Ryan Braseth of Ulen went from 25th to third, with Ashton Spieker taking fourth and Joshua Wiest of Jamestown fifth.
Defending champion Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks topped Brad Orvedal of Fargo for the IMCA Hobby Stock win. Andrea Jacobson of Fargo was third. Ryan Restad of West Fargo captured the IMCA Sport Mod feature over Charlie Jensen of Pelican Rapids with Week 1 winner Scott Jacobson of Fargo taking third.
Brauer, Zimpel, Wibstad Lead I-94 Winners
Defending Wissota 100 winner Braden Brauer of Rochester topped Justin Vogel of Brooten for the Wissota Street Stock feature win. Scott Bintz of Jamestown was third, Cory Dykhoff of Perham fourth and Josh Long of Canby was fifth.
Josh Zimpel of Braham topped Shawn Meyer of Wahpeton for the Wissota Late Model feature win. Danny Vang of Deerwood was third while Sam Zender of Fergus Falls was fifth. Andy Jones of Princeton was fifth.
Derek Quinn of Brandon won the Gen X Late Model feature over Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls. Dave Mass was third, Jarrett Huus of Fergus Falls fourth and Brad Staples of Herman was fifth.
Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown topped Haley Lee of Starbuck for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Corey Storck of Morris, the winner at Viking Speedway last week, was third. Week 1 winner Nate Reinke of Lisbon was fourth with Tommy Nichols of Watertown taking fifth.
Matthew Dittman of Lake Lillian topped Shawn Beto of Wahpeton for the Short Tracker feature. Peter Martin of Willmar was third.
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