RaceChaser made his first appearance of the year at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo. A solid 92-car field was on hand which include 13 POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints. And even better, another good crowd was in attendance. And a beautiful smooth racing surface.
Ryan Restad of West Fargo, interviewed above, started on the pole and led every lap of the IMCA Sport Mod feature, although he was challenged early by Rich Pavlicek of Casselton. The real battle ended up being for second as Pavlicek, Scott Jacobson of Fargo and Doug Gardner of Glyndon. Jacobson and Gardner waged a heck of a battle for second with Gardner, who started 11th, ending up second. Pavlicek got by Jacobson for third with Chris VanMil of Barnesville running a solid fifth.
Restad’s luck sure changed from Week 1, when he blew a motor.at RRVS.
Brennan Borg of Harwood, interviewed above, has raced several years in various divisions locally, but had never won at Red River Valley Speedway. He broke through on Friday for that first RRVS in taking the IMCA Stock Car feature. He ran the #52 machine on the low line the whole night and that car just stuck there. He weathered a few restarts to take the win. Todd Heinrich of Fargo ran well all night, taking second, with Mike Anderson of Walcott third and Travis Robertson of Moorhead fourth. Rob VanMil of Barnesville was fifth.
The INEX Legend feature saw Ryan Braseth of Ulen take the early lead, but the race turned into a battle between the teenagers once again, Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes. Carlsrud passed Braseth for the lead and had a few car length advantage, but Wilke battled to the front and made the pass and earned the win with Carlsrud settling for runner-up honors. Braseth was third, Alex Braseth of Ulen fourth and Alex Kukowski of Edgeley fifth. So far, after two nights of the Minn-Kota Legends Tour, Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids and Wilke have wins; night three is at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon on Sunday.
Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes was looking for his first IMCA Hobby Stock win, and he sure got it in impression fashion. He started fourth and took the lead and built a nice advantage over second. Engen, interviewed above, had won in the Hornets previously but this was his first hobby stock win. And he has a sharp-looking car, I might add. Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks, the Week 1 winner, was second after starting 10th while Tim Shiek of Fargo was third after starting eighth. Alyssa White of West Fargo also ran well, moving up to fourth at the finish after starting ninth. Brad Orvedal of Fargo rounded out the top five.
All I can say is what a show by Austin Arneson of Fargo in the IMCA Modifieds. And yes, I’ve said that before.
The IMCA Modified feature was a battle for several between Tyler Hall of Fertile and Jesse Skalicky of Fargo. Both cars effectively ran the lower groove and had a nice advantage over the rest of the field. That changed, however when Arneson went to the high line and ate up that advantage. He passed Skalicky and then set his sights on Hall, and made the pass with less than two laps left to pick up the win. What made Arneson’s run so impressive was he was the only car that seemed to find speed on the high groove. Hall was second, Skalicky was third while Baxter, Minn., driver Billy Kendall was fourth while Casey Arneson of Fargo was fifth.
Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks picked up her second win of 2020 in the POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints. She started in third and took over the lead and drove a flawless race to pick up the win.
Alan Truscinski of Greenbush was second. Bryce Haugeberg of West Fargo looked really good, taking third, while West Fargo driver Jason Berg placed fourth at his hometown track. Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush was fifth.
RRVS Notes
--I admit I was skeptical of how the IMCA Stock Cars would do locally when Norman County Raceway and RRVS added them a few years ago. It can be a spendy class and frankly the cars are not easy to set up and drive. I'm no longer a skeptic. West Fargo had 18 on Friday after opening with 20 last week and NCR has been above 10 both nights. Not only that, but the racing has been bery good and at times excellent. It could end up as the most entertaining class at the two tracks. Former late model/sport mod driver Billy Michaelsohn of Fargo is one of the newcomers to the class this year, by the way.
Speaking of the Stock Cars, rookie Andrew Jochim of Glyndon sure looks good in his first year in the class. He battled in the top five most of the night in the feature before settling for seventh. He is making the jump from the INEX Legend class.
--Jordan Sours of Lisbon has moved from the Pure Stock to the IMCA Modifieds in 2020, driving the #02 machine.
--The INEX Legends had 14 cars on hand which was solid for night 2 of the Minn-Kota Tour.
—What a tough break for Greg Friestad of Valley City. After a few laps on the track of his IMCA Mod heat his drive shaft broke and did some damage to his transmission ending his night. He was working on his car in the pits much of the night. His goal is to have the car ready to run for Saturday’s Don Gumke Racers Memorial in Jamestown.
—There was a scary crash in the lightning sprints involving Kendra Westlund of Stratchona, Minn., which brought out the red flag. She was OK but the front of the car was heavily damaged.
Seng, Pierce, Reimer and Dietzler Win at River Cities
Veteran Brad Seng captured the NLRA Late Model feature Friday at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks. Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks was second, Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks third and Dan Dowling of Davenport fourth. Brandon Fuller was fifth. A nice 20-car late model field was on hand.
Austin Pierce is 2-for-2 in the NOSA Sprints at River Cities, winning once again. The Grand Forks driver started fifth. Jade Hastings of Grand Forks was second, while Chris Ranten of Climax was third. Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks was fourth and Wade Nygaard of Grand Forks fifth.
Bryce Reimer of Cavalier started on the pole in the Wissota Street Stocks and picked up the win. Ryan Johnson of Karlstad was second after starting eighth while Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks was third. Nick Minske of Grand Forks was fourth and Chase Boen of Karlstad fifth.
Lance Schill of Langdon crossed the line first in the Wissota Midwest Modified feature but was disqualified in postrace inspection. That meant Jamie Dietzler of Larimore was the victor in picking up his first win of 2020 and the second B mod win of his career.
Matt Schow of McIntosh was second, Nate Reynolds of Hoople third, Nathan Raasakka of Grand Forks fourth and Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls fifth.
Lammers, Gronwold, Satter Lead I-94 Winners
I-94 Speedway opened the 2020 season on Friday. Austin Lammers of Pelican Rapids started on the pole and picked up the Short Tracker win over Kevin Youngquist of Barney, N.D. Carter Rieland of St. Cloud was third, Jason Reinke of Moorhead fourth and Zach Besmehn of Baxter fifth.
Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls picked up his fourth win of 2020 in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds. Corey Storck of Morris was second, Ashley Mehrwerth of St. Stephen third, Sam Zender of Fergus Falls fourth and Brennan Gave of Princeton fifth.
Dustin Bitzan of Brandon won the Wissota mod feature with Brian Haben of Holloway second. Joe Thomas of Glyndon was third, Mike Greseth of Harwood fourth and Brett Hoium of Villard fifth.
Two-time defending track champion Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls won the Limited Late Model feature. Brady Mellendorf of Brandt was second. Rick Nelson of Alexandria was fifth.
Ryan Satter of Dent won the Wissota Street Stock feature with Andrew Bangsund of Alexandria second. Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck was third, Cory Dykhoff of Perham fourth and Jim “Nitro” Williams of DeGraff fifth.
Tim Johnson of Brainerd won the Wissota Super Stock feature over Jacob Knapper of Montevideo. Jason Cook of Brandon was fourth.
RaceChaser Notes
—Jonny Carter of Lisbon won Night 1 of the Steffes Street Stock Tour which was held on Friday at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan. Billie Christ of Jamestown was second, Todd Carter of Lisbon third, Justin Vogel of Brooten fourth and Brad Kadrmas of Bismarck fifth. A great field of 36 street stocks opened the tour.
--The Don Gumke Racers Memorial is Saturday in Jamestown. IMCA Mods will run for $2222 to win, Wissota Street Stocks (Which is Night 2 of the Steffes Tour) will run for $1,222 and Bombers/Pure Stocks will run for $222. Racing is at 7 p.m. at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds.
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