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I was back at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo for the Bison Battle, which was paying $1,000 to win the IMCA Modified feature. A good 19-car field was on hand.
Red River Valley Speedway had 101 cars sign in for an excellent night on a warm summer evening.
The best race of the night turned out to be the IMCA Sport Mods, but more on that in a minute.
The 40-lap Bison Battle IMCA Modified feature was led to the line by Aaron Johnson of Brainerd and Kollin Hibdon of Pahrump, Nev.. The race paid $1,000 to win.
There was more incentive to lead laps — there was money available for leading each lap. If you led all 40 laps, you could walk home with $3,000.
Hibdon took a big lead over Johnson. Dave Shipley of Argusville was in third. Moving up quickly was Matt Aukland of Glyndon, who started 10th but was up to fourth. Aukland soon cleared Shipley for third with Jordan Sours of Lisbon moving into fifth.
The caution came out with 28 to go. Hibdon was piling up the lap money while dominating up front as the field pretty much settled in.
Aukland and Johnson got together after Aukland tagged the wall; the 12A would slow on the backstretch to bring out the caution with 15 laps left with what looked be a flat; the yellow/black had waved at that point and Aukland was done, which was unfortunately because the 12 car was strong.
Tyler Hall of Fertile was on the move, working into the top four and challenging Shipley for third. Dylan Goplen of West Fargo also had ran well, moving into fifth.
Hall would clear Shipley for third, and soon Goplen would get by the 72 to take over fourth.
Hibdon, meanwhile built a straightaway lead on Johnson and was clearly the class of the field. He worked effortlessly through any lapped cars that he encountered on his way to the win. By leading all 40 laps, Hibdon picked up $3,000 on the night, and paid tribute in victory lane to his friend Casey Arneson, who died tragically earlier this month.
Johnson and Hall finished second and third, respectively. Goplen, who started way back in 13th, finished fourth with Shipley in fifth. Sours ran in or near the top five all night and finished sixth.
The best race of the night was the IMCA Sport Mods, at least from my view.
Thomas Sandvig of West Fargo led the 22-car, 21-lap IMCA Sport Mod main to the green. Torey Fischer of West Fargo took over the early lead from her fourth starting spot from Thomas Sandvig but soon faced a challenge from Andy Wagner of Ada, who had made a quick charge from 11th to the second spot.
Wagner snuck by Fischer for the top spot, and Ryan Restad of West Fargo was also on the move after starting ninth. Wagner led with 16 to go with Restad moving on the high side past Fischer for second.
Wagner and Rested had a great duel for the lead racing side by side for several laps. Defending RRVS champion Scott Jacobson had worked into third after starting eighth.
Wagner and Restad dueled hard for the lead swapping the lead a couple of times before Wagner edged ahead.
Chris VanMil of Barnesville stuck his #40 to the high side, like he’s done many times before and was making it work.
With four to go, Restad chose the high side for row two with Jacobson in third. But the cars wouldn’t make it through the corners as a multi-car pileup occurred in turns one and two. Kelly Jacobson of Fargo took a hard hit and was done.
Restad chose the high side with Jacobson lurking down low. Soon, VanMil was in the hunt on the high line. As the final lap commenced four cars had a shot at the win — Wagner, Restad, Jacobson and VanMil.
There was contact between Jacobson and Wagner — and those two have met before — and that slowed Wagner enough and opened the door for Restad to take over the lead. But VanMil was not finished. He had one last charge on the high side and made a huge surge toward the finish, but Restad held on to win by just .0003 seconds in a fantastic finish. VanMil was second, Wagner was third, Jacobson was fourth and Doug Gardner of Glyndon fifth.
Rich Pavlicek of Casselton ran in the top five after starting 12th but Gardner got by him to edge him for fifth. It was a tremendous race.
Alex Braseth of Ulen set the early pace in the INEX Legend feature with Ryan Braseth, his brother, giving chase. Australian Glenn Mitchell was settled into third.
The bottom was the place to be in the legends, and it made passing difficult. Brian Frederick and Scott Richardson were battling for third. Tye Wilke was also working through the field, and had moved into the sixth spot with eyes on the top five.
Alex Braseth, who led several laps at Norman County Raceway on Thursday before pulling in late, kept his brother about two car lengths back. Wilke, meanwhile was finding openings on the bottom and soon as challenging Mitchell for third before taking the spot with five laps left.
The leaders started to encounter lapped traffic. Wilke and Ryan Braseth went at it for second with Wilke making a move in lapped traffic to take over the second spot.
Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids was finding some speed on a little higher line and moved into fourth; he had run in the top five much of the race.
Wilke had Alex Braseth right in his sights and went to the outside on the final lap. He pulled beside the #20 but Braseth had the momentum off of turns three and four and went on to win by .221 seconds over Wilke. It was Alex’s first feature win of 2022. Ryan Braseth held off Richardson for third with Mitchell capping off a nice run in fifth. It was a caution-free main event, which was nice.
Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks, coming off of an impressive win at NCR on Thursday, and Caleb Gardner of Glyndon led the IMCA Hobby Stocks to the green and took control early.
Eckerdt took over the top spot early with Randy Randall settling into second. Soon Brad Orvedal of Fargo moved not third. Point leader Dan Dowling of Davenport soon passed Orvedal and Randall to move into second.
Eckerdt opened up a 1.1 second lead over Dowling with Orvedal passing Randall for third. Tim Church of Moorhead was running a solid fifth.
The lead grew for Eckerdt up to 1.6 seconds while Dowling had breathing room over Orvedal. Eckerdt would pick up his second win in as many nights, by 2.7 seconds, with Dowling taking second and Orvedal third. Church was fourth and Randall was fifth.
Twin sisters Laela and Amelia Eisenschenk, 14, both race in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Class. Those two are nieces of WOO sprint car star Donny Schatz. Amelia won her first career sprint feature at Norman County Raceway earlier this season.
Josh Johnson of Harwood, looking for his first IMCA RaceSaver Sprint win, led the four laps and had his #84X looking good.
Amelia Eisenschenk moved past defending RRVS champion Ty Hanten for second, and it turned into a three-car battle between Johnson, Eisenschenk and Johnson for the lead.
Amelia Eisenschenk took over the lead and opened up a substantial 2.376 lead on Hanten. Johnson faced pressure from Trevor Serbus of Olivia, who is the IMCA national point leader and who also won at NCR on Thursday.
The lead grew past three seconds over Hanten. Johnson was fending off Serbus for third as Tye Wilke had worked into fifth.
The winning margin was 3.202 seconds for Amelia Eisenschenk for her second career win, but her first at RRVS. Hanten was second, and Johnson capped off a good run in third. Hats off to Josh, who is a budget racer and really looked good the whole night. And few people know more about racing history in this area than Josh.
Serbus and Wilke rounded out the top five.
Mike Anderson of Walcott was the early leader of the IMCA Stock Cars with Keaten Froemke giving chase.
Brennan Bord of Harwood stuck his #52 to the low line. Moving up was Travis Robertson of Moorhead and Rick Schulz of Horace into the top five.
Robertson moved past Borg for third and soon set his sights on the top two. Robertson took over second with eight laps to go and went over Anderson. However with four to go, Robertson slid high and Froemke re-assumed the top spot.
Froemke and Robertson were closing the gap on Anderson as the white flag waved, but Anderson would survive by 0.236 seconds. Froemke recorded a career-best second with Robertson settling for third. Borg was fourth. Kelly Jacobson, driving Tyler McDougall’s #1 car, worked his way to fifth after starting eighth. Brody Carlsrud of Fargo had a solid race as well, going from 13th to sixth by the checkered in the caution-free race.
Peterson Wins Advantage RV Challenge at River Cities
Tyler Peterson of Horace took the challenge — starting from 16th in the Wissota Modified feature. If he would win, it would be an $1,100 bonus. He did just that, winning the Advantage RV Mod Tour race at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks on Friday, walking out with $2,700. He did the same thing the night before at Norman County Raceway for $500 and won in convincing fashion after starting ninth.
Corky Thomas of Glyndon was second, Ward Imrie of Winnipeg was third, Rick Delaine of Stony Mountain, Man., fourth and Zach Johnson of Lowry was fifth. Johnson came from 22nd in the field.
Brad Seng of Grand Forks topped Lance Schill of Langdon for the Wissota Late Model win. Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks was third, Mike Greseth of Harwood fourth and Ryan Corbett of Grand Forks fifth.
Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks won the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint feature for his first victory of 2022. Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks was second, Jack Croaker of East Grand Forks third, Ryan Timms of Oklahoma City, Okla. fourth and Jade Hastings of Grand Forks fifth.
Vogel Wins Steffes Tour at Fiesta City
Justin Vogel of Brooten picked up the Steffes Street Stock Tour victory at Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo for his second straight tour win. Kyle Anderson of Jamestown was second, Kaden Woodie of Milaca third, Eric Riley of Morris fourth and Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck fifth. Jonny Carter of Lisbon, the 2020 tour champion, was sixth after starting 15th.
Vogel is the point leader for the tour, which heads to Madison, Minn., on Saturday.
Karter Reents of Glenwood captured the Wissota Super Stock main event for his first feature win of the 2022 season.
Zabel Wins Rebel Midwest Modified Tour
Dawson Zabel of Selby won the Rebel Midwest Modified Tour stop at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen on Friday night. Mike Nichols of Watertown was second, Jason Grimes of Jamestown third, Jared Wibstad of Jamestown fourth and Scott Hansen of Garden City, S.D. fifth.
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