RaceChaser blog was back at River Cities Speedway last Friday, and it was a very busy night at the Bullring.
There was a lot happening at River Cities on Friday — the Howie Schill Memorial, which paid $1,404 to the winner of the NLRA Late Model race; the rescheduled Rebel Midwest Modified Tour stop at RCS, which brought in 35 midwest mods; and the Advantage RV Mod Tour, which features 21 Wissota Mods. A total of 105 cars was on hand on a hot and muggy night.
The forecast was for rain but it held off, surprisingly. A light shower hit before the midwest mod feature but stopped, and aside from some sprinkles the night got done. I'll tell you this, it was so humid if felt like it could rain at any minute.
Let's start with the Rebel Midwest Modified Tour.
A first-lap pileup sent a few cars pitside — Reise Stenberg, Laine Schwehr being among them.
Jamie Dietzler of Larimore — who looked on his way to a win Thursday at Norman County Raceway before a caution erased a big lead — with Lucas Rodin of Marion, interviewed above, giving chase. Rodin eventually took over the top spot and opened up som breathing room.
Tour point leader Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls was running in the top five but broke a right rear slider, causing his car to slow. One thing about River Cities — it is hard to get off the track if you have trouble. Gronwold tried to exit but Cody Lee of Starbuck — who had a great runner-up finish at Ada on Thursday — really had nowhere to go with a full head of speed going into turn one and hit the 2G which had slowed. It was a hard hit and it was just a bad deal for both (not intentional just a dumb racing deal). Cody Lee limped his #50C machine to a 13th place finish, as he is following the tour regularly and gained some points by staying out there. Gronwold had significant left rear damage.
Two drivers on the move were Corey Storck of Morris — who started way back in 19th — and Nate Reinke of Lisbon, who started 21st. Storck had worked into the top five, and Reinke was knocking on the door for the top five.
Darren Pfau of West Fargo looked to have a top five finish, but something broke on the #86C, ending his night.
Rodin had the lead and Storck, coming off of a big win Saturday at I-94 Sure Step Speedway, got by Dietzler for second. Storck looked to have something for Rodin early, but the #19R SSR machine pulled away and won by 1.497 seconds. Storck capped off a great run to finish second with Dietzler running as strong third. Dietzler also finished third Thursday at Norman County, so he’s having a great weekend. Veteran Jason Grimes of Jamestown finished fourth while Rusty Kollman of Carrington edged Reinke for fifth.
Bob Broking of Grand Rapids led the early portion of the Wissota Modified feature from his outside pole spot over Billy Kendall III of Baxter.
It was Bob Broking’s son, Johnny Broking of Grand Rapids, who took control of the race shortly after. Using the high line, Johnny Broking, interviewed above, got around both Bob Broking and Kendall to take over the top spot.
The comeback of the night was Tyler Peterson of Hickson. He started fourth, spun and had to go to the tail, and came back through the field. Peterson, who was runner-up to Jeremy Nelson Thursday at Norman County, was charging through the pack towards the front and soon was in the top five.
Johnny Broking had a commanding lead when the caution waved, and Peterson had a shot to cap off quite a night if he could pull off the pass. He ran well on the bottom and poked his nose a few times, but Johnny Broking was too strong on this night, picking up the win by .0761 seconds and the $1,500. Broking now has two Advantage RV wins on the year; he won at Halvor Lines in Proctor in June.
Peterson settled for second and Kendall was third. Montevideo, Minn., driver Matt Gilbertson — who started in ninth — finished fourth ahead of Bob Broking. Zach Johnson of Lowry ran in the top five most of the night and finished sixth.
The race also shuffled the tour points — Peterson took over the points lead, and now leads Johnny Broking by eight. Shane Sabraski of Rice, who entered the night in the tour points lead, didn’t have a great night; he was up to the top five for a while but faded back and finished eighth and fell to third in points. The top three drivers are separated by nine points.
Next up was the NLRA Late Model feature and the Howie Schill Memorial. Howie Schill was the father of current late model driver Cole Schill who passed away in December. He won the first-ever NLRA race in 1998.
It’s hard to believe veteran Brad Seng of Grand Forks is still looking for his first feature win of 2021. He took the lead from the outside pole in the 24-lap late model feature and was looking to end that winless streak.
Shane Edginton of Winnipeg, however, had other ideas. Edginton started fourth but worked on Seng for the lead. Also in the hunt was Mike Greseth of Harwood, and those three went at it hard for the lead for several laps.
Edginton eventually inched ahead of Seng for the top spot.
It turned into a great three-car battle up front, but with three to go, Greseth jumped the cushion in turns one and two and slid off, bringing out the yellow. He had to go to the tail and finished in 12th.
After the restart, Edginton maintained the lead and held on for the victory by .931 seconds over Seng.
Bryce Sward of Nelson started seventh but ran well all night. He worked his way to third at the checkered. Cole Babcock of Rothsay was the hard charger of the night. He started 18th, but battled his way to the top five and finished fourth. Late model rookie Jason Strand of Portland rounded out the top five.
The race also shuffled the NLRA points, as Greseth entered the night in the lead, but fell back to third. Edginton took over the points lead by 12 over Seng with Greseth now 30 points back.
The Buffalo Wild Wing NOSA Sprints capped off the night, and pole sitter Austin Pierce of Grand Forks was fast once again, picking up the win. Wade Nygaard of Grand Forks finished second with Tom Egeland of Climax — who started 10th — finishing third. Brendan Mullen of Grand Forks and Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks rounded out the top five.
Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks was running towards the front and was fast, but a broken rear end ended his night.
River Cities Notes
—Speaking of Reinke, he is racing a different car this year. He bought Matt Aukland’s Shaw Chassis in the offseason.
—I visited with Dan Dowling of Davenport; he was borrowing a late model from Terry Blacklance to race for Friday’s NLRA Show. His #2 late model was totaled in a rollover last week at River Cities.
Running a 2000 GRT, Dowling got into the feature, which was his goal of the night. He’s bought a new car, a Rocket from long-time Montana veteran Hank Berry, that was scheduled to arrive last night. Dowling hopes to have it ready by Thursday’s NLRA show at Norman County Raceway.
—Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks had a violent rollover in his #71 modified Thursday at Norman County, flipping several times. According to the Strand racing Facebook page he was released with minor injuries on Thursday. A later post indicated Strand was OK but sore and was planning on taking the rest of the weekend off — which meant his #71 late model wasn’t in attendance on Friday at RCS.
—An interesting name pulled in for the Advantage RV Modified Tour Race at RCS — Billy Kendall of Baxter. Kendall is normally an IMCA mod driver but put together his #9 for the Wissota tour this weekend. Kendall put in a spec motor, changed tires and added a wing to his car to run the Wissota races. Kendall runs a 218 Chassis.
—Lindsey Hansen of Fargo can’t catch a break on the track, but he got some help off of it. He was suspended by Wissota for 30 days after being disqualified for a rules infraction at Buffalo River Speedway. However, some fellow drivers and friend helped kick in money to pay the $1,000 fine so he could get back on the track for the Rebel Midwest Modified Tour. His night ended early in the heat as a car spun in front of him, leaving him no place to go. He left on the hook with significant right front damage.
—Lance Schill of Langdon was driving one of Bryan Kakela’s midwest modifieds; but he pulled in early in the heat and his night was through.
—Heading into the night, Sward — who usually is the long-tow award for the NLRA Late Models — was fifth in the points on the tour. He moved into fourth after his finish on Saturday.
Skalicky, Pavlicek, McDougall Win at Red River Valley
Jesse Skalicky of Fargo, pictured above, has been trying for his first IMCA Modified win at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo since moving into the A mods. He broke through after three and a half years with the win. He started seventh and finished first. Brent Dutenhoffer of Watertown was second, Kollin Hibdon of Pahrump was third, Tyler Hall of Fertile was fourth and Dave Shipley of Argusville was fifth.
Rich Pavlicek of Casselton found victory lane in the IMCA Sport Mods over Doug Gardner of Glyndon. Kelly Jacobson of Fargo was third, Scott Jacobson of Fargo fourth and Chris VanMil of Barnesville was fifth.
Tyler McDougall of Hawley held off Rick Schulz of Horace for the IMCA Stock Car win. Travis Robertson of Moorhead was third, Trent Grager of Sykeston was fourth and Andrew Jochim of Glyndon was fifth.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes continues his dominance in the INEX Legends. He started 10th and got to the front to pick up the win over Sean Johnson of Kindred. Ryan Braseth of Ulen was third, Alex Kukowski of Edgeley was fourth and Dylan Johnson of Durbin was fifth.
Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush won another POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint feature. Alex Truscinski of Greenbush was second, Chris Crowder of Colorado Springs was third, Weston Olson of Warren fourth and Mark Williams of Grand Forks was fifth.
Marcus Rothenbacher of Ulen won the IMCA Racesaver Sprint feature over Ty Hansen of West Fargo.
One other RRVS note: Long-time racer Bobby Blue of Moorhead passed away this past week at the age of 62. Blue was a big help to many in the Red River Valley racing scene.
"He was the guy that helped me out so much," Pavlicek said. "My first car was built by him."
Blue is the latest in losses for the Red River Valley area in recent years as Troy Olson and Mike Bruns have passed away in the last few years.
A field of 87 cars was on hand at Red River Valley.
Vogel Wins Steffes Tour Race at Fiesta City
Justin Vogel of Brooten won the Steffes Street Stock Tour feature Friday night at Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo. It was his third tour win of the year.
Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck was second, Mike Jans of Clarkfield was third, Jeff Nowak of Wausau, Wis., was fourth and Kyle Genett of Auburndale was fifth. All 27 cars on hand took the green with 24 finishing. The tour goes to Madison tonight.
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