It was the first "Dakota Dream" event held at Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon on Sunday. The event feature increased purse for all four regular classes at the track and a great field of 86 cars signed in.
Sheyenne ran this show without raising admission prices and without big sponsorship, as a reward to its four weekly classes ($1,000 to win, $100 to start in both Wissota classes, plus $300 to win Pure Stocks and $150 to win mini stocks). Great idea. Another full house in the stands, can't complain about that, either. And excellent quality in all four classes.
A few South Dakota cars pulled in, including Cole Searing of Huron, Jackson and Scott Hansen of Garden City in the midwest modifieds and Cory Moser of Aberdeen. Casino Speedway in Watertown cancelled after receiving more than two inches of rain on Saturday afternoon and evening.
An excellent field of Wissota Midwest Modifieds was on hand with 24 cars signed in. Some notable travelers included Cody and Haley Lee, Cole Searing, Ryan Gierke and Corey Storck. And the 21 street stocks in attendance featured at least nine drivers who have won a feature somewhere this season, including defending Wissota national champion Justin Vogel of Brooten, Minn.
There's no doubt Sheyenne benefited from some of the rainouts, but I think good promotion on social media and a good purse were the real reasons for the car count. If you start the B modified feature and get $100 just to start that is a pretty dang good night.
The track keeps getting better each week. It was back to the smooth racy track for the features. It's not where Hunter Carter wants it by any means but it is getting better.
The midwest modified turned into a battle between two drivers looking to get some momentum going -- Lucas Rodin of Marion and Cody Lee of Alexandria. Both have had some tough luck to start the season but looked great on Sunday. Rodin ran the bottom and Lee the high side and the two were side by side for several laps.
Eventually, Rodin was able to get a little breathing room and went on to take the win over Lee. Brennan Urbach of Englevale ran in the top five all night and finished third. Jared Wibstad of Jamestown also had a good run, taking fourth ahead of veteran Scott Hansen of Garden City, S.D. Searing finished sixth after starting 18th.
I know both Rodin, who was interviewed above, and Lee were happy with their finishes and they put on a heck of a show battling for the lead.
Jonny Carter of Lisbon is just dominating the Wissota Street Stock competition in eastern ND right now. He picked up win #10 -- in 14 starts -- in capturing the Wissota street stock feature. He started from the pole and built a nice lead. The battle was for second, as Ryan Johnson of Karlstad, Minn., who made the three-hour plus trek to Sheyenne was waged in a fierce battle with Ryan Pommerer of Oriska, Royce Jawaski of Horace and Eric Riley of Morris.
Riley eventually got past Johnson and after a restart, Johnson got shuffled back several spots as he was forced to run the high side. Pommerer ran in the top five all night and a car on the move was Zach Frederick of Richardton, who started to battle with Pommerer for third. Kyle Anderson of Jamestown had also ran a good race and moved into the top five.
Carter took the win over Riley, who was also second at Fiesta City Speedway's special on Friday. Between the two nights he took home $1,000 that's a pretty good weekend. Frederick edged Pommerer for third while Anderson took fifth.
There was some three-wide racing in the streets and once was a fourwide out of the fourth turn. It might have been, one through 21, one of the strongest street stock fields I've seen.
The pure stock feature was competitive as well. Jordan Sours of Lisbon stalked Bo Gregor of Lisbon from the outset. There was contact for the lead (I did not see that part so I can't comment on that) and Sours snuck into the lead. Gregor made a shot on the outside but came up short as Sours picked up his first win of 2019. Dylan Steele of Jamestown and Lane Stoppleworth of Jamestown had a nice battle for third with Steele prevailing at the line. Nick Nord of Enderlin finished 13th after starting fifth.
Unfortunately the Mini Stock feature was marred by a hard crash in turn two. The 2A of Dalton Aabrekke received heavy damage on the front end. He was cut from the car by emergency personnel (underscoring the need of why that aspect is important to a racetrack) but was alert and moving his limbs. A lot of precaution is taken in those cases.
Jason Reinke of Moorhead (interviewed above) has raced twice this year -- and won twice. He started on the outside pole and was never seriously threatened in winning the Mini Stock feature. Kelby Anderson, last week's winner, was second ahead of fellow teenager Gavin Walton.
Overall I think the event was a success and I think there is plenty to build on.
Strand, Haugland Win at River Cities
River Cities Speedway wrapped up the Greater Grand Forks Fair with an NLRA Late Model show on Sunday. The Wissota Midwest Modifieds and Lightning Sprints also raced.
Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks won the NLRA Late Models with Shane Edginton taking second. Brad Seng of Grand Forks was third, Cole Schill of Horace fourth and Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg fifth.
Eric Haugland of Lawton, N.D., topped Nate Reynolds for the Wissota Midwest Modified win. Matt Schow of McIntosh was third, Ryan Schroeder of Devils Lake fourth and Hunter Hougard of Warren fifth.
Zach Kwiatkoski of Grand Forks won the lightning sprint main event. Alex Truscinski of Greenbush was second, Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks third, Mike Schmiedeberg of Lake Bronson was fourth and Josh Abrahamson of Moorhead fifth.
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