RaceChaser has parental duty this weekend with my wife working, so stayed closer to home on Friday and headed to night 2 of the King Pin Klash for IMCA Stock Cars at Red River Valley Speedway. Another great field of 83 cars were on hand.
Tye Wilke picked up his third straight RRVS legend win while Tanner Engen won his second IMCA Hobby Stock feature in a row. Rick Schulz won his second RRVS feature of the season and third overall to claim the $500 King Pin Klash, while veterans Rich Pavlicek and Darren Pfau also found victory lane.
The track was dry slick and officials worked hard to keep the dust down despite a steady southerly breeze. There were multiple lanes to run and it was smooth, two things that matter to me as a fan. But it also required being smooth and patient and one thing was needed -- a good handling race car.
The IMCA Sport Mod feature had kind of an odd start. The original inside pole car, Brandon Tendeland, did not start, while two other cars, Kevin Veralrud and Landon Maatz, both pulled into the pits before the drop of the green (Veralrud was able to come back and finish the feature).
Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, interviewed above, took the lead early in the feature and faced a challenge from veteran Scott Jacobson of Fargo for a few laps. Pavlicek, running the low line, opened some breathing room on second and picked up his second feature win of 2020, but his first at RRVS. Jacobson had his second top three finish of the week. Luke Johnson of Moorhead and Chris VanMil of Barnesville had a great battle for third for much of the race with Johnson prevailing at the checkered. Ryan Restad of West Fargo finished fifth, which was his second straight top five finish at RRVS.
Tye Wilke is on some kind of streak in the INEX Legend Class. He picked up win No. 7 on Friday topping Brody Carlsrud for the win. Wilke, from Detroit Lakes, started eighth on the 12-car field. By the way, in the nine features he has started this season Wilke has seven wins. Carlsrud is Mr. Consistent. In his last nine features he has finished in the top five each time, which includes a win and five runner-up finishes.
Kody King of Clear Lake, Iowa — who wins the unofficial long tow award — finished a solid third in the legends, ahead of Dylan Johnson of Durbin and Sean Johnson of Kindred.
Tanner Engen (44 pictured above) has sure figured something out in his #44 IMCA Hobby Stock. A week after picking up his first career hobby stock win, the Detroit Lakes driver took the lead from Marvin Priem early and checked out on the field, winning by a comfortable margin.
Veterans Brad Orvedal and Tim Shiek usually end up in the top five and Friday was no exception. The two had a good battle for second for several laps, but Orvedal held on. 14-year-old Brodee Eckert, who won Week 1 at RRVS, made a late pass of Shiek for third. Caleb Gardner of Glyndon rounded out the top five.
Darren Pfau of West Fargo, interviewed above, hasn’t had a great start to 2020 — two DNFs in three starts — but Friday night had to feel good. He started on the outside pole of the IMCA Modified main event. Greg Friestad of Valley City set the pace early in his #12 machine, but Pfau worked the low line and took over the lead. In what ended up being a long green flag run to close the race, Pfau led the rest of the way, although Tyler Hall of Fertile and Jesse Skalicky of Fargo, who won on Thursday at Norman County Raceway, were persistent in their chase him down. Pfau was flawless, even in lapped traffic, and prevailed by a few car lengths over Hall. Hall, by the way, after a bumpy start to 2020, has finished second in three of his last four feature races.
Skalicky finished third to pick up his fifth top five of 2020. Casey Arneson of Fargo finished fourth after starting eighth, while Matt Aukland of Glyndon, making his season debut, finished fifth after starting 11th. Dave Shipley of Argusville made a nice charge through the field, starting 21st and working to sixth at the checkered.
Rookie Keaten Froemke of Glyndon set the early pace in the IMCA Stock Car feature, but soon was pressured by Schulz, who started fourth. The two waged a pretty good battle for the lead before Schulz pulled in front. The Horace driver led by a straightaway with the caution flew.
A lot was happening in the top five as Todd Heinrich of Fargo, who started 16th and had won Night 1 at Norman County Raceway, was on the move. So was Rob VanMil of Barnesville, who started 12th. They were among the drivers battling for spots in the top five along with Andrew Jochim of Glyndon, Brennan Borg of Harwood, Travis Robertson of Moorhead, Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada and Froemke.
Heinrich got behind Schulz and tried to challenge, but got up in the marbles and lost a lot of ground on the lead, and also lost second to VanMil. Schulz, meanwhile picked up win No. 3 overall in 2020 and took home the $500 check. VanMil was second, Heinrich third, Robertson — who finished second at NCR last night — was fourth and Borg fifth. Jochim, an IMCA Stock Car rookie, continues to impress, finishing sixth.
Thomas Ahrndt of Hawley made a nice run through the field, finishing eighth after starting 20th.
A great 22-car stock car field was on hand.
Friday Night Notes
—Several IMCA Modified drivers made their season debut on Friday. That included 2019 RRVS Modified champion Dylan Goplen of Fargo, Aukland, Allen Kent of West Fargo, Jeff Odden of Fargo and Bill Wadeson of Alice.
Wilke and Carlsrud are both 16 years old and almost considered veterans in the legend class. Keep in mind, there are two drivers younger who are just getting their feet wet. One is 13-year-old and second-year driver Ashton Spieker of Sabin, who recorded his first career top five earlier this season; another is 12-year-old rookie Collin Compson of Valley City. King, by the way, is only 13 years old as well. Collin Compson is the son of veteran driver Tim Compson, who had his IMCA Stock Car out for the first time in 2020.
—Jochim, Froemke, Chad Hunteman of Moorhead and Billy Michaelsohn are among the rookies in the stock car class. Michaelsohn is a former late model and sport mod pilot, while Jochim spent several years in the legends class. Froemke, by the way, is only 15 years old but is showing a lot of promise. He is one of several drivers at RRVS who got their start at the Red River Valley Kart Club.
Riley Edges Carter For Thrilling Win at River Cities
Eric Riley of Morris edged Jonny Carter of Lisbon in a thrilling finish to win Night 4 of the Steffes Wissota Street Stock Tour on Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks.
Riley’s margin of victory was an amazing .004 seconds, according to the scoring system. He started 12th on the 24-car field and made a great run through traffic. It is his second tour win; he also won at Jamestown last week. Trey Hess of Manvel ran a solid third with Royce Jawaski of Horace and Kyle Anderson of Jamestown rounding out the top five.
Reise Stenberg of Argusville was back behind the wheel of his 87s Wissota Midwest Modified. He blew a motor a few weeks back at Devils Lake and was waiting for his new one to get finished. Well, his new motor seems to be working fine as he picked up the feature win Friday at RCS. Stenberg and his wife Katie are two of the nicer people you will meet at the race track, by the way.
Randy Thompson of Lakota was second, Lance Schill of Langdon third, John Halvorson of Warren fourth and Matt Schow of McIntosh, who won opening night at RCS, was fifth.
Sixteen-year-old Bryce Haugeberg of West Fargo won the POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint feature, topping Alex Truscinski. The win was the first career victory for Haugeberg. Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush was third, Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks fourth and Jason Berg of West Fargo fifth.
Lance Schill picked up his first career late model win at River Cities. Brad Seng of Grand Forks was second, Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks third, veteran Tom Corcoran of East Grand Forks fourth and Steve Anderson of Grand Forks fifth.
Austin Pierce of Grand Forks is now 3-for-3 in the NOSA Sprints at River Cities with the victory on Friday. He topped Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks for the win. Wade Nygaard of Grand Forks was third, Chris Ranten of Climax fourth and Ty Hanten of West Fargo fifth.
Satter, Baker, Thomas and Crouse Win at I-94 Sure Step Speedway
Ryan Satter is 2-for-2 in the Wissota Street Stocks at I-94 Sure Step Speedway this season. He picked up the win over Cory Dykhoff of Perham on Friday night in Fergus Falls. Bryan Crandall of Herman ran a good race and finished third, with Brett Miller of Alexandria and Mike Jans of Clarkfield rounding out the top five (which might be the first time I’ve mentioned any driver from my hometown in this blog!).
A big congrats to Joseph Thomas of Glyndon, who picked up his first career win in the Wissota Modified class among a field of 27 cars. He topped last week's winner Dustin Bitzan of Brandon for the win. Ryan Gierke of Villard was third, Brian Haben of Appleton fourth and Landon Atkinson of Little Falls fifth.
Dustin Johanneck of Litchfield won the Limited Late Model feature over Brady Mellendorf of Brandt, S.D. Rick Nelson of Alexandria was third, Ben Wolden of Fergus Falls fourth and Satter placed fifth.
Matt Baker of St. Joseph on the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Sam Zender of Fergus Falls. Former national champion Travis Saurer of Dalton was third, Justin Jones of Bemidji fourth and Brendan Blascyk of Kensington fifth.
Jeff Crouse of Alexandria prevailed in the Wissota Super Stock feature over Matt Miller of Glenwood. Trevor Saurer of Dalton was third.
Ryan Mikkelson of Alexandria won the Wissota Late Model feature over Dave Mass of Isanti. Cole Schill of Horace was third, Jordan Tollakson of Montevideo fourth and Shawn Meyer of Wahpeton fifth.
Daniel Harstad of Fergus Falls won the Short Tracker feature over Brady Hagen of Montevideo. Matt Pederson of Lake Park was third, Week 1 winner Austin Lammers of Pelican Rapids fourth and Levi Lease of Harwood fifth.
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