I made it to Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo for the first time on Friday. With rain showers all over the radar, RRVS officials hustled through the features with the final checkered flag waving at 9:38 p.m.
By my count, there were 98 cars on hand (seven cars registered on myracepass but were not in attendance) led by a whopping 33 INEX Legends. I was a little disappointed to see only 14 IMCA Mods on hand for the Dakota Cat Shootout, however, but car counts were solid overall in all classes.
Dave Shipley of Argusville has been a top runner in the IMCA Modifieds at Red River Valley in recent years and him starting on the pole for the 16-lap feature served as trouble for the rest of the field. He would jump out quickly to the lead, and built a 1.779 second lead over Jamie Schulz of Harwood.
It was really good to see Allen Kent back behind the wheel of an IMCA Modified, and his nice-looking red and white #33 machine settled into third. Matt Aukland of Glyndon and Jesse Skalicky of Fargo also moved into the top five.
Shipley is very smooth and methodical in the 72 car; his lead grew to 3.081 seconds over Schulz, who had Aukland pressuring him. Aukland would spin with nine laps left and would pull in.
Jordan Sours of Lisbon, who won last week at RRVS, was just outside the top five but moving up.
On the restart Shipley opened up a second lead over Schulz, while Sours moved into third ahead of Skalicky. Kent was running in fifth. The best battle was between Sours and Skalicky for third.
Shipley steadily built his lead up to over two seconds as Schulz settled into second. Sours and Skalicky really raced hard for third and put on a heck of a show.
Shipley would take the convincing win by 2.783 seconds while Schulz capped off a good night in second. Sours outlasted Skalicky for third with Kent capping off a nice run in fifth.
Reile Sailer of Fargo – who is good to see back behind the wheel in 2023 – and John Sandvig led the 18-car IMCA Sport Mod feature to the green with Sandvig setting the early pace. Kevin Veralrud settled into second.
Rich Pavlicek of Casselton started back in 10th – but was quick from the get-go and hastily moved into the top five and it wasn’t long before he was in third. Scott Jacobson of Fargo started 11th but had climbed into the top five as well.
A caution would wave with 13 to go and that was a game changer. He surged into the lead on a restart and would take firm control on his way on his way to a dominating win.
Sandvig, who led several laps last week, settled into second but had Scott Jacobson of Fargo applying heavy pressure.
Another driver who was making headway through the field was Ryan Restad of West Fargo, who started 11th but had worked into the top five.
Pavlicek would roll to a 5.6 second win over Jacobson as the two veterans continue to run at the front in the sport mods. Sandvig ran a solid third with Veralrud and Restad rounding out the top five with good performances.
Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids led the early portions of the INEX Legends main event with Collin Compson of Valley City soon taking over the top spot after starting third.
Brian Frederick’s #7F would roll over in turn four after hard contact with another car; he was OK but his night was done.
Ryan Braseth of Ulen was applying heavy pressure to Compson, as Richardson and Sean Johnson of Kindred, who started eighth, battled for third.
Kody Machart of Moorhead and Evan Hendrickson – both of whom have earned their first career feature wins this season – also worked into the top five.
Braseth would stall his #29 machine to bring out the caution; he would get pulled into the pit area, ending his hopes for a win with six laps to go.
Compson now had Sean Johnson and Machart on his tail. Compson kept the #49 stuck to the tires.
Another driver who had made big moves through the field was Ashton Spieker of Sabin, who won the B main. HE started 17th but had worked up to six and was challenging for the top five.
Johnson was all over Compson, but Compson didn’t waver from the low line. He couldn’t afford to with some big-time competition just a few feet behind him. Compson was able to open a little breathing room by the checkered to win by 1.308 seconds over Johnson. Machart and Hendrickson were very solid in third and fourth, respectively with Richardson having a good night in fifth. Spieker went from 17th to sixth.
Tim Otterness started eighth, but didn’t waste a second getting to the front of the IMCA Hobby Stock feature which had a pair of early cautions. But the fastest car in the class the past two years, Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks, was on the move and took over second.
Tyler Hehn of Horace moved into third with Andrea Jacobson of Fargo also moving into the top five. Jacobson and Blake Anderson got together to bring out the caution with Anderson being charged with the caution.
Tim Church of Moorhead was running well and made the move into third past Hehn with Brad Orvedal of Fargo taking over fifth. It looked to be a dual front between Otterness and Eckerdt
However, Otterness got a great restart with nine to go to open up more than a second lead, but Eckerdt was slowly eating into the lead. But the lead stayed just under a second. Eckerdt had more than five seconds on third-place Church.
Otterness ran a flawless race to pick up the win with Eckerdt settling for second. Church, Hehn and Orvedal rounded out the top five, all with good runs.
Laela Eisenschenk of Horace and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes led the front row of the IMCA Racesaver Sprint feature with Andy Pake of Felton moving into second.
Morgan Nyquist of Moorhead settled into fourth ahead of Tyler Rabenberg of Princeton.
Eisenschenk – the niece of World of Outlaws star Donny Schatz – opened about a 0.7 second lead on Wilke, but Wilke closed the gap and would take over the lead.
Wilke opened up a 1.1 second lead on Pake, who had moved past Eisenschenk for second.
Pake would run out of laps as Wilke prevailed by 0.873 seconds. Pake, who won Thursday at Norman County Raceway, settled for second with Eisenschenk, Nyquist and Rabenberg rounding out the top five. One thing about the sprints – 11 signed in but only nine showed up. It led to a weird deal in the height where you had one head with six cars and another with three, which is a pet peeve of mine…but that’s another blog.
The IMCA Stock Cars capped off the evening with Tim Compson of Valley City and Billy Michaelsohn of Fargo taking the field to the green. Three-wide racing was happening through the field with Brody Carlsrud of Fargo taking the lead on lap one over Rick Schulz.
Rob VanMil of Barnesville, who won at Norman County Raceway on Thursday, moved into third ahead of Mike Anderson of Walcott moved into fourth ahead of Compson.
Anderson would move in front ahead of Kesselberg; VanMIl’s night would end six laps into the feature with a mechanical problem, spoiling his hopes of two wins in two nights.
Keaten Froemke moved into third with Schulz, Carlsrud and last week’s winner Andrew Jochim of Glyndon battling hard for position.
Anderson led by 1.158 seconds over Kesselberg with six laps left; Kesselberg held a similar advantage on third.
Froemke’s hopes for a top three ended when he pulled off with four laps to go, I couldn’t tell for sure but it may have been a flat. Anderson maintained control up front with Schulz settling into third.
It was a rare night where the stock cars got a little spread out, which is unusual for RRVS. As the top two encountered a slower car, Kesselberg made a sudden charge and cut the lead down to a tenth of a second, but Anderson weathered the storm to pick up the win.
Schulz, Carlsrud and Jochim all had good performances and finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Traynor Wins DRC Street Stock Tour at I-94
Nick Traynor of Barron, Wis., won the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour feature Friday night at I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls. A stellar 34-car field was on hand for the event, which was part of the Prelude to the King of the Dirt.
Kyle Genett of Auburndale, Wis., held off Braden Brauer of Eyota for second. Andrew Hanson of Iron River was fourth and Sam Fankhauser of Rice Lake, Wis., was fifth. Justin Vogel of Brooten, the defending tour champion, went from 22nd to eighth to earn Hard Charger honors.
Zach Benson of Princeton won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Lucas Rodin of Marion. Corey Storck of Morris, who battled for the lead and was making the pass earlier as the caution came out, was third. Mike Nichols of Watertown was fourth and Cole Boston of Lindstrom was fifth.
Brad Staples of Herman topped Dave Mass of East Bethel for the Gen X Late Model win. Last week's winner Derek Quinn of Brandon was third, Tony Croninger of Watertown fourth and Larry Fitzsimmons of East Bethel was fifth.
Shane Sabraski of Rice won the Wissota Super Stock feature over Jack Koranda of Bluffton. Trevor Nelson of Warner, S.D., was third, William Lund of Brandon fourth and Jordan Henkemeyer of Sauk Rapids was fifth.
Ryan Gierke of Villard topped a stacked Wissota Modified field. Dan Ebert of Lake Shore was second, Joseph Thomas of Glyndon third, Dave Cain of Corcoran fourth and Shane Sabraski of Rice was fifth.
Shawn Beto of Wahpeton won the Short Tracker feature over Matthew Dittman of Lake Lillian. Peter Martin of Willmar was third, Brady Molter of Rothsay was fourth and Kole Kampsen of Belgrade was fifth.
The annual King of the Dirt is Saturday at I-94, with the NLRA Late Models joining the card.
Schill Wins at River Cities
Lance Schill of Langdon won the NLRA Late Model feature Friday night at River Cities Speedway after starting from the pole. Brad Seng of Grand Forks was second, Mike Greseth of Harwood was third, Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks was fourth and Shane Edginton of East St. Paul, Man., fifth. Tyler Peterson of Hickson went from 17th to sixth.
Friday Notes
Tucker Pederson of Grand Forks won the Wissota Street Stock feature Friday at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen.
Jayson Good of Watertown won the Wissota Late Model feature Friday at Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo.
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