Stenberg edges Colvin to win Bitker B Mod Brawl at Norman County Raceway

I’ve heard the Wissota vs. IMCA debate pretty much since starting the blog, and at least on Thursday night, there was a chance to see the two sanctioning bodies square off against each other with the Bitker B Mod Challenge at Norman County Raceway.

The winner got a fancy belt, and the victory was worth $650. The Wissota cars had  to stay true to their rules, as did the IMCA cars. NCR promoter Jake Bitker isn’t afraid to try new things, and this certainly was a different concept. I think it’s worth a shot, but the only thing I would not have done is run the two classes for track points. But that’s a personal opinion. I am guessing there will be feedback from the drivers on this to see how an event can improve.

As far as the IMCA vs. Wissota debate, it’s completely unfair to base anything on one race, other than just having bragging rights for one night. I admit I was a little leery about how this would go. In doing this blog for nine years, the B mods usually go one of two directions –  it can be some great racing and not have a lot of cautions; or it can be a wreck ‘em rodeo. I’ll be honest – aside from one multi-car incident on the second-to-last restart, it was a pretty clean race with only two cautions.

With the Norman County Fair occurring in the background, the front row consisted of Paul Colvin of Horace and Ryan Schow of McIntosh with Schow taking a narrow lead over Colvin. Colvin would fight back and take the lead on Lap 2. Austin Veralrud of Audubon was running third with Reise Stenberg of Argusville in fourth.

Dean Eggebraaten, formerly of Bemidji, was running  fifth. The track was bottom-dominant; I was waiting to see if anyone would go up and try the top, but very few attempted it.

Colvin had a small lead on Schow but was under a lot of heat as Stenberg closed on Veralrud for third. Landyn Randt of Siren, who was the fast qualifier for the Wissota Midwest Modifieds, was running just outside the top five.

Colvin could ill afford any mistakes with Schow staying so close.  Justin Jones of Bemidji had climbed into the fifth spot and was running well.

I tell you, Schow was all over Colvin up front. He tried repeatedly to get beside him on the bottom, and didn’t quite have enough to make the move. The first caution waved for a spin with two laps left, cooling off the battle up front for a moment.

Colvin, who is not one of the big spenders in the IMCA SportMod class and has had some bad luck with mechanical issues in recent years, had to be going crazy with the late yellows as he sought a huge win.

Ryan Schow got beside Colvin on the restart, but would go around in turn two that led to the second caution.  Schow would call it a night, a disappointing end to a promising night for the 28s.  NCR officials decided, at least for the B mods to go with this rule on the cautions – if you stop for a caution you got to the tail. There was some hard contact between Jones and Stenberg that had the 87 car on two wheels going into turn one in what looked like a racing deal. Jones had some damage after the incident, and it was announced that because he stopped for the yellow that he was charged with the yellow. I do not like that rule one bit.

The restart saw Colvin have a new challenger – Stenberg, had the outside of Row 2 on the restart. Stenberg took a shot that he could find some grip on the high side in a race where the bottom dominated – and got beside Colvin in turn two. The two were side-by-side

 The two were side-by-side at the white flag and Stenberg gained the advantage out of turn two. He completed the pass going into turn  three and would go on to win the feature by a couple of car lengths in a thrilling finish. Colvin capped off a great night in second.

Landyn Randt of Siren who was the fastest qualifier for the Wissota Midwest Modifieds, made a surge into third on the final lap with Utah driver Payce Herrera, the fast qualifier for the IMCA Sport Mods, taking fourth. Veralrud ran solid all night and took fifth . The top five went Wissota, IMCA, Wissota, IMCA, IMCA -- about as balanced as you can get.  The top 10 — five Wissota, five IMCA.

Canadian Dylan McCaughan had a solid night, going from 14th to sixth while Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls went from 12th to seventh. Tommy Nichols of Watertown and Canadian Bailey Cousins shared the hard charger, each advancing 11 positions. Jory Berg of Grand Forks, the NCR point leader, moved from 20th to 10th.  

Joseph Lewis of Hawley led the first lap of the INEX Legend feature as Ryan Braseth of Ulen moved into second, Howie Briss of Glyndon was fighting 10^th starter Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes for third. Lewis would go around in turns three and four; fortunately a big pileup was avoided but he would get sent to the tail after running in second.

It was yet another Braseth vs. Wilke fight at the front – we’ve seen this before – as Briss was running well in third with Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids surging into fourth, ahead of Brandon Bunnis of Detroit Lakes.

Wilke made the pass for the lead on Lap 5, but the battle wasn’t over. Briss was running solid in third as Colton Miller of Bismarck was battling Richardson for fourth. With six to go Wilke’s lead stood at .702 seconds as he was slowly pulling away. The Legend cars pretty much stayed on the bottom and after the caution, it was a pretty uneventful race with Wilke controlling things at the front.

Wilke’s margin of victory was .918 seconds as Braseth settled for second. Briss, the defending NCR champion, finished a season-best third. Miller went from eighth to fourth while Richardson, always consistent, finished fifth. Back in the field, Owen Broden of Fertile went from 15^th to seventh while Carter Restad of West Fargo went from from 17^th to ninth.

The IMCA Hobby Stocks didn’t get through turns one and two without a pileup. Holden Gagnes would call it a night after starting on the inside pole.

Last week’s winner, Brad Jones of New Ulm, suffered a mechanical issue and slowed on the frontstretch to bring an end to his hopes of back-to-back wins.

Hunter Goulet of Fargo started on the outside pole and took the lead with Todd Gettel of Mahnomen in second. Daniel Beckman of Mahomen was third. Goulet had built a nice lead over Todd Gettel and looked on his way to a second win of the year, but the caution would fly with Colby Patterson of Minot spinning with four left.

Goulet led on the restart and  season point leader Reid Randall of Park Rapids was closing the gap as the laps went down, but he didn’t have enough as Goulet’s 701 found victory lane again.  Randall finished seventh after starting second while Beckman, who has a car that a hobby stock is supposed to look like, was third after starting sixth. Patterson, making a long trek from Minot, finished fourth after starting 10th while Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks, making his season debut, finished fifth.

NCR notes

--It’s been a miserable trip south so far for Winnipeg driver Austin Hunter, a former River Cities Speedway champion. He got turned on Wednesday at I-94 EMR Speedway that led to a pileup, damaging his 44 machine. During his heat on Thursday there was a pileup and he had nowhere to go and was collected and had more damage.  Hunter scratched in the B main.

--Cylen Vargason of Edinburg had engine issues during his qualifying run in his Wissota Midwest Modified, ending his night.

-Cole Slaubaugh of Wolford, N.D. (IMCA) and Tommy Nichols of Watertown were provisional starters. Nichols had an issue during the hot laps and didn’t get a chance to qualify, forcing him start in the back of his heat.  

--Matt Schow of McIntosh, the winner on Wednesday at I-94, was a scratch in the B main as well. He spun in his heat and narrowly missed out on a transfer spot and was scheduled to start in the front row of the B main but did not make the call because of a wrecked header.

--There are a lot of drivers 17 and under in the B mod ranks – Kyle VanMil (15), Noah McFarlane (14), Cayden Westcott (17), Kenna Breidenbach (17), Mavrik Strand (13), Brody Johnson (16) and Payce Herrera (17), at least by my count.

--It’s a big week for NCR. There is the Bison Battle tomorrow with big purses for the IMCA Stock Cars and Modifieds, and the World of Outlaws Late Models arriving on Tuesday.

--Ada native Mason Miller, an offensive lineman for the NFL’s Detroit Lions, did the candy toss.