Strand captures $5,000 prize at Golden Hammer Classic

Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks won the Golden Hammer Classic at Devils Lake Speedway (Speedway Shots photo)

Devils Lake Speedway hosted the seventh annual Golden Hammer Classic which paid $5,000 to the winner of the 40-lap feature on Saturday.

A great 43-car field of Wissota Late Models were on hand, and it was stacked.  Six former Wissota Late Model national champions were on hand: Chad Becker of Aberdeen (three-time), Tyler Peterson of Hickson (defending two-time), Don Shaw of Ham Lake, Mitch Johnson of Hickson (two-time), Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks and Cole Searing of Huron.

The car counts were boosted at least a little by some cancelations. Two tracks in South Dakota called off their shows ahead of time because of heavy rain, Brown County Speedway and Miller Central Speedway. Viking Speedway in Alexandria was scheduled to run the late models but also called its show off because of wet conditions. It’s been a brutal week for eastern South Dakota and central Minnesota tracks because of the rain.

All six former champions of the Golden Hammer Classic were in the A main field – Shane Edginton, Mike Greseth, Brad Seng, Joey Pederson, Shaw and Peterson, who was the defending champion.

The redraw, which included 12 drivers, proved to be critical as passing was on a premium with a lot of evenly matched late models.  Peterson, who won his heat, did not have a good redraw and would start 11th.

Dustin Strand seems to be riding a hot streak in terms of the redraw, and he and late model rookie Kelsi Pederson, both of East Grand Forks, led the late model feature to the green, and Strand grabbed the lead, one he would never relinquish. Chad Becker was battling John Seng of Grand Forks for third with Matt Schow of McIntosh running fifth.

Becker worked past Seng for third shortly before Travis Robertson of Moorhead, who entered the night third in the NLRA points, spun in turn two to bring out the first caution with 32 to go to bring out the first caution.

On the restart Becker did a slider on Pederson to take over second with Schow moving into fourth and Edginton, a former Golden Hammer champion, gaining fifth. On the move through the field was Cole Searing of Huron, as he grabbed ninth from John Seng; Searing started 19th.

Strand’s lead was about a half-second over Becker with 22 left as the leaders approached heavy lapped traffic.

Schow was close to Pederson for third as the track locked down some in turns three and four. Strand had opened a .701 second lead on Becker with 11 to go as the leaders opened ad through lapped traffic.

It appeared that Becker’s best chance to make a run on Strand was to catch the 71 with some lapped traffic, and that’s exactly what happened as Becker got beside him in turn two, and there was contact. It didn’t slow the momentum of either, however.  Brody Troftgruben’s 14 got turned around with two laps to go; I didn’t see what happened but he got his place back.

Strand got a great restart with two to go, opening some breathing room on Becker, and would claim his first Golden Hammer title by .674 seconds.  Pederson ran a hell of a race and finished third, her best finish in a late model; she also won her heat race earlier in the evening.

Don Shaw made a late move on the final restart into fourth, and Brad Seng, who had been one of many cars locked in the middle of the pack, made a big move late into fifth to edge Edginton. Searing was the hard charger, going from 19th to seventh.

Bailey Cousins grabbed the lead of the Wissota Midwest Modified feature as the Schow brothers, Matt and Ryan, fought for second. Reise Stenberg of Argusville was fourth and Landyn Randt of Siren was fifth. Matt would clear Ryan about six laps into the race. That fight for second allowed Cousins to open a 1.4 second lead on the runner-up slot.

Randt caught Stenberg for fourth using the low lane with Preston Carr of Carrington closing quickly.  Carr would clear both to move into fourth. Matt Schow meanwhile was narrowing the lead to under a second and with four laps left was within .438 seconds as Cousins was moving through some lapped cars.

Schow closed late but didn’t have enough as Cousins prevailed by .440 seconds. Ryan Schow was third, Carr fourth and Steinberg fifth in a caution-free main event.  MaKenna Romuld was the hard charger in the race, going from 19th to 12th after having trouble in her heat.

Drew Peterson and Stoney Kruk, both of Langdon, led the 10-car Wissota Street Stocks to the green with Kruk storming out to the lead.  Trey Hess of Grand Forks was fighting Shane Swenson of Devils Lake for second with Levi Randt soon joining the battle.

Kruk opened more than a second on Swenson as Hess, Randt and Greg Jose of Grand Forks fought for third.

The top was the place to be for the streets, especially in turns one and two.  The best battle was for third between Hess and Randt, who were also closing on second-place Swenson.

With eight laps down, Peterson and 12-year-old rookie Barnes got together in turn four to bring out the yellow.  Also at that time, Randt went off the backstretch and had some front suspension damage. It looked like he had broke and there didn’t seem to be a lot of body damage, but his night, and a potential top three finish, ended on the hook.

Kruk led the field with 12 to go with Hess now in second. Jose moved up to third with Swenson in fourth and Dustin Ebensteiner of Devils Lake in fifth.

Hess stayed within a car length of Kruk up front, as Hess was looking for any kind of an opening underneath. With four to go Hess inched ahead at the finish line by .0036 seconds but Kruk regained the top spot. Jose was also slowly creeping up on the top two; however, with three to go he spun the 28 in turn four and had to go to the tail.

That led to a three-lap shootout at the end. Peterson had moved into fourth and Jose was already back up to fifth.

Hess got beside Kruk on the frontstretch as the white flag waved, but Kruk would pull away for the win by .48 seconds. Hess settled for second with Swenson third. Peterson finished fourth and Ebensteiner was fifth.

The Pure Stock feature saw some good racing early for the lead as Gary Feelus of LaSalle, Manitoba, held a precarious lead. Joe Armstrong of Crary – who seemed to win every time I went to Devils Lake in the past – was charging quickly.

Feelus and Waylon Poitra of Belcourt got together coming out of turn four, leading to a three-car incident. Allen Charrette Jr. and Feelus both suffered damage and were done as a result.   Poitra had some damage but continued.

Armstrong took control on the restart with 12 to go, building a straightaway on Trentin Decoteau, who had Tate Bollis of Lakota and Kyle Charette working on him for the second spot. Charette would spin to bring out the caution with six to go.

Armstrong had a comfortable lead after the final restart with Decoteau second, Bollis third, Poitra fourth and Charette fifth.

Devils Lake Notes

--It was good to see Troftgruben back in action. He had been plagued with motor issues early in the year that kept him out for a few weeks but made his return Friday at River Cities. He’s a solid runner in the NLRA with three career wins in the series and finished in the top 10 in the main event.

--There were a lot of good cars in the late model B-features: Searing, Jason Strand, Cole Schill, Laela Eisenschenk, Ryan Corbett, Travis Robertson and Mike Stearns being among them.  Searing and Schill won B mains.

--Canadian Jesse Teunis was a scratch for the first late model B feature while Kory Hungsprong was a scratch in the second.

Wibstad Leads Jamestown Winners

Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown topped Kyle Anderson of Jamestown for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature win. Brennon Weight of LaMoure was third, Luke Erlandson of Brainerd was fourth and Jaron Klein of Jamestown was fifth.

Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck topped Hunter Carter of Mapleton for the Wissota Street Stock feature. Kasey Ussatis of Nome was third, Jodie Michaelsohn of Aberdeen was fourth and Jordan Johnson of Jamestown was fifth.

Mod rookie Lindsey Hansen of Fargo picked up his first IMCA Modified feature win over John Corell of Jamestown. John Nord of Enderlin was third, Travis Tooley of Dickinson was fourth and Scott Gartner of Jamestown was fifth.

 Travis Edinger of Jamestown topped Karlie Hoerner of Bismarck for the Bomber feature win. Jeff Debuck of Montpelier was third, Gavin Edinger of Spiritwood was fourth and Clay Gentzkow of Berlin was fifth.

Noah Madler of New England topped Preston Martin of Lincoln for the INEX Legend feature. Andrew Bargmann of Bismarck was third, Casey Martin of Bismarck was fourth and Donavin Wiest of Wishek was fifth.