Tomlinson, Vanderheiden, Haugeberg and Dobmeier win at River Cities

If you were a sprint car fan, you had to love the River Cities Speedway lineup on Friday night with four classes of sprint cars running.

I debated about covering remotely or not, but with the Wissota 100 Friday program raining out, I figured, what the heck, let’s give the “World Famous Legendary Bullring” one last shot for 2026.

Sprint car shows, with the push starting, will take a bit longer and the final checkered waved about 10:42 p.m. There were a couple of red flags that contributed to that along with some time to repair a damaged fence after a car got into it.

The Western Renegade Wingless Sprints were first on the docket and there was nearly a flip when two cars collide in turn four. Involved were Jeremy Lizakowski and Parker Vilandre, and fortunately both cars stayed on their wheels.

Myles Tomlinson of Turtle Lake led early but Noah Schmidt of Minot would get around him to take the lead. Paul Tharalson of Hoople was in third with Ken Hron of Grand Rapids in fourth and Doug McCambridge of Park River in fifth.

The second caution came out for Tharalson who spun in turn four.  On the restart Tomlinson fought back to challenge for the top spot. Those two had a big lead on third-place Hron. Tomlinson made the pass for the lead with 10 to go and from there, checked  out. Hron was third, Nick Shirek of Thompson fourth and McCambridge in fifth with Eric Guyot staying close to him.

Tomlinson took over from there. The lead grew to more than 2.5 seconds with five to go and by the time there was two to go, the lead was up to 3.7 seconds. He was cruise to the dominant win by 4.6 seconds over Schmidt. Hron, a former A mod pilot, was a solid third while Shirek was fourth. McCambridge edged Guyot for fifth.

Tomlinson stated in victory lane that Schmidt is a rookie in the wingless sprints. Tomlinson, owns the Western Renegade Sprint Car series; he was a former A mod pilot but has settled right into the wingless cars.

A big 20-car field of IMCA RaceSaver Sprints was on hand with Bryce Haugeberg of West Fargo leading early. Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton would grab the lead on Lap 2 and shortly after the caution waved for Kinzlee Giessinger’s spin.

Hendrickson resumed up front as Cole Vanderheiden passed Haugeberg for second.  Blake Ballenger was in fourth and Detroit Lakes driver Matthew Taves was in fifth. The second caution flew with Giessinger spinning in turn four, and that would end her night.

Hendrickson was challenged by Vanderheiden for the top spot with Taves passing Ballenger for fourth. The third caution came out for Marcus Rothenbacher of Ulen with 14 to go.

Hendrickson led but Taves was working his way into third.  The battle up front was tight as Vanderheiden would grab the lead as the top two would encounter lapped traffic.

With 10 to go the red flag came out as Haugeberg went for a ride off of turn three and got into the fencing.  That led to a lengthy delay to fix the fencing, which was damaged. Haugeberg was OK and would return to drive his lightning sprint car later in the evening.

Vanderheiden took control over the final half of the race, staving off Hendrickson to win by one second. Ballenger would take third, Taves fourth and Ty Hanten of West Fargo was in fifth. Jerzee Rosinski of Grand Forks had a solid night, crossing in sixth.

Jake Haugeberg of West Fargo led the Lightning Sprint feature over Luke Hendrickson, who was soon overtaken by Bryce Haugeberg. The caution came out on lap four for Evan Yanish’s spin on the frontstretch.

Jake Haugeberg led Bryce Haugeberg on the restart but on the move was Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush, who climbed past Hendrickson into third.  Hayden Koehmstedt climbed into fifth.

Jake Haugeberg built a 1.3 second lead over Bryce, who had Dvergsten closing. The caution flew with Haugeberg and Yanish both spinning in opposite corners. Both were charged with the yellow; Yanish was done while Bryce Haugeberg went to the tail. The race only made it one more lap as Vance Bennett spun in turn four.

Jake Haugeberg led at the front with Dvergsten chasing. Hendrickson was third with Koehmstedt in fourth; however Bryce Haugeberg would move back to fourth.

Jake Haugeberg had enough breathing room at the front and would win by 1.1 seconds. It was the first time the 24 car has been on the track all season long. Dvergsten was second, Hendrickson third, Bryce Haugeberg fourth and Koehmstedt fifth.

It is the first time I have seen the lightning sprints race all year long. The class’s numbers have dwindled in recent years as several drivers have moved up to another divisions.  The only track that runs the class weekly is Greenbush Race Park, and I don’t foresee any track locally adding the class to the weekly show. The lightning sprints will race at the Corn Cob Nationals at Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon on Saturday.

Jack Croaker of East Grand Forks, looking for his first NOSA Sprint win, took a big lead over Brendan Mullen during the 25-lap feature. Zach Omdahl moved into third with Andy Pake of Felton fourth and Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks fifth.

The caution came out on lap 2 when Brody Graham of Grand Forks slid off of turn two.

Croaker led on the restart as Omdahl tried to gain second from Mullen.

The caution came out one lap later for Colton Young sliding off of the track. Croaker stormed out to the advantage over Mullen on the restart with Pake in third. Mullen was closing on Croaker and soon it was a side-by-side with Mullen taking the lead; however, a lapped car impeded Mullen allowing Croaker to regain the spot with 17 to go. The red flag would come out after contact between Pake and Tom Egeland as they got into the fencing. Both were OK but done for the night.

Gage Pulkrabek of East Grand Forks had climbed to fourth with Weston Olson of Warren in fifth. The caution came out with 15 to go.

Dobmeier, who started eighth, quickly moved into the top spot after the final restart and it was all but over from there.  The best battle ended up being between Croaker and Olson as the laps waned, with Dobmeier well in front and Mullen having about a one-second advantage on third-place.

Once out front, Dobmeier sailed around the high side and wasn’t challenged the rest of the way, building a three-second lead on Mullen to pick up the win. Mullen ran well all night in second with Croaker a solid third. Olson was fourth and Pulkrabek. After the cautions the race settled down with 15 straight laps to end the race.

Friday notes

--The Wissota 100 Friday portion was rained out as persistent rain fell in the Fergus Falls area on Friday. The five qualifying features will be held at 11 a.m. at I-94 EMR Speedway with the last chance qualifiers following after that.

Weather has plagued the event all week and much of the racing in the Midwest. The Legendary 100 at Cedar Lake Speedway was called off all together.

After the last chance qualifiers, track prep will take place and the Parade of Champions scheduled for around 4 p.m. Opening ceremonies and the five championship features will follow.

--The first night of the Corn Cob Nationals at Buffalo River Speedway begins at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Heat races and dashes will be run on Saturday. On Sunday will be the B-mains (if needed) and the nine main events.