RaceChaser blog made it to Norman County Raceway in Ada, and another driver — Alyssa White of West Fargo — picked up her first career feature win during Thursday’s program.
White won the IMCA Hobby Stock feature in convincing fashion at the 3/8-mile oval. IN the RaceChaser coverage area, my count is up to 10 drivers who have won their first feature of their careers this season.
The track was in pretty nice shape, and car counts were solid with two heats in all classes but one.
Several out of area Midwest Modifieds made the trip to run in the special (which was also the Race of Champions qualifier for the Wissota 100), including Lucas Rodin of Marion, N.D., and Tony and Kevin Konold of Clear Lake, S.D. The Konold name is well known in eastern South Dakota; Kevin is the father of Tony and street stock driver Maria Broksieck, who is a very strong competitor in South Dakota and won three track titles in 2018. It is a three-hour trip from Clear Lake to Ada, by the way.
Promoters Jake and Sharnel Bitker are usually plenty busy during a race program at NCR. On Thursday, however, they had added interest — two of their daughters made their INEX Legends debuts -- 16-year-old Lillian and 14-year-old Elzetta.
Elzetta had a start to her racing career she will never forget, and one that probably about gave her parents a heart attack. She slid off of turn four early in her heat and ended up on her roof in the 19E machine. She made a trip to the local ER; she was OK as the scans came back clear, which was great news. In fact she returned to the track to watch Lillian race in the feature later in the evening. So Mom and Dad could breathe a sigh of relief!
White, interviewed above, has been knocking on the door for her first hobby stock feature win. She had several heat wins and has run towards the front most nights but the win has eluded her. She left no doubt on Thursday. She took the lead on the first lap and steadily built a comfortable advantage in the caution-free event. Todd Gettel of Mahnomen ran second but had all kinds of pressure from Fargo driver Tim Shiek for much of the race. White took advantage, building a straightaway lead by the checkered flag. Gettel and Shiek rounded out the top three.
The first night of the IMCA Stock Car King Pin Klash was held at NCR with 11 cars in attendance. Brennan Borg of Harwood, in his first year in the stock car class, started on the pole and took the lead. He had a several car length advantage but a pair of cautions erased that.
The cautions also brought Rob VanMil of Barnesville and Travis Robertson of Moorhead into the picture. VanMil was all over Borg for a few laps with Robertson right in tow. Horace driver Rick Schulz was closing quickly on the top three. But Borg whethered the challenges for his second feature win of 2019; he won at Buffalo River Race Park on July 6. Borg's car is the one driven by Brandon Schmidt to several wins in 2018.
Speaking of Schmidt, he started sixth and worked his way to the front quickly on his way to a convincing win in the IMCA Sport Mods. Andy Wagner of Ada was second after starting seventh. Luke Johnson of Moorhead -- who was charged with a yellow early in the race -- worked his way back to third at the checkered.
Torey Fischer of West Fargo had a very solid night, running in the top three much of the sport mod feature and taking fourth at the finish. I know that crew has been working and working to get that #9 car dialed in and it was good to see Fischer with a good night. Polesitter Brady Moore of Ulen was fifth.
Tony Konold made the long trek north from Clear Lake, SD, started on the pole of the midwest modified main event. He was challenged first by Hunter Hougard of Warren, Minn., and after a restart, Reise Stenberg of Argusville, ND joined the battle.
Stenberg eventually took over second and worked on Konold. Hougard, meanwhile had his hands full with Lucas Rodin for third. Konold went on to take the win with Stenberg, Hougard, Rodin and Ryan Schow of McIntosh rounding out the top five.
Ryan Braseth of Ulen was the car to beat in the INEX Legend featue. He built a nice advantage over Brody Carlsrud and went on to take the win. Carlsrud had a good battle with Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes; Wilke edged Carlsrud on the final lap for second with Alex Braseth of Ulen fourth and Tony Brockhouse of Glyndon fifth.
Brainerd driver Aaron Johnson took the lead from the outset of the IMCA Modified feature. He had a nice advantage, but Brady Petermann of Hawley was reeling him in. In fact, Dale Kraling of Mayville was also closing in on the top two.
Petermann got beside Johnson a few times but could not make the pass; and his race did not end well. There was hard contact between Petermann and Joe Dietrich of Fargo in turn four, leaving both cars pretty beat up. The crash cost Petermann a runner-up finish. Kraling was second, Dylan Goplen of Fargo moved up from seventh to third, with Mike Johnson of Moorhead and Rich Pavlicek of Casselton rounding out the top five.
Vogel, Ebert Win ROC Qualifiers at KRA Speedway
Justin Vogel of Brooten won the Wissota Street Stock feature Thursday at KRA Speedway in Wilmar. Eric Riley of Morris took second. The win qualified Vogel for the Wissota Race of Champions at the Wissota 100 in September.
Dan Ebert of Lake Shore won the Wissota Modified feature; he now has nine wins on the year, and I predict he will make a legit run at the national title in that division. The 60 car is just bad fast right now.
Comments