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Pederson & SanGrait pickup
DTRA wins. Dobmeier and Wittner also Victorious
By Mike Orness
5/11/07
After
cancellation of last week’s program due to weather, River
Cities Speedway was back on track with their Premier Racing
Series. An abundant amount of cars entered the pits with
some new faces and car numbers since Red River Valley
speedway cancelled their program because of rain. Also some
new Street Stock and Midwest Mod drivers that just weren’t
ready the first week. The track was fast and heavy which was
totally different than the prior race night.
The track
was packed and race ready for the first heat race of three
for the Unicel Street Stocks. Greg Neumann jumped out to an
early lead and led every lap to cross the finish line ahead
of Thompson and Morin. Steffen Snare held off Aaron Olson
and Jim Geringer to win heat two. Dan McNammee of Arvilla
took the checkered flag first for the
last street stock heat race ahead
of Dale Fugleberg and Henry Peters.
The Dempsey
Truck Service Midwest Modifieds were next on the track also
running three heat races. Gary Sonstelie dominated the first
heat race over Chris Vargason and Ryan Schroeder. Bobby
Eckerdt crossed the finish line ahead of the first weeks
feature winner, Dustin Strand. James Sangrait finished a
strong third. Brock Gronwold who made the tow north because
of the rainout in West Fargo,
borrowed some Goodyear tires from Dyrdahl and won his first
DTRA heat race. Joe Freeman and Gary Nelson Jr finished
second and third to wrap up the heat races for the
Midwest
modified class.
The DTRA
Super Late Models who are supported by Atek Auto Parts ran
three heat races of almost 10 cars each. Joey Pederson raced
forward to claim the first heat race win over Brad Seng and
James SanGrait. During a caution Howie Schill pulled off the
track after running third. The second heat race was won by
the first week’s feature winner, Mike Balcaen. Stevie
Anderson and Dale Skytland finished just behind Balcaen.
Ryan Corbett looked fast and didn’t make any mistakes to
capture the third heat race win. Youngster, Cody Skytland
finished second ahead of Troy Olson who made his first RCS
appearance.
There were
twenty four NOSA Sprint Cars on hand sponsored by Eide
Motors. Jason Linnell was a rocket and easily won the first
heat race over Jeff Vonasek and Scott McDonald. Bob Martin
won the second heat race by not making any mistakes and held
off Tom Egeland. Dave Sobczak finished third. Mark Dobmeier
started in the second row and raced his way to the front
with Nygaard in pursuit. Dobmeier crossed the line ahead of
Nygaard, with Austin Monson third.
There were
two B-Mains that were needed. One for the street stocks and
one for the late models. Steve Jose took the checkered flag
to transfer to the feature along with Tyson Anderson, Joe
Potter and Kris Austreng. There were eight late models that
ran the b-main with Tom Balcaen taking the checkered flag.
Todd Truedson, Brandon Fuller, Howie Schill, Ricky Weiss all
transferred to the feature also.
The Unicel
Street Stock Feature event had Kerry Austreng and Henry
Peters on the front row to start the fifteen lapper. Witner
and Peters battled for the lead while Olson and Thompson and
Geringer mixed it up. Snare made his way up to the front
just before a caution came out for a multi-car pileup on the
frontstretch. After the officials got the frontstretch
cleared, Wittner lead the field around to take the green
flag. Peters and Snare moved up to challenge for the lead
but it was Snare that would secure the second spot over
Peters. Olson, Morin, and Thompson all were racing for a top
five spot when another caution came out with three laps to
go. Wittner held the lead with Snare second followed by
Peters and Olson with the field taking the green flag once
more. Wittner crossed the finish line first with Snare right
behind him. Peters, Olson and Geringer rounded out the top
five, with Tyson Anderson finishing sixth after transferring
out the consi.
Up next was
the Dempsy Truck Service Midwest Modified feature that had
the whole crowd on the edge of their seat the entire
feature. Gary Sonstelie and Joe Freeman sat on the front row
with Riopelle and Schroeder in the second row. When the
green flag dropped it was Sonstelie that burst out to the
lead with Riopelle and Strand chasing him. SanGrait had
dropped back a couple spots, but then hit the afterburner
and burst up to challenge for the lead. There were about 6
cars that were racing for the top three positions at many
times during the caution free race. With the track being
very tacky and fast, there was some rubbin back and forth,
but from a fans perspective it was a great race. Schmidt,
Eckerdt, Strand, Sonstelie, Riopelle all had a chance to win it and
at times they were three wide in the corners battling for
the top spots. In the end it was Sangrait who had about a
straightaway lead over Sonstelie and Strand. With only two laps to go, Riopelle slowed and
pulled off ending his chance for a top 5 finish. Schmidt and
Eckerdt traded some paint for that fourth spot. With the
checkered flag in the air, SanGrait won with Sontelie and
Strand trailing him. Schmidt and Eckerdt
finished in front of Nelson and Lepier. Gronwold and Dale
Kraling were in the mix for a potential top six finish but
settled for eighth and ninth.
With the
crowd fired up after the Midwest Modified feature, the DTRA
Super Late Models rumbled up on the track sponsored by Atek
Auto Parts. With the field almost ready to go, Howie Schill
stopped on the front stretch with a left rear tire issue and
was assisted to the pits and not able to start the feature.
Cody Skytland and James SanGrait led the field around for
the green. Doug Amundson and Dale Skytland were in the
second row. It looked as if SanGrait was on a mission just
like in his Midwest Modified as he shot out to the lead.
Then a strong running Joey Pederson showed up to challenge
for the top two spots with Pederson overtaking SanGrait on
the low side. Mike Balcaen also appeared and was challenging
Cody Skytland for the third spot. While the race went green
for awhile, Sangrait seemed to slow which brought out a
caution and pull off with what seemed to be a tire issue.
Also pulling off the track was Hapka, Anderson and Weiss.
Before the green was given Pederson, Weiss made it back on
the track. In the closing laps, Pederson was too strong for
Balcaen to get past him as Seng looked to get past both
Skytlands. Cody ended up slipping back a few spots which
allowed Troy Olson to move up a spot or two. When the
checkered flag was in the air, Pederson crossed under it
first with Balcaen and Seng following. Dale Skytland held
his own and finished fourth with Olson chaulking up a top
five finish.
The high
powered NOSA Outlaw Sprints were the last feature of the
night. Vonasek and Linnell were on the front row with
Roemeling and McDonald just behind them. On the start,
Linnell looked to be the one to beat with Monson and
Dobmeier making their way up to challenge for the lead. With
about five laps complete, Dobmeier found his way past
Linnell for the lead. After two cautions, Dobmeier still
held the lead with Linnnell and Monson not far behind, after
the restart, Bob Martin motored his way through some traffic
to move into a top five spot. A third caution came out when
Chris Shirek, Lou Kennedy Jr., and Richard Rogers tangled in
the middle of turns one and two, with all being assisted
pitside. After the field was given the green flag again,
Dobmeier continued to make some distance on the rest of the
field with Linnell and Martin racing for the second spot. It
would be Martin that secured the second spot then Linnell
and Monson. After two more brief cautions, the field
basically stayed the way they were running with Dobmeier
picking up his first win at River Cities Speedway in 2007.
Martin was second, followed by Linnell, Monson, and
McDonald.
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