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Hot Summer Nights, Hot Racing
Action at River Cities
Speedway
Race Report
for 7/6/07
By Mike Orness
On a night
where the temps were about the hottest they’ve been all
summer, seventy-three teams entered the back gate for the
Premier Racing Series sponsored by Aaron’s Sales & Lease of
Grand Forks. It was also Hugos Family
Fun night in which a lucky kid would win a bicycle given by
the Grand Forks County Sheriffs Department. Going into the
night, Snare was the point leader over Geringer in the
Unicel Street Stocks, while Strand held a huge lead over SanGrait in the Dempsey Truck
Service Midwest Modifieds.
Joey Pederson and Mike Balcaen continue the tightest
points race of all classes with Pederson only one point
ahead of Balcaen in the Atekparts.com Late Models. Mark
Dobmeier continues to lead the Eide Motors Sprint point
standings by thirty-five over Jason Linnell.
To get the
night started, eighteen drivers were split into three heat
races for the Street Stocks. Dave Wittner won the first heat
from the pole with Greg Jose second. Steffen Snare also won
from the pole in the second heat over Bryce Reimer. Kyle
Leake held off Jim Geringer for the win to conclude the
third heat race for the Unicel MDRA/DTRA Street Stocks.
Two heat
races were scheduled for the Dempsey Truck Service Midwest
Modifieds. Ryan Schroeder and Chris Vargason lead the field
around to take the green flag for the first heat. Vargason
lead every lap except the last when Schroeder passed him to
take the checkered flag. James SanGrait passed Joe Freeman
to capture the win during the second heat race. SanGrait
started outside the front row with Freeman on the pole.
Doyle
Erickson added a heat race win to his totals this year
during the first heat race for the Atek Parts DTRA Late
Models. Erickson passed Anderson
for the lead with Balcaen moving up one spot to finish
second with Anderson third. James
SanGrait and troy Schill started on the front row for the
second heat race, with SanGrait taking the checkered flag
first after passing Schill for the lead Pederson started in
the last row and moved forward to finish fourth behind Seng.
Twenty-four
NOSA Sprint Car teams entered and were split into three heat
races. Mark Dobmeier won the first heat from the back row
with a last lap pass on Casey Mack who had started in the
second row after Tom Cummings elected to start in the back
instead of on the pole. During the race, Austin Monson
cartwheeled his sprint car on the backstretch after contact
with Roemeling. Austin was ok after being checked by track
paramedics. The second heat race had Wiskow and Egeland on
the front row and the caution flag flew before one lap was
complete for Linnell with mechanical issues. When the race
was restarted it was Egeland and McDonald out to the lead
first. Egeland held the lead for a brief period then
McDonald passed him for the lead and the win. Wade Nygaard
came from the back row to claim second with Egeland third.
Graham and Nikitenko lead the third flight of sprints to the
green flag with Fredrickson and Glennon in the second row.
On the start it was Nikitenko that grabbed the lead and led
most of the race until Glennon passed him late in the race
for the win. Chris Shirek came from the back row to finish
third ahead of Fredrickson.
During the
Hugos & Nestle candy toss during the intermission, officials
worked the track, and drivers completed the redraws in the
pit area. Once the lineups were completed the Unicel MDRA
Street Stocks made their way onto the track with Wittner and
Jose on the front row. Current point leader, Snare started
in the eighth spot with Geringer in the next row. Wittner
grabbed the lead immediately with Beier moving up quickly
from the fifth spot. With just seven laps to go, Snare had
made his way up to the third spot and looked to take the
second spot from Beier when the caution flag waved. Snare
was scored second and fronstretch flagman, Gordy Tuel lined
up the rest of the field behind Wittner. The race went green
to checkered after that with Snare unable to get past
Wittner for the lead and actually slipped back one spot with
Beier passing him for the second spot. Jim Geringer finished
fourth with Potter fifth after starting sixth.
The next
Premier Racing Series division to race their feature was the
Dempsey Truck Service Midwest Modifieds. Joe Freeman and
Dave Hultstrand were on the front row with Gary Sonstelie
and Dustin Ness behind them on the start. Freeman and
Hultstrand raced for the first spot while Hultstrand
eventually would pull out to lead just shortly after the
first caution. The second caution flew when the lineup
wasn’t correct so the officials realigned the field and gave
them the green. The third caution came out and turned to a
red flag when SanGrait was racing hard for the lead and
ended up rolling over coming out of turn two. Contact
between the leader, Hultstrand, and SanGrait is what caused
the wreck, but James was ok and was happy to conduct a short
interview by Norm King, the RCS roving reporter. Hultstrand
went to the pits with a flat left front tire and didn’t come
back which gave the lead to Joe Freeman. Sonstelie followed
Freeman to the next green flag. Two more cautions would fly
for minor incidents, and with seven laps to go, strand was
challenging for the lead from the eleventh starting spot. Strand was able to complete the pass and win the feature
with Sonstelie also sneaking past Freeman for the second
spot. Rod Peterson chased Freeman across the line for fourth
and after going tailend earlier in the race, Bryan LePier
finished fifth.
There were
sixteen Atek Parts Late Model starters for their twenty lap
feature with Troy Schill and Ricky Weiss on the pole. Cody
Skytland and Joey Pederson started in the second row. When
the green flag dropped it was a race for second as Troy
Schill jumped out to lead the first lap. Pederson, Skytland,
Weiss were racing hard for the second spot when Balcaen
moved into the picture with four laps complete. Pederson
held on to the second spot with Skytland third when the
yellow flag waved for Erickson. With the field realigned,
they were given the green again. This time the yellow waved
for cars that went off the track which were Anderson and
Jacobson. They were sent tailend and the green flag was
given to Troy Schill who was still leading the race. With
just three more laps complete, Pederson made his move on
Schill for the lead. At the same time, Balcaen and Seng
passed Weiss for the fourth and fifth spot. The last caution
of the night came out with eleven laps to go and Pederson in
the lead. Under green flag racing again, Seng motored past
Schill and Skytland to claim the second spot with Balcaen in
tow. In the closing laps, Pederson held a comfortable lead
with Send and Balcaen racing for the second spot. Soon
Erickson moved into the picture after making his way through
the field from a early race caution. When Pederson crossed
the checkered flag, Erickson had just passed Balcaen to
secure the third spot but couldn’t get past Seng who
finished second. Balcaen was fourth as Dale Skytland added a
top five finish to his stats
The last
feature event of the evening was being pushed off from the
pits once Pederson’s victory lane photos were taken. The
Eide Motors NOSA Sprint Car twenty-five lap feature was set
with Dobmeier and Shirek starting at the back for this race.
Egeland and Nikitenko led the field of twenty-three drivers
to the green flag. McDonald and Egeland raced eachother
tight, just like the heat race, but it was McDonald that was
scored as the leader when the first caution flag was thrown
for Nick Shirek in turn four. With just three laps complete
Dobmeier was already up to twelfth after starting in the
back. McDonald led the field back to the green flag as
Nygaard worked his way up from the eighth starting spot to
third. Glennon, Mack, and Martin put on a great show for the
fans as they were racing for the fourth spot with seven laps
complete. Martin passed Glennon, then the caution flag waved
for Lee Grosz who evidently slipped off the track. That
yellow had just came out after Nygaard passed McDonald for
the lead the previous lap. With just sixteen laps to go,
there were two more cautions for cars that spun as Dobmeier
was closing in on the top three spots. Under green again
Dobmeier passed McDonald for the second spot but ironically
would be voided with thirteen laps to go for a caution flag.
The flag was restarted as Nygaard led the field. On the
start, Wiskow’s left rear tire came off coming to the cone
on the frontstretch. Nygaard was getting tested as there
were two more cautions that came out in the closing laps
with Dobmeier right behind him. With just a few laps to go,
Dobmeier’s front wing came loose which made him work at
steering the car more. Nygaard increased his lead a little
while Martin had secured the third spot over Glennon. Once
Wade held off Dobmeier and crossed under the checkered flag,
Mack claimed the fifth spot over McDonald with Glennon
finishing behind Martin. Props to the Austin Monson team
that pieced back together their car to start the feature
after the nasty wreck in the heat race. Wade Nygaard claimed
his first win at River Cities Speedway this year, by holding
off Dobmeier who started in the last row.
July 13th
will be the next Premier Racing Series and will be held
during the Grand Forks County Fair! July 11th
through the 15th will be very busy for the
Fairgrounds, including concerts, lawnmower races, demo
derby, racing, along with all the midway rides and 4-H
activities. Visit
www.grandforksfair.com for more information.
DTRA –
www.dtraracing.com
NOSA –
www.nosasprints.com
RCS –
www.rivercitiesspeedway.com
MDRA –
www.midwestdirtracing.com
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