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Hakpa wins first career
feature, Nikitenko tames Dobmeier on last lap
By Mike Orness
River Cities Speedway Race Report
7/27/07
On a
night sponsored by Jay Holm Valley Auto and PDQ Sanitary
Services, eighty-two race teams entered the back gate the
last race night of July. With soaring temps prior to Friday,
it was comfortable as the sun set over turn three and four.
First up on the schedule of events was the
three Unicel Street Stock heat
races.
Adam
Thompson added his name to the list of drivers that have won
a heat race in 2007 by besting the rest of the drivers in
the first heat. Thompson started outside the front row and
won by at least five car lengths. Pole-sitter, Peterson was
second with Anderson third from the
sixth starting spot. Joe Potter looked to add another heat
win to his two from earlier in the year, but Jim Geringer
spoiled that as he came from the last row to take the
checkers with Potter second. Dale Fugleberg earned his first
heat race win at RCS after starting outside pole for the
final street stock heat race. Dave Wittner chased him across
the line but ran out of laps. Last weeks feature winner,
Cliff Reeves was third.
There
were three heat races for the Dempsey Truck Service Midwest
Modifieds and Matt Sparby picked up another heat race win
after starting outside the front row in the first heat race.
Pole-sitter Rod Peterson was second with Ron Olafson third.
Dustin Ness held off Cory Jorgensen, who calls
Hermantown,
MN home. Gary Sonstellie was third
after starting fourth. Dustin Strand also used the outside
pole-position to his advantage and won the third heat race
over Andy Neumann and the rest of the field.
James
SanGrait started the first heat race of Atekparts.com DTRA
Late Models on the pole with Dustin Hapka outside. Hapka
moved his way back up to second after dropping back a spot.
SanGrait captured his third RCS heat race win with Hapka
finishing second. John Halvorson started on the pole of the
second heat race with Tom Balcaen outside of him. On the
start it was Halvorson with the lead and never looked back
as he won his first RCS heat race in a Late Model. The rest
of the field finished exactly in the same order as they
started. The third and final heat race for the Lates was won
by Joey Pederson who passed Nolan Olmstead for the lead
after starting outside front row. The rest of the field also
finished in the same order as they started.
There
were also three heat races for the NOSA Sprint cars
sponsored by Eide Motors. On the start of the first heat,
officials waved the yellow and sent Linnell back two spots
for a jump start. That put Austin Monson on the pole with
Vonasek outside of him. Monson zoomed out to the lead, and
Nygaard tried to come from the eighth starting spot to take
the lead, but Monson was too fast and grabbed the checkered
flag first. Nygaard settled for second, with Chris Shirek
and Scott Butz following them across the line. A pair of 31
cars started on the front row of the second heat race,
Matejcek was outside Roemeling to start the heat. Roemeling
grabbed the lead first and after two cautions Mike Sitzmann
Jr passed Roemeling for the lead and cruised on to the
checkered flag. Mark Dobmeier came from the last row to win
the third heat race. Sobczak followed him to the front but
had to settle for second with Burke third after starting
fifth.
Tyson
Anderson and Rodney Hulst started the Unicel Street Stock
feature on front row and led the field of nineteen cars
around to the green flag for fifteen laps. Anderson grabbed the lead and led every lap of
the feature except for the last lap as Steffen Snare came
from the eleventh spot to capture his sixth feature win at
RCS this year. Snare slowly made his way to the front lap
after lap, and it looked as if Anderson would be able to hold him off, but
Snare dove under him for the lead and win when it counted.
Heat winner, Adam Thompson finished third after starting
fifth with Dave Wittner fourth from the eighth starting
spot. Jim Geringer would salvage a top five spot after
running third for most of the race.
Ron
Olafson and Matt Sparby drew the front row starting spots
for the Dempsey Truck Service Midwest Modified feature race.
On the start it would be Sparby that would grab the lead
first with Strand running
second. After one caution for a pileup of cars in turn two
including traveler, Corey Jorgenson, the field would be
realigned with Sparby still out front. With three more laps
complete, Strand passed
Sparby for the lead. The race had only one more caution, but
it was Strand
that led the rest of the way to pick up win number six at
RCS this year. Matt Sparby held off Sonstelie throughout the
race and then late in the race Sonstelie fell back with
Riopelle challenging Sparby. But it was Sparby that finished
second with Riopelle third. Ryan Schroeder raced forward
from the fourteenth starting spot to finish fourth, with
Doyle Erickson fifth from the thirteenth spot.
The
DTRA Super Late Models feature was next, sponsored by
Atekparts.com. Dustin Hapka and Ryan Corbett led the field
of twenty late models to the green flag. A caution on the
first lap would realign the field again for a complete
restart. On the start, Hapka grabbed the lead, but it was
Corbett that would pass him for the lead on the next lap.
With two laps complete, a caution for Weiss reset the field
with Corbett in the lead. Four more laps clicked off as
Hapka passed Corbett for the lead, with Erickson running
third and Tom Balcaen fourth. Mike Balcaen moved into the
fourth spot a couple laps later with Hapka still leading
with much pressure from Corbett. Joey Pederson and Brad Seng
moved forward from midpack to challenge for a top five
finishing spot with SanGrait following them. It would be a
really close race to the North Dakota Eye Clinic finish
line, and when it counted, Hapka had a little better run out
of turn four to cross the finish line about 2 feet over
Corbett. This would be Hapka’s first career win in a late
model. Corbett was second, with Mike Balcaen passing
Erickson for the third spot and Pederson chased Erickson
across the line for fifth.
The
Eide Motors Sprint Car twenty-five lap feature event was the
last of the night with Roemeling and Monson on the front
row. Egeland and Sitzmann would make up the second row with
Burke and Shirek in the third row. Roemeling would be scored
as the leader of the first lap, but Egeland would pass him
for the lead but then slowed down the back stretch to bring
out the caution. Egeland limped out of the car because of a
driveshaft that broke. This would give the lead to Sitzmann
with Roemeling second for the restart. With five laps
complete Dobmeier passed Sitzmann for the lead with Nygaard
looking to do the same. There were four more cautions
between laps five and ten, but it was still Dobmeier out
front with Nygaard second. Nikitenko started eleventh and
had moved into the top five chasing the leaders. During the
green flag laps, Nygaard almost completed a pass on Dobmeier
but Dobmeier had the better line on the highside and
protected his lead. Just before the next caution Nikitenko
passed Nygaard for the second spot but would be voided
because of the caution resetting the field to Dobmeier,
Nygaard, Nikitenko, Sitzmann, and Kennedy, with just seven
laps to go. Nikitenko found his way past Nygaard again and
set his sights on Dobmeier for the lead. With the white flag
in the air, Nikitenko tried the bottom groove in turn three
and four while Dobmeier was on the cushion and made the last
lap pass on Dobmeier for the win. Sitzmann snuck past
Nygaard for the third spot while Kennedy chased Nygaard
across the line in fifth after starting thirteenth. Linnell
came up short of a top five finish but still made an
impressive run from the sixteeth starting spot to finish
six.
River
Cities Speedway will be running
again Friday August 3rd with their Premier Series
events sponsored by Stamart and Orchard Oil. Advance tickets
can be purchased at any one of the many ticket outlets.
Visit www.rivercitiesspeedway.com
for more information.
Also
remember that the 1st Annual John Seitz Memorial
Late Model Invitational is just a little over a month away.
This event will be bringing some of the best drivers in the
upper Midwest to compete for $9200!
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