Dobmeier,
Balcaen,
Strand,
& Olson, Victorious on Track Championship Night
8/24/07 Race Report
By Mike Orness
River Cities
Speedway
held their Premier Racing Series sponsored by University
Station and Evergreen Insurance. It would be the Track
Championship night with Trophies for all feature winners.
In the MDRA/DTRA Street Stock
qualifying events Aaron Olson added heat win number eight to
his resume coming from the fourth starting spot to pass
Leake for the win. Jim Geringer won his seventh heat race
after starting on the pole and holding off Beier for the
win. Dave Wittner also started on the pole and won the third
heat race, which would be his fifth of the year.
There were sixteen DTRA/MDRA Midwest
Modifieds that ran two heat races. Dustin Strand won the
first after starting on the pole. Dustin Ness started fourth
and chased Strand across
the line for second, while Patrick Sobolik started sixth and
finished third. Bryan LePier started outside pole of the
second heat race and fought for the lead with SanGrait. It
would be LePier that grabbed the checkered flag first with
SanGrait in tow. David Hultstrand finished third after
starting fouth.
The DTRA Super Late Models were next
with three qualifying events. With this being track
championship night, all heats were lined up by points that
each driver has accumulated over the season. The first heat
started with Balcaen and Erickson on the front row. Balcaen
grabbed the lead first and also claiming his eighth RCS heat
win. Erickson was second with Dale Skytland third after Tom
Corcoran exited the track with mechanical issues after
running third. Cosy Skytland and Brad Send led the second
heat around to the green flag. Skytland looked to take the
lead, but Steve Anderson came from the third spot to pass
Skytland for the lead and the win. Skytland and Seng chased
him across the line. The final heat race went caution free
with Joey Pederson winning from the pole, Troy Schill second
and James SanGrait third.
There were exactly eight NOSA sprints
per heat race to make a full feature. The first of three
heat races was won by Mark Dobmeier starting on the poll.
Lou Kennedy was second with Chris Burke third. Bob Martin
and Wade Nygaard started on the front row of the second heat
and it would be Nygaard that crossed under the checkered
first. Martin was second with Nick Shirek third. The third
heat race was the most entertaining with Monson and Mack
racing for the first spot side by side for much of the race.
Monson led first with Mack second, then when it counted,
Mack grabbed the lead and checkers. Egeland chased Monson
across the line for third.
After a brief intermission and the
Nestle Candy – Hugos Kids Candy toss, the Unicel Street
Stock feature was rolling on to the track with the lineups
straight up out of the heat races. Jim Geringer and Aaron
Olson started on the front row. Geringer grabbed the lead
first with Olson and Wittner following him. Through two
cautions Geringer led the field with Olson trying to get
past him. Olson completed the pass when it counted and led
the last part of the race to the checkered flag. After
coming so close to winning a feature this year, Olson
finally made it to victory lane. Geringer was second
followed by Snare who had to start further back in seventh
spot. Wittner crossed the finish line ahead of Leake for the
top five spots.
The Dempsey Truck Service Midwest
Modified feature was next with Strand
and LePier on the front row. There were four cautions before
a lap was complete. Each restart had either Strand or LePier
getting the better start, but on the last restart they were
side by side for the first lap then
Strand started to pull ahead a little. With four
laps in, the red flag would be displayed for Hultstrand who
made contact with Dyrdahl and the front wall and rolled.
Hulstrand was ok, but the car was not. On the last restart
of the feature, Strand continued to lead while Patrick Sobolik made his
move past LePier for the second spot late in the race.
Strand would take the checkered flag on Track Championship
night with Sobolik second, LePier third and Matt Sparby
fourth after he had rolled his car in the heat race and
started tailend of the feature to advance the most positions
and claim a top five finish. Dan Ness rounded out the top
five with Schroeder just a short distance behind him.
The Atek Parts DTRA Super Late Model
feature had Mike Balcaen and Steve Anderson on the front row
in a caution free race. Balcaen grabbed the lead first and
after a couple of laps, Cody Skytland was racing for the
second spot with
Anderson. Erickson and Pederson were
also in the mix, but with four laps in, Skytland has second,
Erickson third with
Anderson
fourth. Pederson and Dale Skytland were racing for the fifth
spot. When the white flag was in the air, Balcaen was
leading with Skytland second, Erickson third. That is the
way they would cross under the checkered as Balcaen claimed
his thirtieth track/series championship. Brad Seng would
pass Anderson and Pederson to finish fourth, as did James
SanGrait for the fifth spot after starting ninth.
Mark Dobmier and Wade Nygaard would
lead the field of twenty-four sprints around to take the
green flag during the Eide Motors feature. A caution on lap
on ended the night for Flaten, Grosz, & Fredrickson. Nick
Shirek pitted and had to start tailend on the restart.
Dobmeier would grab the lead on the following restart with
Nygaard in tow. The next caution came out when Lou Kennedy
and Bob Martin made contact sending both to the pits with
Martin rolling over and Kennedy with front axle issues. On
the restart officials lined up Mack behind leader, Dobmeier
with Nygaard third and gave them the green. Under green
again, Dobmeier increased his lead, while Mack and Nygaard
raced for the second spot when Roemeling brought out the
next caution. There would be only one more caution the rest
of the eighteen laps with Dobmeier in control of the race
entering lap traffic with Nygaard being able to secure the
second spot and Mack in third. When Dobmeier took the
checkered flag, it was Nygaard then Bill Balog who races
with the IRA based out of Wisconsin. Balog started
eighteeth and had a great run towards the front. Mack
finished a strong fourth with Greg Nikitenko fifth after
starting eleventh. Glennon also had a great run finishing
just one spot out of the top five after starting fifteenth.
Remember that the 1st Annual
John Seitz Memorial Late Model Invitational will be
September 6th and 7th. Full details
are at www.rivercitiesspeedway.com.
Next week will be a full program of the Premier Racing
Series at River Cities, with all regular classes.
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