Don Shaw Wins the $1,192 Prelude to the Johnny

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (September 7, 2017) – A stout field of 44 WISSOTA NLRA Late Models were checked in for the series finale Thursday night at River Cities Speedway for the Prelude to the Johnny.

Don Shaw dominated the 25-lap Performance Auto main event to score his second win of the season at River Cities and second consecutive NLRA feature win. Shaw started on the outside of the front row and led every trip around the high-banked three-tenths mile bullring en route to the $1,192 payday.

“This is huge,” said Shaw in RydellCars.com Victory Lane. “Three nights ago we flipped a car, had to rebuild a different one, throw a motor and stuff in it and get it ready for [the John Seitz Memorial]. I had no idea what we had coming into tonight so to win with all of these guys here in a car I haven’t even ran before is unbelieveable.”

Shaw grabbed the lead away from Jake Redetzke on lap one before cruising out to a comfortable lead.

On lap five, the caution was displayed for a spin in turn four. Under yellow, the front straightaway lights went out, forcing the race to be red flagged. It took approximately 15 minutes for the lighting to come back on, and when it did, Shaw picked up right where he left off.

Redetzke ran in second with Dustin Strand and newly crowned NLRA series champion, Ricky Weiss breathing down his neck. With seven to go, Redetzke was able to reel in Shaw, closing to within one car length. Both Shaw and Redetzke ran the low side of the speedway and once they reached lapped traffic, Shaw was able to pull away once again.

Shaw ran the final laps uncontested as he took the checkers over Redetzke, Strand, Weiss, and John Kaanta.

“This event is absolutely at the top of my list,” continued Shaw in victory lane. “I’m in a national point race right now so tonight helped out tremendously, but I would love get it done tomorrow again. That would be icing on the cake. But of the 45 cars that are here, 30 of them are winners.”

B-main winner, Ryan Mikkelson, drove from 16th to seventh, while two-time Seitz champion AJ Diemel picked up the hard charger by advancing from 18th to eighth.

RESULTS:
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 42S-Don Shaw, [1]; 2. 27-Jake Redetzke, [2]; 3. 71-Dustin Strand, [3]; 4. 7W-Ricky Weiss, [7]; 5. 85-John Kaanta, [8]; 6. 19-Steve Laursen, [5]; 7. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson, [16]; 8. 58-AJ Diemel, [18]; 9. 11D-Pat Doar, [9]; 10. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [10]; 11. 37-Scott Ward, [4]; 12. 2-Bill Mooney, [12]; 13. 90-Lance Matthees, [11]; 14. 15A-Nick Anvelink, [14]; 15. 50-Jeff Wildung, [13]; 16. 10-Mike Balcaen, [19]; 17. 7P-Joey Pederson, [21]; 18. Z17-Zach Naastad, [20]; 19. 4-Shane Edginton, [17]; 20. 9-Steve Anderson, [23]; 21. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [25]; 22. (DNF) 16S-Jeff Hapala, [15]; 23. (DNF) 71M-Chad Mahder, [6]; 24. (DNF) 1R-Travis Robertson, [24]; 25. (DNF) 12S-Brad Seng, [22]; (DNS) 13-Bryan LePier,