Hamel Steals Midwest Mod Win on Final Lap

Photo by Mike Spieker | Speedway-Shots.com

By Mike Spieker

​GRAND FORKS, ND (June 10) - Twenty-nine Happy Harry’s Midwest Modifieds were signed in to start the night, but only the fastest 24 cars made the starting lineup for the 20 lap main event. Tim Berg and Jeremy Lizakowski paced the field from the front row as Berg took the initial lead. Berg had his hands full with John Halverson, who looked to his inside on lap one. Berg came around to lead the opening circuit, but the caution flew on lap two for Lizakowski, who slid off the track. 

On the restart, Halverson took the point while Austin Hunter moved into second. Karlstad, Minnesota’s Hunter Hougardpassed Hunter for second on lap seven as the caution was displayed again on the following lap. A blown motor on the Reise Stenberg machine was the cause of the caution, as it spewed oil around the track, resulting in six cars spinning  in turn four. 

Lance Schill jumped into second on the restart and quickly took the lead away from Halverson. Schill looked to have his second RCS win of the season in hand on the final lap until something broke on the right rear wheel assembly, which caused the entire wheel and tire to come off of Schill’s #17S Millenium.
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Halverson then inherited the lead once again for the green-white-checkered finish, but Rick Hamel drove to the outside of him to take both the lead and the win away. Halverson, Matt Schow, Hunter, and Darren Pfau rounded out the top five. 

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