Nygaard Captures Thrilling NOSA win

By  Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (July 6, 2018) – Austin Pierce and Nick Omdahl brought the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints to green from the front row for the 25-lap feature. Omdahl got a great start out of turn four to take the lead on the opening lap over Pierce. Omdahl found himself in lapped traffic by lap three, which allowed Pierce to close in. On the following circuit, Chris Ranten, who was running fourth, spun to a stop down the back stretch. On the restart, Wade Nygaard moved from fourth to second before Pierce made it three wide in turn one to go from third to the lead. Omdahl was shuffled from first to fourth as Hastings also got by him for third. ​

Pierce and Nygaard began trading slide jobs for the lead just as the caution came out on lap nine. On the restart, the leaders went three wide again with Hastings grabbing second from Nygaard in turn four. The leaders went three wide again into turn one as Nygaard drove from third to the lead, shuffling Pierce back to second. Pierce momentarily took the lead again in turn two with a big slide job, but Nygaard countered with a crossover to take the point down the back stretch. Nygaard opened up his advantage to 10 car lengths with 10 laps to go. While Hastings battled Pierce for second, Pierce got too high in turn four and backed into the water barrels to bring out the yellow.

Chris Ranten, who had made his way from the tail of the field to restart third, briefly took the lead in turn two after putting a big slider on Nygaard. Ranten hit the cushion and wheelied down the back stretch which gave the lead back to Nygaard. The race was slowed a few more times with under 10 to go. One of the cautions included a red flag for Shane Roemeling. Roemeling was okay.

Under the red, Hastings went to the pits for a mechanical issue. Nygaard went on to score his fourth win of the season over Ranten and Omdahl. Pierce charged all the way back to a fourth place finish as Bob Martin rounded out the top five.

RESULTS:
​Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [5]; 2. 27-Chris Ranten, [6]; 3. 0-Nick Omdahl, [2]; 4. 2A-Austin Pierce, [1]; 5. 20A-Jordan Adams, [4]; 6. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [7]; 7. 26-Blake Egeland, [17]; 8. 8C-Jack Croaker, [14]; 9. 6-Zach Wilde, [12]; 10. 11M-Brendan Mullen, [10]; 11. 4M-Cale Mack, [15]; 12. 55-Nick Ranten, [9]; 13. 1AJ-Trevor Mell, [18]; 14. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [16]; 15. (DNF) 8H-Jade Hastings, [3]; 16. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling, [8]; 17. (DNF) 35-Brenden Wilde, [11]; 18. (DNF) 14-Tom Egeland, [13]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [1]; 2. 20A-Jordan Adams, [2]; 3. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [3]; 4. 11M-Brendan Mullen, [6]; 5. 14-Tom Egeland, [4]; 6. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [5]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 0-Nick Omdahl, [2]; 2. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [1]; 3. 31-Shane Roemeling, [4]; 4. 35-Brenden Wilde, [6]; 5. 8C-Jack Croaker, [5]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland, [3]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 8H-Jade Hastings, [2]; 2. 27-Chris Ranten, [1]; 3. 55-Nick Ranten, [3]; 4. 6-Zach Wilde, [6]; 5. 4M-Cale Mack, [4]; 6. (DNF) 1AJ-Trevor Mell, [5]