RECAP: 7 Clans Casino/Northdale Oil Night

Mike Balcaen in RydellCars.com Victory Lane. Steven Young photo.

​By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, ND (August 13) - The Premier Racing Series was back in action last night at River Cities Speedway with a five division program, which included a NLSA Lightning Sprints special. Travis Robertson, Preston Carr, and Mike Balcaen picked up the WISSOTA PolyDome Dirt Track Series wins, while Austin Pierce and Presley Truedson won the winged events.​By Mike Spieker

The Wells Concrete Street Stocks were 23 cars strong for their feature. Jason Rethemeier and James Meagher started on the front row with Meagher leading the first four circuits. On lap five, ninth place starter Travis Robertson surpassed Meagher to take the point. Robertson then cruised to pick up the feature win and boost his national championship hopes.

Jeremy Lizakowski and Darren Pfau paced the field of Happy Harry’s Midwest Mods to the green. Pfau jumped out to the lead as Lizakowski and Cole Haugland battled for second. By lap eight both of those competitors were passed by eighth starter Preston Carr, who then set his sights on the leader. Pfau, who was looking for his third career RCS win and first since 2014, held off Carr until the final lap when Carr found a way around the #86 to steal the win. Pfau, Matt Schow, Todd Johnson, and Austin Hunter rounded out the top five.

Mike Balcaen stopped Dustin Strand’s RCS win streak at two as he picked up the Up North Financial Late  Model win. Ryan Corbett grabbed the early lead over Steffen Snare and Shane Edginton, but Balcaen raced his way from fifth to the lead in four laps. Balcaen would go on to lead the remainder of the event and take the win as Strand, Joey Pederson, Snare, and Corbett rounded out the top five.

Dexter Dvergsten started on the pole and led the first half of the Lightning Sprint feature. On lap eight of 15 Dvergsten was passed by Presley Truedson who drove out to a commanding lead to take the win. Dvergsten, Alan Truscinski, Alex Truscinski and Rolan Bernard rounded out the top five.

The NOSA Sprint Car feature was a wild one with three different drivers leading the race in the final five laps. After passing Ty Hanten for the lead on lap three, Wade Nygaard held the point until the race reached 10 to go when East Grand Forks, MN driver Casey Mack passed for the lead. Mack then set sail, but made contact with Lawrence Veralrud, bringing out the caution and ending his chances at picking up the win.

That restart set up a four-lap battle of the Ford dealerships with Nygaard’s C&M Ford #9N and Pierce’s Lithia Ford #2A. Nygaard got a good restart and opened up a gap over Pierce, but Pierce was able to reel him back in using the low side of the speedway. Pierce took the lead with two laps to go, but a slider by Nygaard put him back in the lead coming to the white flag. Pierce went low as they entered turn one for the final time and Nygaard endured a push up top on the cushion and had to get off the gas. That’s all Pierce needed to pull away and score his second consecutive win at the Bullring.

SUMMARY
​
WISSOTA Late Models:
Feature: Mike Balcaen, Dustin Strand, Joey Pederson, Ryan Corbett, Steffen Snare, Brad Seng, Steve Anderson, Shane Edginton, Zach Naastad, Brandon Fuller, John Halverson, Matt Gerlach-Smith, Bryce Reimer, Nick Minske, Tom Corcoran, Bill Mooney, Dave Smith, Jacob Wilde
Heat 1 - Mooney, Balcaen, Snare, Anderson, Fuller, Wilde
Heat 2 - Strand, Seng, Naastad, Smith, Corcoran, Gerlach-Smith
Heat 3 - Corbett, Pederson, Edginton, Halverson, Reimer, Minske
 
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds: 
Feature: Preston Carr, Darren Pfau, Matt Schow, Todd Johnson, Austin Hunter, Cole Haugland, Gary Nelson, Dallas Brevik, Lance Schill, Nate Reynolds, John Halverson, Justin Olson, Eric Haugland, Jamie Dietzler, Lee Dahl, Dean Selmanson, Zach Bruer, Jory Berg, Jeremy Lizakowski, Reise Stenberg, Jason Schuh
Heat 1 - Schill, Carr, Stenberg, Schuh, Bruer, Dahl, Berg
Heat 2 - Nelson, Lizakowski, Brevik, Hunter, Reynolds, Olson, Selmanson
Heat 3 - C. Haugland, Pfau, Johnson, Schow, Dietzler, Halverson, E. Haugland
 
WISSOTA Street Stocks: 
Feature: Travis Robertson, Rory Opp, Ryan Flaten, Dan McNamee, Chase Boen, Riley Gregoire, Greg Jose, Mike Olson, John Sandvig, Tiffany Noreikis, Shane Nelson, Jason Rethemeier, Trey Hess, Casey Vargason, Ryan Johnson, Tommy Neihart, James Meagher, Nick Minske, Bryce Reimer, Steven Richards, Josh Barker, Daniel Aberle, Matt Beehler
Heat 1 - Robertson, Opp, Flaten, Reimer, Richards, Hess, Vargason, Neihart
Heat 2 - Johnson, Boen, Minske, Aberle, Jose, Nelson, Gregoire, Sandvig
Heat 3 - Olson, Meagher, Rethemeier, Beehler, McNamee, Noreikis, Barker
 
NOSA Sprints: 
Feature: Austin Pierce, Wade Nygaard, Jade Hastings, Chris Ranten, Jordan Graham, Brenden Wilde, Zach Wilde, Tom Egeland, Cory Mack, Ty Hanten, Jon Samuelson, Shane Roemeling, Blake Egeland, Rick Bates, Brayden Pengilly, Casey Mack, Lawrence Veralrud, Mitch Mack, Jackson Moffett
Heat 1 - M. Mack, Nygaard, Ca. Mack, B. Wilde, Graham, Z. Wilde, Pengilly, Bates, B. Egeland, Moffett
Heat 2 - Pierce, Hastings, Hanten, Roemeling, Ranten, T. Egeland, Soranson, Co. Mack, Veralrud
 
NLSA Lightning Sprints: 
Feature: Presley Truedson, Dexter Dvergsten, Alan Truscinski, Alex Truscinski, Roland Bernard, Micharl Truscinski, Zak Kwiatkowski, Kelsi Pederson, Steve Hildebrand, Nick Otto
Heat 1 - Dvergsten, Alan Truscinski, Otto, Kwiatkowski, Pederson
Heat 2 - Truedson, M. Truscinski, Alex Truscinski, Hildebrand, Bernard

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