 With a flat left rear tire, Don Shaw sits in RydellCars.com Victory Lane. Photo by Mike Spieker | Speedway-Shots.com By Mike Spieker GRAND FORKS, ND (June 25) - The WISSOTA/NLRA Late Models capped off a four-race, four-night tour through the Red River Valley Saturday night at River Cities Speedway. During that stretch, car counts were consistently in the mid-twenties, but attrition throughout the week played a factor on the final night as 19 Late Models were entered into the Greater Grand Forks Fair special event. Don Shaw started on the pole for the 25-lap main event and grabbed the early lead over Mike Balcaen. Shaw ran the cushion while Balcaen raced down low on the freshly farmed racing surface. On lap two, two-time NLRA series champion, Brad Seng, found a way around Balcaen for the second position and tried to track down the #42 of Shaw. Seng was sent back one position a couple laps later, however, as Dustin Strand got his #71 Longhorn wound up on the high side and took the second spot. Strand seemed to be the only driver who could not only keep up with Shaw’s torrid pace, but have enough to get by him. With Shaw running in the same groove as Strand, the defending series champion was forced to search for different grooves around the 3/10th mile bullring, which allowed Shaw to pull away. With two laps to go, Shaw’s left rear tire began to go flat and the veteran Late Model pilot was forced to limp his machine to the checkers. On the final lap, Shaw’s lead drastically diminished and the car visibly became a handful to drive, but he was able to hold on for his first feature win at River Cities since 1999. After beginning the weekend third in the series p |