Ricky Weiss Claims 2018 John Seitz Memorial Title

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (September 8, 2018) – Ricky Weiss held off defending champion, Don Shaw, for his first career John Seitz Memorial title Saturday night at River Cities Speedway. Weiss made the winning pass for the lead on lap 68 over AJ Diemel in the 92-lap, $9,200-to-win main event.

“I’m a little speechless right now,” Weiss in victory lane. “I only knew John [Seitz] for a couple years. I felt like we were getting real close and he was starting to take me under his wing. I know we would have had a lot of good races together and he would have taught me a lot. Like [Don] Shaw said last year, to win this race is awesome and to do it so close to home… I just can’t thank everybody enough.”

“Go Hard or Go Home” Pole Dash winner, Dustin Strand, led the field of 26 WISSOTA Late Models to the green flag with Scott Ward to his outside. Strand and Ward traded the top spot in the opening laps until the first caution was displayed on lap two.

Ward restarted on the point with Strand in second but under caution, Strand’s No. 71 began smoking heavily. As the race resumed, the smoke from under the hood of Strand’s car intensified but he remained at speed.

Weiss moved by Strand on the restart before setting his sights on Ward for the lead. On lap four, Weiss moved alongside Ward and took on the low side exiting turn four. Two-time Seitz Memorial champion, Diemel, started seventh on the grid and rode the extreme low groove to move by Ward on lap 22 to take second. Diemel put pressure on Weiss just before the mandatory fuel stop, but Weiss was able to hold on to lead at the break.

Weiss and Diemel checked out from the rest of the field after the fuel stop, while Joey Pederson, Jeffrey Massingill and Ward battled for third. The caution was displayed again on lap 48, which set up another Delaware double-file restart.

Diemel charged into the point on lap 49 with a pass on the outside of Weiss in turn one. Diemel showed the pace for the next 20 trips around the three-tenths mile clay oval until Weiss rallied back to claim the lead on lap 68 amidst lapped traffic.

Things heated up in the closing stages of the race as 16th place starter, Don Shaw, came charging into the top three. Shaw moved by Diemel on lap 72 before going after Weiss for the lead.

With nine to go, Shaw briefly took the lead away from Weiss in turns one and two, but Weiss powered back by down the back straightaway. Weiss sliced his way through traffic a bit better than Shaw, which allowed him to open up a 10 car length advantage.

Shaw made another big charge with two laps to go as he pulled up to the left rear quarter panel of Weiss exiting turn four, coming to the white flag. Weiss ran a flawless final lap to hold off Shaw by 0.384 seconds at the line to claim the Seitz Memorial title.

Diemel, Ward and Pederson rounded out the top five.

Shaw was the hard charger of the race, advancing 14 positions.

Forty-six Late Models entered this year’s event.

SUMMARY
WISSOTA Late Models:
Feature (92 Laps): 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss, [3]; 2. 42S-Don Shaw, [16]; 3. 58-A.J. Diemel, [7]; 4. 37-Scott Ward, [2]; 5. 7P-Joey Pederson, [4]; 6. 2-Bill Mooney, [8]; 7. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill, [10]; 8. 44-Cole Schill, [21]; 9. 11D-Pat Doar, [22]; 10. 10-Mike Balcaen, [17]; 11. 28-Jeff Provinzino, [13]; 12. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [5]; 13. 27-Jake Redetzke, [26]; 14. 52X-David McDonald, [9]; 15. 12S-Brad Seng, [18]; 16. 10X-Blake Swenson, [6]; 17. 1R-Travis Robertson, [25]; 18. (DNF) 4-Shane Edginton, [15]; 19. (DNF) 16S-Jeff Hapala, [11]; 20. (DNF) T1-Tom Corcoran, [12]; 21. (DNF) 32-Jordan Tollakson, [24]; 22. (DNF) 11-Troy Schill, [23]; 23. (DNF) 03-Casey Meyer, [14]; 24. (DNF) T18-Steve Laursen, [20]; 25. (DNF) 71-Dustin Strand, [1]; 26. (DNF) 90-Lance Matthees, [19]
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Balcaen, [2]; 2. 90-Lance Matthees, [4]; 3. 44-Cole Schill, [3]; 4. 11-Troy Schill, [1]; 5. 9-Steve Anderson, [7]; 6. 86-Matthew Smith, [11]; 7. Z17-Zach Naastad, [5]; 8. 18X-Shawn Meyer, [13]; 9. F9-Brandon Fuller, [9]; 10. 17-Tyler Lambert, [10]; 11. (DNF) 21-Aaron Turnbull, [8]; 12. (DNF) 1M-Nicholas Minske, [6]; 13. (DNF) 2D-Don Platow, [14]; 14. (DNF) 1S-Ryan Mikkelson, [12]; (DNS) 11H-Shane Holden,
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 12S-Brad Seng, [3]; 2. T18-Steve Laursen, [2]; 3. 11D-Pat Doar, [7]; 4. 32-Jordan Tollakson, [6]; 5. 1R-Travis Robertson, [5]; 6. 13-Bryan LePier, [9]; 7. 27-Jake Redetzke, [12]; 8. 70-Jesse Teunis, [11]; 9. 55-Mike Martin, [8]; 10. 10TT-Tyson Turnbull, [1]; 11. (DNF) 25-Dylan Barnhardt, [10]; 12. (DNF) 06-David Smith, [13]; (DNS) 4C-Ryan Corbett, ; (DNS) 11M-Paul Mueller, ; (DNS) 10K-Shawn Kirwin,
Dash (10 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, ; 2. 37-Scott Ward, ; 3. 7W-Ricky Weiss, ; 4. 7P-Joey Pederson, ; 5. 14-Brody Troftgruben, ; 6. 10X-Blake Swenson, ; 7. 58-A.J. Diemel, ; (DNS) 2-Bill Mooney,
Heat 1 (12 Laps): 1. 10X-Blake Swenson, [2]; 2. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill, [1]; 3. 52X-David McDonald, [6]; 4. 28-Jeff Provinzino, [8]; 5. 12S-Brad Seng, [7]; 6. 32-Jordan Tollakson, [5]; 7. 55-Mike Martin, [3]; 8. 25-Dylan Barnhardt, [9]; 9. (DNF) 18X-Shawn Meyer, [4]; (DNS) 10K-Shawn Kirwin,
Heat 2 (12 Laps): 1. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [1]; 2. 58-A.J. Diemel, [3]; 3. 10TT-Tyson Turnbull, [2]; 4. 44-Cole Schill, [4]; 5. T18-Steve Laursen, [8]; 6. 9-Steve Anderson, [5]; 7. 13-Bryan LePier, [6]; 8. (DNF) 27-Jake Redetzke, [7]; 9. (DNF) 2D-Don Platow, [9]
Heat 3 (12 Laps): 1. 2-Bill Mooney, [1]; 2. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [2]; 3. 42S-Don Shaw, [4]; 4. 03-Casey Meyer, [8]; 5. 90-Lance Matthees, [6]; 6. Z17-Zach Naastad, [9]; 7. 17-Tyler Lambert, [7]; 8. 70-Jesse Teunis, [3]; (DNS) 11H-Shane Holden,
Heat 4 (12 Laps): 1. 7P-Joey Pederson, [1]; 2. T1-Tom Corcoran, [2]; 3. 11-Troy Schill, [4]; 4. 4-Shane Edginton, [8]; 5. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [6]; 6. 11D-Pat Doar, [5]; 7. F9-Brandon Fuller, [3]; 8. 86-Matthew Smith, [9]; 9. 06-David Smith, [7]
Heat 5 (12 Laps): 1. 37-Scott Ward, [4]; 2. 7W-Ricky Weiss, [5]; 3. 71-Dustin Strand, [8]; 4. 10-Mike Balcaen, [6]; 5. 1R-Travis Robertson, [2]; 6. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [7]; 7. (DNF) 21-Aaron Turnbull, [1]; 8. (DNF) 1S-Ryan Mikkelson, [3]; 9. (DNF) 11M-Paul Mueller, [9]

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