RIVER CITIES RECAP: MULLEN WINS ANDERSON CUP FINALE

Ramsrud, Schill, DaRonco, Strand also winners
Pederson, Berg, Strand win points titles

​The first of the final five nights of the season went into the history books last Friday nights with Tucker Pederson, Jory Berg, and Dustin Strand winning track points titles while the third annual Wayne Anderson Cup came to a close with Brendan Mullen winning the feature and Mark Dobmeier winning the overall cup championship.

Brendan Mullen and Austin Pierce led the field to green in the 30-lap Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints Car main event which was also the fifth and final Wayne Anderson Cup event of the season.

A caution on the initial start was followed by Mullen taking the lead as the race went back to green. Mullen led the opening lap over Pierce and Jordan Graham, who won the battle for third over Knoxville, Iowa’s Riley Goodno.

Mullen caught up to the tail of the field on the sixth lap and started working lapped traffic. Mullen continued with the majority of a straight away advantage over Pierce through ten laps as he continued working traffic at the midway point five laps later.

Nearly having to split a pair of lap cars down the middle with 13 to go, Mullen remained at the point as Pierce started to reel him in to within ten car lengths of the top spot.

The race continued to remain green until a caution with nine laps remaining. Mullen continued to lead over Pierce and Jade Hastings, who had moved into third at the end of the long green flag stint.

Mullen rebuilt his advantage as Pierce fought to hold off Hastings and Mark Dobmeier in the new battle for the second spot.

The final caution of the race with six laps to go saw Dobmeier become the new second place runner in the lap before the caution. Dobmeier held off Pierce on the restart as Mullen remained strong out front, building another straight away advantage in the closing laps as Pierce took second back from Dobmeier.

Mullen slid past a final pair of lapped cars and led Pierce back to the line for the victory. Hastings, Dobmeier, and Goodno were third through fifth respectively. Dobmeier won the overall Anderson Cup title by 15 points over Mullen.

Dustin Strand and Brad Seng paced the 20-lap Cirrus Aircraft Late Model feature to start with the pair separated by 35 points in the season-long standings coming into the night.

Strand and Seng remained side-by-side for the majority of the opening lap which Strand led by a nose. From there, Strand opened up a big advantage, leading by a straight away through five laps as Seng tried to hold off Joey Pederson for the second spot.

Strand’s momentum was not slowed at the midway point by a pair of lap cars as he continued to lead. Strand’s sizable lead came to a close with the races’ only pair of cautions with five laps to go.

Strand was strong on the restart, however, as Pederson continued in second while Seng tried to stay out of a three-car battle with Shane Edginton and Brody Troftgruben for the third spot.

Strand continued on to victory over Pederson, Seng, Troftgruben, and Edginton. Strand’s fifth Late Model win of the year helped him win his sixth track points title in the division by 44 markers over Seng.

Chris Edmonds and Nate Raasakka led the Happy Harry's Midwest Mod feature to the stripe at the start of their 20-lap finale. 

Edmonds led the field through turns one and two with Lance Schill completing the opening lap in second. A three-car battle for third with Jason Halverson, Riese Stenberg, and Nate Raasakka came to an end when Edmonds spun in turn four.

Schill led on the ensuing restart with Stenberg moving up into the second spot as Raasakka and Halverson battled for third. Halverson took second from Stenberg off of turn four at the completion of the second lap.

Stenberg then had to battle with Raasakka and Taylor Jacobson for the third spot before another caution on lap four. Schill continued to lead with Halverson in second before another caution on lap seven.

Stenberg spun on the ensuing restart which proved to be the final restart as the final 14 laps went green-to-checkered.

Schill led by a straightaway and had very little problem with light lapped traffic late to pick up the victory over Halverson, Jacobson, Raasakka, and Jamie Dietzler. Jory Berg charged from 15th to seventh, but already had won the Midwest Mod title by showing up to the track.

Tucker Pederson and Weston Ramsrud were separated by just 18 points heading into the 20-lap Big Al's Construction main event, which they brought to green sharing the front row.

Ramsrud took the lead at the start with Pederson following in second and James Meagher in third. Ramsrud continued to lead. following a caution on the third lap which saw Trey Hess move up to third.

Pederson went side-by-side with Ramsrud on a number of occasions through the midway point of the race in the battle for the lead. Their battle, however, allowed Hess to close in to make it a three-car battle for the top spot.

The leaders encountered a couple of lapped cars late, but not enough to impede anyone’s momentum. The final 18 laps went green-to-checkered with Ramsrud winning over Pederson, Hess, Braden Brauer, and Seth Klostreich. Pederson won the points title by 13 markers over Ramsrud.

Wisconsin native Zach Widdes and Britt, MN hotshoe Nick DaRonco made up the front row for the 20-lap Western Renegade Non-Wing Sprint main event.

Widdes took the lead at the start and led the opening lap over DaRonco and Brad Cunningham. DaRonco shadowed Widdes the next three laps with DaRonco taking the lead in turn one on the fourth lap.

DaRonco continued to lead through cautions on lap five and seven. The lap seven restart saw California native Jori Hughes move past Cunningham for third and continued on to battle with Widdes for the second spot.

Past the midway point, DaRonco led by a straight away while working lapped traffic before the final caution with five laps to go.

DaRonco continued on for his second win at the Bullring over Widdes, Chris Lewis, Hughes, and Eric Guyot.

This week at the Bullring, the 17th annual John Seitz memorial kicks off on Thursday night and runs through Saturday.

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