RIVER CITIES RECAP: PEDERSON, SCHOW, AND BRAUER COLLECT FIRST BULLRING WINS OF THE SEASON

Tyler Peterson scores second Modified feature victory

River Cities Speedway’s 34th Hall-of-Fame night saw five new members inducted at intermission and three first time winners on the season as Joey Pederson, Matt Schow, and Braden Brauer chalked up their initial wins at the Bullring this season.

Longtime engine builder Ben Adams, Former Hobby Stock and Super Stock champion Rick Kemnitz, former NLRA champion Troy Olson, Track Fire Crew leader Scott Nelson, and former Hobby Stock titlist and Late Model competitor Terry Sannes entered the hall to the delight of a packed main grandstand at intermission.

Tom Corcoran and Brandon Fuller paced the field at the start of the Cirrus Aircraft NLRA Late Model main event. Corcoran and Fuller went door-to-door down the back stretch on the opening lap but it was Fuller who came off of turn four to lead the opening circuit.

Fuller continued to lead following a pair of restart attempts on the second lap as Greg Moore and Tom Corcoran battled for the second spot.

Corcoran won the battle on the following lap and Joey Pederson eventually followed him past Moore to take the third spot on the sixth lap.

Another pair of cautions on lap seven were followed by a restart which saw Pederson move into the second spot. Pederson moved to the inside of Fuller coming off of turn two on the eighth lap with Pederson leading the field back to the start finish line.

Corcoran moved back to Fuller’s inside in a bid for the second spot at the halfway point of the 20-lapper before a caution with nine to go saw fourth and fifth place runners Brody Troftgruben and Dustin Strand spin to a stop and turn one.

Strand remained fourth on the restart as Pederson continued to lead with Corcoran and Fuller battling for second once again. Strand and Fuller capitalized on another restart with six to go, moving past Corcoran to take the second and third spots respectively.

The final two cautions with five laps and three laps to go gave Strand a couple more looks at  the race lead, but it was Pederson who fended off Strand in the final laps to pick up his first win at the Bullring the season.

Brad Seng was third with Mike Balcaen charging from 15th to finish fourth, and Tom Corcoran rounding out the top five.

Ryan Schroeder and Dustin Wahl made up the front row at the start of the Wissota Modified feature Wahl took the lead at the start and brought Tanner Williamson and Aaron Holtan with him in the second and third.

Williamson continued to shadow Wahl in the opening laps until Holtan caught up to Williamson on the fourth lap, taking the second spot at the conclusion of the circuit.

Through five laps, Wahl had a straight away lead as Williamson regained the second spot a few laps after losing the position to Holtan. Wahl was still the leader at the midway point of the 20-lap affair when the first caution flag of the race flew. 

This allowed Williamson and the new third place runner Tyler Peterson to make attempts at the race lead. Peterson drove under Wahl in turns three and four on the restart to take the lead with nine to go.

Wahl, who was looking for his first modified win at the speedway, and first when at the speedway since a hornet went in 2005, had his hopes dashed on the second lap 12 restart when contact with another car and a spin sent him to the tail.

Peterson continued to lead as the green came back out as Dustin Strand moved into the runner-up spot. The final caution with three to go gave Strand one last shot at Peterson for the win.

Strand pulled even to the inside of Peterson coming off of turn three as the field received the two-to-go signal. Strand remained close in the final two trips around the Bullring, but it was Peterson that was first to the drop of the checkered flag.

Holtan was third, Williamson was fourth, and Ward Imrie was fifth.

Chris Edmonds and Matt Schow led the Happy Harry's Midwest Mod feature to the drop of the green.

Edmonds led the field through the first trips through turns one and two and barely led the opening lap over Schow. The two went side-by-side on the second lap but it was Schow with the bite off of the bottom of turn four to take the race lead.

Schow continued to lead after a lap four restart and rebuilt a straight away advantage over Edmonds and third place running Phil Christlieb.

Schow continued to hold the point following another pair of cautions on the seventh lap and was joined by Jory Berg and Austin Hunter to make up the new top three. Schow remained the class of the field past the midway point, as he had built more than a straight away lead at that point in the race.

Schow led unfazed through lapped traffic in the final five laps to win his first race at the Bullring this season. Berg was second with Hunter third, Jamie Dietzler fourth, and Reise Stenberg fifth.

Greg Jose and James Meagher brought the Big Al's Construction Street Stock main event to the green flag. Jose took the lead in turns one and two and brought Tucker Pederson with him into second place on the opening lap.

The lead pair pulled away by about a half a straight away from the rest of the field, with Pederson taking the lead coming off of turn four at the conclusion of the third lap.

Five laps into the race, the best battle on the track was for the third spot as seventh starting Braden Brauer moved in on Trey Hess for the position. Pederson led through the Midway point of the 20-lap race and continued to lead until Jose suffered a mechanical failure on the back stretch with four to go.

That put Brauer, who had won the battle for third with Hess, into the second spot. Brauer made a bid for the lead on the ensuing restart, though Peterson led the first lap following the restart.

Brauer, the Wissota national point leader, took the lead coming off of turn four as the field came to the two-to-go signal.

Brauer led the rest of the way for his first career win at the Bullring with Pederson finishing second, Weston Ramsrud third, Seth Klostreich fourth, and Trey Hess fifth.