River Cities Speedway NOSA Recap, presented by RydellCars.com

5/17/2015

Dobmeier holds off Zomer in "The Border Battle (Part 2)"

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, ND (May 15) - Track conditions Friday night at River Cities Speedway were less than ideal, to put it kindly, but a lot of credit needs to be given to the RCS track crew for allowing racing to be held as scheduled after a very damp week. A rough track combined with a River Cities Speedway record number of Sprint Cars for a weekly show resulted in a flip count of five when everything was a said and done.

With 33 NOSA Sprint signed in, a 13 car B-main trimmed the field to the fastest 24. The A-main got off to a rocky start for the opening night winner, Wade Nygaard, as he hopped a wheel on the first lap and barrel rolled three times beore coming to a rest right-side-up in turn three. Nygaard was okay, but he was done for the night.

A complete restart ensued with Nick Omdahl and Blake Egeland lining up on the front row. Omdahl took the lead at the green and led the first eight circuits.

Mired back in the pack, Dusty Zomer of Sioux Falls, SD and Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks, came charging through the field together. On lap nine, Zomer stole the lead away from Omdahl at the line and Dobmeier moved into second just moments later. For the remainder of the event, the two Sprint Car stars put on a show bouncing through the ruts and battling for the lead.

On lap 14, Dobmeier threw a slide job on Zomer in turn one in attempt to take the lead, but Zomer came charging back to regain the lead. Dobmeier pulled the same maneuver the very next lap and was able to successfully complete the pass.

The driver of the Senske & Son #13 had amassed a full straightaway lead with five laps to go, but a Chris Ranten spin brought out the caution. Ranten had a great race going and was running in third at the time of the spin.

On the restart Dobmeier got out to a comfortable lead. He had one close call in lapped traffic with two laps to go, but hung on to claim win #106 at RCS.

Last year at the John Seitz Memorial, the Sprint Car feature created the same Dobmeier/Zomer showdown, but saw Zomer take the checkers on Dobmeier's home turf.

"I tell you what, that was a fun race," said Dobmeier after the win. "Early on (Zomer) showed me he had a good car and I followed him to the front. I got him cornered in traffic, snuck by on the bottom, and ran like a scared chicken after that."

"It's absolutely exhausting," remarked Dobmeier about racing on the rough track. "The car is bouncing all over the place and you only have control about half the time. By the end of it you need a beer."

"Opportunity knocked and I wasn't able to capitalized on it," said Zomer of Dobmeier's bobble in traffic with two laps to go. "I've replayed it in my mind and there is a few things I wish I would have done differently, but that race was a lot of fun. Mark obviously knows how to get around this place really well. It's just fun to come up here and put on a good show for the fans. That's what it's all about."

Mitch Mack, Jack Croaker, Murray Temple and Zach Wilde were the other drivers who went for a tumble at one point during the night. Fortunately all drivers were okay.