RydellCars.com RECAP: Season Finale

9/17/2016

Mark Dobmeier in RydellCars.com Victory Lane. Mike Spieker photo.

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, ND (September 17) - River Cities Speedway closed the books on the 2016 season with an action packed night of racing, featuring the NOSA 410 Sprints, NLSA Lightning Sprints, INEX Legends, and Pure Stocks. A lengthy rain delay during heat race action halted things for close to an hour, but the RCS track crew worked diligently to get the Bullring back in shape for a great night of racing.

Twenty 410 winged warriors made the call for the 25-lap main event with heat race winners, Mark Dobmeier and Jordan Adams, on the front row.

When the green flag flew from the Valley Sunrise Properties flagstand, Dobmeier and Adams went head to head for the lead with Dobmeier leading the opening lap. The caution was quickly displayed on lap two, which put Austin Pierce right behind Dobmeier for the Evergreen Insurance double file restart. As the pack charged into turn one, Pierce completed a big slider on Dobmeier to take the lead on the fast and tacky three-tenths mile bullring.

Pierce stretched his lead out as the laps clicked off, but the caution came out again with nine laps complete. As the race resumed, Dobmeier was able to regain the lead as Pierce was forced to battle with championship contender, Casey Mack.

Within a couple laps, Dobmeier found himself in lapped traffic but was still able to extend his lead. The driver of the Senske & Sons/Polaris #13 cruised to his 10th win of the year at River Cities Speedway by a margin of 4.165 seconds over Mack. Pierce, Adams, and Chris Ranten rounded out the top five.

Casey Mack earned his first River Cities Speedway track championship by 34 points over Pierce.

Wade Nygaard was crowned the NOSA series champion for the third time in the last four years and ninth time overall.

Presley Truedson jumped out to the early lead in the NLSA Lightning Sprint main event. The 14-year-old Kennedy, MN driver held off challenges from Eric Johnson in the opening laps before Roland Bernard grabbed the runner-up position on lap six. Bernard then went to work on the JMS Motorsports No. 2 as he set out for yet another RCS victory. With seven to go, Bernard was right on the tail tank of Truedson and the pair of deuces put on a great battle for the lead. Bernard was able to wrestle the point away from Truedson with five to go, but Truedson came back after the No. 2R. Unfortunately, Truedson's great run came to an end with two laps to go as he slid off the turn two banking, bringing out the caution. Bernard held off Alex Truscinski on the restart to take the win as Dexter Dvergsten, Johnson, and Truedson rounded out the top five.

Sean Johnson claimed the INEX Legends feature win. Johnson took the lead from Troy Hoff on lap four and built up a lead that he would not relinquish. Things got tight for Johnson in the final laps, however. The driver of the No. 58 had to hold off a big threat by Hoff, who visited RydellCars.com Victory Lane when the Legends last visited during the Greater Grand Forks County Fair. Also in the mix was Donavin Weist, who also has a RCS win to his credit this year, as well as Tim Estenson. On the final lap Hoff put his No. 86 up on the cushion and looked to the outside of Johnson, but Johnson took the line away and cruised to his first RCS feature win.

The Pure Stocks were 21 cars strong for their 15-lap main event. Austin Veralrud outlasted Ryan Hagen to score his first feature win at the Bullring. Hagen had a chance at the win on the final restart, but Veralrud, who has wins at Buffalo River Race Park this season, fought off both Hagen and Jared Palm to park his Corwin/Sickies Garage #6 in RydellCars.com Victory Lane.

For complete results, click here.