Schill, Pierce, Berg & Johnson visit RydellCars.com Victory Lane

Photos by Emily Wicklund

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (August 28, 2020) –  Twenty-one Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints were led to the green flag by Brendan Mullen and Chris Ranten for the 25-lap main event. 

After a thrilling battle between the front row starters, Ranten took the lead and checked out from the rest of the field. 

A caution on lap five bunched the field back up. Jade Hastings took over second on the restart as Ranten checked out once again. 

With 12 to go seventh-place starter and track point leader, Austin Pierce, caught series point leader Jade Hastings for second. The two traded slide jobs at both ends of the speedway for four consecutive laps before Pierce cleared for the position. That battle allowed Ranten to check out by over a full straightaway with 10 laps to go. However, Pierce and Hastings were able to quickly reel in Ranten who was mired in heavy lapped traffic. 

With five to go, Pierce was on the rear bumper of Ranten and drove through the middle of the track to take lead from Ranten off turn four. Ranten countered with a crossover to take the lead as Pierce then had his hands full with Hastings and Wade Nygaard. 

Pierce regrouped and made another charge at Ranten in turn one with two laps to go. Pierce threw a slidejob and Ranten hit the brakes to get back underneath him, but got loose allowing Nygaard and Hastings to sneak by. 

Nygaard had a run off turn four, but came up a car length short as Pierce claimed his sixth win of the season. 

“Once I caught up to Chris (Ranten), I probably could have just rode behind him and we probably would have finished second. But I started diving through the middle and found some moisture. I think we bumped wheels one time on the back straightaway, but we were both able to maintain our positions,” said Pierce post-race. “Then Jade (Hastings) showed his nose there at the end. I didn’t know how it was going to play out to be honest. I’m just glad we were able to come out one top.”
 
The Performance Auto NLRA Late Model feature began with a four-wide race for the lead. Front row starters Nick Minkse and Casey Meyer were challenged by Zach Naastad and Lance Schill in the first set of corners. 

Schill drove from fourth to the point as the field entered turn three. 

Schill dominated the 20-lap, 22-car feature, but in the closing laps, Dustin Strand put pressure on the driver of the Schill Construction No. 17. Strand pulled even with Schill in turns one and two on the final lap, but after a heartbreaking loss to Strand last Friday, Schill was not to be denied. 

Schill collected his second Late Model win of the season and sixth win overall at the Bullring. 

Sixteen Big Al’s Construction WISSOTA Street Stocks made up the starting grid for the 15-lap main event. Nick Minske and Zach Lee led the field to the green with Minske taking the early lead with Joe Potter in tow. 

On lap six, Potter took the point from Minske as Ryan Johnson looked to move into second. On a restart at the halfway point, Johnson took second and set his sights on Potter for the lead. 

Racing side by side for the lead, Johnson led by a half car length with three laps to go. In turn one, Potter lost the handle on his No. 10 machine and spun to bring out the caution. 

Johnson held off Greg Jose on the final restart to collect his third win of the season. 

Jory Berg claimed his first win of the season at the Bullring in dominating fashion during the Happy Harry’s Bottle Shops WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature. Berg started on the outside of the front row and grabbed the lead over fellow front row starter Jason Schuch. 

Matt Schow and Lance Schill quickly made their way to the front to settle into the second and third positions, respectively. 

Berg was unchallenged throughout the race as he led all 18 trips around the three-tenths mile oval to pick up the win. Schow, Schill, Nathan Raasakka and Reise Stenberg rounded out the top five. 

SUMMARY
WISSOTA Late Models
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 17-Lance Schill[4]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand[9]; 3. T1-Tom Corcoran[5]; 4. Z17-Zach Naastad[3]; 5. 12S-Brad Seng[12]; 6. 44-Cole Schill[6]; 7. 03-Casey Meyer[2]; 8. 45-Dustin Bluhm[8]; 9. 7P-Joey Pederson[7]; 10. 14-Brody Troftgruben[11]; 11. F9-Brandon Fuller[18]; 12. 18X-Shawn Meyer[10]; 13. 10-Kevin Robertson[13]; 14. 02-Dan Dowling[20]; 15. 16S-Jeff Hapala[17]; 16. 1M-Nicholas Minske[1]; 17. 9R-Erik Robertson[22]; 18. 47-Kreig Kasin[19]; 19. (DNF) 9A-Blake Anderson[16]; 20. (DNF) 9-Steve Anderson[15]; 21. (DNF) 71X-Cory Tammen[14]; 22. (DNF) 11-Troy Schill[21]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Lance Schill[2]; 2. T1-Tom Corcoran[7]; 3. 1M-Nicholas Minske[4]; 4. 18X-Shawn Meyer[6]; 5. 10-Kevin Robertson[3]; 6. 9A-Blake Anderson[1]; 7. 47-Kreig Kasin[8]; 8. (DNS) 9R-Erik Robertson

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7P-Joey Pederson[5]; 2. 44-Cole Schill[3]; 3. 03-Casey Meyer[4]; 4. 14-Brody Troftgruben[6]; 5. 71X-Cory Tammen[7]; 6. 16S-Jeff Hapala[2]; 7. (DNF) 11-Troy Schill[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[7]; 2. 45-Dustin Bluhm[2]; 3. Z17-Zach Naastad[3]; 4. 12S-Brad Seng[6]; 5. 9-Steve Anderson[1]; 6. F9-Brandon Fuller[4]; 7. 02-Dan Dowling[5]

NOSA Sprints:
​A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce[7]; 2. 9N-Wade Nygaard[9]; 3. 8H-Jade Hastings[3]; 4. 27-Chris Ranten[2]; 5. 0-Nick Omdahl[4]; 6. 11M-Brendan Mullen[1]; 7. 14T-Tim Estenson[6]; 8. 99-Jordan Graham[8]; 9. 26-Blake Egeland[15]; 10. 14-Tom Egeland[17]; 11. 20A-Jordan Adams[12]; 12. 10S-Josh Swangler[14]; 13. 8BALL-Jack Croaker[5]; 14. 31-Shane Roemeling[13]; 15. 17-Zach Omdahl[16]; 16. 22-Tanner Wisk[11]; 17. 41T-Travis Strandell[20]; 18. 4-Colton Young[18]; 19. 2-Tee Young[19]; 20. 47-Sabrina Hockenson[21]; 21. (DNF) 10TRB-Bob Martin[10]

Heat 1: 1. 0-Nick Omdahl[2]; 2. 27-Chris Ranten[4]; 3. 31-Shane Roemeling[1]; 4. 11M-Brendan Mullen[6]; 5. 9N-Wade Nygaard[3]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland[5]; 7. 2-Tee Young[7]

Heat 2: 1. 2A-Austin Pierce[4]; 2. 8BALL-Jack Croaker[6]; 3. 99-Jordan Graham[3]; 4. 17-Zach Omdahl[5]; 5. 22-Tanner Wisk[2]; 6. 10S-Josh Swangler[1]; 7. 41T-Travis Strandell[7]

Heat 3: 1. 8H-Jade Hastings[4]; 2. 14T-Tim Estenson[1]; 3. 10TRB-Bob Martin[3]; 4. 14-Tom Egeland[5]; 5. 4-Colton Young[6]; 6. 47-Sabrina Hockenson[7]; 7. (DNF) 20A-Jordan Adams[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods
A Feature (18 Laps): 1. B0-Jory Berg[2]; 2. 2S-Matt Schow[4]; 3. 17-Lance Schill[8]; 4. 57-Nathan Raasakka[6]; 5. 87S-Reise Stenberg[7]; 6. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[9]; 7. 8-Jason Schuh[1]; 8. 46-Cole Neset[12]; 9. 39-Jamie Dietzler[3]; 10. 4-Michael Miller[11]; 11. 01-Zach Bruer[10]; 12. 23-Scott Vasichek[15]; 13. 77B-Logan Bauer[13]; 14. (DNF) 28S-Ryan Schow[5]; 15. (DNF) 54-Terry Nelson[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Nathan Raasakka[1]; 2. 8-Jason Schuh[3]; 3. 17-Lance Schill[6]; 4. 39-Jamie Dietzler[5]; 5. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[2]; 6. 4-Michael Miller[8]; 7. 77B-Logan Bauer[4]; 8. 54-Terry Nelson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28S-Ryan Schow[2]; 2. 2S-Matt Schow[3]; 3. 87S-Reise Stenberg[1]; 4. B0-Jory Berg[4]; 5. 01-Zach Bruer[6]; 6. 46-Cole Neset[5]; 7. (DNF) 23-Scott Vasichek[7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 25-Ryan Johnson[4]; 2. 28-Greg Jose[5]; 3. 1M-Nicholas Minske[1]; 4. 3L-Zach Lee[2]; 5. 7-James Meagher[6]; 6. 35-John Halvorson[15]; 7. 4-Trey Hess[8]; 8. 27P-Tucker Pederson[7]; 9. 99-Josh Barker[9]; 10. 30-Seth Klostreich[16]; 11. 29-Dan McNamee[13]; 12. 33-Daniel Aberle[11]; 13. 1J-Cody Armstrong[10]; 14. 00-Brandon Corbett[14]; 15. 5S-Chris Smeby[12]; 16. (DNF) 10-Joe Potter[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27P-Tucker Pederson[2]; 2. 4-Trey Hess[3]; 3. 7-James Meagher[1]; 4. 1M-Nicholas Minske[5]; 5. 99-Josh Barker[6]; 6. 33-Daniel Aberle[7]; 7. 5S-Chris Smeby[4]; 8. (DNF) 35-John Halvorson[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Ryan Johnson[3]; 2. 3L-Zach Lee[1]; 3. 10-Joe Potter[5]; 4. 28-Greg Jose[2]; 5. 1J-Cody Armstrong[7]; 6. (DNF) 29-Dan McNamee[8]; 7. (DNF) 00-Brandon Corbett[4]; 8. (DNF) 30-Seth Klostreich[6]