Seng, Pierce, Schill & Meagher Visit RydellCars.com Victory Lane on Hall of Fame Night

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (July 19, 2019) – Brad Seng scored his first River Cities Speedway win of the season after one of the best Performance Auto NLRA Late Model races in several years. 

Seng went toe-to-toe with Late Model rookie, Ryan Kereluk for the duration of the 20-lap feature. With Kereluk up on the high side, Seng tip-toed around the berm on the low side of the speedway. After the final restart of the race on lap four, the two drivers ran side by side for the final 16 laps, never touching each other once. 

The bottom lane started to come in for Seng in the closing laps as he held a narrow advantage over Kereluk at the white flag. For the first time all race, Seng slid up in turn two to take Kereluk’s high groove. Kereluk looked to crossover Seng as he dove to the bottom in turns three and four. 

In a drag race to the checkers, Seng’s momentum carried him to the win by a nose. The margin of victory was a mere 0.079 seconds. Shane Edginton, who was also in contention in the late stages of the race, rounded out the podium in third. 

It looked as though the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Car feature was going to produce a first-time winner on Friday. Ty Hanten, Shane Roemeling and Jordan Adams, all of whom have not yet won at River Cities Speedway, ran inside the top three, respectively, in the early going of the 25-lap main event. 

Front row starter, Blake Egeland, ran the third position until a mechanical failure forced him into the infield on lap four. Fourth-row starters Austin Pierce and Jade Hastings worked their way to the front in the first half of the race as Hanten built up a half-lap lead over Jack Croaker. 

The first caution flew at the halfway point. On the ensuing restart, Croaker threw a slider on Hanten in attempt to take the lead, but Hanten kept his foot on the throttle and powered around the outside of Croaker to keep the point. On the following lap, Hastings and Adams both slid Croaker as Hastings went from fourth to second. 

Hastings took the lead from Hanten with eight laps to go, but just as he did, the caution flew. 

On the restart, Hanten jumped out to the lead once again as Pierce moved by Hastings for second. Hanten looked to have the win in hand with a 10 car length lead with five laps to go, but the final caution flew with four to go. Pierce executed a textbook slide job in turns one and two on the restart to take the lead from Hanten. Once out front, the two-time NOSA champion drove away from the rest of the field and collected his third consecutive feature win at the Bullring. Hastings came home second, followed by Hanten. 

Veteran Grand Forks WISSOTA Street Stock driver, James Meagher, picked up his first career River Cities Speedway win after a hard-fought battle in the Wells Concrete feature. Meagher led the opening lap over polesitter, Brandon Palm, as Seth Klostreich moved into the second spot on lap two. Meagher never had a lead of over five car lengths over Klostreich, but Klostreich had his hands full with Ryan Johnson in the second half of the race. 

Johnson, who started seventh on the 16-car grid, finally cleared the Street Stock rookie Klostreich coming to the white flag. Johnson pulled alongside of Meagher in the final set of corners, but Meagher remained smooth and steady on the low side to pick up the win. 

The win for Meagher comes in the same car that he rolled three weeks ago and had to rebuild from the ground up. 

Jamie Dietzler and Lance Schill brought the Happy Harry’s WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds to the green flag for their 18-lap main event. Schill quickly proved he was the class of the field as he grabbed the lead on the opening lap and never looked back. A handful of cautions kept the field bunched up, but Schill took off on each and every Evergreen Insurance restart. 

Behind him, Reise Stenberg and Aaron Blacklance battled for the runner-up spot. Blacklance won the battle as 10th-place starter, Eric Haugland moved into the third in the closing laps. 

Schill easily cruised to the checkered flag to pick up his second River Cities Speedway win of the season. 

SUMMARY 
WISSOTA NLRA Late Models:
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 12S-Brad Seng, [4]; 2. 29K-Ryan Kereluk, [2]; 3. 4-Shane Edginton, [6]; 4. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill, [12]; 5. 2-Bill Mooney, [15]; 6. 10-Mike Balcaen, [5]; 7. 7P-Joey Pederson, [10]; 8. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [1]; 9. F9-Brandon Fuller, [13]; 10. T1-Tom Corcoran, [17]; 11. Z17-Zach Naastad, [8]; 12. 70-Jesse Teunis, [11]; 13. 2*-Cole Babcock, [16]; 14. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [14]; 15. (DNF) 9-Blake Anderson, [9]; 16. (DNF) 71-Dustin Strand, [7]; 17. (DNF) 14-Brody Troftgruben, [3]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. Z17-Zach Naastad, [1]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand, [9]; 3. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [2]; 4. 10-Mike Balcaen, [3]; 5. 9-Blake Anderson, [7]; 6. 70-Jesse Teunis, [8]; 7. F9-Brandon Fuller, [6]; 8. 2-Bill Mooney, [5]; 9. T1-Tom Corcoran, [4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Shane Edginton, [4]; 2. 12S-Brad Seng, [1]; 3. 29K-Ryan Kereluk, [6]; 4. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [2]; 5. 7P-Joey Pederson, [7]; 6. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill, [5]; 7. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [3]; 8. 2*-Cole Babcock, [8]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
A Feature (18 Laps): 1. 17S-Lance Schill, [2]; 2. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [6]; 3. 32-Eric Haugland, [10]; 4. 39-Jamie Dietzler, [1]; 5. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [8]; 6. 44-Austin Hunter, [9]; 7. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, [4]; 8. 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [3]; 9. B4-Jory Berg, [11]; 10. 21-Todd Johnson, [16]; 11. 16-Randy Thompson, [12]; 12. 21L-Jarett Lovcik, [5]; 13. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [14]; 14. 13-Alex Johnson, [15]; 15. (DNF) 96-Brent Loftsgard, [13]; 16. (DNF) 6R-Nate Reynolds, [7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17S-Lance Schill, [6]; 2. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [1]; 3. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [4]; 4. 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [2]; 5. 44-Austin Hunter, [7]; 6. B4-Jory Berg, [5]; 7. 96-Brent Loftsgard, [3]; 8. 13-Alex Johnson, [8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, [7]; 2. 6R-Nate Reynolds, [4]; 3. 21L-Jarett Lovcik, [3]; 4. 39-Jamie Dietzler, [8]; 5. 32-Eric Haugland, [6]; 6. 16-Randy Thompson, [2]; 7. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [5]; 8. (DNF) 21-Todd Johnson, [1]

WISSOTA Street Stocks
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 7-James Meagher, [2]; 2. 25-Ryan Johnson, [7]; 3. 30-Seth Klostreich, [4]; 4. 33-Daniel Aberle, [3]; 5. 35-John Halvorson, [11]; 6. 48-Chase Boen, [8]; 7. 03-Bryce Reimer, [6]; 8. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [5]; 9. 4-Trey Hess, [16]; 10. 28-Greg Jose, [13]; 11. 8T-Doug VanMill, [10]; 12. 22-Brandon Palm, [1]; 13. 17-Adam Rassier, [9]; 14. 29-Dan McNamee, [15]; 15. 10-Thomas Neihart, [12]; 16. (DNF) 74-Steve Nordhagen, [14]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 48-Chase Boen, [1]; 2. 33-Daniel Aberle, [2]; 3. 25-Ryan Johnson, [5]; 4. 03-Bryce Reimer, [3]; 5. 17-Adam Rassier, [4]; 6. 35-John Halvorson, [8]; 7. 28-Greg Jose, [6]; 8. 29-Dan McNamee, [7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Seth Klostreich, [1]; 2. 7-James Meagher, [6]; 3. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [7]; 4. 22-Brandon Palm, [3]; 5. 8T-Doug VanMill, [5]; 6. 10-Thomas Neihart, [2]; 7. 74-Steve Nordhagen, [8]; (DNS) 4-Trey Hess,

NOSA Sprint Cars
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [7]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings, [8]; 3. 13T-Ty Hanten, [1]; 4. 0-Nick Omdahl, [9]; 5. 8C-Jack Croaker, [6]; 6. 1AJ-Trevor Mell, [10]; 7. 20A-Jordan Adams, [5]; 8. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [4]; 9. 31-Shane Roemeling, [3]; 10. 35-Brenden Wilde, [12]; 11. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [15]; 12. 4-Colton Young, [16]; 13. 42-Rick Bates, [14]; 14. (DNF) 22-Tanner Wisk, [13]; 15. (DNF) 14-Tom Egeland, [11]; 16. (DNF) 41T-Travis Strandell, [17]; 17. (DNF) 26-Blake Egeland, [2]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [7]; 2. 13T-Ty Hanten, [3]; 3. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [5]; 4. 8H-Jade Hastings, [8]; 5. 14-Tom Egeland, [4]; 6. 1AJ-Trevor Mell, [6]; 7. 22-Tanner Wisk, [2]; 8. 4-Colton Young, [9]; 9. (DNF) 41T-Travis Strandell, [1]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 8C-Jack Croaker, [6]; 2. 26-Blake Egeland, [3]; 3. 31-Shane Roemeling, [4]; 4. 20A-Jordan Adams, [5]; 5. 0-Nick Omdahl, [7]; 6. 35-Brenden Wilde, [2]; 7. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [8]; 8. 42-Rick Bates, [1]