Thomas Kennedy Goes Back-to-Back!

Thomas Kennedy in RydellCars.com Victory Lane.

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (May 19, 2017) – A stout field of 27 Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Cars were in attendance Friday night at River Cities Speedway. Some of the upper Midwest’s heavy hitters, including Mark Dobmeier who was fresh of a $12,000-plus win at Badlands Motor Speedway, Thomas Kennedy, and Cap Henry all made the haul to Grand Forks to try to tame the bullring. ​

Kennedy and Dobmeier led the field to the green flag, with Kennedy getting the early jump.

The first portion of the event was plagued with cautions, but on each restart Kennedy was able to fend off Dobmeier to hold the lead.

The race was red flagged on lap two when Austin Pierce and Shane Roemeling made contact in turn two. As a result, Pierce got upside down, while Roemeling was hit a second time by Ty Hanten, who had nowhere to go.

A second red flag occurred on lap four when third place runner, Mitch Mack got into the turn four water barrels and went upside down.

All drivers in both incidents were uninjured.

The mid-portion of the race saw a long green flag run led by Kennedy, but as the laps wound down, lapped traffic brought the winningest driver in River Cities Speedway history, Dobmeier, to the rear bumper of the No. 21K.

With two laps to go, Dobmeier placed a bid for the lead and pulled even with Kennedy in turn one. Kennedy had to momentum on the high side, however, and regained the lead down the back stretch.

On the final lap, Dobmeier wasn’t able to mount a serious charge on Kennedy as the Winnipeg, Manitoba driver went on to score his second consecutive River Cities Speedway victory.

Dobmeier, Wade Nygaard, Casey Mack and Chris Ranten rounded out the top five.

Cap Henry, who failed to finish his heat after being involved in an incident, rallied to finish sixth after starting 25th.

RESULTS:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 21K-Thomas Kennedy[1]; 2. 13-Mark Dobmeier[2]; 3. 9N-Wade Nygaard[8]; 4. 8-Casey Mack[4]; 5. 27-Chris Ranten[11]; 6. 82-William Henry III[25]; 7. 7-Trent Stengl[15]; 8. 20A-Jordan Adams[9]; 9. 99-Jordan Graham[14]; 10. 8H-Jade Hastings[12]; 11. 26-Blake Egeland[16]; 12. 35-Brenden Wilde[20]; 13. 6-Wilde, Zach[10]; 14. 17B-Ryan Bickett[19]; 15. 4M-Cale Mack[22]; 16. 12-Brayden Pengilly[24]; 17. (DNF) 10TRB-Robert Martin[7]; 18. (DNF) 51-Alex Larson[23]; 19. (DNF) 24-Jon Sorenson[27]; 20. (DNF) 14-Tom Egeland[18]; 21. (DNF) 92-Mitch Mack[6]; 22. (DNF) 91M-Jackson Moffett[17]; 23. (DNF) 2A-Austin Pierce[5]; 24. (DNF) 13T-Ty Hanten[13]; 25. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling[3]; (DNS) 8C-Jack Croaker; (DNS) 0-Nick Omdahl

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21K-Thomas Kennedy[9]; 2. 2A-Austin Pierce[5]; 3. 13T-Ty Hanten[1]; 4. 20A-Jordan Adams[7]; 5. 7-Trent Stengl[2]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland[3]; 7. 17B-Ryan Bickett[6]; 8. (DNF) 51-Alex Larson[4]; (DNS) 0-Nick Omdahl

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 13-Mark Dobmeier[4]; 2. 27-Chris Ranten[1]; 3. 10TRB-Robert Martin[6]; 4. 92-Mitch Mack[9]; 5. 99-Jordan Graham[7]; 6. 91M-Jackson Moffett[2]; 7. 35-Brenden Wilde[5]; 8. (DNF) 8C-Jack Croaker[8]; 9. (DNF) 82-William Henry III[3]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 31-Shane Roemeling[4]; 2. 8-Casey Mack[6]; 3. 9N-Wade Nygaard[5]; 4. 6-Wilde, Zach[7]; 5. 8H-Jade Hastings[8]; 6. 14-Tom Egeland[2]; 7. 4M-Cale Mack[1]; 8. 12-Brayden Pengilly[3]; (DNS) 24-Jon Sorenson