Herstory at the Bullring: Romuld Wins First Feature on Hall of Fame Night

Dobmeier, Strand, and Greseth Return to Victory Lane

River Cities Speedway inducted four new members into its Hall of Fame Friday night but there was more history made later on in the evening when 16-year-old MaKenna Romuld won the Wissota Midwest Mod main event, become just the third female driver to win at the Bullring in its 71-season history of weekly racing. Mark Dobmeier won his third Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint car feature with Dustin Strand winning his sixth Cirrus Aircraft Late Model feature and Cole Greseth picking up his seventh Big Al’s Construction Street Stock win.

During intermission, four new members were inducted to the River Cities Speedway Hall of Fame. Todd Johnson, Pat Miller, Troy Schill, and Roger Srnsky entered the Hall, joining a prestigious list of members in the Hall that inducted its first class in 1990.

During feature action, MaKenna Romuld and Brennan Schmidt made up the front row for the WISSOTA Midwest Mod main event. Romuld, last year's National Rookie of the Year in the class, led the opening lap and continued to lead when the first caution came out on lap three.

This was the beginning of many tense moments for Romuld, as many restarts were to follow as the feature was slowed by a number of yellow flags. Romuld continued to lead following a lap four caution as Ryan Schow took over the second spot as the race resumed.

Schow ducked to Romuld's inside for the first time with 14 to go and remained on the leader's back bumper until the third caution with 12 to go. Schmidt took second back when the green flew once more, and held it through the midway point as Romuld built her biggest advantage of the race to that point with a ten car length advantage.

A pair of cautions with eight to go, including a five car pile up at the bottom of turns one and two., brought the race to a full stop. The final eight laps went caution free as Romuld continued on to her first victory at the speedway over Schow, Schmidt, Jory Berg, and Dean Eggebratten.

Romuld is the first female driver in the 71-year history of the track to win outside of the Lightning Sprint division. Presley Truedson and Kelsi Pederson had previous Lightning Sprint wins. As Romuld was winning the Midwest Mod feature, her best friend Jerzee Rosinski was winning her first career 305 Sprint Car main event at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo.

Blake Egeland and Jade Hastings made up the front row in Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Car feature. Hastings led the opening lap before Nick Omdahl went for a tumble at the bottom of turn four. He was okay, but his night came to an early end.

Hastings continued to lead after the accident was cleared but brought Andy Pake into second with him and Mark Dobmeier into third. Hastings nearly got into the back of a lap car on lap four, allowing Pake to take the lead, opening up a straightaway advantage shortly thereafter.

The leaders continued to cycle through heavy lap traffic at the midway point as Pake led by over two seconds at that point. Following the second caution with 12 to go, Pake resumed the race as the leader and quickly built another straightaway advantage before a spin for Jack Croaker with ten to go. Pake was rolling through lap traffic again with five to go when he slid off of the top of turn three, virtually ending his hopes of going back-to-back in the division. As he was spinning off of the top of the track, Jade Hastings cut a left rear tire, relinquishing the second spot and making third running Mark Dobmeier the new leader.

From there, it was all Dobmeier as he won by two seconds over Weston Olson, Blake Egeland, Alex Truscinski, and Wade Nygaard. The win is Dobmeier’s third of the season and 198th career NOSA victory.

Hall of Famer Tom Corcoran and Tucker Pederson paced the field at the start of the WISSOTA Late Model feature. Corcoran led the opening lap, but Pederson moved to his outside on lap two and took the lead, bringing Dustin Strand with him into second.

On lap four, Strand moved to Pederson's inside for the first time, but was unable to take the top spot. Pederson continued the lead until the first and only caution on lap six. Tyler Peterson used the restart to his advantage, moving into third with the top three remaining within striking distance for the lead.

Strand took the lead on lap seven and was already out front by half a straightaway in the lap that followed. Strand led by a straightaway at the midway point as Peterson finally made it past Tucker Pederson for second, though the latter pulled even to his inside on a couple of occasions in the lap that followed. 

Tyler Peterson made the second spot his for good as Strand started working lap traffic. In the closing laps, and in heavy lap traffic, Tyler Peterson pulled to within a car length of Strand briefly nosing in front in turn two, but Strand got the run off the top of turns three and four around the bottom and made it to the checkered flag first for his sixth Late model victory at the speedway this season. Tucker Pederson, Brody Troftgruben, and Joey Pederson rounded out the top five.

John Halvorson and Greg Jose brought the WISSOTA Street stock feature to green with Jose taking the lead down the back stretch while Cole Greseth moved to Halvorson's outside to take the second spot. It didn't take long for the top two to pull away from the rest of the field as the lead duo opened up a ten car length advantage over Halverson.

By the midway point, the leaders had remained nose-to-tail in the laps that followed the initial start and built a straightaway advantage over the rest of the field. With six to go, Jose held the lead as he nearly made contact with a lap car but continued the hold off Greseth to hold the top spot.

With three to go, Jose hit an infield tractor tire in between turns one and two, allowing Greseth to move to his outside and take the lead. Greseth then put a lap car between himself and Jose and led the final three laps to pick up his seventh win at the Bullring this season.

Halvorson, Chris Ekren, and Josh Barker rounded out the top five.

Racing action continues next Friday night with the WISSOTA Modifieds replacing the NOSA Sprints, joining the Late Models, Midwest Mods, and Street Stocks.

NOSA Sprints
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier[6]; 2. 27-Weston Olson[11]; 3. 26-Blake Egeland[1]; 4. 10-Alex Truscinski[10]; 5. 11M-Wade Nygaard[8]; 6. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[4]; 7. 12-Austin Pierce[12]; 8. 64-Andy Pake[3]; 9. 17-Zach Omdahl[9]; 10. 8H-Jade Hastings[2]; 11. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[13]; 12. 14-Tom Egeland[15]; 13. 72K-Kate Taves[17]; 14. 41T-Travis Strandell[18]; 15. 6-Zach Wilde[21]; 16. (DNF) 00-Jack Croaker[7]; 17. (DNF) 4-Colton Young[14]; 18. (DNF) 99JR-Brody Graham[20]; 19. (DNF) 49-Kim Young[16]; 20. (DNF) 0-Nick Omdahl[5]; 21. (DNS) 52-Adam Sobolik; 22. (DNS) 50-Brad Flaten

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier[4]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings[2]; 3. 17-Zach Omdahl[1]; 4. 27-Weston Olson[3]; 5. 4-Colton Young[7]; 6. (DNF) 49-Kim Young[8]; 7. (DNF) 6-Zach Wilde[6]; 8. (DNF) 52-Adam Sobolik[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 64-Andy Pake[3]; 2. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[2]; 3. 10-Alex Truscinski[5]; 4. 12-Austin Pierce[1]; 5. 0-Nick Omdahl[4]; 6. (DNF) 99JR-Brody Graham[6]; 7. (DNF) 50-Brad Flaten[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11M-Wade Nygaard[2]; 2. 00-Jack Croaker[3]; 3. 26-Blake Egeland[4]; 4. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[1]; 5. 14-Tom Egeland[6]; 6. 72K-Kate Taves[5]; 7. 41T-Travis Strandell[7]


WISSOTA Street Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 19-Cole Greseth[5]; 2. 28-Greg Jose[2]; 3. 35-John Halvorson[1]; 4. 37-Chris Ekren[3]; 5. 99-Josh Barker[7]; 6. 49-Rodney Hulst[6]; 7. 5-Royce Jawaski[9]; 8. 29-Rachael McNamee[8]; 9. 03-Bryce Reimer[4]; 10. (DNS) B1*-Blaine Barnes

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Cole Greseth[5]; 2. 35-John Halvorson[1]; 3. 37-Chris Ekren[4]; 4. 29-Rachael McNamee[2]; 5. (DNF) B1*-Blaine Barnes[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Greg Jose[2]; 2. 99-Josh Barker[4]; 3. 03-Bryce Reimer[5]; 4. 49-Rodney Hulst[3]; 5. 5-Royce Jawaski[1]


WISSOTA Midwest Mods
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-MaKenna Romuld[1]; 2. 28S-Ryan Schow[5]; 3. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[2]; 4. BO-Jory Berg[15]; 5. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[4]; 6. 47K-Memphis Klassen[3]; 7. 29-Cylen Vargason[9]; 8. 3L-Logan Salazar[11]; 9. 18X-Connor Drewry[12]; 10. 44-Austin Hunter[6]; 11. 08-Frank Veert[7]; 12. 54-Terry Nelson[16]; 13. 15TRX-Chris Edmonds[17]; 14. 33L-Cejay LaValley[13]; 15. 96-Jeremy Lizakowski[14]; 16. (DNF) 2S-Matt Schow[10]; 17. (DNF) 47-Malachi Klassen[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15-MaKenna Romuld[1]; 2. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[3]; 3. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[5]; 4. 47K-Memphis Klassen[2]; 5. 29-Cylen Vargason[7]; 6. 3L-Logan Salazar[9]; 7. 33L-Cejay LaValley[8]; 8. (DNF) BO-Jory Berg[6]; 9. (DNF) 15TRX-Chris Edmonds[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 47-Malachi Klassen[2]; 2. 44-Austin Hunter[3]; 3. 28S-Ryan Schow[5]; 4. 08-Frank Veert[4]; 5. 2S-Matt Schow[6]; 6. 18X-Connor Drewry[7]; 7. 96-Jeremy Lizakowski[1]; 8. (DNF) 54-Terry Nelson[8]


WISSOTA Late Model
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[4]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[7]; 3. 27P-Tucker Pederson[2]; 4. 14-Brody Troftgruben[5]; 5. 7P-Joey Pederson[6]; 6. 12S-Brad Seng[10]; 7. T 1-Tom Corcoran[1]; 8. 2S-Matt Schow[3]; 9. 22-Jack Koranda[12]; 10. 39-Jamie Dietzler[8]; 11. 29K-Ryan Kereluk[9]; 12. 21S-John Seng[13]; 13. 25-Jamie Trautner[17]; 14. 10-Mike Balcaen[19]; 15. 11-Troy Schill[11]; 16. F9-Brandon Fuller[14]; 17. 16S-Jeff Hapala[16]; 18. 93-Kelsi Pederson[15]; 19. 42-Matthew Jarvis[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[3]; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson[6]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng[2]; 4. 11-Troy Schill[5]; 5. F9-Brandon Fuller[7]; 6. 25-Jamie Trautner[1]; 7. (DNF) 10-Mike Balcaen[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Jamie Dietzler[2]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 3. 27P-Tucker Pederson[6]; 4. 22-Jack Koranda[5]; 5. 93-Kelsi Pederson[4]; 6. 42-Matthew Jarvis[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Brody Troftgruben[1]; 2. 2S-Matt Schow[4]; 3. T 1-Tom Corcoran[3]; 4. 21S-John Seng[2]; 5. 16S-Jeff Hapala[6]; 6. 29K-Ryan Kereluk[5]
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