6.23.19 River Cities Speedway Results
By Mike Spieker
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (June 23, 2019) – Night two of racing at the Greater Grand Forks Fair got underway Sunday evening at River Cities Speedway.
The Performance Auto WISSOTA NLRA Late Models were 21 cars strong for their 25-lap main event. Defending series champion, Dustin Strand, jumped out to the lead on the opening lap over fellow front row starter, Mike Balcaen.
Behind Strand, Balcaen and Shane Edginton battled for second with Edginton taking the spot on lap six. Brad Seng worked his way up to the third spot past Balcaen on lap eight from the fifth starting position as Strand continued to lead.
Strand held off Edginton each and every restart in what was a caution-plagued 25 laps to claim his second consecutive win at the Bullring.
Seng, Cole Schill and Balcaen rounded out the top five.
After competing at River Cities Speedway regularly for the last nine years, Eric Haugland finally prevailed to bring his No. 32 Happy Harry’s WISSOTA Midwest Modified to RydellCars.com Victory Lane.
The race got off to a rocky start as a spin at the front of the field triggered a nine-car pile up. After a complete restart, Haugland took the lead from the pole position, but Hunter Hougard used the high side to take the point on lap two. Staying loyal to the low side, Haugland reclaimed the lead on lap seven and brought Nate Reynolds with him into second.
Haugland and Reynolds broke away from the rest of the field in the second half of the race. Reynolds took a look underneath Haugland a few times in the closing laps, but Haugland held tough and fended off the challenge. Haugland went on to pick up the win over Reynolds, 11th place starter Matt Schow, Ryan Schroeder, and Hougard
The eight-race Minn-Kota INEX Legends tour wrapped up at River Cities with 14 cars checked in. A fantastic race for the lead broke out between Steven Kuntz and Tye Wilke. Both drivers ran two distinct grooves with Kuntz running down low and Wilke running the extreme high side. The two drivers swapped the lead lap after lap in the early stages. Five laps in, Andrew Jochim threw his hat into the ring as they briefly raced three wide for the point. Wilke and Brody Carlsrud got together racing for the third spot on lap nine which resulted in a caution, a flat left rear for Wilke, and damage to Carlsrud’s machine. Both drivers were able to rejoin the field at the tail for the ensuing restart.
Jochim gave Kuntz a challenge as the race resumed, but Kuntz was able to hold on for the win.
Mike Schmiedeberg led the opening lap of the NLSA Lightning Sprint feature. He was followed by third place starter, Zak Kwiatkoski, who slipped by outside front row starter, Josh Abrahamson, on lap two. Schmiedeberg opened up a big gap in the first two laps, but once in second, Kwiatkoski began reeling him in. Kwiatkoski had erased Schmiedeberg’s lead by lap six and he quickly made the pass for the lead on the low side of turn two.
Kwiatkoski checked out from the rest of the field once he gained the lead as Schmiedeberg and Alex Truscinski battled for second. Schmiedeberg spun his machine in turn two, but kept it fired and got back up to speed in the fourth position.
Kwiatkoski easily raced to his first win of the season as Truscinski, Kelsi Pederson, Schmiedeberg and Abrahamson rounded out the top five.
SUMMARY
NLRA WISSOTA Late Models:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, [2]; 2. 4-Shane Edginton, [4]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng, [5]; 4. 44-Cole Schill, [7]; 5. 10-Mike Balcaen, [1]; 6. T1-Tom Corcoran, [3]; 7. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [12]; 8. 29K-Ryan Kereluk, [10]; 9. 2*-Cole Babcock, [16]; 10. 11S-Troy Schill, [14]; 11. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [13]; 12. 345-Bryce Reimer, [17]; 13. (DNF) 11-Shane Holden, [21]; 14. (DNF) F9-Brandon Fuller, [19]; 15. (DNF) 70-Jesse Teunis, [11]; 16. (DNF) 4C-Ryan Corbett, [6]; 17. (DNF) 1M-Nicholas Minske, [20]; 18. (DNF) 2D-Dan Dowling, [15]; 19. (DNF) 9-Blake Anderson, [18]; 20. (DNF) 71S-Steffen Snare, [8]; (DNS) 7P-Joey Pederson,
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. T1-Tom Corcoran, [1]; 2. 12S-Brad Seng, [3]; 3. 7P-Joey Pederson, [4]; 4. 29K-Ryan Kereluk, [6]; 5. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [5]; 6. 2*-Cole Babcock, [7]; 7. 9-Blake Anderson, [2]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Balcaen, [4]; 2. 4-Shane Edginton, [6]; 3. 71S-Steffen Snare, [5]; 4. 70-Jesse Teunis, [7]; 5. 11S-Troy Schill, [2]; 6. (DNF) F9-Brandon Fuller, [1]; 7. (DNF) 1M-Nicholas Minske, [3]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, [1]; 2. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [3]; 3. 44-Cole Schill, [4]; 4. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [6]; 5. 2D-Dan Dowling, [7]; 6. 345-Bryce Reimer, [2]; 7. (DNF) 11-Shane Holden, [5]
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
Feature (18 Laps): 1. 32-Eric Haugland, [1]; 2. 6R-Nate Reynolds, [5]; 3. 2S-Matt Schow, [11]; 4. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, [9]; 5. 188-Hunter Hougard, [2]; 6. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [8]; 7. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [4]; 8. 10C-Cole Haugland, [14]; 9. 8-Jason Schuh, [6]; 10. 69-Stoney Kruk, [13]; 11. 23-Scott Vasichek, [10]; 12. 96-Jeremy Lizakowski, [18]; 13. 16-Randy Thompson, [21]; 14. B4-Tim Berg, [12]; 15. 28S-Ryan Schow, [17]; 16. 01-Zach Bruer, [16]; 17. 7P-Cory Peterson, [20]; 18. (DNF) 39-Jamie Dietzler, [3]; 19. (DNF) 17S-Lance Schill, [7]; 20. (DNF) 57-Nathan Raasakka, [15]; 21. (DNF) B0-Jory Berg, [19]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17S-Lance Schill, [4]; 2. 39-Jamie Dietzler, [1]; 3. 188-Hunter Hougard, [3]; 4. 23-Scott Vasichek, [2]; 5. 69-Stoney Kruk, [7]; 6. 01-Zach Bruer, [6]; 7. B0-Jory Berg, [5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [2]; 2. 6R-Nate Reynolds, [1]; 3. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, [3]; 4. 2S-Matt Schow, [5]; 5. 10C-Cole Haugland, [7]; 6. 28S-Ryan Schow, [6]; 7. (DNF) 16-Randy Thompson, [4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Eric Haugland, [1]; 2. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [3]; 3. 8-Jason Schuh, [2]; 4. B4-Tim Berg, [5]; 5. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [4]; 6. 96-Jeremy Lizakowski, [7]; 7. 7P-Cory Peterson, [6]
NLSA Lightning Sprints:
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 17K-Zachary Kwiatkoski, [3]; 2. 10-Alex Truscinski, [9]; 3. 93-Kelsi Pederson, [7]; 4. 2-Mike Schmiedeberg, [1]; 5. 16-Josh Abrahamson, [2]; 6. 13-Alan Truscinski, [6]; 7. 40-Lawrence Veralrud, [8]; 8. 11-Dexter Dvergsten, [5]; 9. 6-Brody Hutton, [4]; 10. 21-Steve Hildebrand, [11]; 11. 100-Jason Berg, [10]; (DNS) 30M-Parker Monroe,
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Mike Schmiedeberg, [1]; 2. 17K-Zachary Kwiatkoski, [2]; 3. 93-Kelsi Pederson, [3]; 4. 13-Alan Truscinski, [6]; 5. 10-Alex Truscinski, [4]; 6. (DNF) 30M-Parker Monroe, [5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Josh Abrahamson, [1]; 2. 6-Brody Hutton, [2]; 3. 11-Dexter Dvergsten, [4]; 4. 40-Lawrence Veralrud, [5]; 5. 100-Jason Berg, [3]; 6. 21-Steve Hildebrand, [6]
INEX Legends:
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 1-Steven Kuntz, [3]; 2. 21-Andrew Jochim, [4]; 3. 29-Ryan Braseth, [14]; 4. D11RT-Blaise Deckert, [10]; 5. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [11]; 6. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [6]; 7. 72-Tye Wilke, [2]; 8. 58-Sean Johnson, [9]; 9. 20-Alex Braseth, [7]; 10. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [8]; 11. 5G-Garrison Miller, [12]; 12. 2-Ashton Spieker, [13]; 13. (DNF) 5D8-Dylan Johnson, [5]; (DNS) 38-Andrew Sommerfeld,
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Andrew Jochim, [2]; 2. 1-Steven Kuntz, [5]; 3. 72-Tye Wilke, [3]; 4. 20-Alex Braseth, [1]; 5. 58-Sean Johnson, [6]; 6. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [4]; 7. 2-Ashton Spieker, [7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Andrew Sommerfeld, [2]; 2. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [3]; 3. 5D8-Dylan Johnson, [5]; 4. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [7]; 5. D11RT-Blaise Deckert, [6]; 6. 5G-Garrison Miller, [4]; (DQ) 29-Ryan Braseth, [1]