Jul. 3—GRAND FORKS — Mark Dobmeier captured his 188th career NOSA feature win Tuesday night at River Cities Speedway.
On double sprint feature night at the track, Dobmeier attempted to cap a long night of racing with a second win for victory No. 189. It didn’t happen.
In one of the strangest sprint features in recent years, Dobmeier caught a rut in Turn 3 on a warm-up lap and rolled his No. 13 sprint three times before the green flag was waved.
He managed to repair his car enough to tag the rear of the field before the green flag, but the repairs weren’t enough.
Nick Omdahl turned in a dominating performance to capture the second sprint feature, his third career win at RCS.
Dobmeier finished eighth. “I knew the rut was there; I just messed up,” said Dobmeier of his crash.
But he didn’t mess up in the first sprint feature. Starting on the front row, he took the early lead before Brendan Mullen passed him on a restart with 19 laps to go. Dobmeier, however, regained the lead by passing Mullen on the low side of Turn 2 with five circuits remaining.
“Brendan got me on a restart on a clean slide job,” said Dobmeier. “After that, I had to stay patient and figure out where he was. I tried to get my car in position so I could take advantage of a slide job and give it back to him.
“It was a very good race, a very competitive race.”
Mullen, who led 14 laps, finished second, followed by Jade Hastings, Jack Croaker and Omdahl. Dobmeier won by 1.979 seconds. He also posted the fastest lap at 10.773 seconds.
Omdahl captured the second feature — a makeup feature from the May 17 show that was cut short by rain — by taking the lead from his cousin, Zach Omdahl, on the front straightaway with 12 laps to go.
He wasn’t challenged the rest of the way. Jade Hastings was second, followed by Mullen, Zach Omdahl and Jordan Graham.
Also during the second feature, Jack Croaker flipped his sprint car also in Turn 3.
“There was a pretty big hole going into Turn 3, but the rest of the track was really smooth,” said Omdahl. “It was a good track.”
Any sprint win at RCS is special. It was Omdahl’s third. “The best win is your last one,” said Omdahl.
RCS held a rare Tuesday night race and labeled it fan appreciation night. With the Fourth of July falling on a Thursday this year, RCS officials wanted to try a Tuesday race to capture fans before they celebrated a long holiday weekend.
It was a larger than usual regular-season crowd at RCS. Also, five classes competed — highlighted by the double sprint feature. The races didn’t end unti 11:30 p.m.
Also, drivers paid tribute to the Nick Minske family before the competition began. Minske, who drove a late model at RCS for a number of years, was killed in a car-motorcycle crash last month.
Drivers and crew members from all classes lined the top of Turns 1 and 2 as Minske’s No. 1 late model circled the track.
Also, one lap was added to each of the night’s regularly scheduled five features in tribute to Minske’s No. 1.
In one of his more dominating performances at RCS, Dustin Strand dominated the 21-lap late model feature, storming from the seventh starting position.
Seven laps into the feature, Strand grabbed the lead from Shane Edginton out of Turn 4. Before a caution flag with five laps to go, Strand was leading by a whopping 4.320 seconds. He easily pulled away on the restart and beat Brad Seng to the flag stand by 2.271 seconds.
Edginton was third, followed by Amelia Eisenschenk and Brody Troftruben.
Strand was able to move up quickly despite the congestion in the middle of the field early.
“It was like a game of Frogger out there at first,” said Strand, who captured his fifth win of the season. “But I could put the car anywhere I wanted on the track.”
Modfieds also raced at RCS, with Dustin Wahl taking the 21-lap win. It was his first modified win at RCS. But he had to hold off a hard-charging Strand, who finished 1.721 seconds off the pace. At one point, Strand was roughly three seconds off the lead.
Ward Imrie finished third, followed by Aaron Blacklance and Bryce Borgen.
Matt Schow captured the Midwest modified 21-lap feature as he started in the second row. Austin Hunter finished second, 1.556 seconds off the pace. Jamie Dietzler was third, followed by Tim Kanten and Brennan Schmidt.
Minnestoa driver Braden Brauer won the 21-lap streets feature. Trey Hess was second, followed by John Halvorson, Weston Ramsrud and Josh Barker.
River Cities Speedway
Tuesday’s results
Streets
First heat — 1. John Halvorson, 2. Seth Klostrich, 3. Cole Greseth
Second heat — 1. Trey Hess, 2. Braden Brauer, 3. Bryce Reimer
Feature — 1. Brauer, 2. Hess, 3. Halvorson, 4. Ramsrud, 5. Josh Barker
Midwest modifieds
First heat — 1. Jamie Dietzler, 2. Sam Blevins, 3. Eric Haugland
Second heat — 1 Matt Schow, 2. Cylen Vargason, 3. Austin Hunter
Feature —1. Schow, 2. Hunter, 3. Dietzler, 4. Tim Kanten, 5. Brennan Schmidt
Modifieds
First heat — 1. Bryce Borgen, 2. Ryan Schroeder, 3. Dustin Wahl
Second heat — 1. Ward Imrie, 2. Joseph Thomas, 3. Dustin Strand
Feature — 1. Wahl, 2. Strand, 3. Imrie, 4. Aaron Blacklance, 5. Borgen
Late models
First heat — 1. Amelia Eisenschenk, 2. Shane Edginton, 3. Brandon Fuller
Second heat — 1. Dustin Strand, 2. Tucker Pederson, 3. Brad Seng
Third heat — 1. Cole Schill, 2. John Seng, 3. Brody Troftgruben
Feature — 1. Strand, 2. Brad Seng, 3. Edginton, 4. Eisenschenk, 5. Troftgruben
Sprints
First heat — 1. Gage Pulkrabek, 2. Nick Omdahl, 3. Mark Dobmeier
Second heat — 1. Adam Sobolik, 2. Brendan Mullen, 3. Weston Olson
Third heat — 1. Kelly Miller, 2. Jack Croaker, 3. Blake Egeland
Feature — 1. Dobmeier, 2. Mullen, 3. Jade Hastings, 4. Croaker, 5 Nick Omdahl
May 17 feature — 1. Nick Omdahl, 2. Hastings, 3. Mullen, 4. Zach Omdahl, 5. Jordan Graham
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