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Strand leads all the way in River Cities Late Model opener while Berg tops Midwest Mods and Greseth grabs a Streeter win

GRAND FORKS, ND (May 9) - River Cities Speedway’s season opener was held Friday, May 9, with victory lane appearances by several veterans in its WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action.

Winners in sanctioned classes included Dustin Strand (Late Models), Jory Berg (Midwest Mods), and Cole Greseth (Street Stocks).

Following a caution on the original start for a spin by Kelsi Pederson, Strand was the early leader in the WISSOTA Late Model feature. Joey Pederson moved from his fourth starting spot into second, while Ryan Corbett was close behind in third. Corbett was under heavy pressure from Shane Edginton for a couple laps, before Edginton took the spot about two laps later. Brad Seng followed Edginton through to fourth, with Corbett fifth.

With seven laps scored, Strand began to work through the field’s backmarkers. He continued to hold a 2-second lead on the field as he navigated the lapped traffic, with Pederson, Edginton, Seng and Corbett still the top five.

As the field completed lap 16, Pederson had cut the advantage ever so slightly, but Strand had a clear path over the final two laps and drove on to the victory, followed by Pederson, Edginton, Seng and Corbett in the top five.

In the WISSOTA Street Stocks, the field was led to green by Trey Hess and James Meagher. Hess held the top spot early, as Meagher held second ahead of John Halvorson and Cole Greseth, who were in a fight for third. Chris Ekren was fifth. As they came around to complete lap two, a caution for Greg Jose brought the field to a halt. Another caution for a wreck down the frontstretch on the ensuing restart kept the field slowed.

Once back underway, Hess continued to lead as it was a hornet’s nest for second. Greseth shook out into second place, Halvorson was third, Meagher was fourth and Ekren was fifth.

About the halfway point of the race, Hess held the lead, with Greseth and Halvorson in the top three. Weston Ramsrud was on the move into fourth, while Meagher held fifth. A caution one lap later for Ekren regrouped the field.

Back under green, Hess was strong out front, followed by Greseth. One lap later Greseth used the outside line down the backstretch to pull door to door with Hess; after several laps of side-by-side action Greseth gained the advantage to complete lap 15, and they remained in a side-by-side battle in turn four with three laps to go. Hess made contact with Greseth’s inside rear quarter, which unsettled Hess’ car enough for Greseth to gain breathing room headed down the backstretch. Meanwhile Ramsrud was making time around the top, and as the field came around to complete lap 19, he had pulled even with Hess in turns three and four, and was scored in second with the white flag waving. As Greseth continued to hold the lead out front, Ramsrud couldn’t get quite as good of a run off turn two and down the backstretch, allowing Hess to regain second.

Greseth grabbed the checkered flag, with Hess holding on for second. Ramsrud was third, ninth-starter Greg Jose was fourth, and Halvorson was fifth.

Jory Berg was the early leader in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature, as Connor Drewry came under pressure from Cylen Vargason, who used the inside line to take the spot a lap later. Austin Hunter was fourth, and Phil Christlieb fifth.

It was a three-wide battle for second as the field came around to complete lap four, as Vargason took second and Drewry and Hunter were then side by side for third. Aaron Blacklance had moved into the top five.

With six laps in the books, the field began to work through the back of the field. Berg continued to hold command out front, with Vargason about a second behind in second. Hunter had supplanted Drewry for third, and Blacklance did the same for fourth.

Berg was unstoppable as he drove the rest of the way unscathed through lapped traffic to victory lane. Vargason, Hunter, Blacklance and Drewry completed the top five.

In the track’s Lightning Sprints feature, Bryce Haugeberg was the winner ahead of Dylan Langevin and Emmitt Isane in the top three, while Mark Dobmeier won the 410 Sprint feature from the pole.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[2]; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson[4]; 3. 5E-Shane Edginton[6]; 4. 12S-Brad Seng[7]; 5. 50-Ryan Corbett[3]; 6. 27P-Tucker Pederson[12]; 7. E85-Jason Strand[11]; 8. 21S-John Seng[8]; 9. 6R-Nate Reynolds[10]; 10. 93-Kelsi Pederson[5]; 11. 4C-Brandon Corbett[1]; 12. 39-Jamie Dietzler[13]; 13. 70-Jesse Teunis[16]; 14. T 1-Tom Corcoran[15]; 15. 97-Dan McNamee[14]; 16. (DNF) 33-Ryan Dahl[9]; 17. (DNF) 14-Brody Troftgruben[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5E-Shane Edginton[1]; 2. 21S-John Seng[2]; 3. 93-Kelsi Pederson[4]; 4. 4C-Brandon Corbett[7]; 5. 33-Ryan Dahl[9]; 6. E85-Jason Strand[8]; 7. 39-Jamie Dietzler[5]; 8. T 1-Tom Corcoran[6]; 9. 70-Jesse Teunis[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[3]; 2. 12S-Brad Seng[1]; 3. 50-Ryan Corbett[6]; 4. 7P-Joey Pederson[5]; 5. 6R-Nate Reynolds[2]; 6. 27P-Tucker Pederson[4]; 7. 97-Dan McNamee[8]; 8. (DNF) 14-Brody Troftgruben[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. BO-Jory Berg[1]; 2. 29-Cylen Vargason[3]; 3. 44-Austin Hunter[6]; 4. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[8]; 5. 18X-Connor Drewry[2]; 6. 3B-Phil Christlieb[7]; 7. 46J-Taylor Jacobson[10]; 8. 87S-Reise Stenberg[9]; 9. 08-Frank Veert[14]; 10. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[5]; 11. 47K-Memphis Klassen[11]; 12. 35-Tanner Theis[12]; 13. 15-MaKenna Romuld[15]; 14. 004-Hudson Hooker[18]; 15. 95-Ted Doell[13]; 16. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[17]; 17. 83X-Garett Veldman[16]; 18. (DNS) 8-Tyler Doell

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Cylen Vargason[2]; 2. 87S-Reise Stenberg[3]; 3. 8-Tyler Doell[6]; 4. 46J-Taylor Jacobson[1]; 5. 95-Ted Doell[4]; 6. 83X-Garett Veldman[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Hunter[2]; 2. 18X-Connor Drewry[1]; 3. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[4]; 4. 47K-Memphis Klassen[5]; 5. 08-Frank Veert[6]; 6. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. BO-Jory Berg[1]; 2. 3B-Phil Christlieb[5]; 3. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[3]; 4. 35-Tanner Theis[4]; 5. 15-MaKenna Romuld[2]; 6. (DNF) 004-Hudson Hooker[6]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 19-Cole Greseth[5]; 2. 4-Trey Hess[1]; 3. 67-Weston Ramsrud[8]; 4. 28-Greg Jose[9]; 5. 35-John Halvorson[3]; 6. 37-Chris Ekren[4]; 7. 7-James Meagher[2]; 8. 49-Rodney Hulst[10]; 9. 29-Rachael McNamee[11]; 10. B1*-Blaine Barnes[12]; 11. (DNF) 03-Bryce Reimer[6]; 12. (DNS) 30-Seth Klostreich

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-James Meagher[3]; 2. 30-Seth Klostreich[5]; 3. 35-John Halvorson[2]; 4. 19-Cole Greseth[6]; 5. 67-Weston Ramsrud[1]; 6. 28-Greg Jose[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Trey Hess[4]; 2. 03-Bryce Reimer[3]; 3. 37-Chris Ekren[5]; 4. B1*-Blaine Barnes[6]; 5. (DNF) 49-Rodney Hulst[1]; 6. (DNF) 29-Rachael McNamee[2]

410 Sprints - Winged:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier[1]; 2. 8-Jack Croaker[3]; 3. 8H-Jade Hastings[6]; 4. 64-Andy Pake[5]; 5. 11M-Brendan Mullen[2]; 6. 0-Nick Omdahl[9]; 7. 17-Zach Omdahl[4]; 8. 10-Alex Truscinski[13]; 9. 4-Colton Young[16]; 10. 31A-Austin Pierce[7]; 11. 14-Tom Egeland[20]; 12. 72K-Kate Taves[11]; 13. 78-Bill Wagner[15]; 14. 9-Dominic Dobesh[12]; 15. 41T-Travis Strandell[14]; 16. 50-Brad Flaten[19]; 17. (DNF) 26-Blake Egeland[8]; 18. (DNF) 27-Weston Olson[10]; 19. (DNF) G5-Gage Pulkrabek[17]; 20. (DNF) 52-Adam Sobolik[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 64-Andy Pake[3]; 2. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier[4]; 3. 0-Nick Omdahl[1]; 4. 72K-Kate Taves[2]; 5. 10-Alex Truscinski[5]; 6. 4-Colton Young[6]; 7. 50-Brad Flaten[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8H-Jade Hastings[2]; 2. 31A-Austin Pierce[4]; 3. 26-Blake Egeland[3]; 4. 9-Dominic Dobesh[1]; 5. 41T-Travis Strandell[5]; 6. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[7]; 7. 14-Tom Egeland[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11M-Brendan Mullen[2]; 2. 17-Zach Omdahl[5]; 3. 27-Weston Olson[3]; 4. 8-Jack Croaker[4]; 5. 78-Bill Wagner[1]; 6. (DNF) 52-Adam Sobolik[6]

Lightning Sprints:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22H-Bryce Haugeberg[6]; 2. 4-Dylan Langevin[2]; 3. 18-Emmitt Isane[5]; 4. 11-Loki Bjerke[7]; 5. 24-Jake Haugeberg[8]; 6. 21B-Hunter Bugge[3]; 7. 18K-Hayden Koehmstedt[9]; 8. 3-Arlen Rygg[10]; 9. 04-Richard Rygg[11]; 10. 22-Luke Hendrickson[15]; 11. (DNF) 1W-Brendan Mullen[4]; 12. (DNF) 87-Matthew Taves[1]; 13. (DNF) 40E-Evan Yanish[13]; 14. (DNS) 11D-Dexter Dvergsten; 15. (DNS) 8-Brady Heilman

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1W-Brendan Mullen[5]; 2. 21B-Hunter Bugge[3]; 3. 87-Matthew Taves[7]; 4. 11-Loki Bjerke[4]; 5. 18K-Hayden Koehmstedt[6]; 6. 3-Arlen Rygg[1]; 7. 04-Richard Rygg[2]; 8. 22-Luke Hendrickson[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Dylan Langevin[4]; 2. 18-Emmitt Isane[2]; 3. 22H-Bryce Haugeberg[6]; 4. 24-Jake Haugeberg[7]; 5. (DNF) 40E-Evan Yanish[1]; 6. (DNF) 11D-Dexter Dvergsten[5]; 7. (DNS) 8-Brady Heilman