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I've always felt that seeing only heats in three of the four classes casts a pall over the show for me; I want to see full programs. Over the years I have avoided the so-called split shows in favor of full programs, even if they aren't paying as much money.

The weather was cold and reminiscent of October, while the track raced strangely, too. A reported half inch of rain on Thursday didn't help, and it was a little bumpy. However, it didn’t prevent good racing. Drivers seemed to be having a terrible time getting a hold of the track. Many hugged the inside line and the speeds were noticeably down to my eye. For some reason drivers seemed to be getting flat tires left and right, without any real answer why.

The Go Hard Or Go Home Late Model Dash feature was a display of the kind of action that is expected here, with Cole Schill, Chad Becker and Mike Greseth bringing some excitement to what I thought was a bland night of racing. The winner was racing for the pole of the headlining Late Model feature Saturday night, and Greseth powered to that win.

The one feature race completed on Friday night was the Big Al Delaine Memorial for the Modifieds, where the winner took home $3,092 dollars and good money throughout the field.

Twenty-five drivers started the 35-lap feature race with Mike Stearns and Bryce Borgen sharing the front row. Stearns took the early lead and the first 12 laps of the race were green. That ended up being the longest stretch of green flag racing of the entire event; just after that, the yellow flew seven times before the checkered flag came out.

Joey Thomas quickly moved up from the third row to drive into second and he gave Stearns a big challenge, slipping under Mike just before the yellow waved to take over the lead. Bryce Sward was up to third with Ward Imrie and eightH-row starter Cayden Schmeling falling in line next for the green.

Tyler Peterson had moved into the top five before he triggered that first yellow with a flat tire, and three laps later there was a big tangle on the front chute, with Peterson again putting a hole in another Hoosier and having to pit for repairs.

Meanwhile, the battle for the lead had turned into a two-car tussle, with Thomas fighting off Sward lap after lap. Thomas was changing his line to find the best speed while Sward remained all over him, no matter where he ran. At times Thomas gained just a bit of ground but then Sward caught right back up.

In the final few laps the top side seemed to wear out and Thomas went to “the ditch” to block Sward, where he seemed to be best. As the white flag waved, Sward was right on Thomas’ rear bumper as Thomas seemed to be losing power. As they raced down the back chute the final time, Thomas slowed and Sward drove past him to take over the lead.

The race was Sward's from there to the checkered flag, while Thomas barely made the finish line, getting passed by Imrie in the last few yards. Schmeling got the fourth spot and Peterson raced back up through the field to complete the top five. There was speculation that Thomas may have run out of fuel at the end, but there was no confirmation Friday from the Thomas team.

Only 14 of the starting field finished the race and two of them were a lap down to the rest of the pack.

Saturday, September 6

The 19th annual John Seitz Memorial Race wrapped up Saturday night, September 6 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was another very cloudy and cool day for early September.

The highlight event for the weekend was the 92-lap Late Model feature, paying $9,200 to the winner. The Midwest Modifieds had multiple B feature races before their only main event of the weekend, while the Street Stocks ran just a feature race due to their lower car count.

The Modifieds were running a complete program again of heats, B features and a main event, so new entrants were allowed in this class; the only new face on hand was Chris Edmonds, who entered a Midwest Mod on Friday and then raced in both classes Saturday. There were only a handful of drivers who didn't return to race on Saturday, with 173 drivers signed in to race in just four classes. Overall the participation was excellent for the weekend and should be amped up even further in 2026. It will mark the 20th anniversary of the Seitz and track promoters are anxious to make that race a memorable one. All classes will get a boost in pay for the 2026 edition of the race, with the Late Model feature set to pay $9292 to win, in honor of Seitz’s number. Second place will pay $9200 and third place $9092, which is a boost of about $10,000 just in those two positions. Other finishing positions will receive positive adjustments as well.

I thought the crowd on Saturday was very good, particularly considering it was still darn cold and the race was running directly against the Potato Bowl, played just down the road and featuring the UND Football team. For local fans who support both kinds of activities, they are torn this weekend.

The B features were highly competitive as you might imagine. There was plenty of hard racing and more than a few feathers ruffled before everything shook out and fields were established for all four classes.

The format for Saturday night was changed in an effort to present the Late Model feature a little earlier in the evening.

Twenty-seven drivers started the 92-lap Late Model feature after all was said and done. Nate Reynolds, the Last Chance winner, and Scott Ward, who was the highest finishing driver from 2024 not to make the main, were added to the field as provisionals and the field took the opening green flag from Jay Seitz, John’s brother.

The track was behaving in a very strange manner once again for the second night in a row. Even the veteran drivers who race here often seemed perplexed at the changing conditions of the track.

As per normal for this race, a fuel stop is built in at approximately the 30-lap mark, giving the teams a brief few minutes to top off so that they didn't run out of fuel during the second half of the race. Twenty-three racers were still on the track at this point.

The strategy of many of the teams is race to the fuel stop, make sure you don't get lapped before that happens, and then lay back your ears and push your race car to its limit. With that in mind it was surprising to see just how hard some of the drivers raced those opening laps; the lead changed hands twice during that time.

Chad Becker used the outside pole to take the early lead but Cole Schill was very strong, staying close and taking the lead briefly for one lap before Becker regained the top spot. The yellow flew three times before the race got to the fuel stop, with minor issues felling a couple of the entrants.

By the break, A.J. Diemel was starting to flex his muscle, moving up to third with Tyler Peterson and Mike Greseth also in the top five.

If possible, after the break the level of intensity increased and the give and take went away. Diemel continued to move up, getting to second by lap 34 when Brad Seng called it a night, and then, during the next lap, he passed Becker to take over the lead.

Schill was proving he wasn’t going to go away, as he moved into second while Diemel started to gain just a bit of an edge over the pack. But that started to go away after about 10 laps, with Schill slowly catching Diemel for the top spot. I suspect Diemel was starting to have problems with a tire going down, as Schill went past him to take over the lead. Diemel pulled into the infield soon after, done for the night.

Schill was driving a whale of a race, hugging the inside line but quick in the corners as he continued to lead, with Peterson moving back into second. The next yellow flew for Jeff Provinzino, who took a wild ride after hitting a ute tire in turn two square on. Needless to say, he was done.

At this point, Dustin Strand and Brody Troftgruben both broke into the top five but the race slowly developed into a two-car battle between Schill and Peterson for the lead.

Schill was holding on but Peterson was all over him, trying both high and low on the track. He nearly made the pass for the lead several times. When Jake Redetzke slowed with 77 laps completed, Strand moved up to third and was trailed by Zach Johnson and Travis Robertson.

Under green Peterson was finally able to get past Schill with a power move down the front chute but Schill still stayed close and made his own challenges to get the lead back. A slowing Trevor Anderson brought out the yellow with 86 laps completed and one lap later, Peterson got too high in the turns and Schill drove back under him to retake the lead.

The last few laps were wild, with Peterson again all over Schill and the drivers throwing caution to the wind. Schill was low in the corners while bowing out on the chutes as Peterson looked for a route past. Coming down the frontstretch with just three laps to go, Peterson hooked Schill as he tried to maneuver around him, turning Schill who then went flying backward off the first turn. Fortunately, there was no damage to his car and Peterson was tagged for the yellow. He pulled into the pits rather than go to the tail, setting up a three-lap sprint to the finish.

Strand was now in second and striving to win his first-ever Seitz, he drove very hard into turn one, trying to get past Schill. He jumped the cushion and went off the end, however. He did keep moving and headed for the pits so the race stayed under the green. This gave Schill just a bit of a cushion and he went on for the win.

Jesse Glenz, who went a lap down at one point in the race but gained that lap back, was a beneficiary of the high dropout rate as he just kept racing. During the last lap he got under Johnson for second, with Johnson settling for third. Shane Edginton was another whose efforts to keep racing paid off at the end, with a fourth-place finish as Robertson rounded out the top five. There were only 11 cars that finished the race. There were also 10 cautions in the race but no serious incidents.

Schill's victory was well received by both the fans and the other drivers. Schill does a lot of work for the Northern Late Model Series (NLRA), which helps keep Late Model racing alive and strong in the Red River Valley region. He races far and wide with his family team, with no big “sugar daddies” to back him — it comes out of the family budget for him. So it was a victory for the “little guys,” if you will.

The other classes wowed the crowd with competitive racing as well. The Street Stocks set the bar high, as their feature was the first on the track, and what a battle it was between Parker Anderson and Justin Vogel! They threw slide jobs at each other like winged Sprints, not Street Stocks.

Cole Greseth was the early leader with Trey Hess and Anderson chasing him in the early going. Parker moved to second on lap seven after he fought his way past Hess and then, one lap later, drove under Greseth to take over the lead.

By the halfway point of the race, the running order was the same, except that Greg Jose had slipped into fifth. But then it was Vogel time, as he went to the cushion like he frequently does and it produced for him immediately. He got around Hess and then closed on Anderson for the lead.

With that outside still working for him, he drove past Anderson on lap 15 to take over the lead.

The next five laps provided some of the most entertaining racing of the entire night, as Anderson and Vogel then put on a zinger of show, using slide job on each other on each end of the track, lap after lap. There was no banging, just lots of very close racing that had the crowd in a stir.

Finally, on lap 20, Parker was able to regain the lead when he made a turn-two slider work and Vogel couldn't quite catch him to cross him back over. Vogel tried the last few laps but couldn't quite position himself again, as he settled for second to a charging Anderson who got the win. Hess ran a consistent race for third, while 22nd-starter Levi Randt finished fourth ahead of Greseth.

Peterson was obviously upset with the way the Late Model feature played out and he drove as if he were mad during the Modified feature race. Early on Joey Thomas, Friday night's winner, led from the pole. Thomas set his own blistering pace as he pulled away from the field and quickly found himself among the backmarkers. Traffic was heavy and coming down the front chute, John Toppozini got into the frontstretch wall, slowing dramatically. Thomas had nowhere to go and slammed hard into the Toppozini car. And although Thomas was able to keep moving, the damage forced Thomas to pull off and this turned over the lead to Peterson, who had been running second.

From that point, it was “lights out” for the rest of the field as Peterson dominated, ripping the cushion and tearing through the slower cars like they didn't exist. Soon he built up a full straightaway over the field, with Bryce Sward in second.

However, Sward had problems of his own; he suddenly slowed and dived off the back chute, his race done. This turned second over to Blake Adams, but he wasn't even on the same straightaway as the leader.

Peterson didn't back off a bit, driving on for the win by more than a full straightaway on the pack. Adams held off a challenge by Ward Imrie for second, with Cayden Schmeling and Jamie Davis completing the top five.

The Midwest Mods didn't disappoint either, producing their own wild feature race with a late pass settling the issue. This after the leaders took turns banging wheels with each other for much of the contest.

Reise Stenberg took the initial lead with Dawson Zabel and Jory Berg challenging. Tenth-starter Landyn Randt was on the move into third in only six laps. Jake Smith got a slow start but then began to move forward as well, as things got hectic up front.

Stenberg and Berg banged wheels battling for the lead and then as Berg slipped back, Randt and Smith challenged Stenberg for the lead. Everyone was racing very hard and no quarters were given.

On lap 10, Randt drove past Stenberg to take over the lead with Smith quickly following him into second. Berg pulled off the track with Memphis Klassen and Zabel filling out the top five at this point.

The second half of the race was a two-car battle for the win, with Randt fighting hard to hold back Smith, who was all over him. Randt was hard on the hammer but his car was loose and he moved all over the track, with Smith chasing him lap after lap.

A late yellow set up a three-lap sprint to the finish and Smith was able to get to the cushion and drive around Randt one lap later. He then pulled away as Randt couldn’t maintain the pace and had to settle for second. Stenberg trailed in third.

Matt Schow had quite an interesting race. He spun on lap six and had to go to the tail of the pack. Two laps later he was involved in a spin that was not of his doing, but he went to the tail once again. But he continued to race hard and at the end, found himself all the way back up in fourth, with Zabel filling out the top five.

The night was of racing was a good one, with plenty of wild action and unpredictable results, just what we expect from “The Bullring.” Dandy finishes, great action and a few ruffled feathers — it was another race night at River Cities.

Thanks to Brad, Darren and everyone else at River Cities for their help. The fans got their money’s worth, for sure.