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Bryce Sward (Mike Spieker Photo)

Greseth grabs a Late Model Dash win and Sward speeds to Mod win during Seitz Memorial opening night at River Cities

By Meghan Diemel, ATD Editor

GRAND FORKS, ND (September 5) - Following a first-night rainout, the 19th annual John Seitz Memorial kicked off at River Cities Speedway Friday night with heat races for the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks, the Big Al Delaine Memorial for the WISSOTA Modifieds, and heat races and the Go Hard or Go Home pole dash for the WISSOTA Late Models.

Following heat race action for all four classes, Bryce Sward seized the big honors in the Big Al Delaine Memorial, while Mike Greseth later drove home to the 15-lap Go Hard or Go Home pole dash victory.

In the Modified feature, Mike Stearns and Bryce Borgen led the 25-car field to green for their 35-lap feature. Stearns was the early leader, ahead of Borgen, Ward Imrie, Joseph Thomas and Blake Adams in the top five. Stearns had it cooking along the top side of the speedway, as Imrie moved past Borgen into second and brought along Thomas with him into third. Borgen slipped over the high side and Aaron Blacklance raced past into fourth to complete lap two.

During lap four, Stearns had a nice-sized lead out front, while Imrie and Thomas were engaged in a side-by-side battle for second. Blacklance and Borgen continued to hold top-five spots.

A couple laps later Stearns began to hit heavy lapped traffic in his path. As he carefully picked his way through the backmarkers, Thomas closed in to his bumper. A caution fell a few circuits later for Tyler Peterson. Blacklance also left the track during this caution period.

Back under green was mass chaos, as one competitor spun to the infield, and another went off the top of the track. On the next redo, another caution marred the start for a car in the wall.

Stearns was three wide heading into turn one on the ensuing restart, with Thomas and Bryce Sward, who started seventh, charging into the top three. Thomas made the pass on Stearns for the lead on the next lap, but Rick Jacobson spun down the frontstretch, with several others spinning to avoid the No. 7.

Thomas led the field back to green, but Sward pulled even in the turns for the top spot. Stearns slipped back into third, with Imrie fourth and Cayden Schmeling in fifth, just ahead of Adams, who was challenging for the spot.

With about 15 laps to go, the caution fell once again for Cole Chernosky, who lost a left-rear tire and spun.

Thomas led the field back to green, as Sward stuck to the high side and Imrie and Stearns fought for third. Brock Gronwold was fifth, just ahead of Schmeling.

Sward began to make his move, heavily challenging Thomas for the lead before yet another caution regrouped the field.

Back under green, Thomas, Sward and Imrie reignited their three-wide war for the lead, with Thomas moving back out to an advantage and Sward pulling away from Imrie. Schmeling was fourth, while Tyler Peterson worked his way into the top five. The action came to a halt for a caution once more with six laps left.

Thomas was back under heavy pressure from Sward following the restart, with Imrie right on their heels. Thomas was along the high side, with Sward trying to gain the advantage along the low side. He pulled even with Thomas with three to go in turn one, and continued to use that line with two to go. Sward drove by Thomas down the backstretch onto the checkered flag during during the final tour. Thomas slowed dramatically in the final turns, with Imrie getting past for second. Thomas limped home in third, Schmeling was fourth, and Peterson completed the top five.

Sward collected the big check worth $3,092, in memory of Al Delaine.

In the Late Model Go Home or Go Hard Dash, Chad Becker and Cole Schill led the field of eight to the green flag for their 15-lapper. Schill was the early leader by a hair, with AJ Diemel third, Greseth fourth, and Joey Pederson in fifth.

Out front it became a side-by-side battle for the lead, as Becker moved back in to challenge Schill for the top spot. Switching grooves, Schill moved to the bottom and Becker went to the top. Diemel was still third, Brody Troftgruben was fourth and Greseth was fifth. A caution for a Cole Searing spin regrouped the field with nine laps to go.

Back under green Schill was under pressure once again from Becker, and Greseth raced into third as Diemel slipped back into fourth. Out front Schill and Becker banged wheels at the start/finish line, with Becker having the slight lead before another caution fell for the debris left behind.

Becker led the field back to green, with Greseth moving by Schill into second and then sliding Becker for the lead to complete the lap. Becker was then under heavy pressure from Schill for second, while Pederson supplanted Diemel for fourth. Diemel regained the spot a lap or two later.

The checkered flag flew for Greseth, giving him the pole for Saturday night’s $9,200-to-win feature. Becker, Schill, Diemel and Pederson completed the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Go Hard or Go Home Pole Dash (15 Laps): 1. 17-Mike Greseth[6]; 2. 12-Chad Becker[1]; 3. 44*-Cole Schill[2]; 4. 58-AJ Diemel[3]; 5. 7P-Joey Pederson[4]; 6. 10C-Cole Searing[8]; 7. 73-Zach Johnson[7]; 8. (DNF) 14-Brody Troftgruben[5]

Heat 1 (15 Laps): 1. 17-Mike Greseth[7]; 2. 5E-Shane Edginton[1]; 3. 71-Dustin Strand[2]; 4. 50-Ryan Corbett[6]; 5. 12S-Brad Seng[10]; 6. 22-Jack Koranda[9]; 7. 1S-Konner Sperle[4]; 8. 49-Collin Compson[8]; 9. 2C-Matt Schow[3]; 10. 56-Laine Schwehr[5]

Heat 2 (15 Laps): 1. 14-Brody Troftgruben[8]; 2. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[3]; 3. 8R-Travis Robertson[5]; 4. 00-Mitch Johnson[1]; 5. 12F-Greg Friestad[6]; 6. 15X-Blake Boelens[2]; 7. 7-Talon Seckerson[10]; 8. 0-Nick Corbett[4]; 9. 39-Jamie Dietzler[9]; 10. (DNF) 5-John Buchner[7]

Heat 3 (15 Laps): 1. 7P-Joey Pederson[1]; 2. 44*-Cole Schill[5]; 3. 27-Jake Redetzke[7]; 4. 02-Dan Dowling[10]; 5. E85-Jason Strand[9]; 6. 4C-Brandon Corbett[2]; 7. 11JR-Shane Holden[6]; 8. 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[3]; 9. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[8]; 10. (DNF) 13-Bryan LePier[4]

Heat 4 (15 Laps): 1. 58-AJ Diemel[7]; 2. 4J-Lee Grosz[4]; 3. 10C-Cole Searing[10]; 4. 24S-Mike Stearns[8]; 5. PRO V-John Seng[6]; 6. 77-Corey Seckerson[3]; 7. 6R-Nate Reynolds[5]; 8. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[9]; 9. 33-Ryan Dahl[1]; 10. 27U-Chris Unrau[2]

Heat 5 (15 Laps): 1. 33P-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 12-Chad Becker[9]; 3. 28-Jeff Provinzino[5]; 4. 29K-Ryan Kereluk[2]; 5. 11-Troy Schill[4]; 6. 93-Kelsi Pederson[6]; 7. 25-Jamie Trautner[7]; 8. 2-Rusty Kollman[8]; 9. 42-Matthew Jarvis[10]; 10. 57-Blake Higginbotham[3]

Heat 6 (15 Laps): 1. 73-Zach Johnson[2]; 2. 20-Trevor Anderson[4]; 3. 5G-Scott Greer[1]; 4. 7X-Jesse Glenz[8]; 5. 37-Scott Ward[7]; 6. 27P-Tucker Pederson[9]; 7. 11K-Austin Kuehl[5]; 8. 16S-Jeff Hapala[6]; 9. (DNS) 70-Jesse Teunis

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 6X-Bryce Sward[7]; 2. 10W-Ward Imrie[4]; 3. 6T-Joseph Thomas[6]; 4. 13S-Cayden Schmeling[16]; 5. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[5]; 6. 26G-Ryan Gierke[15]; 7. 7J-Rick Jacobson[13]; 8. 71-Dustin Strand[9]; 9. 1R-Rick Delaine[14]; 10. 10H-Nate Heinrich[23]; 11. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 12. 85-Jeff Davis[24]; 13. 2G-Brock Gronwold[12]; 14. 81-Jordan Duray[20]; 15. (DNF) 88XXX-Randy Klein[17]; 16. (DNF) 50-Aaron Holtan[25]; 17. (DNF) 6-Dale Ames[19]; 18. (DNF) 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 19. (DNF) 33C-Cole Chernosky[18]; 20. (DNF) T23-John Toppozini[22]; 21. (DNF) 74-Dustin Wahl[21]; 22. (DNF) 39-Shawn Teunis[11]; 23. (DNF) 7-Bryce Borgen[2]; 24. (DNF) 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[8]; 25. (DNF) 5G-Scott Greer[10]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10W-Ward Imrie[1]; 2. 39-Shawn Teunis[2]; 3. 1R-Rick Delaine[3]; 4. 7J-Rick Jacobson[8]; 5. T23-John Toppozini[6]; 6. 81-Jordan Duray[7]; 7. 25-Ryan Johnson[5]; 8. 5C-Preston Carr[10]; 9. 50-Aaron Holtan[4]; 10. 96-Erv Grossman[9]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 2. 5G-Scott Greer[1]; 3. 6T-Joseph Thomas[7]; 4. 26G-Ryan Gierke[6]; 5. 13S-Cayden Schmeling[8]; 6. 33C-Cole Chernosky[9]; 7. 16-Brenden Luschinski[5]; 8. 85-Jeff Davis[2]; 9. 36-Ryan Cousins[4]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[8]; 2. 2G-Brock Gronwold[2]; 3. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[6]; 4. 71-Dustin Strand[9]; 5. 6-Dale Ames[3]; 6. 74-Dustin Wahl[1]; 7. 99-Brody Strachan[7]; 8. 4B-Brandon Rehill[5]; 9. 57-Michael Tiani[4]

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 7-Bryce Borgen[8]; 3. 6X-Bryce Sward[7]; 4. 88XXX-Randy Klein[2]; 5. 10H-Nate Heinrich[6]; 6. 12P-Brandon Pelepetz[5]; 7. 51A-Avery Anderson[4]; 8. 18P-Tevin Poluyko[3]; 9. 22-Davey Mills[9]

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 88XXX-Randy Klein[1]; 2. 6-Dale Ames[3]; 3. 74-Dustin Wahl[4]; 4. 10H-Nate Heinrich[2]; 5. 16-Brenden Luschinski[6]; 6. 51A-Avery Anderson[5]; 7. 5C-Preston Carr[7]; 8. 50-Aaron Holtan[9]; 9. 18P-Tevin Poluyko[8]; 10. 57-Michael Tiani[10]; 11. 96-Erv Grossman[11]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 2. 81-Jordan Duray[3]; 3. T23-John Toppozini[1]; 4. 85-Jeff Davis[7]; 5. 99-Brody Strachan[6]; 6. 25-Ryan Johnson[5]; 7. 36-Ryan Cousins[9]; 8. (DNF) 12P-Brandon Pelepetz[4]; 9. (DNF) 22-Davey Mills[10]; 10. (DNF) 4B-Brandon Rehill[8]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[5]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[6]; 3. 16-Brenden Luschinski[8]; 4. 24JR-Rebecca Stutsky[3]; 5. 77X-Dylan McCaughan[9]; 6. 24-Victoria Stutsky[2]; 7. 30-Cole Neset[7]; 8. 83X-Garett Veldman[10]; 9. (DNF) 88-Paul Veert[1]; 10. (DNF) 12-Cale Byron[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 47K-Memphis Klassen[1]; 2. 169-Justin Olson[4]; 3. 08-Frank Veert[5]; 4. E15-Mavrik Strand[2]; 5. 8S-Jason Schuh[6]; 6. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[9]; 7. 07HD1-Stan Dueck[7]; 8. 4HAII-Grant Hall[10]; 9. (DNF) 3-Adam Unrau[3]; 10. (DNF) 28S-Ryan Schow[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 87S-Reise Stenberg[3]; 2. 3B-Phil Christlieb[1]; 3. 29X-Brandon Bahr[9]; 4. 4-Nick Perry[5]; 5. 57-Nathan Raasakka[8]; 6. 13-Nicholas Jessen[2]; 7. 33L-Cejay LaValley[10]; 8. 54-Terry Nelson[7]; 9. 14-Lindsay Durocher[4]; 10. 72R-Ryan Veldman[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. B4-Jory Berg[2]; 2. 85-Jamie Davis[4]; 3. 15TRX-Chris Edmonds[3]; 4. 469-Aaden Olson[9]; 5. 35-Tanner Theis[8]; 6. 710-Michael Jacobson[6]; 7. (DNF) 007-Alex Johnson[5]; 8. (DNF) 44-Austin Hunter[7]; 9. (DNF) 39-Jamie Dietzler[1]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 2S-Matt Schow[1]; 2. 29-Cylen Vargason[3]; 3. 07HD-Jesse Mckuski[2]; 4. 73-Onyx Johnson[6]; 5. 18X-Connor Drewry[4]; 6. 188-Hunter Hougard[8]; 7. 15G-Landon Gross[9]; 8. 23-Scott Vasichek[7]; 9. 99MC-James Irwin[5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 11R-Landyn Randt[1]; 2. 7B-Bailey Cousins[5]; 3. 15-MaKenna Romuld[6]; 4. 50-Brady Caul[7]; 5. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[9]; 6. 47-Malachi Klassen[8]; 7. 11K-Travis Klein[2]; 8. 59X-James Lambert[4]; 9. 292-Kevin Bahr[3]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19H-Hunter Carter[2]; 2. 54X-AJ Kellar[1]; 3. 28-Greg Jose[6]; 4. 69-Stoney Kruk[3]; 5. 10V-Justin Vogel[7]; 6. 10T-Darek Turner[5]; 7. 07HD-Aiden McKuski[4]; 8. (DNF) 11-Levi Randt[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Cole Greseth[5]; 2. 27-Parker Anderson[1]; 3. 24-Andrew Piilo[4]; 4. 99-Josh Barker[7]; 5. 35-John Halvorson[6]; 6. 91-Shane Swenson[2]; 7. 92-Jason Havel[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Trey Hess[5]; 2. B1*-Blaine Barnes[1]; 3. 12-Grady Myers[4]; 4. 00H-Logan Hayes[2]; 5. 00-Dustin Ebensteiner[7]; 6. 49-Rodney Hulst[3]; 7. (DNF) 17-Zach Beaulieu[6]