Double One X-press Notches John Seitz Memorial Win
Grand Forks, ND 9/12/09
Prepared by: Orness Creations

The 3^rd Annual John Seitz Memorial Late Model Invitational was held this past weekend and we couldn’t have asked for any nicer weather. The event drew a total of forty-one late model teams to compete for $9,200., the area’s richest payout. The event in honor of John Seitz, also draws the midwest’s best drivers, and every year there has been a new face in victory lane.

Race fans were treated to one of the best feature races of all time, going caution free for fifty laps, and all twenty five cars finishing the race! There was passing amidst every corner all night on one of the best racing surfaces of the year. The Memorial event is sponsored by Valley Oral & Facial Surgery, Shaw Trucking, Wes’s Plumbing & Heating, The 71 Bar, S&S Transport, ND Eye Clinic, and Northern Plumbing & Supply. Organizers also had many contingency prizes and awards from many other supporters. These were awarded to many individual drivers for total points, hard luck, hard charger, ect. throughout the two days.

In summary of the five late model heat races on the first night, Shawn Peterson started outside the front row and grabbed the first heat win of the night with Diemel close behind. Local, Doyle Erickson, won the second heat race also from outside the front row, with Skytland second. Veteran, Tom Corcoran grabbed the lead early and continued on to win the third heat race from outside the front row with Pat Doar passing Joel Cryderman for the second finishing spot. Polesitter in the fourth heat race was Brad Seng. Seng passed Mahder who had grabbed he early lead with Kaanta third. Last year’s main event winner, Justin Fegers, won the final heat race of the night from outside the front row. Mike Nutzmann and Brandon Burke finished in second and third. 

On day two there would be two consolation races in which the top three finishers would transfer into the feature event. Marshall Fegers won the first consi with Nick Anvelink and John Kaanta chasing him across the ND Eye Clinic finish line. Chad Mahder won the second consi with Joey Pederson and Mike Johnson also getting a transfer spot by finishing second and third. Jeff Provinzino finished fifth in the second consi, and would be the first eligible driver and would use the provisional.

After driver introductions on the frontstretch, Stepan led the crowd in saying “Gentlemen start your engines”, and the speedway roared to life with the sound of twenty five late models prepared to “go hard or go home”. Pat Doar, who had won the dash started on the pole. Doyle Erickson to his outside and the 2008 champion, Justin Fegers was inside the second row with Zach Johnson outside him. After the four-wide salute to the fans, the green flag was given the field. This race went caution free for fifty laps with passing going on throughout the field for various positions. Doar immediately grabbed the lead and continued through the field lapping many cars. The man on the move throughout the race was AJ Diemel. Diemel started seventeenth and would make an impressive run through the field. Doar made no mistakes through the field and eventually would lap up to the eighth place car of Ricky Wiess. Doar became the third different driver to win this event in honor of John Seitz. Doar also became the first driver ever to win the pole dash and the feature.

Cody Skytland ran a great race and finished a strong second. Skytland started eight and moved through the field and passed Fegers to earn that second spot. AJ Diemel would also pass Fegers to claim the third finishing spot. Fegers did finish fourth after starting third, with Mike Nutzmann rounding out the top five positions. A complete summary is printed below.

In summary of the first night events for the Street Stocks and Midwest Modifieds, there were a total of twenty five Streets and twenty-seven Midwest modifieds. Bryan LePier, Aaron Olson, Lance Schill and Mike Anderson all won their respective heat races with Olson the only driver to win from the pole. Heat race winners for the street stocks were Rusty Kollman, Kelly Hagel, and John Halvorson.

The Feature event for night one of the street stocks was won by Rusty Kollman in what some say is controversial. The feature was plagued by cautions and Kollman is the 3^rd Annual John Seitz Memorial event street stock feature winner. Steffen Snare passed for the lead and continued on through some cautions but they were cautions when the leaders were coming to take the checkered flag. Kollman was sitting in second and Snare got caught up in one of those cautions and was unable to continue. Tyson Anderson was second with Jason Babcock third and Joe Potter chasing him across the line under the checkered flag.

The Midwest Modified feature event also seen some controversy when Lance Schill was racing hard for the lead and made contact with Aaron Olson. Olson spun and the caution was thrown. Olson had to pit for tires and officials sent Schill to the pits. Olson tagged the field and this set Strand in the lead on the restart. Strand continued on to win night one with Todd Johnson second and Rich Pavlicek third. Bryan LePier, Derek Bernstein and Jason Vandekamp all had strong runs to finish in the top six spots.

Night two for the street stocks and Midwest modifieds had less cautions and basically no controversy. In the Street Stock division, heat winners were Bryce Reimer, Logan Salazar and James Wall. For their feature event, Nate Keena basically led the whole feature to claim the feature event win. Jim Geringer placed second with Rusty Kollman third ahead of Joe Potter and Rick Schulz.

After many visits to RCS and usually bad luck, Brock Gronwold finally pulled out a win. He started sixth and passed Strem for the lead and continued on to grab the checkered. Strem lead early on, and there was one major caution when a car got crossways on the backstretch causing a scramble of cars, many not able to restart. Strem would hold on to finish second with Schroeder third from the seventh spot.

There was only one other division the second night, which was the NOSA Outlaw Sprints. Only thirteen sprints checked in the back gate and were split into two heat races. Caset Mack won the first heat race with Bob Martin second. Chris Shirek led the second heat race and grabbed the win with Nygaard second and Chris Ranten third. The feature event was led early on by Chris Shirek. Nygaard shot up to the second spot and ran there for a handful of laps with Mack closing in on the top two spots. At about midway, Mack motored his way past Nygaard and Shirek for the lead using one of the higher grooves in the track. Mack continued on to claim the win and add a sweep to his stats. Nygaard passed Shirek to claim the second spot with Shirek holding on to the third spot.

Feature Win Dash Win Dash For Cash 1. 11D-Pat Doar 2. 99-Doyle Erickson 3. F15-Justin Fegers 4. 55-Cory Mahder 5. 32-Shaun Peterson 6. 73-Zach Johnson 7. 9-Steve Anderson 8. 12S-Brad Seng 9. 2-Mike Nutzmann 10. 75-Cody Skytland 11. 22C-Don Copp 12. T1-Tom Corcoran Late Models - Feature 9/11/09 and 9/12/09

Justin Fegers Earns Honors at Seitz Memorial Race

9/6/08 Race Report
Prepared by: Orness Creations
Grand Forks, ND

The 2^nd Annual John Seitz Memorial Late Model Invitational was held this past weekend on their scheduled raindate for the event. The original schedule dates were cancelled due to the weather, so a full program was ran Saturday. Even at that, the weather was cooperative till about two hours into the program when threatening weather was moving in and the program switched up a little.

The biggest news of the night was the winner of the $9200 first place prize. Justin Fegers of Mound, MN put on a show for the fans, as he was named the 2^nd Annual Champion. Fegers won his heat race, placed sixth in the dash and started sixth for the feature event. Fegers grabbed the lead from Jeff Provinzino and then slipped off the track allowing five cars to get past him. He then motored his way back to the front to capture the title after a long couple of days waiting for the weather.

Provinzino, Cryderman, Balcaen, Shaw all were in the mix for the lead at some point of the event. The top eight spots were all exchanging positions throughout the race, as well as some notables that came through a consolation race many of which finished in the top fifteen spots. Drivers transferring out of the consi’s were Zach Johnson, Seng, Turk, Skytland, Breeschoten, Hapka, Peterson and Howie Schill.

Valley Oral & Facial Surgery stepped up as the title sponsor for the night along with many associate sponsors, such as, Wes’s Plumbing, 71 Bar, Shaw Trucking, S&S Transport, Northern Plumbing Supply, and the North Dakota Eye Clinic. $920 Dash Winner was Joel Cryderman who started on the pole and led every lap.

Heat winners consisted of Mike Balcaen who started third and passed Mike Johnson for the win. Joey Jensen used the pole position to win the second heat race over Cryderman. Jeff Provinzino passed Tom Corcoran with about 3 laps to go in the third heat race to capture the win. Justin Fegers started outside the front row and led every lap to finish ahead of Steve Laursen. Ricky Weiss started fourth and found his way around Matt Aukland for the last heat race win.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds sponsored by Dempsey Truck Service of Grand Forks, had four heat races scheduled. Dustin Strand grabbed control of the first heat race and won from the fourth starting spot. Traveler, Jason VandeKamp and rookie in the MWMod Class won the second heat race from the third starting spot. Bryan Dyrdahl won the third heat race from the pole, holding off Aaron Olson who finished second. Davey Mills won the last heat race starting outside last weeks feature winner, Ryan Schroeder on the front row.

The Midwest Modified Feature event was a repeat winner from the First Annual Race. Bryan Dyrdahl has finished second so many times this year at RCS, and finally made it stick by winning the feature event. Dyrdahl started third and basically lead the caution filled event from flag to flag. 2008 Track Points Champion, Dustin Strand struggled to get past LePier who ran second most of the race, finally completed the pass on LePier later on in the race, but could not catch Dyrdahl. Dyrdahl is the first repeat winner for the night which would still see the NOSA Sprints and MDRA Street Stocks complete their feature race. 

The Transystems MDRA Street Stocks had a total of twenty teams split into three heat races and one feature event. Joe Potter led Steffen Snare across the line in the first heat race while Jason Babcock led every lap in the second heat race to win. James Wahl started on the pole of the last heat race and passed Terry Blacklance for the win late in the race.

The MDRA Street Stock feature probably ended differently than two other drivers wanted it to end. Early leader Jim Geringer would have to start tailend after one of the four cautions. Joe Potter then assumed the lead and led every lap therafter until the last lap in which Steffen Snare snuck past him on the highside coming out of turn four to the checkered flag. Snare edged out Potter for the win. Terry Blacklance had a strong run finishing third with heat race winners, James Wahl and Jason Babcock rounding out the top five spots. 

The NOSA Sprint Car heat races were won by a pair of Chris’s. Chris Burke took the checkered flag in the first race with Nygaard passing Wilson for the second finishing spot. Chris Shirek won the second heat race, coming from the fourth spot to pass Dave Glennon who finished second. Chris Burke also lead the first ten laps of the feature event only to be passed by Nygaard who went on to claim the win and also another repeat winner from last year. Nygaard started eighth and quickly made his way towards the front to chase down Burke. Heat winner Chris Shirek finished a strong second while Ryan Wilson also snuck past Burke for the third spot and Bob Martin following Burke across in the fifth spot.

River Cities Speedway still has a month of racing left in September. The speedways website has all the dates and classes of cars running each night listed at rivercitiesspeedway.com. This upcoming weekend fans will get to see the mini-sprint class added to the program.

2007 RESULTS

The 1st Annual John Seitz Memorial Late Model Invitational

DTRA Super Late Models

Heat #1

1. 51-Joel Cryderman

2. 4F-Jeff Hinkemeyer

3. 7W-Ricky Weiss

4. 66-Eric Breeschoten

5. 9-Steve Anderson

6. 12A-Matt Aukland

7. 4T-Troy Hueple

8. 84-Mike Johnson

9. 1B-Mike Bruns

Heat #2

1. 42-Terry Casey

2. 81-Ashley Anderson

3. B1-Brent Larson

4.T1-Tom Corcoran

5. 31-Scott Greer

6. 99-Doyle Erickson

7. 1J-Jeff Pritchard

8. 4N-Nolan Olmstead

9. 77-Brady Dyrdahl

Heat #3

1. 12-Brad Seng

2. 05-Chuckie DeSmith

3. 2-Mike Nutzman

4. 54-Tom Balcaen

5. 52-James SanGrait

6. 06-Dave Smith

7. 21-Chad Corbett

8.11-Troy Schill

9.15-Johnny Johnson

Heat #4

1. 19-Steve Laursen

2. 90-Lance Mathees

3. 42M-Dave Mass

4. 97-Ron Schreiner

5. 32-Shaun Peterson

6. 1-Tom Nesbitt

7. 00-Cory Wheeler

8. 27-Dave Zimmerman

9. U1-Dave Tyrchniewicz

Heat #5

1. 00-Mitch Johnson

2. 11D-Pat Doar

3. 0-Troy Olson

4. 18-Dustin Hapka

5. 5C-Ryan Corbett

6. 57-Kevin Sexton

7. 75-Dale Skytland

8. 09-Brandon Burke

9. 14-Bruce Hart

Heat #6

1. 7P-Joey Pederson

2. 28-Jeff Provinzino

3. 73-Zach Johnson

4. 10-Mike Balcaen

5. 92-Don Shaw

6. F9-Brandon Fuller

7. 75JR-Cody Skytland

8.7X-Jody Olson

Dash
1. 19-Steve Laursen

2. 11D-Pat Doar

3. 90-Lance Mathees

4. 12-Brad Seng

5. 42-Terry Casey

6. 00-Mitch Johnson

7. 51-Joel Cryderman

8. 7P-Joey Pederson

B Main #1

1. 97-Ron Schreiner

2. 54-Tom Balcaen

3. 1-Tom Nesbit

4. 5C-Ryan Corbett

5. 57-Kevin Sexton

6. 31-Scott Greer

7. 12A-Matt Aukland

8. 18-Dustin Hapka

9. 75-Dale Skytland

10. U1-Dave Tyrchniewicz

11. 09-Brandon Burke

12. 21-Chad Corbett

13. 84-Mike Johnson

14. 14-Bruce Hart

15. 11S-Troy Schill

16. 1B-Mike Bruns

B Main #2

1. 7-Ricky Weiss

2. 32-Shaun Peterson

3. 9-Steve Anderson

4. F9-Brandon Fuller

5. 52-James SanGrait

6. 92-Don Shaw

7. 7X-Jody Olson

8. 06-Dave Smith

9. 00-Cory Wheeler

10. 15-Johnny Johnson

11. 27-Dave Zimmerman

12. 77-Brady Dyrdahl

13. 75JR-Cody Skytland

14. 4N-Nolan Olmstead

15. 99-Doyle Erickson

16. 1J-Jeff Pritchard

Feature

1. 00-Mitch Johnson

2. 19-Steve Laursen

3. 11D-Pat Doar

4. B1-Brent Larson

5. 7P-Joey Pederson

6. 66-Eric Breeschoten

7. 2-Mike Nutzman

8. 32-Shaun Peterson

9. 05-Chuckie DeSmith

10. 97-Ron Schreiner

11. 81-Ashley Anderson

12. 28-Jeff Provinzino

13. T1-Tom Corcoran

14. 7-Ricky Weiss

15. 90-Lance Mathees

16. 0-Troy Olson

17. 4F-Jeff Hinkemeyer

18. 92-Don Shaw

19. 42M-Dave Mass

20. 54-Tom Balcaen

21. 52-James SanGrait

22. 10-Mike Balcaen

23. 51-Joel Cryderman

24. 42-Terry Casey

25. 73-Zach Johnson

26. 12S-Brad Seng

2006 Results