By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – The 2018 dirt track racing season is officially underway. Nearly 2,000 race fans packed the Red River Valley Speedway Friday night for the opening night. The pit area was also packed with 83 race teams checked in among the five different divisions.

The 2018 season will mark Paul Colvin’s third year behind the wheel of an IMCA Sport Mod.

So far, it’s off to a great start.

The Horace driver picked up his first career Sport Mod win over a stacked field of 21 other competitors. Colvin, who started third, battled his way past front row starters Chris VanMil and Dan Evert to take the lead in the early going.

A series of cautions put Brennan Urbach, who was competing in his first ever Sport Mod race, right on the rear bumper of Colvin. Late in the going, 12th place starter Billy Michaelsohn put the pressure on Colvin around the fast and tacky three-eighths-mile dirt oval.

Colvin held a steady line in the middle groove of the track to take the win.

For the second year in a row, Austin Arneson won the IMCA Modified opener at Red River Valley Speedway. Arneson, who recorded five wins at the West Fargo track in 2017, cruised to the win with little challenge. Lucas Rodin hung with Arneson in the opening laps, but the Fargo driver pulled away from Rodin and the rest of the field as the race advanced.

The best action was back in the pack as Michael Greseth and Dave Shipley put on a show as they sliced through the field. Greseth, who started 12th, and Shipley, who started 24th, both came away with top-five finishes, finishing behind Dale Kraling in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Two-time IMCA stock car winner last year, Rob VanMil of Barnesville, picked up where he left off last year. VanMil scored a highly contested feature win over Rick Schulz. The two veteran drivers battled door to door for several consecutive laps, with stock car rookie Brandon Schmidt in the mix. VanMil took the point over Schulz in the closing laps and held on by one car length to collect the win.

Pelican Rapids driver, Scotty Richardson, claimed one of the most exciting wins of the night in the INEX Legends. Richardson started on the pole en route to the victory but had his hands full with Tim Estenson and Sean Johnson. Estenson threatened to take the lead away with three laps to go as he executed a slide job in turn one. Richardson, being the veteran driver he is, countered with a crossover move underneath Estenson exiting turn two.

The following lap, Estenson, and Richardson continued their battle, but they were both surpassed by Johnson, who got a big run down the embankment out of turn two. Johnson momentarily took the lead, but the caution soon followed as Estenson spun in front of the field and collected three other drivers. All drivers were ok and able to rejoin the field.

On the restart, Richardson took the lead from Johnson and went on to score the win. Andrew Jochim, who started 12th, finished third, while Chad Sogge and 15th place starter Tye Wilke rounded out the top five.

Adam Goff held off Red River Valley Speedway regular Tim Shiek to record the IMCA hobby stock victory. Shiek gave Goff a run for his money, but the Minot driver held off Shiek to the checkers.

Racing continues next Friday at Red River Valley Speedway. Along with the other weekly divisions, the Fargo Force Wissota Super Stocks will make their first appearance of the season at the track. The green flag drops at 7:00 pm.

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RESULTS:

All Finish Concrete IMCA Modifieds:
Feature: 1. 10-Austin Arneson, [1]; 2. 19-Lucas Rodin, [2]; 3. 7K-Dale Kraling, [7]; 4. 17G-Michael Greseth, [12]; 5. 72-Dave Shipley, [24]; 6. 99A-Cale Arneson, [9]; 7. 60-Tyler Hall, [5]; 8. 174-Rich Pavlicek, [22]; 9. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [10]; 10. 7J-Jeremy Smith, [17]; 11. 79-Billie Christ, [16]; 12. 0-Jeff Odden, [19]; 13. 12C-Nickolis Curtis, [25]; 14. 52-Brennan Borg, [21]; 15. 2-Rusty Kollman, [23]; 16. 51T-Tim Thomas, [20]; 17. (DNF) 86C-Darren Pfau, [6]; 18. (DNF) 9-Billy Kendall, [11]; 19. (DNF) 40-Rob VanMil, [13]; 20. (DNF) 6D-Dylan Goplen, [14]; 21. (DNF) 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [8]; 22. (DNF) 6Z-Zach Dockter, [18]; 23. (DNF) 2A-Casey Arneson, [4]; 24. (DNF) 21-Jamie Schulz, [15]; 25. (DNF) 99-Shawn Strand, [3]

Heat 1: 1. 99A-Cale Arneson, [1]; 2. 17G-Michael Greseth, [3]; 3. 60-Tyler Hall, [6]; 4. 40-Rob VanMil, [7]; 5. 7J-Jeremy Smith, [2]; 6. 52-Brennan Borg, [5]; 7. 12C-Nickolis Curtis, [4]

Heat 2: 1. 9-Billy Kendall, [1]; 2. 10-Austin Arneson, [4]; 3. 99-Shawn Strand, [6]; 4. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [3]; 5. 6Z-Zach Dockter, [5]; 6. (DNF) 174-Rich Pavlicek, [2]

Heat 3: 1. 86C-Darren Pfau, [4]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [6]; 3. 7K-Dale Kraling, [3]; 4. 21-Jamie Schulz, [2]; 5. 0-Jeff Odden, [1]; 6. 2-Rusty Kollman, [5]

Heat 4: 1. 2A-Casey Arneson, [2]; 2. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [5]; 3. 19-Lucas Rodin, [1]; 4. 79-Billie Christ, [6]; 5. 51T-Tim Thomas, [4]; 6. 72-Dave Shipley, [3]

A Transmission City IMCA Hobby Stocks:
Feature: 1. 30A-Adam Goff, [2]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek, [1]; 3. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [4]; 4. 11-Austin Green, [5]; 5. 73-Maranda Borg, [6]; 6. 148-Troy Bertsch, [10]; 7. 00-Arnie Lovdokken, [9]; 8. 14-Alyssa White, [8]; 9. (DNF) 701-Kyle Hallgren, [3]; 10. (DNF) 106-Eric Novacek, [7]

Heat 1: 1. 31X-Tim Shiek, [1]; 2. 11-Austin Green, [3]; 3. 30A-Adam Goff, [10]; 4. 701-Kyle Hallgren, [5]; 5. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [6]; 6. 73-Maranda Borg, [9]; 7. 106-Eric Novacek, [7]; 8. 14-Alyssa White, [4]; 9. 00-Arnie Lovdokken, [8]; 10. (DNF) 148-Troy Bertsch, [2]

Eide Bailly IMCA Sport Mods:
Feature: 1. 13C-Paul Colvin, [3]; 2. 8-Billy Michaelsohn, [12]; 3. 47K-Luke Krogh, [7]; 4. 33-Brennan Urbach, [6]; 5. 8J-Luke Johnson, [8]; 6. 40-Chris VanMil, [1]; 7. 24-Kelly Henderson, [13]; 8. 5-Scott Jacobson, [10]; 9. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [4]; 10. 21K-Kyle Krogh, [17]; 11. 76-Reile Sailer, [14]; 12. 22V-Ryan Veralrud, [16]; 13. 9-Torey Fischer, [21]; 14. 47-Kreig Kasin, [20]; 15. 5T-Matt Talley, [18]; 16. 19D-Noah Metzger, [15]; 17. 76G-Gwen Sailer, [19]; 18. (DNF) 22-Vince Jegtvig, [9]; 19. (DNF) 2D-Dan Dowling, [5]; 20. (DNF) 68-Dan Evert, [2]; 21. (DNF) 6-Austin Veralrud, [11]

Heat 1: 1. 6-Austin Veralrud, [2]; 2. 8J-Luke Johnson, [1]; 3. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [7]; 4. 33-Brennan Urbach, [5]; 5. 24-Kelly Henderson, [3]; 6. 22V-Ryan Veralrud, [6]; 7. 76G-Gwen Sailer, [4]

Heat 2: 1. 8-Billy Michaelsohn, [4]; 2. 40-Chris VanMil, [2]; 3. 5-Scott Jacobson, [1]; 4. 13C-Paul Colvin, [6]; 5. 76-Reile Sailer, [5]; 6. 21K-Kyle Krogh, [3]; 7. 47-Kreig Kasin, [7]

Heat 3: 1. 47K-Luke Krogh, [1]; 2. 2D-Dan Dowling, [3]; 3. 68-Dan Evert, [2]; 4. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [5]; 5. 19D-Noah Metzger, [4]; 6. 5T-Matt Talley, [6]; 7. 9-Torey Fischer, [7]

Petermann Seeds INEX Legends:
Feature: 1. 79-Scott Richardson, [1]; 2. 58-Sean Johnson, [7]; 3. 21-Andrew Jochim, [12]; 4. 6-Chad Sogge, [2]; 5. 72-Tye Wilke, [15]; 6. 38-Andrew Sommerfeld, [4]; 7. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [6]; 8. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [10]; 9. 5D8-Dylan Johnson, [9]; 10. 29B-Ryan Braseth, [11]; 11. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [17]; 12. 24-Shaun Erickson, [16]; 13. 29-Brandon Erickson, [14]; 14. (DNF) 14T-Tim Estenson, [8]; 15. (DNF) 20-Alex Braseth, [13]; 16. (DNF) 69-Brian Hanson, [5]; 17. (DNF) 7-Cade Sogge, [3]

Heat 1: 1. 5D8-Dylan Johnson, [5]; 2. 38-Andrew Sommerfeld, [3]; 3. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [2]; 4. 69-Brian Hanson, [4]; 5. 20-Alex Braseth, [1]; 6. 24-Shaun Erickson, [6]

Heat 2: 1. 79-Scott Richardson, [1]; 2. 14T-Tim Estenson, [3]; 3. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [6]; 4. 21-Andrew Jochim, [5]; 5. 29-Brandon Erickson, [2]; 6. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [4]

Heat 3: 1. 6-Chad Sogge, [1]; 2. 58-Sean Johnson, [5]; 3. 7-Cade Sogge, [4]; 4. 29B-Ryan Braseth, [3]; 5. 72-Tye Wilke, [2]

Schmidt & Sons Building Movers IMCA Stock Cars:
Feature: 1. 40-Rob VanMil, [1]; 2. 4-Rick Schulz, [7]; 3. 87-Eric Harpole, [4]; 4. 49-Tim Compson, [9]; 5. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [6]; 6. 28A-Alan Bertsch, [10]; 7. 21-Tim Church, [5]; 8. (DNF) 76Z-John Sandvig, [8]; 9. (DNF) 96-Erv Grossman, [2]; 10. (DNF) 18-Mike Anderson, [3]

Heat 1: 1. 18-Mike Anderson, [2]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, [4]; 3. 87-Eric Harpole, [1]; 4. 49-Tim Compson, [5]; 5. 96-Erv Grossman, [3]; 6. 28A-Alan Bertsch, [6]

Heat 2: 1. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [2]; 2. 4-Rick Schulz, [3]; 3. 21-Tim Church, [4]; 4. 76Z-John Sandvig, [1]