By Mike Spieker
WEST FARGO—A late afternoon storm made for tricky track conditions and a wild and unpredictable night of racing Friday at Red River Valley Speedway.
During the IMCA stock car feature last week, Rick Schulz of Horace made contact with another car, which sent him into the wall and barrel rolling on the front straightaway. A week later, he was standing in victory lane.
Schulz jumped out to the early lead from the third starting position. The driver of the Sanders Metal Products No. 4S led every lap en route to his first win of the season at Red River Valley Speedway and second overall.
“Wow, this means a ton. To go from wreckers to checkers in one week means a lot,” said Schulz. “It took until about Monday or Tuesday before I started looking things over and realized we had enough parts to get it put back together.”
Schulz was followed to the line by Thursday night’s winner at Norman County Raceway, Rob VanMil.
The first of three first-time winners at the high-banked three-eighths-mile clay oval was Tim Thomas of Fargo. Thomas won the make-up IMCA modified feature that was rained out last Friday.
Thomas led every circuit of the 15-lap event to claim his first career IMCA modified win.
“I’ve been trying to get this track figured out for the last three years,” said Thomas after the race. “I think we are onto something that works well for us. My crew and I are all on the same page now. Hopefully, we can keep getting better and get a few more wins.”
West Fargo’s Matt Clark also picked up his first career win. Clark, who is amidst his sophomore season in the IMCA SportMods, claimed the win after dominating the majority of the 16-lap feature. Clark nearly had a half-lap lead over Brennan Urbach in second at the halfway point, but the caution was displayed as Clark was about to take the checkers.
As a result, a two-lap dash to the finish ensued, but Clark’s car stalled while under caution. Clark momentarily pulled into the infield, but he was able to get his machine refired to rejoin the field.
Urbach challenged Clark on the restart, but Clark had the momentum on the high side of the race track. Clark cruised to the win over Urbach, Luke Johnson, who started 11th, while Kelly Jacobson and Scott Jacobson rounded out the top five.
The INEX legends feature came down to the last corner of the last lap before the winner was determined. Dylan Johnson of Dubin held until the final circuit when Scotty Richardson momentarily took the lead in the field set of corners. Richardson slid up the track to take the lead, but Johnson kept his foot on the throttle and pulled even with Richardson as the duo came to the checkered flag. They made contact at the flagstand as Johnson was declared the winner by a mere 0.019 seconds, equating about 10 inches.
Tim Shiek scored his fourth IMCA hobby stock win in a row at Red River Valley Speedway in dominating fashion. The win marked his sixth overall in the last eight races.
RESULTS
IMCA Modifieds
Make-up Feature from June 1: 1. 51T-Tim Thomas, [1]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [5]; 3. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [8]; 4. 6Z-Zach Dockter, [2]; 5. 7-Dale Kraling, [6]; 6. 2-Casey Arneson, [15]; 7. 96A-Rob VanMil, [17]; 8. 88B-Brady Petermann, [9]; 9. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [13]; 10. 86C-Darren Pfau, [3]; 11. 7B-Bryce Bjerken, [16]; 12. 12C-Nick Curtis, [19]; 13. (DNF) 99B-Bryce Borgen, [7]; 14. (DNF) 174-Rich Pavlicek, [20]; (DNS) E85-Jason Strand, ; (DNS) 72S-Dave Shipley, ; (DNS) 60-Tyler Hall, ; (DNS) 71-Nate Reinke, ; (DNS) 17G-Michael Greseth, ; (DNS) 99-Cale Arneson,
A Feature 1: 1. 86C-Darren Pfau, [2]; 2. 88B-Brady Petermann, [8]; 3. 99-Cale Arneson, [14]; 4. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [1]; 5. 6Z-Zach Dockter, [5]; 6. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [12]; 7. 7-Dale Kraling, [10]; 8. 30-Adam Fischer, [16]; 9. 4500-Cody Peterson, [17]; 10. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [11]; 11. 12C-Nick Curtis, [13]; 12. 0-Jeff Odden, [19]; 13. 79-Tony Mack, [18]; 14. (DNF) 96A-Rob VanMil, [6]; 15. (DNF) 72-Dave Shipley, [9]; 16. (DNF) 51T-Tim Thomas, [4]; 17. (DNF) 10-Casey Arneson, [7]; 18. (DNF) 174-Rich Pavlicek, [15]; 19. (DNF) 7B-Bryce Bjerken, [3]; (DNS) 99B-Bryce Borgen,
Heat 1: 1. 6Z-Zach Dockter, [3]; 2. 96A-Rob VanMil, [4]; 3. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [6]; 4. 72-Dave Shipley, [5]; 5. 12C-Nick Curtis, [1]; 6. 30-Adam Fischer, [7]; 7. 0-Jeff Odden, [2]
Heat 2: 1. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [1]; 2. 7-Dale Kraling, [5]; 3. 7B-Bryce Bjerken, [2]; 4. 10-Casey Arneson, [4]; 5. 99-Cale Arneson, [6]; 6. 4500-Cody Peterson, [7]; 7. (DNF) 99B-Bryce Borgen, [3]
Heat 3: 1. 51T-Tim Thomas, [2]; 2. 88B-Brady Petermann, [4]; 3. 86C-Darren Pfau, [1]; 4. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [5]; 5. 174-Rich Pavlicek, [3]; 6. 79-Tony Mack, [6]
IMCA SportMods
A Feature 1: 1. 15-Matthew Clark, [3]; 2. 33-Brennan Urbach, [7]; 3. 8J-Luke Johnson, [11]; 4. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [8]; 5. 5-Scott Jacobson, [14]; 6. 40-Chris VanMil, [10]; 7. 2D-Dan Dowling, [9]; 8. 19C-Dustin Hartwig, [12]; 9. 76-Reile Sailer, [6]; 10. 47-Kreig Kasin, [5]; 11. 22S-Brian Schaffer, [1]; 12. 68-Dan Evert, [18]; 13. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [17]; 14. 6-Austin Veralrud, [16]; 15. 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [2]; 16. 5T-Matt Talley, [20]; 17. 9-Torey Fischer, [21]; 18. 76G-Gwen Sailer, [19]; 19. (DNF) 8-Billy Michaelsohn, [15]; 20. (DNF) 22V-Ryan Veralrud, [13]; 21. (DNF) 77-Charles Jensen, [4]
Heat 1: 1. 40-Chris VanMil, [7]; 2. 22S-Brian Schaffer, [1]; 3. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [6]; 4. 76-Reile Sailer, [4]; 5. 22V-Ryan Veralrud, [3]; 6. 6-Austin Veralrud, [5]; 7. 76G-Gwen Sailer, [2]
Heat 2: 1. 15-Matthew Clark, [2]; 2. 8J-Luke Johnson, [7]; 3. 2D-Dan Dowling, [6]; 4. 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [1]; 5. 5-Scott Jacobson, [5]; 6. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [3]; 7. 5T-Matt Talley, [4]
Heat 3: 1. 33-Brennan Urbach, [5]; 2. 47-Kreig Kasin, [3]; 3. 77-Charles Jensen, [2]; 4. 19C-Dustin Hartwig, [7]; 5. 8-Billy Michaelsohn, [6]; 6. 68-Dan Evert, [1]; 7. 9-Torey Fischer, [4]
IMCA Hobby Stocks
A Feature 1: 1. 31X-Tim Shiek, [4]; 2. 30A-Adam Goff, [5]; 3. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [3]; 4. 11S-William Smith, [7]; 5. 106-Eric Novacek, [2]; 6. 701-Kyle Hallgren, [1]; 7. 73-Maranda Borg, [6]; 8. 00-Arnie Lovdokken, [9]; 9. (DNF) 14-Alyssa White, [10]; 10. (DNF) 21X-Tim Smith, [8]
Heat 1: 1. 31X-Tim Shiek, [7]; 2. 30A-Adam Goff, [8]; 3. 106-Eric Novacek, [3]; 4. 701-Kyle Hallgren, [1]; 5. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [5]; 6. 73-Maranda Borg, [6]; 7. 11S-William Smith, [10]; 8. 21X-Tim Smith, [9]; 9. 00-Arnie Lovdokken, [2]; 10. 14-Alyssa White, [4]
IMCA Stock Cars
A Feature 1: 1. 4-Rick Schulz, [3]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, [5]; 3. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [4]; 4. 21-Tim Church, [1]; 5. 18-MIke Anderson, [2]; 6. 96-Erv Grossman, [6]; 7. 48-Larry Niemi, [7]
Heat 1: 1. 18-MIke Anderson, [3]; 2. 21-Tim Church, [2]; 3. 40-Rob VanMil, [6]; 4. 4-Rick Schulz, [4]; 5. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [5]; 6. 96-Erv Grossman, [1]; 7. 48-Larry Niemi, [7]
INEX Legends
A Feature 1: 1. 5D8-Dylan Johnson, [1]; 2. 79-Scott Richardson, [4]; 3. 58-Sean Johnson, [7]; 4. 6-Chad Sogge, [10]; 5. 14T-Tim Estenson, [8]; 6. 5-Dean Julsrud, [6]; 7. 72-Tye Wilke, [9]; 8. 20-Alex Braseth, [3]; 9. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [5]; 10. 29-Brandon Erickson, [11]; 11. 7-Cade Sogge, [13]; 12. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [12]; 13. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [2]; 14. 29B-Ryan Braseth, [14]; 15. 24-Shaun Erickson, [15]; 16. 22-Corey Hansen, [17]; 17. 5G-Garrison Miller, [16]
Heat 1: 1. 5D8-Dylan Johnson, [3]; 2. 79-Scott Richardson, [5]; 3. 5-Dean Julsrud, [6]; 4. 14T-Tim Estenson, [7]; 5. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [4]; 6. 29-Brandon Erickson, [1]; 7. 7-Cade Sogge, [8]; 8. 24-Shaun Erickson, [2]; 9. 22-Corey Hansen, [9]
Heat 2: 1. 20-Alex Braseth, [2]; 2. 58-Sean Johnson, [4]; 3. 6-Chad Sogge, [6]; 4. 8JR-Kaitlyn Skalicky, [3]; 5. 72-Tye Wilke, [5]; 6. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [8]; 7. 29B-Ryan Braseth, [1]; 8. 5G-Garrison Miller, [7]