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WEST FARGO, N.D. (March 25, 2022) – Red River Valley Speedway’s 52nd season of racing will offer the same stout lineup race fans have come to expect over the past several years, along with a couple of new and exciting events. 

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will return for the sixth consecutive year and the 36th time overall on August 27th. Fargo’s Donny Schatz will be looking to collect back-to-back wins at his home track after picking up the big win last year. The NLRA Late Models will co-headline the Saturday night special with the second running of the Howie Schill Memorial. 

For the first time, Red River Valley Speedway will be hosting a Tuesday night special during the Big Iron Farm Show on September 13th, which will feature the Dakota Cat Shootout for the IMCA Modifieds. Other supporting classes for this event will be determined at a later date. 

The Modifieds will also be showcased on June 10th for the inaugural Bison Battle. Details about this event will be coming soon. 

The season kicks off on May 6th with all six of its weekly divisions; IMCA Sprints, Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks and INEX Legends. 

The King Pin Klash Stock Car special, presented by The Bowler returns on June 17th, followed by a 40-lap SportMod Shootout on June 24th. The Stock Cars will again be racing for big money as the Sanders Stock Car Challenge is set for July 29th. 

The full Red River Valley Speedway schedule will be announced on March 26th at the Red River Valley Speedway / Norman County Raceway banquet in Ada, Minn.

WEST FARGO – The pits were packed on Friday night at Red River Valley Speedway with 93 race cars checked in for action in what would be a wild night of racing.

The crowd of over 1,000 witnessed big hits, rollovers, and a fire throughout the night, but all drivers involved were okay.

In the first lap of feature action of the night, outside front row starter Dan Pederson of Moorhead lost the handle of his IMCA SportMod right in front of the field. Charlie Jensen of Pelican Rapids, Minn. made heavy contact with Pederson. The impact made the rear end of Jensen’s car lift off the ground, and as it did so, Kelly Jacobson of Fargo came sliding into the wreck. Jensen’s rear end came to rest on top of Jacobson’s roof by the time everything came to rest.

Two rollovers were seen during INEX Legends action. The worst of the two came when Elzetta Bitker of Halstad, Minn. jumped over the right rear of a slower car. Bitker’s machine ramped off the other car, hit the outside retaining wall on the back straightaway before enduring a violent series of end-over-end flips. Bitker was transported to a local hospital for observation but is okay.

Also during the legends feature, a fire broke out under the hood of Ashton Spieker’s No. 2, prompting a red flag. The West Fargo Rural Fire Department was quickly on the scene to extinguish the flames.

Matt Aukland of Fargo topped a stout field of 18 IMCA modifieds to claim his first win of the season and first at Red River Valley Speedway since June 14, 2019. Aukland charged from the ninth starting position and held off defending track champion Austin Arneson en route to the win.

“The wins only come every couple of years the way it seems for me lately, so it feels good,” said Aukland in victory lane. “The Arneson crew is on their game so we have to cherish every (win) we can get.”

After winning a heat race earlier in the night, Aukland quickly charged his way through the running order before taking the point from modified rookie Luke Johnson on lap three. Once out front, the only thing that slowed Aukland were two caution flags.

Aukland has been doing a lot of midweek testing all spring, trying to learn more about how to set up his car.

“Our goal has been to try to get to the race track and not have to guess on what to do with our setup. I’ve been racing the last couple of years and I’ve always been guessing. I just wanted to be more confident in what I had for the feature each night,” said Aukland.

Aukland, a veteran in the late model class, moved to IMCA modifieds in 2019. He said the transition has taken some time to get used to.

“With the crate motor in the modified, as opposed to an open motor in the late model, I’ve had to learn a momentum-style of driving. What feels good in the car isn’t necessarily fast,” he explained. “I’ve been doing a lot more testing with the stopwatch now. In the past, I used to just go with what felt good. With the crate motor and a hard compound tire that comes with the modified, it’s more about momentum than it is traction and side bite like the late model.”

U-Motors Racing had swept the first two modified races of the season with Casey Arneson of Fargo and Pahrump, Nevada driver Kollin Hibdon taking the wins. Austin Arneson of Fargo was the highest finishing U-Motors driver on Friday, finishing second to Aukland.

The win was Aukland’s 16th of his career at the speedway.

In its inaugural season, the IMCA sprint cars may be light on cars, but not on parity. Marcus Rothenbacher of Ulen, Minn. became the third different driver to win in the class in the first three weeks of the season.

After sweeping both the legends and sprint car feature wins last week, Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. returned to victory lane once again, picking up the legends feature. The win was his 14th at Red River Valley Speedway.

Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, N.D. picked up his second IMCA SportMod feature win at the speedway, while Rob VanMil Barnesville, Minn. won an entertaining IMCA stock car main event. Skyla Miller of Harwood, N.D. led early in her Mopar No. 9 IMCA hobby stock, but Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes tracked her down mid-race and went on to win.

Next Friday night is fireworks night at Red River Valley Speedway.

RESULTS:
IMCA MODIFIEDS:
A Feature: 1. 12-Matt Aukland[9]; 2. 10-Austin Arneson[12]; 3. 4V-Billy Vogel[8]; 4. 33-Allen Kent[5]; 5. 02-Jordan Sours[7]; 6. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[18]; 7. 2A-Casey Arneson[11]; 8. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[14]; 9. 60-Tyler Hall[10]; 10. 21-Jamie Schulz[2]; 11. 55X-Chris Mack[4]; 12. 12C-Nick Curtis[16]; 13. (DNF) 76-John Miller[13]; 14. (DNF) 75-Brandon Langer[17]; 15. (DNF) 0-Jeff Odden[6]; 16. (DNF) 8J-Luke Johnson[1]; 17. (DNF) 91-Jarrett Carter[3]; 18. (DNS) 72-Dave Shipley

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Matt Aukland[5]; 2. 8J-Luke Johnson[1]; 3. 60-Tyler Hall[6]; 4. 0-Jeff Odden[4]; 5. 76-John Miller[2]; 6. 12C-Nick Curtis[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2A-Casey Arneson[6]; 2. 02-Jordan Sours[4]; 3. 21-Jamie Schulz[1]; 4. 55X-Chris Mack[2]; 5. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[5]; 6. (DNF) 75-Brandon Langer[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4V-Billy Vogel[4]; 2. 10-Austin Arneson[6]; 3. 33-Allen Kent[2]; 4. 91-Jarrett Carter[1]; 5. (DNF) 72-Dave Shipley[3]; 6. (DNF) 48K-Kollin Hibdon[5]

IMCA SPRINT CARS:
A Feature: 1. 3M-Marcus Rothenbacher[1]; 2. 72-Tye Wilke[4]; 3. 13-Ty Hanten[3]; 4. 69-Brandon Rekow[2]

Heat 1: 1. 3M-Marcus Rothenbacher[1]; 2. 13-Ty Hanten[3]; 3. 72-Tye Wilke[4]; 4. 69-Brandon Rekow[2]

IMCA STOCK CARS:
A Feature: 1. 40-Rob VanMil[8]; 2. 52-Brennan Borg[5]; 3. 10R-Travis Robertson[7]; 4. 4-Rick Schulz[11]; 5. 38-Todd Heinrich[1]; 6. 1-Tyler McDougall[2]; 7. 8-Billy Michaelsohn[3]; 8. 76Z-John Sandvig[14]; 9. 18A-Mike Anderson[10]; 10. 21J-Andrew Jochim[9]; 11. 17-Chad Hunteman[17]; 12. 21-Tim Church[13]; 13. 85K-Ernest Geist[16]; 14. 219-Brandon Schmidt[12]; 15. E72-Adam Geist[19]; 16. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[15]; 17. B1-Brody Carlsrud[18]; 18. (DNF) 88K-Keaten Froemke[4]; 19. (DNF) 71-Trent Grager[6]

Heat 1: 1. 52-Brennan Borg[4]; 2. 38-Todd Heinrich[1]; 3. 10R-Travis Robertson[5]; 4. 18A-Mike Anderson[6]; 5. 21-Tim Church[2]; 6. 85K-Ernest Geist[3]; 7. E72-Adam Geist[7]

Heat 2: 1. 1-Tyler McDougall[2]; 2. 4-Rick Schulz[6]; 3. 40-Rob VanMil[5]; 4. 8-Billy Michaelsohn[3]; 5. 76Z-John Sandvig[4]; 6. (DNF) 17-Chad Hunteman[1]

Heat 3: 1. 71-Trent Grager[4]; 2. 88K-Keaten Froemke[3]; 3. 219-Brandon Schmidt[6]; 4. 21J-Andrew Jochim[5]; 5. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[2]; 6. B1-Brody Carlsrud[1]

IMCA SPORTMODS:
A Feature: 1. 17-Rich Pavlicek[10]; 2. 41-Doug Gardner[5]; 3. 5-Scott Jacobson[12]; 4. 5F-Brandon Ferris[13]; 5. 40-Chris VanMil[11]; 6. 66-Kevin Veralrud[15]; 7. 22-Vince Jegtvig[6]; 8. 7R-Ryan Restad[14]; 9. 9-Torey Fischer[8]; 10. 12T-Brandon Tendeland[4]; 11. 77S-Brian Schaffer[3]; 12. 14S-Thomas Sandvig[16]; 13. (DNF) 22M-Landon Maatz[1]; 14. (DNF) 51-Kelly Jacobson[9]; 15. (DNF) 77-Charles Jensen[7]; 16. (DNF) 81-Dan Pederson[2]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 41-Doug Gardner[3]; 2. 17-Rich Pavlicek[5]; 3. 77S-Brian Schaffer[2]; 4. 9-Torey Fischer[4]; 5. 5F-Brandon Ferris[6]; 6. 14S-Thomas Sandvig[1]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 40-Chris VanMil[5]; 2. 22-Vince Jegtvig[3]; 3. 12T-Brandon Tendeland[2]; 4. 22M-Landon Maatz[1]; 5. 7R-Ryan Restad[4]

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 51-Kelly Jacobson[4]; 2. 5-Scott Jacobson[5]; 3. 77-Charles Jensen[3]; 4. 81-Dan Pederson[1]; 5. 66-Kevin Veralrud[2]

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
A Feature: 1. 44T-Tanner Engen[9]; 2. 9-Skyla Miller[2]; 3. 54DK-Dylan Krueger[1]; 4. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[10]; 5. 73-Todd Gettel[3]; 6. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[4]; 7. 15-Andrea Jacobson[5]; 8. (DNF) 14-Alyssa White[6]; 9. (DNF) 39-Caleb Gardner[7]; 10. (DNS) 4-Marvin Priem; 11. (DNS) 99-Nathan Gegner

INEX LEGENDS
A Feature : 1. 72-Tye Wilke[9]; 2. 29-Ryan Braseth[7]; 3. 34-Alex Kukowski[10]; 4. 58-Sean Johnson[8]; 5. 79-Scott Richardson[1]; 6. 28-Joshua Wiest[4]; 7. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse[6]; 8. 28M-Dusty Mund[12]; 9. 41AU-Glenn Mitchell[2]; 10. 7F-Brian Frederick[5]; 11. 08-Zander Bauer[11]; 12. 79X-Chuck Christ[15]; 13. 8-Ethan Mabus[16]; 14. 701-Taylor Sargent[13]; 15. 49-Collin Compson[19]; 16. 23B-Jared Beck[22]; 17. 24-Shaun Erickson[20]; 18. 2J-Joseph Lewis[18]; 19. 18-Austin Wimer[17]; 20. 31C-Emmitt Curtis[24]; 21. (DNF) 2-Ashton Spieker[3]; 22. (DNF) 17M-Jeremy Meyer[14]; 23. (DNF) 19E-Elzetta Bitker[21]; 24. (DNF) 17-Zander Compson[23]; 25. (DNS) 35-Michael Good

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 34-Alex Kukowski[6]; 2. 72-Tye Wilke[5]; 3. 7F-Brian Frederick[4]; 4. 701-Taylor Sargent[2]; 5. 18-Austin Wimer[7]; 6. 19E-Elzetta Bitker[3]; 7. 17-Zander Compson[1]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 79-Scott Richardson[2]; 2. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse[4]; 3. 41AU-Glenn Mitchell[3]; 4. 17M-Jeremy Meyer[6]; 5. 2J-Joseph Lewis[1]; 6. (DNS) 35-Michael Good

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 29-Ryan Braseth[4]; 2. 2-Ashton Spieker[3]; 3. 08-Zander Bauer[6]; 4. 79X-Chuck Christ[2]; 5. 49-Collin Compson[1]; 6. 31C-Emmitt Curtis[5]

Heat 4 (6 Laps): 1. 58-Sean Johnson[4]; 2. 28-Joshua Wiest[3]; 3. 28M-Dusty Mund[6]; 4. 8-Ethan Mabus[1]; 5. 24-Shaun Erickson[2]; 6. 23B-Jared Beck[5]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 44T-Tanner Engen[5]; 2. 54DK-Dylan Krueger[1]; 3. 73-Todd Gettel[2]; 4. 15-Andrea Jacobson[3]; 5. (DNF) 39-Caleb Gardner[4]; 6. (DNS) 99-Nathan Gegner

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 9-Skyla Miller[1]; 2. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[5]; 3. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[2]; 4. 14-Alyssa White[3]; 5. 4-Marvin Priem[4]

WEST FARGO – Red River Valley Speedway roared back to life on Friday night as fans packed the stands to watch 94 race teams battling on the speedway’s 52nd season opener.

Sprint cars made their return to the weekly schedule on Friday night for the first time since 2005. The speedway is bringing in the IMCA-sanctioned sprint cars and starting the class from scratch. A small, yet talented field of drivers made up the grid for the main event with West Fargo’s Ty Hanten claiming the win.

Hanten, is a 15-year racing veteran and has competed with the Northern Outlaw Sprint Car series in Grand Forks the last eight seasons.

Hanten jumped out to the early lead and scored the win over sprint car rookie Tye Wilke.

Nineteen cars made up the grid for the IMCA modified feature as Matt Aukland and Allen Kent led them to the green flag.

A pair of Fargo racing veterans, Aukland and Casey Arneson, engaged in a thrilling duel for the lead early in the going. The duo traded the lead back and forth, lap after lap until Arneson claimed an advantage in lapped traffic.

Arneson checked out in the closing stages as he raced to his ninth career Red River Valley Speedway win.

The first feature of the night provided an exciting photo finish. Ryan Restad of West Fargo jumped out to the early lead of the IMCA Sportmod feature with the father-son duo of Scott and Kelly Jacobson of Fargo battling for second. Scott Jacobson took the lead from Restad with 12 laps to go and led the remainder of the race, but it didn’t come easy.

On the final lap, Restad mounted a challenge on Jacobson and pulled alongside him coming to the checkered flag. Jacobson held off by Restad by a half car length to pick up the win.

Travis Robertson of Moorhead claimed his fourth career IMCA stock car win over a stout 21 car field. The race got off to a rocky start as Tyler McDougall of Hawley, Minn., who was debuting his brand new car, got upside down in turn two bringing out the red flag.

McDougall was okay, but he was done for the night.

Robertson had a mid-race challenge from Horace, N.D. driver Rick Schulz. Schulz pulled even with Robertson using the middle groove of the speedway, while Robertson remained true to the low side.

The bottom groove paid off for Robertson as he pulled away from Schulz and cruised to the win.

Sixth place starter Sean Johnson of Kindred, N.D. charged to the INEX legend feature win. After a three-wide battle for the lead with Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. and Ryan Braseth of Ulen, Minn., Johnson moved into the second spot before pouncing on Wilke to take the lead.

The win for Johnson was the seventh of his career at the speedway.

The defending IMCA Hobby Stock national champion, Cory Probst of Brewster, Minn., came to Red River Valley Speedway to begin his title defense and he left West Fargo with the victory. Brewster started ninth on the grid, but worked his way into the top three by lap two. At the halfway point, Brewster worked around leader Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes to take the point. Once out front, he never looked back.

SUMMARY:

IMCA Sprint Cars:
A Feature: 1. 13-Ty Hanten, West Fargo, N.D.; 2. 72-Tye Wilke, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 3. 3M-Marcus Rothenbacher, Moorhead, Minn.; 4. 69-Brandon Rekow, Ellendale, N.D.

IMCA Modifieds
A Feature: 1. 2A-Casey Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 2. 12-Matt Aukland, Fargo, N.D.; 3. 60-Tyler Hall, Fertile, Minn.; 4. 33-Allen Kent, West Fargo, N.D.; 5. 72-Dave Shipley, Fargo, N.D.

IMCA Stock Cars
A Feature: 1. 10R-Travis Robertson, Moorhead, Minn.; 2. 4-Rick Schulz, Horace, N.D.; 3. 219-Brandon Schmidt, Hillsboro, N.D.; 4. 40-Rob VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.; 5. 21J-Andrew Jochim, Glyndon, Minn.

IMCA SportMods
A Feature: 1. 5-Scott Jacobson, Fargo, N.D.; 2. 7R-Ryan Restad, West Fargo, N.D.; 3. 33-Jake Hagemann, Brainerd, Minn.; 4. 40-Chris VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.; 5. 69-Justin Jones, Bemidji, Minn.

IMCA Hobby Stock
A Feature: 1. 75C-Cory Probst, Brewster, Minn.; 2. 44T-Tanner Engen, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 3. B2-Brodee Eckerdt, Grand Forks, N.D.; 4. 17T-Tim Otterness, Brainerd, Minn.; 5. 4-Marvin Priem, Moorhead, Minn.

INEX Legends
A Feature : 1. 58-Sean Johnson, Kindred, N.D.; 2. 72-Tye Wilke, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 3. 29-Ryan Braseth, Ulen, Minn.; 4. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, Glyndon, Minn.; 5. 20-Alex Braseth, Ulen, Minn.

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will return to Red River Valley Speedway in 2021 for the Red River Rumble. The event scheduled for Saturday, August 21st will mark the fifth consecutive year and the 35th-time overall dirt track racing’s premier touring series will visit the West Fargo high-banked three-eighths-mile clay oval.

NASCAR star Kyle Larson picked up the World of Outlaws win at the speedway last summer. Larson out-dueled eventual series champion Brad Sweet for the $10,000 victory.

The win for Larson was one of 43 total victories across seven different dirt car divisions for the Elk Grove, California native this season. Larson also won at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks with a last-lap pass for the win.

Tickets are available at slspromotions.com.

2020 was the 50th season of racing at the speedway and fifth-year track promoters Nick Skalicky and Jake and Sharnel Bitker kept the track in the national spotlight all year long. The speedway hosted four national touring events throughout the abbreviated season, including the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, World of Outlaws Late Models, the return of the IMCA Dakota Classic Modified Tour for the first time since 1991, and the IMCA Red River Modified Tour.

Previous World of Outlaws A-Feature Winners:
2020 – Kyle Larson on August 22
2019 – Rained out on August 17
2018 – Donny Schatz on August 18
2017 – Jason Johnson on August 19
2012 – Sammy Swindell on June 16
2009 – Jason Meyers on June 20
2008 – Daryn Pittman on August 12
2007 – Jac Haudenschild on June 30
2006 – Donny Schatz on June 17
2005 – Jason Meyers on July 2, Steve Kinser on Aug. 16
2004 – Joey Saldana on July 10
2003 – Danny Lasoski on June 14
2002 – Donny Schatz on July 6
2001 – Craig Dollansky on July 7
2000 – Sammy Swindell on July 8
1999 – Steve Kinser on July 10
1998 – Sammy Swindell on July 11
1997 – Stevie Smith on July 12
1996 – Sammy Swindell on July 7
1995 – Sammy Swindell on July 8
1994 – Steve Kinser on July 10
1993 – Johnny Herrera on July 10
1992 – Steve Kinser on July 12
1991 – Doug Wolfgang on July 6
1990 – Doug Wolfgang on July 7
1989 – Jeff Swindell on July 8
1988 – Doug Wolfgang on July 9
1987 – Steve Kinser on July 11
1986 – Steve Kinser on July 12
1985 – Steve Kinser on July 13
1984 – Steve Kinser on July 14
1983 – Sammy Swindell on July 9
1982 – Steve Kinser on July 14
1981 – Sammy Swindell on July 13

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – Red River Valley Speedway’s 50th season was one of the biggest in the track’s history with record-breaking car counts and several national touring series making stops to the West Fargo dirt track. On Friday, the season will conclude by crowning a track champion in each of the five weekly divisions – all of which are still very much up for grabs.

A battle of brothers
It’s no secret that the Arneson brothers of Austin and Casey have dominated the local IMCA modified division in 2020. On Friday night, they will have to take each other head-on as they are both in contention to claim their first-ever Red River Valley Speedway track championship.

Going into the final race, Austin holds a slim five-point advantage (one point per feature finishing position) over his younger brother.

“I haven’t won a championship since about 2010, which was my last year in B-Mods,” said Arneson. A B-Mod is a limited modified, comparable to the speedway’s IMCA SportMods. “Winning a championship would be an awesome way to cap off a great year, especially at Red River Valley Speedway.”

It’s already been a banner year on multiple occasions for Arneson as he’s been enjoying one of the best years of his career.

“Earlier in the year, we set out to win the Dakota Mod Tour. We did that. We wanted to win a feature on the tour, we didn’t do that but we ran second a couple of times. But we were consistent which was key. The Red River Mod Tour, we were able to win each night of that and get the championship, which was awesome, too.”

Austin has four wins at the speedway in six feature races. Casey is still looking for the first win of the season at Red River Valley Speedway, but he is perfect in the category of top-fives – a perfect seven-for-seven.

Pavlicek hopes to prevail
Veteran racer Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, N.D. is one race away from claiming his first career track championship at the speedway. Pavlicek made the move from the IMCA modifieds to SportMods this year and holds a slim three-point lead over Ryan Restad of West Fargo. A finish of third or better in Friday’s feature will clinch the championship for Pavlicek.

“The main goal is to just try and finish the race, but hopefully we can stay one or two spots ahead of [Restad] all night,” said Pavlicek. “You never know what can happen though. Everybody is pretty tough out there now and a lot of different guys can win.”

The IMCA SportMods class has had five different winners throughout the season, but no one has won more than Restad, who has three victories. Restad has had to play catch up all year after suffering a DNF (did not finish) on opening night on June 5th after blowing a motor.

Pavlicek also failed to finish the season opener, but since then has rattled off six consecutive podium finishes to put him in prime position to win the title.

Going in blind
Fargo IMCA stock car driver Todd Heinrich leads the point standings by three markers over Travis Robertson of Moorhead, Minn. entering this Friday’s event, but Todd may or may not even know that.

“I don’t know how much of a race it is. I don’t look at the point standings. I haven’t looked at them once this year,” said Heinrich. “My wife told me that I was leading, but that was only two weeks into the season. Since then, I have never looked.”

Heinrich said that earlier in his career, three very close runner-up finishes in the Wissota super stock division in the late 1990s-early 2000s “took the fun out” of racing for a track championship. After taking a few seasons off from racing in the 2000s, Heinrich returned to weekly action at the speedway in a Wissota street stock in 2011 just to finish second again.

“I’ve finished second so many times. I used to look at the points all the time and all it would do is stress me out so I just don’t even look,” said Heinrich with a laugh. “No matter what, it’s been a pretty good season.”

The two other track championships up for grabs are in the INEX legends, where Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. has a six-point lead over Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead, Minn. and the IMCA hobby stocks where Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks, N.D. holds a narrow one-point margin over Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes. Earlier this season, Eckerdt became the youngest winner ever at Red River Valley Speedway at just 14 years of age. On Friday, he’ll look to become the track’s youngest champion.

The green flag drops at 7:00 pm at the three-eighths-mile oval on the Red River Valley Fairgrounds.

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – Red River Valley Speedway hosted some of the nation’s top IMCA modified talent on Saturday night with the running of the ninth annual Sander’s Metal Products Modified Challenge, as a part of the IMCA Red River Modified Tour.

The first leg of the IMCA Red River Modified Tour began at race tracks near the Red River of the South in Texas over the 4th of July weekend. This weekend, Norman County Raceway in Ada, Minn. and Red River Valley Speedway hosted the second leg of the second tour.

The tour took the best three races combined between the northern and southern legs of the tour, with the driver having the best overall average finishing position winning $5,000 and a provisional starting spot in the main event at the IMCA Duel in the Desert – a crown jewel IMCA modified race – at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Several drivers from Texas, as well as drivers from other states across the Midwest, made the trip north.

Red River Valley Speedway points leader, Austin Arneson, dominated the first 25-lap feature, which doubled as the Sanders Modified Challenge event. The Fargo driver started on the pole and led every trip around the three-eighths-mile oval. He was followed to the checkers by Casey Arneson and Dave Shipley.

Needing to finish second or better to clinch the tour championship, Arneson left little doubt in the second 25-lapper. Drawing the pole position, Arneson again led every lap to take the win in convincing fashion.

“We’ve got things going pretty good right now,” said Arneson of his recent success. “This is definitely [a season] to remember.”

As he did in the first feature, Casey Arneson charged from 10th to finish second in feature number two.

A simple lane change is all Ryan Restad needed to work his way by Scott Jacobson during the Eide Bailley IMCA SportMod feature. Jacobson had the race in hand until Restad moved up to the high lane and quickly reeled in and passed Jacobson for the lead. However, Restad’s pass was negated by a yellow flag.

On the restart, a three-wide battle for the lead broke out between Jacobson, Restad, and Rich Pavlicek. Restad took the lead and opened up a comfortable lead en route to his third win of the season.

In one of the most entertaining features seen all season, Rob VanMil took home his first Brandon Schmidt Trucking IMCA Stock Car win of the season. The races started with an incredible three-wide battle for the lead as positions four through nine also raced three wide, two rows deep behind them.

A relentless Tyler McDougall, who’s suffered two major incidents in his No. 1 machine so far this year, grabbed the early lead and withstood a pair of big-time slide job attempts from VanMil. McDougall and VanMil went toe-to-toe, lap after lap, both running the extreme high side of the speedway. The two exchanged the lead several times before VanMil was able to find some moisture on the low side of the speedway, left behind from a car with radiator issues a few laps prior, and clear McDougall for the point with two laps to go.

Tye Wilke took the lead in the Peterman Seeds INEX Legend feature from Sean Johnson with five laps to go and went on to claim his fifth win of the season.

Tanner Engen’s streak of four A Transmission City IMCA Hobby Stock feature wins came to an end as Andrew Bertsch of Minot, N.D. claimed the feature win.

Polesitter Alex Truscinski narrowly won the Lucas Oil POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint feature over eighth-place starter, Dexter Dvergsten. The win was Truscinski’s second of the season at Red River Valley Speedway.

RESULTS:

IMCA Modifieds:
All Finish Concrete A Feature 1: 1. 10-Austin Arneson[1]; 2. 2A-Casey Arneson[10]; 3. 72-Dave Shipley[4]; 4. 19D-Darin Duffy[7]; 5. 84-Michael Johnson[17]; 6. 12F-Greg Friestad[6]; 7. 6D-Dylan Goplen[9]; 8. 12-Cody Leonard[25]; 9. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[8]; 10. 12A-Matt Aukland[11]; 11. 33-Allen Kent[20]; 12. 60-Tyler Hall[21]; 13. 40-Rob VanMil[24]; 14. 86C-Darren Pfau[3]; 15. 91-Craig Oakes[14]; 16. 21-Jamie Schulz[16]; 17. 88XXX-Randy Klein[5]; 18. 0-Jeff Odden[26]; 19. 2*-Cole Babcock[15]; 20. 96-Erv Grossman[22]; 21. (DNF) 02-Jordan Sours[18]; 22. (DNF) 12C-Nick Curtis[23]; 23. (DNF) 71-Trent Grager[13]; 24. (DNF) 28-Cody Blixt[2]; 25. (DNF) 44F-Fred Wojtek[12]; 26. (DNF) 30-Cole Neset[19]

All Finish Concrete Heat 1: 1. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[2]; 2. 44F-Fred Wojtek[3]; 3. 2A-Casey Arneson[5]; 4. 12A-Matt Aukland[4]; 5. 71-Trent Grager[6]; 6. 21-Jamie Schulz[7]; 7. 30-Cole Neset[1]; 8. (DNF) 96-Erv Grossman[8]

All Finish Concrete Heat 2: 1. 12F-Greg Friestad[1]; 2. 72-Dave Shipley[7]; 3. 88XXX-Randy Klein[4]; 4. 28-Cody Blixt[2]; 5. 91-Craig Oakes[9]; 6. 84-Michael Johnson[6]; 7. 33-Allen Kent[5]; 8. 12C-Nick Curtis[3]; 9. (DNF) 12-Cody Leonard[8]

All Finish Concrete Heat 3: 1. 19D-Darin Duffy[1]; 2. 6D-Dylan Goplen[4]; 3. 86C-Darren Pfau[6]; 4. 10-Austin Arneson[3]; 5. 2*-Cole Babcock[5]; 6. 02-Jordan Sours[2]; 7. 60-Tyler Hall[8]; 8. 40-Rob VanMil[9]; 9. 0-Jeff Odden[7]

All Finish Concrete A Feature 2: 1. 10-Austin Arneson[1]; 2. 2A-Casey Arneson[10]; 3. 44F-Fred Wojtek[2]; 4. 12-Cody Leonard[5]; 5. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[3]; 6. 12A-Matt Aukland[15]; 7. 6D-Dylan Goplen[4]; 8. 72-Dave Shipley[8]; 9. 84-Michael Johnson[7]; 10. 12F-Greg Friestad[9]; 11. 60-Tyler Hall[12]; 12. 86C-Darren Pfau[11]; 13. 28-Cody Blixt[13]; 14. 33-Allen Kent[14]; 15. 40-Rob VanMil[6]; 16. 91-Craig Oakes[21]; 17. 21-Jamie Schulz[16]; 18. 02-Jordan Sours[20]; 19. 12C-Nick Curtis[25]; 20. 71-Trent Grager[23]; 21. 2*-Cole Babcock[19]; 22. 0-Jeff Odden[24]; 23. 96-Erv Grossman[22]; 24. (DNF) 88XXX-Randy Klein[17]; 25. (DNF) 19D-Darin Duffy[18]; 26. (DNS) 30-Cole Neset

All Finish Concrete Heat 1: 1. 10-Austin Arneson[1]; 2. 12F-Greg Friestad[4]; 3. 84-Michael Johnson[5]; 4. 6D-Dylan Goplen[6]; 5. 28-Cody Blixt[9]; 6. 21-Jamie Schulz[8]; 7. 2*-Cole Babcock[7]; 8. 96-Erv Grossman[2]; 9. (DNS) 12C-Nick Curtis

All Finish Concrete Heat 2: 1. 72-Dave Shipley[1]; 2. 2A-Casey Arneson[6]; 3. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[3]; 4. 12-Cody Leonard[7]; 5. 33-Allen Kent[5]; 6. 88XXX-Randy Klein[8]; 7. 02-Jordan Sours[4]; 8. 71-Trent Grager[9]; 9. (DNS) 30-Cole Neset

All Finish Concrete Heat 3: 1. 86C-Darren Pfau[2]; 2. 60-Tyler Hall[3]; 3. 44F-Fred Wojtek[5]; 4. 40-Rob VanMil[1]; 5. 12A-Matt Aukland[6]; 6. 19D-Darin Duffy[4]; 7. 91-Craig Oakes[7]; 8. 0-Jeff Odden[8]

Lucas Oil POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints:
A Feature 1: 1. 10A-Alex Truscinski[1]; 2. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[8]; 3. 13-Alan Truscinski[2]; 4. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[10]; 5. 100-Jason Berg[9]; 6. 93-Kelsi Pederson[4]; 7. 51-Cody Swenson[5]; 8. 5G-Garrison Miller[14]; 9. 1-Mark Williams[7]; 10. 24-Jake Haugeberg[11]; 11. 72-Kate Taves[13]; 12. 19-Weley Van Drunen[6]; 13. 10-Danny Hazemann[12]; 14. (DNF) 40-Lawrence Veralrud[3]

Heat 1: 1. 13-Alan Truscinski[1]; 2. 100-Jason Berg[5]; 3. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[4]; 4. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[6]; 5. 40-Lawrence Veralrud[3]; 6. 5G-Garrison Miller[7]; 7. 10-Danny Hazemann[2]

Heat 2: 1. 93-Kelsi Pederson[1]; 2. 51-Cody Swenson[2]; 3. 10A-Alex Truscinski[3]; 4. 1-Mark Williams[6]; 5. 19-Weley Van Drunen[5]; 6. 24-Jake Haugeberg[4]; 7. (DNF) 72-Kate Taves[7]

INEX Legends:
Petermann Seeds A Feature 1: 1. 72-Tye Wilke[9]; 2. 79-Scott Richardson[4]; 3. 58-Sean Johnson[5]; 4. 58E-Dylan Johnson[3]; 5. 2-Ashton Spieker[13]; 6. 14-Kody King[11]; 7. 24-Shaun Erickson[12]; 8. 49-Collin Compson[1]; 9. (DNF) 29-Ryan Braseth[8]; 10. (DNF) B1-Brody Carlsrud[6]; 11. (DNF) 28-Joshua Wiest[7]; 12. (DNF) 56-Tim Compson[14]; 13. (DNF) 20-Alex Braseth[10]; 14. (DNF) 8-Ethan Mabus[2]

Petermann Seeds Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 72-Tye Wilke[2]; 2. B1-Brody Carlsrud[5]; 3. 58-Sean Johnson[4]; 4. 58E-Dylan Johnson[6]; 5. 79-Scott Richardson[7]; 6. 14-Kody King[3]; 7. 2-Ashton Spieker[1]

Petermann Seeds Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 20-Alex Braseth[1]; 2. 29-Ryan Braseth[3]; 3. 28-Joshua Wiest[6]; 4. 8-Ethan Mabus[2]; 5. 49-Collin Compson[5]; 6. 24-Shaun Erickson[7]; 7. (DNF) 56-Tim Compson[4]

IMCA Northern SportMods:
A Feature 1: 1. 7R-Ryan Restad[4]; 2. 5-Scott Jacobson[2]; 3. 17-Rich Pavlicek[8]; 4. 8J-Luke Johnson[10]; 5. 40-Chris VanMil[1]; 6. 41-Doug Gardner[6]; 7. 15-Matthew Clark[3]; 8. 9-Torey Fischer[9]; 9. 5T-Matt Talley[5]; 10. 22-Vince Jegtvig[7]; 11. 13C-Paul Colvin[14]; 12. 24V-Deryk Voller[13]; 13. 74-Darren Medler[11]; 14. 5F-Brandon Ferris[15]; 15. 12T-Brandon Tendeland[12]

Heat 1: 1. 8J-Luke Johnson[1]; 2. 17-Rich Pavlicek[6]; 3. 5-Scott Jacobson[3]; 4. 15-Matthew Clark[7]; 5. 5T-Matt Talley[5]; 6. 74-Darren Medler[2]; 7. 24V-Deryk Voller[4]; 8. (DNF) 5F-Brandon Ferris[8]

Heat 2: 1. 7R-Ryan Restad[1]; 2. 40-Chris VanMil[3]; 3. 9-Torey Fischer[7]; 4. 41-Doug Gardner[6]; 5. 22-Vince Jegtvig[4]; 6. 12T-Brandon Tendeland[2]; 7. 13C-Paul Colvin[5]

IMCA Stock Cars:
A Feature 1: 1. 40-Rob VanMil[4]; 2. 1-Tyler McDougall[2]; 3. 4-Rick Schulz[8]; 4. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[13]; 5. 38-Todd Heinrich[17]; 6. 8-Billy Michaelsohn[9]; 7. 10R-Travis Robertson[5]; 8. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[1]; 9. 88K-Keaten Froemke[16]; 10. 76Z-John Sandvig[15]; 11. 13X-Jonathan Johnson[14]; 12. 21-Tim Church[6]; 13. (DNF) 28-Norm Olson[10]; 14. (DNF) 52-Brennan Borg[12]; 15. (DNF) 85K-Ernest Geist[3]; 16. (DNF) 18-Mike Anderson[7]; 17. (DNF) 17-Chad Hunteman[18]; 18. (DNF) 21J-Andrew Jochim[11]

Heat 1: 1. 40-Rob VanMil[6]; 2. 10R-Travis Robertson[4]; 3. 18-Mike Anderson[2]; 4. 52-Brennan Borg[5]; 5. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[1]; 6. 88K-Keaten Froemke[3]

Heat 2: 1. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[4]; 2. 4-Rick Schulz[1]; 3. 8-Billy Michaelsohn[3]; 4. 28-Norm Olson[6]; 5. 13X-Jonathan Johnson[5]; 6. 38-Todd Heinrich[2]

Heat 3: 1. 21J-Andrew Jochim[1]; 2. 85K-Ernest Geist[2]; 3. 1-Tyler McDougall[4]; 4. 21-Tim Church[3]; 5. 76Z-John Sandvig[6]; 6. 17-Chad Hunteman[5]

IMCA Hobby Stocks:
A Feature: 1. 146-Andrew Bertsch[7]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek[2]; 3. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[6]; 4. 44T-Tanner Engen[3]; 5. 9-Skyla Miller[10]; 6. 39-Caleb Gardner[5]; 7. 15-Andrea Jacobson[9]; 8. B1-Marvin Priem[1]; 9. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[8]; 10. (DNF) 14-Alyssa White[4]

Heat 1: 1. 31X-Tim Shiek[2]; 2. 44T-Tanner Engen[4]; 3. B1-Marvin Priem[1]; 4. 14-Alyssa White[5]; 5. 39-Caleb Gardner[3]; 6. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[6]; 7. 146-Andrew Bertsch[8]; 8. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[10]; 9. 15-Andrea Jacobson[7]; 10. 9-Skyla Miller[9]

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – Racing returned to the high banks of Red River Valley Speedway on an oppressively hot and humid Friday night.

The All Finish Concrete IMCA Modifieds had extra money on the line Friday night with the fourth running of the Dakota Cat Modified Shootout.

2017 track champion, Dave Shipley of Argusville, N.D., and Greg Friestad of Valley City, N.D. led the 18-car field to the green. Shipley took the point at the start as Matt Aukland of Glyndon, Minn. moved into second.

Shipley went on to lead all 25-laps, but he could never shake free of Aukland. Aukland remained within striking distance all race long and closed to within a car length of Shipley in lapped traffic.

However, Shipley extended his advantage in the closing laps to park his No. 72 Modified in KRJB 106.5FM Victory Lane.

“This feels great. This is the first Dakota Cat Shootout that I’ve won and it feels good to get that for my sponsor,” said Shipley, who has been sponsored by Dakota Cat for the better part of a decade. “Tonight was a track where it helped to start upfront and it came down to not making any mistakes.”

Kevin Veralrud of Horace, N.D. began his career at Red River Valley Speedway in the late 1980s. On Friday night, he notched his first career win at the speedway in the Eide Bailly IMCA SportMods.

Veralrud led all 14 circuits of the feature race. His son, Austin Verlarud, ran second in the early going, but two-time and defending track champion Luke Johnson of Moorhead, Minn., as well as Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, N.D. gave Veralrud a run for his money in the closing laps.

Pavlicek moved into second and put heavy pressure on Veralrud on the final lap, but Veralrud hung on for the win.

It was an emotional victory lane celebration as Austin drove into victory lane to congratulate his father on the win.

“This is just so cool. You just have to have faith. I never thought I would win in the SportMod class,” said Veralrud after the race. “I’ve always been a contender throughout my career, but never a winner. But now we’ve got that.”

It appeared as though another first-time winner would emerge in the Brandon Schmidt Trucking IMCA Stock Cars. John Sandvig of West Fargo, N.D. drove out to a big lead at the start of the feature after dominating his heat race earlier in the night. Sandvig ran smooth and steady until his car hit a slick spot in turn two, which turned his car sideways. Sandvig was able to regain control of his car, however, Travis Robertson of Moorhead, and Rob VanMil of Barnesville, Minn. both made contact trying to avoid Sandvig and spun out.

The caution was called on Sandvig, which forced him to the back of the pack, while Robertson and VanMil returned to their spots at the front of the field with Robertson, who was running second before the caution, inheriting the lead.

Robertson went on to edge out VanMil in a great battle to the finish to claim his second consecutive win at Red River Valley Speedway and his 51st career win.

The Petermann Seeds INEX Legends feature came down to a photo finish behind Ryan Braseth of Ulen, Minn. and Alex Kukowski of Edgeley, N.D. Braseth took the win by a mere 0.022 seconds at the checkers, equating to about two feet. The biggest wreck of the night occurred during the Legends feature when Shaun Erickson of Glyndon, Minn. rolled violently on the front stretch after contact with another car. Erickson was uninjured.

The win for Braseth broke Tye Wilke’s undefeated streak of four consecutive wins.

Tanner Engen’s dominance in the A Transmission City IMCA Hobby Stocks continued. The Detroit Lakes, Minn. driver took the lead from Marv Priem of Glyndon in the closing laps to score his fourth win of the season.

Red River Valley Speedway will host two nights of racing next week, beginning on Friday night with racing at 7:00 PM. On Saturday, the track will again be in action with all of its regular classes on hand, but the Modifieds will have two complete shows. The Modifieds will be racing for $1,000-to-win for all three shows this weekend as a part of the IMCA Red River Modified Tour.

RESULTS:

IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature: 1. 72-Dave Shipley, Argusville, N.D.; 2. 12-Matt Aukland, Glyndon, Minn.; 3. 12F-Greg Friestad, Valley City, N.D.; 4. 2A-Casey Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 60-Tyler Hall, Fertile, Minn.

IMCA Stock Cars:
A Feature: 1. 10R-Travis Robertson, Moorhead, Minn.; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.; 3. 38-Todd Heinrich, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 88K-Keaten Froemke, Glyndon, Minn.; 5. 52-Brennan Borg, Harwood, N.D.

IMCA SportMods:
A Feature: 1. 66-Kevin Veralrud, Horace, N.D.; 2. 17-Rich Pavlicek, Casselton, N.D.; 3. 8J-Luke Johnson, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 6-Austin Veralrud, Barnesville, N.D.; 5. 7R-Ryan Restad, West Fargo, N.D.

IMCA Hobby Stocks:
A Feature: 1. 44T-Tanner Engen, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 2. B1-Marvin Priem, Glyndon, Minn.; 3. 39-Caleb Gardner, Glyndon, Minn.; 4. 31X-Tim Shiek, Fargo, N.D.; 5. B2-Brodee Eckerdt, Grand Forks, N.D.

INEX Legends:
A Feature: 1. 29-Ryan Braseth, Ulen, Minn.; 2. 34-Alex Kukowski, Edgeley, N.D.; 3. 58-Sean Johnson, Kindred, N.D.; 4. 20-Alex Braseth, Ulen, Minn.; 5. 72-Tye Wilke, Detroit Lakes, Minn.

By Mike Spieker

West Fargo, ND (July 10, 2020) – Red River Valley Speedway hosted the opening night of the 31st annual Dakota Classic Modified and Stock Car tour on Friday night. Record car counts were seen in both divisions with 74 IMCA modifieds and 43 IMCA stock cars checked in.

The speedway’s regulars did not back down from the national talent in attendance as no less than 10 local drivers claimed checkered flags in preliminary action.

In the second IMCA stock car heat, one of the most bizarre events happened in the 50-plus year history of the speedway. Matt Speckman of Sleepy Eye, Minn. was leading the heat race and took the white flag when he suddenly pulled off the speedway. Speckman thought he had seen the checkered flag and exited the speedway to pull onto the scales in the pit area. The entire field followed him off the speedway until the race director informed the drivers via the one-way radio that they had in fact taken the white flag, not the checkered flag. It then became a mad dash for the drivers to safely turn around in the tech area and re-enter the speedway. Mike Anderson of Walcott, N.D. was the beneficiary of the mishap. Anderson was running up front early on in the heat race until he clipped the infield implement tire and spun out. Anderson was running last when all of the drivers pulled off of the speedway but was the first to re-enter. As he rounded turn four, he received a standing ovation from the large crowd on hand who were in disbelief of what they were seeing. Stock car rookie Keaton Froemke of Glyndon, Minn. and Ernest Giest of West Fargo, N.D. rounded out the top three.

After winning his heat race, Tyler Hall of Fertile, Minn. redrew the pole position for the 30-lap IMCA modified main event. With some of the nation’s top talent behind him, Hall took the lead on the opening lap as the green flag waved. Early on Hall found his groove on the low side of the speedway and opened up a comfortable lead. Despite a couple of cautions in the second half of the feature, Hall withstood a couple of intense restarts to maintain the point. The final caution flew with six to go which lined up arguably the best modified driver in all of IMCA, Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., and national front-runner Alex Stanford of Chowchilla, Calif.

As the race resumed Thornton launched off of turn four and stole the lead from the local fan favorite going into turn one. Hall tried to battle back, but Thornton was too fast as he cruised to the win. Hall would finish in second, in front of Austin Arneson of Fargo, N.D., Stanford, and Jake O’Neil of Tucson, Ariz.

“To win a heat race and lead 26 laps at our home track against the competition that we had to go up against tonight feels incredible,” said Hall after the race. “I got beat by a guy who pays his bills off racing. To place at the Dakota Mod Tour where 74 other guys could have won it just as easy, [I’m] just happy to be out there.”

Hall’s run capped off a very strong night for the Red River Valley Speedway regulars.

“It just shows what North Dakota and Minnesota produce. We get some real bad months in the winter and we don’t get to do much, but we all hit it pretty hard in the summer and I think this is a testament to how serious we take it around here,” said Hall.

Former IMCA stock car national champion and Dakota Classic Tour champion, Elijah Zevenbergen, dominated the stock car main event. Rick Schulz of Horace, N.D. moved up from the 17th starting position to become a threat for the lead later on only to have an untimely caution relegate him back to sixth. Rob VanMil of Barnesville, Minn. was the highest finishing local as he rounded out the podium.

Two weeks after being involved in a big crash at the speedway, Tyler McDougall of Hawley, Minn. had his No. 1 machine back on the track. McDougall picked up a heat race win and was running sixth in the feature until he was clipped in the right rear by a spinning car, which sent him into a series of barrel rolls in turn number two.

McDougall came to rest upside down but was quickly helped out of his mangled car and walked away under his own power.

RESULTS:

IMCA Modified
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, Chandler Ariz.; 2. 60-Tyler Hall, Fertile, Minn.; 3. 10-Austin Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 98-Alex Stanford, Chowchilla, Calif.; 5. 0X-Jake O’Neil, Tucson, Ariz.

IMCA Stock Car
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 66Z-Elijah Zevenbergen, Ocheyedan, Iowa.; 2. 9-Eric Mahlik, Green Bay, Wis.; 3. 40-Rob VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.; 4. 20-Joe Flory, Willison, N.D.; 5. 3-Travis Ulmer, Mandan, N.D.

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO (June 26, 2020) – Another 100-plus race teams were checked in on Friday night at Red River Valley Speedway hosted its fourth event of the 2020 season.

Andrew Jochim scored his first career stock car win in his rookie season in thrilling fashion. Jochim, of Glyndon, Minn., moved up to the stock cars after a successful stint in the INEX legends.

“Honestly, I’m speechless,” said Jochim in victory lane. “I didn’t expect a win to come at all this year.”

The race began with a four-wide battle for the lead, a scene that was not uncommon last night as the Red River Valley Speedway track officials had a perfectly prepped racing surface.

Billy Michaelsohn of West Fargo led the opening lap before Tyler McDougall of Hawley, Minn. came from fifth to lead lap two. Jochim worked his way up to second by lap three.

Things heated up on the lap 14 restart, where the leaders again went four-wide for the top spot. McDougall and Jochim emerged as the front runners as they continued a side by side battle for the point. The two drivers raced door to door, lap after lap, trading a little paint as they fought for every inch around the three-eighths-mile oval.

With two to go, the red flag was displayed after a three-wide battle for second went awry as McDougall was spun on the front stretch in front of the field. The end result was eight cars being collected, several of which took big hits on the front straightaway wall. Included in the incident was the stock car points leader, Rick Schulz of Horace, N.D. All drivers were okay.

A green-white-checkered finish concluded the race, but Jochim’s battle was far from over. Coming off the final corner, Jochim received a pair of bumps to the left rear quarter panel from stock car sophomore Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada, Minn. Jochim was able to hang on by a car length to capture the win.

“I’m guessing it didn’t look pretty from the stands. There was a lot of beating and banging out there. You can do that in these cars (compared to the legends) and I’m still getting used to that,” said Jochim.

An impressive 30-car field made up the starting grid for the night’s IMCA modified feature. Early on, it appeared as though that 2017 track champion, Dave Shipley of Argusville, N.D., would cruise to the feature win. Shipley got by pole-sitter and defending track champion, Dylan Goplen of Fargo, on lap 15 of 30 and set sail.

However, the Arneson brothers, Casey and Austin, were working their way up the running order after starting 10th and 11th, respectively. Austin worked his way around Shipley amid lapped traffic with three laps to go.

From there, Austin withstood a challenge from Casey on a green-white-checkered restart to claim his second win of the season at the West Fargo dirt track.

Ryan Restad raced to his second IMCA SportMod feature win of the season. Restad, of West Fargo, moved from the seventh starting position to grab the lead from Austin Veralrud of Barnesville, Minn. on lap eight of 16.

Second and third-place finishers Scott Jacobson of Fargo and Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, N.D., put pressure on Restad in the closing laps, but Restad was able to hang on. Four of the top five finishers started from outside of the first three rows of the original starting lineup.

Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. remained undefeated in the INEX legends division. Wilke worked his way to the lead from the 10th starting spot and cruised to claim his ninth overall win of the season.

Another Detroit Lakes driver has gotten comfortable in KRJB 106.5FM victory lane. Tanner Engen collected his third consecutive IMCA hobby stock feature win in dominating fashion. Engen led 10 of the 12 circuits and won by over a full straightaway.

“It’s been such an amazing year already. We started the year off a little rough, but it’s been more than amazing,” said Engen after the race. “We started pretty deep in the field, but we chased the front and made it work.”

The Lucas Oil POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints made their second appearance of the season at the speedway. Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush, Minn. walked away with the feature win over Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks, Minn.

Racing continues at Red River Valley Speedway on July 10th, featuring the Dakota Classic Modified and Stock Car Tour.

IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature: 1. 10-Austin Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 2. 2A-Casey Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 3. 6D-Dylan Goplen, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 40-Rob VanMil Barnesville, Minn.; 5. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, Fargo, N.D.

IMCA Stock Cars:
A Feature: 1. 21J-Andrew Jochim, Glyndon, Minn.; 2. 52-Brennan Borg, Harwood, N.D.; 3. 18-Mike Anderson Walcott, N.D.; 4. 38-Todd Heinrich, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg, Ada, Minn.

IMCA SportMods:
A Feature: 1. 7R-Ryan Restad, West Fargo, N.D.; 2. 5-Scott Jacobson, Fargo, N.D.; 3. 17-Rich Pavlicek Casselton, N.D.; 4. 40-Chris VanMil Barnesville, Minn.; 5. 6-Austin Veralrud, Barnesville, Minn.

INEX Legends:
A Feature: 1. 72-Tye Wilke, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 2. 58-Sean Johnson, Kindred, N.D.; 3. B1-Brody Carlsrud, Moorhead, Minn.; 4. 20-Alex Braseth, Ulen, Minn.; 5. 5G-Garrison Miller, Fargo, N.D.

Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints:
A Feature: 1. 11-Dexter Dvergsten, Greenbush, Minn.; 2. 93-Kelsi Pederson, East Grand Forks, Minn.; 3. 10A-Alex Truscinski, Greenbush, Minn.; 4. 13-Alan Truscinski, Greenbush, Minn.; 5. 100-Jason Berg, Fargo, N.D.

IMCA Hobby Stocks:
A Feature: 1. 44T-Tanner Engen, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek, Fargo, N.D.; 3. B1-Marvin Priem, Moorhead, Minn.; 4. B2-Brodee Eckerdt, Grand Forks, N.D.; 5. 14-Alyssa White, West Fargo, N.D.