Category Archives: NEWS

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.

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – Red River Valley Speedway roared back to life on Friday night as weekly racing continued at the three-eighths-mile oval. The large crowd on hand was treated to big car counts in all racing divisions and a multi-groove racing surface.

Any one of a handful of drivers could have won the IMCA modified feature. The 25-lap main event began with Greg Friestad of Valley City showing the way. On lap three, West Fargo’s Darren Pfau took command of the lead, while a pack of cars battled for position behind him.

In the closing laps, Pfau found himself mired in lapped traffic, which allowed Tyler Hall of Fertile, Minn. to close in. Hall got close enough to put some pressure on Pfau, but couldn’t mount a serious challenge for the lead. Pfau went on to claim his first win of the season and the third of his career at Red River Valley Speedway.

“That was very nerve-wracking,” said Pfau in victory lane. “It’s not very often I lead that many laps. We’ve had some tough luck here the last few weeks so it feels good to get things turned around.”

Hall finished second, followed by Fargo drivers Jesse Skalicky and Casey Arneson. Matt Aukland of Glyndon, Minn. rounded out the top five.

In the featured event of the evening, the IMCA stock cars boasted a 22-car field for the King Pin Klash, presented by The Bowler. Stock car rookie, Keaton Froemke of Glyndon, Minn., led the opening laps before veteran driver Rick Schulz of Horace took the lead on lap five of 25. Once in the lead, Schulz powered out to a big lead with his home-built engine under the hood.

Schulz withstood a restart with eight to go to pick up the win.

“This is an awesome class,” said Schulz of the IMCA stock cars, which, in their third year, are a relatively new class of cars to the speedway. “We’ve got a lot of good drivers in this class and it’s a lot of fun.”

After a rough outing on Thursday night at Norman County Raceway in Ada, Minn., Rich Pavlicek of Casselton rebounded to score the IMCA SportMod win on Friday.

“The motor pretty much blew up at the start of Thursday night’s feature. We stayed up until 3:30 in the morning getting it fixed. My dad pretty much rebuilt the motor and we got everything back together at about 4 o’clock today,” said Pavlicek in victory lane.

Pavlicek made the haul down to Hancock County Speedway in Britt, Iowa for the IMCA SportMod Nationals on Wednesday night. After charging from 21st to finish eighth in the main event, Pavlicek drove through the night to make it back in time for Ada’s races on Thursday.

“We got back from Iowa at about 4:30 in the morning and changed the gears on the car right away so we could be ready for Ada. We are tired,” said Pavlicek with a laugh.

Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. continued his dominance in the INEX legends. The race began with a three-wide battle between Ashton Spieker of Sabin, Minn., Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead, and Joshua Wiest of Jamestown.

Wilke, who started eighth, quickly worked his way forward to take over the point with 10 laps to go. Once out front, he cruised to the win to remain undefeated at Red River Valley Speedway.

For the second week in a row, Tanner Engen of Detroit Lakes claimed the IMCA hobby stock feature win. Engen had to earn it, however. The second-year hobby stock driver worked his way to the lead from the seventh starting position and went on to win by a convincing 4.1 seconds.

RESULTS:

IMCA Stock Cars:
Feature: 1. 4-Rick Schulz, Horace, N.D.; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.; 3. 38-Todd Heinrich, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 10R-Travis Robertson, Moorhead, Minn.; 5. 52-Brennan Borg, Harwood, N.D.

IMCA Modifieds:
Feature: 1. 86C-Darren Pfau, West Fargo, N.D.; 2. 60-Tyler Hall, Fertile, Minn.; 3. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 2A-Casey Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 12-Matt Aukland, Glyndon, Minn.

IMCA SportMods:
Feature: 1. 17-Rich Pavlicek, Casselton, N.D.; 2. 5-Scott Jacobson, Fargo, N.D.; 3. 8J-Luke Johnson, Moorhead, Minn.; 4. 40-Chris VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.; 5. 7R-Ryan Restad, West Fargo, N.D.

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

INEX Legends:
Feature: 1. 72-Tye Wilke, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 2. B1-Brody Carlsrud, Moorhead, Minn.; 3. 14-Kody King, Clear Lake, IA; 4. 5D8-Dylan Johnson, Durbin, N.D.; 5. 58-Sean Johnson, Kindred, N.D.

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – A trio of first-time winners highlighted the second week of racing action on Friday night at Red River Valley Speedway. Brennan Borg in the IMCA stock cars, Kelsi Pederson in the lightning sprints, and Tanner Engen in the IMCA hobby stocks all visited KRJB 106.5FM Victory Lane for the first time in their career.

Second-year IMCA stock car driver Brennan Borg of Harwood dominated the 16-lap feature. Borg charged from the sixth starting position to take the lead on lap three. Borg withstood challenges from Todd Heinrich of Fargo and opening night winner at Norman County Raceway in Ada, Minn., Mike Anderson of Walcott, N.D., on a late-race restart.

Detroit Lakes, Minn. driver Tanner Engen, who is also in his second year in the IMCA hobby stocks, claimed his first career win in convincing fashion.

“We didn’t have the luck last week, but we weren’t going to let that get the best of us,” said Engen after the race. “(That race tonight) was a blast. This is my second year in this class, with a new car. I love it and it’s running great.”

Kelsi Pederson of East Grand Forks, Minn. parked her No. 93 Minn-Kota lighting sprint in Red River Valley Speedway’s victory lane for the first time. Pederson, who is the daughter of veteran late model driver Joey Pederson, bested Alex Truscinski of Greenbush, Minn. after a great battle for the lead.

Pederson ran relatively unchallenged the remainder of the race. After the checkers, the red flag flew when Jason Berg’s machine burst into flames. Red River Valley Speedway officials and the West Fargo Rural Fire Department were quickly on the scene to get Berg out and extinguish the flames.

In the race of the night, Austin Arneson of Fargo stole the IMCA modified win away from Tyler Hall of Fertile, Minn. in the closing laps. Hall, who was in search of his first Red River Valley Speedway win since June 7th of last year, led 18 and a half of the 20 laps before Arneson found his groove in the middle lane of the speedway. Arneson powered his way around the outside of Hall coming to the white flag to claim his 14th career modified win at his home track.

“Later in the race, the top side of the track cleaned off and we got some momentum going,” said Arneson, who now builds his own race cars. “This is still a new car so we are still tweaking on some things and getting a list of notes to get it a little better. The track was awesome tonight.”

After blowing up the motor last week, Ryan Restad of West Fargo grabbed the checkered in the IMCA SportMod feature. Restad started on the pole and led every trip around the three-eighths-mile oval.

Tye Wilke’s strong start to the 2020 season continues. Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn., raced to his fourth win in seven events entered thus far in 2020.

RESULTS:

IMCA Modifieds:
Feature: 1. 10-Austin Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 2. 60-Tyler Hall, Fertile, Minn.; 3. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 9-Billy Kendall III, Baxter, Minn.; 5. 2A-Casey Arneson, Fargo, N.D.

IMCA Stock Cars:
Feature: 1. 52-Brennan Borg, Harwood, N.D.; 2. 38-Todd Heinrich, Fargo, N.D.; 3. 18-Mike Anderson, Walcott, N.D.; 4. 10-Travis Robertson, Moorhead, Minn.; 5. 40-Rob VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.

IMCA SportMods:
Feature: 1. 7R-Ryan Restad, West Fargo, N.D.; 2. 41-Doug Gardner, Glyndon, Minn.; 3. 17-Rich Pavlicek, Moorhead, Minn.; 4. 5-Scott Jacobson, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 40-Chris VanMil, Barnesville, N.D.

Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints
Feature: 1. 93-Kelsi Pederson, East Grand Forks, Minn. 2. 13-Alan Truscinski, Greenbush, Minn.; 3. 22-Bryce Haugeberg, West Fargo, N.D.; 4. 100-Jason Berg, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 11-Dexter Dvergsten, Greenbush, Minn.

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

INEX Legends:
Feature: 1. 72-Tye Wilke, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 2. B1-Brody Carlsrud, Moorhead, Minn.; 3. 29-Ryan Braseth, Ulen, Minn.; 4. 20-Alex Braseth, Ulen, Minn.; 5. 34-Alex Kukowski, Edgelely, N.D.

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – For the 50th time since 1968, Red River Valley Speedway hosted its season opener on Friday night at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. A large, yet socially distant crowd enjoyed a stacked field of competitors that included 104 race teams – the most the speedway has hosted in nearly 10 years.

In recent years, Austin Arenson of Fargo has dominated Red River Valley Speedway’s season openers in the IMCA modified division. Arneson has won each of the last three openers. The only opener he hasn’t won since the speedway reopened in 2016, he didn’t attend – he was racing a national event out of state.

Arneson, fresh off his third career Norman County Raceway season opener win the night before in Ada, Minn., looked to complete the four-peat against a stout field of modifieds from across the upper Midwest. After winning his heat, Arneson drew the 10th starting position for the main event but quickly moved his way forward. A late-race caution set up a green-white-checkered finish. Running second behind Billy Kendall of Baxter, Minn., Arneson lined up in second ahead of his younger brother, Casey Arneson.

Arneson gave Kendall a challenge in the final circuits but came up short at the checkers. The win was Kendall’s first win at the West Fargo dirt track. Kendall has upped his game in recent years. He debuted his homebuilt chassis earlier this season and recently picked up a top 10 finish in Boone, Iowa – arguably one of the most competitive weekly IMCA-sanctioned tracks in the country – before picking up the win on Friday.

Fourteen-year-old Grand Forks driver Brodee Eckerdt stole the show with his IMCA hobby stock feature win. Eckerdt started the race by spinning out on the opening lap, but rebounded to take the lead and cruise to the win. Friday was only Eckerdt’s second time in a hobby stock.

A big field of 20 Northern Renegade non-wing sprints took to the speedway as the nightcap. Ken Hron of Grand Rapids, Minn. led every lap but the last one. As the white flag flew, Hron and Jori Hughes of Tower, Minn. tangled in turn two, giving the lead and the win to 13th-place starter, Jack Berger. Zach Hultstrand of Bismarck, N.D. brought out the red flag after a violent end-over-end flip in turn one. Hultstrand walked away from the incident uninjured.

In what was one of the best battles of the night, Rick Schulz of Horace outdueled defending stock car track champion, Rob VanMil of Barnesville, Minn., in a fight to the finish. Trading the lead lap after lap in the closing stages, Schulz held the advantage in the final laps and held on for the win.

Luke Johnson’s title defense in the IMCA SportMods has gotten off to a great start. The two-time and defending track champion picked up the feature win in convincing fashion. Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. charged from the fifth starting position to lead 11 of the 12 laps in the INEX legends feature and take the win.

Racing continues at Red River Valley Speedway next Friday night with the green flag dropping at 7pm.

RESULTS:

IMCA Modifieds:

Feature – 1. 9-Billy Kendall III, Baxter, Minn.; 2. 10-Austin Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 3. 2A-Casey Arneson, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 442-Aaron Johnson, Brainerd, Minn.; 5. 40-Rob VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.

IMCA Stock Cars:

Feature – 1. 4-Rick Schulz, Horace, N.D.; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.; 3. 10-Travis Robertson, Moorhead, Minn.; 4. 38-Todd Heinrich, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 30A-Adam Goff, Minot, N.D.

IMCA SportMods:

Feature – 1. 8J-Luke Johnson, Moorhead, Minn.; 2. 41-Doug Gardner, Glyndon, Minn.; 3. 6-Austin Veralrud, Barnesville, Minn.; 4. 24-Kelly Henderson, Minot, N.D.; 5. 22-Vince Jegtvig, Dilworth, Minn

IMCA Hobby Stocks:

Feature – 1. B2-Brodee Eckerdt, Grand Forks, N.D.; 2. 14-Alyssa White, West Fargo, N.D.; 3. 31X-Tim Shiek, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 5G-Tim Gonska, Brainerd, Minn.

INEX Legends:

Feature – 1. 72-Tye Wilke, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 2. B1-Brody Carlsrud, Moorhead, Minn.; 3. 29B-Ryan Braseth, Ulen, Minn.; 4. 20-Alex Braseth, Ulen, Minn.; 5. 58-Sean Johnson, Kindred, N.D.

Non-Wing Sprints:

Feature – 19B-Jack Berger, Lake Elmo, Minn.; 2. 15E-Caley Emerson, Grand Rapids, Minn.; 3. 56-Josh Braford, Grand Rapids, Minn.; 4. 101-Paul Schultz, Grand Rapids, Minn.; 5. 4N-Nolan Olmstead, Lakota, N.D.

By Mike Spieker

WEST FARGO – The hard-packed clay oval that sits on the south end of the Red River Valley Fairgrounds became a playground for power on Friday and Saturday as it came back to life after a winter’s dormancy. Red River Valley Speedway kicked off its unofficial start to its 50th season of weekly racing with three separate practice sessions this past weekend for area racers.

Over 75 race teams took to the high-banks of the three-eighths-mile oval to get a feel of the race track, shakedown their new cars, and work on setups for the upcoming season opener.

“Everything went phenomenal. From getting all the drivers signed in, to keeping everybody socially distant, to the racing surface we provided for the drivers,” said Nick Skalicky, chief operating officer for the speedway. “The track stayed together really well for it being the first time we’ve had cars on it since late August. All the drivers seemed really happy with it.”

Extensive measures went into place to comply with state regulations and for the safety of the participants. Some of which included there only being one person allowed in line when signing in at the pit window. Only the driver and one crew member were allowed in the pit area. On a typical race night, a pit crew for a single driver can include but isn’t limited to, around five crew members. Teams were to park at least 20 feet away from each other and crew members were highly encouraged to not leave their pit stall, but if they did, it was highly encouraged to wear a mask. Several other measures were also in place.

As far as when racers and fans can expect a season opener, Skalicky said he his hopeful it will be sooner, rather than later.

“There are a few scenarios that can play out. I really want to host our season opener with fans in attendance. It’s just not viable to do it without them,” he said.

The State of North Dakota’s current guideline for large gatherings allows for up to 50% certificate of occupancy for that room but no more than 250 persons.

“That just won’t work either,” said Skalicky. The speedway averages between 1,000 to 1,500 fans for a weekly Friday night program.

Skalicky said a decision will be made by Monday night or early Tuesday on whether or not the speedway’s season opener will be held this Friday, May 22nd. The season was originally scheduled to begin on Friday, May 1st, but has been on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Back behind the wheel:

Two-time and defending IMCA Sport Mod track champion, Luke Johnson of Moorhead, was excited to be back at the speedway on Friday night, even if it was only for practice.

“The first two sessions we were just out there to turn some laps and shake the car down. After that, we tried some different setups to get the car dialed,” he said. “The track was awesome. It was nice and smooth and perfect for practice.”

Since the track reopened in 2016, Johnson has tallied nine wins in the Sport Mod division, which is tied for the most with current IMCA modified driver, Jesse Skalicky of Fargo. Consistency was key in Johnson’s championship run last year as he collected eight top-five finishes in 12 events in the very competitive Sport Mod class. Johnson’s pair of wins in 2019 were tied for the most in the class, which had eight different winners throughout the course of the season.

“My two track championships are definitely towards the top of my career highlights,” said Johnson. “To get the first one in 2018 was awesome and to be able to back that up last year was even better.”

Johnson will be going for the three-peat in 2020.

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