Hastings, Troftgruben tame demanding track in RCS opener
May 11—GRAND FORKS — Jade Hastings won Friday's season opener at River Cities Speedway by a comfortable margin.
But that didn't mean it was an easy drive for the Grand Forks sprint car driver.
Hastings, with a new motor, tamed a demanding race surface at The Bullring and dominated the 25-lap feature — finishing 3.157 seconds ahead of Gage Pulkrabek on a night where drivers had challenges all over the track.
"It was a pretty demanding race track," said Hastings. "I'm not in midseason form so I'll probably be feeling it in the morning."
Hastings had a perfect start to the race season, winning his heat and feature as he had the fastest car on the track. He had the top lap times in his heat (11.404 seconds) and the feature (11.764 seconds).
The reason was his new motor. "This is our first professionally built motor," he said. "We bought it in the offseason and there was a notably change.
"I could go anywhere I wanted on the track."
Austin Pierce, driving Mark Dobmeier's car for the week, finished third, followed by Weston Olson and Jack Croaker.
In the late model feature, Brody Troftgruben also dominated. And he, too, had to wrestle with a challenging track.
"It was a treachorous track," said Troftgruben, who beat Lance Schill to the flagstand by 2.663 seconds.
Lapped traffic came early in the feature for Troftgruben. It got heavy with three laps to go but the driver of the No. 14 car successfully maneuvered the traffic.
Troftgruben won by 2.663 seconds over Lance Schill. Brad Seng finished third, followed by Joey Pederson and Nathan Higginbotham.
"When I got the lead I was running the bottom," said Troftgruben. "It felt good. But each lap exponentially got worse. Once I got to the lapped cars I moved around and found a smooth way through.
"These cars get around here pretty fast. A lot of G forces can wear on a guy."
Three other classes were on the schedule.
Dexter Dvergsten won 13 lightning sprint features last season. The Greenbush, Minn., driver started the 2024 campaign on a high note by dominating the 20-lap lightning sprint feature.
He won by 1.768 seconds and has the fastest lap time of 12.096 seconds. Kate Taves was second followed by Bryce Haugeberg, who has raced in the Menards ARCA series this season.
Austin Hunter captured the Midwest modifieds feature, winning from the front row. Matt Schow was second followed by Jory Berg, Ted Doell and Jamie Dietzler.
Seth Klostreich also started on the front row in the streets feautre and held on for the win.
Klostreich also won last season's first feature at RCS. Cole Greseth was second, followed by Aaron Blacklance, Chris Dudlty and Trey Hess.
River Cities Speedway
Friday's results
Streets
First heat — 1. Seth Klostreich; 2. Trey Hess; 3. John Halvorson
Second heat — 1. Cole Greseth; 2. Chris Dudley; 3. Wes Ramsrud
Feature — 1. Klostrech; 2. Greseth; 3. Aaron Blacklance; 4. Dudley; 5. Hess
Midwest modifieds
First heat — 1. Ted Doell; 2. Jamie Dietzler; 3. Devin Weleski
Second heat — 1. Matt Schow; 2. Reise Stenberg; 3. Lance Schill
Third heat — 1. Chris Edmonds; 2. Jory Berg; 3. Ryan Schow
Feature — 1. Austin Hunter; 2. M. Schow; 3. Berg; 4. Doell; 5. Dietzler
Lightning sprints
First heat — 1. Bryce Haugeberg; 2. Julie Pederson 3. Hayden Koehmstedt
Second heat — 1. Kate Taves; 2. Dexter Dvergsten; 3. Travis Sureus
Feature —1. Dvergsten; 2. K. Taves; 3. Haugeberg; 4. Matthew Taves; 5. Mark Williams
Late models
First heat — 1. Brody Troftgruben; 2. Lance Schwehr; 3. Nathan Higginbotham
Second heat — 1. Dustin Strand; 2. Mike Greseth; 3. Greg Moore
Third heat — 1. Brad Seng; 2. Joey Pederson; 3. Lance Schill
Feautre — 1. Troftgruben; 2. Schill; 3. Seng; 4. Pederson; 5. Higginbotham
Sprints
First heat — 1. Jade Hastings; 2. Nick Omdahl; 2. Jack Croaker
Second heat — 1. Adam Sobolik; 2. Austin Pierce; 3. Brendan Mullen
Feature — 1. Hastings; 2. Gage Pulkrabek; 3. Pierce; 4. Weston Olson; 5. Croaker
