Rain produces a fast track at RCS and some late-night racing

Aug. 12—GRAND FORKS — It's tough to win any feature at River Cities Speedway on a normal night.

But when Mother Nature throws a curve into the mix, it makes it a lot tougher.

Roughly a quarter-inch of rain hit the track an hour into Friday night's program, making for a faster-than-usual track and a late night of racing as The Bullring hosted the POWERi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint nationals — an event that drew 40 cars from Quebec to southern California.

In the end, Mike Neau of Pleasant Prairie, Wis., won the 25-lap lightning sprint feature, holding off Colorado driver Johnny Boos by 1.782 seconds on a track that grew increasingly faster as the night wore on.

"It was hammer down for 25 laps," said Neau.

After the rain hit, track officials dug up the track and cars from every class and track equipment packed it in. In all, racing was delayed for roughly 90 minutes. The program ended just before midnight.

Neau started on the front row and never lost speed. He posted the fastest lap time of 11.419 seconds on Lap 21. That speed rivals that of lap times posted by the World of Outlaws when the country's top sprint car circuit stops at RCS each season.

For Neau, the trip to Grand Forks was worth it.

"I figured this would be a good opportunity to see how we stack up against the best," he said.

Boos also was appreciative of the track and how officials decided to forge ahead with the program after the rain.

"I was holding on for dear life," said Boos. "This was a bad-fast track."

Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes was third, followed by Alex Truscinski of Greenbush and West Fargo's Bryce Haugeberg, who has raced some national ARCA races this season.

The four-event Minn-Kota nationals opened Thursday night at the Devils Lake Speedway and will race Saturday, Aug., 12 in Greenbush before closing out the series Sunday, Aug., 13 at the Buffalo River Speedway in Glyndon, Minn.

In a wild late-model feature, a regular winner at RCS — Dustin Strand — was somewhat a surprise winner in the 20-lap event.

Matthew Jarvis and John Seng battled for the lead much of the race. But a pileup on a late restart knocked Jarvis out of contention. And on another restart with three circuits left, Strand stormed from fourth to first to take his fourth win of the season at RCS.

"I figured we were going to be a fourth- or fifth-place car, just because there wasn't a lot of passing," said Strand. "We got lucky at the end. It was a fast track but it wasn't bumpy. There just wasn't a lot of passing. It was a race of attrition."

Strand was fast at the end, too, turning in the feature's top lap time of 11.464 seconds, that coming on lap 19.

Seng finished second, followed by Brody Troftgruben, Tom Corcoran and Brad Seng.

In a strange 20-lap streets feature, Kyle Anderson took the win. But he spent a portion of his Victory Lane speech apologizing for the win.

Late in the race, Anderson bumped leader James Meagher from behind. That cost Meagher the lead and gave Anderson the top spot.

It wasn't the way the Jamestown driver wanted to win the race.

"If I got into him, I apologize," said Anderson. "Those who see me race know that I don't race like that. It was one of my worst wins ever."

Tucker Pederson finished second, followed by Meagher. Anderson edged Pederson by 0.377 seconds.

Austin Hunter won the Midwest modified feature, capturing the lead with 10 laps to go.

Jory Berg was second, 1.316 seconds off the pace.

River Cities Speedway

Friday's results

Streets

First heat — 1. Weston Ramsurd, 2. Tucker Pederson, 3. Chris Ekren

Second heat — 1. Greg Jose, 2. Seth Klostreich, 3. Jay Schlotfeldt

Third heat —1 . Trey Hess, 2. Josh Barker, 3 James Meagher.

Feautre — 1. Kyle Anderson, 2. Pederson, 3. Meagher, 4. Barker, 5. Shane Swenson

Midwest modifieds

First heat — 1. Taylor Jacobson, 2. Austin Hunter, 3. Kevin Gagnon

Second heat — 1. Jason Halverson, 2. Jory Berg, 3. Chris Edmonds

Feature —1. Hunter, 2. Berg, 3, Joseph LaValley, 4. Gagnon, 5.Ryne Ulrich

Late models

First heat — 1 Jesse Teunis, 2. Tom Corcoran, 3, Matthew Jarvis

Second heat — 1. Brandon Fuller, 2. Brody Troftgruben, 3. Shane Edginton

Third heat — 1. Dustin Strand, 2. Brad Seng, 3. John Seng

Feature — 1. Strand, 2. John Seng, 3. Troftgruben, 4. Corcoran, 5. Brad Seng

Lightning sprints

First heat — 1. Jesse Fernandez, 2. Mark Williams, 3. Jeremy Lafleur

Second heat — 1. Grant Sexton, 2. Mike Neau, 3. Kelsi Pederson

Third heat — 1. Bryce Haugeberg, 2. Alex Truscinski, 3. Dylan Langevin

Fourth heat — 1. Weston Olson, 2. Alex Therrien, 3. Stephan St.-Laurant

Pole dash — 1. Neau, 2. Grant Sexton, 3. Matthew Taves

B main 1 — 1. Eric Solberg, 2. Dexter Dvergsten, 3. Loki Bjerke

B main 2 — 1. Chris Crowder, 2. Josiah King, 3. B.J. Sauer

Feature — 1. Neau, 2. Johnny Boos, 3. Matthew Taves, 4. Alex Truscinski, 5. Haugeberg