By Mike Spieker
ADA, Minn. (June 21, 2018) – The Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Cars made their first of two visits of 2018 to Norman County Raceway Thursday for night two of the Ada Nationals at the Norman County Fair. A capacity crowd was on hand to witness twenty-four 900+ horsepower Sprint Cars take on the high-banked three-eighths-mile oval. Wade Nygaard of Grand Forks raced to his sixth career win at NCR by night’s end in what was a wild Sprint Car main event.
The NOSA Sprints’ traditional four-wide salute to the fans with the Norman County Fair in the background
Nygaard and all-time NOSA wins leader, Mark Dobmeier, led the field to the green flag. Dobmeier grabbed the early lead over Nygaard as Thomas Kennedy slid past Jack Croaker for third. On lap four, Nygaard found some bite around the outside of turns one and two and drove around the outside of Dobmeier for the lead.
Dobmeier fought back on the inside in turn three as the two veteran drivers traded the top spot back and forth. The two swapped slide jobs once more in turns one and two before the caution slowed them on lap five.
The race endured a long green flag stretch around the halfway point as Dobmeier and Nygaard distanced themselves from the rest of the field. Kennedy ran in third until he made contact with a spinning lapped car.
Wade Nygaard (9) and Mark Dobmeier (13) battle for the lead during the NOSA Sprint Car feature
The final caution flew with four laps to go and set up a dramatic finish between NOSA’s two most accomplished drivers. Dobmeier got the jump on the restart and opened up a somewhat comfortable lead over Nygaard, but with two laps remaining, Dobmeier’s Buffalo Wild Wings No. 13 machine suffered a mechanical failure in the rear end, which forced him to pull into the infield. Nygaard inherited the lead coming to the white flag and cruised to the win.
Austin Pierce, who started 21st, got by Nick Omdahl on the final lap to secure the second position.
Wade Nygaard takes the checkers for his sixth win at Norman County Raceway
Andy Wagner of Ada has been nearly unstoppable in the Titan Machinery IMCA SportMods in 2018. Coming off a win Wednesday night, he was poised to sweep the week at his home track, but he came up just short.
Brady Moore took the lead at the drop of the green flag, while fourth-row starters, Kelly Jacobson and Wagner began slicing their way through the field. Vince Jegtvig took the lead from Moore on lap three as Taylor Grove moved into second.
With seven to go, Wagner and Jacobson moved into second and third respectively. A caution the following lap put them right behind Jegtvig for the restart. Jacobson took second as the race resumed. He then set his sights on Jegtvig for the lead and took the position after a three-lap battle for the point.
Wagner followed Jacobson into second, but Jacobson was untouchable in the final circuits as he took the win.
The Christian Motors IMCA Hobby Stock feature came down to a pair of Brainerd-area brothers. Tim and Joe Gonska battled for the win in the closing stages of their feature. Tim went on to edge out Joe at the checkers for his fifth overall win of the season.
After finishing second in the Petermann Seeds INEX Legends feature on Wednesday, Tim Estenson found KRJB/KRJM Victory Lane on Thursday. Estenson started fifth on the grid before getting by Tye Wilke and Alex Braseth en route to the win.
Racing continues Thursday, June 28th at Norman County Raceway with Military Appreciation Night.
RESULTS:
NOSA Sprints:
Feature: 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [1]; 2. 2A-Austin Pierce, [21]; 3. 0-Nick Omdahl, [8]; 4. 20A-Jordan Adams, [5]; 5. 13T-Ty Hanten, [7]; 6. 2JR-Kelly Miller, [10]; 7. 8B-Jack Croaker, [4]; 8. 99-Jordan Graham, [9]; 9. 4M-Cale Mack, [16]; 10. 6-Zach Wilde, [14]; 11. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [19]; 12. (DNF) 26-Blake Egeland, [17]; 13. (DNF) 13-Mark Dobmeier, [2]; 14. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling, [11]; 15. (DNF) 24-Jon Sorenson, [13]; 16. (DNF) 1AJ-Trevor Mell, [12]; 17. (DNF) 35-Brenden Wilde, [15]; 18. (DNF) 11M-Brendan Mullen, [18]; 19. (DNF) 14-Tom Egeland, [22]; 20. (DNF) 10TRB-Bob Martin, [20]; 21. (DNF) 4J-Lee Grosz, [3]; 22. (DNF) 22-Tanner Wisk, [23]; (DNS) 8H-Jade Hastings, ; (DQ) 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [6]
Heat 1: 1. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [7]; 2. 99-Jordan Graham, [2]; 3. 1AJ-Trevor Mell, [1]; 4. 2JR-Kelly Miller, [6]; 5. 4M-Cale Mack, [3]; 6. 6-Zach Wilde, [8]; 7. 10TRB-Bob Martin, [5]; 8. (DNF) 22-Tanner Wisk, [4]
Heat 2: 1. 4J-Lee Grosz, [1]; 2. 13-Mark Dobmeier, [3]; 3. 31-Shane Roemeling, [2]; 4. 13T-Ty Hanten, [7]; 5. 35-Brenden Wilde, [4]; 6. (DNF) 24-Jon Sorenson, [8]; 7. (DNF) 2A-Austin Pierce, [6]; 8. (DNF) 14-Tom Egeland, [5]
Heat 3: 1. 20A-Jordan Adams, [2]; 2. 8B-Jack Croaker, [4]; 3. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [5]; 4. 0-Nick Omdahl, [7]; 5. 26-Blake Egeland, [3]; 6. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [1]; 7. 11M-Brendan Mullen, [8]; 8. (DNF) 8H-Jade Hastings, [6]
IMCA SportMods:
Feature: 1. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [7]; 2. 3X-Andy Wagner, [8]; 3. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [6]; 4. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [11]; 5. 1RM-Taylor Grove, [1]; 6. 9-Torey Fischer, [4]; 7. 21K-Kyle Krogh, [10]; 8. 47-Kreig Kasin, [5]; 9. 19D-Noah Metzger, [12]; 10. 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [3]; 11. (DNF) 2X-Brady Moore, [2]; 12. (DNF) 3E-Chris Evoniuk, [9]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 1RM-Taylor Grove, [1]; 2. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [4]; 3. 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [2]; 4. 3E-Chris Evoniuk, [6]; 5. 47-Kreig Kasin, [3]; 6. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [5]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 3X-Andy Wagner, [5]; 2. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [4]; 3. 9-Torey Fischer, [2]; 4. 21K-Kyle Krogh, [6]; 5. 2X-Brady Moore, [1]; 6. (DNF) 19D-Noah Metzger, [3]
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
Feature: 1. 5G-Tim Gonska, [8]; 2. 52X-Joe Gonska, [9]; 3. 106-Eric Novacek, [2]; 4. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [4]; 5. 31X-Tim Shiek, [6]; 6. 73-Todd Gettel, [1]; 7. 11S-William Smith, [3]; 8. 14-Alyssa White, [5]; 9. (DNF) 21X-Tim Smith, [7]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 11S-William Smith, [2]; 2. 52X-Joe Gonska, [5]; 3. 73-Todd Gettel, [1]; 4. 14-Alyssa White, [3]; 5. (DNF) 21X-Tim Smith, [4]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 5G-Tim Gonska, [4]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek, [3]; 3. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [2]; 4. 106-Eric Novacek, [1]
INEX Legends:
Feature: 1. 14T-Tim Estenson, [5]; 2. 72-Tye Wilke, [4]; 3. 20-Alex Braseth, [2]; 4. 5-Dean Julsrud, [8]; 5. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [6]; 6. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [3]; 7. 33-Cody Barthowicz, [9]; 8. 29-Ryan Braseth, [1]; 9. 37H-Michael Hartigan, [7]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 20-Alex Braseth, [2]; 2. 72-Tye Wilke, [6]; 3. 29-Ryan Braseth, [1]; 4. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, [4]; 5. 14T-Tim Estenson, [7]; 6. B1-Brody Carlsrud, [5]; 7. 37H-Michael Hartigan, [8]; 8. (DNF) 5-Dean Julsrud, [3]; 9. (DNF) 33-Cody Barthowicz, [9]