By Mike Spieker
ADA, Minn. (August 9, 2018) – The seventh annual Sander’s Metal Products IMCA Modified Challenge Tour came to a close Thursday at Norman County Raceway with a season-high 29 Modifieds. Tyler Peterson captured the opening night win the previous night at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo.
IMCA Modified rookie, Dylan Goplen, showed the way at the drop of the green flag of the $1,300-to-win Modified feature. Goplen had his hands full with Peterson in the early going, but he was able to hold him off.
Third-place starter, Johnny Scott, found his groove on the low side of the speedway in the first 10 laps. After getting by Peterson for second in turn four, Scott, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, took the lead from Goplen at the other end of the speedway in turn two.
Once out front, Scott, who was driving Austin Arneson’s No. 10 machine, never looked back.
Photo: Johnny Scott of Las Cruces, N.M. picked up the Sanders Modified Challenge Tour Win at Norman County Raceway
“When we got going the track was kind of dusty, but once it cleaned off my car just took off,” said Scott in KRJB/KRJM Victory Lane. “We definitely made some improvements from last night for sure. I have to thank the Arnesons for letting me drive this thing this weekend. This is the first time I’ve ever been here and it’s a really nice track.”
Goplen, Peterson, Darin Duffy, and Michael Greseth, who started 12th, rounded out the top five.
Reise Stenberg of Harwood, N.D. raced to the Christian Motors WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature win. Stenberg started fourth on the grid, but moved by Lucas Rodin, Joseph Thomas and Lance Schill en route to taking the lead. While the rest of the pack fought for position, Stenberg checked out.
Stenberg was followed to the checkers by Thomas, Aaron Blacklance, Rodin and Brock Gronwold.
Attrition took a toll on the field during the Christian Brothers Ford IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Just three cars remained in the closing laps, but those three drivers produced the most exciting finish of the evening. Todd Gettle led Tim Shiek and William Smith on the final lap, but Shiek and Smith were closing in. In the final set of turns, they went three-wide for the lead as it came down to a drag race to the finish line. Gettle managed to hold on by less than a tenth of a second for the win.
Luke Johnson picked up his second Titan Machinery IMCA SportMod win in as many nights. The Moorhead driver backed up his win the previous night at Red River Valley Speedway with a convincing victory at Norman County. Johnson took the lead from fifth in the opening laps and held off Paul Colvin for his second win at the speedway this season.
Rick Schulz ran a flawless Norman County Implement IMCA Stock Car feature for his third win of the season. Despite heavy pressure from point leader, Rob VanMil, Schulz ran a steady line around the smooth, dry slick racing surface.
Next Thursday is Back To School Night at Norman County Raceway. Fans are invited to wear their school colors to the races!
RESULTS
IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature: 1. 10-Johnny Scott, [3]; 2. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [1]; 3. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [4]; 4. 19D-Darin Duffy, [5]; 5. 17-Michael Greseth, [12]; 6. 2-Casey Arneson, [7]; 7. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [11]; 8. 99-Cale Arneson, [9]; 9. 99B-Bryce Borgen, [2]; 10. 17P-Rich Pavlicek, [10]; 11. 9-Billy Kendall III, [20]; 12. 84-Michael Johnson, [15]; 13. 88B-Brady Petermann, [24]; 14. 20-Dev Malmlov, [6]; 15. 19-Lucas Rodin, [14]; 16. 15T-Thiesse, Erick, [19]; 17. 4500-Cody Peterson, [23]; 18. 7X-Joseph Thomas, [27]; 19. 12C-Nick Curtis, [26]; 20. 60X-Patrick Brejcha, [22]; 21. (DNF) 22B-Josh Beaulieu, [18]; 22. (DNF) 25-Jamie Trautner, [8]; 23. (DNF) 60-Tyler Hall, [21]; 24. (DNF) 4D-Rob VanMil, [25]; 25. (DNF) 43-Lance Schilling, [29]; 26. (DNF) 43L-Luke Schilling, [16]; 27. (DNF) 12H-Mike Hansen, [13]; 28. (DNF) 7-Dale Kraling, [17]; (DNS) 79-Tony Mack,
Heat 1: 1. 10-Johnny Scott, [2]; 2. 99-Cale Arneson, [4]; 3. 2-Casey Arneson, [1]; 4. 12H-Mike Hansen, [6]; 5. 7-Dale Kraling, [5]; 6. 60-Tyler Hall, [3]; 7. 4D-Rob VanMil, [8]; 8. 43-Lance Schilling, [7]
Heat 2: 1. 17-Michael Greseth, [4]; 2. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [6]; 3. 19D-Darin Duffy, [7]; 4. 19-Lucas Rodin, [3]; 5. 22B-Josh Beaulieu, [1]; 6. 60X-Patrick Brejcha, [5]; 7. 12C-Nick Curtis, [2]
Heat 3: 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, [1]; 2. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [2]; 3. 20-Dev Malmlov, [4]; 4. 84-Michael Johnson, [7]; 5. 15T-Thiesse, Erick, [6]; 6. 4500-Cody Peterson, [3]; 7. (DNF) 7X-Joseph Thomas, [5]
Heat 4: 1. 17P-Rich Pavlicek, [4]; 2. 99B-Bryce Borgen, [1]; 3. 25-Jamie Trautner, [3]; 4. 43L-Luke Schilling, [2]; 5. 9-Billy Kendall III, [7]; 6. 88B-Brady Petermann, [6]; (DNS) 79-Tony Mack,
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
A Feature: 1. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [4]; 2. 7T-Joseph Thomas, [2]; 3. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [6]; 4. 19-Lucas Rodin, [1]; 5. 2G-Brock Gronwold, [8]; 6. 33-Jeff Nelson, [5]; 7. 17-Lance Schill, [3]; 8. 2M-Rob Metzger, [9]; 9. (DNF) 81-Daniel Pederson, [7]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [2]; 2. 33-Jeff Nelson, [1]; 3. 17-Lance Schill, [3]; 4. 19-Lucas Rodin, [7]; 5. 7T-Joseph Thomas, [6]; 6. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [5]; 7. 81-Daniel Pederson, [8]; 8. 2M-Rob Metzger, [9]; 9. (DNF) 2G-Brock Gronwold, [4]
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
A Feature: 1. 73-Todd Gettel, [1]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek, [5]; 3. 11S-William Smith, [2]; 4. (DNF) 14-Alyssa White, [3]; 5. (DNF) 106-Eric Novacek, [4]; 6. (DNF) 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [6]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 14-Alyssa White, [3]; 2. 73-Todd Gettel, [1]; 3. 11S-William Smith, [2]; 4. 106-Eric Novacek, [4]; 5. 31X-Tim Shiek, [6]; 6. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [5]
IMCA SportMods
A Feature: 1. 8J-Luke Johnson, [5]; 2. 13C-Paul Colvin, [2]; 3. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [4]; 4. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [7]; 5. 5-Scott Jacobson, [12]; 6. 24-Kelly Henderson, [9]; 7. 47K-Luke Krogh, [11]; 8. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [8]; 9. 8-Billy Michaelsohn, [14]; 10. 21K-Kyle Krogh, [10]; 11. 47-Kreig Kasin, [3]; 12. 1RM-Taylor Grove, [1]; 13. 48-John Albrecht, [19]; 14. 64-Cole Lewis, [17]; 15. 55-Kenneth Bye, [15]; 16. 3E-Chris Evoniuk, [13]; 17. 3X-Andy Wagner, [6]; 18. (DNF) 9-Torey Fischer, [16]; 19. (DNF) 5T-Matt Talley, [18]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 8J-Luke Johnson, [3]; 2. 47K-Luke Krogh, [5]; 3. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [4]; 4. 5-Scott Jacobson, [7]; 5. 3E-Chris Evoniuk, [1]; 6. 9-Torey Fischer, [2]; 7. (DNF) 48-John Albrecht, [6]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 1RM-Taylor Grove, [1]; 2. 24-Kelly Henderson, [4]; 3. 3X-Andy Wagner, [3]; 4. 47-Kreig Kasin, [2]; 5. 8-Billy Michaelsohn, [6]; 6. 64-Cole Lewis, [5]
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 51-Kelly Jacobson, [3]; 2. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [2]; 3. 21K-Kyle Krogh, [4]; 4. 13C-Paul Colvin, [1]; 5. 55-Kenneth Bye, [5]; 6. 5T-Matt Talley, [6]
IMCA Stock Cars:
A Feature: 1. 4-Rick Schulz, [2]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, [3]; 3. 38-Todd Heinrich, [5]; 4. 21-Tim Church, [1]; 5. 86-Thomas Ahrndt, [7]; 6. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [4]; 7. (DNF) 76Z-John Sandvig, [6]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [4]; 2. 4-Rick Schulz, [2]; 3. 40-Rob VanMil, [3]; 4. 21-Tim Church, [1]; 5. 38-Todd Heinrich, [5]; 6. 76Z-John Sandvig, [6]; 7. 86-Thomas Ahrndt, [7]