By Mike Spieker
ADA, Minn. (August 1, 2019) – The eighth running of the Sanders IMCA Modified Challenge brought in a season-high 26 Modifieds and a packed house to Norman County Raceway on Thursday night.
Last week, it was Austin Arneson who dominated the Dakota Cat IMCA Modified Shootout. This week, his younger brother Casey did the same.
Casey Arneson of Fargo, N.D. claimed Thursday’s Sander’s Modified Challenge win at Norman County Raceway.
Casey, of Fargo, N.D., rolled off from the outside of the front row for the 25-lap feature and clearly was the class of the field. Arneson raced out to a big lead, but things got interesting towards the end of the race. It appeared as though Arneson’s machine was beginning to fade, which allowed John Nord of Enderlin, N.D. to close in.
Arneson’s lead was too big, however, as he held on to claim the $1,250 payday. Nord, Josh Eberhardt of Jamestown, N.D., Rob VanMil of Barnesville, Minn., and 13th place starter, Dale Kraling of Mayville, N.D., rounded out the top five.
Victory Lane photo: Casey Arneson in KRJB 106.5FM Victory Lane with the Sanders family.
“I just went out there and tried to race my own race,” said Arneson in KRJB/KRJM/KKCQ Victory Lane. “I just kept running the high side. I wanted to go to the bottom so bad because it was getting dirtier and dirtier up top, but I just knew I had to stay up there. It was six years ago to today I ran my first ever Modified race here at Norman County so it’s pretty cool to get the win tonight.”
Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls, Minn. picked up the Christian Motors WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds feature win. The key for Blacklance was the restarts as he was able to hold off the pack each and every time. Lucas Rodin of Marion, N.D. raced side by side with Blacklance for several laps in the closing stages. Despite making a few bobbles, Blacklance managed to quickly recover and continue battling with Rodin.
The race came down to a drag race off turn four to the AuctionBlock.com flagstand. At the checkers, Blacklance held on by a mere half car length for his first win at Norman County Raceway this season.
The Christian Brothers Ford IMCA Hobby Stock feature started with a bang as Tim Shiek of Fargo and Alyssa White of West Fargo, N.D. tangled in the opening set of corners. Both cars would resume after the incident and White took the lead after the restart. However, point leader Brad Orvedal of Fargo seemed to have the best handling car and took the lead after lap three and went on to take the checkers.
Scott Jacobson of Fargo took over the lead on lap seven from Vince Jegtvig of Dilworth, Minn. in the Titan Machinery IMCA SportMod feature. From there, fans were treated to an excellent battle between Jacobson and Andy Wagner for the rest of the race, which was filled with slide jobs, crossovers, and bumper taps. In the end, Jacobson was able to keep his momentum up and took home the win in just his second NCR start of the season.
The Norman County Implement IMCA Stock Cars produced another Norman County Raceway classic as two veteran drivers fought for the win. There were clearly two distinct grooves of racing around the three-eighths-mile oval as Rick Schulz of Horace, N.D. ran on the high side and Rob VanMil of Barnesville raced around the infield tire barriers on the inside. Both drivers raced side-by-side for almost the entire race, but Schulz ran an almost flawless race and was able to bring his car to the finish first.
Next week at NCR is Hall of Fame night. The NLSA Lightning Sprints will also be back in town, along with the weekly Thursday Night Thunder divisions. Green flag drops at 7pm.
SUMMARY
IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2A-Casey Arneson, [2]; 2. 98-John Nord, [4]; 3. 2E-Josh Eberhardt,[1]; 4. 4D-Rob VanMil, [7]; 5. 7-Dale Kraling, [13]; 6. 12A-Matt Aukland, [5]; 7. 72-Dave Shipley, [10]; 8. 6Z-Zach Dockter, [3]; 9. XXX-Jesse Rogotzke, [20]; 10. 36-Cody Peterson, [6]; 11. 2*-Don Gumke, [9]; 12. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [16]; 13. 86C-Darren Pfau, [17]; 14. 84-Michael Johnson, [11]; 15. X-Josh Rogotzke, [23]; 16. 60-Tyler Hall, 01:26.177[21]; 17. 33-Allen Kent, [19]; 18. 19-Lucas Rodin, [15]; 19. 12C-Nick Curtis, [22]; 20. 8D-Joseph Thomas, [25]; 21. 119-Chad Bush, [18]; 22. (DNF) 17P-Rich Pavlicek, [12]; 23. (DNF) 6D-Dylan Goplen, [8]; 24. (DNF) 2-Rusty Kollman, [14]; 25. (DNF) 57-Tom Cummings, [26]; (DNS) 51T-Tim Thomas,
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 72-Dave Shipley, [2]; 2. 98-John Nord, [1]; 3. 12A-Matt Aukland, [4]; 4. 7-Dale Kraling, [6]; 5. 86C-Darren Pfau, [7]; 6. 60-Tyler Hall, [3]; 7. 8D-Joseph Thomas, [5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Cody Peterson, [2]; 2. 4D-Rob VanMil, [4]; 3. 17P-Rich Pavlicek, [6]; 4. 2-Rusty Kollman, [5]; 5. 119-Chad Bush, [1]; 6. 12C-Nick Curtis, [3]; 7. 57-Tom Cummings, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 6Z-Zach Dockter, [2]; 2. 6D-Dylan Goplen, [6]; 3. 84-Michael Johnson, [1]; 4. 19-Lucas Rodin, [4]; 5. 33-Allen Kent, [5]; 6. X-Josh Rogotzke, [3]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 2A-Casey Arneson, [4]; 2. 2E-Josh Eberhardt, [3]; 3. 2*-Don Gumke, [1]; 4. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, [6]; 5. XXX-Jesse Rogotzke, [2]; 6. (DNF) 51T-Tim Thomas, [5]
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [2]; 2. 19-Lucas Rodin, [4]; 3. 10-Cole Searing, [6]; 4. 11-Bryan Kakela, [7]; 5. 33-Jeff Nelson, [3]; 6. 25A-Jesse Aho, [8]; 7. 01-Zach Bruer, [1]; 8. TS42-Scott Samuelson, [9]; 9. 81-Daniel Pederson, [10]; 10. (DNF) 87S-Reise Stenberg, [5]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 01-Zach Bruer, [2]; 2. 25A-Jesse Aho, [4]; 3. 19-Lucas Rodin, [3]; 4. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [5]; 5. TS42-Scott Samuelson, [1]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 11-Bryan Kakela, [2]; 2. 33-Jeff Nelson, [1]; 3. 10-Cole Searing, [3]; 4. 5-Aaron Blacklance, [4]; 5. 81-Daniel Pederson, [5]
IMCA SportMods
A Feature (16 Laps): 1. 5-Scott Jacobson, [5]; 2. 3X-Andy Wagner, [8]; 3. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [11]; 4. 8J-Luke Johnson, [9]; 5. 19D-Noah Metzger, [12]; 6. 2X-Brady Moore, [3]; 7. 9-Torey Fischer, [13]; 8. 15-Matthew Clark, [6]; 9. 5F-Brandon Ferris, [7]; 10. (DNF) 22-Vince Jegtvig, [2]; 11. (DNF) 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [10]; 12. (DNF) 29-Greg Schilling, [4]; 13. (DNF) 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [14]; 14. (DNF) 47-Kreig Kasin, [1]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 47-Kreig Kasin, [1]; 2. 8J-Luke Johnson, [7]; 3. 2X-Brady Moore, [2]; 4. 15-Matthew Clark, [4]; 5. 29-Greg Schilling, [3]; 6. 219-Brandon Schmidt, [6]; 7. 9-Torey Fischer, [5]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 5-Scott Jacobson, [3]; 2. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin, [7]; 3. 22-Vince Jegtvig, [1]; 4. 3X-Andy Wagner, [6]; 5. 5F-Brandon Ferris, [4]; 6. 19D-Noah Metzger, [5]; 7. 12T-Brandon Tendeland, [2]
IMCA Stock Cars
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 4-Rick Schulz, [4]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil, [3]; 3. 14-Aaron Olson, [8]; 4. 10-Travis Robertson, [7]; 5. 21-Tim Church, [2]; 6. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg, [6]; 7. 76Z-John Sandvig, [1]; 8. (DNF) 57K-Derrick Kronbach, [5]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 76Z-John Sandvig, [2]; 2. 21-Tim Church, [4]; 3. 40-Rob VanMil, [7]; 4. 10-Travis Robertson, [5]; 5. 14-Aaron Olson, [8]; 6. 4-Rick Schulz, [6]; 7. 57K-Derrick Kronbach, [1]; 8. (DNF) 11-Kalvin Kesselberg, [3]
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
A Feature (10 Laps): 1. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [3]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek, [2]; 3. 22W-Will Miller, [4]; (DQ) 14-Alyssa White, [1]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 31X-Tim Shiek, [2]; 2. 14-Alyssa White, [1]; 3. 3XL-Brad Orvedal, [3]; 4. 22W-Will Miller, [4]