By Mike Spieker
ADA, Minn. (July 9, 2020) – After six years of racing at his home track, Ada’s Kalvin Kesselberg finally scored that elusive first victory. Kesselberg started fifth on the grid for the Norman County Implement IMCA Stock Car feature and worked his way into second by lap two of 15.
Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada scored his first career win at Norman County Raceway on Thursday night. Photo by Mike Spieker
Kesselberg rode behind veteran driver Todd Heinrich of Fargo until the veteran driver made a rare mistake and slid off the top of turns one and two. The slip-up triggered a caution and Kesselberg inherited the lead with two more veteran drivers, Rick Schulz of Horace, N.D., and Rob VanMil of Barnesville, Minn. in tow.
Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada scored his first career win at Norman County Raceway on Thursday night. Photo by Mike Spieker
Kesselberg endured extreme pressure from Schulz in the closing laps. Schulz gave Kesselberg a few taps to the rear bumper on the final lap, trying to push Kesselberg’s No. 11 out of the preferred groove. However, Kesselberg held a steady line down the back straightaway. Schulz pulled along the Ada driver off of turn four, coming to the checkers, but Kesselberg was able to hang on by a half car length for the win.
With the huge crowd in attendance on their feet in applause, Kesselberg revved his engine as he pulled into KRJB/KRJM/KKCQ Victory Lane before celebrating with family and friends.
Kalvin Kesselberg gets a hug from his mom, Barb, in victory lane. Photo by Mike Spieker
“I’ve been chasing this for six years. This is awesome,” said an ecstatic Kesselberg after the race.
The Dakota Cat Modified Shootout attracted a season-high 18 Sanders Metal Products IMCA Modifieds. It looked as though NCR ringer Jesse Rogotzke of Sanborn, Minn. was going to take home the big payday, but a restart at the halfway point of the 20-lapper proved to be the difference.
Casey Arneson of Fargo made a power move around the outside of Rogotzke to take the lead on lap 10. Once out front, Arneson never looked back as he races to his first Norman County Raceway win of the season.
Debuting his brand new Trump 2020 paint scheme, Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls, Minn. dominated the Christians Motors WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature. Gronwold started on the outside of the front row and led every lap to take the win over Jason Strand of Portland, N.D.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. picked up the Seedex INEX Legends feature win. The win was Wilke’s second of the season at NCR and his 11th overall out of 17 races.
Christians Brothers Ford IMCA Hobby Stock point leader, Tim Gonska of Brainerd, Minn. raced to his third win of the season. Joe Gonska of Breezy Point, Minn. held the lead early, but Tim made the pass for the lead, and eventually the win, on lap seven of 12.
Aaron Wetterlin of Moorhead, Minn. led in the early stages of the Titan Machinery IMCA SportMod feature, but was overtaken by fellow Moorhead driver Luke Johnson. Johnson led the final nine laps en route to the win.
Next Thursday night will be a special event as the WISSOTA Modifieds highlight the night’s lineup.
SUMMARY
IMCA Modifieds
A Feature: 1. 2A-Casey Arneson[4]; 2. XXX-Jesse Rogotzke[1]; 3. 72-Dave Shipley[3]; 4. 12-Matt Aukland[9]; 5. 10-Austin Arneson[6]; 6. 40-Rob VanMil[2]; 7. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[11]; 8. 84-Michael Johnson[8]; 9. 442-Aaron Johnson[7]; 10. 88B-Brady Petermann[14]; 11. 5T-Marcus Tomlinson[18]; 12. 60-Tyler Hall[12]; 13. 21-Jamie Schulz[5]; 14. 2*-Cole Babcock[10]; 15. 96-Erv Grossman[13]; 16. 57-Tom Cummings[15]; 17. (DNF) 84X-Joshua Johnson[16]; 18. (DNS) 6D-Dylan Goplen
Heat 1: 1. 10-Austin Arneson[2]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil[6]; 3. 84-Michael Johnson[3]; 4. 21-Jamie Schulz[1]; 5. 96-Erv Grossman[4]; 6. 84X-Joshua Johnson[5]
Heat 2: 1. 12-Matt Aukland[1]; 2. 72-Dave Shipley[3]; 3. 2A-Casey Arneson[5]; 4. XXX-Jesse Rogotzke[4]; 5. 88B-Brady Petermann[2]; 6. 6D-Dylan Goplen[6]
Heat 3: 1. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[3]; 2. 442-Aaron Johnson[4]; 3. 60-Tyler Hall[5]; 4. 2*-Cole Babcock[2]; 5. 57-Tom Cummings[1]; 6. 5T-Marcus Tomlinson[6]
IMCA SportMods
A Feature: 1. 8J-Luke Johnson[8]; 2. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin[5]; 3. 5-Scott Jacobson[6]; 4. 3X-Andy Wagner[16]; 5. 22J-Vince Jegtvig[3]; 6. 13C-Paul Colvin[1]; 7. 9-Torey Fischer[4]; 8. 15-Matthew Clark[13]; 9. 5F-Brandon Ferris[10]; 10. 29S-Greg Schilling[15]; 11. 6-Austin Veralrud[12]; 12. (DNF) 2X-Brady Moore[11]; 13. (DNF) 22-Landon Maatz[14]; 14. (DNF) E6-Ryan Veralrud[2]; 15. (DNF) 17-Rich Pavlicek[9]; 16. (DNF) 40-Chris VanMil[7]
Heat 1: 1. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin[4]; 2. 17-Rich Pavlicek[6]; 3. 40-Chris VanMil[5]; 4. E6-Ryan Veralrud[2]; 5. 9-Torey Fischer[3]; 6. 2X-Brady Moore[1]; 7. 15-Matthew Clark[7]; 8. 29S-Greg Schilling[8]
Heat 2: 1. 5-Scott Jacobson[4]; 2. 8J-Luke Johnson[5]; 3. 13C-Paul Colvin[1]; 4. 22J-Vince Jegtvig[2]; 5. 5F-Brandon Ferris[6]; 6. 6-Austin Veralrud[8]; 7. 22-Landon Maatz[7]; 8. (DNF) 3X-Andy Wagner[3]
IMCA Stock Cars
A Feature: 1. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[5]; 2. 4-Rick Schulz[4]; 3. 40-Rob VanMil[6]; 4. 10R-Travis Robertson[7]; 5. 52-Brennan Borg[10]; 6. 38-Todd Heinrich[3]; 7. 21J-Andrew Jochim[2]; 8. (DNF) 17-Chad Hunteman[9]; 9. (DNF) 76Z-John Sandvig[1]; 10. (DNF) 30A-Adam Goff[8]
Heat 1: 1. 38-Todd Heinrich[2]; 2. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[3]; 3. 10R-Travis Robertson[4]; 4. 17-Chad Hunteman[5]; 5. 76Z-John Sandvig[1]
Heat 2: 1. 4-Rick Schulz[2]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil[3]; 3. 52-Brennan Borg[5]; 4. 21J-Andrew Jochim[1]; 5. 30A-Adam Goff[4]
WISSOTA Midwest Mods:
A Feature 1: 1. 2G-Brock Gronwold[2]; 2. E85-Jason Strand[5]; 3. 69-Justin Jones[4]; 4. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[7]; 5. 87S-Reise Stenberg[6]; 6. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[8]; 7. 33-Jeff Nelson[3]; 8. B33-Brennan Urbach[9]; 9. 68-Joe Henninger[11]; 10. (DNF) 6J-Taylor Jacobson[1]; 11. (DNF) 188-Hunter Hougard[10]
Heat 1: 1. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[2]; 2. E85-Jason Strand[5]; 3. 69-Justin Jones[1]; 4. 6J-Taylor Jacobson[4]; 5. B33-Brennan Urbach[3]
Heat 2: 1. 2G-Brock Gronwold[2]; 2. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[3]; 3. 33-Jeff Nelson[4]; 4. 87S-Reise Stenberg[1]; 5. 188-Hunter Hougard[5]; 6. 68-Joe Henninger[6]
IMCA Hobby Stocks
A Feature: 1. 5G-Tim Gonska[8]; 2. 33X-Joe Gonska[2]; 3. 31X-Tim Shiek[6]; 4. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[7]; 5. 73-Todd Gettel[10]; 6. 26-Ken Crane[9]; 7. 22W-Will Miller[1]; 8. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[4]; 9. (DNF) 2B-Steve Nordhagen[5]; 10. (DNF) 17-Chad Visser[3]; 11. (DNF) 17S-Nick Shumansky[11]; 12. (DNS) 9-Skyla Miller
Heat 1: 1. 2B-Steve Nordhagen[4]; 2. 17-Chad Visser[3]; 3. 22W-Will Miller[2]; 4. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[5]; 5. 26-Ken Crane[6]; 6. 17S-Nick Shumansky[1]
Heat 2: 1. 33X-Joe Gonska[2]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek[4]; 3. 5G-Tim Gonska[5]; 4. 73-Todd Gettel[6]; 5. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[3]; 6. (DNF) 9-Skyla Miller[1]
INEX Legends
A Feature: 1. 72-Tye Wilke[6]; 2. B1-Brody Carlsrud[4]; 3. 29-Ryan Braseth[5]; 4. 20-Alex Braseth[3]; 5. 58-Sean Johnson[7]; 6. 2-Ashton Spieker[2]; 7. 5D8-Dylan Johnson[9]; 8. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse[10]; 9. 8-Ethan Mabus[8]; 10. 19E-Elzetta Bitker[1]
Heat 1: 1. B1-Brody Carlsrud[2]; 2. 20-Alex Braseth[1]; 3. 72-Tye Wilke[3]; 4. 8-Ethan Mabus[4]
Heat 2: 1. 29-Ryan Braseth[3]; 2. 58-Sean Johnson[4]; 3. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse[2]; 4. 2-Ashton Spieker[1]; 5. 5D8-Dylan Johnson[5]; 6. 19E-Elzetta Bitker[6]