By Mike Spieker
ADA, Minn. (July 16, 2020) – For the first time since 2014, the WISSOTA Modifieds returned to Norman County Raceway. A talent-filled field of 23 Modifieds was checked in, including the NCR’s all-time WISSOTA Modified wins leader, Blake Jegtvig of Hawley, Minn., who has 24 career wins.
NCR’s all-time WISSOTA Midwest Modified wins leader, Travis Saurer of Elizabeth, Minn., with 43 career wins, was also on hand.
Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks, Minn. and Joseph Thomas of Glyndon, Minn. led the field to the green with Strand taking the early lead. Strand, who has won at NCR in a WISSOTA Modified, Midwest Mod, Super Stock, and NLRA Late Model, built up a comfortable lead until fifth-place starter Dan Ebert of Lake Shore, Minn. moved into second on lap five.
Ebert took the point on lap eight of 20, but Strand remained hot on his heels.
Late in the going, Austin Arneson of Fargo, N.D., who was fresh off claiming the Dakota Classic Modified Tour points championship the night before, moved into third and looked to close in on the leader.
Ebert went on to take the win comfortably to claim his first Modified win at NCR and third win overall at the speedway.
In one of the most exciting finishes of the night, Scott Jacobson of Fargo won the Titan Machinery IMCA SportMod feature in thrilling fashion. Ryan Veralrud of Ottertail, Minn. led early before Torey Fischer of West Fargo, N.D. took the point to lead laps five through 10.
Veteran driver, Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, N.D. grabbed the lead from Fischer on lap 10, but Pavlicek quickly had his hands full with Jacobson. Pavlicek and Jacobson were side by side as they took the white flag from the AuctionBlock.com Flagstand.
Heading into the final set of corners, Jacobson dove to the inside of Pavlicek and attempted a slide job off turn four. Jacobson narrowly cleared Pavlicek’s front bumper, but Pavlicek couldn’t slow up in time and made heavy contact with Jacobson on the front straightaway.
The contact sent Jacobson spinning across the finish line backward. Pavlicek narrowly edged out Jacobson’s rear bumper across the line, but NCR officials docked Pavlicek a position for spinning Jacobson.
It was a bizarre photo finish during the IMCA SportMods on Thursday night at Norman County Raceway. Scott Jacobson (5) was awarded the win after being spun out by Rich Pavlicek (17). Photo by Mike Spieker.
That gave Jacobson the win as Pavlicek and Aaron Wetterlin of Moorhead, Minn. rounded out the podium.
Tim Gonska of Brainerd, Minn. picked up his fourth win at NCR in five tries in the Christian Brothers Ford IMCA Hobby Stocks. Things got hairy at the start of the race as pole-sitter Brodee Eckerdt of Grand Forks, N.D. spun in front of the field on lap one. Several cars spun as they tried to avoid the spinning car, but Alyssa White of West Fargo, N.D. received the most damage as she was forced to be taken off the speedway on the back of the wrecker.
Gonska led 11 of the 12 laps en route to the win.
The four-cylinder Hornets made their first appearance at NCR since August 25, 2011. Sixteen drivers made up the starting lineup for their 12-lap main event. Randy Thompson of Lake Park, Minn. picked up the win.
Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. scored his third win in four attempts in the Seedex INEX Legends. Wilke made the pass for the lead, and eventually the win, over Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead, Minn. with three laps to go.
Dexter Dvergsten of Greenbush, Minn. claimed the Lucas Oil POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint feature win. It looked as though second-year Lightning Sprint driver, Bryce Haugeberg of West Fargo, was destined for the win. However, Haugeberg clipped an infield tire in the closing laps which allowed Dvergsten to inherit the lead and take the win.
RESULTS:
WISSOTA Modifieds
A Feature: 1. 60-Dan Ebert[5]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand[2]; 3. 10-Austin Arneson[9]; 4. 6X-Zach Johnson[4]; 5. 21X-Travis Saurer[7]; 6. 85-Jayson Good[13]; 7. 7X-Joseph Thomas[1]; 8. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[10]; 9. 48-Brent Dutenhoffer[8]; 10. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[6]; 11. 7J-Richard Jacobson[12]; 12. 17-Michael Greseth[14]; 13. 84-Michael Johnson[16]; 14. 2-Aaron Holtan[17]; 15. 74-Dustin Wahl[15]; 16. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[11]; 17. 81-Jordan Duray[18]; 18. 1RM-Taylor Grove[21]; 19. (DNF) 57-Michael Tiani[20]; 20. (DNF) 25-Jamie Trautner[3]; 21. (DNF) 88X-Delray Dykstra[19]
Heat 1: 1. 48-Brent Dutenhoffer[1]; 2. 6X-Zach Johnson[3]; 3. 10-Austin Arneson[5]; 4. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[7]; 5. 85-Jayson Good[4]; 6. 84-Michael Johnson[6]; 7. 81-Jordan Duray[2]; 8. 57-Michael Tiani[8]
Heat 2: 1. 7X-Joseph Thomas[1]; 2. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[3]; 3. 60-Dan Ebert[7]; 4. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[2]; 5. 17-Michael Greseth[8]; 6. 2-Aaron Holtan[5]; 7. 88X-Delray Dykstra[6]; 8. (DNF) 1RM-Taylor Grove[4]
Heat 3: 1. 71-Dustin Strand[2]; 2. 25-Jamie Trautner[1]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[3]; 4. 7J-Richard Jacobson[5]; 5. 74-Dustin Wahl[4]
Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints
A Feature: 1. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[4]; 2. 10-Alex Truscinski[2]; 3. 93-Kelsi Pederson[7]; 4. 13-Alan Truscinski[8]; 5. 100-Jason Berg[6]; 6. 51-Cody Swenson[3]; 7. 72-Kate Taves[10]; 8. 24-Jake Haugeberg[5]; 9. (DNF) 22-Bryce Haugeberg[1]; 10. (DNF) 1W-Mark Williams[9]
Heat 1: 1. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[3]; 2. 100-Jason Berg[2]; 3. 1W-Mark Williams[4]; 4. 72-Kate Taves[5]; 5. 24-Jake Haugeberg[1]
Heat 2: 1. 10-Alex Truscinski[2]; 2. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[1]; 3. 93-Kelsi Pederson[3]; 4. 13-Alan Truscinski[4]; 5. 51-Cody Swenson[5]
IMCA Hobby Stocks
A Feature: 1. 5G-Tim Gonska[8]; 2. 33X-Joe Gonska[4]; 3. 31X-Tim Shiek[7]; 4. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[6]; 5. 73-Todd Gettel[5]; 6. 9-Skyla Miller[1]; 7. 2B-Tra Ewalt[9]; 8. 22W-Will Miller[11]; 9. 26-Ken Crane[3]; 10. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[2]; 11. 17-Nick Shumansky[12]; 12. (DNF) 14-Alyssa White[10]
Heat 1: 1. 73-Todd Gettel[4]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek[5]; 3. 26-Ken Crane[3]; 4. 9-Skyla Miller[1]; 5. 2B-Tra Ewalt[6]; 6. (DNF) 22W-Will Miller[2]
Heat 2: 1. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[2]; 2. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[4]; 3. 14-Alyssa White[6]; 4. 33X-Joe Gonska[3]; 5. 5G-Tim Gonska[5]; 6. 17-Nick Shumansky[1]
IMCA SportMods
A Feature: 1. 5-Scott Jacobson[9]; 2. 17-Rich Pavlicek[6]; 3. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin[8]; 4. 9-Torey Fischer[4]; 5. 8J-Luke Johnson[10]; 6. 13C-Paul Colvin[12]; 7. 22-Vince Jegtvig[14]; 8. 15-Matthew Clark[15]; 9. 2X-Brady Moore[1]; 10. 5F-Brandon Ferris[3]; 11. 29S-Greg Schilling[11]; 12. 22M-Landon Maatz[13]; 13. (DNF) E6-Ryan Veralrud[2]; 14. (DNF) 40-Chris VanMil[5]; 15. (DNF) 3X-Andy Wagner[7]
Heat 1: 1. 3X-Andy Wagner[7]; 2. 9-Torey Fischer[5]; 3. 5-Scott Jacobson[8]; 4. 40-Chris VanMil[6]; 5. 5F-Brandon Ferris[3]; 6. 29S-Greg Schilling[2]; 7. 22M-Landon Maatz[1]; 8. (DNF) 15-Matthew Clark[4]
Heat 2: 1. 17-Rich Pavlicek[5]; 2. 8J-Luke Johnson[7]; 3. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin[6]; 4. E6-Ryan Veralrud[2]; 5. 2X-Brady Moore[1]; 6. 13C-Paul Colvin[3]; 7. 22-Vince Jegtvig[4]
INEX Legends
A Feature: 1. 72-Tye Wilke[4]; 2. B1-Brody Carlsrud[2]; 3. 20-Alex Braseth[1]; 4. 29-Ryan Braseth[3]; 5. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse[7]; 6. 2-Ashton Spieker[5]; 7. 19E-Elzetta Bitker[6]
Heat 1: 1. 72-Tye Wilke[6]; 2. 29-Ryan Braseth[5]; 3. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse[7]; 4. B1-Brody Carlsrud[4]; 5. 20-Alex Braseth[3]; 6. 2-Ashton Spieker[2]; 7. 19E-Elzetta Bitker[1]
Hornets
A Feature: 1. 6R-Randy Thompson[2]; 2. 00H-Curtis Huseth[10]; 3. 7B-Zach Besmehn[6]; 4. 00-Kevin Youngquist[5]; 5. 19-Cole Greseth[4]; 6. 9-Levi Lease[7]; 7. 11-Casey Stremick[16]; 8. (DNF) 24G-Chase Golliet[1]; 9. (DNF) 28-John Current[8]; 10. (DNF) 5X-Peyton Edelman[13]; 11. (DNF) 23-Daniel Beckman[3]; 12. (DNF) 77-Daniel Harstad[12]; 13. (DNF) 50M-Brady Molter[15]; 14. (DNS) 5-Russell Novacek; 15. (DNS) 21-Joel Olson; 16. (DNS) 27-Rob Hansen
Heat 1: 1. 7B-Zach Besmehn[4]; 2. 00-Kevin Youngquist[5]; 3. 6R-Randy Thompson[6]; 4. 5-Russell Novacek[2]; 5. (DNF) 5X-Peyton Edelman[1]; 6. (DNF) 50M-Brady Molter[3]
Heat 2: 1. 9-Levi Lease[3]; 2. 23-Daniel Beckman[1]; 3. 24G-Chase Golliet[4]; 4. 00H-Curtis Huseth[2]
Heat 3: 1. 28-John Current[5]; 2. 19-Cole Greseth[2]; 3. (DNF) 27-Rob Hansen[1]; 4. (DNF) 77-Daniel Harstad[3]; 5. (DNF) 21-Joel Olson[4]