By Mike Spieker
ADA, Minn. (August 6, 2020) – The Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprint Cars made their first and only visit of the season to Norman County Raceway on Thursday night with seventeen 410 cubic inch winged machines checked in for action.
East Grand Forks, Minnesota’s Nick Omdahl won the 25-lap feature, presented by Norman County Implement. Brenden Wilde of Thief River Falls, Minn. jumped out to the early lead from the pole position with Tim Estenson, who is no stranger to victory lane at NCR, riding in second.
On lap seven, Omdahl found his groove as he moved past both Estenson and Wilde to take the lead on lap eight.
Omdahl felt pressure from Brendan Mullen of Grand Forks, N.D., winner of two of the last three NOSA events, and Jade Hastings of Grand Forks, NOSA series point leader, in the second half of the event. However, Omdahl went on to lead the final 13 laps to collect his ninth career win.
“Starting up front was huge,” admitted Omdahl after the race, who started on the outside of the front row. “We haven’t had any luck lately. We’ve been fast, but we always seem to start in the back. I got nervous on one restart when Mullen got next to me. We ended up making contact and I feel bad for that. But I knew as long as I hit my marks, I’d be okay.”
NOSA points leader Jade Hastings raced to a second-place finish on Thursday night at Norman County Raceway. Photo by Mike Spieker.
The contact between Omdahl and Mullen on the front straightaway ended Mullen’s bid at a podium finish as it wrecked the front end on the 17-year-old’s No. 11M.
The win for Omdahl came just five days after he went for a nasty tumble after the checkered flag on Saturday night in Mandan, N.D.
“It was a huge effort,” said Omdahl of what it took to be ready for Thursday’s event at NCR. “My dad worked all week getting this thing ready. He pretty much rebuilt this car himself while I was at work. Ricky, Alex, Kenny, they are there helping out every week too. It’s a team effort for sure.”
The race was brought to a halt on lap 10 when Wilde and Jack Croaker made contact in turn two. The end result was Croaker going for a wild series of end-over-end flips before coming to rest on all four wheels. Both drivers were okay. Croaker’s car was destroyed, while Wilde was able to continue.
Nick Omdahl celebrates his first career Norman County Raceway win in KRJB 106.5FM Victory Lane. Photo by Mike Spieker.
Hastings and 17th place starter Wade Nygaard rounded out the top three at the checkers.
Chris VanMil of Barnesville, Minn. raced to his second win of the season at NCR in the Titan Machinery IMCA SportMods. VanMil started in the fourth position and had to hold off the top two in the point standings, Luke Johnson of Moorhead, Minn. and Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, N.D.
VanMil was able to pull away in the final laps to take the win by 3.5 seconds over Pavlicek, as Johnson rounded out the podium.
Two drivers claimed their fifth win of the season through the first seven events at NCR – Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls, Minn. in the Christian Motors WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes, Minn. in the Seedex INEX Legends. Both drivers started third on the grid in their respective lineups.
Sanders Metal Products-sponsored cars dominated the Norman County Implement IMCA Stock Cars, claiming positions first, second, third and fourth. The win went to Rick Schulz of Horace, N.D. – his second of the season at NCR. Todd Heinrich of Fargo, N.D. finished second, followed by Travis Robertson of Moorhead, Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada and Rob VanMil of Barnesville.
After seven events, the top five drivers in the Stock Car point standings are separated by just four points.
Cory Probst of Brewer, Minn. started 10th and wheeled his way to the Christian Brothers Ford IMCA Hobby Stock feature win. Probst took the lead on lap four and held off point leader Tim Gonska of Brainerd for the win.
Next week at NCR is First Responders Night and Hall of Fame night, presented by Ellingson Water Management.
SUMMARY:
NOSA Sprint Cars
A Feature: 1. 0-Nick Omdahl[3]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings[8]; 3. 9N-Wade Nygaard[17]; 4. 14T-Tim Estenson[5]; 5. 20A-Jordan Adams[14]; 6. 31-Shane Roemeling[2]; 7. 10S-Josh Swangler[16]; 8. 17-Zach Omdahl[13]; 9. 91A-Reed Allex[15]; 10. 35-Brenden Wilde[1]; 11. (DNF) 11M-Brendan Mullen[7]; 12. (DNF) 4-Colton Young[12]; 13. (DNF) 12-Brayden Pengilly[11]; 14. (DNF) 8-Jack Croaker[10]; 15. (DNF) 26-Blake Egeland[9]; 16. (DNF) 2-Tee Young[4]; 17. (DNF) 14-Tom Egeland[6]
Heat 1: 1. 8H-Jade Hastings[3]; 2. 14-Tom Egeland[4]; 3. 35-Brenden Wilde[2]; 4. 26-Blake Egeland[1]; 5. 2-Tee Young[9]; 6. 12-Brayden Pengilly[5]; 7. (DNF) 20A-Jordan Adams[6]; 8. (DNF) 9N-Wade Nygaard[7]; 9. (DNF) 91A-Reed Allex[8]
Heat 2: 1. 11M-Brendan Mullen[3]; 2. 0-Nick Omdahl[1]; 3. 14T-Tim Estenson[5]; 4. 31-Shane Roemeling[6]; 5. 8-Jack Croaker[4]; 6. (DNF) 17-Zach Omdahl[2]; 7. (DNF) 4-Colton Young[8]; 8. (DNF) 10S-Josh Swangler[7]
WISSOTA Midwest Mods
A Feature 1: 1. 2G-Brock Gronwold[3]; 2. 87S-Reise Stenberg[2]; 3. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[1]; 4. 25A-Jesse Aho[5]; 5. 188-Hunter Hougard[9]; 6. 77-Alan Olafson[4]; 7. 18J-Alex Johnson[6]; 8. (DNF) 35-David McIntire[10]; 9. (DNS) 55X-Chris Mack; 10. (DNS) 33-Jeff Nelson
Heat 1: 1. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[3]; 2. 87S-Reise Stenberg[5]; 3. 77-Alan Olafson[8]; 4. 25A-Jesse Aho[9]; 5. 2G-Brock Gronwold[7]; 6. 18J-Alex Johnson[2]; 7. (DNF) 55X-Chris Mack[10]; 8. (DNF) 33-Jeff Nelson[1]; 9. (DNF) 188-Hunter Hougard[4]; 10. (DNS) 35-David McIntire
IMCA Stock Cars
A Feature: 1. 4-Rick Schulz[3]; 2. 38-Todd Heinrich[7]; 3. 10R-Travis Robertson[2]; 4. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[4]; 5. 40-Rob VanMil[5]; 6. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[1]; 7. 28-Norm Olson[6]
Heat 1: 1. 4-Rick Schulz[4]; 2. 40-Rob VanMil[6]; 3. 10R-Travis Robertson[3]; 4. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[1]; 5. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[5]; 6. 28-Norm Olson[7]; 7. (DNF) 38-Todd Heinrich[2]
IMCA Northern SportMods
A Feature: 1. 40-Chris VanMil[4]; 2. 17-Rich Pavlicek[6]; 3. 8J-Luke Johnson[8]; 4. 3X-Andy Wagner[5]; 5. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin[7]; 6. 15-Matthew Clark[2]; 7. 5-Scott Jacobson[9]; 8. 69-Justin Jones[10]; 9. 22-Vince Jegtvig[3]; 10. 13C-Paul Colvin[13]; 11. 9-Torey Fischer[12]; 12. 12T-Brandon Tendeland[1]; 13. 2X-Brady Moore[11]
Heat 1: 1. 15-Matthew Clark[2]; 2. 40-Chris VanMil[4]; 3. 8J-Luke Johnson[6]; 4. 17-Rich Pavlicek[5]; 5. 69-Justin Jones[7]; 6. 2X-Brady Moore[1]; 7. 13C-Paul Colvin[3]
Heat 2: 1. 3X-Andy Wagner[4]; 2. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin[5]; 3. 22-Vince Jegtvig[2]; 4. 5-Scott Jacobson[6]; 5. 12T-Brandon Tendeland[1]; 6. 9-Torey Fischer[3]
IMCA Hobby Stock
A Feature 1: 1. 75C-Cory Probst[10]; 2. 5G-Tim Gonska[7]; 3. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[6]; 4. 26-Ken Crane[1]; 5. 33-Shawn Niemeyer[9]; 6. 31X-Tim Shiek[5]; 7. 22W-Will Miller[11]; 8. 9-Skyla Miller[2]; 9. 2B-Steve Nordhagen[8]; 10. (DNF) 73-Todd Gettel[4]; 11. (DNF) B2-Brodee Eckerdt[3]
Heat 1: 1. 5G-Tim Gonska[4]; 2. 31X-Tim Shiek[3]; 3. 9-Skyla Miller[1]; 4. 33-Shawn Niemeyer[5]; 5. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[2]
Heat 2: 1. 75C-Cory Probst[6]; 2. 3XL-Brad Orvedal[4]; 3. 73-Todd Gettel[3]; 4. 26-Ken Crane[1]; 5. 2B-Steve Nordhagen[5]; 6. (DNF) 22W-Will Miller[2]
INEX Legends
A Feature: 1. 72-Tye Wilke[3]; 2. 14-Kody King[4]; 3. 29-Ryan Braseth[2]; 4. B1-Brody Carlsrud[5]; 5. 20-Alex Braseth[7]; 6. 2-Ashton Spieker[1]; 7. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse[8]; 8. 19E-Elzetta Bitker[6]
Heat 1: 1. 2-Ashton Spieker[2]; 2. 72-Tye Wilke[6]; 3. 29-Ryan Braseth[5]; 4. 14-Kody King[7]; 5. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse[8]; 6. B1-Brody Carlsrud[4]; 7. 19E-Elzetta Bitker[1]; 8. (DNF) 20-Alex Braseth[3]