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Strand scores NLRA win at Devils Lake opener; Rodin and Hess also stand out at first 2024 event

By Heather MacDonald

CRARY, ND (May 11) - Devils Lake Speedway opened its doors to the 2024 season in a big way Saturday, May 11, as it played host to the NLRA WISSOTA Late Models as part of its program. Though the track had planned on opening earlier in April, Mother Nature had other plans.

“Some years we get an early start, sometimes we don't,” said promoter and co-owner Nolan Olmstead. “Sometimes we are the first track to open, and sometimes all of us tracks end up opening together."

With fans in the stands and a healthy field in the pits, Dustin Strand came out on top of the NLRA feature, and he was joined in victory lane by WISSOTA Street Stock winner Trey Hess, and WISSOTA Midwest Mod winner Lucas Rodin.

Strand, who started outside the second row in the Late Model feature, slipped past the side-by-side battle for the lead between Steve Anderson and Brody Troftgruben into the top spot on lap two and set sail to the checkered flag, winning the feature by .426 seconds ahead of Shane Edginton. Kevin Robertson improved two spots to complete the podium, while 13th-starter Cole Schill charged into fourth. Cole Babcock was fifth.

Rodin started on the pole of the Midwest Mods and captured the eventual victory after leading the final 10 laps of the 20-lap feature. He had his work cut out for him, as Scott Bintz was the early leader and was out front for a good portion of the race. Rodin was victorious ahead of Bintz and Austin Hunter in the top three. Jory Berg — who spun out halfway through the feature and went to the back — rebounded to fourth, and Jamie Dietzler was fifth.

Trey Hess stormed to the front of the field and never looked back in the Street Stocks, taking the victory ahead of Greg Jose, a stiff battle for third between Seth Klostreich and Jayden Michaelsohn, and Josh Barker.

In the track’s Pure Stock class Kyle Charette was victorious for the first time, getting by veteran Joe Armstrong for the memorable win.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[4]; 2. 5-Shane Edginton[8]; 3. 10-Kevin Robertson[5]; 4. 44-Cole Schill[13]; 5. 2*-Cole Babcock[6]; 6. 4C-Brandon Corbett[11]; 7. 7P-Joey Pederson[14]; 8. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[18]; 9. 50-Ryan Corbett[3]; 10. 27P-Tucker Pederson[15]; 11. 12S-Brad Seng[7]; 12. 9-Steve Anderson[2]; 13. 21S-John Seng[10]; 14. 70-Jesse Teunis[24]; 15. 56-Laine Schwehr[21]; 16. 14M-Greg Moore[23]; 17. 2-Rusty Kollman[12]; 18. 14-Brody Troftgruben[1]; 19. 9R-Erik Robertson[16]; 20. 29K-Ryan Kereluk[17]; 21. 33-Ryan Dahl[20]; 22. 9A-Blake Anderson[19]; 23. (DNF) 8R-Travis Robertson[9]; 24. (DNF) 32-Lindsey Hansen[22]; 25. (DNF) 6R-Nate Reynolds[25]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[1]; 2. 12S-Brad Seng[2]; 3. 8R-Travis Robertson[5]; 4. 44-Cole Schill[7]; 5. 29K-Ryan Kereluk[6]; 6. 56-Laine Schwehr[4]; 7. 70-Jesse Teunis[3]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 9-Steve Anderson[1]; 2. 2*-Cole Babcock[6]; 3. 21S-John Seng[2]; 4. 7P-Joey Pederson[3]; 5. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[4]; 6. 32-Lindsey Hansen[5]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 14-Brody Troftgruben[6]; 2. 10-Kevin Robertson[1]; 3. 4C-Brandon Corbett[2]; 4. 27P-Tucker Pederson[3]; 5. 9A-Blake Anderson[4]; 6. (DNF) 6R-Nate Reynolds[5]

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Shane Edginton[6]; 2. 50-Ryan Corbett[3]; 3. 2-Rusty Kollman[1]; 4. 9R-Erik Robertson[2]; 5. 33-Ryan Dahl[5]; 6. 14M-Greg Moore[4]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 19-Lucas Rodin[1]; 2. 1S-Scott Bintz[2]; 3. 44-Austin Hunter[6]; 4. B0-Jory Berg[7]; 5. 39-Jamie Dietzler[8]; 6. 24X-Ryan Ost[4]; 7. 35-Tanner Theis[3]; 8. 34-Ryne Uhrich[9]; 9. 15-MaKenna Romuld[17]; 10. (DNF) 87-Chris Kruk[5]; 11. (DNF) 5C-Preston Carr[11]; 12. (DNF) 28S-Ryan Schow[10]; 13. (DNF) 29-Cylen Vargason[13]; 14. (DNF) 20-Brayden Kunze[12]; 15. (DNF) 8-Jason Schuh[15]; 16. (DNF) 4H-Garrett Hall[16]; 17. (DNS) 15TRX-Chris Edmonds

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Hunter[2]; 2. 19-Lucas Rodin[6]; 3. 87-Chris Kruk[8]; 4. 24X-Ryan Ost[1]; 5. 34-Ryne Uhrich[3]; 6. 5C-Preston Carr[7]; 7. 29-Cylen Vargason[4]; 8. 8-Jason Schuh[5]; 9. 15-MaKenna Romuld[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. B0-Jory Berg[1]; 2. 1S-Scott Bintz[3]; 3. 39-Jamie Dietzler[6]; 4. 35-Tanner Theis[7]; 5. 28S-Ryan Schow[2]; 6. 20-Brayden Kunze[4]; 7. 15TRX-Chris Edmonds[5]; 8. 4H-Garrett Hall[8]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 4-Trey Hess[4]; 2. 28-Greg Jose[5]; 3. 30-Seth Klostreich[6]; 4. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[2]; 5. 99-Josh Barker[7]; 6. 35-John Halvorson[3]; 7. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[1]; 8. 77-Joe Deede[9]; 9. 77D-Adam Dehne[10]; 10. (DNF) 69-Stoney Kruk[8]; 11. (DNF) 49S-Rodney Hulst[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Trey Hess[4]; 2. B2-Brodee Eckerdt[2]; 3. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[6]; 4. 99-Josh Barker[1]; 5. 77-Joe Deede[3]; 6. 49S-Rodney Hulst[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Greg Jose[1]; 2. 30-Seth Klostreich[5]; 3. 69-Stoney Kruk[2]; 4. 35-John Halvorson[4]; 5. 77D-Adam Dehne[3]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 8-Kyle Charette[3]; 2. 7-Erik Wenstad[1]; 3. 1CJ-Joe Armstrong[5]; 4. 64-Joe Ree[6]; 5. 34-Thayne Harris[2]; 6. 04-Trentin Decoteau[4]; 7. (DNF) 69-Austin Harris[8]; 8. (DNF) 85-Gene Brunelle[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1CJ-Joe Armstrong[3]; 2. 7-Erik Wenstad[2]; 3. 8-Kyle Charette[6]; 4. 04-Trentin Decoteau[7]; 5. 34-Thayne Harris[8]; 6. 64-Joe Ree[5]; 7. 85-Gene Brunelle[4]; 8. 69-Austin Harris[1]