8-13 Page 25 | ATD Racing News

Strand starts eighth in two features and stumps rivals in both as he races to Late Model and Modified wins at River Cities Speedway

By Steven Young

GRAND FORKS, MN (August 9) - Dustin Strand started eighth in both the WISSOTA Modified and Late Model features and won both 20-lap races, stretching his personal Late Model feature win streak to seven to highlight WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action at River Cities Speedway Friday night. Reise Stenberg also remained hot in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods, as he won his second feature in as many weeks at the speedway. Greg Jose kicked off the night by winning the WISSOTA Street Stock feature, his second of the season at the Bullring.

Nate Reynolds and John Seng paced the field to start the WISSOTA Late Model feature. Seng led the opening lap of the 20-lapper while Joey Pederson moved into second. Pederson moved to Seng's inside coming off turn two on lap two, but Seng held on to the top spot.

Eighth-starter Dustin Strand already cut his disadvantage in half as he moved into fourth from eighth. Strand moved to the outside of Shane Edginton as Pederson executed a perfect slide job on Seng to take the lead at the end of the third lap.

Edginton and Strand moved their way past Seng as well, with Strand moving to Edginton's outside and eventually taking the runner-up spot.

Pederson started working lapped traffic on lap eight, which allowed Strand to close to within five car lengths. The lap before the halfway mark, Strand moved to the inside of Pederson for the first time. Pederson had to abandon the top to clear a lapped car, but he held on to the lead.

Strand continued to pull even at various points as the leaders raced through lapped traffic. With nine to go, Edginton had reeled the leaders back in and they went three-wide with eight to go in a battle for the top spot before the first caution of the race cleared the air for Pederson.

Edginton briefly took second from Strand on the restart, and moved in to duck to the inside of Pederson, though the latter held the lead on the first lap following the caution. The top three again went three-wide in turn two with seven to go.

Pederson again held the top spot as Strand regained second and picked up where he left off before the caution, going door to door with Pederson in each corner with six to go.

Pederson cleared Strand by nearly 10 car lengths before the final caution of the race set up a green, white, checkered finish. The lead duo again went side by side on the restart, with Strand going for a slide job in turns three and four before the field took the white flag.

Pederson beat him back to the line, but Strand again slid Pederson coming off of turn two and then protected the inside in turns three and four to grab the checkered flag for his seventh straight Late Model win overall.

Pederson was second with Edginton third, John Seng fourth, and Brody Troftgruben fifth.

Davey Mills and Jordan Duray made up the front row for the start of the 20-lap WISSOTA Modified feature. Mills led the opening lap, but Duray remained close in second. After fighting off a hard-charging Josh Beaulieu during the opening lap, Duray moved back to the outside of Mills on the third lap and the pair remained side by side for a number of laps early in the race.

A little farther back in the pack, eighth-starter Strand moved to the inside of Preston Carr, working the bottom side of the track in a bid to move into the top five, which he did on lap seven. At this point, Beaulieu made it a three-car battle for the lead.

Beaulieu took second on lap eight and then pulled to the inside of Mills coming off of turn four to complete the eighth lap and became the new leader. By then, Strand moved to the top side and moved past Ward Imrie.

At that point, it was a five-car battle for the top spot with Strand going three-wide through the middle of Beaulieu and Mills - first in turns one and two, and then again in turn four - to take second with nine to go; Strand took the lead one lap later.

Ward Imrie continued to make up ground in the closing laps, first getting past Beaulieu for third, and then challenging Mills for second as Strand continued on to win by a straightaway ahead of Mills, Imrie, Beaulieu, and Duray.

Nate Raasakka and Reise Stenberg led the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Mod featured at the start. Stenberg picked up where he left off last week and took the lead down the backstretch.

Mike Blevins, Sr. took the second spot on lap two and went three wide with Raasakka and Ryan Schow coming off of turn four, with Blevins holding second and Schow moving to third.

Schow then continued to march forward, moving past Blevins for second on the fifth lap as Stenberg pulled away by over half a straightaway. Stenberg caught up to the rear of the field at the midway point and started working lapped traffic.

Stenberg had put five lapped cars and lots of race track between himself and the rest of the field before a caution with five to go. Raasakka and Schow resumed their battle for second as Stenberg continued his leading ways.

Schow eventually pulled away from Raasakka and left him to try to hold on to third a three-car battle with Taylor Jacobson and Matt Schow. Stenberg continued on to win over Ryan Schow, Matt Schow, Taylor Jacobson, and Raasakka.

James Meagher and Chris Ekren led the field to green in the 20-lap WISSOTA Street Stock feature. Greg Jose and Meagher went door to door going into turn three on the initial start, but Meagher got loose and a five-car pileup brought out the first caution of the race.

Once the cleanup was completed, Jose joined Ekren as the new front row and Jose went on to lead the opening lap on the restart. Ekren brought out a caution in turn four on the fourth lap, leaving Austin Dueck and Weston Ramsrud as the new second- and third-place runners.

Ramsrud moved into second on the restart as Trey Hess, who was seventh after the opening lap, made his way into the top three.

Hess was one of the only leaders to be running the top side of the race track near the midway point, but abandoned the top and moved past Ramsrud for a second as Seth Klostreich moved in on Ramsrud for third.

By then, Jose was ahead by nearly a full straightaway before the final caution of the race shortly thereafter. Hess moved in the second on the restart and began to reel in Jose with four to go. Hess pulled even with Jose in turn three and the two went door to door down the frontstretch and into turn one.

Jose held his ground and held onto the lead for the final three laps to score his second win at the Bullring this season over Hess, Klostreich, Ramsrud, and Josh Barker.

Dexter Dvergsten remained undefeated at River Cities in 2024, winning the Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint Nationals feature, his seventh win at the track this season.

Racing action continues Friday night, August 16 featuring the annual School Bus Races. The Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints will return and run double features and will be joined by the WISSOTA Midwest Mods and Street Stocks, as well as the INEX Legends.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[8]; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson[4]; 3. 5E-Shane Edginton[6]; 4. 21S-John Seng[2]; 5. 14-Brody Troftgruben[9]; 6. 12S-Brad Seng[7]; 7. 6R-Nate Reynolds[1]; 8. 27P-Tucker Pederson[10]; 9. E85-Jason Strand[5]; 10. 4C-Brandon Corbett[14]; 11. T 1-Tom Corcoran[13]; 12. 57H-Nathan Higginbotham[11]; 13. 97-Dan McNamee[16]; 14. F9-Brandon Fuller[3]; 15. 42-Matthew Jarvis[15]; 16. (DNF) 17S-Lance Schill[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. F9-Brandon Fuller[2]; 2. 21S-John Seng[4]; 3. 7P-Joey Pederson[8]; 4. 6R-Nate Reynolds[6]; 5. 14-Brody Troftgruben[7]; 6. 57H-Nathan Higginbotham[5]; 7. T 1-Tom Corcoran[9]; 8. 42-Matthew Jarvis[1]; 9. 97-Dan McNamee[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[2]; 2. 5E-Shane Edginton[1]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng[3]; 4. E85-Jason Strand[5]; 5. 27P-Tucker Pederson[6]; 6. 17S-Lance Schill[7]; 7. 4C-Brandon Corbett[4]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[8]; 2. 22-Davey Mills[1]; 3. 10W-Ward Imrie[5]; 4. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[3]; 5. 81-Jordan Duray[2]; 6. 5C-Preston Carr[4]; 7. 1R-Rick Delaine[10]; 8. 74-Dustin Wahl[12]; 9. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[6]; 10. 39-Shawn Teunis[11]; 11. 33-Jeff Nelson[7]; 12. 18P-Tevin Poluyko[14]; 13. 12-Tony Caissie[9]; 14. 27-Chris Unrau[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5C-Preston Carr[1]; 2. 81-Jordan Duray[2]; 3. 10W-Ward Imrie[7]; 4. 22-Davey Mills[3]; 5. 12-Tony Caissie[4]; 6. 39-Shawn Teunis[6]; 7. 27-Chris Unrau[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[1]; 2. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[4]; 3. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[3]; 4. 33-Jeff Nelson[5]; 5. 1R-Rick Delaine[7]; 6. 74-Dustin Wahl[6]; 7. 18P-Tevin Poluyko[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 87S-Reise Stenberg[2]; 2. 28S-Ryan Schow[6]; 3. 2S-Matt Schow[12]; 4. 46J-Taylor Jacobson[4]; 5. 57-Nathan Raasakka[1]; 6. 188-Hunter Hougard[5]; 7. 15M-Glen Manning[11]; 8. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[9]; 9. 44-Austin Hunter[8]; 10. 18XX-Connor Drewry[7]; 11. 39-Jamie Dietzler[17]; 12. 10S-Sam Blevins[15]; 13. 47-Malachi Klassen[10]; 14. 25-Josh Ostenson[16]; 15. 29-Cylen Vargason[21]; 16. 4B-Brandon Rehill[19]; 17. 10X-Matthew Cunha[18]; 18. 15-MaKenna Romuld[13]; 19. 07HD-Jesse Mckuski[14]; 20. 15TRX-Chris Edmonds[20]; 21. (DQ) 10-Michael Blevins Sr[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18XX-Connor Drewry[2]; 2. 28S-Ryan Schow[5]; 3. 46J-Taylor Jacobson[6]; 4. 47-Malachi Klassen[3]; 5. 15-MaKenna Romuld[4]; 6. (DNF) 15TRX-Chris Edmonds[1]; 7. (DNF) 29-Cylen Vargason[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Nathan Raasakka[1]; 2. 10-Michael Blevins Sr[5]; 3. 188-Hunter Hougard[4]; 4. 15M-Glen Manning[6]; 5. 07HD-Jesse Mckuski[3]; 6. 25-Josh Ostenson[7]; 7. 10X-Matthew Cunha[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Hunter[2]; 2. 10JR-Mikey Blevins[1]; 3. 87S-Reise Stenberg[3]; 4. 2S-Matt Schow[7]; 5. 10S-Sam Blevins[6]; 6. 39-Jamie Dietzler[5]; 7. 4B-Brandon Rehill[4]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 28-Greg Jose[3]; 2. 4-Trey Hess[8]; 3. 30-Seth Klostreich[4]; 4. 67-Weston Ramsrud[6]; 5. 99-Josh Barker[10]; 6. 07H-Austin Dueck[11]; 7. 13-Devyn Weleski[12]; 8. 35-John Halvorson[13]; 9. 37-Chris Ekren[2]; 10. 29-Rachael McNamee[14]; 11. 03-Bryce Reimer[15]; 12. 7HD-Stan Dueck[16]; 13. (DNF) 7-James Meagher[1]; 14. (DNF) 17-Nick Shumansky[5]; 15. (DNF) 18-Scotty Messner[7]; 16. (DNF) 34JR-Braden Brauer[9]; 17. (DNS) 49-Rodney Hulst; 18. (DNS) 80HD-Alexander Farr; 19. (DNS) 14-DJ Mcgregor

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Scotty Messner[1]; 2. 67-Weston Ramsrud[3]; 3. 7-James Meagher[2]; 4. 99-Josh Barker[4]; 5. 35-John Halvorson[7]; 6. 7HD-Stan Dueck[5]; 7. (DNF) 14-DJ Mcgregor[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Greg Jose[4]; 2. 4-Trey Hess[5]; 3. 17-Nick Shumansky[2]; 4. 07H-Austin Dueck[1]; 5. 29-Rachael McNamee[3]; 6. (DNF) 80HD-Alexander Farr[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Chris Ekren[1]; 2. 34JR-Braden Brauer[3]; 3. 30-Seth Klostreich[6]; 4. 13-Devyn Weleski[4]; 5. 03-Bryce Reimer[5]; 6. 49-Rodney Hulst[2]

Lightning Sprints:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 11D-Dexter Dvergsten[2]; 2. 72-Kate Taves[3]; 3. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[5]; 4. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[11]; 5. 13-Josiah King[6]; 6. 5-TJ Trengove[9]; 7. 11-Loki Bjerke[16]; 8. 40-Evan Yanish[1]; 9. 21S-BJ Sauer[7]; 10. 24-Jake Haugeberg[19]; 11. 93-Kelsi Pederson[12]; 12. 19S-Travis Surerus[8]; 13. 87-Matthew Taves[21]; 14. 26-Chris Crowder[14]; 15. 8-Brady Heilman[10]; 16. 08-Wesley Van Drunen[13]; 17. 31-Steve Becker[24]; 18. 0-Brendon Cascadden[20]; 19. 2-Troy Ullery[18]; 20. (DNF) 4-Dylan Langevin[22]; 21. (DNF) 21B-Hunter Bugge[17]; 22. (DNF) 74C-Jeff Bard[23]; 23. (DNF) 18-Hayden Koehmstedt[4]; 24. (DNF) 18I-Emmitt Isane[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Josiah King[1]; 2. 19S-Travis Surerus[2]; 3. 8-Brady Heilman[4]; 4. 26-Chris Crowder[5]; 5. 2-Troy Ullery[6]; 6. 24-Jake Haugeberg[8]; 7. 87-Matthew Taves[7]; 8. 31-Steve Becker[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 72-Kate Taves[4]; 2. 11D-Dexter Dvergsten[7]; 3. 11-Loki Bjerke[1]; 4. 18I-Emmitt Isane[5]; 5. 0-Brendon Cascadden[3]; 6. 74C-Jeff Bard[2]; 7. (DNS) 12B-Brad Bjerke

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Hayden Koehmstedt[6]; 2. 40-Evan Yanish[5]; 3. 08-Wesley Van Drunen[3]; 4. 21S-BJ Sauer[7]; 5. 4-Dylan Langevin[1]; 6. 23-Gerald Hatlestad[4]; 7. (DNF) 91-Mike Tindell[2]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[1]; 2. 5-TJ Trengove[2]; 3. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[4]; 4. 93-Kelsi Pederson[6]; 5. 21B-Hunter Bugge[7]; 6. 10-Chasity Younger[5]; 7. 20-Jasmyn Hatlestad[3]

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Matthew Taves[4]; 2. 4-Dylan Langevin; 3. 74C-Jeff Bard[5]; 4. 31-Steve Becker[1]; 5. 23-Gerald Hatlestad[6]; 6. 91-Mike Tindell[2]; 7. 10-Chasity Younger[7]; 8. 20-Jasmyn Hatlestad[3]; 9. (DNS) 12B-Brad Bjerke