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Ricky Weiss won all three features contested at River Cities on the John Seitz Memorial weekend.
Dustin Strand won the pole dash, and clinched his third series title with a fourth place run on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Spieker photos.
Dustin Strand won the pole dash, and clinched his third series title with a fourth place run on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Spieker photos.
It was a big weekend for two-time series champion Ricky Weiss, driver of the No. 7 Keewatin Truck Service Bloomquist, as he won all three main events contested during the 12th annual John Seitz Memorial weekend at the River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks.
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Weiss started the weekend by winning the make-up feature that was postponed from August 31st on Friday night, then went on to win the re-scheduled 'Prelude to the Johnny' on Saturday afternoon.
Weiss capped off the three-peat on Saturday night by winning his first Seitz Memorial main event. Weiss' win on Saturday afternoon's Prelude was his 24th series victory, and second of the season, both of which came at River Cities. Weiss and Jeffrey Massingill, driver of the No. 6M JR Motorsports Black Diamond, lead the field to the final green of the NLRA's 21st season. Weiss used the top of the track to take the lead coming out of turn two on the opening circuit. The field cycled around the sun-parched, high-banked, quarter-mile bullring for the first five laps before Jake Redetzke moved the No. 27 Champ Pans MB Custom into final spot on the podium. Redetzke passed Zach Naastad, who was making his season debut with the series in the No. Z17 Q&Z Plumbing and Heating Millenium SRT. |
Ricky Weiss won all three features contested during
Seitz weekend. Speedway Shots photo. Related |
A pair of cautions around the halfway point re-stacked the field in single-file formation due to the bottom being the dominant lane. It was during these caution periods when troubles for Naastad, who was running fourth, ended his Prelude early.
The championship came down to the final restart, as well, as Dustin Strand lined up fourth in the No. 71 Red Headed Rebel Brews Millenium SRT, while Mike Balcaen lined up sixth in the No. 10 Enns Brothers Black Diamond. The pair rolled out for the Prelude separated by just eight points for the series championship.
Weiss continued to lead on the restart, as he was clearly the class of the field, building a three second lead in the final handful of laps after the restart, collecting his second win of the weekend.
The championship came down to the final restart, as well, as Dustin Strand lined up fourth in the No. 71 Red Headed Rebel Brews Millenium SRT, while Mike Balcaen lined up sixth in the No. 10 Enns Brothers Black Diamond. The pair rolled out for the Prelude separated by just eight points for the series championship.
Weiss continued to lead on the restart, as he was clearly the class of the field, building a three second lead in the final handful of laps after the restart, collecting his second win of the weekend.
Massingill finished second, while Redetzke held third for the duration of the race after he passed Naastad early on in the race.
Strand crossed under the checkers in fourth, collecting his third NLRA series title. Shane Edginton rounded out the top five in the No. 4 Performance Auto Victory.
Naastad, Weiss, Massingill, Redetzke, and Ryan Mikkelson, driver of the RealTruck No. 1S, were the heat winners.
Cole Schill won the first B Main in the No. 44 Mid Ag Dispatch MB Custom, while Pat Doar won the second consolation in the No. 11D Polar Industries Rocket XR1.
Jesse Teunis was the hard charger in the main event, as he moved the No. 70 Houde's Excavating MasterSbilt up twelve spots. He finished twelfth after starting 24th. 44 cars registered for the Prelude.
Dustin Strand finished twenty markers ahead of Mike Balcaen for his third series title. Shane Edginton finished third, with Brad Seng fourth in the No. 12S S&S Transport MB Custom, and Troy Schill rounding out the top five with the No. 11 Todd's Electric MasterSbilt.
Brody Troftgruben finished sixth in his second season in the No. 14 Kaz Brothers Construction Rocket, with Jesse Teunis finishing seventh in his rookie season, and Ryan Corbett ending up eighth in the No. C4 Corbett Trucking MasterSbilt.
Bill Mooney finished ninth in the No. 2 Lithia Toyota of Grand Forks MasterSbilt, and Cole Schill rounded out the top ten in the 2018 standings.
Weiss Wins Seitz Memorial
Ricky Weiss in victory lane with his crew and family after winning the Seitz memorial. Mike Spieker photo.
Weiss, Strand, and the rest of the field re-grouped and started preparations for the 12th annual John Seitz Memorial later that evening.
Strand won the 'Go Hard or Go Home' pole dash one evening prior, and rolled out on the pole of the $9,200-to-win, 92 lapper. But during the pace laps and four-wide, missing-man salute, Strand lost a cylinder, and the 71 started billowing smoke shortly thereafter.
Strand and Scott Ward, driver of the No. 37 Boldt Construction Rocket, lead the field to the initial green. Strand and Ward fought door-to-door on the opening round, but it was the latter that lead the first lap.
Shane Edginton and Mike Balcaen made contact on the backstretch on the second round, with Edginton coming to a stop to bring out the first caution. Strand's car started to smoke heavily as the field paced under caution, but he and the rest of the field doubled up for the re-start.
Ricky Weiss took second from Strand on the restart, and began his pursuit of Ward for the lead. Weiss did just that a few rounds later, leading at the conclusion of lap five.
After another caution on lap twelve, the field continued to cycle around before the scheduled fuel stop, but Strand's car finally gave up the ghost on the 22nd lap, just prior to the stop.
On the first post-fuel stop restart, Weiss resumed his lead, with former Seitz winner AJ Diemel in tow in the No. 58 Beltline Body Shop MB Custom, as the pair eventually pulled away from the rest of the field.
As Weiss opened up some ground on Diemel, defending Seitz Memorial winner Don Shaw, driver of the No. 42S Shaw Trucking Victory, new River Cities track record holder Joey Pederson, driver of the No. 7P First Community Credit Union Victory, joined Ward and Massingill in a battle for third through sixth.
A caution on lap 47 set up another double file restart, allowing Diemel to take a strong look at the lead. Using the cushion, Diemel took the point on the 50th circuit as Shaw and Ward battled for third.
Strand won the 'Go Hard or Go Home' pole dash one evening prior, and rolled out on the pole of the $9,200-to-win, 92 lapper. But during the pace laps and four-wide, missing-man salute, Strand lost a cylinder, and the 71 started billowing smoke shortly thereafter.
Strand and Scott Ward, driver of the No. 37 Boldt Construction Rocket, lead the field to the initial green. Strand and Ward fought door-to-door on the opening round, but it was the latter that lead the first lap.
Shane Edginton and Mike Balcaen made contact on the backstretch on the second round, with Edginton coming to a stop to bring out the first caution. Strand's car started to smoke heavily as the field paced under caution, but he and the rest of the field doubled up for the re-start.
Ricky Weiss took second from Strand on the restart, and began his pursuit of Ward for the lead. Weiss did just that a few rounds later, leading at the conclusion of lap five.
After another caution on lap twelve, the field continued to cycle around before the scheduled fuel stop, but Strand's car finally gave up the ghost on the 22nd lap, just prior to the stop.
On the first post-fuel stop restart, Weiss resumed his lead, with former Seitz winner AJ Diemel in tow in the No. 58 Beltline Body Shop MB Custom, as the pair eventually pulled away from the rest of the field.
As Weiss opened up some ground on Diemel, defending Seitz Memorial winner Don Shaw, driver of the No. 42S Shaw Trucking Victory, new River Cities track record holder Joey Pederson, driver of the No. 7P First Community Credit Union Victory, joined Ward and Massingill in a battle for third through sixth.
A caution on lap 47 set up another double file restart, allowing Diemel to take a strong look at the lead. Using the cushion, Diemel took the point on the 50th circuit as Shaw and Ward battled for third.
With 25 laps to go, and the leaders in heavy lapped traffic, Weiss used the top to shoot past Diemel to retake the top spot, as Shaw, who started 16th, moved to within striking distance of defending his Seitz championship.
Ward made it a four way battle for the lead a couple of circuits later, after the lead trio was nearly three wide the lap before Ward caught back up to them.
Shaw shot from the top of four to the bottom of one to execute a perfect slider on Diemel to take the runner-up spot with 18 laps remaining.
Shaw had a couple peeks to the inside of Weiss in the final 15 circuits, but it was Weiss who held on for his first Seitz Memorial championship. Diemel, Ward, and Pederson rounded out the top five.
Some other notable performances by NLRA regulars in the event included Bill Mooney's sixth place run, as he used that final restart on lap 47 to move from 12th to seventh. He went on to pass Massingill for sixth at the checkers.
Cole Schill finished eighth after starting 21st, while Mike Balcaen made it five NLRA regulars inside the top ten with his tenth place finish, joining Weiss, Pederson, Mooney, and Schill as top ten NLRA finishers.
Brody Troftgruben finished twelfth in his first Seitz Memorial feature, while two-time Seitz champion Brad Seng recovered from a roll over in the make-up feature on Friday night to finish 15th.
Travis Robertson, driver of the No. 1R Tires Plus MasterSbilt, rode a dominating performance in the last chance race into the Seitz Memorial, finishing 16th. Jeff Hapala, driver of the No. 16S City Parcel Delivery MasterSbilt by JMR, turned a strong second place run in his qualifying heat into a 19th place finish.
Veterans Tom Corcoran, driver of the No. T1 Forks Finest Auto Body MB Custom, and Troy Schill also made the show, finishing 20th and 22nd respectively.
The NLRA would like to thank Tour Sponsors: Wes' Plumbing, S&S Transport, Performance Auto, Adams Automotive & Machine, White Water Truck Wash, Day Dreams, Grand Forks Subaru/Kia, BOSS Signs & Graphics, Storbakken & Sons Construction, Cartunz, Generous Jerry's/Gold Silver Exchange, A&L Siding, Millar Engines, Todd's Electric, Gateway Cenex, Fastlane Racing Equipment, Q&Z Plumbing, On The Edge, Fargo Forum, Hugo's, Eagles, and Contingency Sponsors: Speedway International Fuel, Hi-Per Flex, Schaeffer's Oil & Lubricants, Hoosier Tire North, and FYE Motorsports Promotion, for their support.
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