AUTO RACING: Doar holds on to take late model feature

Pat Doar isn't a River Cities Speedway regular. But the New Richmond, Wis., late model driver has been at the quarter-mile bullring enough to know that the track is unique.

"This track is a lot of fun," Doar said. "It's like throwing a bunch of BBs in a salad bowl. Stuff is happening all the time.

"We've been coming up here a long time. And it took us a while to run in the top 5 because this track is different than most animals."

But Doar had the RCS track figured out Friday night, holding off Brad Seng and Joey Pederson to win the 20-lap late model feature in one of the more entertaining races this season.

It was Doar's first visit to RCS this season. And it won't be his last. He expects to race in Grand Forks next Friday night and likely will return next month for the John Seitz Memorial Late Model Invitational -- one of the biggest late model races in the Upper Midwest.

Doar started on the pole and held a comfortable lead early before Seng and Pederson made their charges to the front.

Seng, who started third, grabbed the lead by passing Doar out of Turn 2 on Lap 10. But Doar regained the lead on Lap 13 as the leaders made their way through lapped traffic.

From there, Doar had to hold off both Seng and Pederson, who started 12th.

"We were rolling around the bottom of the track and I was a little loose," Doar said. "I don't like the bottom much. Then Brad was sneaking in there. So I put the car up on the high side and hoped it would stick.

"Your car doesn't have to be perfect here because there are so many different grooves to try."

Seng and Doar are good friends and enjoy racing against each other. On a handful of laps, Seng made a hard charge for the lead out of Turn 2. The Grand Forks driver, however, couldn't quite clear Doar.

"I lost to a seasoned veteran," Seng said. "He has helped my racing career immensely."

Pederson finished third, followed Mike Balcaen and John Kaanta of Elk Mound, Wis.

With the win, Doar also qualified for the Race of Champions at next month's WISSOTA 100 in Huron, S.D.

Rick Pavlicek of Casselton captured the 18-lap Midwest modified feature, which was marred by a multi-car wreck on the first lap.

However, the race was caution-free the rest of the way. Pavlicek, who had some tough luck last week at RCS, led the entire distance as he started on the pole.

It was a long night for Pavlicek, who blew up his main motor at the Norman County Raceway in Ada, Minn., on Thursday night. He went to his backup motor, one that has nearly 400 shows on it.

He said he stayed up until 3:30 a.m. Friday getting the car ready to race at RCS.

Tyler Peterson finished second, followed by Matt Schow.

Aaron BlackLance likely won't win the RCS season points race in the streets division but the Thief River Falls driver won his fourth feature. BlackLance stared on the outside of the front row and dominated.

The race went green to checkered without a caution. Rick Schulz finished second, followed by Ryan Johnson.

The lightning sprints took the place of the regular 410 sprints, which didn't race because of the Knoxville Nationals that are underway in Knoxville, Iowa.

Danny Steinmetz of Detroit Lakes, Minn., won the lightning sprints feature, finishing ahead of Dexter Dvergsten and Trent Stengl.

Steinmetz was in his lightning sprint for only the second time this season.