When the sprints did race at River Cities Speedway on Friday night, it was -- as usual -- entertaining.
But the entertainment didn't last long due to a rash of caution flags -- a lot more than usual at the quarter-mile track.
However, not much changed at the end of the night as Mark Dobmeier won again, overtaking Chris Shirek for the lead out of Turn 4 with 15 laps to go. Dobmeier, who has won every regular night of racing he's attended at RCS this season, cruised home for another win.
A high number of restarts, however, took its toll.
"It was frustrating," Dobmeier said. "You know the fans aren't getting the show they came here for.
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"But there was good racing out there when we got going. Chris jumped out to a nice lead. Wade (Nygaard) and Cory (Mack) both were fast. We were slicing and dicing. But the yellow flag hurt the racing."
Shirek finished second, followed by Dave Glennon, Tom Egeland and Chris Ranten.
For some race teams, a lack of fuel may have been an issue due to the high number of caution flags.
"Fuel wasn't an issue for us," Dobmeier said. "We always put in enough because on this track you never know."
Again, the car count for the sprints was high. There were 27 sprints that checked into the pits. One, however, didn't make it out for the night. During hot laps, Blake Egeland crashed his car hard off Turn 2. He was not hurt.
In the 20-lap late model feature, Joey Pederson started seventh but grabbed the lead with four laps to go.
It was Pederson's third win of the season.
Brad Seng finished second, followed by Dustin Strand, Mike Balcaen and Ricky Weiss.
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Pederson ran the high side of the track while most of the other drivers ran low.
It was a gamble Pederson figured he had to take.
"The bottom seemed to be slowing down and drying out," Pederson said. "I expected Ricky and others to try the top. But I didn't see anybody go up there.
"So I figured if I was going for the win I'd better try the top. There was traction up there but it was rough up there, too. You had to be careful."
Pederson, however, came close to not racing at all.
"I had a difficult time seeing throughout the night," Pederson said. "At work this morning, we had mace training. I got maced. And two hours before the race, I couldn't really see. I didn't know if I'd be able race.
"But my eyes straightened out and were good enough to get around out there. They still hurt a little."
Cole Haugland won the 18-lap Midwest modifieds feature.
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In the streets division, Greg Neumann took the checkered flag.
