Mark Dobmeier has won numerous features at River Cities Speedway over the years. But Dobmeier’s latest win perhaps was his most demanding.
On a rough, heavy track, Dobmeier outlasted Sioux Falls driver Dusty Zomer in the closing laps to win Friday night’s 25-lap feature at The Bullring.
“That was some elbows up, wide-open, all-end racing,” said Dobmeier in Victory Lane. “The track was definitely rough. You were risking everything the whole race. The car was on the edge the whole time.”
Dobmeier and Zomer both were scheduled to race with the National Sprint League in Jacksonville, Ill., on Friday night. But that show was rained out. The week’s rain nearly forced RCS officials to cancel as well, but track officials worked all day to get the quarter-mile race track in shape for the weekly program.
“Hats off to the Speedway for getting the track ready,” said Dobmeier. “I didn’t think we were going to race.”
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But the racing surface was rough and demanding.
Of the 24 cars that started the feature, 15 were still on the track late in the race.
Nick Omdahl set the pace early before Zomer grabbed the lead at the flagstand on Lap 9. Zomer held the top spot until Dobmeier, as he has done in nearly every RCS feature he has won, took advantage of lapped traffic.
Dobmeier slipped past Zomer on Lap 20. From there, he had just enough to hang on.
With two laps to go, however, Zomer nearly caught a break.
“I got the car sideways and I rode a wheelie down the backstretch,” said Dobmeier. “But it was a good, exciting race. I knew Dusty would be strong the whole race. I knew I had to get him in lapped cars and run like a scared chicken once I got by him.”
The demanding track took its toll throughout the night. The red flag came out three times in the feature and four times for the night.
There were 33 sprints on hand and 96 total cars overall.
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Joey Pederson won the 20-lap late model feature, passing Mike Balcaen on Lap 14. Balcaen started on the pole and ran strong early before Pederson closed the gap.
Once he grabbed the lead, Pederson finished strong.
“I don’t know if we would have gotten Mike if not for the lapped cars,” said Pederson. “We were hanging in there. And it was a demanding track.”
The closest feature of the night came in the streets class.
Ryan Flaten, running a replica 1955 Chevy, edged Jim Geringer by 0.72 of a second.
Flaten started on the pole and led every lap.
Before his interview in Victory Lane, Flaten took the checkered flag and drove around the track with it, just like was the custom for feature winners years ago.
“I wanted that one so bad because of all the work I put into the car,” said Flaten.
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In the Midwest modifieds feature, Rick Hamel took the checkered flag. Cole Haugland finished second.
