It’s early in the race season. Only three nights of racing have been held at River Cities Speedway but it’s clear there is no clear-cut favorite to win the late model season points title.
But that’s the way it’s been for the past few seasons.
Brad Seng, Joey Pederson and Ricky Weiss captured the first three late model features of the season.
“And we haven’t ever heard from guys like Dustin Strand and Mike Balcaen yet,” said Seng. “The whole field is capable of winning on a Friday night.”
A regular night of racing is planned Friday at RCS, where a field of roughly 20 late models is expected.
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Seng and Pederson are tied for the season points lead as each has 156 points. Strand and Zach Naastad are 12 points off the pace while Steffen Snare is in fifth, 16 points behind.
It’s way too early, however, to worry about points.
Instead, drivers are now focused on consistency in perhaps the most competitive of the four classes the run weekly at the The Bullring.
“If you’re going to be in the points battle, you have to be running on Lap 20,” said Seng, a past RCS champion. “You could have the fastest car all year but if you have one DNF (did not finish), you could be fifth in points.
“That’s how close the field is here.”
Seng won on opening night at RCS. But he finished seventh two weeks ago and fifth last week.
“We’re running a new tire this year and I haven’t figured it out yet at RCS,” said Seng.
But Seng did pull off a big win last Saturday at Viking Speedway in Alexandria, Minn., winning a feature that included some of the top drivers in the Upper Midwest.
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The car count for late models at RCS this season has been strong. Last week, there were 24 lates on hand.
It’s expected, however, the field of lates will be approximately 20 each week.
And consistency will be the name of the game all season.
“It’ll go right down to the wire again,” said Seng. “Whoever finishes the most races will be in the hunt at the end of the year.”
