Brad Seng’s car was exceptionally fast in his heat race.
He didn’t slow down much when it came time for the night’s big event -- the 15-lap pole dash for the John Seitz Memorial Late Model Invitational 92-lap, $9,200-to-win feature.
Seng won Friday night’s dash at River Cities Speedway, placing him on the pole for Saturday night’s 92-lap feature.
Seng is attempting to become the first three-time winner of the event, now in its 13th season.
“We’ll give it all we got and hopefully put on a good show for the fans,” said Seng. “Hopefully, this event will have a three-time winner.”
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Seng and A.J. Diemel are the only two-time winners of the Seitz -- regarded as one of the top late model events each year in the Upper Midwest. There were 41 late models on hand for the first night of the Seitz.
More than 3,000 fans turned out to watch 170 cars compete in five divisions.
The Seitz feature will have a local flavor at the front. RCS regular Dustin Strand finished second to Seng. Strand had the fastest lap time of 13.828 seconds but finished 2.147 seconds behind Seng.
Midway through the dash, Strand made a strong push to overtake Seng.
After the surge from Strand, Seng said he decided to see if his car had an extra gear. It did.
“I thought, ‘Let’s see what thing has got,’” said Seng. “So I pushed down more on the gas pedal.”
Thomas Weisgram finished third in the dash, followed by Shane Edginton and Aaron Turnbull. Tom Corcoran, who continues his strong late-season showing, finished seventh followed by RCS regular Mike Balcaen.
In Seng’s heat race, the driver of the No. 12 car posted a lap time of 13.696 seconds, roughly a half second faster than anyone in the nine-car field. He won his heat by a whopping 6.300 seconds.
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There were two other features completed Friday night -- NOSA sprints and WISSOTA modifieds.
Austin Pierce captured the 30-lap sprint feature, which also served as a back-row challenge. Six drivers took the option of starting toward the back of the 20-car field.
RCS career win leader Mark Dobmeier, who has won from the back before, started 16th and moved up to seventh before sliding off the track on Lap 17.
Pierce grabbed the lead on a Lap 9 restart and cruised to the win. He also had the fastest lap time at 11.952 seconds. Chris Ranten finished second, 1.036 seconds off the pace.
Jade Hastings, Nick Omdahl and Nick Ranten rounded out the top five.
“I had to get to the front before the track took rubber,” said Pierce. “Even then, it was tricky.”
In the WISSOTA modifieds feature, Tyler Peterson held off Dustin Strand for the 25-lap win. Ward Imrie was third. Throughout the race, all three challenged for the lead at various times.
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River Cities Speedway
Friday’s results
Seitz Memorial
Late models
Dash -- 1. Brad Seng; 2. Dustin Strand; 3. Thomas Weisgram; 4. Shane Edginton; 5. Aaron Turnbull; 6. Pat Doar; 7. Tom Corcoran; 8. Mike Balcaen
Sprints
Feature -- 1. Austin Pierce; 2. Chris Ranten; 3. Jade Hastings; 4. Nick Omdahl; 5. Nick Ranten
Modifieds
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Feature -- 1. Tyler Peterson; 2. Dustin Strand; 3. Ward Imrie; 4. Zach Johnson; 5. Mike Greseth
