Fast from the start

On the first lap of his heat race, it was apparent Thomas Kennedy would be the driver to beat in the ensuing sprint feature.

And the Winnipeg driver indeed had the top car Friday night at River Cities Speedway, where he led from start to finish in picking up the 25-lap main event.

He was cruising most of the race until the final lap when Austin Pierce made a late charge. Pierce nearly was side-by-side with Kennedy going into Turn 2. But Kennedy still had a burst in his blue No. 21K sprint and managed to hold on.

Kennedy won by 1.086 seconds over Pierce. Mitch Mack finished third, followed by Wade Nygaard and Bob Martin.

"With three to go I saw Austin start to get underneath me," said Kennedy. "I knew I had to get going."

In his heat race, Kennedy turned in a dominating performance. He lapped the field and turned a top lap time of 10.819 seconds (99.824 mph)

To make matters worse for the rest of the field, Kennedy also started on the front row of the feature.

"We didn't make many changes from the heat race to the feature," said Kennedy. "We just changed some stagger.

"Lapped traffic played a big part in the race. We were lucky to get through it."

Kennedy won't be regular at The Bullring this season. He does plan to race in Grand Forks from time to time but will concentrate on 360 shows in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.

In the feature, Kennedy was the only driver to turn a sub-12 second lap. His top time was 11.950 seconds (90.377 mph)

Brad Seng captured the 20-lap late model feature, holding off a late charge from Mike Balcaen. Seng won by 0.166 seconds. Joey Pederson finished third, followed by Ryan Corbett and Shane Edginton.

Seng took the lead from Tom Corcoran out of Turn 4 with 14 laps to go.

A late yellow in the closing laps did close the field but Seng still managed to hang on.

"I didn't need that last yellow," said Seng. "Every time there was a yellow, it seemed like someone different was in second. I was wondering where was the fast lane."

But Seng raced his No. 12 late model hard on the top and on the bottom in picking up the win.

Lance Schill won the 18-lap Midwest modifieds feature, beating Nate Reynolds by 2.015 seconds. Rick Hamel, who won last week's opener, was third.

In the streets feature, Daniel Aberle picked up the checkered flag, holding off Ryan Johnson by 0.333 seconds.