Competing against one of the country's top drivers nearly every week, Bob Martin doesn't care how he wins a sprint feature at River Cities Speedway.
The bottom line is all that counts.
And Friday night was a profitable one for Martin, who won the first of two sprint features before an estimated crowd of 3,000 fans on a rare pleasant night for racing.
Mark Dobmeier -- the top driver at RCS who also is competitive on the national scene -- was leading Martin with five laps to go before the East Grand Forks driver received a big break.
Dobmeier, who passed Martin for the lead seven laps earlier, flew off Turn 1 after making contact with a lapped car.
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That opened the door for Martin, who held off Wade Nygaard in the final laps to win the 25-lap feature.
"Any way you can get them, that's all that matters," Martin said. "It's not my fault Mark ran off the track. You just capitalize on other people's misfortune."
RCS ran double sprint features Friday night, the first serving as the completion to the track's rain-shortened show June 12.
Dobmeier, however, wasn't scheduled to run at RCS. He was en route to race with the World of Outlaws near Sioux Falls, S.D. Halfway to Sioux Falls, the WoO show was canceled because of rain.
Dobmeier headed back to Grand Forks, arriving just after hot laps.
It wasn't a bad night, however, for the driver of the No. 13 sprint.
Dobmeier won the second feature, winning off the pole to claim the track's mid-season championship.
Dobmeier led all 25 laps but had to work his way through heavy lapped traffic a number of times. He ran the high side most of the race.
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Nygaard again finished second, followed by Martin.
"A win and a third, that's a good night," Martin said. "It's sure a lot better than ending up in the fence."
During the June 12 show at RCS, Martin was involved in one of the track's nastiest accidents in years. His airborne sprint ripped apart a 30-foot section of the grandstand fence. His car was destroyed but neither he nor any fans were seriously hurt.
In the first feature, Dobmeier was attempting to clear lapped cars high on Turn 1 when he made contact with Thomas Kennedy's car, ending his bid to remain unbeaten in regular RCS shows.
"Lapped cars were interesting," Dobmeier said. "I'll put it that way. Some drivers need a little more experience."
The crash wrecked the front end and fuel tank on Dobmeier's car.
"The crew really worked hard to get it back together," Dobmeier said. "We barely made it back (for the second feature)."
Dobmeier said racing conditions were ideal.
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"The track was awesome," he said.
Dobmeier lost only one regular-season feature last year. He has won four of the five regular-season RCS shows this season. Last month, he said he wouldn't go through the regular season at RCS undefeated.
"I didn't lie," he said.
A season-high 27 sprints were on hand. There was another scary moment during a heat race. The right rear tire of Chris Shirek's sprint sailed high into the stands. No one, however, was hurt.
In the late model feature, Brad Seng turned in another dominating performance.
The Grand Forks driver started on the pole and led all 20 laps to win his second straight RCS feature.
Joey Pederson was second, followed by Troy Schill, Tom Corcoran and Steve Anderson.
In the Midwest modifieds, Dustin Strand took the 18-lap feature. Strand passed Aaron Olson for the lead with 14 laps to go and wasn't threatened the rest of the way.
Bryan LePier finished second, followed by Olson.
Steffen Snare won another streets feature. The Hallock, Minn., driver, led the entire way and was followed by Joe Potter and Tyson Anderson.
