River Cities Speedway: Dobmeier wins from the pole in 25-lap sprint feature

Mark Dobmeier has won more than his share of races at River Cities Speedway.

The Grand Forks driver usually wins the hard way -- coming from the middle or back of the pack to pick up the checkered flag.

He won again Friday night during the RCS season opener. This time, however, the driver of the No. 13 car started on the pole of the 25-lap Outlaw sprint feature.

But that didn't guarantee an easy run for Dobmeier. His latest win may have been one of his most difficult.

"I don't even remember the last time I started on the pole here," Dobmeier said. "It was still tough out there. There were a lot of fast cars."

Dobmeier led all 25 laps but had to survive challenges from Lou Kennedy Jr. and Wade Nygaard.

And he had to handle some heavy lapped traffic throughout the race. Each time Dobmeier approached lapped traffic, Kennedy and Nygaard managed to close the gap.

Once Dobmeier cleared the traffic, however, he regained a relatively safe lead.

Early in the race, Dobmeier and Nygaard got together on the front straightaway, with Nygaard's No. 9 sprint tagging the wall.

"Wade did a slider on me and we both were a little out of shape coming down the straightaway," Dobmeier said. "Neither of us was going to lift."

Dobmeier survived the bump. Nygaard wasn't as fortunate.

"I must have bent something because the car didn't react after that," Nygaard said.

But Nygaard had a much rougher finish.

On the last lap, Dobmeier had the field covered by roughly a straightaway. After Dobmeier took the checkered flag, Nygaard appeared to be in good shape for second. But Nygaard rolled coming out of Turn 4 after hitting a lapped car.

Nygaard was roughly 100 feet from the flag stand when he crashed. "It was a fun race until that happened," Nygaard said. Instead of second place, Nygaard left RCS with a badly damaged race car.

Jason Linnell finished second, followed by Thomas Kennedy, Tom Egeland and Ryan Wilson.

"I was impressed with the track," Dobmeier said. "You could race the top and the bottom. But it was a tough race. It's not as much fun starting up front."

A good starting position helped the winners in the other three RCS features.

Brad Seng started on the outside of the front row and led all 20 laps to win the late model feature.

The Grand Forks driver survived a couple of restarts. Joey Pederson, last season's RCS points champion, nearly passed Seng on one restart, but the Grand Forks driver had enough to hold on.

Howie Schill finished second, followed by Pederson, Doyle Erickson and John Halvorson.

In the Midwest modifieds, Aaron Olson started on the pole and won the 18-lap feature. The Mekinock, N.D., driver managed to hold off Todd Johnson on a couple of restarts.

Johnson finished second, followed by Ryan Schroeder.

Tyson Anderson won the 15-lap street feature. Anderson, who started fourth, used a strong start on the first lap to gain the lead.

He was followed by Joe Potter and Steffen Snare, last season's RCS points champion.