Andy Pake wins another RCS sprints feature
· Yahoo Sports
Aug. 8—GRAND FORKS — As the race season begins to wind down, Andy Pake is beginning to heat up. And with a fast race car, that's not good news for the rest of the field at River Cities Speedway.
Pake dominated Friday night's 25-lap sprint feature at RCS, winning his second straight race at The Bullring and fourth overall this season.
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The Felton, Minn., driver has won three of the past five features at RCS. On his latest win, he had to fend off a late challenge from Mark Dobmeier as Pake won by 0.879 seconds.
"The key for me tonight was to keep the car straight," said Pake. "There were some bumps and ruts that could catch you off guard every now and then. I just had to try and miss them and stay clean."
Pake started third and grabbed the lead with 18 laps remaining as he passed pole-sitter Zach Omdahl in Turn 4. From there, he managed to stay in the top spot by effectively handling lapped traffic.
On the white flag lap, however, Dobmeier threw his car hard into Turn 1 for a slide job attempt on Pake in Turn 2.
But Pake held on as Dobmeier's slider came up a little short.
The last two laps were concerning for Pake, however.
"I was kind of slowing down a bit because my car was stumbling a bit on fuel," said Pake. "And Mark was real close."
Dobmeier started eighth and steadily worked his way to the front.
"I needed about five more feet to clear a lapped car," said Dobmeier of his last-lap pass attempt. "I couldn't shoot across the bottom. I knew I had a lane to get by Andy but I just needed to get up to him."
Nick Omdahl finished third while Austin Pierce and Weston Olson rounded out the top five.
Dobmeier posted the fastest time in qualifying at 10.602 seconds. Seven cars posted qualifying times of under 11 seconds.
In a 19-car late model field, Shane Edginton took the checkered flag as he led the final 17 laps. He beat Joey Pederson to the flag stand by 0.966 seconds. It was one of Pederson's stronger runs this season at RCS as he started eighth.
Earlier in the evening, Pederson's late wife, Julie, also a racer at RCS, was inducted into the race track's hall of fame along with long-time car owner and sponsor Todd LaHaise, former modified driver Jeannie Kristjanson and former sprint driver and 2009 NOSA champion Bob Martin.
Edginton is having a solid season, winning a half dozen features so far.
"It's been a heck of a year; no complaints," he said.
The race of the night, perhaps, came in the Midwest modified division.
In a near photo finish, Aaron Blacklance edged Kenna Breidenback by 0.046 seconds.
Breidenbach started on the pole and led until the final few feet.
The only yellow flag of the race came with one lap to go, opening the door for the Thief River Falls driver. Blacklance said he needed the yellow flag to have a shot at the win.
"I tried not to lift as best I could," said Blacklance of the final lap. "But the track was so fast and a little choppy getting into the turns. I was actually afraid I was going to roll but luckily kind of slid up the track just a little bit and that opened it up for me on the bottom and I was able to get by her."
It was Blacklance's third win of the season.
In the 20-lap streets feature, Cole Greseth returned to Victory Lane. Last week, he dropped out of the feature with a distributor problem. For the Harwood, N.D., driver, it was his 22nd win of the season in 37 nights at area race tracks.
Blaine Barnes finished second, 3.425 seconds behind Greseth. Greg Jose, John Halvorson and Trey Hess rounded out the top five.
River Cities Speedway
Friday's results
Streets
Feature — 1. Cole Greseth, 2. Blaine Barnes, 3. Greg Jose, 4. John Halvorson, 5. Trey Hess
Midwest modifieds
Feature — 1. Aaron Blacklance, 2. Kenna Breidenbach, 3. Jory Berg, 4. Brennan Schmidt, 5. Austin Hunter
Late models
Feature — 1. Shane Edginton, 2. Joey Pederson, 3. John Seng, 4. Brody Troftgruben, 5. Matt Schow
Sprints
Feature —1. Andy Pake, 2. Mark Dobmeier, 3. Nick Omdahl, 4. Austin Pierce, 5. Weston Olson