05.19.18 Devils Lake Speedway Recap

Omdahl, Balcaen, Hunter, Burrows & Palm Score Wins at Devils Lake

By Mike Spieker

CRARY, N.D. (May 19, 2018) – Despite Mother Nature’s best efforts, Devils Lake Speedway was back in action Saturday night with 99 race teams checked in. High Plains Equipment presented the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints / Canadian-American Outlaw Sprints and NLRA Late Models, as well as the WISSOTA Midwest Mods, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks. 

Adam Burrows of West Fargo jumped out to the early lead of the Street Stock feature. Behind him, a three wide battle for second broke out between Aaron Blacklance, Cory Dykhoff, and pole sitter Steven Richards. Blacklance settled into second as Justin Vogel raced his way to third.

Blacklance stayed within striking distance of Burrows throughout the race and stole the lead with nine laps left. Burrows got held up by lapped traffic, which allowed Blacklance to sneak around the outside. Burrows came charging back the following lap. The lead duo raced door to door for three consecutive laps. Vogel showed his nose to the low side with seven to go to briefly make it a three wide race for the lead.

With six to go, Burrows finally cleared Blacklance to reclaim the lead as Vogel went to work on Blacklance for the lead. On the final lap, Vogel drove his car deep into turn three to make it three wide with Burrow and a lapped car, but Burrows momentum carried him to the checkers and the win. Vogel edged out Blacklance for second.

Austin Hunter walked away with the WISSOTA Midwest Modified win, leading every lap. However, there was no shortage of action behind him. Lance Schill and Dustin Strand had a heated battle for second going throughout the first half of the event. The two beat and banged and traded slide jobs back and forth.

On a restart with nine to go, Schill dove low in turns one and two to pull a slide job on Strand. At the same time, Strand was getting a run down the banking and the two met in the middle making heavy contact. Both cars slid off the backstretch, ending both of their night.

Hunter ran the remaining laps relatively unchallenged. Twelfth place starter, Jamie Dietzler, Scott Bintz, Ryan Schroeder, who battled back after being sent to the tail earlier in the race, and Jason Halvorson went on to round out the top five.

Mike Balcaen picked up his first NLRA win since June 17, 2016. Balcaen jumped out to the lead on lap four after a great battle with Shane Edginton. Outside front row starter, Bill Mooney was right there in the mix, making it an all Canadian podium at the time. With five laps in the books, Mooney and Dustin Strand got together, which sent Mooney around and to the tail of the field.

A long green flag stretch followed as Balcaen built up a big lead over Strand. In the closing laps however, Balcaen, who was committed to the extreme inside lane, was held up by lapped traffic. That allowed Strand to close to within four car lengths, but the final caution flew with four laps to go.

With clean track ahead, Balcaen held off a late race charge from Strand to claim his 24th career NLRA victory. That ranks third on the all-time wins list, just two wins behind the late John Seitz.

Nick Omdahl’s Devils Lake Speedway dominance continued Saturday night with the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints / Canadian-American Outlaw Sprints. Omdahl topped the field of 23 410 Sprint Cars in convincing fashion. Jordan Adams grabbed the lead at the start of the 25-lap event, but he was quickly chased down by Wade Nygaard.

Nygaard took the lead on lap four and looked to have the car to beat until the halfway point. That’s when Omdahl made his way into second and reeled in Nygaard in lapped traffic. With 13 laps to go, Omdahl dove to the inside of Nygaard and a lapped car to take the lead down the front straightaway. Nygaard tried to pull a crossover move in turns one and two, but Omdahl was too quick.

A restart with two laps to go put Nygaard right on the rear bumper of Omdahl, who was dealing with a broken right front shock. Despite fighting a wounded race car, Omdahl wheeled his No. 0 machine to the win over Nygaard, Austin Pierce, Chris Ranten and Jade Hastings.

Jared Palm of Warroad, Minn. made the 300 mile trip to Devils Lake Speedway and claimed the Pure Stock win.

Devils Lake Speedway racing will continue next Saturday night with the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints / Canadian-American Outlaw Sprints, WISSOTA Late Models, Midwest Mods, Street Stocks, and Pure Stocks. Green flag drops at 7pm.

WISSOTA NLRA Late Models:
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Balcaen, 11:32.108[3]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand, 11:19.014[6]; 3. 4-Shane Edginton, 11:20.006[1]; 4. 17-Jim Harris, 11:20.025[8]; 5. 10R-Kevin Robertson, 11:21.033[15]; 6. 12S-Brad Seng, 11:21.074[12]; 7. 1R-Travis Robertson, 11:21.466[13]; 8. 2-Bill Mooney, 11:23.014[2]; 9. 14-Brody Troftgruben, 11:23.562[5]; 10. 11-Troy Schill, 11:24.487[7]; 11. F9-Brandon Fuller, 11:24.942[16]; 12. 9R-Erik Robertson, 11:25.045[11]; 13. 86-Matthew Smith, 11:25.610[10]; 14. 14E-Eric Edwards, 11:26.454[17]; 15. 70-Jesse Teunis, 11:26.900[14]; 16. (DNF) 06-David Smith, 07:23.284[4]; 17. (DNF) 4C-Ryan Corbett, 01:19.393[9]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2-Bill Mooney, 02:33.347[4]; 2. 14-Brody Troftgruben, 02:34.004[1]; 3. 4C-Ryan Corbett, 02:35.929[6]; 4. 86-Matthew Smith, 02:37.726[5]; 5. 1R-Travis Robertson, 02:38.127[3]; 6. (DNF) F9-Brandon Fuller, 00:45.312[2]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 4-Shane Edginton, 02:28.309[4]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand, 02:29.291[3]; 3. 11-Troy Schill, 02:36.121[1]; 4. 9R-Erik Robertson, 02:41.399[6]; 5. 70-Jesse Teunis, 02:31.581[2]; (DNS) 14E-Eric Edwards, 02:31.581

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Balcaen, 02:21.111[4]; 2. 06-David Smith, 02:23.212[1]; 3. 17-Jim Harris, 02:24.347[5]; 4. 12S-Brad Seng, 02:25.260[3]; 5. 10R-Kevin Robertson, 02:27.992[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Hunter, [2]; 2. 39-Jamie Dietzler, [12]; 3. 1S-Scott Bintz, [6]; 4. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, [3]; 5. 111-Jason Halverson, [13]; 6. 1R-Joey Rowell, [8]; 7. 3L-Logan Salazar, [17]; 8. 32-Eric Haugland, [11]; 9. 11X-Tanner Armstrong, [19]; 10. 68-Todd Duchscherer, [16]; 11. 735-Tanner Theis, [20]; 12. 78-James Watson, [23]; 13. 8-Jason Schuh, [21]; 14. (DNF) 10C-Cole Haugland, [5]; 15. (DNF) 5C-Preston Carr, [9]; 16. (DNF) 12-Jaden Varnson, [18]; 17. (DNF) 21N-Bryan Nordrum, [22]; 18. (DNF) 16-Randy Thompson, [15]; 19. (DNF) 17-Lance Schill, [4]; 20. (DNF) 71S-Dustin Strand, [1]; 21. (DNF) 5BA-Aaron Blacklance, [7]; 22. (DNF) 4B-Arin Beyer, [10]; 23. (DNF) 188-Hunter Hougard, [14]; (DNS) 734-Brock Theis,

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71S-Dustin Strand, [1]; 2. 44-Austin Hunter, [4]; 3. 5C-Preston Carr, [5]; 4. 111-Jason Halverson, [6]; 5. 3L-Logan Salazar, [2]; 6. (DNF) 734-Brock Theis, [3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Lance Schill, [2]; 2. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, [6]; 3. 4B-Arin Beyer, [5]; 4. 188-Hunter Hougard, [4]; 5. 12-Jaden Varnson, [3]; 6. 8-Jason Schuh, [1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Scott Bintz, [1]; 2. 1R-Joey Rowell, [6]; 3. 32-Eric Haugland, [2]; 4. 16-Randy Thompson, [4]; 5. 11X-Tanner Armstrong, [5]; 6. 21N-Bryan Nordrum, [3]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance, 02:04.437[2]; 2. 10C-Cole Haugland, 02:06.050[4]; 3. 39-Jamie Dietzler, 02:07.310[3]; 4. 68-Todd Duchscherer, 02:12.526[6]; 5. 735-Tanner Theis, 02:16.612[1]; 6. 78-James Watson, 02:17.086[5]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 18B-Adam Burrows, 05:33.915[2]; 2. 10-Justin Vogel, 05:34.269[6]; 3. 39-Aaron Blacklance, 05:34.450[3]; 4. 3-Steven Richards, 05:38.100[1]; 5. 33-Daniel Aberle, 05:38.722[12]; 6. 48-Chase Boen, 05:43.355[5]; 7. 51-Eric Riley, 05:43.999[25]; 8. 3C-Cory Dykhoff, 05:44.543[4]; 9. 35-John Halvorson, 05:45.187[10]; 10. 2U-Kasey Ussatis, 05:47.138[14]; 11. 7M-James Meagher, 05:47.371[9]; 12. 44-Dylan Arndt, 05:48.486[16]; 13. 4-Trey Hess, 05:49.387[15]; 14. 21J-Brian Johanson, 05:50.258[11]; 15. 5-Bradon Miller, 05:50.748[18]; 16. 59-Kyle Anderson, 05:51.324[23]; 17. 28-Greg Jose, 05:34.498[13]; 18. 00-Dusten Ebensteiner, 05:37.427[7]; 19. 99-Josh Barker, 05:53.272[21]; 20. 1J-Joe Armstrong, 05:14.034[19]; 21. 92-Megan McNamee, 05:52.584[20]; 22. (DNF) 11-Kyle Dykhoff, 02:16.470[8]; 23. (DNF) 7B-David Barker, 01:00.854[24]; 24. (DNF) 9A-Blake Anderson, 00:46.397[17]; 25. (DNF) 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, 00:46.397[22]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Justin Vogel, 07:44.339[4]; 2. 18B-Adam Burrows, 07:45.127[5]; 3. 7M-James Meagher, 07:45.549[2]; 4. 28-Greg Jose, 07:47.831[1]; 5. 9A-Blake Anderson, 07:48.931[7]; 6. (DNF) 59-Kyle Anderson, 01:47.040[6]; 7. (DNF) 51-Eric Riley, 01:47.040[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3C-Cory Dykhoff, 02:24.193[4]; 2. 00-Dusten Ebensteiner, 02:25.648[2]; 3. 35-John Halvorson, 02:27.722[6]; 4. 2U-Kasey Ussatis, 02:29.288[3]; 5. 5-Bradon Miller, 02:34.664[5]; 6. 99-Josh Barker, 02:35.287[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Steven Richards, 02:31.802[4]; 2. 48-Chase Boen, 02:35.542[2]; 3. 21J-Brian Johanson, 02:37.423[3]; 4. 4-Trey Hess, 02:39.150[1]; 5. 1J-Joe Armstrong, 02:40.299[6]; 6. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, 02:40.300[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Kyle Dykhoff, [4]; 2. 39-Aaron Blacklance, [2]; 3. 33-Daniel Aberle, [1]; 4. 44-Dylan Arndt, [3]; 5. 92-Megan McNamee, [5]; 6. (DNF) 7B-David Barker, [6]

NOSA Sprints:
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 0-Nick Omdahl, 22:01.065[3]; 2. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 22:01.843[4]; 3. 2A-Austin Pierce, 22:03.744[8]; 4. 27-Chris Ranten, 22:03.958[1]; 5. 8H-Jade Hastings, 22:03.985[6]; 6. 20A-Jordan Adams, 22:04.410[2]; 7. 10TRB-Bob Martin, 22:04.915[11]; 8. 14-Tom Egeland, 22:05.674[7]; 9. 55-Nick Ranten, 22:06.676[10]; 10. 8BALL-Jack Croaker, 22:06.677[21]; 11. 4M-Cale Mack, 22:07.309[9]; 12. 20-Kevin Lawson, 22:08.699[16]; 13. 12-Brayden Pengilly, 22:14.896[14]; 14. 14H-Bill Holler, 22:14.896[19]; 15. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling, 18:10.769[18]; 16. (DNF) 20L-Dusty Lawson, 14:55.668[13]; 17. (DNF) 26-Blake Egeland, 11:38.571[12]; 18. (DNF) 1AJ-Trevor Mell, 05:18.104[15]; 19. (DNF) 99-Jordan Graham, 04:58.444[22]; 20. (DNF) 6-Zach Wilde, 00:50.123[5]; (DNS) 35-Brenden Wilde, 00:50.123; (DNS) 11M-Brendan Mullen, 00:50.123

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 02:21.987[3]; 2. 6-Zach Wilde, 02:28.281[7]; 3. 10TRB-Bob Martin, 02:28.734[1]; 4. 4M-Cale Mack, 02:30.218[5]; 5. 12-Brayden Pengilly, 02:25.426[6]; 6. 20-Kevin Lawson, 02:26.849[4]; 7. (DNF) 14H-Bill Holler, 01:38.057[2]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 8H-Jade Hastings, 06:59.414[6]; 2. 0-Nick Omdahl, 07:00.917[4]; 3. 14-Tom Egeland, 07:07.260[5]; 4. 20L-Dusty Lawson, 07:07.571[3]; 5. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling, 01:00.255[1]; 6. (DNF) 35-Brenden Wilde, 01:03.068[2]; 7. (DNF) 26-Blake Egeland, 01:04.132[7]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 20A-Jordan Adams, 07:51.721[1]; 2. 2A-Austin Pierce, 07:55.729[4]; 3. 27-Chris Ranten, 07:55.924[7]; 4. 55-Nick Ranten, 07:52.327[6]; 5. (DNF) 1AJ-Trevor Mell, 06:31.068[5]; 6. (DNF) 11M-Brendan Mullen, 00:20.268[2]; (DNS) 8BALL-Jack Croaker, 00:20.268; (DNS) 99-Jordan Graham, 00:20.268

Pure Stocks:
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 11X-Jared Palm, 04:28.852[7]; 2. 43-Dan Arends, 04:30.447[4]; 3. 850-Colten Laber, 04:31.515[3]; 4. 35-Daniel Bromstad, 04:32.312[8]; 5. #1-Tony Smith, 04:33.449[5]; 6. 21B-Lane Bachmeier, 04:37.562[11]; 7. 12-Darin Thomas, 04:42.122[6]; 8. 7B-Bailey Cousins, 04:44.284[9]; 9. 19-Mark Bromstad, 04:45.011[10]; 10. 16-MiKara Johanson, 04:46.487[1]; 11. (DNF) 57-Tony Bundy, 03:06.058[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 43-Dan Arends, 05:09.687[2]; 2. 57-Tony Bundy, 05:13.766[3]; 3. #1-Tony Smith, 05:18.248[5]; 4. 12-Darin Thomas, 05:18.751[6]; 5. 7B-Bailey Cousins, 05:19.270[1]; 6. 19-Mark Bromstad, 05:19.271[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Daniel Bromstad, 04:41.952[1]; 2. 11X-Jared Palm, 04:42.102[5]; 3. 850-Colten Laber, 04:46.376[4]; 4. 16-MiKara Johanson, 04:59.356[2]; 5. (DNF) 21B-Lane Bachmeier, 02:00.097[3]​