Brody Troftgruben Collects Devils Lake Speedway Late Model Track Championship

Brody Troftgruben - DLS Late Model Champ. Photo by Mike Spieker (Speedway-Shots.com)

Dustin Strand - Late Model feature winner. Photos courtesy of Steven Young.

Jaden Varnson - Midwest Mod winner

Joe Armstrong - Pure Stock winner

Daniel Aberle - Street Stock winner

Drew Wilhelmi - Mini Truck winner

By Mike Spieker

CRARY, N.D. (August 11, 2018) – Devils Lake Speedway crowned twenty-year-old Brody Troftgruben of Grand Forks as its first-ever Late Model track champion Saturday night. Troftgruben, who is in his sophomore season as a Late Model driver, led the division with seven top 10 finishes in the seven events held in 2018. 

“It feels pretty awesome,” said Troftgruben of his Devils Lake Speedway track championship. “We had a pretty good season here at Devils Lake. We just tried to focus on one night at a time and it turned out to be a successful season here.”

After an early-race spin, Troftgruben rebounded for a third-place finish in Saturday night’s feature. Dustin Strand ran away with the win over Mike Balcaen. Balcaen led the early laps of the main event from the fourth starting position, but Strand overtook the Winnipeg, Manitoba driver en route to the win.

Jaden Varnson raced to his first career WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature win at Devils Lake Speedway. Varnson started on the pole for the 20-lap feature and led the entire distance. In just his second appearance of the season at Devils Lake, Jarett Lovcik came home in the second spot. Scott Vasichek, Nate Reynolds and Todd Johnson rounded out the top five.

Daniel Aberle continued his dominance in the WISSOTA Street Stocks. The Finley, N.D. driver scored his fourth win of the season after starting outside of row three. Brian Johanson took the early lead from the second starting position, but Aberle was hot on his heels after just three laps. Aberle took advantage of a restart to propel himself around the outside of Johanson on lap four. Once out front, Aberle checked out and took the win over Johanson and James Meagher, who started 10th.

Joe Armstrong charged from 10th to score his first Pure Stock win of the season. Drew Wilhelmi cruised to another Circle Track Mini Truck feature win.

Racing will return to Devils Lake Speedway on August 25th, featuring the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints and Canadian-American Outlaw Sprint Series, plus the Professional Dirt Series. Green flag drops at 7pm.

WISSOTA Late Models:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, 09:52.598[5]; 2. 10-Mike Balcaen, 09:56.775[4]; 3. 14-Brody Troftgruben, 10:01.128[2]; 4. 1R-Travis Robertson, 10:02.284[3]; 5. 11-Troy Schill, 10:06.234[9]; 6. 15S-Cody Storbakken, 10:06.475[6]; 7. 70-Jesse Teunis, 09:53.805[1]; 8. 16-Jason Storbakken, 09:51.651[8]; (DNS) 33-Ryan Dahl, 09:51.651

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Balcaen, 05:52.490[1]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand, 02:01.802[2]; 3. 70-Jesse Teunis, 05:57.649[5]; 4. 1R-Travis Robertson, 05:58.054[7]; 5. 14-Brody Troftgruben, 05:58.555[4]; 6. 15S-Cody Storbakken, 05:58.944[6]; 7. (DNF) 33-Ryan Dahl, 05:48.473[9]; 8. (DNF) 16-Jason Storbakken, 02:01.802[3]; (DNS) 11-Troy Schill, 02:01.802

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 12-Jaden Varnson, 10:00.522[1]; 2. 21L-Jarett Lovcik, 10:02.399[2]; 3. 23-Scott Vasichek, 10:03.188[3]; 4. 6R-Nate Reynolds, 10:06.013[6]; 5. 21-Todd Johnson, 10:07.140[4]; 6. 39-Jamie Dietzler, 10:09.408[7]; 7. 21N-Bryan Nordrum, 10:09.982[11]; 8. 29N-Steve Nordrum, 10:11.178[10]; 9. (DNF) 8-Jason Schuh, 08:44.665[9]; 10. (DNF) 77R-Ryan Schroeder, 01:51.544[8]; (DNS) 25RIP-James Wall, 01:51.544

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Todd Johnson, 02:19.525[1]; 2. 39-Jamie Dietzler, 02:11.594[3]; 3. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, 02:12.223[6]; 4. 21L-Jarett Lovcik, 02:13.826[5]; 5. 8-Jason Schuh, 02:15.508[4]; 6. 21N-Bryan Nordrum, 02:19.525[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Jaden Varnson, 02:21.883[1]; 2. 6R-Nate Reynolds, 02:22.322[5]; 3. 23-Scott Vasichek, 02:23.349[2]; 4. 25RIP-James Wall, 02:25.569[3]; 5. 29N-Steve Nordrum, 02:37.134[4]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 33-Daniel Aberle, 14:38.656[6]; 2. 21J-Brian Johanson, 14:41.171[2]; 3. 7M-James Meagher, 14:41.172[10]; 4. 3-Steven Richards, 14:42.345[8]; 5. 5-Bradon Miller, 14:43.365[4]; 6. C4-Cliff Reeves, 14:43.809[12]; 7. 17-Adam Rassier, 14:47.192[1]; 8. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, 14:53.240[9]; 9. 92-Megan McNamee, 14:55.902[11]; 10. (DNF) 99-Josh Barker, 13:41.010[3]; 11. (DNF) 28-Greg Jose, 11:35.359[7]; 12. (DNF) 29D-Dan McNamee, 05:42.356[5]; 13. (DNF) B2-Brodee Eckerdt, 00:25.159[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Adam Rassier, 02:56.965[3]; 2. 29D-Dan McNamee, 02:58.031[6]; 3. 28-Greg Jose, 02:58.778[7]; 4. 99-Josh Barker, 03:00.533[4]; 5. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, 03:02.691[5]; 6. 92-Megan McNamee, 03:02.806[2]; 7. B2-Brodee Eckerdt, 03:06.369[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Bradon Miller, 02:27.757[4]; 2. 3-Steven Richards, 02:28.905[2]; 3. 33-Daniel Aberle, 02:30.226[1]; 4. 21J-Brian Johanson, 02:31.442[3]; 5. 7M-James Meagher, 02:33.843[6]; 6. C4-Cliff Reeves, 02:40.858[5]

Circle Track Mini Trucks:
A Feature (12 Laps): 1. 07J-Drew Wilhelmi, 03:49.882[3]; 2. 8-Trevor Paulson, 03:55.587[1]; 3. 13-Carter Tuenge, 03:55.587[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 07J-Drew Wilhelmi, [1]; 2. 13-Carter Tuenge, [2]; 3. 8-Trevor Paulson, [3]

Pure Stocks:
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 1CJ-Joe Armstrong, 04:53.896[10]; 2. 850-Colten Laber, 10:53.236[6]; 3. 68-Barry Hermanson, 10:53.592[2]; 4. 43-Dan Arends, 10:53.947[5]; 5. 35-Daniel Bromstad, 10:54.597[4]; 6. 21B-Lane Bachmeier, 10:54.899[7]; 7. 57-Tony Bundy, 10:55.249[8]; 8. 16-MiKara Johanson, 10:56.559[1]; 9. 12V-Jaden Varnson, 04:53.896[9]; 10. (DNF) 12-Darin Thomas, 05:04.317[3]; 11. (DNF) 23H-Chris Holtz, 04:53.896[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 850-Colten Laber, 03:16.561[5]; 2. 43-Dan Arends, 03:35.611[4]; 3. 12-Darin Thomas, 03:38.638[3]; 4. 16-MiKara Johanson, 03:18.972[1]; 5. 12V-Jaden Varnson, 03:38.811[6]; 6. 23H-Chris Holtz, 03:38.811[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Barry Hermanson, [1]; 2. 57-Tony Bundy, [2]; 3. 21B-Lane Bachmeier, [5]; 4. 35-Daniel Bromstad, [4]; 5. 1CJ-Joe Armstrong, [3]