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Hectic night of racing at Nodak Speedway

Alex Eisen/MDN The first heat race for the IMCA Modifieds being led by Justin Medler (75M), followed by Marcus Tomlinson (5T) and Tom Berry Jr. (11X) Sunday evening at Nodak Speedway.

The early heat races Sunday evening struggled to find traction on a slippery Nodak Speedway 3/8-mile dirt circuit.

But once the main features rolled around and the sun dropped behind the grandstand, multiple racing grooves had been uncovered, and it was game on.

The penultimate night of weekly point racing at Nodak Speedway didn’t disappoint. Following some close competition and a handful of dramatic moments, Tom Berry Jr. (IMCA Modifieds), Jeff Hooker (IMCA Sport Mods), Brandon Honrud (IMCA Hobby Stocks) and Austin Daae (IMCA Stock Cars) visited Victory Lane.

The Hobby Stocks rolled out 25 cars for the first feature.

Pole sitter Thomas Goldsberry lead didn’t even last into the first corner. Troy Bertsch powered by on the outside with Tim Anderson following him through to move into second place.

Riese Dignan, who started third, harassed Anderson for multiple laps trying to take second place away. He finally got around with five laps left due to lapped traffic.

Anderson subsequently turned the lapped car, Gered Knoell, into the outside fence right in front of the grandstand and was pegged with the yellow flag.

Caden Appelt brought out another cushion with four laps left due to a mechanical issue. After the yellow flag, Heat 1 winner Honrud accidentally rubbed up against Bertsch and sent him off the track.

Bertsch went to the hot pit and gave up his lead to Honrud.

Honrud used that break to win his second race of the season at Nodak. Dignan held off Adam Goff for second place.

An opening lap of four-wide racing in the Sport Mods feature quickly turned into a single file at the front. Hooker moved up from sixth place and kept a late-charging Chase Conway behind him to win his second straight feature at Nodak.

Arguably the more significant news, however, was track points leader Robby Rosselli having car problems and pulling off the track with nine laps to go. That result effectively relinquishing Rosselli’s points lead to Erik Laudenschlager, who finished fifth, with only one feature race left this season.

The IMCA Stock Cars main feature started with a seven-car pile-up on the second lap. That damage eventually ended the night for Dalton Flory, who was a single point behind Mike Hagen in the track championship competition at the start of the day.

The cautions continued to come. The race was stuck at 15 laps to go, as the drivers comically struggled to complete a lap.

Race leader Daae was brought back to the pack each time the yellow flag waved. Eventually, he got away for good on a restart with six laps left. Joe Flory, who was involved in some of the wrecks, managed to salvage a hard-fought second place.

Closing out the night, the IMCA Modifieds started with another crash, which was charged to former track champion Jason Wolla.

Wolla rocketed up the field from the back to take seventh, but he couldn’t catch the leaders.

Despite an untimely restart with three laps left, Berry Jr. picked up his fifth win of the season ahead of Kody Scholpp and Travis Hagen.

Championship Night at Nodak Speedway is next Sunday (August 25). Racing starts at 7 p.m.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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