VanMil earns convincing feature win at Buffalo River Race Park

By Mike Spieker

GLYNDON, Minn. — A week after coming up one spot shy of getting the IMCA Modified win, Rob VanMil of Barnesville, Minn. returned to Buffalo River Race Park on Saturday and claimed the main event win in convincing fashion. VanMil started on the outside of the front row but ran behind fellow front-row starter Cody Peterson of Glyndon.

Peterson was fast around the bottom lane for the first half of the race, but VanMil remained loyal to the high side. With 10 laps in the books and 10 to go, VanMil made his move around the outside of Peterson.

Peterson looked to battle back, but VanMil was too strong. VanMil drove away from Peterson and the rest of the field for his second modified win at Buffalo River.

In the closing laps, Allen Kent of West Fargo moved into second as Peterson completed the podium at the checkers.

One little bobble by Jason Berg of Fargo was all it took for Grand Forks driver Zak Kwiatkoski to capitalize and take the lead of the lightning sprint feature. Berg, who was in search of his first feature win, led the first 12 of 20 laps around the high-banked quarter-mile clay oval, but had Kwiatkoski all over his rear bumper.

Kwiatkoski made the pass for the lead on the outside and drove away to claim his first win of the season at the speedway.


Adam Goff of Minot, N.D. is a perfect 4-for-4 in the IMCA Hobby Stock division, following his feature win on Saturday night. Goff raced his way from the eighth position to take the lead from Tanner Eggen of Detroit Lakes, Minn. Once out front, Goff checked out and cruised to the checkers.

Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes is on a roll right now. For the second week in a row, Wilke visited victory lane at Buffalo River Race Park in the INEX Legends division. Wilke started sixth on the grid for the 20-lap feature and held off veteran driver Steven Kuntz of Bismarck en route to the win. Wilke hasn’t finished worse than third in his last seven events in the region.

Joe Lewis picked up the slingshot feature win over his younger brother Noah.

The IMCA Sportmod feature came down to the father-son duo of Scott and Kelly Jacobson of Fargo. Kelly, who admittedly has been struggling with mechanical gremlins on his No. 51 machine, had his car tuned up for the 20-lap feature. Kelly looked to be the class of the field early on as he jumped out to the early lead from his front row starting position.

Kelly opened up a comfortable lead over Vince Jegtvig of Dilworth, Minn., at the midway point before his father, Scott, began working his way to the front. Scott moved by Jegtvig to claim the runner-up spot and quickly reeled in Kelly for the lead. Utilizing the high side of the speedway, Scott drove around the outside of Kelly with six laps remaining to record his first win of the 2019 season. Doug Garnder of Glyndon edged out Kelly at the checkers for the second position.

Daniel Harstad of Fergus Falls, Minn. picked up the three-peat in the sport compacts. Harstad started sixth, but quickly moved into the lead and dominated the 20-lap event.

Results
Modifieds
Feature: 1. 4D-Rob VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.; 2. 33-Allen Kent, West Fargo, N.D.; 3. 36-Cody Peterson, Glyndon, Minn.; 4. 3S-Jesse Skalicky, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 21S-Jamie Schulz, Fargo, N.D.

Sportmods

Feature: 1. 5-Scott Jacobson, Fargo, N.D.; 2. 41-Doug Gardner, Glyndon, N.D.; 3. 51-Kelly Jacobson, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 22-Vince Jegtvig, Dilworth, Minn.; 5. 40-Chris VanMil, Barnesville, Minn.

Legends

Feature: 1. 72-Tye Wilke, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 2. 1-Steven Kuntz, Bismarck, N.D.; 3. B1-Brody Carlsrud, Moorhead, Minn.; 4. D1RT-Tony Brockhouse, Fargo, N.D.; 5. 5D8-Dylan Johnson, Durbin, N.D.


Lightning Sprints

Feature: 1. 17K-Zachary Kwiatkoski, Grand Forks, N.D.; 2. 100-Jason Berg, Fargo, N.D.; 3. 21-Dev Malmlov, Moorhead, Minn.; 4. (DNF) 22-Bryce Haugeberg, West Fargo, N.D.


Hobby Stocks
Feature: 1. 30A-Adam Goff, Minot, N.D; 2. 44T-Tanner Engen, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; 3. 31X-Tim Shiek, Fargo, N.D.; 4. 73-Todd Gettel, Mahnomen, Minn.; 5. 15-Andrea Jacobson, Fargo, N.D.

Sport Compacts
Feature 1: 1. 77H-Daniel Harstad, Fergus Falls, Minn.; 2. 4P-Matt Pederson, Lake Park, Minn.; 3. 00-Kevin Youngquist, Barney, N.D.; 4. 33L-Austin Lammers, Pelican Rapids, Minn; 5. 24-Chase Golliet, Fargo, N.D.

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