Sports
Races run smoothly at Thunder Mountain
Tyler Ohmann
07/09/2013
Good car numbers, good weather and few cautions made for a smooth race day at Thunder Mountain Speedway north of Bottineau last Sunday.
There were 12 sport stocks and 13 Wissota Midwest Modifieds (Modifieds) that competed.
Sport stocks
For the sport stocks it was Steve Beckedahl and Matt Hunter earning checkered flags in the heat races. Kevin Smith and Boomer Patterson each earned runner-up finishes.
Patterson kicked his game up a notch as he captured first place finishes in both the trophy dash and the 20-lap feature race.
Beckedahl finished second in the feature and Hunter took third place.
Erik Blada of Kramer, who was the track champion in 2011 and a runner-up last season, once again had some bad luck.
His car was running well, but had some troubles in the feature race, and he had to pull off the track.
“I don’t know what’s going on this year up here in this neck of the woods,” Blada said. “We’re waiting for that monkey to jump off our back and win one.”
“We’re going to just keep trying and trying and trying, and we’ll get this thing into victory lane yet,” Blada added.
Modifieds
For the modifieds Shawn Nostdahl and Norm Reitan, both of Bottineau, earned the checkered in heat races.
After a third place finish in the heat race, Ray Smith improved drastically to take a win in the trophy dash.
However, different luck came to those who waited in the 20-lap modified feature race. Jarret Lovcik of Rugby took home the win and Jason Laducer earned a runner-up finish.
The next races are scheduled for July 21 and will include the IMCA Hobby Stock/Sportmod Challenge.