7/27/2024
Dacotah Speedway
GRESETH SWEEPS LATE MODEL FEATURES AT GOV CUP
Rain wreaked havoc during the 2024 North Dakota Governors Cup Auto Races. The weekend kicked off on Friday, July 26 with heat races for our five weekly car classes, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, INEX Legends, Hobby Stocks and IMCA Sport Compacts. For the first time since 2016, WISSOTA Late Models returned to the high banks of Dacotah Speedway for two complete shows and $2000 to win. Unfortunately, rain showers hit the Speedway just before the WISSOTA Late Model feature. Although the track prep crew worked late into the night, the track received too much water to race the 30 lap feature.
Racing action continued on Saturday, July 27th, starting with the WISSOTA Late Model make-up feature. When the green flag waved, Nathan Sletto grabbed the early lead but had his hands full with a speedy Travis Robertson. They briefly raced side by side for the lead until Robertson slipped by on lap three. Robertson’s lead was short lived as Sletto retook the lead a handful of laps later. While the leaders swapped the lead, the battle for third place was brewing between Trevor Anderson and Mike Greseth. Greseth passed Anderson and wasted no time passing second place Robertson. While Sletto was trying to negotiate lapped traffic, Greseth quickly caught the leader and took the top spot with eight laps to go. Despite being in heavy lapped traffic, Greseth pulled away as he sliced and diced his way through the field. When Jeremiah LaDue’s motor blew with four laps to go, caution regrouped the field. Greseth was pulling away once more before another caution slowed the pace. On the final restart, it was a three wide battle for second between Robertson. Anderson and Denver Nickeson. When the checkered flag waved, Trevor Anderson crossed the finish line in second. Travis Robertson finished third ahead of Nathan Sletto while Denver Nickeson rounded out the top five. Mike Greseth led the final eight laps to grab the victory and go home $2000 richer.
Rain continued to be an issue as a brief light rain shower interrupted the night. Track prep crews worked hard to work the track back in and it paid off with a thrilling second WISSOTA Late Model feature. Rusty Kollman and Travis Robertson raced door to door for the lead before a lap three caution regrouped the field. Robertson took the lead on the restart as Kollman fell into the clutches of Mike Greseth. Greseth quickly passed Kollman and started to reel in Robertson. The leaders started to catch lapped traffic and the battle for the lead started to heat up. Robertson and Greseth threw slide job after side job while maneuvering through lapped traffic. It was a thrilling battle for the lead until Greseth closed the door with nine laps to go. Greseth started to pull away but heavy lapped traffic allowed Robertson to close back in late in the race. However, Travis Robertson ran out of time and was forced to settle for second. Austin Kuehl finished third ahead of Tyler Leach and Rusty Kollman. Meanwhile, Mike Greseth swept the weekend and was crowned the North Dakota Governors Cup Champion.
Article Credit: Becca Pelkey
Submitted By: Becca Rattei