5/11/2017
Norman County Raceway
Malmlov Scores Thrilling Win at Norman County Raceway Opener
ADA, Minn. (May 11) – Norman County Raceway kicked off its 13th year of weekly racing Thursday night with a stout field of drivers on hand.
Moorhead’s Dev Malmlov picked up the win in the track’s premier class, the IMCA Modifieds. Malmlov, who started fourth on the starting grid for the 18-lap Sander’s Metal Products feature race, took the lead on the opening lap with an incredible four-wide pass for the lead.
“I got lucky to start in the right position. I think starting on the front row wouldn’t have been good,” said Malmlov in KRJB 106.5FM Victory Lane. “I got a good start on the outside and was able to get a run off the corner and I think that’s what did it for me.”
Once out front, Malmlov drove out to a comfortable lead ahead of former track champion, Michael Johnson, and Austin Arneson.
Arneson and Johnson engaged in a tight battle for the runner-up spot, which was ultimately won by Arneson, but it took place over two-seconds behind Malmlov.
Malmlov’s win marked his 14th career modified feature win at NCR, which ranks third on the all-time wins list.
Luke Johnson found victory in the IMCA Sportmods. Late in the race, Johnson trailed defending track champion, Jesse Skalicky, until Skalicky lost the handle on his No. 3 machine and slid off the track. That handed the lead over to Johnson, who went on to take his second consecutive opening night win.
The WISSOTA midwest modifieds brought in the largest car count of the night. Fergus Falls’ Brock Gronwold started on the pole and withstood multiple restarts en route to the victory. One of those restarts came on the opening lap when five cars got collected in a melee in turn four. Reise Stenberg, Noah Metzger, and defending track champion Aaron Blacklance were among the drivers who received damage as a result.
Gronwold led all 15 circuits around the high-banked three-eighths mile oval to take the checkers over Dylan Goplen and Skylar Smith.
Aaron Olson topped a strong field of IMCA stock cars in their debut at NCR.
Brandon Schmidt became NCR’s newest first-time winner. The driver of the No. 219 IMCA hobby stock held off the 2016 national rookie of the year, Tim Church, to earn the hard fought victory.
SUMMARY
IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature 1: 1. 21-Dev Malmlov[4]; 2. 10-Austin Ameson[6]; 3. 84-Michael Johnson[2]; 4. 72-Dave Shipley[8]; 5. 19-Lucas Rodin[1]; 6. 4D-Rob VanMil[5]; 7. 99-Cale Arneson[7]; 8. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[9]; 9. 88B-Brady Petermann[3]; 10. 60-TYLER HALL[10]; 11. K9-Tom Cummings[11]
Heat 1: 1. 21-Dev Malmlov[1]; 2. 19-Lucas Rodin[2]; 3. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 4. 84-Michael Johnson[4]; 5. 72-Dave Shipley[6]; 6. (DNF) K9-Tom Cummings[5]
Heat 2: 1. 10-Austin Ameson[2]; 2. 99-Cale Arneson[1]; 3. 88B-Brady Petermann[4]; 4. 4D-Rob VanMil[5]; 5. (DNF) 60-Tyler Hall[3]
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
A Feature 1: 1. 2G-Brock Gronwold[1]; 2. 6D-Dylan Goplen[5]; 3. 16-Skyler Smith[8]; 4. 5-Aaron Blacklance[4]; 5. 80D-Don Scholler[6]; 6. 188-Hunter Hougard[14]; 7. 19-Lucas Rodin[10]; 8. 7T-Joseph Thomas[7]; 9. 00-Steve Hougard[12]; 10. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[9]; 11. 75-Aaron Vigness[13]; 12. (DNF) 97-Grady Shearer[2]; 13. (DNF) 87S-Reise Stenberg[3]; 14. (DNF) 19D-Noah Metzger[11]
Heat 1: 1. 6D-Dylan Goplen[2]; 2. 97-Grady Shearer[1]; 3. 80D-Don Scholler[3]; 4. 5-Aaron Blacklance[6]; 5. 6-Dean Eggebraaten[4]; 6. 19D-Noah Metzger[7]; 7. 75-Aaron Vigness[5]
Heat 2: 1. 16-Skyler Smith[1]; 2. 2G-Brock Gronwold[6]; 3. 7T-Joseph Thomas[3]; 4. 87S-Reise Stenberg[4]; 5. 19-Lucas Rodin[5]; 6. 00-Steve Hougard[7]; 7. (DNF) 188-Hunter Hougard[2]
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
A Feature 1: 1. 219-BRandon Schmidt[2]; 2. 21-Tim Church[5]; 3. 14-Alyssa White[1]; 4. 106-Eric Novacek[4]; 5. 069-Kalvin Kesselberg[3]
Heat 1: 1. 21-Tim Church[4]; 2. 069-Kalvin Kesselberg[1]; 3. 219-BRandon Schmidt[3]; 4. 14-Alyssa White[5]; 5. 106-Eric Novacek[2]
IMCA SportMods:
A Feature 1: 1. 8J-Luke Johnson[3]; 2. 3X-Andy Wagner[5]; 3. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[2]; 4. 51-Kelly Jacobson[8]; 5. 1RM-Taylor Grove[7]; 6. 47-Kreig Kasin[1]; 7. 6-Austin Veralrud[4]; 8. 22-Vince Jegtvig[10]; 9. 13C-Paul Colvin[9]; 10. (DNF) 3W-Aaron Wetterlin[6]
Heat 1: 1. 1RM-Taylor Grove[2]; 2. 47-Kreig Kasin[1]; 3. 51-Kelly Jacobson[4]; 4. 13C-Paul Colvin[3]
Heat 2: 1. 3S-Jesse Skalicky[4]; 2. 3W-Aaron Wetterlin[1]; 3. 8J-Luke Johnson[5]; 4. 6-Austin Veralrud[6]; 5. 3X-Andy Wagner[3]; 6. (DNF) 22-Vince Jegtvig[2]
IMCA Stock Cars:
A Feature 1: 1. 14-Aaron Olson[2]; 2. 1-Kelly Jacobson[1]; 3. 40-Corry VanMil[4]; 4. (DNF) 4-Rick Schulz[3]
Heat 1: 1. 4-Rick Schulz[2]; 2. 14-Aaron Olson[1]; 3. 1-Kelly Jacobson[4]; 4. 40-Corry VanMil[3]
Article Credit: Mike Spieker