(Bill W) June 9, 2014 – Mark Dobmeier stormed from 11[sup]th[/sup] to win his second feature of the season at River Cities Speedway in his hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota Friday night. A change in plans put into motion by Mother Nature saw the Lunstra/Dobmeier #13 team compete with the World of Outlaws at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas on Saturday night when the rains hit Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. Sunday night, Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota was awash as well. This weekend, the team will compete with the WoO at both Jackson Speedway in Minnesota on Friday night, and at the Knoxville Saturday. Sunday, they are hoping the sun is back out at Huset’s.
Twenty-eight sprint cars gathered at River Cities Friday night. Mark finished fourth in his heat, and would start the 25-lap main event inside row six. “They had the track really dry-slick again,” he says. “There were some holes in the middle of the track that everyone else was avoiding. It was the only spot with any moisture, so I kind of used that to my advantage. I went trouncing right through them to get some traction.”
The all-time leading feature winner at the racy bullring made his way to the front. “We were able to move through there,” says Mark. “I think we got the lead with about six or seven laps to go.”
The young fans at River Cities are always welcome for the Victory Lane photo, and Friday was no different. “It’s something I’ve always done,” says Mark. “We’re always the last race. They let the fans down during our pictures. The kids love it. I grab the smallest one I can find that can steer the car afterwards and I let them drive back to my pit. All the kids know it, so it’s pretty much a sprint from the grandstand to Victory Lane!”
The team paused on their trip to Knoxville after looking at the radar. “We were on our way to Knoxville and looking at the weather,” says Mark. “We got to Missouri Valley (Iowa) and made the call to go on to Kansas City. It didn’t look like there was any way Knoxville would be racing looking at the radar we were looking at.”
Mark timed in fourteenth quick in his first trip to Lakeside. After locking himself into a starting spot in the feature outside of row seven, he had a rough start. “In the first corner, Kraig Kinser and I both got a little upset,” he says. “I got up on two wheels on the top of the track and lost quite a few spots. We worked our way back up to tenth.”
At that point, mechanical gremlins struck. “I was running a good solid tenth until the end,” says Mark. “The motor decided to go ‘kaput’ and we backed up to twelfth. We finished the race there.”
Mark and the team had some work to do for Sunday, but that ended in a rainout. “There are some connecting rods that aren’t connected anymore,” he says of the motor that expired at Lakeside. “The engine vented itself. Luckily, we were able to cross the finish line in twelfth. We put a fresh motor in for Huset’s, but we got rained out after hot laps. We got home early again!”
The Lunstra/Dobmeier team would like to thank Senske and Son Transfer, Big Trucks by Jimco, Sioux Falls Ford, Steffe’s Auctioneers, Dammer Trucking, ACME Tool, Strong Box and Tire Boss for all their help!
Attached: Mark with his young fans in River Cities Victory Lane (Photo by Rick Rea – www.RickRea.com)
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