Dacotah Speedway
Late scramble opens door for Doar at Mandan
By Rob Fogle and Rob Palmer
DirtonDirt.com correspondents
Pat Doar earned $10,000. (lptimages.printroom.com)
MANDAN, N.D. (May 31) — Inheriting the lead after a late-race tangle between front-row starters Jeff Wildung and Jeff Provinzino, ninth-starting Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis., raced to victory at Dacotah Speedway on the WISSOTA-sanctioned Rumble Dirt Series. Doar won the 40-lap Rumble on the Prairie on first-year series in an event squeezed into a single day after Friday's preliminaries were rained out. | Slideshow
Fifth-starting John Kaanta of Elk Mound, Wis., finished second followed by Zach Johnson of Lowry, Minn., who started and finished third. Jake Redetzke of Eau Claire, Wis., finished fourth and consolation race winner Steve Laursen of Cumberland, Wis., rallied from 18th to round out the top five.
Provinzino, of Hibbing, Minn., outdueled Wildung, of Nassau, Minn., on the first lap to take control of the race and led Wildung, Steve Pfiefer, Kaanta and Redetzke through the early laps. Pfiefer faded by the halfway point and was sent to the tail following a lap-21 caution, blamed for spinning A.J. Diemel.
After that restart, Wildung turned up the heat on Provinzino and grabbed the lead on the 23rd lap while Doar took third from Kaanta. Doar then took second from Provinzino as the leading Wildung's car began smoking as he dropped a cylinder with 10 laps remaining. With the frontrunners entering lapped traffic, Wildung, Doar and Provinzino were in single-file formation, but Provinzino found new life and took second from Doar in turn four with five laps remaining. Provinzino tried to use turn four to overtake Wildung, too, but contact sent Wildung to a stop at the top of the turn. The caution was blamed on Provinzino, who was sent to the tail, and Wildung's car was removed from the track with damage to the car's left front. Doar inherited the lead and fought off Kaanta's final advances.
Notes: Doar's winning MasterSbilt from Mars car is powered by a Malcuit engine and sponsored by AMSOIL. ... Doar leads the Rumble Dirt Series standings after two events. ... Steve Laursen and Eric Mass of Rapid City, S.D., were probably grateful Friday's prelims were rained out. Mass broke a motor in hot laps Friday and Laursen broke a driveshaft. Mass went to fellow driver Paul Mueller's Bismarck, N.D., shop to replace his backup engine for Saturday's action. ...The purse (to $5,000 from $10,000) and feature laps (to 40 from 66) were reduced because of the one-day event. ... Among drivers failing to make the feature: Curt Gelling, Joey Jensen, Steve Isenberg, Mike Stadel and Mueller. .... A string of three series events in seven days is coming up at Hibbing (Minn.) Raceway (on June 13-14), at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minn. (on June 16-17) and Red River Co-op Speedway in Winnipeg, Manitoba (on June 18-19).
Rumble @ Dacotah: (1) Pat Doar, (2) John Kaanta, (3) Zach Johnson, (4) Jake Redetzke, (5) Steve Laursen, (6) Tom Nesbitt, (7) Kyle Peterlin, (8) Lance Matthees, (9) A.J. Diemel, (10) Brad Seng, (11) Mitch Johnson, (12) Joel Cryderman, (13) John Bey, (14) Michael Johnson, (15) Steve Pfeifer, (16) Mike Balcaen, (17) Eric Mass, (18) Troy Olson, (19) Dustin Hapka, (20) Matt Aukland, (21) Jeff Wildung, (22) Jeff Provinzino, (23) Ryan Corbett, (24) Troy Schill. Heat race winners (among 42 cars): Pfiefer, Provinzino, Z. Johnson, Redetzke. Dash winner: Provinzino: Consolation winners: Laursen, Peterlin. Provisional starters: Balcaen, Hapka.
