Belleville, IL. (09/23/2020) Battling on the racing surface of Minnesota and North Dakota for the final time in 2020, the POWRi Lucas Oil Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints would hold a spectacular two days of speed to wrap up their racing season. First, at River Cities Speedway on Friday, September 18th then on to Devils Lake Speedway on Saturday, September 19th. After hard-fought battles all weekend for driving supremacy, Dexter Dvergsten would continue to add to his dominance this season as Alan Truscinski appeared to save the best for last winning the final race of the 2020 MKLS season.
The POWRi Lucas Oil Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint would start their first of two race nights at the premier River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota with fifteen drivers checking in for an evening of racing around the legendary Bullring. With six classes on tap for the night, the MKLS ran second for the night in both their heats, at eight laps apiece won by Dexter Dvergsten, Alan Truscinski, and Patrick Brejcha, as well as the twenty-lap feature event.
Feature time for the POWRi MKLS would witness the front row would line up of #60X Patrick Brejcha on the pole and #11 Dexter Dvergsten on the outside. Once green flag action started Dvergsten would instantly find a way to the front of the field with a hooked-up lightning sprint. Finding and holding the perfect racing line for the duration of the feature, Dexter would get into lapped traffic with a few laps remaining as #93 Kelsi Pederson locked onto the front-runner’s spot.
Working the lapped traffic to perfection while potentially using it to his advantage to keep Pederson behind him, Dvergsten would ultimately take the checkered flag at the end of the caution-free twenty lap feature. Pederson would pace the prized position for most of the feature, placing in an incredibly competitive second. Alan Truscinski #13t would round out the podium after moving up two spots from starting fifth while getting around the fourth-place finisher #51 Cody Swenson. Travis Surerus #19s would find a killer racing-line, working his magic to move up eight spots after starting thirteenth.
Feature Results from POWRi MKLS at River Cities Speedway on Friday, September 18th:
1.#11 Dexter Dvergsten (2) 2.#93 Kelsi Pederson (3) 3.#13T Alan Truscinski (5) 4.#51 Cody Swenson (7) 5.#19S Travis Surerus (13) 6. #10T Alex Truscinski (10) 7.#60X Patrick Brejcha (1) 8.#100 Jason Berg (9) 9.#22 Bryce Haugeberg (4) 10.#5G Garrison Miller (6) 11.#16C Corey Olson (11) 12.#19 Wesley Van Drunen (8) 13.#72 Kate Taves (14) 14.#16E Paul Ericson (12) 15.#10H Evan Hendrickson (15)
In the final points race of the season on Saturday, September 19th, the POWRi Lucas Oil Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints would head to the beautiful Devils Lake Speedway. Marking race number twenty-four of the year, two races would be non-sanctioned/non-points events. Picturesque mid-seventy degree weather with some wind to accompany the night would be the setting as drivers have become accustomed to the trouble-some side-winds that tend to find its way to the Devils Lake Speedway on many race nights.
For some added fan-fun and talent-testing, it was decided that competitors would run double heat races for the final season race. The Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints would line up to run their first set of heat races second in the running order of events with five classes on tap to compete, then again MKLS would run their final heat-race of the year right before the intermission. Two early heats were one by Alan Truscinski and Dexter Dvergsten, while the two latter heats witnessed Bryce Haugeberg and Kelsi Pederson claim the victories.
Pacing the field with a three-wide salute to the race-fans for the first time in series history, the POWRi MKLS main event feature racing would see #13T Alan Truscinski on the pole with #93 Kelsi Pederson lining up on his outside to complete the front row. Pederson and Truscinski have been in a fierce point battle in the back-half of the season for the second-place position, keeping the series leader Dvergsten close all season.
When the green flag dropped Truscinski hammered down and would keep his foot on the gas pedal for the full twenty laps. Truscinski wouldn’t be handed the race as Pederson would be hot on his tail the entire race with Alan able to hold off a hard Kelsi charge on a restart for caution that involved the #19S machine of Wesley Van Drunen who had a chain come off.
Truscinski would work through lapped traffic at ease while battling many advances from Pederson in the process, yet in the end, Alan would take the checkered flag and win his first points race of the season. Kelsi Pederson would come across the finish line in a hard-fought second placement with #10T Alex Truscinski moving up four spots from seventh to finish third. Cody Swenson #51 finished in the fourth place where he started as #11 Dexter Dvergsten rounded out the top five.
Alan Truscinski had a great celebration in victory lane with his son and fellow driver Alex Truscinski and his wife a race photographer, Val Truscinski. After twenty-two points races run throughout the 2020 season it would be the #11 of Dexter Dvergsten that was crowned the POWRi Lucas Oil Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints Series Points Champion at the end of the evening.
Feature
1.#13T Alan Truscinski (1) 2. #93 Kelsi Pederson (2) 3.#10T Alex Truscinski (7) 4.#51 Cody Swenson (4) 5.#11 Dexter Dvergsten (3) 6.#100 Jason Berg (6) 7.#22 Bryce Haugeberg (5) 8.#16C Corey Olson (8) 9.#5G Garrison Miller (13) 10.#60X Patrick Brejcha (11) 11.#10H Evan Hendrickson (15) 12.#72 Kate Taves (12) 13.#00 Ron Morlock (14) 14.#19S Travis Surerus (10) 15.#19 Wesley Van Drunen (9)
The POWRi Lucas Oil Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints 2020 season has completed with many drivers already eagerly awaiting the launch of the next racing season. For more information such as driver profiles, points standings, and series rules visit the POWRi Minn-Kota Lightning Sprint Series Facebook page.
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