After a wild Memorial Day weekend, the power rankings saw a shake up in a lot of the classes across the state. NOSA had a big four day mini tour going out of state which saw a lot of their regulars deciding to take the week off rather than making the daunting tow. So a handful saw declines in their ranking. However, last years champion Jade Hastings found himself in the number one spot after a consistant weekend. The NLRA went to Grand Rapids Thursday and Mike Greseth was dominant and took the win and the top spot in the ranking. Dave Mass and Bryce Sward have snuck into the top 24 with strong NLRA race performances.
The IMCA modifieds saw a lot of movement except for the top spot as Casey Arneson will hold onto the top spot heading into this weekends Iron Man 100 at the Dakota Speedway. This weekend will offer him a chance for to put a stranglehold for awhile as there are features both nights for the mods. The Dark Horse Travis Hagen is closely following Arneson in second with Jeremy Keller continuing his strong season performance. This weekend will offer a chance for some new drivers to find victory lane as the big money show in Mandan will definitely catch the attention of the mod drivers.
The Renegades saw Adam Sobolik claw his way past Joel Larson for the top spot after a three race weekend. The growth to wingless sprints class seems to be slow but steady so far this season. Hunter Domagala continues to hold down the pole as he won again at Dacotah Speedway against another strong field. However, some big names took advantage of the Memorial Day race at Sheyenne Speedway and got some much needed points after chasing the Steffes Street Stock Tour in Minnesota.
The BIG change of the week comes in the IMCA stock car division as Dalton Flory takes a considerable drop in the standings after his second loss of the season. So here's the rationale behind the sudden decline: the points work on a rolling three week points average. It also takes into account size of the field competing each night. So, with Fargo drawing large fields and the western side of the state getting smaller fields for the stock car division the loss hurts greater to Dalton. However, it was to be expected that at some point Dalton would finally suffer a defeat but we doubt that this minor setback will keep him down for long. However, the loss will stay in the average for another two weeks.
The hobby stock divisions have had some fierce competition but there are some notes that need to addressed to avoid any confusion. The IMCA hobby stock division saw Nodak give them the week off. They didn't do anything wrong as it's just a rotational strategy that Nodak uses to keep every class fresh for the fans. So a handful saw their points drop because of that. The other point that needs to be addressed was the Thunder Mountain results. For some odd reason only the top five were reported on myracepass which led to the rest not being reported. This is an issue as your feature finishing position is awarded a certain number of points. So we took all the points for the remaining cars and awarded those drivers equal points to be fair rather than not give them anything. Is it perfect or right? Probably not but that's the best that we could do this time.
The rest of the classes saw plenty of turnover and an influx of new drivers starting their seasons. The legends continues to be a war between the top ten so far. This weekend will prove to be another critical race for them as one slip up or poor showing will drop them like rock in water. The sport compacts continue to be dominated by Ken Sandberg but there's a bounty out for him. So we will see if someone will be able to collect on that. Stan Thompson, Alex Thompson, Aiden Wagner, and Larry King are the front runners to run down Sandberg. The mini stocks look like an entire new power ranking as almost everyone moved up this week.
Finally, the slingshots saw a major improvement in numbers as Estevan Motor Speedway opened this weekend and they had a rather large field. This is a pleasant surprise but also brings a new issue that will need to be taken into account for the upcoming weeks. However, that's another story for another time.
Get out this weekend as there is plenty of racing to watch this weekend. Wishek opens tonight and there is the the big Iron Man 100 two day race at Mandan. The World of Outlaws will be at River Cities and the Minn-Kota Lightning Sprints will be back in action this week. Don't forget to support the other races as NOSA goes to Devils Lake and Red River, Jamestown, and Nodak will be having regular racing.
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