Jun. 4—GRAND FORKS — Dustin Strand took a significant lead down the back straightaway with half the race to go last Friday.
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This has meant one thing in recent years at River Cities Speedway: Race over.
Strand has dominated the late model division, winning 16 of his 21 features at The Bullring over the last two summers. The only competitor to win more than one in that timeframe was Tyler Pederson.
But Shane Edginton is spicing things up this summer.
Edginton tracked down Strand, who got caught in lapped traffic, passed him with two laps to go and took the checkered flag.
It marked Edginton's second feature win at River Cities Speedway in three races this summer.
"I got to second and saw there were 11 laps to go," said Edginton, who started eighth. "With about five or six laps to go, I could see visually that I was catching up to him and he was in lapped traffic. A couple of lapped cars played into my favor."
Edginton, of East St. Paul, Man., started 19 features at The Bullring the last two years, but did not win any features.
His last feature win came at the 2023 John Seitz Memorial race.
So far this summer, he has two firsts and a second at River Cities Speedway.
"We've tried a couple of different setups here," Edginton said. "I was driving a Longhorn for a guy in Watertown, S.D., Scott Ward, and I learned a couple of things from that car that translated to mine. We had our stuff working pretty good at the end of last year, we just didn't have the results.
"We've got a setup that suits me and suits this area. Grand Forks is such a different animal than other tracks. I think we finally figured something out."
That doesn't mean Strand isn't a factor anymore, though.
One night after Edginton tracked down Strand to grab the checkered flag, Strand returned the favor in Devils Lake. Strand tracked down Edginton, who was stuck in lapped traffic, to win.
"Dustin has been on a tear here the last two or three years," Edginton said. "It's nice to be able to compete with him. We've had some good races. He got one on me Saturday night."
The late models will take center stage this week at River Cities Speedway. The sprints won't run at The Bullring with High Limit Racing running at I-94 Speedway in Fergus Falls, Minn.
The late models will be joined by streets, modifieds and Midwest Modifieds.
On Saturday, the late models will go to Devils Lake, where they'll be joined by pure stocks, Midwest Modifieds and streets.
"We struggled here the last couple of years," Edginton said of River Cities Speedway. "We were close a lot of times, a lot of seconds. We just couldn't get it done. I think we definitely have a car this year."