6/8/2010
Mark Dobmeier – Memorial Weekend & Knoxville WoO
The last two race weekends for Lunstra/Dobmeier Motorsports have been pretty exciting. The team started out Memorial Weekend with the Friday night River Cities Speedway event, winning both the heat race and the feature, nailing down their third win and 10th top five finish of 2010.
Following River Cities the team made their 10 hour trip to Knoxville Raceway and qualified 16th out of the 21 car field. Then, having to change engines before the heat race, Dobmeier started on the pole and fell back two spots to Skip Jackson and Brian Brown. As the race unfolded, Mark overtook second and was catching Skip at the time of the checkered, but ran out of time and settled for the number two spot.
“After our engine change, the car felt really good,” explains the veteran driver, “We had to start on the inside of row seven for the feature and we raced our way up to sixth to finish out the night. It was a busy night for us in the pits, but my crew does a great job and they put together a great car for me.”
Huset’s Speedway had a double header for their Memorial Weekend NOSA event and Dobmeier started the night with a fifth place time and a fourth in the heat. As Mark was going for the lead in the main event, he nicked the ‘burm’ of the racetrack, spinning the Senske and Son Right Choice Electric #13, causing a caution. Starting 23rd on the restart, Mark raced all the way up to 10th to cap off the evening.
“We should have had this one,” says Mark. “I just made a mistake going for the lead and spun the car, but we came back up to tenth to make something out of the evening. We had a great car, everything was working right, it was just disappointing making the mistake early on.”
Monday night was a night to remember for everyone in the stands as it was one of the most exciting finishes the track has had for a long time. After setting a fourth quick time on the board and finishing third in the heat, the team elected to take the Back Row Challenge and start the Senske and Son Right Choice Electric #13 on the outside of row eight for the beginning of the main event.
Dobmeier raced hard passing 13 cars throughout 24 of the 25 lap contest and then on the last lap, Dobmeier seen an opportunity to double his payday. The 11x of Gregg Bakker and the 12 car of Lynton Jeffery took the low line going into turn three, so Mark kept his foot on the throttle and slammed the car into the cushion, right up alongside the Huset’s Speedway retaining wall to make it three wide coming out of turn four. The three were all within inches as they came to the line, but there just wasn’t enough room for all three racers as Dobmeier was “pancaked” into the wall and flipped across the line to finish third behind Bakker and Jeffery.
“It was pretty intense,” remembers Mark. “I had the chance to take the lead, and all three of us wanted the win so none of us were going to give it up. We didn’t hurt the car too bad, but we took the challenge and have been close before so I really didn’t want to lose this one. We ended up third and I am sure the finish was a great one to watch from the stands!”
This past weekend was all about Knoxville Raceway and the World of Outlaws. “We didn’t qualify great at all,” says the driver of the Senske and Son Right Choice Electric #13, talking about Thursday’s event, “We were late out and the track slowed down a bit, but a 41st quick time wasn’t what we were looking for.”
Dobmeier started in the back of the heat race at 11th and raced up to 6th right behind the 4x of Toni Lutar, just one spot outside of the transfer spot. Having to start the B Feature from all the way back in 17th, Dobmeier made quick work of the ½ mile and raced up to 5th, again, just one spot out of the transfer position of fourth.
They had an invert starting lineup for the following event on Friday which set the Senske and Son Right Choice Electric #13 on the inside of the second row for the start of the 25 lap contest. He ran third throughout 23 laps of the event, but when Donny Schatz blew a tire while running sixth with only 2 to go, Dobmeier restarted at third and at the drop of the green, Mark fell back fast to eighth.
“We had really soft rear tires on the car and I used them up throughout the race,” explains Mark. “I knew when the yellow came out that we would be in trouble, once I got on the gas on the restart, I didn’t have any traction and we moved backwards.”
After Saturday’s rain out at the Mediacom Shootout World of Outlaw event, the team traveled north to Huset’s Speedway to qualify second out of the 14 car field and then finished third in the heat to line him up 6th for the start of the main event. Mark finish behind the Harrisburg native Chad Meyer, to end the night at third.
[i FAST FACTS ON DOBMEIER:]
Mark graduated from The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business in which he then put the degree to work as he currently has a business in his hometown called Forx Radiator where he specializes in radiator repair and other vehicle service work.
Mark will be racing River Cities Speedway, Knoxville Raceway and Huset’s Speedway weekly throughout the 2010 season with as many close World of Outlaw, IRA and other NOSA events to fill in the gaps of the schedule.
[i LUNSTRA/DOBMEIER MOTORSPORTS TEAM WEBSITE:]
Be sure to follow the team through the team website www.markdobmeier.com. Latest results, news and photo updates will be updated regularly.
Be sure to also follow Mark on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dobmeierracing
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[i SPECIAL THANKS TO:]
Senske & Son Transfer, Right Choice Electric, Big Trucks by Jimco, Dekalb Seed, Dahlstrom Motors, Forx Radiator, Delta Oil , Dammer Brothers Livestock Transportation, Anderson Brothers Body Shop, Fragola Hoses, Willow Ridge, Rose Creek Tavern, Forks Mobile Wash, Awesome Racewear, Rite Spot Liquor, X-treme Polishing, the Disabled American Veterans and Driver Websites.com.
