Jun. 14—GRAND FORKS — Austin Pierce is no stranger to Victory Lane.

He had won 50 NOSA sprint features in his career, but win No. 51 at River Cities Speedway on Friday night carried some meaning.

Driving the No. 31 sprint owned by Shane Roemeling, Pierce led from green to checkered in taking the second leg of the Wayne Anderson Cup — a 30-lap feature that saw numerous yellow flags, two red flags, and a fuel stop on a demanding, technical track.

Pierce won all of his previous features in his No. 2 sprint. Last year, however, he drove Romeling’s car a few times and is back in the No. 31 sprint again this year.

“When Shane asked me to drive the car, my goal was to get it into Victory Lane,” said Pierce. “He hasn’t had this car in Victory Lane in the years he raced it. I wanted to make this my goal, especially with him battling cancer. So this win means a lot to me and I wanted to dedicate it to him and his business.”

Pierce started on the pole and had to fend off a number of challenges from Mark Dobmeier, who finished 0.409 seconds off the pace. Jade Hastings, who won the first leg of the four Wayne Anderson Cup season races, finished third, followed by Nick Omdahl and Brendan Mullen.

It wasn’t an easy race, said Pierce.

“The track was good on the bottom right away, then I didn’t know when I should move to the top,” said Pierce. “But with all the restarts, I was able to get into the corners first. Luckily, it all worked out.”

With six laps to go, Pierce bobbled in Turn 2. He had nearly a two-second lead at the time.

“My arm kind of got locked up; I think I pulled a muscle,” he said.

Dobmeier, closed hard in the final laps. Pierce led by 1.137 seconds with five laps to go and 0.749 seconds with two circuits left. But he was able to hold on as the white flag came out.

For the second straight week, there was a solid sprint car count as 22 drivers took the flag for the feature.

It was also one of the longest nights of racing at RCS.

Due to rain outs in West Fargo and Aberdeen, S.D., the RCS car count totaled a whopping 130 in five classes. The checkered flag for the sprint feature was waved at 12:02 a.m. Saturday. It was one of the biggest fields of cars for a regular night of racing in years.

In the late model division, there were 33 cars on hand. And the feature came down again to a battle between Tyler Peterson and Dustin Strand.

Peterson took the lead from Strand with 17 laps to go but couldn’t shake the driver of the No. 71 late model.

The two put on an entertaining race through lapped traffic the rest of the way, with Peterson winning by 1.244 seconds.

John Seng was third followed by Don Shaw — a former John Seitz Memorial Late Model winner — and Aberdeen driver Chad Becker.

“Dustin has been the man here for years and when you beat him, you know you’ve done your job,” said Peterson.

Modifieds, Midwest modifieds and street also competed, all with healthy car counts.

Matt Schow won the Midwest modified feature. He passed Ryan Flaten of Madison, Minn., for the lead with two laps to go. He started eighth and won by 0.824 seconds. Austin Hunter was third.

In the modified division, Bryce Sward of Nelson, Minn., started ninth but took the top spot with 11 laps to go. He edged Mike Stearns of Abereen, S.D., by 1.013 seconds. Peterson finished third as he raced in both divisions.

Strand, however, had perhaps the best race as he finished fourth after starting 24th.

Cole Greseth took the 20-lap street feature, beating Levi Randt of Siren, Wis. by nearly four seconds. Greg Jose was third, followed by Trey Hess and Kasey Ussatis.

River Cities Speedway

Friday’s results

Streets

Feature — 1. Cole Greseth, 2. Levi Randt, 3. Greg Jose, 4. Trey Hess, 5. Kasey Ussatis

Midwest modifieds

Feature — 1. Matt Schow, 2. Ryan Flaten, 3. Austin Hunter 4. Ryan Schow, 5. Justin Olson

Modifieds

Feature — 1. Bryce Sward, 2. Mike Stearns, 3. Tyler Peterson, 4. Dustin Strand, 5. Ward Imrie

Late models

Feature — 1. Tyler Peterson, 2. Dustin Strand, 3. John Seng, 4. Don Shaw, 5. Chad Becker

Sprints

Feature — 1. Austin Pierce, 2. Mark Dobmeier, 3. Jade Hastings, 4. Nick Omdahl, 5. Brendan Mullen