Mark Dobmeier – Another Week and More Bad Luck!
Lunstra/Dobmeier Motorsports PR
July 25, 2012 – It was another hot weekend for the Lunstra/Dobmeier Motorsports team, and it yielded some more bad luck along the way. Mark Dobmeier and the team were able to overcome some of the bad luck and look forward to getting rid of it. Four races in the previous five nights and a busy schedule for this weekend is set as time continues to tick on the way to the 52nd Annual Knoxville Nationals.
Last Friday kicked off the weekend at River Cities Speedway in Mark’s hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. He started the feature in his usual ninth position, looking to keep his undefeated record at the track in weekly races. The night quickly came to end on lap eleven after an incident with Casey Mack. Mack came up the banking into the high line, launching Mark over the banking into a series of wild flips. Fortunately, Mark was okay, however, the car was not.
“We were making our way forward in the feature battling for second or third and he just came up the track and I had nowhere to go,” Mark said. “About the only thing left from that car was the seat, steering wheel, and the motor. Everything else was junk. I got some big air and just hung on for dear life. So that started our weekend off on a sour note.”
More problems arrived the next night at the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. During Dobmeier’s one lap on the clock in time trials the throttle linkage broke resulting in 23rd quickest time out of 26 cars, relegating the team to start in the back of their heat race. They finished fifth after starting eighth and wound up starting the ‘A’ in the 18th position. “Dynamite” quickly found his way to the top ten in the first two laps and was actually into the fourth position by the half way point. The Senske & Son/ J&J Chassis settled into the fifth spot at the checkers, and wound up getting the hard charger award for the night. Dobmeier currently sits in the fifth spot in the point standings with three point races left on the season.
“It was just one of those deals where the bad luck continues to strike us in some way,” Mark said. “We were bad fast coming up through the field and showed it with our finish. We’re just hoping all of the bad luck gets out of the way as we continue to get ready for the Nationals here in a couple of weeks.”
Sunday night at the Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota started with Mark’s fifth quick time of the year, and fourth at 1/3 mile bullring. A fifth place finish in the heat set up an eighth place starting position for the 13 car field in the 25 lap main event. Some heavy racing early on saw Dobmeier get bottled up a bit in his way to through the field. A solid fourth place finish happened after the front cars moved to the high side of the track for the latter half of the race.
The Right Choice Electric #13 will be ready for next week as they look to defend the home turf when the All Star Circuit of Champions come back to Huset’s for their first of two appearances. The last appearance saw Dobmeier grab his first career win with the organization. Mark still finds himself in the second position in points behind Terry McCarl as he pursues his fifth track championship in the last six years.
“The track was pretty fun, especially early, this week compared to last week where we got in line and followed everyone,” Mark admitted. “We just weren’t able to come forward the way we would have liked in the first half of the race. We’ll learn from it and we’ll be ready next week for the 5 grand to win show with the All Stars.”
A couple of nights off have allowed the team to be able to exhale and get ready for a big week of racing in the Upper Midwest. They continued the racing with the All Stars in their “Thunder Through The Plains” Tuesday night in Hibbing, Minnesota at the Hibbing Raceway. Mark qualified in the crucial sixth position, locking himself into the dash after a third place finish in the heat.
However, more bad luck struck in the dash on the start of it. Third row starter Cap Henry took out Dobmeier’s front end in the first set of turns, knocking him and Jac Haudenschild out of the dash with too much damage. After that, a single-file parade ensued for the 40 lap main event which saw Dobmeier and his Big Trucks by Jimco #13 finsih in the sixth spot after starting fifth.
“The tire was down to the chords so we barely hung on to finish,” Mark said. “We had to work on the front end after the dash and the track was just toast come the feature. I tried to pass (Danny) Lasoski at one point but couldn’t get it done, and just got in line with everyone else on the bottom after that when we lost a spot or two.”
“I have to thank my entire crew and car owner for their dedication and hard work. We have run 15 races in the last 26 nights and are going to be running more this weekend. My hat’s off to them as they are busting their butts every night either at the track or back in the shop. We hope it all turns around this week with a couple of wins.”
The plans for the rest of the week include more All Star shows tonight (Thursday) at the Red River CO-OP Speedway in Winnipeg, Manitoba. If all goes well, they will be at the Jackson Speedway in Jackson, Minnesota on Friday night again with the All Stars. Then it will be onto Knoxville for a tune-up for the ever approaching Knoxville Nationals, and then ending it with the All Star show at Huset’s on Sunday night.
2012 STATS: 38 Starts, 9 Wins, 24 Top Fives, 30 Top Tens, 9 Heat Race Wins, 5 Fast Times, Average Finish of 5.921, 144 Cars Passed in A Main Action, and a Plus/Minus of 85 positions.
APPAREL: The new Mark Dobmeier shirts and hoodies have arrived and can be purchased at the trailer following the races!
SPONSORS: Lunstra/Dobmeier Motorsports would like to thank all of their sponsors for their continued support into 2012: Senske & Son Transfer, Right Choice Electric, Big Trucks by Jimco, DeKalb Seed, IQ Bid Auctioneers, Dahlstrom Motors, Forx Radatior, Dammer Trucking, Anderson Brothers Body Shop, Forks Mobile Wash, Disabled American Veterans, Xtreme Polishing, Willow Ridge, Rose Creek Farms, Rendezvous Region Construction, and Visit Grand Forks.
WEBSITE: Of course you can follow along at Mark’s new and improved website at MarkDobmeier.com
SOCIAL MEDIA: Like us on Facebook and get updates from the track at: Facebook.com/pages/LunstraDobmeier-Motorsports/127617420603580
Also, Follow Mark on Twitter at: Twitter.com/DobmeierRacing
EMAIL: If you would like to receive Mark’s weekly release, or have any other questions, drop an email at DobmeierPR13@hotmail.com and we will add you to the list.
PHOTOGRAPHERS: If you would like your photo of Dobmeier in this weekly release, please email us at DobmeierPR13@hotmail.com with your photos and we will gladly use it.
- Kole Faragher on Jul 26, 2012
- Article Date: 7/26/2012 by Kole Faragher