Mark Dobmeier – Solid Week Through the Plains
Lunstra/Dobmeier Motorsports PR
August 2, 2012 – The calendar now reads August, but Mark Dobmeier and the Lunstra/Dobmeier Motorsports #13 put some miles on the rig the following week with the All Star Circuit of Champions. A couple of top fives were a result as well has coming a quarter of a lap short of collecting Mark’s second career win with the storied series. The team is now getting ready for the 52nd Annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals and trying to up their sixth place finish in the main event last year.
The week kicked off north of the border in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the Red River CO-OP Speedway. The night started off with the eighth quickest lap in time trials out of the 18 cars signed in. A heat race win set up a starting spot of eighth in the feature, and the Senske & Son Transfer J&J patiently worked its way up to a fifth place finish.
The 540 mile trek south led the team to a Friday show at the historic Jackson Speedway in Jackson, Minnesota. Another eighth quick time in time trials for the 22 cars signed in meant “Dynamite” would start the night’s feature in the same position after a second place finish in the heat. The Right Choice Electric #13 made its way up to the third position and looked like it would finish there until Mark ran out of fuel on the last lap. Fortunately, he was able to only lose one spot and would finish in the fourth spot.
“We were really rolling there coming up through the field,” Mark said. “I wish we could have had more lap traffic with all the cautions, but we luckily hung on and were able to finish after running out of fuel.”
A short drive compared to the night before ensued for the weekly race at the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. 34 410’s signed in for the third to last point’s show of the 2012 season. Mark qualified in the thirteenth position and finished fourth in his heat race setting up a starting position of eleventh in the feature. Dobmeier would struggle a bit only able to make his way up to the tenth finishing spot. Mark does find himself in the fourth spot in the championship points going into Sunday’s final tune-up for the Nationals, which is a Knoxville Raceway Championship Cup point’s race.
“We still have some work to do as it wasn’t our best showing,” Dobmeier stated. “With the level of competition getting better and better every week we need to rise up to the competition and be a little better. We’re hoping to be good on Sunday with the level of cars they are expecting.”
The week concluded as it usually does at the Huset’s Speedway outside of Brandon, South Dakota for the finale of the first leg of the “Thunder Through the Plains” with the All Stars. Another stellar field of 33 sprinters signed in for the night. The Big Trucks by Jimco car timed in ninth quick and found a little luck in getting his way into the dash as three drivers quicker than him didn’t make it out of the heat, letting him sneak into the dash. A young fan drew the fourth starting spot for the dash and Dobmeier passed on car to finish third; where he would start the 30 lap ‘A’ Main.
Mark was looking to defend his win the last time the series was at the track, and also looking to take home the $5,000 top prize again. He patiently endured caution after caution and was all over race-long leader Danny Lasoski as they approached traffic at the end of the race. He finally made the pass outside of Lasoski into turn one with two laps remaining. It looked like the Dammer Trucking #13 would cruise to the victory, but lady luck had other ideas. As he entered turn three with the checkers about to fly, a car spun out in front of him, causing the yellow to fly. To add to it, the right rear Goodyear ended up going flat just as the caution flew, relegating Dobmeier to the infield to change tires. Things didn’t get any better on the restart when Mark got into the wall in turn two trying to avoid hitting a slowing car. Essentially, it was a turn from first-to-worst in the matter of a few minutes.
“Man, I thought that we had that baby won,” Mark said. “There is no more crushing of a feeling than taking the lead with a couple to go and then losing it in the last corner due to a flat. I had to run the hell out of the tire in order to get around Danny to even have a chance to win. We are here to win and don’t want to have settle for second. Then it was just insult to injury on the restart and wadding up some parts.”
The team is looking to finally turn it around as they regroup for the upcoming weekend. The plans are to run Friday night up in Grand Forks, North Dakota at the home track River Cities Speedway. They’ll get ready for the Nationals at the shop on Saturday and then take off for Knoxville for the first annual “Capitani Classic” on Sunday, the second to last point’s race at the track. It’ll be onto Highway 92 and to the east for the always popular Front Row Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Mark then qualifies on Thursday night, looking defend the win he had the year before on his prelim night.
“We ended up racing 19 nights pretty much in a month’s span there. It was pretty hectic at times, but we are definitely ready to focus on the Nationals and looking to repeat the success we had last year. My guys have worked their tails off with all the racing we have done, and it’s time to put the bad luck behind us and reward them with a good showing the next few weeks in Iowa.”
2012 STATS: 42 Starts, 9 Wins, 26 Top Fives, 33 Top Tens, 10 Heat Race Wins, 5 Fast Times, Average Finish of 6.238, 152 Cars Passed in A Main Action, and a Plus/Minus of 78 positions.
APPAREL: The new Mark Dobmeier shirts and hoodies have arrived and can be purchased at the trailer following the races! The “retro” looking shirts are still available plus newer designs in royal blue and charcoal for those that prefer a traditional looking shirt.
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 Aug 03, 2012
- Article Date: 8/3/2012 by Kole Faragher