Dvergsten captures second series title; Alan Truscinski claims season finale victory

By Mike Spieker

GREENBUSH, Minn. (September 23, 2020) – The 2020 POWRi Lucas Oil Minn-Kota / NLSA Lightning Sprint season came to an end last weekend with a doubleheader at a pair of high-banked bullrings. 

The top two drivers in the point standings, Dexter Dvergsten and Alan Truscinski, each picked up wins.

2016 series champion, Dvergsten, came into the weekend with a 16 point advantage over Truscinski and took a step at solidifying his second title on Friday night at River Cities Speedway as he parked his No. 11 machine in victory lane. 

Dvergsten started on the outside of the front row for the 15-lap main event and won the drag race into turn one over fellow front row starter Patrick Brejcha. Dvergsten then opened up a comfortable lead over the rest of the pack until Kelsi Pederson made her way into the second spot. 

In open track, Pederson appeared to be quicker but had a big deficit to make up. 

Pederson erased the gap with six to go. Dvergsten was flawless through lapped traffic, however, which proved to be the difference as he held on to pick up his eighth win of the season. 

Alan Truscinski, Cody Swenson and Travis Surerus rounded out the top five. ​

Photo by Steven Young.

On Saturday night, the series made the 65-mile trip west to Devils Lake Speedway in Crary, N.D.

A strong field of 16 cars were checked in for the season finale with Dvergsten, Alan Truscinski, Pederson and Bryce Haugeberg all picking up heat wins. 

The 20-lap main event went green with Alan Truscinki and Pederson leading the field. Truscinski wasted no time taking the lead and running away from the rest of the competition. At the halfway point, Truscinski had built himself a half-lap advantage over Pederson, but that lead was negated as the caution flew with nine to go. 

On the restart, Truscinski picked up where he left off, opening up another comfortable advantage. Truscinski was clearly the class of the field as he cruised to his second win of the season by 1.132 seconds over Pederson. 

Alex Truscinski, Swenson and Dvergsten completed the top five. 

Dvergsten’s fifth-place finish was enough to give him the 2020 series championship. Alan Truscinski finished second in the points while Pederson rounded out the podium. 

RESULTS:
Sept. 18: River Cities Speedway
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[2]; 2. 93-Kelsi Pederson[3]; 3. 13-Alan Truscinski[5]; 4. 51-Cody Swenson[7]; 5. 19S-Travis Surerus[13]; 6. 10T-Alex Truscinski[10]; 7. 60X-Patrick Brejcha[1]; 8. 100-Jason Berg[9]; 9. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[4]; 10. 5G-Garrison Miller[6]; 11. 16C-Corey Olson[11]; 12. 19-Wesley Van Drunen[8]; 13. 72-Kate Taves[14]; 14. 16E-Paul Ericson[12]; 15. 10H-Evan Hendrickson[15]; 16. (DNS) 10-Danny Hazemann

​Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[2]; 2. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[1]; 3. 51-Cody Swenson[4]; 4. 10T-Alex Truscinski[3]; 5. 19S-Travis Surerus[5]; 6. 72-Kate Taves[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Alan Truscinski[4]; 2. 100-Jason Berg[1]; 3. 93-Kelsi Pederson[3]; 4. 16C-Corey Olson[5]; 5. 10H-Evan Hendrickson[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 60X-Patrick Brejcha[4]; 2. 19-Wesley Van Drunen[1]; 3. 5G-Garrison Miller[5]; 4. 16E-Paul Ericson[2]; 5. (DNS) 10-Danny Hazemann

Sept. 19: Devils Lake Speedway
A Feature  (20 Laps): 1. 13-Alan Truscinski[1]; 2. 93-Kelsi Pederson[2]; 3. 10T-Alex Truscinski[7]; 4. 51-Cody Swenson[4]; 5. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[3]; 6. 100-Jason Berg[6]; 7. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[5]; 8. 16-Corey Olson[8]; 9. 5G-Garrison Miller[13]; 10. 60X-Patrick Brejcha[11]; 11. 10H-Evan Hendrickson[15]; 12. 72-Kate Taves[12]; 13. 00-Ron Morlock[14]; 14. (DNF) 19S-Travis Surerus[10]; 15. (DNF) 19-Wesley Van Drunen[9]; 16. (DNF) 10-Danny Hazemann[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Alan Truscinski[1]; 2. 51-Cody Swenson[2]; 3. 10T-Alex Truscinski[5]; 4. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[6]; 5. 19S-Travis Surerus[4]; 6. 72-Kate Taves[7]; 7. 00-Ron Morlock[8]; 8. 10H-Evan Hendrickson[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[1]; 2. 100-Jason Berg[4]; 3. 93-Kelsi Pederson[8]; 4. 60X-Patrick Brejcha[3]; 5. 16-Corey Olson[7]; 6. 19-Wesley Van Drunen[6]; 7. 5G-Garrison Miller[5]; 8. 10-Danny Hazemann[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Bryce Haugeberg[2]; 2. 13-Alan Truscinski[7]; 3. 51-Cody Swenson[6]; 4. 10T-Alex Truscinski[3]; 5. 19S-Travis Surerus[4]; 6. 72-Kate Taves[1]; 7. 00-Ron Morlock[8]; 8. 10H-Evan Hendrickson[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Kelsi Pederson[1]; 2. 16-Corey Olson[2]; 3. 19-Wesley Van Drunen[3]; 4. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[8]; 5. 100-Jason Berg[5]; 6. 5G-Garrison Miller[4]; 7. 60X-Patrick Brejcha[6]; 8. (DNF) 10-Danny Hazemann[7]