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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] with your photos and we will gladly use it.
Mark on the outside of Brad Sweet last week at Jackson Speedway. (Jeff Bylsma Photo)
Official Lunstra/Dobmeier Motorsports Public Relations
Like us on Facebook:
facebook.com/pages/LunstraDobmeier-Motorsports/127617420603580
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/DobmeierRacing
www.MarkDobmeier.com
|