Shawn Dement's first full season behind the wheel of a race car isn't going how he thought it would. It's going much better than that.
Dement is leading the points standings at two different tracks.
"I'm not cheating or anything. I've just been consistent," Dement said with a laugh. "I have a good car, and it seems like I've been finishing a lot of races near the front this year."
Dement raced a little at the end of last season, but dove in full-time this year.
"I grew up around it and decided to give it a try," Dement said. "I started at the end of last year to try and get some things set up."
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The Fargo driver leads the Four Cylinders point standings at Norman County Raceway and the Hornets point standings at Buffalo River Race Park.
Racing weekly at the Glyndon, Minn., track was the plan from the start of the year.
Racing at Norman County every week? It's just kind of worked out that way.
"I went up there to race one night, and I wound up winning," Dement said. "Now I feel like I'm obligated to keep going back up there. I've gone up there every week for points."
Dement isn't running away with either points title. At Norman County Raceway, he leads Twin Valley, Minn., driver James Cooper by just six points. At BRRP, his lead is just nine points over Greg Ulmauf of Fergus Falls, Minn.
But the points leads have kept Dement going to the track, and his consistent season has him brimming with confidence.
"It's done a lot for my confidence," Dement said. "I know I'm going to be up there competing near the front just about every week."
Dement said he would like to move up to a bigger class in the future, maybe as soon as next year.
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"It depends on a lot of things," Dement said. "I would like to move up to a Midwest Mod or a Mod Four or something, but it's a toss up.
"We're going to have to wait and see what happens."
Mechanical woes plague Schatz
Fargo's Donny Schatz had a frustrating Fourth of July at Eagle (Neb.) Raceway.
Schatz had mechanical problems after hot laps and finished just 13 of the 40 laps in the feature. He wound up 19th for his third-worst finish of the season.
Danny Lasoski wound up winning the feature for his third victory of the season. Joey Saldana finished third in the feature, and closed the gap in the overall points race.
Schatz still leads with 4,581 points, but Saldana now trails by just 44 points (the lead was 76 a week ago). Jason Meyers is third (4,489).
Rain canceled Friday's event at Huset's Speedway in Brandon, S.D. The World of Outlaws ran at 34 Raceway in Burlington, Iowa, on Wednesday, but results were unavailable at press time.
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Grosz wins a pair
Harwood, N.D., Sprint car driver Lee Grosz won a pair of American Sprint Car Series races at Jackson (Minn.) Raceway on Saturday.
Fargo's Wade Nygaard finished second to Grosz in one of the features.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Kerry Collins at (701) 241-5548.
Collins' blogs can be found at www.areavoices.com
