6-11 Page 25 | ATD Racing News

Searing steals the big check as Challenge Series Late Models make KRA Speedway stop

By Ron Krog and Chris Stepan

WILLMAR, MN (June 6) - Race fans at KRA Speedway got a real treat on a very nice Thursday night as the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series came to town June 6, and a very nice crowd showed up to enjoy a night of WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action.

Winners included Cole Searing, Jason Vejtruba, and Justin Vogel.

Tim Kanten edged Bud Martini for the early lead to begin the WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature, and two laps later Vejtruba got by Martini for second. A lap later Vejtruba took the lead from Kanten and opened up a nice cushion.

Back in the field Blake Adams was on the move, as he raced by Ryan Putnam into fourth with eight laps to go. Three laps later Adams got by Martini for third, and then drove past Kanten for second. He chased down Vejtruba and put on some heavy pressure before falling short. Vejtruba went on to garner the victory ahead of Adams, Putnam, Kanten and ninth-starter Onyx Johnson in the top five.

The WISSOTA Street Stock feature had a strong presence of 2024 winners spread throughout the 22-car field of drivers who took the green. The first caution flew with two laps scored, as Ethan Iiams and Zach Flickinger were locked in a good fight out front with Justin Vogel right behind.

Two laps later Vogel moved by Iiams to second, with Ty Agen chasing him into third. Three laps passed by, Vogel moved in alongside Flickinger and the battle was on. With eight laps to go Vogel took the lead and went on to a nice win, followed by Flickinger, Agen, Keith Tourville and Kolton Brauer in the top five.

Ryan Mikkelson and Cory Crapser paced the 40-lap WISSOTA Late Model feature to green, with Crapser leading the first nine circuits. The event’s first caution flew for an Adam Ayotte breakdown on the frontstretch.

On the restart, Crapser led Mikkelson and Tyler Peterson back to green, with Zimpel and Massingill running side by side for fourth.

The second caution of the event flew on lap 10 for an Adam Prieve spin, bunching up the field once again. This time on the restart, Cole Searing roared into third around Peterson and began to chase down Mikkelson for second.

Crapser continued to lead with Mikkelson, Searing, Peterson and Matt Gilbertson in the mix until the third caution flew for Todd Frank, who had a flat tire.

Crapser took off out front following the restart and the event stayed green for the next 14 circuits with Searing closing on Crapser until the fourth and final yellow flag was displayed on lap 27, creating a 13-lap race to the checkered.

With Crapser out front, Searing tried high and low to overtake the race-long leader, completing the pass as the field exited turn two on lap 33 to steal the lead and drive off to a .862-second victory, his third in four series starts in 2024. Crapser finished a career-best second with Gilbertson a close third. Mikkelson’s fourth-place finish edged Peterson, who rounded out the top five.

Coltyn Schuler grabbed his sixth win of the season in the Pure Stock feature, while the Super Stock, Mod Four and Hornet features were postponed due to the track’s curfew.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Structural Buildings A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 10-Cole Searing[6]; 2. 07-Cory Crapser[2]; 3. 23-Matt Gilbertson[7]; 4. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[1]; 5. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 6. 42S-Don Shaw[9]; 7. 7A-Shane Sabraski[14]; 8. 2M-Dave Mass[8]; 9. 5-Josh Zimpel[4]; 10. 30-Kevin Burdick[16]; 11. 6M-Jeff Massingill[5]; 12. 22E-Kevin Eder[18]; 13. 54-Rick Niemi[10]; 14. 7-Joel Bennett[13]; 15. 28-Jeff Provinzino[24]; 16. 63-Patrick Kelley[17]; 17. 9-Adam Prieve[21]; 18. 3W-Clarence Washburn[22]; 19. (DNF) 7L-Scott Lehn[23]; 20. (DNF) 55S-Ryan Schaufler[15]; 21. (DNF) 21F-Gunner Frank[11]; 22. (DNF) 11-Pat Doar[12]; 23. (DNF) 21-Todd Frank[19]; 24. (DNF) 04JR-Adam Ayotte[25]; 25. (DNF) 76-Dustin Johanneck[20]; 26. (DNS) 16-Thomas Weisgram

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[4]; 2. 07-Cory Crapser[6]; 3. 2M-Dave Mass[3]; 4. 54-Rick Niemi[5]; 5. 30-Kevin Burdick[2]; 6. 55S-Ryan Schaufler[8]; 7. 9-Adam Prieve[7]; 8. 3W-Clarence Washburn[9]; 9. (DNF) 04JR-Adam Ayotte[1]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Josh Zimpel[1]; 2. 23-Matt Gilbertson[2]; 3. 10-Cole Searing[6]; 4. 11-Pat Doar[3]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 6. 22E-Kevin Eder[5]; 7. 63-Patrick Kelley[9]; 8. 7L-Scott Lehn[8]; 9. (DNF) 16-Thomas Weisgram[7]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 6M-Jeff Massingill[1]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[4]; 3. 42S-Don Shaw[2]; 4. 21F-Gunner Frank[5]; 5. 7-Joel Bennett[7]; 6. 21-Todd Frank[6]; 7. 76-Dustin Johanneck[8]; 8. (DNF) 28-Jeff Provinzino[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature - No information available at press time.

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[5]; 2. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[3]; 3. 511-Zach Schultz[1]; 4. 71X-Travis Scott[4]; 5. 24M-Eric Martini[7]; 6. 14-Jayden Friauf[6]; 7. 31R-Rob Revermann[8]; 8. (DNF) 5*-Andrew Hedtke[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[7]; 2. 99-Shawn Fernkes[1]; 3. 19-Brayden Hedtke[5]; 4. 12T-Jacob Knapper[2]; 5. 19X-James Trantina III[4]; 6. 4-Jay Hedtke[3]; 7. 76-Doug Koski[6]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 38JV-Jason Vejtruba[3]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[8]; 3. 46-Ryan Putnam[4]; 4. 16T-Tim Kanten[2]; 5. 73-Onyx Johnson[9]; 6. 32-Nick Helmbrecht[6]; 7. 30K-Jake Kierstead[12]; 8. 10K-Kailey VanEps[11]; 9. 32C-Zach Clark[14]; 10. 75-Randy Klein[13]; 11. 31C-Tony Clark[15]; 12. (DNF) 29-Johnny Lindgren[10]; 13. (DNF) 4Q2-Mark Martini[1]; 14. (DNF) 5C-Justin Bjorklund[5]; 15. (DQ) 33X-Jason Helmbrecht[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 46-Ryan Putnam[2]; 2. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[5]; 3. 32-Nick Helmbrecht[1]; 4. 33X-Jason Helmbrecht[4]; 5. 73-Onyx Johnson[6]; 6. 10K-Kailey VanEps[8]; 7. 75-Randy Klein[7]; 8. 31C-Tony Clark[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16T-Tim Kanten[1]; 2. 38JV-Jason Vejtruba[2]; 3. 4Q2-Mark Martini[5]; 4. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 5. 29-Johnny Lindgren[4]; 6. 30K-Jake Kierstead[3]; 7. 32C-Zach Clark[7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 10-Justin Vogel[4]; 2. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[2]; 3. 26-Ty Agen[6]; 4. 111JR-Keith Tourville[5]; 5. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[8]; 6. 3-Austin Hamre[3]; 7. 2-Joe Martin[13]; 8. I7-Ethan Iiams[1]; 9. 69-Dominick Platow[16]; 10. 35S-Kegan Stueve[10]; 11. 19-Derek Zieske[14]; 12. 16S-Ty Schuler[12]; 13. 15X-Taylor Willms[19]; 14. 7X-Peter Martin[18]; 15. 22W-Jim Williams[11]; 16. 84-Doug Martin[15]; 17. 2*-Dustin Schultz[21]; 18. 31-Chris Winter[20]; 19. 76-Braedyn Fleck[17]; 20. (DNF) 34JR-Braden Brauer[9]; 21. (DNF) 11-Levi Randt[7]; 22. (DNF) 5F-Mike Flickinger[22]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 34JR-Braden Brauer[3]; 2. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[2]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[1]; 4. 35S-Kegan Stueve[4]; 5. 2-Joe Martin[7]; 6. 69-Dominick Platow[5]; 7. 15X-Taylor Willms[6]; 8. 5F-Mike Flickinger[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Ty Agen[4]; 2. 10-Justin Vogel[1]; 3. I7-Ethan Iiams[2]; 4. 22W-Jim Williams[3]; 5. 19-Derek Zieske[5]; 6. 76-Braedyn Fleck[7]; 7. (DNF) 31-Chris Winter[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 111JR-Keith Tourville[1]; 2. 3-Austin Hamre[5]; 3. 11-Levi Randt[7]; 4. 16S-Ty Schuler[4]; 5. 84-Doug Martin[6]; 6. 7X-Peter Martin[3]; 7. (DNF) 2*-Dustin Schultz[2]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

Feature - No information available at press time.

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Robert Holtquist[1]; 2. 7L-Tyler Larson[2]; 3. TB81-Tommy Bawden[3]; 4. 21-Blake Hawker[6]; 5. 37-Dean Larson[5]; 6. 8R-Josh Litzau[4]; 7. 20-Connor Bruss[7]; 8. 3G-Craig Gertsema[8]

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature - No information available at press time.

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche[1]; 2. 22-Matthew Dittman[2]; 3. 2-Kole Kampsen[3]; 4. 20-Christopher Winter Jr[4]; 5. 19A-Alysha Christenson[5]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 08-Jeff Rohner[3]; 2. 10-Dexyn Habraken[1]; 3. 26-Braxton Schmitz[4]; 4. 27X-Hailey Borer[5]; 5. (DNF) 11K-Paul Kester[2]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[5]; 2. 511-Colsten Schultz[1]; 3. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[2]; 4. (DNF) 18-Chris Isdal[4]; 5. (DNF) 611-Brady Schultz[3]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 611-Brady Schultz[2]; 2. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[1]; 3. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[3]; 4. 18-Chris Isdal[4]; 5. 511-Colsten Schultz[5]