7-30 Page 6 | ATD Racing News

Eischens earns top Mod billing while Koch claims Supers at KRA Speedway; Lindgren, Tourville, Larson and Schelitzche also score

By Ron Krog

WILLMAR, MN (July 25) - One of the benefits of racing on a Thursday night is that as the season rolls along, some of the national point contenders make a stop to grab extra show nights. With 78 cars in the pits, including four of the national point leaders, fans were treated to excellent racing.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Dexton Koch, Johnny Lindgren, Don Eischens, Keith Tourville, Tyler Larson and Justin Schelitzche.

This season the WISSOTA Modified numbers have been lower than past years, but the racing has been super. Wade Skindelien jumped out to an early lead in the 14-lap feature, with Justin VanEps and Seth Brede in a great battle for second. With five laps scored, Brede took over second.

With six laps left in the race things got wild, as Brede went after Skindelien for the lead with Jake Knapper charging from fifth to third. Two laps later, Don Eischens - who had been buried in sixth - made a great move and went from fourth to the lead, all in turn four.

In the end, Eischens shocked the field with the win. Brede, VanEps, Jonathan Olmschied and Skindelien completed the top five. Knapper had tough luck when he broke while racing into second and was done for the night.

The 11-car, 16-lap WISSOTA Mod Four feature had several top national point leaders in the field. Dustin Holtquist was the early leader and looked very strong. Early in the race, Josh Litzau and Tyler Larson battled for second, before Larson took the spot.

With seven laps to go, Larson got alongside Holtquist, and one lap later Larson took the lead, as Tommy Bawden moved into third behind Holtquist.

When the checkered flew, Larson got the win followed by Holtquist and Litzau in the top three, as Bawden’s car slowed at the end. Dean Larson and Connor Bruss were top-five finishers.

A nice field of 15 WISSOTA Super Stocks had lots of action in the 20-lap feature. Brayden Hedtke took the early lead, but Dexton Koch was as fast as fans have ever seen him, taking the lead with three laps scored. He never looked back and drove on to the win. Shawn Fernkes and Forrest Foster had a great battle for third, with Fernkes taking the spot with five laps scored. Zach Schultz and Fernkes then swapped third three times, as Andrew Hedtke made it a three-car battle. Schultz finally settled into the third spot with three laps to go.

Out front it was all Koch, as he was followed across the stripe by Brayden Hedtke, Schultz, Andrew Hedtke and Fernkes close in fifth.

It was a family affair at the front of the 16-lap WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature, as Zach Clark took the early lead over Tony Clark. Johnny Lindgren was closing in a hurry, however, and was very fast. With just two laps scored, Lindgren took the lead, as Tim Kanten caught Clark for second two laps later, and then tried to chase down Lindgren.

On Thursday, the veteran Lindgren was too strong, however, as he grabbed the win. Kanten was second and Jason Vejtruba was strong as usual in third. Ryan Putnam was fourth, and 10th-starter Bud Martini was fifth.

A very nice field of 21 strong WISSOTA Street Stocks had a wild start with a five-car pileup right on the green flag. Once things settled down, national point leader Braden Brauer jumped from sixth to take the lead, with Joe Martin in second and Kolton Brauer third.

Farther back, ninth-starter Keith Tourville was on the move, running up on the outside against the wall and passing several cars. With eight laps in the books, Tourville got by Kolton Brauer. Then, with seven laps left, he passed Martin. Tourville moved in to challenge Braden Brauer, and they were side by side for three laps before he got by Brauer for the lead and the win. Braden Brauer had to settle for second, while Kolton Brauer got by Martin on the last lap for third in a very entertaining race. Zachary Flickinger completed the top five.

The WISSOTA Hornets had a busy night as they ran a makeup feature from a week ago, plus their regularly scheduled feature. In the makeup feature, Justin Schelitzche and national point leader Jeff Rohner had a great battle for six laps before Rohner finally got the win, with Matt Dittman making a late-race pass on Schelitzche for second.

The second feature had a similar setup, as Rohner and Schelitzche were side by side the whole race, with Dittman right on their rear bumpers. Schelitzche was the winner in that contest, followed by Rohner and Dittman in the top three.

Sophie Anderson won a wild Pure Stock feature, as the race ended under caution.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 9E-Don Eischens[5]; 2. 6SL-Seth Brede[4]; 3. 10-Justin VanEps[1]; 4. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[6]; 5. 15S-Wade Skindelien[2]; 6. 18-Taylor Garberich[7]; 7. (DNF) 66-Jacob Knapper[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Jacob Knapper[1]; 2. 9E-Don Eischens[5]; 3. 15S-Wade Skindelien[2]; 4. 6SL-Seth Brede[3]; 5. 10-Justin VanEps[4]; 6. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[6]; 7. 18-Taylor Garberich[7]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[6]; 2. 19-Brayden Hedtke[1]; 3. 511-Zach Schultz[8]; 4. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[7]; 5. 99-Shawn Fernkes[4]; 6. 12T-Jacob Knapper[9]; 7. 55-Gary Husmann[12]; 8. 6SIX-Forrest Foster[2]; 9. 4-Jay Hedtke[11]; 10. 24-Dustin Zieske[13]; 11. 14-Jayden Friauf[14]; 12. (DNF) 71X-Travis Scott[5]; 13. (DNF) 2B1-Matt Fester[3]; 14. (DNF) 31R-Rob Revermann[15]; 15. (DNF) 24M-Eric Martini[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 511-Zach Schultz[2]; 2. 99-Shawn Fernkes[1]; 3. 71X-Travis Scott[4]; 4. 78K-Dexton Koch[6]; 5. 12T-Jacob Knapper[3]; 6. 4-Jay Hedtke[8]; 7. 24-Dustin Zieske[7]; 8. 31R-Rob Revermann[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[3]; 2. 19-Brayden Hedtke[4]; 3. 6SIX-Forrest Foster[2]; 4. 2B1-Matt Fester[1]; 5. 24M-Eric Martini[6]; 6. 55-Gary Husmann[5]; 7. 14-Jayden Friauf[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 29-Johnny Lindgren[3]; 2. 16T-Tim Kanten[7]; 3. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[8]; 4. 46-Ryan Putnam[6]; 5. 4Q2-Mark Martini[10]; 6. 32C-Zach Clark[2]; 7. 3D-Daniel Bjonfald[9]; 8. 2-Benjamin Beekman[5]; 9. 31C-Tony Clark[1]; 10. (DNF) 10K-Kailey VanEps[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[3]; 2. 10K-Kailey VanEps[2]; 3. 2-Benjamin Beekman[4]; 4. 31C-Tony Clark[5]; 5. (DNF) 3D-Daniel Bjonfald[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16T-Tim Kanten[2]; 2. 46-Ryan Putnam[3]; 3. 29-Johnny Lindgren[1]; 4. 32C-Zach Clark[5]; 5. (DNF) 4Q2-Mark Martini[4]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 111JR-Keith Tourville[9]; 2. 34JR-Braden Brauer[6]; 3. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[8]; 4. 2-Joe Martin[3]; 5. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[4]; 6. 3-Austin Hamre[7]; 7. 35S-Kegan Stueve[11]; 8. 7X-Peter Martin[18]; 9. 7-Caiden Engel[10]; 10. 83-Doug Olmscheid[14]; 11. 9-Cody Hatch[15]; 12. 76-Braedyn Fleck[16]; 13. 84-Doug Martin[13]; 14. 5F-Mike Flickinger[20]; 15. (DNF) 14-Merlyn Flickinger Jr[17]; 16. (DNF) 16S-Ty Schuler[1]; 17. (DNF) 19-Derek Zieske[2]; 18. (DNF) 12K-Jay Kesan[5]; 19. (DNF) 15X-Taylor Willms[12]; 20. (DNF) I7-Ethan Iiams[19]; 21. (DNF) 69-Dominick Platow[21]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[2]; 2. 111JR-Keith Tourville[5]; 3. 19-Derek Zieske[7]; 4. 7-Caiden Engel[4]; 5. 84-Doug Martin[1]; 6. 76-Braedyn Fleck[3]; 7. I7-Ethan Iiams[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Joe Martin[3]; 2. 16S-Ty Schuler[1]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[7]; 4. 35S-Kegan Stueve[4]; 5. 83-Doug Olmscheid[2]; 6. 14-Merlyn Flickinger Jr[6]; 7. 5F-Mike Flickinger[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Austin Hamre[2]; 2. 34JR-Braden Brauer[3]; 3. 12K-Jay Kesan[4]; 4. 15X-Taylor Willms[5]; 5. 9-Cody Hatch[7]; 6. 7X-Peter Martin[6]; 7. (DNF) 69-Dominick Platow[1]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 7L-Tyler Larson[2]; 2. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[1]; 3. 8R-Josh Litzau[5]; 4. 37-Dean Larson[4]; 5. 20-Connor Bruss[3]; 6. TB81-Tommy Bawden[7]; 7. 3G-Craig Gertsema[10]; 8. 14G-Brayden Ahlers[9]; 9. 14T-Rowan Tramm[8]; 10. (DNF) 21-Blake Hawker[6]; 11. (DNF) 99JR-Peewee Kuhnau[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7L-Tyler Larson[2]; 2. 8R-Josh Litzau[1]; 3. 20-Connor Bruss[3]; 4. 14T-Rowan Tramm[4]; 5. 14G-Brayden Ahlers[5]; 6. 99JR-Peewee Kuhnau[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. TB81-Tommy Bawden[2]; 2. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[3]; 3. 21-Blake Hawker[4]; 4. 37-Dean Larson[5]; 5. 3G-Craig Gertsema[1]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche[3]; 2. 08-Jeff Rohner[5]; 3. 22-Matthew Dittman[4]; 4. (DNF) 26-Braxton Schmitz[2]; 5. (DNF) 10-Dexyn Habraken[6]; 6. (DQ) 11K-Paul Kester[1]

Makeup A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 08-Jeff Rohner[4]; 2. 22-Matthew Dittman[3]; 3. 14-Justin Schelitzche[2]; 4. 26-Braxton Schmitz[1]; 5. (DNS) 94A-Bobie Arnes; 6. (DNS) 27X-Hailey Borer; 7. (DNS) 19A-Alysha Christenson; 8. (DQ) 11K-Paul Kester[6]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 08-Jeff Rohner[2]; 2. 22-Matthew Dittman[5]; 3. 14-Justin Schelitzche[3]; 4. 11K-Paul Kester[4]; 5. 26-Braxton Schmitz[6]; 6. 10-Dexyn Habraken[1]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[1]; 2. 611-Brady Schultz[6]; 3. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[5]; 4. 6-Bruce Laabs[3]; 5. 7A-Landon Albertson[7]; 6. 18-Chris Isdal[4]; 7. 71-Matt Wartman[8]; 8. 511-Colsten Schultz[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[1]; 2. 18-Chris Isdal[2]; 3. 511-Colsten Schultz[4]; 4. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[6]; 5. 6-Bruce Laabs[8]; 6. 611-Brady Schultz[5]; 7. 7A-Landon Albertson[7]; 8. 71-Matt Wartman[3]