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Greseth goes from 11th to 1st in Late Models Friday and tops night three Qualifying Feature at the 100

By Ryan Schmitz
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 13) - Just about one week ago, Mike Greseth hustled his No. 17 WISSOTA Late Model along the high side of River Cities Speedway from dead last into fourth during the John Seitz Memorial—and he was back at his hard-charging ways once again on Friday. Greseth started 11th on the field and captured Friday night’s Qualifying Feature victory, giving him the middle front-row starting spot in Saturday’s Championship Feature of the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100.

Shawn Meyer and Kevin Burdick earned front-row starting spots in the 15-lapper, with Burdick powering to the early lead. Meyer, Kollin Hibdon and Jordan Tollakson held top-four spots behind him.

Shawn Meyer and Kevin Burdick (Cody Papke Photo)

Burdick continued to lead the field through the first five laps with Jeff Provinzino moving into second ahead of Meyer, Hibdon, Greseth, who was already into the top five.

With Burdick working the middle of the speedway, it was evident Provinzino had found another lane on the low side; he worked to the inside of Burdick on lap seven. Burdick fought off the challenge and shut the door on Provinzino by changing his line to block Provinzino’s advances.

While the top two battled each other, Greseth was able to move into third on lap eight and set his sights on the lead pair. Lap after lap, Greseth cut into the advantage and was soon to Provinzino’s back bumper as Burdick began to reel in the back of the field. Greseth worked his way around Provinzino and raced up to challenge Burdick as the white flag waved. As the duo raced down the back chute they encountered a lapped car; Burdick made the decision to go to the low side of the lapped car, and Greseth chose the high side. The trio came out of turn four three wide to the flag, where Greseth claimed the win by .022 seconds in a razor-close finish. Race-long leader Burdick settled for second, Provinzino was third, Hibdon finished fourth, and Meyer was fifth. Johnny Broking, Jordan Tollakson and Arizona visitor Austin Kuehl finished in the remaining eight transfer spots for Saturday’s Championship Feature.

Blake Boelens and Jeff Massingill (Cody Papke Photo)

Earlier in the night, there were four heat races to set the Qualifying Feature field for the remaining 35 Late Models.

Mike Greseth and Late Model rookie Kollin Hibdon sat on the front row to start the first heat race. Hibdon, with his limited starts this season, was the early leader. Greseth settled into second, but continued to poke his nose to the inside of Hibdon. Hibdon was able to fight off each challenge from Greseth and raced to the heat race win. Greseth was the runner-up, while Jeff Massingill was third.

Former WISSOTA 100 winner Jordan Tollakson and rookie Chris Mensen manned row one for the second heat race. Tollakson moved out to the early race lead while Mensen, who has less than five nights in the division, settled into second. The main battle on the speedway was behind the lead duo as seventh-starter Kevin Burdick challenged Shawn Kirwin for third near the midpoint of the race. Back up front it was all Tollakson, as he raced to the win. Mensen was a solid second, while Burdick ended up third.

Jeff Provinzino and Amelia Eisenschenk paced the nine-car field to the green in heat three. Provinzino moved into the early lead, but before the field could complete a lap the field was slowed by a yellow flag. With the green back out Provinzino continued to lead, with Eisenschenk coming under fire from Trevor Anderson. With the top three settled into their spots, Travis Saurer and Johnny Broking began to move up from the rear of the field, moving into the fourth and fifth spots. Provinzino, who has been fast all week, claimed the heat race win. Eisenschenk topped Anderson for second.

Class newcomers Dylan Kromschroeder and Lindsey Hansen sat on the front row for the fourth and final heat race. Kromschroeder moved out to the early lead with fourth-starter Shawn Meyer settling into second. Hansen was quickly joined by Travis Budisalovich and Jayson Good in the battle for third. Good worked the middle groove of the speedway and lost the bite on his machine on lap four, bringing out the first caution flag of the event.

Kromschroeder led Meyer and Hansen back to the green. Before a lap could be completed Budisalovich spun in turn two and collected Jared Zimpel. Budisalovich retired pitside and Zimpel settled back into his spot. Kromschroeder jumped back to the lead and raced to the win ahead of Meyer in second and Hansen in third.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 17-Mike Greseth[11]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[2]; 3. 28-Jeff Provinzino[5]; 4. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[4]; 5. 18X-Shawn Meyer[1]; 6. 45J-Johnny Broking[10]; 7. 32-Jordan Tollakson[6]; 8. 11-Austin Kuehl[9]; 9. 66X-Travis Saurer[7]; 10. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[13]; 11. 27-Jared Zimpel[8]; 12. 6M-Jeff Massingill[14]; 13. 53-Chris Mensen[12]; 14. 20-Trevor Anderson[16]; 15. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[3]; 16. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[21]; 17. 47-Danny Vang[24]; 18. 15X-Blake Boelens[15]; 19. 10K-Shawn Kirwin[18]; 20. 21-Todd Frank[20]; 21. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[23]; 22. 32H-Lindsey Hansen[17]; 23. 77-Corey Seckerson[19]; 24. 18-Josh Rieck[22]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[2]; 2. 17-Mike Greseth[1]; 3. 6M-Jeff Massingill[4]; 4. 15X-Blake Boelens[6]; 5. 11-Austin Kuehl[9]; 6. 21-Todd Frank[8]; 7. 24-Mike Stearns[5]; 8. 66-Sam Zender[3]; 9. 50-Ben Wolden[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Jordan Tollakson[2]; 2. 53-Chris Mensen[1]; 3. 30-Kevin Burdick[7]; 4. 10K-Shawn Kirwin[4]; 5. 77-Corey Seckerson[6]; 6. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[8]; 7. 18G-Chase Gelling[9]; 8. 24H-Mike Hart[5]; 9. 3H-Jerry Hauge[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Jeff Provinzino[2]; 2. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[1]; 3. 20-Trevor Anderson[3]; 4. 66X-Travis Saurer[8]; 5. 45J-Johnny Broking[9]; 6. 47-Danny Vang[7]; 7. 21X-Dustin Arthur[6]; 8. 10X-Robert Bitz[4]; 9. (DNF) XXX-Jon Tollakson[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[1]; 2. 18X-Shawn Meyer[4]; 3. 32H-Lindsey Hansen[2]; 4. 27-Jared Zimpel[7]; 5. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[5]; 6. 18-Josh Rieck[8]; 7. (DNF) 85G-Jayson Good[3]; 8. (DNF) 31-Travis Budisalovich[6]