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Provinzino picks off Challenge Series field for Viking score; other half-mile winners are Thoennes, Sabraski, Engebretson and Riley

By Chris Stepan and ATD Staff

ALEXANDRIA, MN (May 10) - Jeff Provinzino scored a momentous victory Saturday night at Viking Speedway, as the Hibbing-area racer picked up his first WISSOTA Challenge Series win in several years.

It was also a big night for the speedway itself, as the half-mile race track in Alexandria, MN opened for its 2025 season.

Other winners in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action during the season opener included Josh Thoennes, Shane Sabraski, Eric Riley, and Travis Engebretson.

A great field of 31 WISSOTA Late Model competitors descended upon the “High Flyin’ Half-Mile” for the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series.

Lee Grosz and Shane Sabraski earned the front row for the night’s $3,000-to-win, 30-lap feature, with Grosz getting the upper hand on the initial start. He led the opening lap, and then paced the field out front for the first 23 laps of the event, amassing a 1.974 second advantage.

Behind him, the tussle for the runner-up spot among Sabraski, Provinzino, Cole Searing, Sam Mars, Zach Johnson and Amelia Eisenschenk was thrilling, as the group worked its way through traffic.

The first and only caution flew on lap 23, when Grosz looped his No. 4J in front of the field, handing the top spot to Provinzino for the upcoming restart.

Back under green, Provinzino drove away from the field for a .682 second victory over Sabraski, who held off Searing for second, just ahead of Mars and Johnson, who rounded out the top five finishers.

It was Provinzino’s eighth career Challenge Series victory and he assumed the series point lead heading into Sunday night’s show at Granite City Motor Park.

In the WISSOTA Modifieds, Josh Thoennes jumped to the lead from the pole and held back front-row starter Kaden Blaeser for the victory. Jason Thoennes, Dustin Bitzan and 10th-starter Shane Sabraski completed the top five.

Shane Sabraski won the WISSOTA Super Stock feature, leading all 15 laps from the pole. Fellow front-row starter Trevor Saurer was second, Matt Miller was third, Karter Reents was fourth and William Lund rounded out the top five.

In the WISSOTA Street Stocks, Eric Riley started on the front row, getting the advantage over polesitter Kyle Dykhoff early and leading all 15 laps en route to the opener win. Dykhoff, Kolton Brauer, Brad Lorentz and Brendon Scott completed the top five.

Travis Engebretson scored his win in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature after starting inside of row three. He moved out front with about four laps to go and drove on to the checkered flags. Haley Dykhoff, ninth-starter Ron Saurer, Onyx Johnson and Ryan Flaten completed the top five.

Travis Engebretson (Collin Nelson Photo)

The WISSOTA Hornet main event was postponed due to the track’s curfew.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 28-Jeff Provinzino[3]; 2. 7A-Shane Sabraski[2]; 3. 10-Cole Searing[7]; 4. 28S-Sam Mars[4]; 5. 73-Zach Johnson[6]; 6. 2M-Dave Mass[8]; 7. 32-Jordan Tollakson[10]; 8. 22E-Kevin Eder[15]; 9. 21-Todd Frank[11]; 10. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[5]; 11. 44-Cole Schill[9]; 12. 7-Joel Bennett[12]; 13. 30-Kevin Burdick[18]; 14. 21F-Gunner Frank[16]; 15. 4-Cory Bruggeman[14]; 16. XXX-Jon Tollakson[20]; 17. 21X-Travis Saurer[25]; 18. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[19]; 19. 15X-Blake Boelens[24]; 20. X-Chuck Swenson[21]; 21. 21XX-Joel Collins[22]; 22. 18-Josh Rieck[13]; 23. (DNF) 4J-Lee Grosz[1]; 24. (DNF) 11-Pat Doar[17]; 25. (DNF) 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[23]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4J-Lee Grosz[3]; 2. 28-Jeff Provinzino[4]; 3. 44-Cole Schill[5]; 4. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 5. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[2]; 6. 21X-Travis Saurer[8]; 7. 15X-Blake Boelens[6]; 8. 7L-Scott Lehn[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 73-Zach Johnson[2]; 2. 28S-Sam Mars[4]; 3. 7-Joel Bennett[1]; 4. 4-Cory Bruggeman[5]; 5. 21F-Gunner Frank[7]; 6. 42S-Don Shaw[3]; 7. 53-Chris Mensen[8]; 8. (DNF) 22-Jack Koranda[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Cole Searing[2]; 2. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[4]; 3. 21-Todd Frank[3]; 4. X-Chuck Swenson[1]; 5. 18-Josh Rieck[8]; 6. XXX-Jon Tollakson[5]; 7. (DNF) 21XX-Joel Collins[7]; 8. (DNF) 15-Laela Eisenschenk[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[3]; 2. 32-Jordan Tollakson[1]; 3. 2M-Dave Mass[7]; 4. 22E-Kevin Eder[5]; 5. 11-Pat Doar[4]; 6. 30-Kevin Burdick[6]; 7. (DNF) 23-Matt Gilbertson[2]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 11-Pat Doar[3]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[8]; 3. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[15]; 4. XXX-Jon Tollakson[7]; 5. X-Chuck Swenson[2]; 6. 21XX-Joel Collins[13]; 7. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 8. 7L-Scott Lehn[11]; 9. (DNF) 04JR-Adam Ayotte[4]; 10. (DNF) 21X-Travis Saurer[6]; 11. (DNF) 15X-Blake Boelens[10]; 12. (DNS) 23-Matt Gilbertson; 13. (DNS) 22-Jack Koranda; 14. (DNS) 53-Chris Mensen; 15. (DNS) 42S-Don Shaw

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 51TJ-Josh Thoennes[1]; 2. 428-Kaden Blaeser[2]; 3. 52-Jason Thoennes[3]; 4. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[4]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[10]; 6. 2X-Brady Gerdes[8]; 7. 11X-Austin Chyba[5]; 8. 6X-Bryce Sward[7]; 9. 21X-Travis Saurer[13]; 10. 51-Avery Anderson[12]; 11. 51T-Talan Thoennes[11]; 12. (DNF) 521-Matt Thoennes[6]; 13. (DNF) 15-Ryan Flaten[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 428-Kaden Blaeser[3]; 2. 521-Matt Thoennes[2]; 3. 6X-Bryce Sward[5]; 4. 11X-Austin Chyba[7]; 5. 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 6. 51T-Talan Thoennes[6]; 7. (DNF) 21X-Travis Saurer[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 51TJ-Josh Thoennes[2]; 2. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[5]; 3. 52-Jason Thoennes[1]; 4. 2X-Brady Gerdes[6]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 6. 51-Avery Anderson[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[1]; 2. 21-Trevor Saurer[2]; 3. 13M-Matt Miller[3]; 4. 1-Karter Reents[5]; 5. 54L-William Lund[6]; 6. 228X-Brady Gerdes[7]; 7. 29*-Jeff Crouse[4]; 8. 71X-Travis Scott[8]; 9. 28*-Bailey Rosch[9]; 10. 31-Chris Winter[11]; 11. 2H-Bryan Hellerman[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[2]; 2. 29*-Jeff Crouse[1]; 3. 21-Trevor Saurer[3]; 4. 1-Karter Reents[5]; 5. 28*-Bailey Rosch[6]; 6. (DNF) 31-Chris Winter[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 228X-Brady Gerdes[1]; 2. 13M-Matt Miller[4]; 3. 54L-William Lund[5]; 4. 71X-Travis Scott[3]; 5. (DNF) 2H-Bryan Hellerman[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1X-Travis Engebretson[5]; 2. 50H-Haley Dykhoff[3]; 3. 42RS-Ron Saurer[9]; 4. 73-Onyx Johnson[2]; 5. 15-Ryan Flaten[6]; 6. 23-Josh Muzik[1]; 7. 13-Scott Oeltjen[4]; 8. 57-Corey Storck[15]; 9. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[7]; 10. 32-Shawn Olson[11]; 11. 8-Jon Carlson[8]; 12. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[12]; 13. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[10]; 14. 10M-Noah McFarlane[13]; 15. 02-Brooke Hellerman[16]; 16. 99X-Tim Pederson[18]; 17. (DNF) 52-Maddie Swenson[14]; 18. (DNF) H20-Nic Hiles[19]; 19. (DNS) 81K-Casey Knabe

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 2. 42RS-Ron Saurer[3]; 3. 8-Jon Carlson[2]; 4. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[5]; 5. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[4]; 6. 99X-Tim Pederson[7]; 7. (DNF) 81K-Casey Knabe[6]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 50H-Haley Dykhoff[3]; 2. 1X-Travis Engebretson[4]; 3. 23-Josh Muzik[1]; 4. 32-Shawn Olson[6]; 5. 10M-Noah McFarlane[5]; 6. (DNF) 02-Brooke Hellerman[2]

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 13-Scott Oeltjen[1]; 2. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[2]; 3. 73-Onyx Johnson[5]; 4. (DNF) 52-Maddie Swenson[3]; 5. (DNF) 57-Corey Storck[4]; 6. (DNS) H20-Nic Hiles

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 51-Eric Riley[2]; 2. 11-Kyle Dykhoff[1]; 3. 34J-Kolton Brauer[7]; 4. 36-Brad Lorentz[3]; 5. 18X-Brendon Scott[4]; 6. 11K-Davey Kruchten[5]; 7. 21-Derek Wettstein[14]; 8. 22W-Jim Williams[6]; 9. 00-Dustin Karl[10]; 10. 2-Joe Martin[9]; 11. 38-Tyler Kunz[8]; 12. 14-JJ Nieuwbeerta[13]; 13. 16-Greg Platzer[12]; 14. (DNF) 31X-Anthony Blom[15]; 15. (DNF) 85-Jason Thimmesh[11]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 22W-Jim Williams[5]; 2. 38-Tyler Kunz[1]; 3. 11K-Davey Kruchten[8]; 4. 34J-Kolton Brauer[4]; 5. 2-Joe Martin[6]; 6. 85-Jason Thimmesh[7]; 7. 14-JJ Nieuwbeerta[2]; 8. 21-Derek Wettstein[3]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 11-Kyle Dykhoff[4]; 2. 51-Eric Riley[7]; 3. 18X-Brendon Scott[6]; 4. 36-Brad Lorentz[3]; 5. 00-Dustin Karl[1]; 6. 16-Greg Platzer[5]; 7. (DNS) 31X-Anthony Blom

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature - Postponed due to curfew.

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 20-Christopher Winter Jr[3]; 2. 03-Christian Kast[5]; 3. 42E-Eli Green[2]; 4. 1G-Jay Gronewold[4]; 5. 08-Jeff Rohner[7]; 6. 27-Travis Bruns[6]; 7. (DNF) 14B-Brandon Fuchs[1]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 90-Kreg Anderson[4]; 2. 22-Matthew Dittman[1]; 3. 16-Brady Albertson[3]; 4. 27F-Brady Fosso[5]; 5. Y4-Christopher Blume[2]; 6. 22A-Austin Raths[6]