5-26 Page 17 | ATD Racing News

Flaten, Tourville, Sabraski and Larson lead at the checkers and longtime KRA racer Foster is remembered Thursday at Willmar, MN track

By Ron Krog

WILLMAR, MN (May 20) - The 2026 racing season got underway at KRA Speedway after a one-week delay due to weather, with a great field of 74 cars in the pits.

The evening started off with a nice memorial tribute to Forrest Foster, a longtime KRA racer who lost his life in a motorcycle accident this past Saturday.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Ryan Flaten, Keith Tourville, Shane Sabraski, and Tyler Larson.

The WISSOTA Street Stocks were led to green by Justin Vogel and Derek Zieske. Vogel was the early leader, looking very strong out front, but not far behind was Tourville. With 13 laps to go, Tourville was alongside Vogel and for about three laps they were side by side in a great battle. Tourville overtook Vogel for the lead and drove on to pick up the win. He was followed across the finish line by Vogel, Levi Randt, Joe Martin and Kyle Dykhoff in the top five.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were well represented with a stout field on hand Thursday. A very fast Ryan Flaten started on the front row, and that was bad news for the rest of the field. He took charge and pulled away from the pack. Fifth-starter Jason Vejtruba worked his way to second, tried to run down the high-flying Flaten, but had no luck and settled for second. He was followed by a hard-charging Justin Bjorklund, who did a nice job and finished third. Jett Lindgren and Tim Kanten completed the top five.

Andrew Christensen and Connor Bruss were side by side for the lead in the WISSOTA Mod Fours, as they fought hard throughout the early part of the race. With 13 laps to go, Tyler Larson came charging forward and made a nice pass on both of them to take the lead. Larson set off from there to the checkered flag and picked up the win. Jack Post, Dean Larson, Christenson and Tayden Frericks completed the top five.

The WISSOTA Super Stocks had 14 cars in the pits. Polesitter Shane Sabraski pulled off to an early lead and ran hard. Dexton Koch was really charging through the field and actually closed the gap on Sabraski at the end; Koch got within about three car lengths of Sabraski, but had to be satisfied with second at the end. He was followed by Zach Schultz, Andrew Hedtke and Shawn Fernkes in the top five.

It was more of the same for Sabraski in the WISSOTA Modifieds, as he started on the pole and jumped out to the early lead en route to victory. Ryan Flaten finished second, while Brandon Mehrwerth was running strong in third. Justin VanEps and Teddy Kottschede rounded out the top five.

Colton Lodermeyer picked up the win in the KRA Hornets, and in the Pure Stock division, Ashton Martin was victorious.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[1]; 2. 15F-Ryan Flaten[2]; 3. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[3]; 4. 10-Justin VanEps[4]; 5. 7K-Teddy Kottschade[6]; 6. 6*-Brian Haben[5]; 7. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[1]; 2. 15F-Ryan Flaten[5]; 3. 10-Justin VanEps[3]; 4. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 5. 6*-Brian Haben[6]; 6. 7K-Teddy Kottschade[7]; 7. (DNF) US-Jonathan Olmscheid[2]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[1]; 2. 78K-Dexton Koch[4]; 3. 11S-Zach Schultz[3]; 4. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[8]; 5. 99-Shawn Fernkes[7]; 6. 91-Jordan Henkemeyer[6]; 7. 19-Brayden Hedtke[5]; 8. 511-Colsten Schultz[2]; 9. 14-Jayden Friauf[13]; 10. 6F-Matt Fester[9]; 11. 6SIX-Jamie Flickinger[10]; 12. 13-Brock Hedtke[12]; 13. (DNF) 15-Brett Hedtke[14]; 14. (DNF) 4-Jay Hedtke[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[3]; 2. 11S-Zach Schultz[1]; 3. 91-Jordan Henkemeyer[5]; 4. 99-Shawn Fernkes[6]; 5. 6F-Matt Fester[2]; 6. 4-Jay Hedtke[7]; 7. 14-Jayden Friauf[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Brayden Hedtke[1]; 2. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[2]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]; 4. 511-Colsten Schultz[3]; 5. 6SIX-Jamie Flickinger[7]; 6. 13-Brock Hedtke[6]; 7. 15-Brett Hedtke[4]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 2. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[5]; 3. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[8]; 4. 747-Jett Lindgren[3]; 5. 16T-Tim Kanten[4]; 6. 15TW-Taylor Willms[2]; 7. 77-Chance Kodet[9]; 8. 2M-Nick Montanez[13]; 9. 1-Jake Wranek[10]; 10. 11S-Darren Engesser[6]; 11. 2-Benjamin Beekman[11]; 12. 95-Damon Vejtruba[12]; 13. 2D-Jonathan Dulas[15]; 14. 85J-Justin Jensen[16]; 15. (DNF) 31C-Tony Clark[14]; 16. (DNF) 11R-Landyn Randt[7]; 17. (DNF) 19A-Alysha Christenson[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 2. 11R-Landyn Randt[4]; 3. 11S-Darren Engesser[2]; 4. 1-Jake Wranek[3]; 5. 2M-Nick Montanez[5]; 6. 85J-Justin Jensen[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16T-Tim Kanten[1]; 2. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[5]; 3. 77-Chance Kodet[4]; 4. 2-Benjamin Beekman[2]; 5. 31C-Tony Clark[3]; 6. 19A-Alysha Christenson[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[5]; 2. 15TW-Taylor Willms[4]; 3. 747-Jett Lindgren[2]; 4. 95-Damon Vejtruba[1]; 5. 2D-Jonathan Dulas[3]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 111-Keith Tourville[5]; 2. 10-Justin Vogel[1]; 3. 11-Levi Randt[6]; 4. 2-Joe Martin[3]; 5. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[9]; 6. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[4]; 7. I7-Ethan Iiams[7]; 8. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[8]; 9. 9-Cody Hatch[11]; 10. 76-Braedyn Fleck[14]; 11. 86-Layla Chaplin[12]; 12. 52-Joe Arndt[10]; 13. 84-Doug Martin[13]; 14. (DNF) 23-Chris Isdal[17]; 15. (DNF) 19-Derek Zieske[2]; 16. (DNF) 611-Brady Schultz[15]; 17. (DNF) 5-Alaina Chaplin[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 111-Keith Tourville[5]; 2. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[3]; 3. 11-Levi Randt[1]; 4. 52-Joe Arndt[2]; 5. 84-Doug Martin[4]; 6. 5-Alaina Chaplin[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. I7-Ethan Iiams[3]; 2. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[1]; 3. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[2]; 4. 9-Cody Hatch[4]; 5. 76-Braedyn Fleck[5]; 6. 23-Chris Isdal[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Derek Zieske[1]; 2. 2-Joe Martin[5]; 3. 10-Justin Vogel[3]; 4. 86-Layla Chaplin[4]; 5. 611-Brady Schultz[2]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 7L-Tyler Larson[3]; 2. 40-Jack Post[4]; 3. 37-Dean Larson[5]; 4. 9C-Andrew Christenson[1]; 5. 6SL-Tayden Frericks[6]; 6. 27X-Travis Bruns[8]; 7. 66F-Steve Froelich[7]; 8. (DNF) 20-Connor Bruss[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7L-Tyler Larson[4]; 2. 20-Connor Bruss[7]; 3. 37-Dean Larson[5]; 4. 40-Jack Post[3]; 5. 9C-Andrew Christenson[1]; 6. 6SL-Tayden Frericks[6]; 7. 66F-Steve Froelich[8]; 8. 27X-Travis Bruns[2]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 20-Ashton Martin[1]; 2. 6F-Mason Fester[4]; 3. 16-Trevyn Carr[2]; 4. 12-Melvin Flickinger[5]; 5. 00-Leighton Frericks[6]; 6. (DNF) 2-Carter Rice[3]; 7. (DNF) 99B-Bentlee Fernkes[7]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 6F-Mason Fester[1]; 2. 2-Carter Rice[3]; 3. 20-Ashton Martin[4]; 4. 12-Melvin Flickinger[2]; 5. 16-Trevyn Carr[6]; 6. 00-Leighton Frericks[5]; 7. 99B-Bentlee Fernkes[7]

Hornets:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21-Colton Lodermeier[4]; 2. 03-Christian Kast[1]; 3. 26-Braxton Schmitz[5]; 4. 13X-Pat Hoecke[2]; 5. (DNS) 11K-Paul Kester

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 03-Christian Kast[5]; 2. 21-Colton Lodermeier[3]; 3. 26-Braxton Schmitz[4]; 4. 11K-Paul Kester[2]; 5. 13X-Pat Hoecke[1]