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Peterson leads all the way to win Challenge Series feature at Fiesta City Speedway

By Chad Adamson and Chris Stepan

MONTEVIDEO, MN (June 6) - After more than three weeks off due to two rainouts and an off week, racing finally returned to Fiesta City Speedway. Thirty-two WISSOTA Late Models were in attendance on Saturday night for the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series.

Hickson, North Dakota’s Tyler Peterson leaped from outside of the front row on the start and led all 40 laps to win the feature by a margin of 1.127 seconds.

Matt Gilbertson and Peterson earned the front row for the night’s $3,000-to-win, 40-lap feature event and Peterson raced by Gilbertson on the backstretch during the opening lap to take command of the field. Peterson drove out to a several car length advantage ahead of Gilbertson, while Jack Koranda raced his way into third.

Peterson ran out front during the first five laps ahead of Gilbertson, Koranda, and Joel Bennett before the first of four caution flags flew over the field on lap five for a hard crash on the backstretch between Todd Frank and Dexton Koch, eliminating both drivers from competition early in the 40-lapper.

On the restart, Peterson again powered off into the lead ahead of Gilbertson, Koranda, Bennett and Jon Tollakson in the top five, just ahead of a battle among Ryan Mikkelson, Dave Mass and Shane Sabraski, as all three drivers tried to work their way into the top five.

The leaders began to catch the tail of the field and were forced to deal with lapped traffic on lap 14, but only three cars were put a lap in arrears before the second caution flag flew on lap 16 for Taylor Madrinich, who suffered front end damage and was forced to roll to a stop on the front straightaway.

The lap 16 restart proved to be rough as point leader Kevin Burdick was caught up in a hard crash on the bottom of turn two, eliminating him from the event, along with several others running inside the top 10.

The race went back green with Peterson still in command, but second was highly contested between Gilbertson and Koranda, as the duo ran side by side for runner-up honors just behind Peterson.

The fourth and final caution flag of the night flew on lap 21 when Cory Crapser and Joel Bennett made contact at the flag stand battling for fifth, sending Crapser around and collecting Kevin Eder and Jordan Tollakson. All three of their nights ended.

Following the restart with 19 to go, Peterson powered back out to the lead, which he never relinquished in the closing laps. Several great battles were ongoing behind Peterson with Koranda and Sabraski in a great side-by-side battle for fifth from laps 21 to 30, as well as a good Bennett and Mass side-by-side skirmish for seventh, which Sabraski made a three-car race as the laps wound down.

Peterson went on to lead all 40 laps en route to his ninth Challenge Series victory, with Gilbertson making the hometown fans proud with his solid runner-up finish. Mikkelson rounded out the podium after starting seventh. Koranda was fourth and Bennett was fifth.

Zachary Flickinger took the lead to start the WISSOTA Street Stock feature. Justin Vogel was side by side with Flickinger with three laps to go, and he took over the lead and drove on to get the feature win. Nineteenth-starter Kyle Dykhoff hustled through the field to finish runner-up, while Flickinger was third. Alex Grinager and Mike Jans completed the top five.

Ryan Flaten led the entire WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature as he held off challenges from Justin Bjorklund for his third win of the year. Tenth-starter Tim Kanten was third, Jett Lindgren was fourth and Taylor Willms completed the top five.

Adam Prieve jumped out to the lead to begin the Gen X Late Model feature. Parker Gilbertson drove into the top spot on lap eight, but Prieve regained the lead with three laps to go and led the rest of the way for the win.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[2]; 2. 23-Matt Gilbertson[1]; 3. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[7]; 4. 22-Jack Koranda[4]; 5. 7-Joel Bennett[3]; 6. 7A-Shane Sabraski[15]; 7. 73-Zach Johnson[17]; 8. 2M-Dave Mass[8]; 9. 28-Jeff Provinzino[18]; 10. 45J-Johnny Broking[19]; 11. 19X-James Trantina III[24]; 12. 15L-Laela Eisenschenk[16]; 13. 73X-Onyx Johnson[10]; 14. 53-Chris Mensen[25]; 15. (DNF) XXX-Jon Tollakson[5]; 16. (DNF) 07-Cory Crapser[11]; 17. (DNF) 22E-Kevin Eder[20]; 18. (DNF) 32-Jordan Tollakson[22]; 19. (DNF) 21F-Gunner Frank[13]; 20. (DNF) 30-Kevin Burdick[6]; 21. (DNF) 34-Taylor Madrinich[23]; 22. (DNF) 71X-Cory Tammen[12]; 23. (DNF) 44*-Cole Schill[14]; 24. (DNF) 78K-Dexton Koch[21]; 25. (DNF) 21-Todd Frank[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Jack Koranda[2]; 2. 2M-Dave Mass[1]; 3. 07-Cory Crapser[3]; 4. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 5. 28-Jeff Provinzino[6]; 6. 22E-Kevin Eder[5]; 7. 32-Jordan Tollakson[7]; 8. 19X-James Trantina III[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[4]; 2. 21-Todd Frank[1]; 3. 30-Kevin Burdick[7]; 4. 15L-Laela Eisenschenk[2]; 5. 45J-Johnny Broking[3]; 6. 15F-Devin Fouquette[6]; 7. 7L-Scott Lehn[8]; 8. (DNS) 1-Amelia Eisenschenk

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. XXX-Jon Tollakson[2]; 2. 7-Joel Bennett[4]; 3. 73X-Onyx Johnson[3]; 4. 71X-Cory Tammen[6]; 5. 53-Chris Mensen[1]; 6. 34-Taylor Madrinich[5]; 7. 55S-Ryan Schaufler[7]; 8. 133-Jon Starnes[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Matt Gilbertson[4]; 2. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[1]; 3. 21F-Gunner Frank[2]; 4. 44*-Cole Schill[5]; 5. 73-Zach Johnson[3]; 6. 78K-Dexton Koch[6]; 7. 3S-Nathan Sletto[7]; 8. M8-Dalton Magers[8]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 73-Zach Johnson[2]; 2. 28-Jeff Provinzino[1]; 3. 45J-Johnny Broking[3]; 4. 22E-Kevin Eder[6]; 5. 78K-Dexton Koch[5]; 6. 32-Jordan Tollakson[11]; 7. 53-Chris Mensen[4]; 8. 19X-James Trantina III[14]; 9. 3S-Nathan Sletto[10]; 10. M8-Dalton Magers[13]; 11. 55S-Ryan Schaufler[12]; 12. (DNF) 15F-Devin Fouquette[7]; 13. (DNF) 133-Jon Starnes[15]; 14. (DNF) 34-Taylor Madrinich[8]; 15. (DNF) 7L-Scott Lehn[9]; 16. (DNS) 1-Amelia Eisenschenk

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 2. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[6]; 3. 16T-Tim Kanten[10]; 4. 747-Jett Lindgren[7]; 5. 15TW-Taylor Willms[5]; 6. 97-Michelle Hutt[12]; 7. 6-Nick Risacher[16]; 8. 8H-Brett Hansen[13]; 9. 56D-Doug Neitzel[2]; 10. 22J-Celeste Jenkins[18]; 11. (DNF) 11S-Darren Engesser[15]; 12. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[14]; 13. (DNF) 38J-Jason Vejtruba[8]; 14. (DNF) 8-Jason Anderson[9]; 15. (DNF) 17-Nick Shumansky[11]; 16. (DNF) 95-Damon Vejtruba[3]; 17. (DNS) 69-Ethen Waltz; 18. (DNS) 7G-Tanner Gregoire; 19. (DNS) 22D-Rian Dauer

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Flaten[3]; 2. 69-Ethen Waltz[2]; 3. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[4]; 4. 16T-Tim Kanten[5]; 5. 97-Michelle Hutt[1]; 6. 25R-Trevor Rush[6]; 7. (DNF) 22D-Rian Dauer[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[1]; 2. 15TW-Taylor Willms[4]; 3. 56D-Doug Neitzel[5]; 4. (DNF) 11S-Darren Engesser[3]; 5. (DNF) 6-Nick Risacher[2]; 6. (DNF) 7G-Tanner Gregoire[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Jason Anderson[2]; 2. 747-Jett Lindgren[3]; 3. 95-Damon Vejtruba[4]; 4. 17-Nick Shumansky[1]; 5. 8H-Brett Hansen[5]; 6. (DNF) 22J-Celeste Jenkins[6]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 10-Justin Vogel[8]; 2. 11-Kyle Dykhoff[19]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[2]; 4. 44X-Alex Grinager[6]; 5. 25-Mike Jans[3]; 6. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[5]; 7. 9-Cody Hatch[1]; 8. 43X-Chris Behrens[16]; 9. 38J-Dalton Kruger[14]; 10. 7A-Landon Albertson[4]; 11. 10K-Devan Schultz[17]; 12. 4-Micheal Brockman[9]; 13. 17-Jaden Gannott[15]; 14. (DNF) 611-Brady Schultz[11]; 15. (DNF) 2*-Dustin Schultz[13]; 16. (DNF) 56-Riley Lorensen[21]; 17. (DNF) 16S-Ty Schuler[10]; 18. (DNF) 98Z-Douglas Sik[20]; 19. (DNF) 111JR-Keith Tourville[7]; 20. (DNS) 7-Logen Gregoire; 21. (DNS) 72-Jacen Skogrand; 22. (DNS) 99-Jeff Partington

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Justin Vogel[5]; 2. 7A-Landon Albertson[2]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[6]; 4. 99-Jeff Partington[7]; 5. 7-Logen Gregoire[3]; 6. 56-Riley Lorensen[8]; 7. (DNF) 10K-Devan Schultz[4]; 8. (DNF) 11-Kyle Dykhoff[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[4]; 2. 111JR-Keith Tourville[6]; 3. 4-Micheal Brockman[1]; 4. 16S-Ty Schuler[5]; 5. 2*-Dustin Schultz[3]; 6. 17-Jaden Gannott[2]; 7. 98Z-Douglas Sik[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Mike Jans[3]; 2. 44X-Alex Grinager[4]; 3. 9-Cody Hatch[5]; 4. 611-Brady Schultz[2]; 5. 38J-Dalton Kruger[7]; 6. (DNF) 43X-Chris Behrens[1]; 7. (DNF) 72-Jacen Skogrand[6]

Limited Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 9-Adam Prieve[2]; 2. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[4]; 3. 10X-Blake Swenson[3]; 4. 8T-Tony Croninger[1]; 5. 7-Rick Schroeder[5]; 6. 811-Bodie Croninger[13]; 7. X-Chuck Swenson[11]; 8. 33-Jeff Nelson[9]; 9. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[15]; 10. 1M-Jon McCain[16]; 11. 4C-Brent Clemensen[12]; 12. 7F-Lexie Fleming[17]; 13. (DNF) 73-Ryan Nelson[14]; 14. (DNF) 01-Alex Tschakert[6]; 15. (DNF) 19-Tyler McFarland[8]; 16. (DNF) XJR-Hope Swenson[7]; 17. (DNF) 21T-Dale Tomes[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 01-Alex Tschakert[2]; 2. 7-Rick Schroeder[3]; 3. 8T-Tony Croninger[1]; 4. 19-Tyler McFarland[4]; 5. 33-Jeff Nelson[5]; 6. X-Chuck Swenson[7]; 7. 811-Bodie Croninger[8]; 8. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[6]; 9. 7F-Lexie Fleming[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[3]; 2. 10X-Blake Swenson[7]; 3. 9-Adam Prieve[8]; 4. XJR-Hope Swenson[2]; 5. 21T-Dale Tomes[5]; 6. 4C-Brent Clemensen[1]; 7. 73-Ryan Nelson[4]; 8. 1M-Jon McCain[6]