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Zimpel nails down Challenge Series win at Ogilvie Raceway while Jensen and Thell score in support classes

By Tami Jo Kuehn & Chris Stepan

OGILVIE, MN (July 19) - After a fantastic opening night of Mod Wars Friday at Princeton Speedway, the USMTS Modifieds made their way to Wagamon’s Ogilvie Raceway for their special, which was part of program that also included the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series, WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and Mod Fours. In total, 119 drivers signed in to battle during night two.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Josh Zimpel, Joey Jensen and Keith Thell.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were represented by more than 40 racers at the Big O Saturday, with 24 making the cut for the feature. William Moelter and David Swearingen brought the field to green, with Moelter claiming the early lead ahead of Joey Jensen, who slid into second. Ashton Schulte challenged Swearingen for third as Jensen worked Moelter for the lead.

Moelter held the point as laps passed by, with Jensen at his side. Jensen slid low and passed Moelter for the lead about lap nine of the 20-lapper.

A couple of cautions slowed the racers, but Jensen remained in command back under green. Swearingen took over second and the top two separated themselves from the field as the race came to a close. Jensen drove off to the win ahead of Swearingen, Paul Ripley, Parker Anderson and Jason VandeKamp in the top five.

Zimpel and Shane Sabraski earned the front row for the night’s $5,000-to-win, 40-lap Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series feature event. Zimpel got the upper hand on the initial start and led the opening lap.

Sabraski, Tyler Peterson and Jeff Massingill began a battle for second, with Cole Searing in tow. The leaders raced hard around the slick oval, with top-five spots up for grabs as Zimpel pulled away from the field. The first of six cautions flew on lap nine, as third-place Peterson spun in turn two.

After a caution on the ensuing restart, Zimpel again took off into the lead with Searing snagging second from Sabraski on lap 10. Massingill began to pressure Sabraski for third, while Searing was trying to track down Zimpel out front.

The race came to just one lap shy of the halfway point when the third caution flag flew for a Cody Lee spin, and then the fourth caution flew just three laps later for debris.

On the ensuing restart on lap 23, Jeremy Nelson and Joel Bennett got together sending Bennett spinning. Nelson retired from the event and the field rumbled back off on the restart.

Zimpel raced back off in the top spot with Searing hot on his heels. Laps clicked off with Don Shaw and Dave Mass side by side for fourth just behind the top three for several laps, as Massingill tried to make it a three-car battle out front. Zimpel began to encounter lapped traffic with 10 to go, allowing Searing to pounce and capitalize to steal the lead in heavy traffic. Searing led officially at the line on lap 33, with Zimpel second. Massingill, Mass and Shaw were inside the top five when the final caution flew with just three laps to go.

On the final restart of the night, Zimpel powered back by Searing on the high side to race into the lead and held on for the victory. The win was Zimpel’s first career series victory as he crossed the line ahead of Searing, Massingill, Mass and Bennett in the top five.

The WISSOTA Mod Fours were led to green by Keith Thell and Maeghan Milz. Thell, who recently made his return to Mod Four racing, grabbed the lead and Rowan Tramm moved into second. Milz held third as the top two racers pulled away from the field.

A few cautions kept the Mod Fours at a stop-and-go pace, as they chipped away a few laps at a time, but Thell remained in the lead through each slowdown. Thell drove on to the eventual victory ahead of Tramm, Blake Hawker, Tyler Larson and Robert Holtquist in the top five after the tech shed.

Joe Chisholm was the early leader in the USMTS A-main, one that featured several three-wide battles for the lead and top-five spots throughout the contest.

Following a late-race caution with just a few laps to go, Rodney Sanders and Tanner Mullens fought three wide with Chisholm for the lead. With two to go, Sanders was alongside Chisholm and they raced the final lap nose to nose, with the margin of victory only .126 seconds at the line. Chisholm claimed the win, with Sanders settling for second ahead of Mullens, 22nd-starter Jody Bellefeuille and Atkinson in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 5-Josh Zimpel[1]; 2. 10-Cole Searing[4]; 3. 6M-Jeff Massingill[6]; 4. 2M-Dave Mass[8]; 5. 7-Joel Bennett[16]; 6. 42S-Don Shaw[10]; 7. 7A-Shane Sabraski[2]; 8. 73-Zach Johnson[13]; 9. 22E-Kevin Eder[9]; 10. 15-Devin Fouquette[11]; 11. 28-Jeff Provinzino[5]; 12. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[18]; 13. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 14. 21F-Gunner Frank[20]; 15. 47-Danny Vang[14]; 16. 05-Jake Hartung[22]; 17. 73B-Brandon Englund[19]; 18. 7H-Harry Hanson[15]; 19. 50C-Cody Lee[21]; 20. 7L-Scott Lehn[23]; 21. (DNF) 34-Taylor Madrinich[25]; 22. (DNF) 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[17]; 23. (DNF) 06-Jeremy Nelson[12]; 24. (DNF) 27-Jared Zimpel[24]; 25. (DNS) 5E-Shane Edginton

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Josh Zimpel[4]; 2. 5E-Shane Edginton[3]; 3. 22E-Kevin Eder[2]; 4. 42S-Don Shaw[5]; 5. 47-Danny Vang[1]; 6. 73B-Brandon Englund[6]; 7. 27-Jared Zimpel[8]; 8. 05-Jake Hartung[7]; 9. (DNS) 12-Mark Heinle; 10. (DNS) 21-Mike Bellefeuille

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[3]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[4]; 3. 2M-Dave Mass[5]; 4. 73-Zach Johnson[1]; 5. 06-Jeremy Nelson[7]; 6. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[2]; 7. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[6]; 8. 21F-Gunner Frank[8]; 9. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[9]; 10. 32C-Curtis Stieh[10]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Jeff Provinzino[2]; 2. 10-Cole Searing[4]; 3. 6M-Jeff Massingill[7]; 4. 15-Devin Fouquette[5]; 5. 7H-Harry Hanson[1]; 6. 7-Joel Bennett[3]; 7. 50C-Cody Lee[6]; 8. 12X-Ben Heinle[8]; 9. 34-Taylor Madrinich[9]; 10. 7L-Scott Lehn[10]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[1]; 2. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[4]; 3. 73B-Brandon Englund[2]; 4. 21F-Gunner Frank[7]; 5. 50C-Cody Lee[5]; 6. 05-Jake Hartung[6]; 7. 9M-Ronnie Malecki[9]; 8. 27-Jared Zimpel[3]; 9. 34-Taylor Madrinich[10]; 10. 12X-Ben Heinle[8]; 11. 32C-Curtis Stieh[12]; 12. 7L-Scott Lehn[11]; 13. (DNS) 12-Mark Heinle; 14. (DNS) 21-Mike Bellefeuille

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[3]; 2. 5-David Swearingen[1]; 3. 28-Paul Ripley[8]; 4. 1S-Parker Anderson[5]; 5. 16-Jason VandeKamp[11]; 6. 21-Jake Smith[10]; 7. 24-Cole Elton[4]; 8. WIN1-PARKER FROLIK[7]; 9. 73-Onyx Johnson[12]; 10. 23-Mitch Weiss[22]; 11. 18E-Luke Erlandson[23]; 12. 15X-James Vendela[14]; 13. 33-Jake Hagemann[15]; 14. 25B-Adam Bohlman[13]; 15. 19D-Dane Durbin[21]; 16. 14L-Ben Lewis[20]; 17. 07-Carter Matthews[17]; 18. 1-Jake Stai[19]; 19. 15-Kris Macko[24]; 20. 00-Jason Hobbs[16]; 21. (DNF) 87-William Moelter[2]; 22. (DNF) 33C-Cole Boston[18]; 23. (DNF) 11-Ashton Schulte[6]; 24. (DNF) 16S-Ryan Savoy[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 87-William Moelter[2]; 2. 11-Ashton Schulte[5]; 3. 16-Jason VandeKamp[8]; 4. 00-Jason Hobbs[3]; 5. 3P-David Pixley[1]; 6. 15-Kris Macko[6]; 7. 3D-Daniel Bjonfald[9]; 8. 410-Jesse Young[4]; 9. 77-Chance Kodet[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Cole Elton[2]; 2. WIN1-PARKER FROLIK[4]; 3. 73-Onyx Johnson[7]; 4. 07-Carter Matthews[8]; 5. 62K-Ryan Kough[1]; 6. 12-Matt Everts[3]; 7. (DNF) 58-Zack Fletcher[5]; 8. (DNF) 10M-Kurt Mursu[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5-David Swearingen[3]; 2. 28-Paul Ripley[1]; 3. 25B-Adam Bohlman[2]; 4. 33C-Cole Boston[6]; 5. 18E-Luke Erlandson[5]; 6. 89-Kolby Reed[7]; 7. 13-Tate Kostreba[8]; 8. (DNF) 52-Maddie Swenson[4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Parker Anderson[1]; 2. 16S-Ryan Savoy[8]; 3. 15X-James Vendela[7]; 4. 1-Jake Stai[4]; 5. 22-Chad VanDuker[2]; 6. 19D-Dane Durbin[3]; 7. 88T-Jacob Toepper[6]; 8. 24T-Liz Toepper[5]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[3]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[1]; 3. 33-Jake Hagemann[4]; 4. 14L-Ben Lewis[8]; 5. 78-Cole Anderson[2]; 6. 23-Mitch Weiss[5]; 7. 8X-Michael Shalley[6]; 8. (DNF) 4W-Joey Wagamon[7]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 19D-Dane Durbin[5]; 2. 18E-Luke Erlandson[2]; 3. 3D-Daniel Bjonfald[6]; 4. 78-Cole Anderson[3]; 5. 88T-Jacob Toepper[7]; 6. 77-Chance Kodet[9]; 7. (DNF) 3P-David Pixley[1]; 8. (DNF) 410-Jesse Young[8]; 9. (DNF) 12-Matt Everts[4]; 10. (DNF) 10M-Kurt Mursu[10]; 11. (DNS) 4W-Joey Wagamon

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Mitch Weiss[5]; 2. 15-Kris Macko[3]; 3. 13-Tate Kostreba[6]; 4. 22-Chad VanDuker[2]; 5. 89-Kolby Reed[4]; 6. 8X-Michael Shalley[7]; 7. 24T-Liz Toepper[8]; 8. 62K-Ryan Kough[1]; 9. (DNF) 52-Maddie Swenson[10]; 10. (DNS) 58-Zack Fletcher

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 00T-Keith Thell[1]; 2. 14T-Rowan Tramm[3]; 3. 21-Blake Hawker[5]; 4. 7L-Tyler Larson[7]; 5. 5-Robert Holtquist[4]; 6. 9T-Thomas Burgard[9]; 7. M1-Mike Rau[6]; 8. (DNF) 60-Maeghan Milz[2]; 9. (DNF) 3-Josh Madson[12]; 10. (DNF) 78-Andrew Milz[11]; 11. (DNS) D5-Doug Frederick; 12. (DQ) 5H-Dustin Holtquist[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 00T-Keith Thell[2]; 2. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[4]; 3. 21-Blake Hawker[6]; 4. 5-Robert Holtquist[3]; 5. (DNF) D5-Doug Frederick[5]; 6. (DNF) 78-Andrew Milz[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14T-Rowan Tramm[2]; 2. 7L-Tyler Larson[1]; 3. 60-Maeghan Milz[3]; 4. M1-Mike Rau[4]; 5. 9T-Thomas Burgard[5]; 6. (DNF) 3-Josh Madson[6]

USMTS Modifieds:

Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 25-Joe Chisholm[2]; 2. 20-Rodney Sanders[7]; 3. 02-Tanner Mullens[11]; 4. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[22]; 5. 18A-Landon Atkinson[4]; 6. 6X-Bryce Sward[13]; 7. 24C-Jim Chisholm[16]; 8. 15W-Alex Williamson[19]; 9. 58X-Gary Christian[5]; 10. 5-Reece Solander[18]; 11. 06-Jeremy Nelson[9]; 12. 21X-Travis Saurer[17]; 13. 75-Terry Phillips[23]; 14. 88-Eric Lamm[26]; 15. 6T-Joseph Thomas[15]; 16. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 17. 89-JT Johnson[21]; 18. 8-Kyle Strickler[8]; 19. 26G-Ryan Gierke[20]; 20. 2C-Dave Cain[14]; 21. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[1]; 22. 112-Brennan Gave[12]; 23. 17B-Zach Benson[10]; 24. 712-Trevor Hughes[25]; 25. 21K-Kyle Brown[24]; 26. 7A-Shane Sabraski[6]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 25-Joe Chisholm[2]; 2. 02-Tanner Mullens[1]; 3. 17B-Zach Benson[3]; 4. 6T-Joseph Thomas[4]; 5. 15W-Alex Williamson[6]; 6. 26G-Ryan Gierke[5]; 7. 89-JT Johnson[9]; 8. 9E-Don Eischens[8]; 9. 12-TJ Heinle[7]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[2]; 2. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[4]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]; 4. 24C-Jim Chisholm[7]; 5. 5-Reece Solander[3]; 6. 712-Trevor Hughes[9]; 7. 32C-Curtis Stieh[6]; 8. 25B-Adam Bohlman[8]; 9. (DNS) 5K-Tyler Kaeter

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[1]; 2. 58X-Gary Christian[3]; 3. 06-Jeremy Nelson[6]; 4. 112-Brennan Gave[8]; 5. 5H-Brett Hoium[2]; 6. 21-Jacob Bleess[4]; 7. 55H-AJ Hoff[9]; 8. 21K-Kyle Brown[7]; 9. (DQ) 11-Jody Bellefeuille[5]

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 18A-Landon Atkinson[2]; 2. 20-Rodney Sanders[3]; 3. 2C-Dave Cain[1]; 4. 6X-Bryce Sward[4]; 5. 21X-Travis Saurer[5]; 6. 88-Eric Lamm[7]; 7. 51A-Avery Anderson[8]; 8. 2G-Troy Girolamo[9]; 9. 75-Terry Phillips[6]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 6X-Bryce Sward[2]; 2. 6T-Joseph Thomas[1]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[3]; 4. 15W-Alex Williamson[4]; 5. 89-JT Johnson[7]; 6. 25B-Adam Bohlman[10]; 7. 51A-Avery Anderson[8]; 8. 5H-Brett Hoium[6]; 9. 712-Trevor Hughes[5]; 10. 2G-Troy Girolamo[9]; 11. 12-TJ Heinle[11]; 12. (DNS) 5K-Tyler Kaeter

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 2C-Dave Cain[2]; 2. 24C-Jim Chisholm[1]; 3. 5-Reece Solander[3]; 4. 26G-Ryan Gierke[4]; 5. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[12]; 6. 21-Jacob Bleess[5]; 7. 9E-Don Eischens[9]; 8. 75-Terry Phillips[11]; 9. 55H-AJ Hoff[7]; 10. 88-Eric Lamm[6]; 11. 32C-Curtis Stieh[8]; 12. 21K-Kyle Brown[10]