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Stearns, Koch, Smith, Randt & Holtquist haul home the hardware after Thursday night KRA wins

By Ron Krog

WILLMAR, MN (August 20) - Race fans at KRA Speedway were treated to nine features plus a driver meet and greet on a busy Thursday night.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Mike Stearns, Jake Smith, Levi Randt, Dustin Holtquist, and Dexton Koch.

The WISSOTA Street Stocks were led to green by Justin Vogel and Levi Randt, and the two swapped the lead back and forth early. Vogel finally took charge of the race with Randt not far behind. It was also a great battle for third place among Zach Flickinger, Ethan Iiams, and also Joe Martin.

With four laps to go in the feature, a caution came out and this turned out to be the pivotal change in the race. On the restart, Randt got by Vogel and drove into the lead. Vogel returned the favor and they diced back and forth like this several times before Vogel secured the spot once again.

With two laps to go, Randt was able to sneak by Vogel and he drove on for the hard-fought victory in a great race, followed by Vogel, Joe Martin, Flickinger and Iiams in the top five.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were led early by Jake Smith ahead of Brady Larson in second and Justin Bjorklund in third. As the race ran down, seventh-starter Landyn Randt was on the move, taking fourth with 10 laps left on the board.

Smith kept everybody at bay in the closing laps, but Larson had company; Bjorklund caught him and so did Randt. Those two went back and forth for the last couple of laps, but in the end Smith took the win, followed by Larson, Bjorklund, Randt and Chance Kodet in the top five.

The WISSOTA Modifieds were led to green by the Ford of Brian Haben and the Chevy of Mike Stearns.There's a reason they call Stearns “Superman”, as he took the lead and drove off with the advantage. Haben did everything he could to keep it close, while Jake Knapper improved one spot to third and Don Eischens slipped back to fourth. It was all Stearns out front at the checkered flag ahead of Haben, Knapper, Eischens and Peter Loecken in the top five.

The WISSOTA Mod Fours actually ran two separate features, and in the first one Connor Bruss took the victory. Dean Larson and his son Tyler had a great battle throughout most of the race in the battle for third.

Bruss was the eventual winner ahead of Dexyn Habraken, while Jamie Flickinger completed the podium.

The regular WISSOTA Mod Four feature was led early on by national point leader Dustin Holtquist. He, too, looked very strong. Bruss also looked good again in the regular feature as he worked his way forward from fifth to second.

Holtquist took another checkered flag in his quest for the national championship, as Bruss was second. Tyler Larson grabbed third, Jamie Flickinger finished fourth and Dexyn Habraken had another good run to finish in the top five.

The WISSOTA Hornets also ran a couple of features, and Braxton Schmitz won both the makeup feature and the regular feature for the evening.

Ashton Martin continued his winning ways and picked up a very nice $550 payday in the Pure Stocks.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[2]; 2. 6*-Brian Haben[1]; 3. 66-Jacob Knapper[4]; 4. 9E-Don Eischens[3]; 5. 97-Peter Loecken[6]; 6. 10-Justin VanEps[5]; 7. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[8]; 8. 6F-Matt Fester[7]; 9. (DNS) 15S-Wade Skindelien

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6*-Brian Haben[2]; 2. 24S-Mike Stearns[6]; 3. 10-Justin VanEps[5]; 4. 9E-Don Eischens[8]; 5. 66-Jacob Knapper[7]; 6. 97-Peter Loecken[4]; 7. 6F-Matt Fester[3]; 8. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[9]; 9. (DNF) 15S-Wade Skindelien[1]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[1]; 2. 11S-Zach Schultz[2]; 3. 4-Jay Hedtke[4]; 4. 511-Colsten Schultz[6]; 5. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[3]; 6. 1-Karter Reents[7]; 7. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[5]; 8. 19-Brayden Hedtke[8]; 9. 2-Dustin Zieske[12]; 10. 14-Jayden Friauf[10]; 11. 15-Brett Hedtke[11]; 12. 13-Brock Hedtke[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11S-Zach Schultz[2]; 2. 1-Karter Reents[4]; 3. 78K-Dexton Koch[6]; 4. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[3]; 5. 13-Brock Hedtke[1]; 6. 15-Brett Hedtke[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 511-Colsten Schultz[2]; 2. 4-Jay Hedtke[1]; 3. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[6]; 4. 19-Brayden Hedtke[4]; 5. 14-Jayden Friauf[3]; 6. 2-Dustin Zieske[5]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[1]; 2. 63-Brady Larson[2]; 3. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[3]; 4. 11R-Landyn Randt[7]; 5. 77-Chance Kodet[6]; 6. 15TW-Taylor Willms[5]; 7. 95-Damon Vejtruba[4]; 8. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[8]; 9. 747-Jett Lindgren[9]; 10. 32C-Zach Clark[12]; 11. 31C-Tony Clark[11]; 12. (DNF) 19A-Alysha Christenson[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15TW-Taylor Willms[1]; 2. 77-Chance Kodet[2]; 3. 21-Jake Smith[3]; 4. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[5]; 5. 747-Jett Lindgren[6]; 6. (DNF) 31C-Tony Clark[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 63-Brady Larson[2]; 2. 11R-Landyn Randt[5]; 3. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[3]; 4. 95-Damon Vejtruba[1]; 5. 19A-Alysha Christenson[6]; 6. (DNF) 32C-Zach Clark[4]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[2]; 2. 10-Justin Vogel[1]; 3. 2-Joe Martin[5]; 4. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[6]; 5. I7-Ethan Iiams[7]; 6. 19-Derek Zieske[8]; 7. 611-Brady Schultz[3]; 8. 83-Doug Olmscheid[4]; 9. 84-Doug Martin[9]; 10. (DNF) 7X-Peter Martin[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Justin Vogel[3]; 2. 11-Levi Randt[2]; 3. 19-Derek Zieske[5]; 4. 611-Brady Schultz[4]; 5. 84-Doug Martin[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Joe Martin[2]; 2. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[4]; 3. I7-Ethan Iiams[3]; 4. 83-Doug Olmscheid[1]; 5. 7X-Peter Martin[5]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[1]; 2. 00-Connor Bruss[5]; 3. 7L-Tyler Larson[7]; 4. 16-Jamie Flickinger[2]; 5. 10C-Dexyn Habraken[8]; 6. 37-Dean Larson[4]; 7. 9C-Andrew Christenson[10]; 8. XL21-Chad Funt[9]; 9. 66F-Steve Froelich[3]; 10. (DNF) XL1-Andrew Funt[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[2]; 2. 7L-Tyler Larson[4]; 3. 37-Dean Larson[1]; 4. 66F-Steve Froelich[3]; 5. (DNF) 9C-Andrew Christenson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 00-Connor Bruss[4]; 2. 10C-Dexyn Habraken[1]; 3. XL1-Andrew Funt[3]; 4. 16-Jamie Flickinger[5]; 5. XL21-Chad Funt[2]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 20-Ashton Martin[4]; 2. 87-Ian Tjaden[5]; 3. 32-Brady Hagen[3]; 4. 16-Trevyn Carr[10]; 5. 6SL-Tayden Frericks[9]; 6. 71-Matt Wartman[7]; 7. 83-John Olmscheid[12]; 8. 00-Leighton Frericks[6]; 9. (DNF) 6F-Mason Fester[1]; 10. (DNF) 56-Don Hansen[11]; 11. (DNF) 2-Carter Rice[2]; 12. (DNF) 45-Tad Peterson[8]; 13. (DNS) 10A-Jesse Borer

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Carter Rice[4]; 2. 20-Ashton Martin[5]; 3. 71-Matt Wartman[2]; 4. 00-Leighton Frericks[1]; 5. 6SL-Tayden Frericks[6]; 6. 56-Don Hansen[7]; 7. 10A-Jesse Borer[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6F-Mason Fester[1]; 2. 32-Brady Hagen[3]; 3. 87-Ian Tjaden[5]; 4. 45-Tad Peterson[4]; 5. 16-Trevyn Carr[2]; 6. 83-John Olmscheid[6]

Hornets:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 26-Braxton Schmitz[4]; 2. 38J-Thomas Kruger[5]; 3. 11-Tucker Fredeen[3]; 4. 30X-Christian Kast[7]; 5. 12-Cole Fredeen[8]; 6. 13X-Pat Hoecke[6]; 7. 27X-Owen Louwagie[1]; 8. 27A-Jacob Aasgaard[2]; 9. 54-Brantley Bendel[9]; 10. 28X-Emmett Louwagie[10]; 11. (DNS) 5-Hayden Downey

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Cole Fredeen[1]; 2. 26-Braxton Schmitz[3]; 3. 11-Tucker Fredeen[4]; 4. 27A-Jacob Aasgaard[2]; 5. 54-Brantley Bendel[6]; 6. 28X-Emmett Louwagie[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30X-Christian Kast[3]; 2. 38J-Thomas Kruger[5]; 3. 13X-Pat Hoecke[1]; 4. 27X-Owen Louwagie[2]; 5. (DNF) 5-Hayden Downey[4]