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Eischens, Schultz, Bjorklund, Brauer and Larson lead the parade of Willmar winners Thursday at KRA

By Ron Krog

WILLMAR, MN (July 31) - Thursday was Meet and Greet night at KRA Speedway, always a popular night, as several cars and fans met on the frontstretch for treats and pictures, and a chance to get up close to their favorite racers at intermission.

After feature racing competition at the end of the night, WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Don Eischens, Kolton Brauer, Zach Schultz, Dean Larson, and Justin Bjorklund.

Brauer continues to have an amazing season in his high-flying WISSOTA Street Stock. He jumped out front early in the feature and kept a very fast Justin Vogel at bay for all 18 laps. The battle for third was a dandy, as Joe Martin and Ethan Iiams went back and forth the whole race. In the end, Brauer drove on for his 28th win of the season, with Vogel grabbing second ahead of Iiams and Martin. Zachary Flickinger completed the top five.

In the 14-car WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature, Bjorklund got out front quickly, with Jason Vejtruba not far behind. A good battle for third broke out between Jett Lindgren and Tim Kanten. With six laps scored, Vejtruba caught Bjorklund and put good pressure on him; Bjorklund did not give up the lead, however, and he took the win followed by Vejtruba, Kanten, Ryan Flaten and Dan Bjonfald in the top five.

The WISSOTA Mod Fours got off to a wild start, as a wreck on lap one sent Bob Holtquist rolling several times down the backstretch. Luckily he was okay, but four of the nine-car starting grid were wrecked.

That opened the door for Dean Larson to take charge when the field was back under green. He took home the win, running across the track to do his famous fence crawl afterward. His grandson Blake Hawker drove a great race to take second ahead of Thomas Burgard, Andrew Funt and Jack Post in the top five.

Zach Schultz passed Andrew Hedtke for the lead on lap three of the WISSOTA Super Stock feature to pick up a solid win. Hedtke and Shawn Fernkes fought hard for second, with Hedtke hanging on to edge Fernkes for the spot. Brayden Hedtke and Leslie Leu rounded out the finishing field.

Don Eischens, the all-time leader in WISSOTA Modified wins, really laid a spanking on the field as he flew around the 3/8-mile oval for a nice win. Taylor Garberich was running a strong second until mechanical issues sent him to the pits. Brandon Mehrwerth then moved into second, with Seth Brede and Tyler Kaeter fighting for third. Late in the race Brede made a strong charge to get by Mehrwerth for second behind Eischens. Ryan Flaten and Brian Haben completed the top five.

Colton Lodermeier was very impressive as he swept the Hornet class, while Colsten Schultz stayed hot, winning the Pure Stock feature once again.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 9E-Don Eischens[2]; 2. 6SL-Seth Brede[7]; 3. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[5]; 4. 15F-Ryan Flaten[4]; 5. 6*-Brian Haben[8]; 6. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[6]; 7. 10-Justin VanEps[3]; 8. 97-Peter Loecken[11]; 9. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[9]; 10. (DNF) 18-Taylor Garberich[1]; 11. (DNS) 66-Jacob Knapper

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9E-Don Eischens[5]; 2. 6*-Brian Haben[3]; 3. 10-Justin VanEps[2]; 4. 18-Taylor Garberich[1]; 5. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[4]; 6. (DNF) 97-Peter Loecken[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15F-Ryan Flaten[3]; 2. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[1]; 3. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[2]; 4. 6SL-Seth Brede[4]; 5. (DNF) 66-Jacob Knapper[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 511-Zach Schultz[2]; 2. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[1]; 3. 99-Shawn Fernkes[3]; 4. 19-Brayden Hedtke[5]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 511-Zach Schultz[1]; 2. 99-Shawn Fernkes[3]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[5]; 4. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[4]; 5. 19-Brayden Hedtke[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[1]; 2. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[3]; 3. 16T-Tim Kanten[5]; 4. 15-Ryan Flaten[8]; 5. 3D-Daniel Bjonfald[7]; 6. 747-Jett Lindgren[2]; 7. 13-Tate Kostreba[9]; 8. 77-Chance Kodet[6]; 9. 32C-Zach Clark[12]; 10. 95-Damon Vejtruba[10]; 11. 31C-Tony Clark[11]; 12. (DNF) 78-Cole Anderson[4]; 13. (DNF) 92-Payton Asche[14]; 14. (DNS) 85J-Justin Jensen

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 747-Jett Lindgren[1]; 2. 77-Chance Kodet[4]; 3. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[5]; 4. 78-Cole Anderson[2]; 5. 13-Tate Kostreba[7]; 6. 31C-Tony Clark[3]; 7. 85J-Justin Jensen[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38J-Jason Vejtruba[2]; 2. 16T-Tim Kanten[5]; 3. 15-Ryan Flaten[6]; 4. 3D-Daniel Bjonfald[4]; 5. 95-Damon Vejtruba[1]; 6. 32C-Zach Clark[3]; 7. 92-Payton Asche[7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 34J-Kolton Brauer[2]; 2. 10-Justin Vogel[5]; 3. I7-Ethan Iiams[4]; 4. 2-Joe Martin[6]; 5. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[8]; 6. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[9]; 7. 35S-Kegan Stueve[3]; 8. 19-Derek Zieske[7]; 9. 18X-Brendon Scott[11]; 10. 5F-Mike Flickinger[14]; 11. (DNF) 83-Doug Olmscheid[1]; 12. (DNF) 611-Brady Schultz[10]; 13. (DNF) 69-Dominick Platow[13]; 14. (DNF) 23-Chris Isdal[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 34J-Kolton Brauer[3]; 2. 19-Derek Zieske[1]; 3. I7-Ethan Iiams[2]; 4. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[4]; 5. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[6]; 6. 18X-Brendon Scott[5]; 7. 69-Dominick Platow[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Justin Vogel[1]; 2. 35S-Kegan Stueve[2]; 3. 2-Joe Martin[6]; 4. 83-Doug Olmscheid[3]; 5. 611-Brady Schultz[5]; 6. 23-Chris Isdal[4]; 7. 5F-Mike Flickinger[7]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 37-Dean Larson[5]; 2. 21-Blake Hawker[3]; 3. 9-Thomas Burgard[1]; 4. XL1-Andrew Funt[7]; 5. 40-Jack Post[9]; 6. XL21-Chad Funt[2]; 7. (DNF) 7L-Tyler Larson[6]; 8. (DNF) 20-Connor Bruss[8]; 9. (DNF) 5-Robert Holtquist[4]; 10. (DNS) D5-Doug Frederick

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7L-Tyler Larson[5]; 2. XL1-Andrew Funt[2]; 3. 9-Thomas Burgard[1]; 4. XL21-Chad Funt[4]; 5. 40-Jack Post[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Dean Larson[2]; 2. 20-Connor Bruss[3]; 3. 5-Robert Holtquist[4]; 4. 21-Blake Hawker[5]; 5. D5-Doug Frederick[1]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 511-Colsten Schultz[1]; 2. 2-Carter Rice[5]; 3. 7A-Landon Albertson[3]; 4. 32-Brady Hagen[7]; 5. 6F-Mason Fester[9]; 6. 20-Ashton Martin[6]; 7. 6-Bruce Laabs[2]; 8. (DNF) 22X-Doug Ohden[8]; 9. (DNS) 71-Matt Wartman

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 511-Colsten Schultz[5]; 2. 2-Carter Rice[1]; 3. 6-Bruce Laabs[7]; 4. 7A-Landon Albertson[6]; 5. 71-Matt Wartman[4]; 6. 20-Ashton Martin[2]; 7. 32-Brady Hagen[8]; 8. 22X-Doug Ohden[9]; 9. (DNF) 6F-Mason Fester[3]

Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 21-Colton Lodermeier[2]; 2. 275X-Travis Bruns[1]; 3. 03-Christian Kast[5]; 4. Y4-Christopher Blume[3]; 5. 30-Damien Wiler[6]; 6. (DNF) 71X-Adam Castle[7]; 7. (DQ) 26-Braxton Schmitz[4]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 21-Colton Lodermeier[1]; 2. 26-Braxton Schmitz[3]; 3. 03-Christian Kast[2]; 4. 275X-Travis Bruns[6]; 5. Y4-Christopher Blume[4]; 6. 30-Damien Wiler[5]; 7. 71X-Adam Castle[7]