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Peterson puts and end to Searing streak with Challenge Series score at Granite City Motor Park

From Chris Stepan and Track Reports

SAUK RAPIDS, MN (May 12) - Granite City Motor Park was back underway Sunday, May 12, playing host to the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series, powered by Momentum Truck Group, Freightliner, Western Star, as well as the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, Hornets, and Super Stocks.

Hickson, North Dakota’s Tyler Peterson won the 40-lap feature to wrap up the opening weekend of the 26th season for the Challenge Series, while Jake Smith secured the victory in the Midwest Mods, Dexton Koch captured the Super Stock win, and Justin Schelitzche was the winner in the Hornets.

A great Mother’s Day field of 29 WISSOTA Late Model competitors made the tow to the St. Cloud, MN area, led to green by Peterson and Kevin Burdick. Peterson raced out front alone early with Burdick and Kevin Eder battling hard for second early. As the laps clicked off, the leaders began to encounter the tail of the field and Eder rolled up on the leaders, making a very entertaining three-car race out front, with Shane Sabraski charging as well.

Just behind them, Jeff Provinzino and Ryan Mikkelson were tangled up in a solid race just outside of the top five.

At the halfway point, Peterson led Eder, Burdick, Sabraski and Provinzino in the top five.

The first caution flew for debris on lap 24, bunching up the field and allowing everyone to have a shot at the race leader, Peterson, with just six laps to go. On the restart, Sabraski rolled by Eder and Burdick into the runner-up spot, while Cole Searing was also charging from his 19th starting spot.

A red flag for a Rick Niemi flip in turn two shut down action immediately and after the cleanup and fence repair, the field fired back off and Peterson picked up where he left off, leading the final circuits for his fourth Challenge Series victory of his career and first of 2024.

Following Peterson to the line were Sabraski, Eder, Searing and Provinzino in the top five.

Koch claimed top honors in the Super Stocks from his front-row starting spot, grabbing the win ahead of James Trantina, Brandon Linquist, Austin Niemeyer, and Denis Czech.

In the Hornets, Schelitzche marched forward from fifth into the top spot, bringing fellow third-row starter Jenna Hagemann along with him into second. Polesitter Anthony Jenson slipped back to third, Payson Patrin was fourth and Josh Backstrom completed the top five.

Smith’s pole start in the Midwest Modifieds was a bad omen for the rest of the field, as he drove to the win, his first of the year. Corey Mehrwerth, Blake Adams, Zach Benson, and Ryan Putnam completed the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 7A-Shane Sabraski[6]; 3. 22E-Kevin Eder[4]; 4. 10-Cole Searing[19]; 5. 28-Jeff Provinzino[5]; 6. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[7]; 7. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[9]; 8. 7-Joel Bennett[3]; 9. 6M-Jeff Massingill[17]; 10. 5-Josh Zimpel[11]; 11. 30-Kevin Burdick[2]; 12. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[8]; 13. 21-Todd Frank[10]; 14. 07-Cory Crapser[13]; 15. 21F-Gunner Frank[16]; 16. 42-Paul Niznik[15]; 17. 51-Charles Olson[20]; 18. 63-Patrick Kelley[23]; 19. (DNF) 19-Steve Laursen[18]; 20. (DNF) 54-Rick Niemi[21]; 21. (DNF) 16-Thomas Weisgram[12]; 22. (DNF) F5-Chad Fouquette[14]; 23. (DNF) 92-Richard Chasteen[25]; 24. (DNF) 76-Dustin Johanneck[22]; 25. (DNS) 7L-Scott Lehn

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 30-Kevin Burdick[2]; 2. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[1]; 3. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[3]; 4. 16-Thomas Weisgram[4]; 5. 42-Paul Niznik[5]; 6. 6M-Jeff Massingill[8]; 7. 19-Steve Laursen[10]; 8. 7L-Scott Lehn[7]; 9. 55S-Ryan Schaufler[6]; 10. 92-Richard Chasteen[9]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[2]; 2. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[1]; 3. 28-Jeff Provinzino[5]; 4. 21-Todd Frank[4]; 5. 07-Cory Crapser[7]; 6. 51-Charles Olson[6]; 7. 10-Cole Searing[3]; 8. 54-Rick Niemi[9]; 9. 76-Dustin Johanneck[8]; 10. (DNS) 9-Dylan Kromschroeder

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 7-Joel Bennett[1]; 2. 22E-Kevin Eder[3]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]; 4. 5-Josh Zimpel[4]; 5. F5-Chad Fouquette[2]; 6. 21F-Gunner Frank[6]; 7. 24-Jase Lien[7]; 8. 63-Patrick Kelley[8]; 9. (DNS) 7X-Jesse Glenz

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 6M-Jeff Massingill[2]; 2. 19-Steve Laursen[4]; 3. 10-Cole Searing[3]; 4. 51-Charles Olson[1]; 5. 54-Rick Niemi[6]; 6. 76-Dustin Johanneck[9]; 7. 63-Patrick Kelley[7]; 8. 7L-Scott Lehn[8]; 9. 55S-Ryan Schaufler[10]; 10. (DNF) 92-Richard Chasteen[11]; 11. (DNS) 7X-Jesse Glenz; 12. (DNS) 9-Dylan Kromschroeder; 13. (DQ) 24-Jase Lien[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[2]; 2. 19X-James Trantina III[4]; 3. 3-Brandon Linquist[1]; 4. 33-Austin Niemeyer[7]; 5. 2-Denis Czech[5]; 6. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[8]; 7. 41-Tommy Patton[6]; 8. 40-Ellen Lange[10]; 9. (DNF) 47J-Jeremiah Gebhardt[3]; 10. (DNS) 8T-Nicholas Schultz

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[1]; 2. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[2]; 3. 2-Denis Czech[4]; 4. 33-Austin Niemeyer[3]; 5. 40-Ellen Lange[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19X-James Trantina III[2]; 2. 3-Brandon Linquist[4]; 3. 41-Tommy Patton[1]; 4. 47J-Jeremiah Gebhardt[5]; 5. 8T-Nicholas Schultz[3]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[1]; 2. 27-Corey Mehrwerth[3]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[5]; 4. 17B-Zach Benson[4]; 5. 46R-Ryan Putnam[2]; 6. 11R-Landyn Randt[7]; 7. 33-Jake Hagemann[11]; 8. 11-Ashton Schulte[6]; 9. 24-Cole Elton[13]; 10. 12-Matt Everts[9]; 11. (DNF) 00AZ-TJ Wyman[10]; 12. (DNF) 19X-James Trantina III[8]; 13. (DNF) 8A-Adam Hansen[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[2]; 2. 11-Ashton Schulte[1]; 3. 17B-Zach Benson[3]; 4. 11R-Landyn Randt[4]; 5. 12-Matt Everts[7]; 6. 33-Jake Hagemann[6]; 7. 8A-Adam Hansen[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Corey Mehrwerth[2]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[5]; 3. 46R-Ryan Putnam[1]; 4. 19X-James Trantina III[3]; 5. 00AZ-TJ Wyman[4]; 6. (DNF) 24-Cole Elton[6]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche[5]; 2. 26-Jenna Hagemann[6]; 3. 23T-Anthony Jenson[1]; 4. 73-Payson Patrin[3]; 5. 19-Josh Backstrom[2]; 6. 29A-Austin Jacobson[9]; 7. 40-Jack Post[7]; 8. 21-Reegan Brummond[4]; 9. 3-Thomas Inderieden[10]; 10. (DNS) 3S-Scott Erickson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Jenna Hagemann[4]; 2. 23T-Anthony Jenson[2]; 3. 40-Jack Post[1]; 4. 21-Reegan Brummond[3]; 5. 29A-Austin Jacobson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche[2]; 2. 73-Payson Patrin[3]; 3. 19-Josh Backstrom[1]; 4. 3-Thomas Inderieden[5]; 5. (DNS) 3S-Scott Erickson