Lund, Crouse, VanMil claim Viking mains

Alexandria’s own Jeff Crouse captured his second Jerry Kluver Memorial victory in as many years, winning the WISSOTA Super Stock finale Tuesday night at Viking Speedway.

William Lund led wire to wire, scoring his second win in the past four days at Viking, while Rob VanMil collected his 19th win of the season in the WISSOTA Mod Four feature event.

Race fans from all over central Minnesota came out in full force for “jam the stands” night at Viking Speedway, and were treated to some tremendous Amsoil Dirt Track Series Racing, Governor’s Ethanol Challenge style.

Lund and Shawn Olson shared the front row starting duties for the Midwest Modified portion of the Governor’s Ethanol Challenge. Twenty-four competitors stacked up two by two, 12 rows deep, with 20 laps up on the board.

When the green dropped, Lund took the early advantage with third starter Dennis Czech quickly moving into second. Eighth starter Dan Ebert made some tremendous moves in the first three laps, moving up five positions into the third spot behind Lund and Czech. It was still Lund when the first caution waved seven laps into the event.

On the restart, Ebert moved into second, while seventh starter Travis Saurer grabbed fourth. Saurer would quickly move into third while doing his best to track down Lund and Ebert.

Ebert threw everything he had at Lund in the remaining laps but it was not enough as William would go on to score the win. Ebert, Saurer, 12th starter Jason Hoffman and Brady Gerdes rounded out the top five running order.

The Mod Four A-main was dominated by defending national champion Rob VanMil.

VanMil quickly moved forward from his fourth starting position to take the lead on lap four, a lead which he would never relinquish.

Josh Abrahamson finished in the second spot with the hard-charging Corry VanMil finishing in third.

Dustin Zieske and Troy Kuehl rounded out the top five for the WISSOTA Mod Fours, which drew 13 entries.

Jeff Crouse and Cody Lee brought a star-studded 21-car field to the green for the annual “Jerry Kluver Memorial” Super Stock special event.

Crouse would beat Lee to turn one and grab the early lead in the process, looking strong on the opening trip around and was scored the leader at the conclusion of the first circuit.

Fifth starter Dave Mass quickly moved up into the second spot by lap three, while eighth starter Cory Tammen cracked the top five. Tammen would continue his march to the front on lap six as he worked by Lee for the third spot exiting turn four.

With seven laps remaining, the final yellow of the event put Mass and Tammen on the backside of Crouse for one final seven-lap dash to the finish.

During that time, however, a brief rain shower came through, halting action for the time being. When action resumed, Mass once again went to work on the backside of Crouse, while Jeremy Jerve cracked the top-five after starting 10th.

After going to the back of the pack early on, Don Eischens rebounded nicely, passing a myriad of cars on his way to the front, ultimately nipping Tammen at the line for the third spot.

Mass tried everything in his power to overtake Crouse, but was unable to finish the job as Crouse cruised on to his second Jerry Kluver Memorial victory in as many years.

The unbelievably tough top five was rounded out by Mass, Eischens, Tammen and Jerve.

To see the point standings for the Midwest Mods and Mod Fours, log onto speednetdirect.com and click on MN Corn Growers Ethanol Challenge Series.

Racing resumes at Viking Speedway this Saturday night, with a 6 p.m. start time. For more information regarding Viking Speedway log onto the series website at vikingspeedway.net.

VIKING SPEEDWAY RACE RESULTS

JULY 26

SUPER STOCKS

FEATURE – Jeff Crouse, Dave Mass, Don Eischens, Cory Tammen, Jeremy Jerve, Jon Stepan, Cody Lee, Mike Frolik, Larry Lund, Jeff Kluver, Jason Vejtruba, Alan Johnson, Mike Peterson, Matt Miller, Dominic Baker, Ross Reed, Jeff Flaten, Max Dondelinger, Terry Merten, Scott Brown, Shawn Nolan.

HEAT 1 – Crouse, Mass, Flaten, Jerve, Peterson, Baker, Reed.

HEAT 2 – Vejtruba, Stepan, Lee, Dondelinger, Lund, Frolik, Kluver.

HEAT 3 – Tammen, Eischens, Brown, Polich, Miller, Merten, Johnson.

MIDWEST MODIFIEDS

FEATURE – William Lund, Dan Ebert, Travis Saurer, Jason Hoffman, Brad Gerdes, Dennis Czech, Josh Muzik, Chris Mensen, Derek Quinn, Ryan Bowers, Ryan Schleusner, Casey Arneson, Joe Voigt, Todd Berg, Jonathan Olmscheid, Justin Oestreich, Brian Haben, Brandon Spanswick, Zach Manley, Travis Vanderby, Shawn Olson, Levi Arneson, Alan Bohlman, Kyle Reents.

HEAT 1 – Gerdes, Olson, Spanswick, Berg, Quinn, Hintermeister, Olmscheid, Rieck.

HEAT 2 – Haben, Saurer, Manley, Oestreich, Muzik, Greeley, Vanderby, Reents.

HEAT 3 – Lund, Ebert, L. Arneson, Schleusner, C. Arneson, Droplik, Ward, Bitzan.

HEAT 4 – Voigt, Czech, Hoffman, Bohlman, Bowers, Vanderby, Haack, Mensen.

B-MAIN – Vanderby, Mensen, Reents, Olmscheid, Haack.

MOD FOURS

FEATURE – Rob VanMil, Josh Abrahamson, Corry VanMil, Dustin Zieske, Troy Kuehl, Tyler Larson, Tom Silver, Dean Larson, Brandon Kellen, Ryan Buer, Justin Smith, Thomas Kellen, Dallas Buchholz.

HEAT 1 – Kuehl, Abrahamson, Zieske, C. VanMil, D. Larson, Buer, Buchholz.

HEAT 2 – R. VanMil, T. Larson, Silver, B. Kellen, Smith, T. Kellen.

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