Provinzino Wins Challenge Series at Viking Speedway; Thoennes, Engebretson, Riley and Sabrask Victorious

Hibbing driver Jeff Provinzino won the challenge series at Viking Speedway on Saturday. (Photro by Collin Nelson /Outlaw Photography)

The Structural Buildings Wissota Late Model Challenge Series was at Viking Speedway for the 2025 season opener on Saturday. Kevin Burdick of Proctor won the first night of the series on Friday at I-94 EMR Speedway, and 31 late models were on hand at Viking.

The bottom was the place to be most of the night, but particularly in the late model, modified and super stock main events.

Lee Grosz of Watertown took the lead from the outset of the Wissota Late Model main event. Jeff Provinzino of Hibbing was pressuring Shane Sabraski for Rice of second, and would take the spot about six laps in.

Sam Mars of Menomonie, Wis., was fourth, and two-time series champion Cole Searing of Huron worked past Amelia Eisenschenk of Fargo for fifth.

Grosz quickly caught lapped traffic that allowed Provinzino to cut into the gap. Mars was facing a big challenge from Searing for fourth. Eisenschenk wasn’t far behind as Searing got by Mars for fourth.

The Millennial Farmer, Zach Johnson of Lowry, was lurking outside the top five. He has won a ton of races at Viking and knows the place well. He would get by Eisenschenk for sixth and was closing on Mars.

Grosz and Provinzino had a solid advantage on third-place Sabraski, who felt the heat from Searing.  Grosz was making the high line work in spots while Provinzino, who runs well in the ditch, stayed lower.

Provinzino was struggling with a lapped car as Sabraski and Searing closed on him. Mars was fighting back as well in lapped traffic and caught Searing for fourth.

Then, in stunning fashion, Grosz – with a two-second lead and with only seven laps left -- spun in turn two to bring out the first caution of the feature.  I felt for Grosz; he had dominated the race and was on his way to a win, and I’m sure it was heartbreaking to lose it.

Provinzino got a key restart with seven to go opening up a few car lengths on Sabraski, who had three car lengths on third-place Searing. The bottom was the place to be and Provinzino’s car was flawless down there.  He would pick up his eighth career challenge series win by .682 seconds over Sabraski. Searing, the defending race winner at Viking, was third with Mars fourth and Zach Johnson fifth. There wasn’t a lot of passing – the first 23 laps got pretty spread out on the half-mile.

The big key to the win, in my opinion, was Provinzino not losing a spot in lapped traffic early in the race. A couple of times Sabraski was right there and Provinzino would get by the lapped cars, many of which were running the lower line.

The hard charger of the race was veteran Kevin Eder of Cameron, Wis., who finished eighth after starting 15th.  Montevideo driver Jordan Tollakson ran well and took seventh, while Eisenschenk capped off a good night in 10th.

Defending national champion Tyler Peterson had to go through the B main and would be a DNF, as would multi-time series champion Pat Doar.

Two pretty stout drivers – Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck and Eric Riley of Morris – led the Wissota Street Stock field to green. Riley had topped Dykhoff on Friday night at I-94 EMR Speedway.

Saturday’s feature at Viking didn’t make it through the first corner as the defending track champion, Davey Kruchten. The track was a little slick after the intermission watering, and after the spin they spent a few further laps working the moisture in.

Riley held a slight lead after lap one with Dykhoff pressuring from below. Brendan Scott was running third with Kolton Brauer of Eyota chasing him.

The caution would wave for a multicar spin in turns three and four which I did not see. The call was Nitro Jim Williams of De Graff was sent to the tail, and the night ended on the hook for Jason Thimmesh of Garfield.  Thimmesh was not a happy camper on his walk back to the pits.

Riley surged into the lead on the restart as Brauer worked on Dykhoff. Brendan Scott was third and Brad Lorentz was fourth.

Brauer passed Dykhoff for second as Scott went to work on Dykhoff. Dykhoff, however, was not finished with Brauer and went after the 34 car for second.

Brauer cut the lead down to a car length as it turned into a three-car breakaway up front. It turned into a hell of a three-car battle up front as Dykhoff would move back into second.  Brauer fell back a bit. Scott and Lorentz were solidly in their fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

Dykhoff slipped in turns one and two and that gave Riley valuable breathing room, on his way to a .549 second win. Brauer ran third. Lorentz made a late pass of Scott for fourth with the latter holding off Kruchten for fifth. Kruchten made a nice recovery after the first-lap spin.

Teenager Onyx Johnson – son of Zach Johnson -- took the early lead over Buzz Muzik of Alexandria in the Wissota Midwest Modified feature.  

Haley Dykhoff was starting to pressure Muzik for second. Fourth-place Travis Engebretson of Cyrus was closing in on the second-place battle with Tanner Bitzan of Brandon running fifth.

Dykhoff cleared Muzik for second with eight to go as Johnson stretched the lead to more than two seconds.  The real battle was between Engebretson and Muzik for second.  The caution would wave for a Maddie Swenson spin in turn two. That wiped out Johnson’s two-second advantage.

On the restart Dykhoff got a great run on the lower line of Johnson, who slid a bit high in turn two and Dykhoff would grab the lead.  The caution would fly for Noah McFarlane a lap letter, but Dykhoff was scored the leader.

Haley Dykhoff had her hands full with Engebretson, who would go to the high side to take over the top spot. Dykhoff fought back on the bottom but it was clear Engebretson found something on a higher line. The ageless Ron Saurer, 72, had moved into fourth and got around Johnson for third.

Dykhoff made another surge on the bottom in turns one and two, but Engebretson had a huge push of momentum on the higher line to take the feature win by .395 seconds. Dykhoff was second, Saurer was third, Johnson fourth and Madison driver Ryan Flaten, who ran solid all night, took fifth.

After the late models had run 30 laps, I was curious where the modifieds would run. The bottom line continued to be the place to be as Josh Thoennes of Nelson took the early lead.

Kaeden Blaeser was second ahead of Jason Thoennes of Brandon, with Dusty Bitzan of Brandon fourth and Brady Gerdes of Villard in fifth.

Things were spread out with the closest battle coming for fifth where Sabraski worked on Gerdes. Josh Thoennes, meanwhile, was dominating up front with a 3.6 second lead about halfway through.  Blaeser, who had retaken second from Jason Thoennes, had cut the lead down to 1.294 seconds with seven to go.

Sabraski was persistent in running a higher line, and while it was more effective in turns three and four, it was not in one and two. However, with six to go he would move into the fifth spot.

Blaeser was picking up steam late and had cut the lead to under a second. But he got no closer as Josh Thoennes prevailed by 1.549 seconds. Blaeser was second, Jason Thoennes third, Bitzan fourth and Sabraski fifth in the caution-free race.

Sabraski had the pole in the Wissota Super Stock feature – which is really bad news for the rest of the field. He took the lead on Lap 1 from Trevor Saurer of Dalton and wouldn’t be touched.

Saurer ran second with Matt Miller of Glenwood in third and Karter Reents of Glenwood in fourth.

Jeff Crouse of Alexandria, Travis Scott of Montevideo and William Lund of Brandon had a nice battle for fifth as the top four spread out.

Sabraski crushed the field, winning by 7.489 seconds over Saurer. Miller was third, Reents fourth and Lund would cap off a solid run in fifth.

Because of the 10:45 p.m. curfew, the Wissota Hornet feature was postponed to a later date.

Viking Notes

--Nic Hiles of Miltona has moved from the Wissota Hornet division to the to the Wissota Midwest Modified. He wins the award for the most unique car number at Viking -- H20.

--Bryce Sward of Nelson is now driving the #6X modified owned by Corey Svor.  Zach Johnson drove the car for many years and did well but now has focused on his own late model. Sward drove a late model for several years before stepping away after 2023. He’s a good, solid young driver.

--Chris Mensen of Carlos, who started racing in a late model in late 2024, had a hard crash at the conclusion of his heat. Don Shaw and another car made contact out of turn four, and Shaw hit the wall. As he slowed coming off the wall, Mensen had nowhere to go and hammered the 42S on the frontstretch.  Both drivers were OK but were finished for the night with a lot of damage. That was just a bad deal.

--Tyler Bitzan of Brandon won his first career feature race Friday at I-94 EMR Speedway by capturing the Wissota Midwest Modified feature.

--Jay Gronewold of Alexandria had a hard crash in one of the Wissota Hornet heats. He made contact with another car and was turned hard into the infield wall as the checkered flag was thrown.  The driver was OK, but it led to a delay in fixing those two sections of the infield wall.

Edginton, Greseth and Berg Win at Devils Lake

 Shane Edginton of East St. Paul, Man., won the Wissota Late Model feature Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway. Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks was second, Chad Becker of Aberdeen was third, Brad Seng of Grand Forks fourth and Travis Robertson of Moorhead fifth.

Cole Greseth of Harwood won the Wissota Street Stock feature for a second straight week; in addition, he won at River Cities on Friday. Trey Hess of Grand Forks was second, Kasey Ussatis of Nome third and Stoney Kruk of Langdon fourth.

Jory Berg of Grand Forks won his second Wissota Midwest Modified feature in as many nights, topping Winnipeg driver Austin Hunter. Cylen Vargason, the runner-up at River Cities the previous night, was third. Memphis Klassen of Winkler was fourth and MaKenna Romuld of Grand Forks was fifth.

Joe Armstrong of Crary topped Tate Bullis of Lakota for the Pure Stock win.

Johnson Wins Late Models at Buffalo River

Mitch Johnson of Hickson – in his 50th year of racing in 2025 – won the Wissota Late Model feature Saturday at Buffalo River Speedway. Collin Compson of Valley City was second, Devin Fouquette of St. Cloud was third, Jaden Christ of Jamestown fourth and Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks fifth.

The win was Johnson’s first feature victory since 2011.

Todd Gettel of Mahnomen won the IMCA Hobby Stock feature over Caleb Gardner of Glyndon. Tim Church of Moorhead was third, Andrea Jacobson of Fargo was fourth and Brad Orvedal of Fargo was fifth.

Tanner Jones of Glengardner, N.J., won the INEX Legend feature over Tye Wilke of Detroit Lakes. Joshua Wiest of Jamestown was third, Ryan Braseth of Ulen fourth and Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids fifth.

Jayden Pavlicek of Casselton topped Kyle VanMil of Barnesville for the IMCA Sport Mod feature win with Scott Jacobson of Fargo third. Hunter Goulet of Fargo topped Dayton Kent for the Short Tracker win while Rich Pavlicek of Casselton, driving Bob Sagen’s #99P machine, won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Reise Stenberg of Argusville and Kyle Anderson of Jamestown. Cole Neset of Fargo was fourth.

Bryce Haugeberg of West Fargo topped Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes for the lightning sprint feature win.