PLOVER, Wis. (September 4, 2023) – It’s been a while since Dalton Zehr saw Victory Lane at Golden Sands Speedway. On Monday afternoon Zehr made a triumphant return with a win in the Cleaver Classic presented by Kroll’s West Restaurant. It was Zehr’s second TUNDRA Super Late Model Series win of the season.
Zehr chased down Jordan DeVoy in the final third of the race and sneaked by on lap 73 to take the lead and the win – denying DeVoy a third straight win at the venue.
“Jordan DeVoy was wicked fast and he was doing it in the second groove which was cause for concern,” Zehr said. “But I knew we had a really good long-run car and we had a long run at the end.”
The win was Zehr’s 15th in TUNDRA action, and his second series win at Golden Sands Speedway. The other win came in TUNDRA’s first race as a traveling series at GSS on May 27, 2013.
“It’s hard to get more (speed) here,” Zehr commented. “We were peaked. Our car was as good as it was going to get, and that’s what you need on a hot day like today.”
On a sweltering day the show was moved along quickly to beat the head. Darren Jackson and Kendrick Kreyer led the field to green with Kreyer getting an early jump and building a healthy advantage over the field.
As Kreyer held his advantage, defending TUNDRA Champion Justin Mondeik went to work on moving past Darren Jackson for Second. At the same time, DeVoy was working the high side to get into the Top Four and Zehr was moving on the low line. They rounded out the Top Five by lap 18.
The first caution fell on lap 20 for an incident involving Corey Jankowski and Mitch Haver. On the restart Mondeik was to the outside of Kreyer. The two went toe-to-toe for three laps until Mondeik secured the lead. As he took the top spot DeVoy moved past Kreyer into Second. He immediately went on the attack.
DeVoy swung to the outside of Mondeik on lap 27. Mondeik held his line, looking to outduel DeVoy. However, DeVoy was ahead by a slim margin at the line on lap 30 when the caution fell for an incident involving Michael Haggar and Travis Volm. Unfortunately, Volm experienced some mechanical issues and went to the pit area to make repairs.
When the field came back to the green it was DeVoy electing the outside lane and Mondeik joining him on the front row. Mondeik kept even with DeVoy as Zehr settled into Third. Behind them the battle for Fourth ended with contact between Mike Lichtfeld and Kendrick Kreyer. Keyer stalled after going off the track and up the berm.
By TUNDRA policy, the third restart before halfway was single-file. It proved to be the final restart on lap 30. DeVoy built up his lead as Zehr kept close tabs on Mondeik. Behind them two other drivers were on the move – Ken’s Sports Fast Qualifier Colin Reffner and 14-year-old Ty Fredrickson, making his series debut.
At halfway Fredrickson caught Reffner and got to the inside line. Just one lap later Zehr slipped past Mondeik into Second. Fredrickson eventually emerged from the battle with Reffner on lap 46. Four laps later he moved past Jackson into Fourth.
As the laps started to wind down, Zehr looked to close the gap on DeVoy. Over the next 20 laps Zehr slowly started to close in. By lap 70 he was on the bumper of Devoy. Zehr swung to the inside on lap 72 and took the lead on lap 73. DeVoy looked to challenge back to the inside, but could not get to the line in time.
Zehr went on to pull away to the win as DeVoy captured Second. Fredrickson clipped off one more spot and rounded out the podium, making the most of his series debut. Mondeik held on for Fourth and Reffner was Fifth.
The event honored David Kronberger, aka Cleaver, who was a fan, sponsor, and friend of the series and many of its competitors. In 2017 Zehr drove the Wayne Brevik-owned Redline Speedsport 711 car, which is one of the “Team Cleaver” cars.
“I met Gayle and Cleaver when I was driving the 711 and visited with them every event since, it seems,” Zehr recalled. “I’m glad I could win this race. It’s a big deal to me.”
With Zehr as the primary and point-gaining driver for the Gildan Team, the win helped build the point lead. The final event of the season at Marshfield Motor Speedway will host two 50-lap features which will determine the series title.
The next event at Marshfield on September 16 caps off the TUNDRA season and is the make-up for the Bev Aschenbrenner Memorial which was rained out in June. Racing begins at 5pm. More details on the event will be available soon.
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