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MARSHFIELD, Wis. (September 16, 2023) – It’s not so rare to see a Championship capped off in style, but Dalton Zehr hit full style points on his way to clinching the TUNDRA Super Late Model Series title on Saturday night at Marshfield Motor Speedway.

Zehr won both 50 lap features to secure the first ever TUNDRA team title with teammate John Beale under the Gildan Racing banner.

In the first feature, the Bev Aschenbrenner Memorial Presented by IncredibleBank, Solutionz LLC, and A&A Lock Service, Zehr took advantage of a late restart to muscle his way past Colin Reffner and set sail to the win.

In the second feature, the Chili Implement Championship Shootout, Zehr chased down Brock Heinrich just past midway of the 50 lapper, and held off Ty Fredrickson on a late restart.

Both features were stalled by only one yellow flag each, leaving plenty of time for side-by-side action and movement throughout the field.

Jordan Thiel took an early lead from fellow front-row starter Braison Bennett in the Bev Memorial feature to begin the evening for TUNDRA. Just after Thiel escaped Bennett, Fredrickson went on the move. He captured Second by lap six, then took the lead from Thiel four laps later.

As Fredrickson moved up to the lead, Colin Reffner was also charging through the pack. He moved from his Seventh Place starting spot to Second by lap 21. Not too far behind him, Zehr was also on the move and had advanced from Eighth to Fourth.

Once into the Second spot, Reffner quickly chased down Fredrickson. On lap 22 he caught Fredrickson, just after Zehr had taken Third from Thiel. Three laps later Reffner jumped to the top line to try to take the lead. He grabbed the lead on lap 26.  Reffner then began to build his advantage over Fredrickson and Zehr.

The race saw a big change on lap 38 when Mitch Haver spun exiting turn four. Both Reffner and Fredrickson selected the inside line, leaving the outside open for Zehr on the restart.  After a two-lap battle, Zehr emerged with the lead.

Zehr built his advantage over Reffner over the final laps while Fredrickson was left to deal with Mark Eswein, who had charged from his 14^th Place starting spot.  Eswein was able to secure the position by sneaking around Fredrickson on the final lap.

With an invert of nine, the field was led to green by Wyatt Brooks and Kole Guralski. Brooks slid up at the drop of the green and washed up into the middle groove. He and Guralski made contact, which led to Guralski making an incredible save.  However, the inside line opened up allowing Brock Heinrich to secure the lead.

After Heinrich took the lead, Justin Mondeik slid to the inside of Brooks and Eswein to the inside of Guralski.  Mondeik eventually took the Second spot on lap two.  Eswein followed the next lap with Zehr in tow.

As the race settled in, Heinrich built a lead and Mondeik was left to deal with Eswein and Zehr.  On lap eight Guralski moved back into the Top Five on the inside of Brooks. This move left the door open for Fredrickson to move to Sixth.

On lap 14 Eswein got to the inside of Mondeik in the battle for Second.  He took the spot on lap 16, bringing Zehr with.  Just one lap later Zehr slipped past Eswein and started his pursuit of Heinrich.

Zehr chopped away at the deficit lap after lap. Just past halfway he was on the back bumper of Heinrich and ready to challenge.  On lap 29 Zehr moved past Heinrich and set sail.

Behind them Fredrickson was still moving. He passed Mondeik just past halfway to take Fourth and started to put pressure on Eswein. However, Eswein was able to hold off the youngster until the caution fell on lap 41 for a stalled Mitch Haver.

For the restart, Zehr, Heinrich, and Eswein elected to take the inside line. Fredrickson jumped to the outside. The first attempt at green was called off, but on the second Fredrickson quickly tucked behind Zehr and tried a daring crossover.  Zehr was able to escape though, and went on to the win. 

Fredrickson finished Second, and Eswein was Third after retaking the spot from Heinrich with five laps remaining. Coincidentally, that was how they finished overall on the evening, as well.

The Championship was Zehr’s fourth, but first as a member of a team.  It came in an impressive season where Zehr captured three fast times and four feature wins. Beale also chipped in a fast time in his lone series start at State Park Speedway.

“It says a lot about this team,” Zehr said of the title. “I’m just excited. This was a great day and a great year.”

“It was really impressive watching Dalton driving tonight,” Beale added. “We really owe it to the crew and the team. It really is a team effort for all we do.”

The event at Marshfield brought the 13th season of TUNDRA to a close, with plans already being developed for the 2024 season. More information will be available throughout the off-season on the TUNDRA web site and social media pages.