More coming sooKAUKAUNA, Wis. (May 17, 2025) – Right place. Right time. That was the mantra of the Bear 96 presented by Great Lakes Testing for the TUNDRA Super Late Model Series on Saturday at Wisconsin International Raceway.
In the end it was Grant Griesbach who stayed out of trouble, held back a pair of hungry contenders and took advantage of some misfortune to grab the $6,000 payday.
Griesbach secured the lead late in the race when Dalton Zehr experienced a mechanical failure and was forced to drop out of the running. Griesbach cruised to the win in front of fast qualifier Gabe Sommers and impressive newcomer Cody Vanderloop.
The 96-lap main got off to a slow start with two major incidents in the first five laps. After Kody King secured the lead early, contact between Sawyer Effertz and Jesse Oudenhoven caused a melee exiting turn four. The incident collected the likes of JJ Vanderloop, Casey Johnson, Brock Heinrich, Riley Stenjem and others.
On the restart Sommers was able to restart on the inside of King. After a couple of laps of side-by-side battling the two made contact, sending both to the tail and handing the lead to Griesbach.
At this juncture, Jevin Guralski looked to be making a speedy move to the front. He grabbed Second just after the lap-four restart, but experienced a mechanical failure that sent him into the outside of the wall exiting turn four. Once again several other racers were collected including Randy Schuler and Maxwell Schultz.
Griesbach was able to pace the field for the next 20 laps as the field settled in. The driver on the move was Dalton Zehr. Despite being caught up in the first incident, Zehr cruised back through the field. He was able to secure Third on lap 20 and grabbed Second from Bobby Kendall just three laps later.
Ten laps later Zehr was on the hunt for the lead. He swiftly made a pass on the backstretch and started to pace the field. From that point to the midway fuel break, drivers settled into their spots for a late-race chess match.
It appeared Zehr was bound to take the win with a healthy margin in the final ten laps. Behind him Griesbach was working furiously to hold off Cody Vanderloop and Sommers who had made his way back through the field.
The race took a sudden turn with just four laps remaining when Zehr fell off the pace. A mechanical issue sent Zehr to the pits early as the trio of Griesbach, Vanderloop and Sommers zipped past.
Over the final three laps Vanderloop kept close in Second while holding off Sommers. Vanderloop made one final charge to the inside in an attempt to steal the win, but snapped sideways exiting four, allowing Sommers to capture Second at the line.
Griesbach looked stunned as he exited his car to celebrate victory. He commented on a wild weekend that saw him in Victory Lane the previous night with the Midwest Truck Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Mr. Brew’s Taphouse Race Notes:
- Gabe Sommers set a new TUNDRA track record in qualifying (18.840 seconds) eclipsing the time set by Casey Johnson in 2021 (18.892 seconds).
- The top nine qualifiers turned a lap under 19 seconds.
- Dalton Zehr led the most laps (56).
- Gabe Sommers and Cody Vanderloop shared the hard-charger bonus points. Both drivers were a +7 through inverted drivers.
- Lowell Bennett kicked off his 50th year of racing with his best TUNDRA finish in Fourth
- Harley Jankowski made the most of his TUNDRA debut, finishing 10th
- Brock Heinrich, Bobby Kendall, and Casey Johsnon (fast dash) won the preliminary races
- JJ Vanderloop pulled double duty, also racing in the Pro Late Model undercard – he picked up the victory in the Alburetor 28.
The next event for the TUNDRA Super Late Model Series is the Bev Aschenbrenner Memorial at Marshfield Motor Speedway. TUNDRA will be joined by the Legends, Upper Midwest Vintage Series, Bandits and Xtreme 4s. Qualifying is at 5:30 with racing at 7pm.n….
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