Racing: Willmar’s Brede rallies to win Modified Nationals

Twenty-five-year-old Seth Brede brought fans to their feet at the conclusion of the 11th annual Minnesota Modified Nationals feature race at the Viking Speedway in Alexandria Friday night.
Brede trailed multi-champion Scot Danzeisen for nearly all of the 70-lap feature, but pushed ahead on the final turn of the the last lap to become the 11th different winner of the event in 11 years.
Brede walked away with the largest payday in WISSOTA Modified history at the Viking Speedway, claiming $11,000 for the win.
“This is great. I never imagined in a million years it was going to be me to win this, so it’s unbelievable,” the Willmar native said. “Dream come true to win a race like this.”
Drivers had to wait a long time just to get this one in. Rain delayed the first attempt on July 4th weekend. A wet track then pushed things back again last Thursday before the show went on Friday night.
Herman-native Danzeisen held a six-car-length lead with 10 laps remaining, but started losing ground when he began searching for a new line to save his tires.
Brede went to the high side of the track to pull even with Danzeisen with two laps left in turns one and two. They raced side-by-side before exiting turn four, as Brede took the narrow chance to pass on the high side and clinched the comeback victory.
“I knew it was going to be tough to get around him, but I guess I just wanted to hang in there and try to keep my tires until the end,” Brede said. “I think he [Danzeisen] used his up a little bit right there at the end and he’s definitely had a lot of laps around here. I think I took my time blowing the top off and in the end that’s the fastest way around.”
Brede had to endure multiple race delays leading up to his winning run, and debated how to adjust his No. 19 car for the unpredictable dirt course.
“Especially at this track, it’s hard to tell what the track is going to do, so I didn’t really know how to set the car up, but between going from slick to dry it’s tough to get a hold of what to actually set the car up to do,” Brede explained. “When the race started I knew the only way I was going to get around him was to start on the bottom and try to shoot in there real hard to grab that traction at turn one. I showed him down there a couple times and then he knew he had to protect the bottom. Right after that, I just went up to the top trying to play with his head a little bit.”
The race was part of a jam-packed weekend as the local track wrapped up the season with the 12th annual Viking Speedway Fall Classic.
Brede came back again Saturday night to claim the win in the Modified feature for that event as well.
Don Shaw of Ham Lake used an early pass to cruise to a first-place finish in the WISSOTA Late Model feature on Saturday night, collecting $4,000 in his sixth career Fall Classic victory.
Jordan Tollakson took first in the 28-car WISSOTA Street Stocks feature event, holding off 2015 Viking track champion second-place finisher Tim Johnson, who won the WISSOTA Super Stocks feature event.
Tyler Peterson took first in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature and Dustin Zieske came back to win in a borrowed car for the weekend in the WISSOTA Mod Fours feature.
Modified Nationals
Feature Winners
MODIFIED NATIONALS - Seth Brede, Scot Danzeisen, Jason Thoennes, Shaun Peterson, Jeremy Nelson, Mike Stearns, Brady Gerdes, Jesse Glenz, Brian Haben, Jason Vandekamp, Scott Greer, Zach Johnson, Tyler Peterson, Travis Saurer, Brandon Aggen, Brett Hoium, Dan Ebert, Tim Johnson, Jeff Wildung, Danny Bayer, Matt Leer, Bob Gierke, Darrell Nelson, Shane Sabraski, Johnny Broking, Corky Thomas
Fall Classic
Feature Winners
LATE MODELS - Don Shaw, Jeff Wildung, Matt Aukland, Pat Doar, John Kaanta, Cody Skytland, Dustin Strand, Lance Matthees, Marshall Fegers, Shawn Kirwin, Cole Schill, Rick Schroeder, Matt Gilbertson, Zach Johnson, Corey Nelson, Brad Parson, Travis Budisalovich, Clarence Washburn, Scott Lehn, Robert Odegard, Rob Lynch, Adam Fischer, Chris Winter, Blake Jegtvig
MODIFIEDS - Seth Brede, Matt Gilbertson, Tim Johnson, Blake Jegtvig, Jake Hartung, Jason Thoennes, Dave Cain, Dustin Bitzan, Scot Danzeisen, Danny Bayer, Don Eischens, Jason Vandekamp, Mike Stearns, Cory Tammen, Mark Noble, Jesse Glenz, Zach Johnson, Jeremy Nelson, Corky Thomas, Brian Haben, Brandon Aggen, Brett Hoium, Tyler Peterson, Brady Gerdes, Josh Thoennes
SUPER STOCKS - Tim Johnson, Dave Mass, Ben Wolden, Dominic Baker, Matt Miller, William Lund, Tyler Vanderby, Jason Cook, Jon Stepan, Kurt Becken, Christopher Lynch, Alex Wolff, Kevin Salin, Dylan Nelson, Trent Brutger, Allan Cleveland, Scott Lawrence, Jeff Flaten, Bryan Hellerman, Don Shaw, Mike Peterson, Donnie Lofdahl, Jeff Kluver, Jeremy Tyson
MIDWEST MODIFIEDS - Tyler Peterson, Jason Vandekamp, Blake Swenson, David Carlson, Justin Froemming, Kelly Haack, Shawn Olson, William Lund, Jason Hoffman, Grant Hall, Jamie Thorstad, Haley Lee, Josh Muzik, Matt Thoennes, Brian Kakela, McKenzie Gerdes, Austin Hunter, Blake Boelens, Tony Caissie, Brooke Hellerman, Shane Howell, Ron Saurer, Travis Saurer, Brock Gronwold, Jeremy Kerzman
STREET STOCKS - Jordan Tollakson, Tim Johnson, Justin Pogones, Ryan Pommerer, Justin Vogel, Durand Peterson, Ryan Satter, Kyle Dykhoff, Andrew Bangsund, Mark Blom, Jim Williams, Jordan Fisher, John Adams, Kelly Hoerner, Ethan Liams, Tami Naslund, Cory Dykhoff, Scott Huston, Brendan Scott, Eric Riley, Tyler Erdman, Robert Petroff, Brandon Fah, Justin Tammen, Adam Burrows, Brian Oehlert, Bruce Lundin, Brett Miller
MOD FOURS - Dustin Zieske, Dean Larson, Tyler Larson, Robert Holtquist, Brandon Lindquist, Dustin Holtquist, Brandon Ferris, Brennan Gave, Laramie Peker, Mike Christanson, Myron Flickinger, Josh Gebhart, Forrest Foster, Cody Jacobson