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Meyer, Sward, Bitzan, Riley and Rohner race to Friday night wins at I-94 Speedway after rain threatens their fun again

By Ron Krog

FERGUS FALLS, MN (July 11) - After weeks of rainouts, the fans at I-94 emr Speedway finally got to see some racing Friday in Fergus Falls. A nice field of 113 cars hit the track for Fan Appreciation night, featuring a very nice fireworks show. The track prep crew worked very hard to get ready, as a heavy rain came through at midday.

In victory lane, Shawn Meyer, Bryce Sward, Tanner Bitzan, Eric Riley, and Jeff Rohner were WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners.

Travis Robertson was the early leader of the 17-car WISSOTA Late Model field, with Shawn Meyer and Don Shaw close behind. With six laps complete Shaw caught an infield tractor tire, ending his night. Danny Vang moved into third, with Ryan Mikkelson jumping into fourth three laps later.

Robertson ran strongly, but with nine laps left Meyer was able to get by for the lead and hold on for the win. Robertson and Danny Vang continued fighting for second, before Robertson finally edged Vang for the spot. Ryan Mikkelson and Cole Schill completed the top five.

The WISSOTA Modifieds had a solid 16-car field on hand Friday, and it looked like Joe Thomas was gonna bring home the hardware. He led Seth Brede for most of the race with Ryan Gierke, Brendan Blascyk and Bryce Sward swapping spots.

Late in the race Sward found some speed and moved into third, and then got by Brede for second. On the last lap, Sward pulled off a great pass on Thomas for the win. Thomas, Travis Saurer, Seth Brede and Bryce Borgen rounded out the top five.

A big field of 26 WISSOTA Midwest Mods had a tough time completing laps, as several cautions took out several good competitors during the race. Tanner Bitzan and Nate Reinke stayed clear of trouble, along with Taylor Bitzan. One of the fastest cars on the track was Ron Saurer, who was running fourth until he got tangled up with Taylor Bitzan and was put to the back. In the end, Tanner Bitzan grabbed the win followed by Reinke and Taylor Bitzan. Saurer recovered to come from 22nd to finish fourth, and Noah McFarlane was also very impressive, as he charged from 20th to finish fifth.

The WISSOTA Street Stocks always seem to put on a great show and early on, the traveling man Trey Hess jumped out front. Two laps later, Eric Riley got by him for the lead and the two went back and forth for several laps before Riley grabbed the win. Hess had to settle for second, Cory Dykhoff was third, Joe Martin was fourth and Josh Lawson completed the top five.

The 16-car WISSOTA Hornet feature wrapped up the night. Christian Kast took the early lead, but with seven laps to go Jeff Rohner drove past and got the victory. Kast held off Eli Green for second. Hunter Goulet and Kevin Wahl were top-five finishers.

In the track’s other action, Jarrett Huus took the lead with eight laps left to get his first-ever feature win in the Gen X Late Models.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 18X-Shawn Meyer[1]; 2. 8R-Travis Robertson[3]; 3. 47-Danny Vang[8]; 4. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[7]; 5. 44*-Cole Schill[4]; 6. 2-Dave Mass[6]; 7. 21X-Travis Saurer[11]; 8. 10R-Kevin Robertson[2]; 9. 22-Jack Koranda[10]; 10. 15X-Blake Boelens[16]; 11. 50-Ben Wolden[9]; 12. 24-Mike Hart[13]; 13. 26-Tim Johnson[15]; 14. (DNF) 9R-Erik Robertson[14]; 15. (DNF) 18-Josh Rieck[12]; 16. (DNF) 39-Don Shaw[5]; 17. (DNS) 20T-Trevor Walsh

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18X-Shawn Meyer[2]; 2. 44*-Cole Schill[3]; 3. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[5]; 4. 47-Danny Vang[8]; 5. 50-Ben Wolden[6]; 6. 21X-Travis Saurer[9]; 7. 24-Mike Hart[7]; 8. 26-Tim Johnson[4]; 9. (DNF) 20T-Trevor Walsh[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Don Shaw[2]; 2. 2-Dave Mass[8]; 3. 8R-Travis Robertson[1]; 4. 10R-Kevin Robertson[5]; 5. 22-Jack Koranda[7]; 6. 18-Josh Rieck[4]; 7. 9R-Erik Robertson[3]; 8. (DNF) 15X-Blake Boelens[6]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 6X-Bryce Sward[10]; 2. 6T-Joseph Thomas[1]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[5]; 4. 6SL-Seth Brede[3]; 5. 7-Bryce Borgen[4]; 6. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[11]; 7. 2X-Brady Gerdes[7]; 8. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[6]; 9. 24-Brandon Dolman[9]; 10. 26-Brent Pulskamp[14]; 11. 96-Erv Grossman[13]; 12. (DNF) 51T-Talan Thoennes[12]; 13. (DNF) 26G-Ryan Gierke[8]; 14. (DNF) 2G-Brock Gronwold[15]; 15. (DNF) 51-Josh Thoennes[2]; 16. (DNS) 52-Jason Thoennes

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[2]; 2. 6T-Joseph Thomas[5]; 3. 7-Bryce Borgen[1]; 4. 26G-Ryan Gierke[7]; 5. 24-Brandon Dolman[8]; 6. (DNF) 26-Brent Pulskamp[4]; 7. (DNF) 2G-Brock Gronwold[3]; 8. (DNF) 52-Jason Thoennes[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2X-Brady Gerdes[2]; 2. 6SL-Seth Brede[1]; 3. 51-Josh Thoennes[4]; 4. 21X-Travis Saurer[3]; 5. 6X-Bryce Sward[6]; 6. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[5]; 7. 51T-Talan Thoennes[7]; 8. 96-Erv Grossman[8]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[3]; 2. 71-Nate Reinke[5]; 3. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[9]; 4. 42-Ron Saurer[12]; 5. 10M-Noah McFarlane[20]; 6. 13-Scott Oeltjen[6]; 7. 82G-Chad Gronner[22]; 8. 15-Andrew DeNoble[11]; 9. TS42-Scott Samuelson[21]; 10. 1S-Scott Bintz[13]; 11. 84-Brody Johnson[17]; 12. 27-Josh Schiffler[15]; 13. 13K-Brad King[19]; 14. 75JR-Jacob Karch[25]; 15. (DNF) 28S-Blayne Sweet[26]; 16. (DNF) 21Z-Zach Kort[24]; 17. (DNF) 21-Shane Howell[7]; 18. (DNF) 50H-Haley Dykhoff[8]; 19. (DNF) 19J-Dalton Kruger[10]; 20. (DNF) 24-Todd Stevens[23]; 21. (DNF) 110-Tate Kelderman[14]; 22. (DNF) 28K-Nick Preston[18]; 23. (DNF) 5X-Dylan McManigle[2]; 24. (DNF) 30-Cole Neset[16]; 25. (DNF) 8-Jon Carlson[4]; 26. (DNF) 10B-Tyler Bitzan[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[2]; 2. 8-Jon Carlson[4]; 3. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[5]; 4. 1S-Scott Bintz[6]; 5. 84-Brody Johnson[1]; 6. TS42-Scott Samuelson[3]; 7. 75JR-Jacob Karch[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[2]; 2. 13-Scott Oeltjen[1]; 3. 19J-Dalton Kruger[3]; 4. 110-Tate Kelderman[4]; 5. 28K-Nick Preston[5]; 6. 82G-Chad Gronner[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Shane Howell[2]; 2. 5X-Dylan McManigle[4]; 3. 15-Andrew DeNoble[3]; 4. 27-Josh Schiffler[6]; 5. 13K-Brad King[5]; 6. 24-Todd Stevens[1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Nate Reinke[1]; 2. 50H-Haley Dykhoff[3]; 3. 42-Ron Saurer[5]; 4. 30-Cole Neset[2]; 5. 10M-Noah McFarlane[4]; 6. 21Z-Zach Kort[6]; 7. 28S-Blayne Sweet[7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 51-Eric Riley[4]; 2. 4-Trey Hess[1]; 3. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[3]; 4. 2-Joe Martin[5]; 5. 78-Josh Lawson[2]; 6. 30B-Wade Bergerud[10]; 7. 31-Jason Marko[6]; 8. 76-Braedyn Fleck[12]; 9. 17-Nick Shumansky[7]; 10. 16-Greg Platzer[11]; 11. 19K-Cole Kannegiesser[9]; 12. 18J-Justin Peterson[8]; 13. 23-Maverick Janssen[13]; 14. 12-Joshua Schroeder[14]; 15. 57-Jason Fechtner[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Joe Martin[2]; 2. 51-Eric Riley[3]; 3. 78-Josh Lawson[5]; 4. 31-Jason Marko[8]; 5. 19K-Cole Kannegiesser[6]; 6. 16-Greg Platzer[7]; 7. 23-Maverick Janssen[1]; 8. 57-Jason Fechtner[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[2]; 2. 4-Trey Hess[1]; 3. 18J-Justin Peterson[3]; 4. 17-Nick Shumansky[5]; 5. 30B-Wade Bergerud[6]; 6. 76-Braedyn Fleck[7]; 7. 12-Joshua Schroeder[4]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 08-Jeff Rohner[4]; 2. 03-Christian Kast[1]; 3. 42E-Eli Green[2]; 4. 701-Hunter Goulet[3]; 5. 45W-Kevin Wahl[7]; 6. 18K-Wayne Preston[5]; 7. 275X-Travis Bruns[8]; 8. 27-Kody Crabtree[10]; 9. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[11]; 10. 988C-Camden Kelsen[14]; 11. 15K-Hannah Koch[13]; 12. 1000-Deacon Larby[15]; 13. 988S-Emma Schiesser[16]; 14. (DNF) 35-Chase Pourrier[6]; 15. (DNF) 988L-Lincoln Miller[9]; 16. (DNF) 988E-Emma Nelson[12]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 42E-Eli Green[1]; 2. 08-Jeff Rohner[4]; 3. 45W-Kevin Wahl[6]; 4. 18K-Wayne Preston[3]; 5. 988L-Lincoln Miller[5]; 6. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[2]; 7. 15K-Hannah Koch[7]; 8. 1000-Deacon Larby[8]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 35-Chase Pourrier[2]; 2. 03-Christian Kast[1]; 3. 701-Hunter Goulet[3]; 4. 275X-Travis Bruns[5]; 5. 27-Kody Crabtree[4]; 6. 988E-Emma Nelson[6]; 7. 988C-Camden Kelsen[7]; 8. 988S-Emma Schiesser[8]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 27-Jarrett Huus[4]; 2. 15-Trevor Walsh[6]; 3. 50-Ben Wolden[13]; 4. 15X-Blake Boelens[7]; 5. 811-Bodie Croninger[9]; 6. 18A-Mike Anderson[8]; 7. 14-Scott Harrington[1]; 8. 33-Jeff Nelson[15]; 9. 1M-Jon McCain[19]; 10. 11*-Larry Samuelson[18]; 11. 00-Kevin Youngquist[21]; 12. 3H-Jerry Hauge[17]; 13. (DNF) 17S-Garrett Skaurud[23]; 14. (DNF) 75-Cade Skytland[14]; 15. (DNF) 01-Alex Tschakert[10]; 16. (DNF) 49-Andrew Tysdal[12]; 17. (DNF) 7-Rick Schroeder[2]; 18. (DNF) 8T-Tony Croninger[5]; 19. (DNF) 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[3]; 20. (DNF) 66-Dave Mass[11]; 21. (DNF) 20Z-Scott Zimmerman[16]; 22. (DNF) 71-John Plaster[20]; 23. (DNF) 0-Shawn Beto[22]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Scott Harrington[2]; 2. 811-Bodie Croninger[3]; 3. 7-Rick Schroeder[8]; 4. 01-Alex Tschakert[7]; 5. 50-Ben Wolden[4]; 6. 20Z-Scott Zimmerman[5]; 7. 1M-Jon McCain[1]; 8. 00-Kevin Youngquist[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15X-Blake Boelens[2]; 2. 18A-Mike Anderson[1]; 3. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[6]; 4. 66-Dave Mass[7]; 5. 75-Cade Skytland[3]; 6. 3H-Jerry Hauge[4]; 7. 71-John Plaster[5]; 8. (DNF) 17S-Garrett Skaurud[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Jarrett Huus[2]; 2. 15-Trevor Walsh[5]; 3. 8T-Tony Croninger[7]; 4. 49-Andrew Tysdal[4]; 5. 33-Jeff Nelson[3]; 6. 11*-Larry Samuelson[6]; 7. (DNF) 0-Shawn Beto[1]