8-11 Page 9 | ATD Racing News

Vang, Gerdes, Smith, Riley and Kast control features with a big Friday car count and zippy program at I-94

By Ron Krog

FERGUS FALLS, MN (August 7) - After a couple of special race nights, I-94 emr Speedway got back to normal as a nice field of 110 cars hit the pits with the racers doing a nice job of keeping the show going - the show was completed in 3 hours and 15 minutes

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Danny Vang, Brady Gerdes, Eric Riley, Jake Smith, and Christian Kast.

In the WISSOTA Street Stocks, 16 cars took the green for a 15-lap race. Tony Miller and Cole Kannegiesser sat on the front row, but early on Eric Riley made a nice move to take over the lead.

As he did that, there was a good battle for second between Levi Randt and Kyle Dykhoff. They went back and forth for a long time for that second-place spot. In the fight for fourth, Braedyn Fleck did a nice job battling with Joe Arndt.

As the race wore on, Randt had tough luck, broke down, and went to the pits. Riley drove on to the eventual win, taking the checkered flag ahead of Dykhoff, Fleck, Arndt and 13th-starter Josh Lawson.

The WISSOTA Midwest Mods had 24 entries on hand for 20 laps. Nate Reinke and Taylor Bitzan fought back and forth for the first three laps, though neither car could take control. Reinke was able to slide ahead, taking the lead for his own, chased now by Jake Smith for the lead. Another car on the move was Ron Sauer, who started 11th. He moved into fifth with 10 laps to go.

Smith and Reinke went back and forth, side by side, for several laps. Finally, Jake Smith took control of the race and grabbed the eventual checkered flag. The battle for second got to be a good one as Tyler Bitzan actually got by Reinke, but then Reinke repassed him on the same lap and hung on for a second-place finish with Tyler Bitzan finishing third. Twelfth-starter Landyn Randt was fourth, and Tommy Nichols was fifth.

It was 20 cars for 20 laps in the WISSOTA Late Models. Vang had the early lead with pretty good pressure from Ben Wolden, who was very strong running in second. Jack Koranda was in third.

With 11 laps to go, Koranda passed Wolden and moved into second. Three laps later Zach Johnson moved forward, passing Cole Searing to move into fourth place. Johnson then got by Wolden to move into third, and made the next move around Koranda to get into second behind Vang. As the race wore down, Vang was able to hang on to pick up his first victory of the season at I-94. Zach Johnson, Jack Koranda, 13th-starter Travis Saurer and Cole Schill completed the top five.

There were 12 cars for 12 laps in the WISSOTA Hornet feature. Emma Nelson got the early jump, but soon she had pressure coming from fifth-starter Jeff Rohner. Rohner took over the lead of the race, while the battle for second was a good one between Chase Pourrier and Christian Kast as they went back and forth for the runner-up honors. Kast moved into second as out front, Jeff Rohner crossed the finish line first. After the tech shed, Kast was elevated to the victory, with Pourrier second, Cameryn Taylor third, Zander Zuehlsdorff was fourth and Nelson finished in the top five.

The race of the night was the WISSOTA Modifieds, with 18 cars going at it for 20 laps. Travis Saurer got out to an early lead, and it looked like he might be untouchable. Dusty Bitzan, who had been one of the favorites, struggled a little bit as he faded back to about sixth place. The guy on the move was Landon Atkinson, who moved into second with four laps in the books. Atkinson and Saurer went back and forth in a very close battle. Brady Gerdes was also on the move from seventh.

As they got down toward the end of the race, Gerdes was able to overtake Atkinson and take the lead away from him. Atkinson hung tough in second. Gerdes took the big win ahead of Atkinson, Ryan Gierke, Saurer and Joe Thomas in the top five.

Travis Saurer picked up a nice win in the Gen X Late Models, with pressure from several heavy hitters. Blake Swenson was right there in second, Tony Croninger charged hard in third, followed by Jeff Nelson and Amelia Eisenschenk in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 47-Danny Vang[1]; 2. 73-Zach Johnson[6]; 3. 22-Jack Koranda[2]; 4. 21X-Travis Saurer[13]; 5. 44*-Cole Schill[8]; 6. 16-Thomas Weisgram[10]; 7. 10-Cole Searing[7]; 8. 18X-Shawn Meyer[9]; 9. 50-Ben Wolden[3]; 10. 15X-Blake Boelens[5]; 11. 18C-Chase Gelling[16]; 12. 3S-Nathan Sletto[4]; 13. 1-Konner Sperle[18]; 14. 00-Mitch Johnson[11]; 15. 53-Chris Mensen[12]; 16. 17-Luke Hines[14]; 17. 16S-Jeff Hapala[15]; 18. 18-Josh Rieck[17]; 19. 24-Mike Hart[19]; 20. (DNS) 49-Collin Compson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 73-Zach Johnson[1]; 2. 18X-Shawn Meyer[2]; 3. 22-Jack Koranda[5]; 4. 16-Thomas Weisgram[4]; 5. 21X-Travis Saurer[7]; 6. 18C-Chase Gelling[6]; 7. 1-Konner Sperle[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 47-Danny Vang[1]; 2. 3S-Nathan Sletto[2]; 3. 50-Ben Wolden[3]; 4. 00-Mitch Johnson[5]; 5. 17-Luke Hines[6]; 6. 18-Josh Rieck[4]; 7. 24-Mike Hart[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Cole Searing[2]; 2. 15X-Blake Boelens[4]; 3. 44*-Cole Schill[5]; 4. 53-Chris Mensen[3]; 5. 16S-Jeff Hapala[6]; 6. (DNF) 49-Collin Compson[1]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 2X-Brady Gerdes[7]; 2. 18A-Landon Atkinson[6]; 3. 26G-Ryan Gierke[4]; 4. 21X-Travis Saurer[1]; 5. 6T-Joseph Thomas[10]; 6. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[3]; 7. 2C-Dave Cain[15]; 8. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[2]; 9. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[9]; 10. 66-Jacob Knapper[8]; 11. 11X-Austin Chyba[11]; 12. 51A-Avery Anderson[17]; 13. 6*-Brian Haben[12]; 14. 11-Loki Bjerke[14]; 15. 96-Erv Grossman[18]; 16. (DNF) 43-John Oeltjen[16]; 17. (DNF) 521-Matt Thoennes[13]; 18. (DQ) 25C-Joe Chisholm[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25C-Joe Chisholm[2]; 2. 66-Jacob Knapper[1]; 3. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[4]; 4. 21X-Travis Saurer[8]; 5. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[6]; 6. 11X-Austin Chyba[5]; 7. 521-Matt Thoennes[3]; 8. 2C-Dave Cain[9]; 9. 51A-Avery Anderson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[2]; 2. 2X-Brady Gerdes[3]; 3. 26G-Ryan Gierke[4]; 4. 18A-Landon Atkinson[8]; 5. 6T-Joseph Thomas[9]; 6. 6*-Brian Haben[7]; 7. 11-Loki Bjerke[6]; 8. 43-John Oeltjen[5]; 9. 96-Erv Grossman[1]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[5]; 2. 71-Nate Reinke[1]; 3. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[4]; 4. 11R-Landyn Randt[12]; 5. 28-Tommy Nichols[3]; 6. 42-Ron Saurer[11]; 7. 42TB-Tanner Bitzan[6]; 8. 13-Scott Oeltjen[14]; 9. 57-Corey Storck[9]; 10. 12X-Jamie Norman[15]; 11. 110-Tate Kelderman[16]; 12. 15-Andrew DeNoble[7]; 13. 10M-Noah McFarlane[18]; 14. 82G-Chad Gronner[8]; 15. 75JR-Jesse Drechsel[23]; 16. 2D-Jonathan Dulas[21]; 17. 7-Kody Machart[10]; 18. 521-Mason Thoennes[24]; 19. 5X-Dylan McManigle[20]; 20. 13K-Brad King[19]; 21. 40-Gabe Samuelson[22]; 22. (DNF) 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[2]; 23. (DNF) TS42-Scott Samuelson[13]; 24. (DNS) 52-Maddie Swenson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[2]; 2. 42TB-Tanner Bitzan[4]; 3. 82G-Chad Gronner[3]; 4. 7-Kody Machart[1]; 5. TS42-Scott Samuelson[7]; 6. 110-Tate Kelderman[6]; 7. 13K-Brad King[5]; 8. (DNF) 75JR-Jesse Drechsel[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[1]; 2. 57-Corey Storck[2]; 3. 15-Andrew DeNoble[4]; 4. 42-Ron Saurer[6]; 5. 13-Scott Oeltjen[8]; 6. 52-Maddie Swenson[5]; 7. 5X-Dylan McManigle[7]; 8. (DNF) 521-Mason Thoennes[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[2]; 2. 71-Nate Reinke[1]; 3. 28-Tommy Nichols[4]; 4. 11R-Landyn Randt[5]; 5. 12X-Jamie Norman[6]; 6. 10M-Noah McFarlane[3]; 7. 2D-Jonathan Dulas[7]; 8. 40-Gabe Samuelson[8]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 51-Eric Riley[4]; 2. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[5]; 3. 76-Braedyn Fleck[9]; 4. 52-Joe Arndt[3]; 5. 78-Josh Lawson[13]; 6. 80-Tony Miller[1]; 7. 35S-Kegan Stueve[12]; 8. 44-Dylan Arndt[8]; 9. 16-Greg Platzer[14]; 10. (DNF) 19-Cole Kannegiesser[2]; 11. (DNF) 11-Levi Randt[6]; 12. (DNF) 12S-Joshua Schroeder[7]; 13. (DNF) 16W-Andrew White[10]; 14. (DNF) 56-Riley Lorensen[16]; 15. (DNF) 23-Maverick Janssen[11]; 16. (DNF) 5F-Mike Flickinger[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 51-Eric Riley[5]; 2. 52-Joe Arndt[1]; 3. 19-Cole Kannegiesser[2]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[3]; 5. 76-Braedyn Fleck[6]; 6. 23-Maverick Janssen[8]; 7. 78-Josh Lawson[7]; 8. (DNF) 56-Riley Lorensen[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[7]; 2. 11-Levi Randt[3]; 3. 44-Dylan Arndt[1]; 4. 12S-Joshua Schroeder[6]; 5. 16W-Andrew White[2]; 6. 35S-Kegan Stueve[8]; 7. 16-Greg Platzer[4]; 8. 5F-Mike Flickinger[5]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 30X-Christian Kast[7]; 2. 35-Chase Pourrier[3]; 3. 411-Cameryn Taylor[6]; 4. 78-Zander Zuehlsdorff[8]; 5. 11E-Emma Nelson[1]; 6. 18K-Owen Preston[4]; 7. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[2]; 8. 15K-Hannah Koch[12]; 9. (DNF) 42E-Eli Green[10]; 10. (DNF) 435-Kaytee Johnson[9]; 11. (DNF) 43-Brandon Downs[11]; 12. (DQ) 08-Jeff Rohner[5]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 30X-Christian Kast[2]; 2. 11E-Emma Nelson[3]; 3. 411-Cameryn Taylor[5]; 4. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[1]; 5. 78-Zander Zuehlsdorff[4]; 6. 435-Kaytee Johnson[6]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 08-Jeff Rohner[1]; 2. 35-Chase Pourrier[5]; 3. 18K-Owen Preston[2]; 4. 15K-Hannah Koch[6]; 5. (DNF) 42E-Eli Green[3]; 6. (DNF) 43-Brandon Downs[4]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21X-Travis Saurer[1]; 2. 10X-Blake Swenson[3]; 3. 8T-Tony Croninger[2]; 4. 33-Jeff Nelson[4]; 5. 151-Amelia Eisenschenk[6]; 6. 15-Trevor Walsh[8]; 7. 50-Ben Wolden[9]; 8. 20Z-Scott Zimmerman[11]; 9. 811-Bodie Croninger[20]; 10. 11*-Larry Samuelson[7]; 11. 75-Cade Skytland[14]; 12. 27-Jarrett Huus[16]; 13. 18-Mike Anderson[10]; 14. 1M-Jon McCain[13]; 15. 31-Ryan Lubbers[5]; 16. 1E-Tai Engels[18]; 17. 3H-Jerry Hauge[12]; 18. 71-John Plaster[15]; 19. (DNF) 0-Shawn Beto[17]; 20. (DNS) 01-Alex Tschakert

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Jeff Nelson[1]; 2. 21X-Travis Saurer[3]; 3. 11*-Larry Samuelson[6]; 4. 18-Mike Anderson[4]; 5. 1M-Jon McCain[2]; 6. 27-Jarrett Huus[5]; 7. 1E-Tai Engels[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Ben Wolden[4]; 2. 151-Amelia Eisenschenk[6]; 3. 8T-Tony Croninger[7]; 4. 20Z-Scott Zimmerman[5]; 5. 75-Cade Skytland[2]; 6. 0-Shawn Beto[3]; 7. (DNF) 811-Bodie Croninger[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Trevor Walsh[2]; 2. 10X-Blake Swenson[4]; 3. 31-Ryan Lubbers[1]; 4. 3H-Jerry Hauge[6]; 5. 71-John Plaster[5]; 6. (DNF) 01-Alex Tschakert[3]