8-18 Page 25 | ATD Racing News

Saurer, Gerdes, Randt brothers and Nelson knock down feature wins Friday at I-94 Speedway

By Ron Krog

FERGUS FALLS, MN (August 14) - Backpack night was the highlighted event Friday at I-94 Speedway. While off track, kids enjoyed themselves thanks to the generosity of donors, and the racing on track was good as well, with 103 cars in the pits.

Winners in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series racing included Levi Randt, Landyn Randt, Travis Saurer, Brady Gerdes and Emma Nelson.

The WISSOTA Street Stocks got things going with a nice 19-car field. Greg Platzer and Joe Arndt led the field to green and they were side by side before Arndt grabbed the advantage. Levi Randt quickly moved into second, and then he went after Arndt.

Randt overtook Arndt, but had a lot of pressure from Eric Riley and Kyle Dykoff as they chased Randt through lapped traffic. But Randt was solid and smooth, and he hung on to get the win. Riley, Dykoff, Arndt and Mark Blom completed the top five.

Next up, the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds came out. Early on Tanner Bitzan led the 29-car field. He looked strong from the start, and as he worked heavy lapped traffic he was chased hard by Landon Randt and also Jake Smith. With 11 laps to go, Randt got by Smith for second, and four laps later lapped traffic became even more of a factor. This time Randt took the lead away from Bitzan in a heartbreaker for Bitzan. Smith relegated Bitzan back another spot before the checkered flag. Randt drove on to the win ahead of Smith, Bitzan, Kyle Anderson and 11th-starter Tyler Bitzan.

Travis Saurer jumped out to the early lead in the WISSOTA Modifieds. Brady Gerdes moved into second, followed by Bryce Borgen. Dustin Bitzan started to move forward, tracked by Joe Thomas.

As the race went on, Gerdes caught Saurer and they went back and forth for several laps. After about six to seven laps, Gerdes was able to overtake Sauer and move into the lead. Bitzan also moved by Saurer into second. Gerdes kept the field at bay in the remaining laps to take the win ahead of Bitzan, Saurer, Ryan Gierke, and Borgen in the top five.

The WISSOTA Hornets were an entertaining part of the night. Following a heat race win, Owen Preston took the lead in the feature, but he was tangled up with another car and was knocked out after about three laps of the feature.

From there seventh-starter Emma Nelson worked her way through the field, taking the lead and trying for her first-ever win. She got out front with Christian Kast chasing hard behind her, followed by Eli Green and Adam Throener. Nelson hung on with smart driving to net the win. Kast, Throener, Cameryn Taylor and Cassidy Hamre completed the top five.

The WISSOTA Late Models had 18 competitors in the pits and it was a fun bunch to watch Friday. Ben Wolden took the early lead and looked very strong, before Travis Saurer made the pass to get by Wolden for the lead four laps into the race.

The battle for second then heated up as Wolden got into a hard-fought back-and-forth with Shawn Meyer and Danny Vang. With 11 laps to go, Meyer moved past Wolden into second. One lap later, Vang did the same and captured third. As the race wound down, Saurer hung on for the win as the checkered flag flew. Meyer took second as his motor exploded in a cloud of smoke. Vang was third, and infrequent visitor Josh Skorczewski was fourth ahead of Blake Boelens in fifth.

Trevor Walsh dominated the Gen X Late Model feature to round out action in Fergus Falls.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21X-Travis Saurer[3]; 2. 18X-Shawn Meyer[5]; 3. 47-Danny Vang[4]; 4. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[8]; 5. 44*-Cole Schill[7]; 6. 00-Mitch Johnson[2]; 7. 50-Ben Wolden[1]; 8. 3S-Nathan Sletto[12]; 9. 0-Parker Gilbertson[6]; 10. 53-Chris Mensen[9]; 11. 0P-Peyton George[13]; 12. 17-Luke Hines[14]; 13. 51-Landon Mensen[18]; 14. (DNF) 24-Mike Hart[15]; 15. (DNF) 33-Ryan Dahl[11]; 16. (DNF) 18-Josh Rieck[16]; 17. (DNS) 22-Jack Koranda; 18. (DQ) 15X-Blake Boelens[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 0-Parker Gilbertson[4]; 2. 47-Danny Vang[6]; 3. 50-Ben Wolden[3]; 4. 00-Mitch Johnson[7]; 5. 53-Chris Mensen[5]; 6. 33-Ryan Dahl[9]; 7. 0P-Peyton George[2]; 8. (DNF) 18-Josh Rieck[1]; 9. (DNF) 22-Jack Koranda[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21X-Travis Saurer[2]; 2. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[7]; 3. 18X-Shawn Meyer[1]; 4. 44*-Cole Schill[5]; 5. 15X-Blake Boelens[3]; 6. 3S-Nathan Sletto[6]; 7. 17-Luke Hines[4]; 8. 24-Mike Hart[8]; 9. 51-Landon Mensen[9]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 2X-Brady Gerdes[5]; 2. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[7]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[1]; 4. 26G-Ryan Gierke[6]; 5. 7-Bryce Borgen[3]; 6. 6T-Joseph Thomas[4]; 7. 24-Brandon Dolman[10]; 8. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[8]; 9. 51A-Avery Anderson[9]; 10. 11X-Austin Chyba[12]; 11. (DNF) 11Z-Dylan Zabel[2]; 12. (DNF) 8Y-Bill Yonke[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21X-Travis Saurer[1]; 2. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[2]; 3. 2X-Brady Gerdes[5]; 4. 26G-Ryan Gierke[6]; 5. 51A-Avery Anderson[3]; 6. 8Y-Bill Yonke[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[1]; 2. 6T-Joseph Thomas[3]; 3. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[5]; 4. 7-Bryce Borgen[6]; 5. 24-Brandon Dolman[2]; 6. 11X-Austin Chyba[4]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11R-Landyn Randt[8]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[6]; 3. 42TB-Tanner Bitzan[3]; 4. 59-Kyle Anderson[1]; 5. 24TB-Tyler Bitzan[11]; 6. 42-Ron Saurer[5]; 7. 71-Nate Reinke[9]; 8. 12X-Jamie Norman[10]; 9. 1-Dusty Peterson[7]; 10. 1X-Travis Engebretson[13]; 11. 4H-Grant Hall[14]; 12. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[22]; 13. 13-Scott Oeltjen[16]; 14. 10M-Noah McFarlane[15]; 15. 28-Tommy Nichols[19]; 16. TS42-Scott Samuelson[2]; 17. 21Z-Zach Kort[17]; 18. 17-Nick Shumansky[12]; 19. 81K-Casey Knabe[23]; 20. 52-Maddie Swenson[24]; 21. 7-Kody Machart[21]; 22. 28K-Nick Preston[26]; 23. 75JR-Jesse Drechsel[20]; 24. 82G-Chad Gronner[27]; 25. 40-Gabe Samuelson[28]; 26. 95-Chase Wachlin[29]; 27. (DNF) 15-Andrew DeNoble[18]; 28. (DNF) 57-Corey Storck[4]; 29. (DNS) 13K-Brad King

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. TS42-Scott Samuelson[1]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[4]; 3. 71-Nate Reinke[5]; 4. 1X-Travis Engebretson[3]; 5. 21Z-Zach Kort[7]; 6. 7-Kody Machart[2]; 7. 13K-Brad King[6]; 8. 40-Gabe Samuelson[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11R-Landyn Randt[4]; 2. 42TB-Tanner Bitzan[3]; 3. 12X-Jamie Norman[2]; 4. 4H-Grant Hall[1]; 5. 15-Andrew DeNoble[5]; 6. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[6]; 7. (DNF) 95-Chase Wachlin[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Corey Storck[2]; 2. 59-Kyle Anderson[1]; 3. 24TB-Tyler Bitzan[3]; 4. 10M-Noah McFarlane[4]; 5. 28-Tommy Nichols[7]; 6. 81K-Casey Knabe[6]; 7. 28K-Nick Preston[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 42-Ron Saurer[2]; 2. 1-Dusty Peterson[6]; 3. 17-Nick Shumansky[5]; 4. 13-Scott Oeltjen[3]; 5. 75JR-Jesse Drechsel[4]; 6. 52-Maddie Swenson[7]; 7. 82G-Chad Gronner[1]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[3]; 2. 51-Eric Riley[6]; 3. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[9]; 4. 52-Joe Arndt[2]; 5. 6X-Mark Blom[4]; 6. 14-Maria Broksieck[7]; 7. 76-Braedyn Fleck[10]; 8. 19X-Kyle Bertram[8]; 9. 16-Greg Platzer[1]; 10. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[5]; 11. 80-Tony Miller[16]; 12. 23-Maverick Janssen[15]; 13. 611-Brady Schultz[18]; 14. 16W-Andrew White[17]; 15. 19-Cole Kannegiesser[14]; 16. 5F-Mike Flickinger[19]; 17. (DNF) 12S-Joshua Schroeder[12]; 18. (DNF) 78-Josh Lawson[11]; 19. (DNF) 44-Dylan Arndt[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[2]; 2. 51-Eric Riley[1]; 3. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[3]; 4. 76-Braedyn Fleck[7]; 5. 44-Dylan Arndt[4]; 6. 80-Tony Miller[6]; 7. 5F-Mike Flickinger[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[5]; 2. 6X-Mark Blom[1]; 3. 19X-Kyle Bertram[6]; 4. 78-Josh Lawson[3]; 5. 19-Cole Kannegiesser[2]; 6. 16W-Andrew White[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[5]; 2. 52-Joe Arndt[1]; 3. 16-Greg Platzer[2]; 4. 12S-Joshua Schroeder[3]; 5. 23-Maverick Janssen[6]; 6. 611-Brady Schultz[4]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 11E-Emma Nelson[7]; 2. 30X-Christian Kast[3]; 3. 8X-Adam Throener[4]; 4. 411-Cameryn Taylor[1]; 5. 701H-Cassidy Hamre[6]; 6. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[8]; 7. (DNF) 15K-Hannah Koch[10]; 8. (DNF) 42E-Eli Green[5]; 9. (DNF) 18K-Owen Preston[2]; 10. (DNF) 35-Chase Pourrier[9]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 42E-Eli Green[3]; 2. 30X-Christian Kast[4]; 3. 701H-Cassidy Hamre[1]; 4. (DNF) 35-Chase Pourrier[5]; 5. (DNF) 15K-Hannah Koch[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 18K-Owen Preston[2]; 2. 11E-Emma Nelson[4]; 3. 8X-Adam Throener[5]; 4. 411-Cameryn Taylor[3]; 5. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[1]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 15-Trevor Walsh[1]; 2. 27-Jarrett Huus[5]; 3. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[7]; 4. 75-Cade Skytland[3]; 5. 151-Bryce Borgen[10]; 6. 50-Ben Wolden[9]; 7. 10X-Blake Swenson[6]; 8. 811-Bodie Croninger[4]; 9. 33-Jeff Nelson[8]; 10. 11*-Larry Samuelson[2]; 11. 20Z-Scott Zimmerman[11]; 12. 31-Ryan Lubbers[14]; 13. 71-John Plaster[12]; 14. 3H-Jerry Hauge[15]; 15. (DNF) 1M-Jon McCain[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Jeff Nelson[2]; 2. 10X-Blake Swenson[3]; 3. 15-Trevor Walsh[5]; 4. 811-Bodie Croninger[4]; 5. 50-Ben Wolden[6]; 6. 20Z-Scott Zimmerman[1]; 7. 1M-Jon McCain[8]; 8. 3H-Jerry Hauge[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[1]; 2. 11*-Larry Samuelson[2]; 3. 75-Cade Skytland[3]; 4. 27-Jarrett Huus[4]; 5. 151-Bryce Borgen[7]; 6. 71-John Plaster[5]; 7. 31-Ryan Lubbers[6]