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Hornets, Mod Fours and Pure Stocks took center stage at Granite City Speedway during the WISSOTA MPH Invitational. (Contributed Photo)

WISSOTA hosts opening night of MPH Invitational at Granite City Motor Park; winner list Friday includes Holtquist, Smith and Fosso

SAUK RAPIDS, MN (September 11) - The first night of WISSOTA Auto Racing’s MPH Invitational for Mod Fours, Hornets and Pure Stocks was held at Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, MN Friday night. In a change from years past, a full racing program was held Friday night, before the MPH Championship Night set for Saturday.

Winners Friday included Dustin Holtquist, Mason Smith and Brady Fosso.

In the WISSOTA Pure Stocks, two back-to-back cautions marred the first lap. Once under green, Mason Smith was the early leader, as Mark Barta shook out from a three-wide battle for second into the spot. Jake Smith moved into third, under pressure from eighth-starter Bob Klein. After racing side by side for a lap or two, Klein gained third and looked ahead to Barta. Austin Carlson raced in fifth.

At the halfway point of the race, Mason Smith had a .838 advantage ahead of Barta, who was trying to hold off the charge of Klein. Jake Smith and Carlson fought side by side for fourth.

With two laps to go, Mason Smith was feeling the heat from Barta and Klein, who had slowly chipped away at his advantage, but Mason held strong and took the victory. Barta made his car wide and narrowly held off Klein for second. Jake Smith and Carlson were the remaining top-five finishers.

Kyle Thell and Dustin Holtquist brought the field to the green flag in the WISSOTA Mod Fours. Dustin was the early leader, just ahead of Thell. The top duo remained side by side for the lead as Robert Holtquist moved in and challenged both for the lead. Connor Bruss was fourth, and Chad Funt was fifth with four laps complete.

As the top three circled the speedway in a tight group, Bruss was under fire from Funt for fourth. Funt used the top side, much like Robert Holtquist, to try to work past Bruss.

Lapped traffic was just ahead of the leaders at the halfway point, as Robert Holtquist edged slightly past Thell for second behind Dustin. Thell returned the favor a lap or two later, regaining second as they raced through traffic. The caution fell with just five laps to go for Andrew Funt, who spun in turn one.

Back under green, Dustin Holtquist led his dad Robert and Thell around the speedway. Bruss worked his way into third, with Chad Funt fourth and Tyler Larson cracking the top five before calamity struck for Robert Holtquist, who hit the wall on the frontstretch.

Dustin led the field back to green with Bruss under heavy pressure from Chad Funt, who slipped past Bruss using the high side for second. With just one to go the caution struck again for a Doug Frederick spin.

Dustin took the green and white flag together for the one-lap dash to the finish. As they entered turn one, Bruss was right on his bumper, while Funt was rolling the top side. As Holtquist entered turn three, Funt had a head of steam along the high side, but Dustin slid up to the top side out of turn four and stymied Funt’s efforts for the victory. Bruss was second, as Funt slipped back to third as he gathered his car after Dustin made contact out of turn four. Larson was fourth and Thell was fifth.

Brady Fosso was the early leader in the WISSOTA Hornet feature, followed by William Lange. The top two were glued to one another, with Christian Kast in third.

The top two remained close together, with Lange in the tire tracks of Fosso. With five laps in the books, the field began to work through lapped traffic. Two lapped cars raced side by side ahead of them, with Fosso and Lange splitting the lappers and remaining nose to tail. Lincoln Miller was third.

As they came to the checkered flag, Fosso held the advantage by mere tenths of a second to take the win ahead of Lange. Christian Kast completed the podium ahead of Dalten Pederson and Aaron Miller.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[2]; 2. 20-Connor Bruss[3]; 3. XL21-Chad Funt[6]; 4. 7L-Tyler Larson[10]; 5. 00-Kyle Thell[1]; 6. 17S-Patrick Specht[12]; 7. 3-Josh Madson[21]; 8. N88-Gerrald Nohner[18]; 9. 68-Jacob Husnik[16]; 10. 9C-Andrew Christenson[13]; 11. M1-Mike Rau[5]; 12. 37-Dean Larson[17]; 13. XL1-Andrew Funt[15]; 14. 9T-Thomas Burgard[11]; 15. D5-Doug Frederick[14]; 16. 118-Brandon Backstrom[25]; 17. 66F-Steve Froelich[19]; 18. N28-Hailey Nohner[20]; 19. 25-Jordan Thayer[22]; 20. 27X-Travis Bruns[24]; 21. (DNF) 5-Robert Holtquist[4]; 22. (DNF) 18-Ashton Schwinn[8]; 23. (DNF) 52-Brody Grenz[23]; 24. (DNF) 21B-Matt Brenny[9]; 25. (DNF) 13A-Austin Goedker[26]; 26. (DNF) 16-Jamie Flickinger[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[6]; 2. XL21-Chad Funt[3]; 3. 16-Jamie Flickinger[7]; 4. 7L-Tyler Larson[8]; 5. 9C-Andrew Christenson[5]; 6. 68-Jacob Husnik[4]; 7. 66F-Steve Froelich[2]; 8. 25-Jordan Thayer[1]; 9. 118-Brandon Backstrom[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21B-Matt Brenny[1]; 2. 20-Connor Bruss[3]; 3. 5-Robert Holtquist[4]; 4. 9T-Thomas Burgard[2]; 5. D5-Doug Frederick[5]; 6. 37-Dean Larson[7]; 7. N28-Hailey Nohner[8]; 8. 52-Brody Grenz[6]; 9. (DNF) 13A-Austin Goedker[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. M1-Mike Rau[1]; 2. 00-Kyle Thell[2]; 3. 18-Ashton Schwinn[6]; 4. 17S-Patrick Specht[4]; 5. XL1-Andrew Funt[7]; 6. N88-Gerrald Nohner[5]; 7. 3-Josh Madson[3]; 8. 27X-Travis Bruns[8]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 21-Mason Smith[2]; 2. 78-Mark Barta[3]; 3. 7B-Bob Klein[8]; 4. 86J-Jake Smith[5]; 5. 57-Austin Carlson[4]; 6. 3-Kade Leeper[10]; 7. 31-Tom Treviranus[6]; 8. 7-Jenny Smith[1]; 9. 10-Anthony Ravina[11]; 10. 925-Dnae Rose[9]; 11. 52W-Austin Fencl[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[2]; 2. 7B-Bob Klein[3]; 3. 78-Mark Barta[6]; 4. 7-Jenny Smith[1]; 5. 925-Dnae Rose[4]; 6. 10-Anthony Ravina[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 52W-Austin Fencl[1]; 2. 21-Mason Smith[4]; 3. 57-Austin Carlson[5]; 4. 31-Tom Treviranus[3]; 5. 3-Kade Leeper[2]

WISSOTA Hornets:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 27-Brady Fosso[3]; 2. 40-William Lange[8]; 3. 03-Christian Kast[1]; 4. 27D-Dalten Pedersen[2]; 5. 22-Aaron Miller[5]; 6. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[7]; 7. 29A-Austin Jacobson[6]; 8. 988L-Lincoln Miller[9]; 9. 21-Colton Lodermeier[12]; 10. 2X-Nathan Penney[13]; 11. 76K-Kaitlyn Kohl[10]; 12. 27X-Brandon Louwagie[4]; 13. 28M-Kent Miller[11]; 14. 8-Adam Throener[17]; 15. 8X-Adam Kessler[15]; 16. 26B-Rick Breukelman[18]; 17. 28-Chad Reller[16]; 18. 26M-Martin Bolt[23]; 19. 78-Zander Zuehlsdorff[21]; 20. 34-Selena Owen[19]; 21. 43-Brandon Downs[22]; 22. 988A-Ayden Muchow[24]; 23. 411-Cameryn Taylor[14]; 24. (DNF) 12-Cole Fredeen[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Brady Fosso[6]; 2. 40-William Lange[2]; 3. 988L-Lincoln Miller[1]; 4. 2X-Nathan Penney[4]; 5. 8-Adam Throener[5]; 6. 988A-Ayden Muchow[7]; 7. 78-Zander Zuehlsdorff[3]; 8. 11R-Ryan Roeder[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[1]; 2. 03-Christian Kast[2]; 3. 76K-Kaitlyn Kohl[6]; 4. 411-Cameryn Taylor[4]; 5. 26B-Rick Breukelman[3]; 6. 43-Brandon Downs[7]; 7. 26M-Martin Bolt[8]; 8. 3K-Jason Kast[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Aaron Miller[7]; 2. 27D-Dalten Pedersen[8]; 3. 28M-Kent Miller[1]; 4. 8X-Adam Kessler[4]; 5. 34-Selena Owen[5]; 6. 13X-Pat Hoecke[3]; 7. 48-Joseph Halvorson[6]; 8. (DNF) 0-Bradley Rossow[2]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 29A-Austin Jacobson[1]; 2. 27X-Brandon Louwagie[5]; 3. 21-Colton Lodermeier[7]; 4. 28-Chad Reller[2]; 5. 12-Cole Fredeen[4]; 6. 11L-Jesse Lindner[6]; 7. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[8]; 8. (DNF) 26S-Sam Bolt[3]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 78-Zander Zuehlsdorff[5]; 2. 43-Brandon Downs[2]; 3. 26M-Martin Bolt[6]; 4. 988A-Ayden Muchow[1]; 5. 11L-Jesse Lindner[4]; 6. 11R-Ryan Roeder[9]; 7. 3K-Jason Kast[10]; 8. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[8]; 9. 13X-Pat Hoecke[3]; 10. 48-Joseph Halvorson[7]; 11. (DNF) 26S-Sam Bolt[12]; 12. (DNS) 0-Bradley Rossow