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Schow spins but wins night one Midwest Mod Qualifying Feature at WISSOTA 100

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 10) - Matt Schow was sitting backward on the frontstretch after the initial green flag in Wednesday’s WISSOTA 100 Midwest Modified Qualifying Feature, but after the checkered flag, he was in victory lane celebrating a hard-fought win.

When the green flag dropped on Wednesday’s 15-lap qualifier, polesitter Landyn Randt’s machine did not come up to speed, which stacked up the field behind. No serious contact was made, although Matt Schow was among those involved. Randt left the speedway during the caution.

On the second attempt, Mario Berger and Ryan Schow battled for the top spot over the first lap before Berger edged ahead at the line. Matt Schow used the high groove and displaced his brother for second, and then picked off Berger for the lead on lap two.

Tyler Vernon and Joey Jensen moved in and raced with Ryan Schow for third. They caught Berger as well and Vernon raced from fourth to second in one lap. Jensen also slipped by Berger for third, and then pulled to Vernon’s door in the race for second; he secured the position on lap three and Shane Howell slipped by Berger for fourth. Blake Adams started 13th on the grid, but reeled in the top five with only a handful of laps scored.

The top three raced in tight formation with five laps recorded. Matt Schow circled the high side, with Jensen in the middle and Vernon in the low groove. Adams had charged to fourth on lap six.

With half of the race complete, Jensen raced a few lengths back from the leader with Vernon losing sight of the lead duo; he came under pressure from Adams in the closing laps.

Jensen kept the heat on Schow, and was nearly side by side on the white flag lap. Jensen drove deep into the final set of turns, but could not deny Schow the victory and the pole for Saturday’s Championship Feature. Jensen finished second while Adams drove by Vernon under the white flag to steal the final podium position. Vernon and Howell rounded out the top five, and Nick Koehler, Ryan Schow and Ron Saurer filled out the top eight transfer positions. Three drivers — Jensen, Vernon, and Koehler — declined their starting positions, which moved 13th-place Taylor Bitzan, 14th-place Ashton Schulte, and 15th-place Griffen Switzenberg into starting spots for Saturday.

The Midwest Modifieds competed in eight heat races to set the line up for the evening’s Qualifying Feature; the top 24 in passing points made the cut.

Scott Oeltjen opened a big lead early in the first heat, but after a restart just past halfway in the eight-lap race, Randt made the move for the lead and paced the field to the finish. Oeltjen stayed close until he looped his machine in turn four on the final lap. Ron Saurer finished second and Ryan Schow charged from ninth to third.

Zach Benson looked comfortable at the front of the field in the second heat. Jensen methodically picked his way forward from ninth and was battling for second in the closing laps. Exiting turn four to the white flag, Benson slowed at the head of the field, and Jensen and Jaren Wibstad capitalized to move into first and second. Jensen made the move to steal the win ahead of Wibstad and Reise Stenberg.

Corey Storck set the pace early in heat three before Brennon Weight raced by in the low groove on lap five. After a late restart, Vernon picked off Storck and challenged Weight all the way to the checkers. Weight scored the win ahead of Vernon and Justin Bjorklund.

Adams dominated the fourth heat from the pole. Ashton Schulte topped a good battle for second over Jamie Norman and Kyle Anderson.

James Trantina III led all the way in fourth heat race.Taylor Bitzan put heavy pressure on Travis Soper for the entire distance, but Soper remained in second until post-race tech, where he was disqualified. Bitzan was second and 10th-starter Berger was third.

Tate Kostreba battled with Matt Schow for nearly all of the sixth heat. Schow finally gained an advantage in the second half, and won a tight contest over Kostreba. Darren Engesser charged from eighth to finish third.

There was another two-car battle for the win in heat seven. Nick Koehler circled the low groove and Matt Heinzerling used the high groove while they battled for the win. Despite his best efforts, Heinzerling lost touch in the closing laps and Koehler scored the win. Scott Tofte was the third-place finisher.

In the final heat, Howell tracked down race leader Alex Langland and made the winning pass before the halfway mark. Cole Elton slipped by Langland for second before the checkered flag.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 2S-Matt Schow[5]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[6]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[13]; 4. 41-Tyler Vernon[4]; 5. 21-Shane Howell[8]; 6. 13X-Nick Koehler[12]; 7. 28S-Ryan Schow[2]; 8. 42-Ron Saurer[9]; 9. 19X-James Trantina III[16]; 10. 28-Brennon Weight[7]; 11. 24E-Cole Elton[10]; 12. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[15]; 13. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[14]; 14. 11-Ashton Schulte[18]; 15. 9-Griffen Switzenberg[19]; 16. 59-Kyle Anderson[20]; 17. 73J-Onyx Johnson[24]; 18. 22-Matt Heinzerling[22]; 19. 15F-Ryan Flaten[21]; 20. 66-Kyle Langland[23]; 21. 36-Jaren Wibstad[17]; 22. 11S-Darren Engesser[11]; 23. (DNF) 11R-Landyn Randt[1]; 24. (DQ) 73-Mario Berger[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11R-Landyn Randt[8]; 2. 42-Ron Saurer[6]; 3. 28S-Ryan Schow[9]; 4. 47K-Memphis Klassen[4]; 5. 9-Griffen Switzenberg[10]; 6. 07HD-Jesse Mckuski[7]; 7. 77-Chance Kodet[3]; 8. 07HD1-Stan Dueck[1]; 9. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[5]; 10. (DNF) 13O-Scott Oeltjen[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[9]; 2. 36-Jaren Wibstad[3]; 3. 87S-Reise Stenberg[1]; 4. 18-Tony Leiker[6]; 5. 22Z-Zach Reinke[8]; 6. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[4]; 7. F43-Zach Benson[2]; 8. 15-MaKenna Romuld[5]; 9. 24X-Todd Stevens[7]; 10. (DNF) 94-Michael Rogers[10]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Brennon Weight[4]; 2. 41-Tyler Vernon[7]; 3. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[6]; 4. 57-Corey Storck[1]; 5. 66-Kyle Langland[9]; 6. 62-Aaron Michel[2]; 7. TS42-Scott Samuelson[5]; 8. 10X-Robert Bitz[8]; 9. (DNF) 12S-Chad Switzenberg[3]; 10. (DQ) BO-Jory Berg[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[2]; 2. 11-Ashton Schulte[3]; 3. 12X-Jamie Norman[1]; 4. 59-Kyle Anderson[7]; 5. 81K-Casey Knabe[8]; 6. 69T-Nick Thoreson[5]; 7. 19-Lucas Rodin[10]; 8. 10M-Noah McFarlane[9]; 9. 30N-Cole Neset[6]; 10. 19S-Darrin Lawler[4]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 19X-James Trantina III[1]; 2. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[4]; 3. 73-Mario Berger[10]; 4. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[6]; 5. 73J-Onyx Johnson[9]; 6. 91-Andy Davey[5]; 7. 69-Ethen Waltz[3]; 8. 11X-Kenny Watson[8]; 9. (DNF) 28T-Tommy Nichols[7]; 10. (DQ) T3-Travis Soper[2]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 2S-Matt Schow[5]; 2. 13-Tate Kostreba[1]; 3. 11S-Darren Engesser[8]; 4. 69R-Terry Reilly[4]; 5. 21Z-Zach Kort[6]; 6. 28K-Nick Preston[10]; 7. 02-Brooke Hellerman[2]; 8. 110-Tate Kelderman[7]; 9. 4B-Arin Beyer[9]; 10. 13K-Brad King[3]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 13X-Nick Koehler[3]; 2. 22-Matt Heinzerling[2]; 3. 28X-Scott Tofte[4]; 4. 97-Michelle Hutt[6]; 5. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[9]; 6. 67-Mike Nichols[7]; 7. 50H-Haley Dykhoff[8]; 8. M2-Chris Magistad[5]; 9. H20-Nic Hiles[10]; 10. (DNF) 24-Mike Hart[1]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Shane Howell[4]; 2. 24E-Cole Elton[6]; 3. 6-Alex Langland[2]; 4. 15F-Ryan Flaten[7]; 5. M47-Malachi Klassen[5]; 6. 23B-Charles Bistodeau[9]; 7. 94R-Ryan Nash[1]; 8. 81-Dominick Dieken[8]; 9. (DQ) 33-Jake Hagemann[3]