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Becker begins chase for 2025 WISSOTA 100 Late Model title with Thursday night Qualifying Feature win

By Meghan Diemel, Editor
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 11) - Chad Becker scored the victory Thursday night in the WISSOTA Late Models, winning the WISSOTA 100 Qualifying Feature from the front row and accepting his starting spot on the outside of the front row for Saturday’s Championship Feature.

Becker and Cole Searing brought their Late Model brethren to the green flag, and after a first-lap caution, Becker rocketed into the early lead. Searing was second, while it was a gaggle of cars fighting for remaining top five spots; Devin Fouquette had third by a slim margin ahead of Jayme Lautigar and Jeff Provinzino, just ahead of a charging Cole Schill. Schill slipped by Provinzino for fifth before the next caution fell, again for debris.

Back under green Becker struggled along the high side out of turn two, and allowed Searing the opportunity to make things interesting, but another yellow for more debris halted the action.

Becker had a much better start the next go-round with 14 laps remaining, with Searing a half second back. Fouquette was third ahead of Lautigar, as Kevin Burdick was fifth. One lap later Schill started moving his way to the front along the low line, taking fifth and then moving past Lautigar for fourth and Fouquette for third.

With 10 laps to go, Becker’s lead was a little less than half a second ahead of Searing, who had started to close in - both along the high side. Three laps later there was lapped traffic just ahead, but Becker was able to move his way through as Searing remained close in his tire tracks. Schill was third, Burdick fourth, and Jayson Good was fifth.

Becker had a .407-second lead with three to go, as both continued to drive precariously close to the wall while tip-toeing past lapped traffic along the low side. Becker hung on during the final two laps and took the checkered flag ahead of Searing, Schill, Burdick and Fouquette in the top five. Fouquette was later DQ’d for reasons not provided by deadline. That elevated Good to a fifth-place finish.

Provinzino, Dan Ebert and Lee Grosz were the remaining qualifiers, and they all declined their starting spot and were set to try again on Friday. Danny Vang, Shawn Meyer and Jayme Lautigar were the next three drivers in line and accepted the transfers.

Earlier in the program, five heat races set the starting lineup for the Qualifying Feature.

In the first heat, Schill and Burdick went head to head for the top spot around the mid point of the race, exchanging the lead back and forth before Schill prevailed and drove onto the win. Burdick then survived challenges from Ebert to finish second, while Ebert completed the top three.

Searing was the early leader of heat two, with Provinzino and Mike Stearns holding top-three spots early. He remained the dominant force for the final seven laps and took the checkered flag ahead of Provinzino and Stearns in the top three.

In heat three, Good was the early leader, in a side-by-side battle with Blake Boelens for the top spot. Boelens grabbed the lead with a couple laps in the books, as Becker secured second. With two to go Becker used a slider to gain the lead and hung on for the win. During the final lap, Good also got by Boelens for second, with Boelens completing the podium.

Cory Tammen took the lead from the get-go in heat four, as Jamie Dietzler and Lautigar fought back and forth second; Lautigar took the spot and set off after Tammen. Though Lautigar was able to close the gap in the final two laps, Tammen had enough to hang on for the victory. Lautigar narrowly fended off Amelia Eisenschenk for second at the finish line.

And in heat five, Fouquette survived pressure from Vang in the early laps to take the victory. Zach Johnson won the fight for third over Johnny Broking.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 12B-Chad Becker[1]; 2. 10-Cole Searing[2]; 3. 44*-Cole Schill[8]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick[10]; 5. 85G-Jayson Good[13]; 6. 28-Jeff Provinzino[6]; 7. 60-Dan Ebert[11]; 8. 4J-Lee Grosz[12]; 9. 47-Danny Vang[14]; 10. 18X-Shawn Meyer[9]; 11. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[3]; 12. 71X-Cory Tammen[5]; 13. 31-Travis Budisalovich[15]; 14. 45J-Johnny Broking[21]; 15. 5E-Shane Edginton[24]; 16. 15L-Laela Eisenschenk[17]; 17. 24S-Mike Stearns[22]; 18. 15X-Blake Boelens[18]; 19. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[19]; 20. 21XX-Dustin Arthur[23]; 21. (DNF) 53-Chris Mensen[16]; 22. (DNF) 73-Zach Johnson[20]; 23. (DNF) 7-Joel Bennett[7]; 24. (DQ) 15-Devin Fouquette[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44*-Cole Schill[1]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[3]; 3. 60-Dan Ebert[5]; 4. 7-Joel Bennett[9]; 5. 21XX-Dustin Arthur[7]; 6. 50-Ben Wolden[6]; 7. 7T-Talon Seckerson[4]; 8. 18-Josh Rieck[8]; 9. (DNS) 20-Trevor Anderson

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Cole Searing[3]; 2. 28-Jeff Provinzino[5]; 3. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 4. 4J-Lee Grosz[7]; 5. 31-Travis Budisalovich[8]; 6. 21F-Gunner Frank[4]; 7. 16-Thomas Weisgram[9]; 8. 10X-Robert Bitz[6]; 9. (DNS) 19X-James Trantina III

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12B-Chad Becker[4]; 2. 85G-Jayson Good[2]; 3. 15X-Blake Boelens[3]; 4. 18X-Shawn Meyer[8]; 5. 5E-Shane Edginton[7]; 6. 17-Jim Harris[9]; 7. (DNS) 5X-Scot Danzeisen; 8. (DNS) 15*-Ryan Mikkelson; 9. (DQ) 1S-Konner Sperle[1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 71X-Cory Tammen[2]; 2. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[6]; 3. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[3]; 4. 39-Jamie Dietzler[1]; 5. 53-Chris Mensen[8]; 6. (DNF) 01-Alex Tschakert[7]; 7. (DNS) 18G-Chase Gelling; 8. (DNS) 28S-Sam Mars

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Devin Fouquette[2]; 2. 47-Danny Vang[1]; 3. 73-Zach Johnson[3]; 4. 45J-Johnny Broking[5]; 5. 15L-Laela Eisenschenk[8]; 6. XXX-Jon Tollakson[4]; 7. 77-Corey Seckerson[6]; 8. (DNS) 24-Mike Hart