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Gullikson goes to the front of the field to take checkered Thursday and will start on front row for Saturday’s Street Stock main event

By Meghan Diemel, Editor
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 11) - Jim Gullikson climbed his way forward from the fourth row in Thursday’s WISSOTA Street Stock Qualifying Feature, taking the win and locking down the outside spot of the front row for Saturday’s three-wide start in the Championship Feature at the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100.

Cole Greseth and Zach Flickinger led the field to green in their 15-lap feature, with Greseth breaking away into the lead ahead of a side-by-side battle for second between Kyle Dykhoff and Flickinger; Dykhoff took the spot. Dustin Schultz and Coltyn Schuler held early top-five positions.

Farther back, Parker Anderson and Gullikson were making moves to the front. Anderson took fifth, with Gullikson following through to sixth before a caution fell.

Back under green, Greseth was under pressure from Dykhoff, while Flickinger, Schultz and now Keith Tourville held top five spots. Gullikson moved ahead into fourth the following lap, as Schultz slipped out of the top five. Tourville was fifth and Anderson was sixth with eight laps remaining.

Out front, Dykhoff pulled even with Greseth, as Gullikson advanced to third just behind the lead pair. Greseth continued to fend off Dykhoff before another caution fell for a multi-car pileup farther back in the pack with five laps left to go.

Greseth brought the field back to green, and denied Gullikson the lead heading into turn one. Greseth continued to lead for the next lap, as Anderson raced into third. Dykhoff appeared to have a mechanical issue and dove to the infield.

With three to go, Gullikson made another attempt to the inside of Greseth for the lead, taking it with the white flag in the air. Anderson followed through past Greseth to second, while Tourville got by Flickinger late for fourth. Dustin Schultz, 16th-starter Nick Traynor and Mike Jans were the remaining qualifiers.

Traynor, Jans and ninth-finisher Levi Randt declined their starting spot and planned to try again on Friday night. Those accepting their starting spots for the first eight spots in the outside row Saturday included Gullikson, Anderson, Greseth, Tourville, Flickinger, Schultz, Jeff Ekdahl and Cory Dykhoff.

Earlier in the program, six heat races set the field for the Qualifying Feature Thursday night. In heat one, it was a three-wide battle for the lead, with Darek Turner taking the lead ahead of Schultz, Micheal Brockman and Gullikson, who was on the move in fourth. With three laps complete, Turner and Gullikson got together in turns three and four, with Gullikson going to the back. Schultz used the restart to gain the lead, with Brockman and 10th-starter Coltyn Schuler moving into the top three. Farther back Gullikson was charging through the field, moving to fourth with two laps to go, and taking third on the final lap with smoke pouring from his car. Schultz took the win, with Schuler second and Gullikson third.

Greg Platzer led the first lap of the second heat race ahead of Braedyn Fleck and Greseth, who was under pressure from Parker Anderson. It was a four-way battle out front, with Greseth threading the needle with three laps to go to gain the lead. Anderson moved through to second, with Fleck holding third. Greseth took the checkered flag ahead of Anderson and Fleck in the top three.

In heat three, Ekdahl was the early leader ahead of polesitter Spencer Johnson, as Flickinger, who started 10th, worked into third with three laps in the books. Ekdahl continued to hold off the efforts of Johnson in the closing laps for the win.

Chris Behrens was the early leader of heat four, before Tourville got by to complete the next lap. Cory Dykhoff was close behind Behrens in third, vying for the spot with three laps complete. Behrens got into the wall along the backstretch and the caution fell; back under green, Tourville pulled away to the checkered flag, ahead of Dykhoff and Cody Hatch in the top three.

In heat five, Jans took the early lead, while Dylan Arndt had heavy pressure from Traynor for second. Traynor took the spot with three laps scored, as Kyle Dykhoff moved by Arndt to third. Jans continued to add to his lead out front in the waning laps, leaving Traynor and Dykhoff to fight over second. Jans grabbed the checkered flag ahead of Traynor, who narrowly held off Dykhoff for second.

Randt was the initial leader of the final heat race Thursday evening. A great battle for second among Ethan Iiams, Ken Harmon, Scott Huston and Tony Smith was waged about a straightaway back. Iiams held second, while Huston moved into third. Randt drove on to the checkered flag ahead of Iiams and Huston in the top three.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 21-Jim Gullikson[8]; 2. 27P-Parker Anderson[6]; 3. 19G-Cole Greseth[1]; 4. 148-Keith Tourville[7]; 5. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[2]; 6. 2*-Dustin Schultz[4]; 7. 40-Nick Traynor[16]; 8. 25-Mike Jans[10]; 9. 11-Levi Randt[15]; 10. 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[9]; 11. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[12]; 12. 13-Dustin Erickson[20]; 13. 9-Cody Hatch[14]; 14. 19-Derek Zieske[18]; 15. Z28-Greg Jose[24]; 16. 19K-Cole Kannegiesser[22]; 17. 21H-Scott Huston[17]; 18. 76-Braedyn Fleck[23]; 19. (DNF) 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[3]; 20. (DNF) 71-Josh Long[11]; 21. (DNF) 16A-Coltyn Schuler[5]; 22. (DNF) 1SJ-Spencer Johnson[21]; 23. (DNF) I7-Ethan Iiams[13]; 24. (DQ) #1-Tony Smith[19]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2*-Dustin Schultz[4]; 2. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[10]; 3. 21-Jim Gullikson[7]; 4. Z28-Greg Jose[5]; 5. 4-Micheal Brockman[3]; 6. 27-Trent Keller[6]; 7. 23-Maverick Janssen[8]; 8. 07HD-Aiden McKuski[2]; 9. X-Dexter Wipf[9]; 10. (DNF) 10T-Darek Turner[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19G-Cole Greseth[5]; 2. 27P-Parker Anderson[8]; 3. 76-Braedyn Fleck[3]; 4. 16-Greg Platzer[1]; 5. 30-Adam Dehne[6]; 6. 77-Joe Deede[2]; 7. 511-Colsten Schultz[9]; 8. 44X-Alex Grinager[10]; 9. 52-Joe Arndt[7]; 10. 10K-Devan Schultz[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[2]; 2. 1SJ-Spencer Johnson[1]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[10]; 4. 71-Josh Long[9]; 5. 00-Ferlin Sheridan[3]; 6. 611-Brady Schultz[8]; 7. 80-Tony Miller[6]; 8. E30-William Fisher[7]; 9. 5F-Mike Flickinger[4]; 10. 49S-Rodney Hulst[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 148-Keith Tourville[3]; 2. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[4]; 3. 9-Cody Hatch[6]; 4. 19-Derek Zieske[7]; 5. 35S-Kegan Stueve[2]; 6. 814-Cail Tinker[9]; 7. 86-Layla Chaplin[8]; 8. 43X-Chris Behrens[1]; 9. (DNS) 4D-Scott Dillenburg

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Mike Jans[2]; 2. 40-Nick Traynor[3]; 3. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[8]; 4. 44-Dylan Arndt[4]; 5. 13-Dustin Erickson[9]; 6. 27J-Jordan Johnson[7]; 7. 7-Dustin Collins[6]; 8. 19C-Charlie Shiek[5]; 9. 3D-Dale Louwagie[1]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[1]; 2. I7-Ethan Iiams[4]; 3. 21H-Scott Huston[5]; 4. #1-Tony Smith[7]; 5. 19K-Cole Kannegiesser[8]; 6. 3-Ken Harmon[3]; 7. 56J-Bryan Johnson[9]; 8. 46-Cory Moser[6]; 9. (DNS) 10-Justin Vogel