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Thomas tackles tough field of Mods to win Friday night Qualifying Feature at the WISSOTA 100

By Ryan Schmitz
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 12) - He’s shown immense speed in recent outings in the WISSOTA Modified class and Friday night, Joseph Thomas reaped the rewards as he took his ride to victory lane at I-94 Speedway during the final Qualifying Feature of the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100.

Brandon Beckendorf and Thomas led the field to green, with Thomas gaining the early advantage. Before the second lap could be completed, the yellow flew for debris on the speedway.

With the field lined up behind him, Thomas raced out to the lead ahead of Beckendorf, Shane Sabraski and Jody Bellefeuille racing for positions two through four. With five laps in the books, Sabraski had worked to the low side of Beckendorf for second.

Back in traffic, Johnny Broking began to work his way toward the front and moved into fourth at the halfway point, with Bryce Sward in hot pursuit in fifth. With the leaders comfortably locked into place, Dan Ebert and Brandon Mehrwerth began to battle for the eighth and final transfer spot with only four laps remaining. Ebert worked his way by Mehrwerth before the caution came out for Alex Guthmiller, who came to rest on the back chute.

Thomas once again paced the field with Beckendorf and Sabraski in row two for the restart. Bellefeuille, who was running third, began to slip back and slowed on the speedway, bringing out the caution once more. Bellefeuille pulled into the pits on the backstretch ending his evening.

With the green back out for the final time, Thomas raced to the Qualifying Feature win and middle row starting spot in Saturday’s Championship Feature. He was victorious ahead of Beckendorf, Sabraski, Broking, Sward, Ebert, Lucas Rodin, and Dave Cain, who claimed eighth spot with a last-corner pass.

Earlier in the event, the competitors were split into four eight-lap heat races to set the night’s main event.

Young drivers Blake Erickson and Taylor Garberich sat on the front row for the first heat race. The duo came under heavy pressure from the field on the opening lap when yellow flew for a multi-car incident on the back chute; Garberich tagged the end of the field. With the green back out, seventh-starter Bellefeuille worked to the low side of the speedway and ambushed the field as he raced into the lead. Bellefeuille took the eventual win ahead of Mehrwerth and Tyler Kintner in the top three.

Beckendorf and Josh Thoennes led a very stacked heat two to the green. The duo locked horns during the opening laps, with Thoennes the early leader. Beckendorf searched the low side of the speedway for a way around him before ultimately completing the pass on the high side of the track. The top two continued to fly around the high side of the speedway, while the best battle on the track was for third through sixth among Ebert, Sward, Jason Thoennes, and Blake Adams. Out front, Beckendorf raced to the win with Josh Thoennes in second and Ebert rounding out the top three.

Thomas jumped to the high side of the speedway and raced into the early lead in heat three while the pack shuffled for position behind him. Zach Benson was joined by Rodin in the battle for second, while Mike Stearns and Josh Beaulieu fought for fourth. Thomas cruised to win with Benson staying second ahead of Rodin.

The final heat race of the week rumbled to the speedway, led to green by a pair of South Dakota drivers in Cayden Schmeling and Andy Brooker. At the drop of green Brooker’s machine did not fire, collecting Brock Gronwold, Cain, and Sabraski in the process. Brooker was forced to retire to the pit area ending his evening, while the other competitors were able to continue. On the ensuing restart, Sabraski wasted no time racing to the lead on the low side of the speedway. Behind Sabraski, Schmeling and Johnny Broking raced one another for second; Broking took the spot with a handful of laps remaining. Sabraski went on to claim the win with Broking in second, and Schmeling in third. Schmeling was disqualified in post race tech, moving Brendan Blasyck into the spot.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 6T-Joseph Thomas[2]; 2. 5-Brandon Beckendorf[1]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 4. 45J-Johnny Broking[5]; 5. 6X-Bryce Sward[8]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[13]; 7. 19-Lucas Rodin[9]; 8. 2C-Dave Cain[14]; 9. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[6]; 10. 51-Josh Thoennes[11]; 11. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[10]; 12. 6SL-Seth Brede[18]; 13. 10-Justin VanEps[15]; 14. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[24]; 15. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[19]; 16. 22-Tyler Kintner[7]; 17. 24S-Mike Stearns[17]; 18. 17B-Zach Benson[12]; 19. 52-Jason Thoennes[21]; 20. 13-Devyn Weleski[16]; 21. 2G-Brock Gronwold[20]; 22. (DNF) 11-Jody Bellefeuille[3]; 23. (DNF) 51X-Alex Guthmiller[23]; 24. (DNF) 40D-Blake Adams[22]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[7]; 2. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[4]; 3. 22-Tyler Kintner[6]; 4. 13-Devyn Weleski[5]; 5. 10-Justin VanEps[8]; 6. 51X-Alex Guthmiller[3]; 7. 18-Taylor Garberich[2]; 8. 99E-Blake Erickson[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Brandon Beckendorf[2]; 2. 51-Josh Thoennes[1]; 3. 60-Dan Ebert[4]; 4. 6X-Bryce Sward[8]; 5. 52-Jason Thoennes[3]; 6. 40D-Blake Adams[5]; 7. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[7]; 8. 7B-Bryce Borgen[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 6T-Joseph Thomas[2]; 2. 17B-Zach Benson[1]; 3. 19-Lucas Rodin[5]; 4. 24S-Mike Stearns[4]; 5. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[3]; 6. 6SL-Seth Brede[8]; 7. 11X-Austin Chyba[7]; 8. 99-Doyle Erickson[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 2. 45J-Johnny Broking[7]; 3. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[5]; 4. 2C-Dave Cain[6]; 5. 2G-Brock Gronwold[3]; 6. (DNF) 8-Andy Brooker[2]; 7. (DQ) 13S-Cayden Schmeling[1]