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Weight wins night three Qualifying Feature to earn front-row berth in WISSOTA 100Midwest Mod Championship race

By Ryan Schmitz
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 12) - Former WISSOTA 100 Champion Brennon Weight found his way back into victory lane at I-94 emr Speedway Friday, as the Midwest Modified hotshoe picked up the win in the Qualifying Feature at the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100, and guaranteed himself a starting spot in the Championship Feature in the middle of the front row.

The top 24 drivers in passing points came to the track for the 15-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature event. Mario Berger and Malachi Klassen manned row one for the event, but before a lap could be completed, a multi-car melee on the back chute brought out the yellow.

With the field lined back up, Klassen jumped out to the lead with Berger in hot pursuit. Behind the lead pack, the field was jockeying for position with several three- and four-wide battles going on throughout the pack. Weight quietly worked his way into second on lap three and quickly raced to the inside of Klassen on lap four. Weight was able to complete the pass during the following lap and began to pull away, with Berger moving into second.

Weight continued to build his margin ahead of Berger, who was under heavy pressure from former WISSOTA National Champion Lucas Rodin at the midway point. Rodin completed the pass on the following lap and set his sights on Weight, who had a half straightaway advantage.

With five laps remaining, the main battles on the track were Klassen and Berger for third, and Joey Jensen, Tyler Vernon, and Mike Nichols for fifth through seventh.

In the waning laps Weight’s advantage continued to shrink, as Rodin raced around the high side of the speedway in an effort to reel in Weight. Weight was able to hit his marks, however, and raced to the Qualifying Feature victory ahead of Rodin, Berger, Klassen, Jensen, Vernon, Nichols, and Kyle Anderson, who claimed the eighth and final transfer position.

A solid field of 69 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were split into seven heat races Friday. Justin Bjorklund and rookie Todd Stevens manned row one for the first heat race, with Bjorklund jumping out to the early advantage. After a couple of caution flags, all eyes were on ninth-starter Weight, who was working his way through the field. Weight went on to win the heat race ahead of Bjorklund and Zach Reinke.

The top two drivers in WISSOTA national points headlined the second heat race, as Vernon and Jensen went head to head for the eight-lap event. Vernon was the early leader from his front-row starting spot and never looked back, as he cruised to the win. Jensen raced from fourth to second, and Jamie Norman rounded out the top three.

A pair of North Dakotans paced the third of seven heat races to the green, with Jamestown’s Kyle Anderson jumping to the lead ahead of Fargo’s Cole Neset. Anderson, who has been very fast in his No. 59 this summer, raced to the win ahead of fellow North Dakota drivers Kyle Langland and Jory Berg.

I-94 Speedway regular Tyler Bitzan sat on the pole for the fourth heat race and wasted no time jumping out to the lead ahead of former WISSOTA National Champion Lucas Rodin. Rodin was joined by South Dakota driver Tommy Nichols for position, but held him off. Bitzan came away with the win, Rodin settled for second, and Nichols came across the line in third.

The fifth heat race started with a hard wreck that ended the night, and potentially the weekend for Ashley Boyum and Jason Grimes. Out front Billings, Montana visitor Mario Berger raced into the top spot ahead of Onyx Johnson. Berger, who has 12 feature wins to his credit this year, was victorious ahead of Johnson and Matt Heinzerling.

Nine of the 10 scheduled starters dotted the track for heat six, with Nick Preston unable to make the call. Up front, Mike Nichols - who has only a couple races under his belt this season - raced to the win, ahead of Arin Beyer and 10th-starter Malachi Klassen in third.

With Tony Arneson not making the call for the seventh and final heat race, eight cars took to the track. Madison, MN driver Ryan Flaten quickly jumped to the lead with Haley Dykhoff in tow. Flaten held off a late charge from Dykhoff to score the win. Dykhoff and Reise Stenberg completed the podium.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 28-Brennon Weight[3]; 2. 19-Lucas Rodin[5]; 3. 73-Mario Berger[1]; 4. M47-Malachi Klassen[2]; 5. 30-Joey Jensen[12]; 6. 41-Tyler Vernon[8]; 7. 67-Mike Nichols[10]; 8. 59-Kyle Anderson[9]; 9. 22-Matt Heinzerling[7]; 10. 15F-Ryan Flaten[11]; 11. 87S-Reise Stenberg[21]; 12. 73J-Onyx Johnson[14]; 13. 69T-Nick Thoreson[19]; 14. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[17]; 15. B4-Jory Berg[20]; 16. 5W-Dano Ostrander[4]; 17. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[24]; 18. F43-Zach Benson[22]; 19. M2-Chris Magistad[6]; 20. 12X-Jamie Norman[16]; 21. 50H-Haley Dykhoff[18]; 22. 4B-Arin Beyer[15]; 23. 15-MaKenna Romuld[23]; 24. (DNF) 66-Kyle Langland[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Brennon Weight[9]; 2. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[1]; 3. 22Z-Zach Reinke[3]; 4. F43-Zach Benson[7]; 5. 69T-Nick Thoreson[10]; 6. 77-Chance Kodet[8]; 7. 81-Dominick Dieken[4]; 8. (DNF) 24X-Todd Stevens[2]; 9. (DNF) 21-Wyatt Boyum[5]; 10. (DNF) 57-Corey Storck[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[2]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[4]; 3. 12X-Jamie Norman[6]; 4. 5W-Dano Ostrander[10]; 5. 62-Aaron Michel[7]; 6. 94-Michael Rogers[5]; 7. 10X-Robert Bitz[3]; 8. (DNF) H20-Nic Hiles[1]; 9. (DNS) 36-Jaren Wibstad; 10. (DNS) 19S-Darrin Lawler

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 59-Kyle Anderson[2]; 2. 66-Kyle Langland[4]; 3. B4-Jory Berg[5]; 4. 30N-Cole Neset[1]; 5. 29-Cylen Vargason[6]; 6. 69R-Terry Reilly[9]; 7. 81K-Casey Knabe[3]; 8. 12S-Chad Switzenberg[8]; 9. 91-Andy Davey[10]; 10. (DNF) T3-Travis Soper[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[1]; 2. 19-Lucas Rodin[5]; 3. 28T-Tommy Nichols[2]; 4. 11X-Kenny Watson[3]; 5. 69-Ethen Waltz[8]; 6. 13-Tate Kostreba[6]; 7. 17G-Jaden Gannott[10]; 8. 10M-Noah McFarlane[4]; 9. 02-Brooke Hellerman[7]; 10. (DNF) 82JR-Sophie Anderson[9]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 73-Mario Berger[5]; 2. 73J-Onyx Johnson[4]; 3. 22-Matt Heinzerling[7]; 4. M2-Chris Magistad[10]; 5. 21Z-Zach Kort[1]; 6. 24-Mike Hart[6]; 7. 13K-Brad King[8]; 8. (DNF) 110-Tate Kelderman[2]; 9. (DNF) 99-Jason Grimes[9]; 10. (DNF) 19*-Ashley Boyum[3]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Mike Nichols[2]; 2. 4B-Arin Beyer[4]; 3. M47-Malachi Klassen[10]; 4. 97-Michelle Hutt[1]; 5. 15-MaKenna Romuld[9]; 6. 11S-Darren Engesser[3]; 7. 33-Jake Hagemann[8]; 8. (DNF) 6-Alex Langland[7]; 9. (DNF) 94R-Ryan Nash[6]; 10. (DNS) 28K-Nick Preston

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 15F-Ryan Flaten[2]; 2. 50H-Haley Dykhoff[3]; 3. 87S-Reise Stenberg[5]; 4. 07HD-Jesse Mckuski[1]; 5. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[8]; 6. 23B-Charles Bistodeau[4]; 7. 13O-Scott Oeltjen[6]; 8. TS42-Scott Samuelson[9]; 9. (DNS) 16B-Tony Arneson