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Becker will put a fourth WISSOTA 100 trophy in his case after topping Saturday’s Late Model Championship Feature at I-94 Speedway

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 13) - Twenty years after Chad Becker earned his first WISSOTA 100 crown with a Western 100 win at Brown County Speedway, he dominated the 2025 version of the event at I-94 Speedway for his fourth-career WISSOTA 100 Late Model title.

Josh Zimpel jumped to the early lead of the 50-lap main event after starting on the pole in the three-wide start. Zimpel used the high groove, but starting on lap two, Becker ducked to his inside in the turns to provide constant pressure. Johnny Broking circled the track in third while Tyler Peterson and Cole Searing raced side by side for fourth. Zimpel altered his line to the low groove on lap seven, but lost traction in turn two and spun to a stop for the race’s first caution.

Becker inherited the lead for the restart with 44 laps remaining. The top three raced tight for the lead after the restart with Peterson and Broking providing the challenge. Broking had a great run out of turn two on lap eight and shot under Becker into turn three, but clipped his left front; Broking immediately slowed with rear suspension damage and brought out the caution. He was done for the event.

After a quick challenge from Peterson, Becker set sail after the restart, and Peterson and Searing continued their fight for second. Zach Johnson, Shane Sabraski and Kevin Burdick sparked a battle for fourth, and Johnson and Burdick moved away in a side-by-side debate for the spot. The caution waved again with 10 laps recorded.

After the restart, Johnson joined Peterson and Searing to battle for second; Johnson used the low groove to take third from Peterson on lap 11. Becker pulled away, but three cars remained engaged in a battle for second. Searing secured the spot, and Sabraski moved in to challenge Burdick for fifth before the final caution with just 14 laps scored.

Johnson challenged Searing low for second when the race resumed, and grabbed the spot by lap 16. Burdick put pressure on Peterson for fourth, while Searing worked to reclaim second from Johnson on lap 20. Peterson moved back in to challenge for third.

Becker had a 2-second lead by the halfway mark as he caught the tail of the field. Searing separated from Johnson, with Peterson and Burdick in the top five. Traffic was thicker for Becker a few laps later, and the race for fifth heated up when Sabraski, Cole Schill and Dave Mass closed in on Burdick, and they all caught Peterson in fourth.

Becker maintained — if not extended — his lead through traffic after lap 30, while Peterson worked low on Johnson for third, and five cars battled for fourth. Schill was fifth by lap 37.

Searing appeared to close the gap to Becker with 10 laps to go, but Becker had three lapped cars as a buffer to second place. Peterson and Johnson again fought for third on lap 41, and Schill held off Sabraski and Mass for fifth.

Searing chewed up more of the gap to the leader, but still had cars between himself and Becker. Searing pulled to within under a second on lap 43, but almost caught the wall in turn two on lap 46 and gave up ground. Peterson finally grabbed third from Johnson with four laps to go, and Sabraski was into fifth and challenging for more.

Searing did not give up, and continued to push to the checkers; he cut Becker’s lead in half over the final five laps, but came up just under a second shy. Peterson finished third ahead of Johnson and Sabraski. Schill was sixth ahead of Mass, Jayson Good, Jordan Tollakson and Mike Greseth in the top 10.

Seven drivers made the Championship Feature by virtue of the Last Chance Qualifier. Joel Bennett led the distance to punch his ticket to the show. Lee Grosz slipped by Cory Tammen early for second while Mike Stearns rallied from 10th to move into fourth by the checkers. Travis Budisalovich held on to finish fifth with Dustin Arthur sixth. Thomas Weisgram started 12th on the grid, but made some late moves to displace the sisters of Laela and Amelia Eisenschenk to score the final transfer.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature (50 Laps): 1. 12B-Chad Becker[3]; 2. 10-Cole Searing[6]; 3. 33-Tyler Peterson[4]; 4. 73-Zach Johnson[8]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[7]; 6. 44*-Cole Schill[9]; 7. 2M-Dave Mass[10]; 8. 85G-Jayson Good[15]; 9. 32-Jordan Tollakson[16]; 10. 17G-Mike Greseth[14]; 11. 30-Kevin Burdick[12]; 12. 21F-Gunner Frank[5]; 13. 7-Joel Bennett[22]; 14. 47-Danny Vang[18]; 15. 16-Thomas Weisgram[30]; 16. 15-Devin Fouquette[17]; 17. XXX-Jon Tollakson[20]; 18. 60-Dan Ebert[23]; 19. 18X-Shawn Meyer[21]; 20. 5-Josh Zimpel[1]; 21. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[24]; 22. 28-Jeff Provinzino[11]; 23. 21X-Travis Saurer[13]; 24. 15X-Blake Boelens[33]; 25. 18-Josh Rieck[32]; 26. 10X-Robert Bitz[31]; 27. (DNF) 21XX-Dustin Arthur[29]; 28. (DNF) 4J-Lee Grosz[25]; 29. (DNF) 71X-Cory Tammen[26]; 30. (DNF) 07-Cory Crapser[19]; 31. (DNF) 31-Travis Budisalovich[28]; 32. (DNF) 24S-Mike Stearns[27]; 33. (DNF) 45J-Johnny Broking[2]

LCQ (15 Laps): 1. 7-Joel Bennett[1]; 2. 4J-Lee Grosz[5]; 3. 71X-Cory Tammen[3]; 4. 24S-Mike Stearns[10]; 5. 31-Travis Budisalovich[2]; 6. 21XX-Dustin Arthur[6]; 7. 16-Thomas Weisgram[12]; 8. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[14]; 9. 50-Ben Wolden[8]; 10. 17-Jim Harris[9]; 11. (DNF) 15L-Laela Eisenschenk[4]; 12. (DNF) 53-Chris Mensen[7]; 13. (DNF) 1S-Konner Sperle[16]; 14. (DNF) 39-Jamie Dietzler[11]; 15. (DNF) 01-Alex Tschakert[13]; 16. (DNS) 49-Collin Compson