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Gierke goes to the wall to win his first WISSOTA 100 Modified title Saturday at I-94 Speedway

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 13) - It is hard to call 2025 a breakout year for Ryan Gierke, but the young driver continued his consistent upward trajectory and added the biggest jewel in the WISSOTA crown to his resume on Saturday night.

Brandon Dolman jumped to the initial lead from the outside row of the three-wide start in the 40-lap Modified feature. He set the early pace over Joseph Thomas, Gierke, Brandon Beckendorf and Landon Atkinson. Thomas put pressure on Dolman and the top two broke away from the rest of the pack on lap two. Atkinson looked inside of Beckendorf for fourth with Brady Gerdes and Shane Sabraski trailing that duo.

Dolman maintained the point in the high groove, and opened a little space by lap five while Gierke and Beckendorf reeled in Thomas. Beckendorf ducked under Gierke on lap 10, and the pair made a little contact under the flag stand, but Gierke held the position. They were side by side again on the next lap while Sabraski raced around the outside of Atkinson for fifth.

Thomas cut into Dolman’s advantage as he worked by a slower machine on lap 12. The top four were close for the next few laps, and Thomas made his move for the lead with a slide job on lap 14. Gierke and Beckendorf immediately pressured for second, and Gierke stole the spot from Dolman on lap 15. Beckendorf continued to hound Dolman with Sabraski there as well; Beckendorf claimed third on lap 16 and Sabraski followed.

The top four remained tight at the head of the pack as they navigated thick traffic. Thomas had a slight miscue with a slower car on lap 20, and Gierke ducked to the inside out of turn four. Thomas remained the leader while Sabraski looked to the inside of Beckerdorf and stole third on lap 22. The leaders sliced through traffic, and Gierke got a strong run off turn two on lap 24. He cut under Thomas down the back chute and slid in front of him in corner four. Sabraski almost made it three wide at the line before Thomas slid in front of Gierke in turn two. They raced three wide out of the corner, but Gierke emerged as the leader as they entered turn three. Sabraski moved to second on the next lap, and kept the heat on Gierke in the low groove.

The top two powered away from the pack and left Thomas, Beckendorf and 12th-starter Dustin Bitzan to battle for third. Gierke made bold moves through traffic and opened a little gap over second before the only caution in the race with 11 laps remaining.

Sabraski challenged Gierke to the inside of the restart, and performed a slide job in turn two on the next lap, but Gierke reclaimed the lead down the back chute. Beckerdorf moved into third and brought Bitzan and Bryce Sward with him by Thomas. Sabraski remained close for a few laps, while Bitzan and Beckendorf were side by side for third, and Sward looked to stick his nose between that pair.

Gierke started to open a lead with six laps to go, and Sward now challenged Bitzan to the outside for third. Gierke had more than a 1 second lead with three laps to go, and continued to open ground over Sabraski. With his remaining few revolutions around the high side of the speedway, Gierke raced to the biggest win of his career. Sabraski was a distant second with Bitzan third, Sward fourth and Beckendorf fifth. Johnny Broking, Thomas, Tyler Peterson, Atkinson and Tyler Kaeter rounded out the top 10.

Six drivers locked into the Championship Feature by virtue of the Last Chance Qualifier. Jody Bellefeuille led flag to flag for the victory, while Josh Thoennes grabbed second by lap three and held on for the runner-up finish. Blake Jegtvig fought off Zach Benson and Mike Stearns for third after Stearns cracked into the top five around lap 10 of 15. The battle for the final transfer came down to the checkered flag, where Brandon Mehrwerth held off the charges of Tyler Kintner and Jason Thoennes for the position.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 26G-Ryan Gierke[1]; 2. 7A-Shane Sabraski[8]; 3. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[12]; 4. 6X-Bryce Sward[14]; 5. 5-Brandon Beckendorf[5]; 6. 45J-Johnny Broking[11]; 7. 6T-Joseph Thomas[2]; 8. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[10]; 9. 18A-Landon Atkinson[4]; 10. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[13]; 11. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[27]; 12. 19-Lucas Rodin[20]; 13. 21X-Travis Saurer[7]; 14. 6-Dale Ames[16]; 15. 60-Dan Ebert[17]; 16. 51-Josh Thoennes[26]; 17. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[25]; 18. 2G-Brock Gronwold[31]; 19. 66-Jacob Knapper[24]; 20. 6SL-Seth Brede[32]; 21. 6*-Brian Haben[22]; 22. 5H-Brett Hoium[19]; 23. 24S-Mike Stearns[29]; 24. 15-Ryan Flaten[21]; 25. 99E-Blake Erickson[33]; 26. (DNF) 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[30]; 27. (DNF) 24-Brandon Dolman[3]; 28. (DNF) 2X-Brady Gerdes[6]; 29. (DNF) 17B-Zach Benson[28]; 30. (DNF) 428-Kaden Blaeser[15]; 31. (DNF) 22C-Brandon Copp[18]; 32. (DNF) 9E-Don Eischens[9]; 33. (DNF) 2C-Dave Cain[23]

LCQ (15 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[1]; 2. 51-Josh Thoennes[6]; 3. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[5]; 4. 17B-Zach Benson[2]; 5. 24S-Mike Stearns[9]; 6. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[8]; 7. 22-Tyler Kintner[4]; 8. 52-Jason Thoennes[10]; 9. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[3]; 10. 10-Justin VanEps[15]; 11. 7B-Bryce Borgen[12]; 12. 13-Devyn Weleski[11]; 13. 18-Taylor Garberich[16]; 14. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[13]; 15. 99-Doyle Erickson[14]; 16. (DNF) 11X-Austin Chyba[7]