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Koehler crowned WISSOTA 100 Midwest Mod champion after low-groove move Saturday night at I-94 Speedway

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 13) - Nick Koehler spent much of the summer winning races in Wisconsin, but as the seasons changed and temperatures cooled, he migrated west to Minnesota to score the WISSOTA 100 victory at I-94 Speedway on Saturday night.

James Trantina grabbed the lead when the Midwest Modifieds rumbled three wide to the green flag in their 35-lap contest. Matt Schow settled into second ahead of Brennon Weight, while Blake Adams and Koehler battled early for fourth. Schow stayed close to Trantina and the top two broke away, with Trantina in the high groove and Schow in close contention down low. Weight had a gap over Koehler and Adams before the first caution fell with four laps scored.

Weight looked under Schow for second after the restart, and Koehler grabbed fourth from Adams, but Adams fought back and brought Lucas Rodin into the battle as well. The caution dropped again with seven laps scored.

Weight stole second after the restart, and looked to the inside of Trantina down the backchute, but Trantina edged away slightly over the next few laps. Koehler and Adams ganged up on Schow in the battle for third, and behind that trio, Rodin, Ryan Schow and Shane Howell contested the sixth position.

Trantina had a comfortable lead on lap 10, and Matt Schow had broken free from the battle for third a few laps later. Rodin challenged for a position in the top five in a battle with Adams.

Trantina had a slight hiccup on the cushion on lap 16 and Weight closed the distance. He threw a slide job on Trantina in turns three and four on lap 18, and they spent the next few corners trading slide jobs for the lead position. Weight finally secured the top spot on lap 20, while Matt Schow, Koehler and Rodin battled for third before the caution fell with 21 of 35 laps scored.

Trantina executed a slide job into turn one after the restart, but Weight regained the top spot. Trantina was then three wide with Schow and Koehler for second, and Koehler used the low groove to steal second out of corner four. The lap was scored before another caution with 13 laps to go.

Koehler used the low groove to gain the lead out of turn two, but the caution fell before a lap could be scored. On the next restart, Weight and Koehler raced for the lead, and Schow and Rodin were side by side into turns three and four, but contact sent Rodin toward the wall with Schow sideways. Trantina made contact with Schow, who bounced around like a pinball as the field barrelled by; the calamity ended with Mario Berger, Howell and Tanner Bitzan piled up out of turn four.

Weight led the field to the restart, but Koehler used the low groove to snatch the lead out of turn four. Trantina challenged for second and Memphis Klassen shot to fourth before the caution fell again with 12 laps to go. The final caution fell after a spin on the restart.

Koehler slipped away after the restart while Weight and Trantina battled door to door for second. Klassen slapped the turn four wall, forfeited his top five position and dropped out of the race. Adams regained fourth ahead of 26th-starter Reise Stenberg and 17th-starter Mike Nichols in a battle for fifth. Trantina secured second with eight laps to go, and Adams worked high on Weight in a battle for third.

Trantina used the high side of the speedway and tried to reel in the leader, but could not make serious cuts into the disadvantage. Adams still battled with Weight, and both drivers caught Trantina as he searched for speed in the closing laps. The three cars battled for second and Nichols ran alone in fifth with a big gap to sixth.

Koehler stayed glued to the low groove and raced to his first WISSOTA 100 title. Trantina held on for second with Adams third, Weight fourth and Nichols fifth. Stenberg, Ron Saurer, 25th-starter Matt Heinzerling, Justin Bjorklund and Scott Tofte rounded out the top 10.

Seven drivers transferred out of the Last Chance Qualifier and earned a start in the Championship feature. Ryan Flaten led the distance for the win while Matt Heinzerling had to defend second from Reise Stenberg in the late going. Justin Bjorklund, Kyle Langland, Zach Benson and Tanner Bitzan ran spread out in the transfer positions until the last lap when Langland lost power in a cloud of smoke. Onyx Johnson was the beneficiary and earned the seventh and final transfer position.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 13X-Nick Koehler[6]; 2. 19X-James Trantina III[3]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 4. 28-Brennon Weight[2]; 5. 67-Mike Nichols[17]; 6. 87S-Reise Stenberg[26]; 7. 42-Ron Saurer[13]; 8. 22-Matt Heinzerling[25]; 9. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[27]; 10. 28X-Scott Tofte[18]; 11. 15F-Ryan Flaten[23]; 12. 21-Shane Howell[7]; 13. 73J-Onyx Johnson[30]; 14. F43-Zach Benson[28]; 15. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[16]; 16. M47-Malachi Klassen[11]; 17. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[29]; 18. 77-Chance Kodet[31]; 19. (DNF) 9K-Kolby Kiehl[21]; 20. (DNF) 47K-Memphis Klassen[9]; 21. (DNF) 19-Lucas Rodin[5]; 22. (DNF) 28S-Ryan Schow[10]; 23. (DNF) 73-Mario Berger[8]; 24. (DNF) 30-Joey Jensen[14]; 25. (DNF) 2S-Matt Schow[1]; 26. (DNF) 18-Tony Leiker[15]; 27. (DNF) 11R-Landyn Randt[12]; 28. (DNF) 11-Ashton Schulte[19]; 29. (DNF) 22Z-Zach Reinke[32]; 30. (DNF) 24E-Cole Elton[24]; 31. (DNF) 9-Griffen Switzenberg[22]; 32. (DNF) 69R-Terry Reilly[33]; 33. (DNF) 59-Kyle Anderson[20]

LCQ (15 Laps): 1. 15F-Ryan Flaten[2]; 2. 22-Matt Heinzerling[1]; 3. 87S-Reise Stenberg[6]; 4. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[4]; 5. F43-Zach Benson[10]; 6. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[13]; 7. 73J-Onyx Johnson[8]; 8. 12X-Jamie Norman[7]; 9. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[5]; 10. 4B-Arin Beyer[9]; 11. 69T-Nick Thoreson[12]; 12. 50H-Haley Dykhoff[16]; 13. 28T-Tommy Nichols[14]; 14. 97-Michelle Hutt[11]; 15. 11S-Darren Engesser[15]; 16. (DNF) 66-Kyle Langland[3]