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Gierke all grins after winning opening-night Modified Qualifying Feature at 2025 WISSOTA 100

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 10) - Ryan Gierke has already collected several big wins in his young racing career, but his win during Wednesday night’s WISSOTA Modified Qualifying Feature put him another step closer to a WISSOTA 100 title.

Travis Saurer blasted off with the lead when the green flag waved during the 15-lap qualifier. Gierke and Landon Atkinson contested the runner-up slot early, and Johnny Broking was close to that pair by lap two. Gierke secured second, and challenged Saurer for the lead on lap four. He used a slide job to grab the top spot on lap six, and Atkinson used the inside lane to challenge for second on the next lap. Broking was fourth and Tyler Peterson moved into the top five at the halfway mark.

Gierke set sail at the front of the pack while Atkinson continued to work on Saurer for second. He finally took the spot on lap 10, and began to close on Gierke. Peterson slipped under Broking in turn two to claim fourth, and he moved in on Saurer, although both were a substantial distance behind the lead pair.

Atkinson chipped off 1.5 seconds of Gierke’s lead during the last five laps as the track picked up speed in the middle groove. Gierke was closing on the back of the field, but the checkered flags fell and Gierke scored the victory. Atkinson was a half-second back at the checkers, and Saurer held off Peterson for third. Broking was fifth ahead of Dave Cain, Joseph Thomas and Brady Gerdes in the top eight transfer positions. Of those eight drivers, only the front four elected to keep their starting spots; 17th-finisher Tyler Kaeter, 18th-finisher Dale Ames, 21st-finisher Brett Hoium and 22nd-finisher Brian Haben did take the transfers and will line up on the inside line on Saturday.

Earlier in the evening, five eight-lap heat races determined the starting lineup for the night’s main event. In the opening heat race, Blake Adams led all the way from the pole and scored the win. Bryce Sward and Dave Cain battled for second in the early going before Sward slipped away with the position. Sward did not clear post-race tech, however, and was disqualified. Cain was awarded second ahead of Brendan Blascyk, Zach Benson and Brandon Dolman.

Hoium led early in the second heat with pressure from Lucas Rodin. After the halfway point of the race, a trio joined the leaders for a five-car race for the win. Gierke picked off Rodin, and then Hoium to steal the win with two laps to go. Hoium turned back Atkinson for second with Rodin fourth and Shane Sabraski fifth.

Don Eischens led early in the third heat while Brady Gerdes worked forward on the low side. Gerdes powered ahead to lead lap four and raced to the win, while Saurer made some daring late moves on the cushion to grab two spots in the closing laps and finish second. Eischens was third ahead of Dan Ebert and Tyler Kintner.

In the fourth heat, the second row of Jody Bellefeuille and Johnny Broking split Bryce Borgen on the second lap, and battled between themselves for the lead. Broking grabbed the spot and ran away to victory ahead of Bellefeuille, Joseph Thomas, Josh Thoennes and Borgen.

Peterson started on the pole and left the pack for the victory in heat five. Blake Jegtvig and Tyler Kaeter fought for second in the opening half of the race before Dustin Bitzan raced by Kaeter for third in the late going. Kaeter was fourth and Brian Haben was fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 26G-Ryan Gierke[1]; 2. 18A-Landon Atkinson[3]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[2]; 4. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[8]; 5. 45J-Johnny Broking[4]; 6. 2C-Dave Cain[10]; 7. 6T-Joseph Thomas[6]; 8. 2X-Brady Gerdes[5]; 9. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[12]; 10. 60-Dan Ebert[9]; 11. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[11]; 12. 40D-Blake Adams[7]; 13. 7A-Shane Sabraski[16]; 14. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[13]; 15. 24-Brandon Dolman[15]; 16. 17B-Zach Benson[17]; 17. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[22]; 18. 6-Dale Ames[24]; 19. 9E-Don Eischens[20]; 20. 51-Josh Thoennes[19]; 21. 5H-Brett Hoium[14]; 22. 6*-Brian Haben[21]; 23. 24S-Mike Stearns[23]; 24. (DNF) 9B-Brendan Blascyk[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 2C-Dave Cain[3]; 3. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[2]; 4. 17B-Zach Benson[6]; 5. 24-Brandon Dolman[9]; 6. 11X-Austin Chyba[4]; 7. 2G-Brock Gronwold[8]; 8. 51X-Alex Guthmiller[7]; 9. (DQ) 6X-Bryce Sward[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 26G-Ryan Gierke[3]; 2. 5H-Brett Hoium[2]; 3. 18A-Landon Atkinson[6]; 4. 19-Lucas Rodin[1]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[9]; 6. 428-Kaden Blaeser[4]; 7. 52-Jason Thoennes[7]; 8. 6SL-Seth Brede[5]; 9. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2X-Brady Gerdes[3]; 2. 21X-Travis Saurer[5]; 3. 9E-Don Eischens[1]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[8]; 5. 22-Tyler Kintner[2]; 6. 22C-Brandon Copp[4]; 7. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[7]; 8. 18-Taylor Garberich[6]; 9. 13-Devyn Weleski[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 45J-Johnny Broking[4]; 2. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[3]; 3. 6T-Joseph Thomas[6]; 4. 51-Josh Thoennes[5]; 5. 7B-Bryce Borgen[2]; 6. 24S-Mike Stearns[8]; 7. 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 8. 66-Jacob Knapper[7]; 9. 99-Doyle Erickson[9]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[3]; 3. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[5]; 4. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[2]; 5. 6*-Brian Haben[7]; 6. 6-Dale Ames[8]; 7. 10-Justin VanEps[4]; 8. 99E-Blake Erickson[9]; 9. 8-Andy Brooker[6]