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Shane Sabraski (Cody Papke Photo)

Sabraski qualifies for Midwest Mod Championship feature with Thursday night Qualifying Feature win

By Ryan Schmitz
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 17) - The third night of action for the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds at the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100 with former track champion Nate Reinke and Shane Howell holding down the front row of the Qualifying Feature. The 24-car field was topped by Shane Sabraski, as the remainder of the top eight locked themselves into the big dance on Saturday night.

Howell jumped to the early lead ahead of Reinke and Nick Preston. Howell led lap one but almost spun going into turn two on lap two, giving the lead to Reinke.

Five laps into the main event Reinke continued to stretch his lead as Howell worked his way back into second. Preston was third, Wyatt Boyum was fourth, and Sabraski was fifth. Boyum worked his way into second on lap seven with Jake Smith racing up to challenge Sabraski for fourth. Sabraski and Smith disposed of Howell on lap 11. With just six laps remaining the first yellow of the race flew over the speedway for Scott Thompson, who slowed on the backstretch with a flat right front tire. During the caution period Howell pulled to the bottom of the speedway and ended his night.

Arin Beyer (4B) and Shane Sabraski (7A). (Cody Papke Photo)

The field was bunched back up behind Reinke for the green, with Boyum choosing the outside lane of Sabraski in row two. As the leaders entered turn one on the ensuring restart, Boyum made a power move to momentarily get past Reinke — who powered back by on the bottom of the track. Sabraski moved to the lead with five laps remaining after a brief three-wide battle for the lead.

With Sabraski continuing to lead the field, a great battle was shaping up between 24th-starter Tony Leiker and Jason Grimes; the duo swapped the fifth spot multiple times. Back up front Sabraski raced to the win with Reinke second, Boyum third, Smith fourth, Leiker fifth, Grimes sixth, 23rd-starter Blake Adams seventh, and Dylan McCaughan in the eighth and final transfer spot.

Smith and Adams gave up their Qualifying Feature spots to race again for national points on Friday.

The remaining 71 entries in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were split into eight heat races as they opened up the action on night three of the 40th Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100.

Cody Papke Photos

A pair of Canadians, Maddox Klassen and Keenan Glasser, sat on row one for the first heat race of the evening. Klassen moved out to the lead on the high side of the speedway, as Glasser locked into second. Behind the leaders, Kolby Kiehl and Kyle Anderson moved their way into the third and fourth spots. Klassen held on for the win with Glasser second and Kiehl third. Kyle Anderson and Griffen Switzenberg completed the top five.

Jake Hagemann sat on the pole for the second heat race and jumped out to the lead early in the race. Hagemann set sail and continued to stretch his advantage lap after lap, with all eyes on eighth- and ninth—starters Nick Koehler and Tony Leiker as they worked their way through the field. Hagemann continued to blister the field and raced to the checkers with Scott Thompson second and Jamie Norman third. Koehler and Leiker finished in the top five.

Kasey Knabe and Michelle Hutt sat on row one for the third of the eight heats, and Hutt jumped out to an early lead. Before a lap could be completed, a multicar incident brought out the red flag when Matt Schow rolled his machine in turn three. Schow was okay, but his car was not, ending his evening. Knabe jumped into the lead back under green, with Hutt hot on his heels. The lead duo settled into their positions until the final lap when Hutt lost the bite on her machine and spun in turn three, which set up a one-lap race to the checkered. Knabe set his machine on the bottom of the track and raced to the win with ninth-starter Nate Reinke in second and Tayten Blascyk in third. Josh Beaulieu and Justin Bjorklund were top-five finishers.

National point leader Blake Adams sat on row one for heat race four with local driver Andrew DeNoble alongside him. The front row duo was quickly ambushed by third-starter Jake Smith, who raced to the early lead. Adams settled into second with Jason Grimes moving into third. As the laps ticked off the front trio were comfortably in their positions with Smith taking the win ahead of Adams and Grimes. DeNoble and Brennon Weight completed the top five.

Noah McFarlane and Ryan Nash sat on row one for the fifth heat race of the evening and McFarlane jumped out to the lead. McFarlane was quickly joined by sixth-starter Jory Berg and the duo began to race away from the rest of the field. With two laps remaining the duo made contact on the frontstretch and it caused Berg’s car to roll and ended both of their nights. With the wreck cleaned up, Shane Howell moved to the lead and raced to the win ahead of Arin Beyer and Nick Preston. Ryan Nash and Joel Waba were also top-five finishers.

Taylor Bitzan jumped out to the early lead in heat race number six with brother Tanner Bitzan in tow. As the Bitzan boys continued to run in the top two spots, Tommy Nichols moved into third near the midway point of the race. The main battle on the speedway was between Jamie Davis and Cole Neset for fifth, which eventually went to Davis. Taylor went onto to win the heat race, Tanner was second, and Nichols rounded out the top three. Behind Davis, Neset had to settle for fifth.

A pair of number No. 13s sat on the front row for the seventh heat race of the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds as Tate Kostreba and Scott Oeltjen lined up side by side. Kostreba quickly disposed of Oeltjen and raced to a very big lead in the opening few laps. Ryan Flaten moved his way into second near the midway point of the heat while Kostreba continued to stretch his advantage. A late race yellow bunched the field back up but Kostreba went on to garner the win ahead of Flaten, Dylan McCaughan, Mario Berger and Nick Shumansky in the top five.

A pair of western visitors in Darin Hauff and Michael Rogers manned row one for the eighth and final heat race for the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds. At the drop of the green Danny Vang’s machine slowed on the front chute, bringing out the caution and bunching up the field. On the ensuing restart, Shane Sabraski raced to the inside of the front row and raced into the lead with Wyatt Boyum in hot pursuit. Sabraski eventually drove away and claimed the heat with Boyum in second and Rogers in third. Joel Morris and Cejay LaValley rounded out the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]; 2. 71-Nate Reinke[1]; 3. 21-Wyatt Boyum[10]; 4. 21S-Jake Smith[9]; 5. 18-Tony Leiker[24]; 6. 99-Jason Grimes[14]; 7. 40D-Blake Adams[23]; 8. 77X-Dylan McCaughan[8]; 9. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[18]; 10. 28-Tommy Nichols[20]; 11. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[12]; 12. 13K-Nick Koehler[17]; 13. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[6]; 14. 85-Jamie Davis[21]; 15. 28K-Nick Preston[4]; 16. 13-Tate Kostreba[13]; 17. 33-Jake Hagemann[15]; 18. 4B-Arin Beyer[3]; 19. 15F-Ryan Flaten[7]; 20. 64-Joel Morris[19]; 21. 81K-Casey Knabe[16]; 22. M47-Maddox Klassen[11]; 23. (DNF) 21H-Shane Howell[2]; 24. (DNF) 11X-Scott Thompson[22]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. M47-Maddox Klassen[2]; 2. 22G-Keenan Glasser[1]; 3. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[4]; 4. 59-Kyle Anderson[6]; 5. 9-Griffen Switzenberg[5]; 6. 1X-Travis Engebretson[3]; 7. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[8]; 8. 65-Branden Kasten[7]; 9. 4C-Travis Shumate[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Jake Hagemann[1]; 2. 11X-Scott Thompson[2]; 3. 12X-Jamie Norman[3]; 4. 13K-Nick Koehler[8]; 5. 18-Tony Leiker[9]; 6. 13S-Anthony Berger[4]; 7. 2-Denis Czech[5]; 8. 15K-Kenna Breidenbach[7]; 9. 27X-Andy Miskowic[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 81K-Casey Knabe[1]; 2. 71-Nate Reinke[9]; 3. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[3]; 4. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[8]; 5. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[5]; 6. 97-Michelle Hutt[2]; 7. (DNF) 4E-Justin Elmer[4]; 8. (DNF) 10B-Tyler Bitzan[6]; 9. (DNF) 2S-Matt Schow[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 21S-Jake Smith[3]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[2]; 3. 99-Jason Grimes[6]; 4. 15-Andrew DeNoble[1]; 5. 28W-Brennon Weight[9]; 6. 12S-Chad Switzenberg[8]; 7. 11S-Darren Engesser[4]; 8. 19S-Darrin Lawler[5]; 9. 27-Josh Schiffler[7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 21H-Shane Howell[6]; 2. 4B-Arin Beyer[7]; 3. 28K-Nick Preston[9]; 4. 14R-Ryan Nash[2]; 5. 83-Joel Waba[5]; 6. 1D-Devon Charpenter[3]; 7. (DNF) 10M-Noah McFarlane[1]; 8. (DNF) B4-Jory Berg[4]; 9. (DNF) 69-Ethen Waltz[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[2]; 2. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[6]; 3. 28-Tommy Nichols[5]; 4. 85-Jamie Davis[7]; 5. 30-Cole Neset[3]; 6. 69T-Nick Thoreson[4]; 7. 21Z-Zach Kort[9]; 8. 10X-Robert Bitz[8]; 9. 2D-Jonathan Dulas[1]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Tate Kostreba[2]; 2. 15F-Ryan Flaten[6]; 3. 77X-Dylan McCaughan[8]; 4. 73-Mario Berger[5]; 5. 17-Nick Shumansky[9]; 6. 13O-Scott Oeltjen[1]; 7. 29-Ty Miller[3]; 8. 47K-Memphis Klassen[4]; 9. 42-Ron Saurer[7]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 2. 21-Wyatt Boyum[5]; 3. 94-Michael Rogers[2]; 4. 64-Joel Morris[8]; 5. 33L-Cejay LaValley[6]; 6. 11-Danny Vang[3]; 7. 77-Chance Kodet[7]; 8. 4-Darin Hauff[1]