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Gronwold gets a gift and a front row ticket to the Modified Championship Feature at the WISSOTA 100

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 19) - It is said you only need to lead the last lap to win a race, but sometimes you don’t need to lead any. Brock Gronwold was elevated to first place in Friday’s WISSOTA Modified Qualifying Feature after apparent winner Blake Adams was disqualified for a frame height infraction. Gronwold inherited the feature victory and the middle of the front row for Saturday’s main event.

Blake Adams and Travis Saurer brought the field to green in Friday’s Qualifying Feature, held Saturday in the noon hour. The top eight finishers locked into the middle row for the championship feature later on in the night.

After a caution on the initial start, Adams and Saurer battled door to door over the opening lap, and Adams narrowly held the lead at the line. Adams gained the advantage on lap two, but a caution for a melee in the second corner slowed the field again.

Brock Gronwold (2G) and Blake Adams (40D). (Cody Papke Photo)

Adams slipped away after the restart, while Gronwold pulled even with Saurer and the two remained locked in a battle for second. Saurer secured the spot by lap five, and Jody Bellefeuille cleared Seth Brede for fourth on lap six. The caution waved again with six laps complete.

Bellefeuille looked under Gronwold for third after the restart, and Shane Sabraski challenged Brede for fifth before another caution with eight laps scored.

Gronwold grabbed second and chased Adams at the front of the field; he looked to his inside after the halfway mark as the top two slipped away from the pack. Gronwold kept the heat on, while Saurer ran in third ahead of Brede and Johnny Broking. Although Gronwold lost a little ground with five laps to go, he reloaded for another shot and stayed to the inside of Adams in the turns. Adams opened a little ground in the last couple laps and caught the tail of the field on the last lap, but crossed the line with a few car lengths over Gronwold. After Adams’ disqualification, Gronwold was the winner with Saurer second, Brede third, Broking fourth, 16th-starter Sabraski fifth, Bellefeuille sixth, Kennedy Swan seventh and 23rd-starter Brandon Dolman in the eighth and final transfer.

Cody Papke Photos

The top 24 in passing points from three, eight-lap heat races set the grid for the Friday portion’s qualifying feature.

In the opening Modified heat race — contested very late on Thursday night — Devyn Weleski led every lap for the victory. He dominated the first half of the run while Jonathan Olmscheid fended off Brede for second. After a mid-race restart, Brede kept the heat on Weleski for the lead, until Brede drifted high and allowed 10th-starter Adams to slip by on the final lap. Brede was third ahead of Olmschied and Jason Grimes.

Gronwold cruised to victory in the second heat race. Clayton Wagamon ran in second for the duration and Kennedy Swan was third ahead of ninth-starter Johnny Broking and Brian Haben.

Jody Bellefeuille powered to the lead in turn one of the third heat, then drove away to score the win. Zach Benson picked off Ryan Flaten for second after an early restart, but Benson did not pass tech inspection and forfeited second. Flaten was awarded runner up with seventh-starter Travis Saurer third, Jason Thoennes fourth and Arkansas racer Tyler Wolff fifth.

The final seven cars for the championship feature were the top seven finishers from the Last Chance Qualifier, held after the Qualifying Feature. Flaten and Tyler Peterson led the field to green in the 15-lap race, and Peterson settled into the lead early over Flaten and Austin Chyba.

After a caution with one lap complete, Chyba claimed second and Flaten was third ahead of a mad scramble for position. Flaten slowed to a stop at the top of turn four after one more lap was scored.

Landon Atkinson was on the charge after the restart, and worked inside Chyba for second. Devyn Weleski held fourth with pressure from 17th-starter Zach Benson.

Peterson had a few-car length lead with five laps to go, and the top two had separated from the field. The gap between the lead pair remained consistent, but lapped traffic made things closer in the final laps. Atkinson ducked to the inside of Peterson in the final set of turns, but could not make the pass. Chyba was third with Weleski fourth, Benson fifth, Brian Haben sixth, and Justin VanEps in the final transfer position.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2G-Brock Gronwold[3]; 2. 21X-Travis Saurer[2]; 3. 6SL-Seth Brede[7]; 4. 45J-Johnny Broking[4]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[16]; 6. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[6]; 7. 18S-Kennedy Swan[10]; 8. 24-Brandon Dolman[23]; 9. 13-Devyn Weleski[5]; 10. 11X-Austin Chyba[17]; 11. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[9]; 12. 52-Jason Thoennes[12]; 13. 99-Jason Grimes[11]; 14. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[15]; 15. 3-Arne Anderson[19]; 16. 1B-Jason Blascyk[21]; 17. (DNF) 6F-Matt Fester[18]; 18. (DNF) 5-Cole Shake[20]; 19. (DNF) 91-Tyler Wolff[14]; 20. (DNF) 15-Ryan Flaten[8]; 21. (DNF) 6*-Brian Haben[13]; 22. (DNF) 550K-Kyle Anton[22]; 23. (DQ) 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 24. (DQ) 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[24]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Devyn Weleski[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[10]; 3. 6SL-Seth Brede[5]; 4. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[2]; 5. 99-Jason Grimes[7]; 6. 3-Arne Anderson[4]; 7. 6F-Matt Fester[8]; 8. (DNF) B1-Lynn Sather[3]; 9. (DNF) 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[9]; 10. (DNF) 10-Justin VanEps[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2G-Brock Gronwold[2]; 2. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[1]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[4]; 4. 45J-Johnny Broking[9]; 5. 6*-Brian Haben[6]; 6. 7A-Shane Sabraski[8]; 7. 550K-Kyle Anton[5]; 8. 5-Cole Shake[10]; 9. (DNF) 442-Aaron Johnson[3]; 10. (DNF) 18A-Landon Atkinson[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[1]; 2. 15-Ryan Flaten[2]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[7]; 4. 52-Jason Thoennes[4]; 5. 91-Tyler Wolff[6]; 6. 11X-Austin Chyba[8]; 7. 24-Brandon Dolman[5]; 8. 1B-Jason Blascyk[9]; 9. (DQ) 17B-Zach Benson[3]

LCQ 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[2]; 2. 18A-Landon Atkinson[8]; 3. 11X-Austin Chyba[4]; 4. 13-Devyn Weleski[6]; 5. 17B-Zach Benson[17]; 6. 6*-Brian Haben[5]; 7. 10-Justin VanEps[14]; 8. 52-Jason Thoennes[3]; 9. 442-Aaron Johnson[9]; 10. 550K-Kyle Anton[10]; 11. 3-Arne Anderson[11]; 12. B1-Lynn Sather[16]; 13. 5-Cole Shake[18]; 14. (DNF) 1B-Jason Blascyk[13]; 15. (DNF) 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 16. (DNF) 6F-Matt Fester[12]; 17. (DNS) 91-Tyler Wolff; 18. (DNS) 99-Jason Grimes