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Smith steers his #21 to a win in the final Midwest Mod Qualifying Feature at the WISSOTA 100

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 19) - Jake Smith started on the front row and left no doubt about the outcome of Friday’s WISSOTA Midwest Modified Qualifying Feature, held on Saturday afternoon. Smith ran away to the victory in the caution-free race and earned a front row starting spot for Saturday’s Championship Feature.

The top eight finishers in the 20-lap Qualifying Feature earned a start in the Championship Feature. Smith jumped out front of the field when the green waved. Anthony Berger grabbed second from Brennon Weight, but Weight looked to his inside to reclaim the position on lap two. Jamie Davis challenged Berger for third, with Taylor Bitzan next in line.

Jake Smith (21) and Brennon Weight (28). (Cody Papke Photo)

Smith left the field in his dust, and had a healthy lead with five laps recorded. Weight was comfortably in second, while Davis kept the heat on Anthony Berger for third. Behind Bitzan, Mario Berger was sixth ahead of Kyle Anderson, while Nick Koehler worked the middle groove and raced from 13th to seventh.

Smith had half a straightaway lead at the midway point, and the top two had a large gap to third. Davis continued to challenge Anthony Berger for third, and finally snagged the spot on lap 13. Bitzan ran alone in fifth with five laps to go.

Smith worked through lapped traffic in the final laps, and Weight closed in a little, but he was never close enough to challenge and Smith claimed the win. Weight was second, Davis third, Anthony Berger fourth, Taylor Bitzan fifth, Anderson sixth and Mario Berger seventh. Tanner Bitzan made a last-corner, outside-lane pass to steal the final transfer spot from Koehler at the line.

Cody Papke Photos

Seven heat races, eight laps in distance, were contested by the Midwest Modifieds to set the 24-car field in Friday’s Qualifying Feature.

Justin Bjorklund grabbed the initial lead in the first heat race. Jake Smith started last on the grid, and made a three-wide pass for second on lap two. He picked off Bjorklund on the next lap and ran away to the win. Shane Howell moved by Bjorklund for second after a late restart, with Chad Switzenberg finishing fourth and Zach Kort fifth.

Tanner Bitzan led all the way for the win in heat two. Arin Beyer provided pressure early, but could not keep pace and settled for second. Taylor Bitzan worked his way forward from eighth to finish third, with Nick Shumansky fourth and Scott Oeltjen fifth.

Jamie Davis slipped by Ryan Flaten for the lead on the opening lap of heat three. Flaten stayed close as the laps clicked by, and Keenan Glasser moved by eighth-starter Cole Neset for third near the halfway mark. Davis picked up the victory ahead of Flaten, Glasser, Tate Kostreba and Neset.

Mario Berger led every lap of heat four, but 73-year-old Ron Saurer kept the pressure on the whole time. Berger turned back Saurer for the win, with Jake Hagemann third, Ty Miller fourth and Joel Morris fifth.

Kyle Anderson and Memphis Klassen battled for the top spot early in the fifth heat race. Anderson secured the lead on lap three, while Klassen stayed ahead of a four-car battle for third. Anderson pulled away in the second half of the race for the win, with Klassen second, Travis Shumate third, Travis Engebretson fourth and Chance Kodet fifth.

Andy Miskowic jumped out to the initial lead in heat six. Weight raced by Kenna Breidenbach for second on lap three, and quickly put heavy pressure on the leader. Weight stole the lead with an inside move with two laps to go, and Breidenbach turned back fellow No. 15 Andrew DeNoble for third. Jamie Norman was fifth.

In the final heat contested in the early morning hours on Friday, defending race winner Nick Koehler led early, but Blake Adams made a power move to steal the lead on lap three. Koehler stayed close for a few laps, but lost touch and settled for second. Anthony Berger started ninth and finished third ahead of Tyler Bitzan and Tayten Blascyk.

The Midwest Modifieds needed three Last Chance Qualifiers to set the remainder of the field for the WISSOTA 100 main event. The top two from each race made the cut for the big show.

In the first 12-lap race, Nick Koehler grabbed the early lead, and Justin Bjorklund blasted around the high side to race from sixth to second on lap one. The top two broke away and ran in close contention, while Joel Morris gave chase in third.

Bjorklund made an outside move after an early restart and led the field to complete lap six; he pulled away from Koehler, while Ron Saurer worked the low groove and challenged Morris for third.

Koehler attempted to reclaim the lead after a late restart, but Bjorklund turned him back to hold the position. The top two transfers ran away from the pack, and Morris barely held off Saurer for third. Ryan Nash rounded out the top five.

Jake Hagemann pulled away with the early lead in LCQ two. Tate Kostreba ran second in the high groove, but Chance Kodet worked to his inside in a battle for the transfer. Kostreba edged away after a few laps, before a caution flag with six laps scored.

Kodet nearly spun in turn two after the restart, which allowed Tayten Blascyk to move into third. Hagemann was challenged briefly by Kostreba, but pulled away again after a few laps. Hagemann raced to the win with Kostreba second, Blascyk third, Denis Czech fourth and Memphis Klassen fifth.

In the final qualifying event of the week, Maddox Klassen grabbed the early lead, while Chad Switzenberg had to fend off Nick Shumansky, among others, to retain second. Klassen pulled away from the pack, and Scott Thompson worked by Tyler Bitzan and Shumansky for third.

Thompson ducked to the inside of Klassen after a mid-race restart and led lap seven, while Andy Miskowic and Scott Oeltjen worked their way into contention.

Klassen stayed with Thompson, and the top two edged away from the pack and battled for the win. Klassen raced to Thompson’s outside, and they were door to door with two laps to go. They spent the final two laps neck and neck, and Klassen won the drag race to the line with Miskowic a close third. Bitzan and Oeltjen rounded out the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 21S-Jake Smith[1]; 2. 28W-Brennon Weight[3]; 3. 85-Jamie Davis[5]; 4. 13S-Anthony Berger[4]; 5. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[6]; 6. 59-Kyle Anderson[9]; 7. 73-Mario Berger[8]; 8. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[7]; 9. 13K-Nick Koehler[13]; 10. 4B-Arin Beyer[11]; 11. 1X-Travis Engebretson[17]; 12. 33-Jake Hagemann[15]; 13. 27X-Andy Miskowic[21]; 14. 42-Ron Saurer[12]; 15. 13-Tate Kostreba[16]; 16. 29-Ty Miller[10]; 17. 4C-Travis Shumate[20]; 18. 47K-Memphis Klassen[23]; 19. 15F-Ryan Flaten[19]; 20. (DNF) 17-Nick Shumansky[24]; 21. (DNS) 40D-Blake Adams; 22. (DNS) 22G-Keenan Glasser; 23. (DNS) 21H-Shane Howell; 24. (DNS) 30-Cole Neset

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21S-Jake Smith[9]; 2. 21H-Shane Howell[3]; 3. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[2]; 4. 12S-Chad Switzenberg[5]; 5. 21Z-Zach Kort[6]; 6. 14R-Ryan Nash[8]; 7. 2D-Jonathan Dulas[7]; 8. 27-Josh Schiffler[4]; 9. (DNS) 4E-Justin Elmer

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[3]; 2. 4B-Arin Beyer[4]; 3. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[8]; 4. 17-Nick Shumansky[6]; 5. 13O-Scott Oeltjen[7]; 6. 11S-Darren Engesser[1]; 7. 1D-Devon Charpenter[9]; 8. 69-Ethen Waltz[5]; 9. (DNF) 19S-Darrin Lawler[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 85-Jamie Davis[4]; 2. 15F-Ryan Flaten[3]; 3. 22G-Keenan Glasser[6]; 4. 13-Tate Kostreba[8]; 5. 30-Cole Neset[9]; 6. 4-Darin Hauff[7]; 7. 83-Joel Waba[2]; 8. 10X-Robert Bitz[5]; 9. (DNS) B4-Jory Berg

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 73-Mario Berger[2]; 2. 42-Ron Saurer[4]; 3. 33-Jake Hagemann[6]; 4. 29-Ty Miller[9]; 5. 64-Joel Morris[5]; 6. M47-Maddox Klassen[7]; 7. 94-Michael Rogers[8]; 8. (DNF) 69T-Nick Thoreson[1]; 9. (DNF) 33L-Cejay LaValley[3]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 59-Kyle Anderson[2]; 2. 47K-Memphis Klassen[1]; 3. 4C-Travis Shumate[5]; 4. 1X-Travis Engebretson[8]; 5. 77-Chance Kodet[4]; 6. 11X-Scott Thompson[7]; 7. 81K-Casey Knabe[6]; 8. 11-Danny Vang[9]; 9. 65-Branden Kasten[3]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 28W-Brennon Weight[5]; 2. 27X-Andy Miskowic[2]; 3. 15K-Kenna Breidenbach[3]; 4. 15-Andrew DeNoble[6]; 5. 12X-Jamie Norman[8]; 6. 97-Michelle Hutt[7]; 7. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[4]; 8. (DNF) 9-Griffen Switzenberg[1]; 9. (DNS) 9K-Kolby Kiehl

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[7]; 2. 13K-Nick Koehler[4]; 3. 13S-Anthony Berger[9]; 4. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[2]; 5. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[8]; 6. 28K-Nick Preston[5]; 7. (DNF) 2S-Matt Schow[3]; 8. (DNF) 2-Denis Czech[1]; 9. (DNS) 10M-Noah McFarlane

LCQ 1 (12 Laps): 1. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[6]; 2. 13K-Nick Koehler[1]; 3. 64-Joel Morris[2]; 4. 42-Ron Saurer[9]; 5. 14R-Ryan Nash[10]; 6. 21Z-Zach Kort[12]; 7. 12X-Jamie Norman[4]; 8. 4C-Travis Shumate[7]; 9. 9-Griffen Switzenberg[11]; 10. 81K-Casey Knabe[8]; 11. 11S-Darren Engesser[13]; 12. 83-Joel Waba[17]; 13. 2D-Jonathan Dulas[18]; 14. 27-Josh Schiffler[16]; 15. 28K-Nick Preston[3]; 16. (DNF) 15-Andrew DeNoble[5]; 17. (DNS) B4-Jory Berg; 18. (DNS) 65-Branden Kasten

LCQ 2 (12 Laps): 1. 33-Jake Hagemann[1]; 2. 13-Tate Kostreba[2]; 3. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[6]; 4. 2-Denis Czech[12]; 5. 47K-Memphis Klassen[11]; 6. 15K-Kenna Breidenbach[8]; 7. 77-Chance Kodet[5]; 8. 11-Danny Vang[17]; 9. 94-Michael Rogers[7]; 10. 10X-Robert Bitz[15]; 11. (DNF) 1X-Travis Engebretson[4]; 12. (DNF) 82JR-Sophie Anderson[14]; 13. (DNS) 22G-Keenan Glasser; 14. (DNS) 30-Cole Neset; 15. (DNS) 2S-Matt Schow; 16. (DNS) 4E-Justin Elmer; 17. (DNS) 19S-Darrin Lawler

LCQ 3 (12 Laps): 1. M47-Maddox Klassen[1]; 2. 11X-Scott Thompson[5]; 3. 27X-Andy Miskowic[9]; 4. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[6]; 5. 13O-Scott Oeltjen[7]; 6. 1D-Devon Charpenter[15]; 7. 17-Nick Shumansky[4]; 8. 4-Darin Hauff[13]; 9. 10M-Noah McFarlane[17]; 10. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[14]; 11. 97-Michelle Hutt[12]; 12. 33L-Cejay LaValley[11]; 13. 69-Ethen Waltz[16]; 14. (DNF) 12S-Chad Switzenberg[3]; 15. (DNF) 29-Ty Miller[8]; 16. (DNS) 21H-Shane Howell; 17. (DNS) 69T-Nick Thoreson