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Bitzan wins one for the home team and earns pole for the Modified Championship Feature at the 100

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 16-17) - Dustin Bitzan scored one for the home team in Wednesday’s postponed WISSOTA Modified Qualifying Feature. Bitzan led all but an early lap and earned the inside front-row starting spot in Saturday’s Championship Feature.

Blake Adams and Bitzan brought the 20-lap Qualifying Feature to life, with the top eight finishers transferring to Saturday’s feature. The start, however, was called back and Adams was docked a row for a jump start.

Bitzan narrowly edged out Don Eischens to lead the first lap, but Eischens led lap two by a hair in the high groove. Bitzan was ahead again to complete lap three and opened a small advantage with Adams, Cade Dillard, and Joe Thomas in the top five. Adams got too high on lap seven, and Dillard claimed third.

Bitzan edged away from Eischens as they neared the halfway point, and Eischens had a comfortable advantage ahead of Dillard before the caution for debris with nine laps recorded.

Dustin Bitzan (10x) and Don Eishens (9). (Cody Papke Photo)

Dillard stole second from Eischens after the restart, while Adams slipped back in the high groove, and Thomas moved in to work on Eischens for third. Dave Cain took over fifth and Tyler Peterson looked to the inside of Adams for sixth.

Bitzan stretched his advantage on Dillard with five laps to go, and Dillard had breathing room ahead of Eischens for second. Despite catching the tail of the field on the final lap, Bitzan scored the victory ahead of Dillard, Eischens, Thomas, and Cain in the top five. The final three transfer spots went to Peterson, Jacob Knapper and 16th-starter Johnny Broking.

Of the drivers eligible to transfer, Peterson, Broking, ninth-finisher Adams, and 10th-finisher Travis Saurer all declined their spots and elected to race again on Thursday night.

The Qualifying Feature was set by five, eight-lap heat races earlier in the program, with the top 24 in total passing points filling the grid. Three of the five heat races were completed on Wednesday night before rain postponed the rest of the program until the following morning.

Fourth-starter Tyler Wolff took the lead on the opening lap of heat one, but lost power at the halfway mark to bring out a caution. Cain led the rest of the way after the restart, but had heavy pressure from seventh-starter Bitzan and Brandon Dolman to the checkered. Bitzan was second with Dolman third, Broking fourth and Aaron Johnson fifth.

Kyle Anton led the opening lap of the second heat race, but a miscue on lap two allowed Bryce Borgen to take over the top spot. After an early restart, Borgen fought off the challenges of Shane Sabraski to cross the finish line first, but both Borgen and Sabraski were disqualified in tech. Dillard was elevated to the victory ahead of Eischens, Jonathan Olmscheid, Lucas Rodin and Anton in the top five.

Kennedy Swan grabbed the early lead in heat three while Adams flew around the high side and raced from sixth to second by lap two. Adams made his move out of turn two and led to the crossed flags, and then the checkered flag. Swan finished second, while J.T. Johnson outduelled Cole Boston for third, and Austin Chyba rounded out the top five.

(Cody Papke Photos)

Thomas grabbed the lead at the start of heat four, but the caution waved for rain, which postponed the remaining program to the next morning. To kick off the racing on Thursday, Thomas led the distance for the heat win, while seventh-starter Mike Stearns took over second after a mid-race restart; he kept the heat on Thomas until the checkered flag, but was disqualified for a deck height infraction. Tyler Peterson was second ahead of Knapper and Jason Thoennes.

In the final heat for the Modifieds, Ryan Gierke started on the front row and pulled away for the heat race win. Travis Saurer used the high groove to move forward, and picked off Seth Brede for second on lap five. Brede held on for third ahead of Brian Haben and Brady Gerdes in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[2]; 2. 51T-Cade Dillard[4]; 3. 9E-Don Eischens[3]; 4. 6T-Joseph Thomas[8]; 5. 2C-Dave Cain[7]; 6. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[6]; 7. 66-Jacob Knapper[12]; 8. 45J-Johnny Broking[16]; 9. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 10. 21X-Travis Saurer[11]; 11. 89JR-JT Johnson[15]; 12. 19-Lucas Rodin[10]; 13. 26G-Ryan Gierke[9]; 14. 18S-Kennedy Swan[14]; 15. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[5]; 16. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[24]; 17. 2X-Brady Gerdes[23]; 18. 442-Aaron Johnson[13]; 19. 24-Brandon Dolman[17]; 20. 6*-Brian Haben[19]; 21. 52-Jason Thoennes[21]; 22. 6SL-Seth Brede[18]; 23. 11X-Austin Chyba[22]; 24. (DNF) 33C-Cole Boston[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Dave Cain[2]; 2. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[7]; 3. 24-Brandon Dolman[3]; 4. 45J-Johnny Broking[6]; 5. 442-Aaron Johnson[9]; 6. 17B-Zach Benson[1]; 7. 6F-Matt Fester[5]; 8. (DNF) 91-Tyler Wolff[4]; 9. (DNF) 11-Jody Bellefeuille[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 51T-Cade Dillard[4]; 2. 9E-Don Eischens[7]; 3. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[8]; 4. 19-Lucas Rodin[9]; 5. 550K-Kyle Anton[2]; 6. 3-Arne Anderson[1]; 7. 1B-Jason Blascyk[6]; 8. (DQ) 7-Bryce Borgen[3]; 9. (DQ) 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 2. 18S-Kennedy Swan[1]; 3. 89JR-JT Johnson[4]; 4. 33C-Cole Boston[2]; 5. 11X-Austin Chyba[5]; 6. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[3]; 7. 6X-Bryce Sward[7]; 8. (DNF) 2G-Brock Gronwold[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 6T-Joseph Thomas[2]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[5]; 3. 66-Jacob Knapper[6]; 4. 52-Jason Thoennes[1]; 5. 10-Justin VanEps[3]; 6. (DNF) 18A-Landon Atkinson[4]; 7. (DNF) 15-Ryan Flaten[8]; 8. (DQ) 24S-Mike Stearns[7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 26G-Ryan Gierke[2]; 2. 21X-Travis Saurer[4]; 3. 6SL-Seth Brede[1]; 4. 6*-Brian Haben[3]; 5. 2X-Brady Gerdes[5]; 6. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[7]; 7. 13-Devyn Weleski[6]; 8. B1-Lynn Sather[8]