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VandeKamp secures Saturday night pole with Midwest Mod Qualifying Feature win at the 100

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 16-17) - With the sun high overhead, Jason VandeKamp raced to the first WISSOTA Midwest Modified Qualifying Feature win of the weekend on Thursday afternoon. VandeKamp took the lead at the crossed flags, and pulled away to earn the pole for Saturday’s Championship Feature.

Corey Storck and Jaren Wibstad led the field to green for their 20-lap main event, with the top eight earning a spot in Saturday’s main event. Storck grabbed the initial lead, while second-row starter VandeKamp looked to his inside and Wibstad was in the mix up high. After racing three wide into turn one on lap two, the first caution waved with one lap recorded.

Storck maintained the top spot after the restart with VandeKamp second. Reise Stenberg challenged Wibstad for third, and took the spot on lap five. Landyn Randt followed into fourth, took a look at Stenberg, but could not immediately make the pass.

VandeKamp closed on Storck near the midway point and followed in his tracks on the low side. He stuck to the inside groove and raced under Storck in turns three and four to steal the lead on lap 10. Stenberg used the high groove and was next to challenge Storck, with Randt in the mix as well. Randt secured the third on lap 12, and moved in to make a pass on Storck on lap 14. Stenberg and Wibstad were on the rear deck lid of Storck with four laps to go.

VandeKamp caught the tail of the field with three laps to go, but sliced through the traffic and maintained a comfortable lead to the checkered flag. Randt was second, while Stenberg slipped by Storck in the final laps. Wibstad was fifth, 23rd-starter Jake Smith was sixth, Lucas Rodin was seventh and Matt Heinzerling was eighth.

Of the drivers who were eligible to transfer, only Smith and ninth-finisher Shane Sabraski declined the positions and decided to race again on Thursday night.

Photos By Cody Papke

The Qualifying Feature field was set by eight, eight-lap heat races, with the top 24 in total passing points continuing their night.

Jamie Davis grabbed the early lead in the opening Midwest Modified heat race, but Wibstad stole the spot at the line to complete lap three. Wibstad, who started sixth, raced his way to victory, while Scott Tofte made a late-race move to steal third from Tanner Bitzan.

Dylan McCaughan started third in the second heat race, and spent the first couple laps putting heat on Ryan Flaten for the lead. McCaughan took the spot on lap three, but after a restart, the two battled door to door for the final five laps. Flaten narrowly earned the victory with a move out of turn four over McCaughan, with Taylor Bitzan a close third.

Chance Kodet ran away to the victory in heat three. Joel Morris grabbed second early, and held off the charge from eighth-starter Jory Berg to finish runner-up.

Sophie Anderson led the opening lap of the fourth heat, but slipped high on lap two and Heinzerling took over at the point. Michael Rogers ran in second until a late spin, which allowed ninth-starter Storck to snatch second from Maddox Klassen.

Randt started fourth in heat race number five, but threaded the needle between the front-row starters in the first set of turns, and led to the checkered. Nick Koehler stayed close to Randt, but settled for second with Tony Leiker third.

Matt Schow started on the pole and led flag to flag in the sixth heat. Nate Reinke kept the heat on Schow for much of the contest, but could not find a way by the leader. Josh Beaulieu fended off a late-race charge from eighth-starter Shane Sabraski for third.

Chad Switzenberg led early in the seventh heat, but was under immediate pressure from Brennon Weight. Soon, sixth-starter VandeKamp looked to the inside of both drivers, and the trio raced three wide in the battle for the lead. VandeKamp finally took over the top spot on lap five, and Weight grabbed second from Switzenberg in the final laps; Weight did not pass tech and Rodin was elevated to third in the official finish.

Arin Beyer scored the victory in the final heat race. He started on the pole and pulled away as the laps clicked away, while Stenberg picked off Nick Preston for second around the halfway mark. Justin Elmer made a move on the last lap for the final podium position.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 16-Jason VandeKamp[3]; 2. 11R-Landyn Randt[5]; 3. 87S-Reise Stenberg[6]; 4. 57-Corey Storck[1]; 5. 36-Jaren Wibstad[2]; 6. 21S-Jake Smith[23]; 7. 19-Lucas Rodin[9]; 8. 22-Matt Heinzerling[4]; 9. 7A-Shane Sabraski[17]; 10. 28T-Scott Tofte[7]; 11. 2S-Matt Schow[15]; 12. 4B-Arin Beyer[16]; 13. 28-Tommy Nichols[12]; 14. B4-Jory Berg[8]; 15. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[21]; 16. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[13]; 17. 85-Jamie Davis[24]; 18. 77X-Dylan McCaughan[18]; 19. 71-Nate Reinke[20]; 20. 4E-Justin Elmer[10]; 21. 77-Chance Kodet[11]; 22. 64-Joel Morris[19]; 23. M47-Maddox Klassen[22]; 24. (DNF) 15F-Ryan Flaten[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Jaren Wibstad[6]; 2. 85-Jamie Davis[2]; 3. 28T-Scott Tofte[8]; 4. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[1]; 5. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[10]; 6. 10M-Noah McFarlane[5]; 7. 5C-Justin Bjorklund[9]; 8. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[7]; 9. 10X-Robert Bitz[3]; 10. (DNF) 21Z-Zach Kort[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15F-Ryan Flaten[1]; 2. 77X-Dylan McCaughan[3]; 3. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[6]; 4. 21S-Jake Smith[7]; 5. 13O-Scott Oeltjen[5]; 6. 42-Ron Saurer[2]; 7. 17-Nick Shumansky[4]; 8. 11S-Darren Engesser[8]; 9. 19S-Darrin Lawler[9]; 10. (DNS) 99-Jason Grimes

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Chance Kodet[2]; 2. 64-Joel Morris[3]; 3. B4-Jory Berg[8]; 4. 28-Tommy Nichols[9]; 5. 33L-Cejay LaValley[1]; 6. 22G-Keenan Glasser[4]; 7. 13-Tate Kostreba[6]; 8. 4-Darin Hauff[5]; 9. 30-Cole Neset[7]; 10. 21H-Shane Howell[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Matt Heinzerling[4]; 2. 57-Corey Storck[9]; 3. M47-Maddox Klassen[5]; 4. 4C-Travis Shumate[3]; 5. 69T-Nick Thoreson[8]; 6. 94-Michael Rogers[6]; 7. (DNF) 65-Branden Kasten[1]; 8. (DNF) 29-Ty Miller[7]; 9. (DNF) 82JR-Sophie Anderson[2]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 11R-Landyn Randt[4]; 2. 13K-Nick Koehler[2]; 3. 18-Tony Leiker[3]; 4. 15K-Kenna Breidenbach[1]; 5. 1X-Travis Engebretson[6]; 6. 11X-Scott Thompson[5]; 7. 73-Mario Berger[9]; 8. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[7]; 9. 47K-Memphis Klassen[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 2S-Matt Schow[1]; 2. 71-Nate Reinke[3]; 3. 74B-Josh Beaulieu[2]; 4. 7A-Shane Sabraski[8]; 5. 33-Jake Hagemann[4]; 6. 12X-Jamie Norman[6]; 7. 13S-Anthony Berger[7]; 8. 21-Wyatt Boyum[9]; 9. 97-Michelle Hutt[5]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Jason VandeKamp[6]; 2. 12S-Chad Switzenberg[2]; 3. 19-Lucas Rodin[7]; 4. 40D-Blake Adams[5]; 5. 59-Kyle Anderson[9]; 6. 9-Griffen Switzenberg[8]; 7. 81K-Casey Knabe[4]; 8. (DNF) 27-Josh Schiffler[1]; 9. (DQ) 28W-Brennon Weight[3]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 4B-Arin Beyer[1]; 2. 87S-Reise Stenberg[6]; 3. 4E-Justin Elmer[7]; 4. 28K-Nick Preston[3]; 5. 15-Andrew DeNoble[4]; 6. 2-Denis Czech[8]; 7. 27X-Andy Miskowic[9]; 8. 14R-Ryan Nash[5]; 9. 69-Ethen Waltz[2]