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Randt reaches victory lane in Qualifying Feature but gives up his Championship Feature spot to race for more points at the 100

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 16-17) - Levi Randt survived a rough-and-tumble WISSOTA Street Stock Qualifying Feature to wrap up the Wednesday portion of the WISSOTA 100. Only half of the field remained at the finish, but Randt stood atop the podium as the victor.

Cail Tinker and Layla Chaplin started on the front row for the 20-lap main event, with the top eight drivers earning a spot in Saturday’s big show. Chaplin grabbed the initial lead, but it was called back for a spin near the rear of the field. After caution on the restart, Chaplin led again until she spun in turn three and collected a handful of other cars. Braedyn Fleck was deemed the cause of the caution and sent to the tail of the field.

Chaplin grabbed the lead when the race resumed, but Randt saw an opening to thread the needle between Tinker and Chaplin and led the first lap by a hair. Randt edged away on lap two ahead of Chaplin, while Tinker and Kyle Dykhoff battled for third. Randt pulled away before the caution waved again with five laps scored.

Cail Tinker (814) ad Braedyn Fleck (76). (Cody Papke Photo)

Jim Gullikson ambushed Tinker after the restart, and he and Dykhoff put heat on Chaplin for second. Tinker remained in fifth and had a gap back to a multi-car battle for sixth. On lap 10, Dykhoff found room underneath Chaplin to grab second, but had a large disadvantage to Randt at the front. Tinker raced by Chaplin on lap 11, but Chaplin remained close and had to deal with Gullikson as well. The caution appeared again on lap 13 after Justin Vogel slowed on the speedway. There was another yellow flag one lap after the restart, and afterward Gullikson and Tinker got together and left Tinker with a flat tire; both Gullikson and Tinker retired from the race.

Six laps remained when the field restarted, but could not complete a lap before Chaplin slowed to a stop on the front chute and was done for the night.

The field was trimmed down significantly, and Kasey Ussatis restarted third behind Randt and Dykhoff. Mark Blom and 23rd-starter Andrew Hanson filled the top five as the field entered the final laps. Randt pulled away from Dykhoff, and scored the dominating victory. Blom moved by Ussatis in the final laps, and Hanson rounded out the top five. Eric Riley was sixth, Coltyn Schuler was seventh, and Kaden Woodie earned the final transfer position.

Of the eight cars who transferred, only Randt declined his spot and was set to race again in the Thursday program.

Cody Papke Photos

The Street Stocks competed in seven, eight-lap heat races on Thursday morning to set the field for their opening Qualifying Feature.

Cole Greseth started on the front row of the first heat race, and dominated the first seven laps of the contest. Dykhoff picked his way forward from eighth, and raced by Michael Brockman for second with two laps to go. With a restart with one lap remaining, Dykhoff gave Greseth all he could handle, but Greseth held on for the win over Dykhoff, Brockman, Tony Smith and Cole Kannegiesser.

Vogel led every lap for the victory in the second heat. Tony Miller ran second for the first half of the race before Woodie slipped by at the halfway point. After a restart with three to go, seventh-starter Braedyn Fleck put pressure on Woodie and stole the spot on the last lap. Miller was fourth and Greg Platzer was fifth

Aaron Sigerud grabbed the initial lead in heat three, but Ussatis used the low groove in turn two and slipped by on the third lap. Tinker was in a hurry to the front from his ninth-place start; he grabbed third from Ethan Beckler on lap seven, then passed Sigerud after a last-lap restart. Ussatis claimed the win ahead of Tinker, Kegan Stueve, Sigerud, and Beckler.

Zach Flickinger grabbed the initial lead at the start of heat four, but Gullikson applied heavy pressure from the get-go. After a couple early cautions, Gullikson used the high groove to sweep around Flickinger for the lead to complete lap three. Flickinger spun on the next lap, leaving Kammron Rose, John Halvorson and Dylan Arndt to battle for second. Gullikson grabbed the win, Rose was second, Halvorson barely held off ninth-starter Riley for third, and Arndt rounded out the top five.

On the opening lap of heat five, contact in turn two sent Ethan Iiams into a wild series of barrel rolls down the back chute; he emerged from his car uninjured. Schuler raced to the lead when the race resumed and pulled away for the victory. Chaplin — who started ninth when the field took the original grid — passed Joe Arndt for second on lap two and Cole Richards grabbed third from Arndt in the final laps. Adam Dehne rounded out the top five.

After entertaining a challenge in the first few laps, Mike Jans crept away for the victory in heat six. Randt climbed forward from seventh, and stole second from Kolton Brauer near the halfway point. Jeff Ekdahl also displaced Brauer for third, and Hanson rounded out the top five.

Keith Tourville started on the front row and jumped out to the lead in heat seven. Blom and Darek Turner battled for second until Turner spun with just a couple laps scored. Tourville pulled away for the heat win, Blom was second, Turner recovered for third, Chris Behrens was fourth and Dexter Wipf rounded out the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[5]; 2. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[3]; 3. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[6]; 4. 20-Andrew Hanson[23]; 5. 51-Eric Riley[14]; 6. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[10]; 7. 980-Kaden Woodie[18]; 8. 76-Braedyn Fleck[4]; 9. 52-Joe Arndt[20]; 10. 44-Dylan Arndt[22]; 11. 10T-Darek Turner[24]; 12. (DNF) 86-Layla Chaplin[2]; 13. (DNF) 814-Cail Tinker[1]; 14. (DNF) 21-Jim Gullikson[9]; 15. (DNF) 10-Justin Vogel[16]; 16. (DNF) 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[19]; 17. (DNF) 1R-Cole Richards[8]; 18. (DNF) 111JR-Keith Tourville[13]; 19. (DNF) 25-Mike Jans[17]; 20. (DNF) 35S-Kegan Stueve[7]; 21. (DNF) 12-Kammron Rose[21]; 22. (DNF) 19G-Cole Greseth[12]; 23. (DNF) 49S-John Halvorson[15]; 24. (DQ) 6X-Mark Blom[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19G-Cole Greseth[2]; 2. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[8]; 3. 4-Micheal Brockman[1]; 4. #1-Tony Smith[3]; 5. 19-Cole Kannegiesser[7]; 6. 316-Kholin Harmon[6]; 7. 56J-Bryan Johnson[5]; 8. (DNF) 8J-Jordan Frericks[4]; 9. (DNF) 3D-Dale Louwagie[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Justin Vogel[1]; 2. 76-Braedyn Fleck[7]; 3. 980-Kaden Woodie[5]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[2]; 5. 16-Greg Platzer[4]; 6. 27P-Parker Anderson[9]; 7. 9-Cody Hatch[6]; 8. 70-Chris Dudley[8]; 9. 83-Chris Uroszek[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[4]; 2. 814-Cail Tinker[9]; 3. 35S-Kegan Stueve[8]; 4. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[2]; 5. 22B-Ethan Beckler[3]; 6. 15-Rodney Hulst[1]; 7. 3J-Tanner Freese[5]; 8. (DNF) 19Z-Derek Zieske[7]; 9. (DNF) 23-Maverick Janssen[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jim Gullikson[3]; 2. 12-Kammron Rose[2]; 3. 49S-John Halvorson[6]; 4. 51-Eric Riley[9]; 5. 44-Dylan Arndt[8]; 6. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[1]; 7. 2*-Dustin Schultz[7]; 8. 37W-Ferlin Sheridan[5]; 9. 83J-Jonathan Olmscheid[4]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[3]; 2. 86-Layla Chaplin[9]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[8]; 4. 52-Joe Arndt[7]; 5. 77-Adam Dehne[6]; 6. (DNF) 85-Patrick LaMere[2]; 7. (DNF) 46-Cory Moser[4]; 8. (DNF) I7-Ethan Iiams[5]; 9. (DNF) 611-Brady Schultz[1]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Mike Jans[1]; 2. 11-Levi Randt[7]; 3. 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[5]; 4. 34-Kolton Brauer[4]; 5. 20-Andrew Hanson[8]; 6. 19C-Charlie Shiek[2]; 7. 0-Wyatt Brooker[9]; 8. 08-Jeff Sekuterski[3]; 9. (DNF) 44X-Alex Grinager[6]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 111JR-Keith Tourville[2]; 2. 6X-Mark Blom[5]; 3. 10T-Darek Turner[3]; 4. 43X-Chris Behrens[4]; 5. X-Dexter Wipf[6]; 6. 10K-Devan Schultz[8]; 7. (DNF) 6F-Mason Fester[1]; 8. (DNF) 7A-Landon Albertson[7]