6-25 Page 4 | ATD Racing News

Fergus Falls high and dry as Mass, Atkinson, Adams and Schelitzche top field of 100 at I-94 Speedway

By Ron Krog

FERGUS FALLS, MN (June 21) - As the early season rains keep forcing tracks to shut down for a night, somehow the folks at I-94 emr Speedway have been able to dodge the rains and have yet to miss a race. Nearly every traveler in the pits at I-94 said they ran into rain on the way to Fergus Falls, but again the clouds stayed put and racing got underway Friday. Just over 100 cars made their way into the pits, with WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners including Dave Mass, Landon Atkinson, Blake Adams, and Justin Schelitzche.

A nice field of 21 WISSOTA Modifieds battled hard during their 20-lapper. Atkinson, who started from the front row, ensured the race was for second as he kept Brendan Blascyk at bay the whole race. Travis Saurer was close behind in third, and in the end that’s the way the top three finished. Brady Gerdes grabbed fourth, with Kennedy Swan running a strong fifth. Dusty Bitzan charged from 14th to sixth.

A very good field of 23 WISSOTA Midwest Mods went at it hard as well Friday night. Polesitter Blake Adams took the lead with Tanner Bitzan all over his rear bumper; Bitzan was able to drive to the advantage on a couple of occasions. Cole Elton ran a strong third, but was passed by eighth-starter Taylor Bitzan. Taylor unfortunately spun with 10 laps to go and had to restart at the back of the field.

Adams drove on to the victory, with Tanner Bitzan settling for second and Tayten Blascyk very strong in third. Elton bounced back to fourth at the checkered flag, after falling back several spots earlier in the race. Brennan Schmidt was fifth, while 14th-starter Tucker Tschakert finished sixth.

Justin Schelitzche (Nick Anderson Photo)

The 15-car WISSOTA Hornet feature was a dandy, as Kole Kampsen, Christian Kast and Justin Schelitzche were three wide for the lead. Then, along came Kevin Wahl to take the lead. With just four laps to go, however, sixth-starter Schelitzche drove by Wahl for the lead and the win, with Kampsen taking second, Payson Patrin third, eighth-starter Jeff Rohner in fourth and Chase Pourrier fifth.

It was a very emotional week for the NLRA WISSOTA Late Models, as earlier in the day fellow racer Nick Minske, who was very popular with everyone, passed away due to injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident earlier in the week. Minske was an organ donor, saving lives through that decision. The field started their race with a parade lap in the missing man formation, in his memory.

The 29-car feature was a good one as Cole Schill took the lead early on in the 25-lapper. With four laps scored, Tyler Peterson took charge, but just three laps later Dave Mass found the momentum to get by both Schill and Peterson for the lead. Peterson and Schill, meanwhile, had a great battle for second. As Mass worked his way through heavy lapped traffic, it allowed Schill and Peterson to gain on Mass, but Mass was just too fast Friday. He took home the win with Schill second, Peterson third, and Shane Sabraski fourth. Shane Edginton completed the top five.

Ben Wolden ran strongly to win the Cliff Viessman Gen X Late Model feature. Don Shaw set a new track record with a lap of 15.753 seconds.

I-94 thanks the Greater Community Credit Union and RDO Equipment for their sponsorship of the evening.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2-Dave Mass[7]; 2. 44*-Cole Schill[2]; 3. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[4]; 4. 7A-Shane Sabraski[9]; 5. 5E-Shane Edginton[3]; 6. 71-Dustin Strand[6]; 7. 14-Brody Troftgruben[1]; 8. 42S-Don Shaw[5]; 9. 18X-Shawn Meyer[12]; 10. 00-Mitch Johnson[10]; 11. 15X-Blake Boelens[15]; 12. 12S-Brad Seng[14]; 13. 99-Billy Kendall III[22]; 14. 2RK-Rusty Kollman[18]; 15. 66-Sam Zender[13]; 16. 12F-Greg Friestad[29]; 17. 21S-John Seng[21]; 18. 9R-Erik Robertson[17]; 19. 10R-Kevin Robertson[24]; 20. 4C-Brandon Corbett[16]; 21. 70-Jesse Teunis[19]; 22. 18-Josh Rieck[25]; 23. 24-Mike Hart[27]; 24. 3H-Jerry Hauge[26]; 25. (DNF) 2*-Cole Babcock[8]; 26. (DNF) X-Blake Swenson[11]; 27. (DNF) 57H-Nathan Higginbotham[23]; 28. (DNF) 50-Ben Wolden[28]; 29. (DNF) 56-Laine Schwehr[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2*-Cole Babcock[1]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand[5]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 4. 66-Sam Zender[8]; 5. 9R-Erik Robertson[7]; 6. 21S-John Seng[2]; 7. (DNF) 24-Mike Hart[6]; 8. (DNS) 12F-Greg Friestad

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 2-Dave Mass[2]; 3. 00-Mitch Johnson[4]; 4. 12S-Brad Seng[3]; 5. 2RK-Rusty Kollman[6]; 6. 99-Billy Kendall III[7]; 7. 18-Josh Rieck[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 44*-Cole Schill[2]; 2. 5E-Shane Edginton[4]; 3. X-Blake Swenson[3]; 4. 15X-Blake Boelens[6]; 5. 70-Jesse Teunis[5]; 6. 57H-Nathan Higginbotham[1]; 7. (DNF) 50-Ben Wolden[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 42S-Don Shaw[3]; 2. 14-Brody Troftgruben[1]; 3. 18X-Shawn Meyer[6]; 4. 4C-Brandon Corbett[2]; 5. 56-Laine Schwehr[5]; 6. 10R-Kevin Robertson[7]; 7. 3H-Jerry Hauge[4]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 18A-Landon Atkinson[2]; 2. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[1]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[4]; 4. 2X-Brady Gerdes[5]; 5. 18S-Kennedy Swan[8]; 6. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[14]; 7. 7A-Shane Sabraski[6]; 8. 52-Jason Thoennes[7]; 9. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[3]; 10. 6T-Corky Thomas[16]; 11. 6X-Zach Johnson[12]; 12. 51A-Avery Anderson[11]; 13. 17B-Zach Benson[17]; 14. 11X-Austin Chyba[13]; 15. 05-Mark Prueser[18]; 16. 8Y-Bill Yonke[21]; 17. (DNF) 26G-Ryan Gierke[9]; 18. (DNF) 7B-Bryce Borgen[10]; 19. (DNF) 22B-Josh Beaulieu[19]; 20. (DNS) 88XXX-Randy Klein; 21. (DNS) 6ST-Joseph Thomas

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18S-Kennedy Swan[1]; 2. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 3. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[3]; 4. 7B-Bryce Borgen[2]; 5. 11X-Austin Chyba[5]; 6. 6T-Corky Thomas[6]; 7. 05-Mark Prueser[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2X-Brady Gerdes[1]; 2. 18A-Landon Atkinson[4]; 3. 52-Jason Thoennes[3]; 4. 51A-Avery Anderson[2]; 5. 10X-Dustin Bitzan[7]; 6. 17B-Zach Benson[6]; 7. 22B-Josh Beaulieu[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21X-Travis Saurer[2]; 2. 9B-Brendan Blascyk[4]; 3. 26G-Ryan Gierke[6]; 4. 6X-Zach Johnson[7]; 5. 88XXX-Randy Klein[1]; 6. (DNF) 6ST-Joseph Thomas[5]; 7. (DNS) 8Y-Bill Yonke

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[4]; 3. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[9]; 4. 24-Cole Elton[3]; 5. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[6]; 6. 3T-Tucker Tschakert[14]; 7. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[2]; 8. 30-Cole Neset[5]; 9. 32-Shawn Olson[7]; 10. 13-Scott Oeltjen[10]; 11. 4-Phil Christlieb[18]; 12. TS42-Scott Samuelson[12]; 13. 30K-Jake Kierstead[20]; 14. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[8]; 15. 12X-Jamie Norman[15]; 16. 75JR-Daniel Harstad[21]; 17. 28K-Nick Preston[17]; 18. 13K-Brad King[19]; 19. (DNF) 21Z-Zach Kort[13]; 20. (DNF) 82G-Chad Gronner[23]; 21. (DNF) 17-Jaden Gannott[16]; 22. (DNF) 42-Ron Saurer[11]; 23. (DNS) 10M-Noah McFarlane

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32B-Brennan Schmidt[3]; 2. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[2]; 3. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[4]; 4. 13-Scott Oeltjen[6]; 5. 21Z-Zach Kort[5]; 6. 17-Jaden Gannott[7]; 7. 13K-Brad King[8]; 8. (DNF) 82G-Chad Gronner[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 2. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[2]; 3. 24-Cole Elton[1]; 4. 42-Ron Saurer[6]; 5. 3T-Tucker Tschakert[4]; 6. 28K-Nick Preston[5]; 7. 30K-Jake Kierstead[7]; 8. 75JR-Daniel Harstad[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[5]; 2. 32-Shawn Olson[2]; 3. 30-Cole Neset[3]; 4. TS42-Scott Samuelson[4]; 5. 12X-Jamie Norman[7]; 6. 4-Phil Christlieb[6]; 7. (DNF) 10M-Noah McFarlane[1]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche[6]; 2. 2-Kole Kampsen[4]; 3. 73-Payson Patrin[7]; 4. 45W-Kevin Wahl[1]; 5. 08-Jeff Rohner[8]; 6. 35-Chase Pourrier[5]; 7. 94A-Bobie Arnes[3]; 8. 03-Christian Kast[2]; 9. 10-Dexyn Habraken[11]; 10. 80K-Nathan Kelley[10]; 11. 988T-Tristan Anderson[15]; 12. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[12]; 13. 90-Kreg Anderson[9]; 14. 988J-Joey Metcalf[14]; 15. (DQ) 17-Nick Shirley[13]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 35-Chase Pourrier[1]; 2. 14-Justin Schelitzche[4]; 3. 73-Payson Patrin[6]; 4. 45W-Kevin Wahl[7]; 5. 90-Kreg Anderson[5]; 6. 10-Dexyn Habraken[3]; 7. 17-Nick Shirley[2]; 8. 988T-Tristan Anderson[8]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 2-Kole Kampsen[5]; 2. 94A-Bobie Arnes[4]; 3. 03-Christian Kast[2]; 4. 08-Jeff Rohner[6]; 5. 80K-Nathan Kelley[1]; 6. 35P-Tylar Pourrier[7]; 7. 988J-Joey Metcalf[3]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 50-Ben Wolden[6]; 2. 1776-Joseph Thomas[5]; 3. 7-Rick Schroeder[8]; 4. 10-Brad Staples[4]; 5. 2-Derek Quinn[7]; 6. 00-Kevin Youngquist[3]; 7. 20Z-Scott Zimmerman[10]; 8. 0-Shawn Beto[12]; 9. 18A-Mike Anderson[2]; 10. 49-Andrew Tysdal[14]; 11. 27-Jarrett Huus[13]; 12. 11*-Larry Samuelson[11]; 13. 4C-Brent Clemensen[9]; 14. (DNF) 71-John Plaster[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Ben Wolden[1]; 2. 7-Rick Schroeder[5]; 3. 18A-Mike Anderson[4]; 4. 71-John Plaster[3]; 5. 4C-Brent Clemensen[7]; 6. (DNF) 27-Jarrett Huus[6]; 7. (DNF) 49-Andrew Tysdal[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Brad Staples[1]; 2. 1776-Joseph Thomas[2]; 3. 2-Derek Quinn[5]; 4. 00-Kevin Youngquist[4]; 5. 20Z-Scott Zimmerman[7]; 6. 11*-Larry Samuelson[6]; 7. 0-Shawn Beto[3]