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Rodin rolls to a front row starting spot on Championship Night with his Thursday Midwest Mod Qualifying Feature win

By Meghan Diemel, Editor
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 12) - It was a Nightmare kind of night for the WISSOTA Midwest Mod field Thursday, as former WISSOTA National Champion Lucas Rodin was a dominant force in taking the Qualifying Feature victory.

Kyle Langland and Rodin earned the front row of the 15-lapper, with Rodin leading along the high side to complete the lap. Langland, Jake Hagemann, Corey Storck and Scott Oeltjen were the top five following the first lap before the yellow flew for a marker tire that had been moved into the racing lane in turn one.

Following the restart, Rodin jumped back out front, as Hagemann cruised along the high side into second past Langland. Storck and Oeltjen completed the top five with two laps scored. A caution fell with five laps complete for Justin Froemming, who spun while in ninth.

Taylor Bitzan and Tyler Bitzan (Cody Papke Photo)

Rodin was the leader for the restart, with Langland having the advantage over Hagemann for second. Taylor Bitzan moved past Storck for fourth.

With Rodin in control out front, Hagemann and Langland fought back and forth over second, with Hagemann regaining the spot. Storck also got back past Bitzan for fourth.

As the field crossed the start-finish line with three laps to go, Rodin had a near 1.5-second advantage. Langland and Hagemann continued to argue over second, trading the spot seemingly in each turn. Rodin went on to score the victory ahead of Langland, who topped the race-long fight for second ahead of Hagemann. Storck, Taylor Bitzan, Froemming, Tanner Bitzan, and Tyler Bitzan were the top-eight finishers.

Those drivers accepting the first eight spots in the outside row of Saturday night’s Championship Feature included Rodin, Langland, Hagemann, Storck, Taylor Bitzan, Froemming, Tanner Bitzan and Tyler Bitzan.

Seven heat races whittled the large field on hand down to 24 starters for the Qualifying Feature earlier in the night.

Jaren Wibstad was the early leader of the first heat race, before a caution for debris following contact in the field brought the drivers back together. Jayme Peterson was second, and Travis Saurer held third. Wibstad led the field back under green, with heavy pressure from Saurer for the top spot. Wibstad pulled away a lap later, as Casey Knabe moved to third. With two to go, Saurer was within striking distance, but Wibstad held on for the win. Saurer was DQ’d following the heat, with Knabe elevated to second and Peterson to third.

In the second heat, Tyler Bitzan split Blake Adams and Derek Rieck to grab the lead down the backstretch of the first lap, with Adams sliding back into the lead to complete the first lap. They continued trading slide jobs just ahead of Rieck, who then lost third to seventh-starter Tanner Bitzan. The slide job show continued, lap after lap, through the final tour of the speedway, with Tyler Bitzan having the advantage at the checkered flag ahead of Adams. Tanner Bitzan completed the top three.

Nate Reinke held top honors in the third heat race, with Scott Tofte and Hunter Weeks in the top three. With two laps scored, Andy Davey cleared Weeks for third, before Weeks spun and the field regrouped under yellow. Reinke continued to lead following the restart, with Tofte second and Davey close behind in third. Reinke drove to the win, with Tofte and Davey holding their position to the checkered flag.

Taven Woodie led the first three turns of heat race four, but spun in front of the field in turn four to bring the field under caution early on. Following the full restart, Lucas Rodin shot into the lead with Corey Storck taking second and Ty Miller third. Kyle Langland was on the move from ninth, taking third from Miller to complete the second lap. Another caution in the closing laps didn’t deter Rodin, as he grabbed the victory ahead of Storck, who narrowly held off Langland in the top three.

Travis Engebretson and Landyn Randt traded slide jobs to open action in the fifth heat race, with Justin Froemming right behind. Ryan Nash then drove up and over the wall in turns three and four and the caution fell to bring the field to a halt.

When the field was back under green, Engebretson continued to lead the way, with pressure from Froemming in second. Froemming was able to pull even and ahead in the turns, while Engebretson had the advantage along the top side out of the turns. Engebretson picked up the eventual win, ahead of Froemming and Randt in the top three.

A first turn spin by Tony Smith halted the action in the sixth heat race before a full lap could even be completed. With the field back under green, Mike Nichols had the advantage over Jake Molitor, with Jarod Klein in third. With Nichols and Molitor safely out front, Scott Oeltjen closed in on Klein right before the midpoint, and they fought back and forth for third. Oeltjen secured the spot by the checkered, with Nichols taking the victory out front ahead of Molitor.

After a misfire to start the seventh heat, a first lap spin by Corey Mehrwerth in turns three and four, and another start that was called back, Colton Kramer led the way to start the final heat. Aaron Michel had second, under pressure from Jake Hagemann early on.

Taylor Bitzan used the rocky start to the heat to his advantage, moving from sixth to second by midpoint of the race, and taking the top spot from Kramer down the backstretch of the final lap, with Hagemann hanging on for third.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 19-Lucas Rodin[2]; 2. 66-Kyle Langland[1]; 3. 33-Jake Hagemann[4]; 4. 57-Corey Storck[6]; 5. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[5]; 6. 32F-Justin Froemming[10]; 7. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[7]; 8. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[8]; 9. 13O-Scott Oeltjen[3]; 10. 40D-Blake Adams[22]; 11. 28S-Ryan Schow[14]; 12. 11R-Landyn Randt[24]; 13. 67-Mike Nichols[9]; 14. 1X-Travis Engebretson[13]; 15. 2291-Andy Davey[19]; 16. 36-Jaren Wibstad[11]; 17. 40-Colton Kramer[18]; 18. 11S-Darren Engesser[21]; 19. 28T-Scott Tofte[16]; 20. 71-Nate Reinke[12]; 21. 81K-Casey Knabe[15]; 22. 15-Jayme Peterson[23]; 23. 9M-Jake Molitor[17]; 24. (DNF) 39-Jamie Dietzler[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Jaren Wibstad[1]; 2. 81K-Casey Knabe[3]; 3. 15-Jayme Peterson[2]; 4. 28S-Ryan Schow[8]; 5. 39-Jamie Dietzler[9]; 6. 2B-Tayten Blascyk[5]; 7. 1S-Scott Bintz[10]; 8. 10X-Robert Bitz[4]; 9. (DNF) 4-Phil Christlieb[7]; 10. (DQ) 42X-Travis Saurer[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10B-Tyler Bitzan[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 3. 42B-Tanner Bitzan[7]; 4. 34J-Derek Rieck[5]; 5. 24X-Ryan Ost[6]; 6. 70JR-David Simpson[9]; 7. 19S-Darrin Lawler[8]; 8. 3-John Johnson[3]; 9. (DNF) 29A-Payton Asche[4]; 10. (DNS) 30X-Joey Jensen

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Nate Reinke[1]; 2. 28T-Scott Tofte[3]; 3. 2291-Andy Davey[5]; 4. 47-Memphis Klassen[4]; 5. 97-Michelle Hutt[6]; 6. 11X-Kenny Watson[8]; 7. T3-Travis Soper[9]; 8. (DNF) 9W-Hunter Weeks[2]; 9. (DNF) 28K-Nick Preston[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Lucas Rodin[5]; 2. 57-Corey Storck[7]; 3. 66-Kyle Langland[9]; 4. 29-Ty Miller[3]; 5. 1M-Jon McCain[2]; 6. 4C-Travis Shumate[4]; 7. (DNF) 94-Michael Rogers[6]; 8. (DNF) 873-Taven Woodie[1]; 9. (DNS) 20-Brayden Kunze

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 1X-Travis Engebretson[1]; 2. 32F-Justin Froemming[4]; 3. 11R-Landyn Randt[2]; 4. 3T-Tucker Tschakert[5]; 5. 11S-Darren Engesser[9]; 6. 79K-Nick Kramer[3]; 7. 73-Onyx Johnson[7]; 8. (DNF) 94R-Ryan Nash[6]; 9. (DNF) 30-Cole Neset[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Mike Nichols[2]; 2. 9M-Jake Molitor[3]; 3. 13O-Scott Oeltjen[8]; 4. 77-Jarod Klein[5]; 5. 69T-Nick Thoreson[6]; 6. 4B-Arin Beyer[7]; 7. 12X-Jamie Norman[9]; 8. (DNF) 980-Kaden Woodie[4]; 9. (DNF) #1-Tony Smith[1]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 24TB-Taylor Bitzan[6]; 2. 40-Colton Kramer[3]; 3. 33-Jake Hagemann[9]; 4. 62-Aaron Michel[1]; 5. 13-Tate Kostreba[5]; 6. 2HH-Oren Hoeper[8]; 7. 19X-James Trantina III[7]; 8. (DNF) 19M-Gage Myers[2]; 9. (DNF) 27-Corey Mehrwerth[4]