9-17 Page 27 | ATD Racing News

Kolton Brauer sets himself up for row one on Saturday night with Friday night Street Stock qualifier win

By Ryan Schmitz
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 13) - Friday night Kolton Brauer duplicated his brother Braden’s Wednesday night efforts, as he parked his No. 34 WISSOTA Street Stock in victory lane to take the win in the Qualifying Feature. The victory gives him the middle position of the front row for Saturday’s Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100 Championship Feature alongside his brother on the pole, no doubt making it a memorable start to the program for the well-traveled Brauer family.

The top 24 drivers in passing points in the WISSOTA Street Stocks lined up for the night’s qualifier, led to green by Jordan Johnson and Cody Kummer. Kummer jumped out to the early race advantage in the 15-lap main event.

Kummer continued to pace the field on lap five, with third-starter Kolton Brauer moving into second. Behind the lead duo, Justin Vogel challenged Johnson for third, and the two engaged in a battle which continued for several laps.

Kolton Brauer and Jordan Johnson (Cody Papke Photo)

With eight laps up on the board, Brauer raced to the low side of the speedway and slid up the track in front of Kummer, as the pair headed down the back chute. Kummer looked back to the inside of Brauer, but could not complete the pass. The racing action came to a halt when the yellow blinked on over the track for a Nick Shumansky crash near the entrance of turn one.

Brauer led Kummer and Vogel back to the green, driving back out into the lead with Kummer in tow. Ty Agen quickly joined the fray and raced up to fifth, and then moved by Johnson into fourth with two laps remaining.

Back out front it was all Brauer, as he raced to the feature win with Kummer in second, Vogel third, Agen settled for fourth, and Johnson in fifth. Darek Turner, Charlie Shiek, and Cory Dykhoff rounded out the top eight qualifiers for the middle row of Saturday’s Championship Feature.

Earlier in the program, five heat races set the starting grid for the Qualifying Feature. The first heat race was led to green by local racer Wade Bergerud and Bradyen Fleck for the eight-lap affair. Fleck jumped out to early race lead while the field jockeyed for position behind him. Fleck continued to pace the field with Wyatt Brooker, Kegan Stueve, and Jordan Johnson working each other for second through fourth. Fleck took the checkered flag first, ahead of Brooker and Stueve in the top three.

Darek Turner and Cole Kannegiesser paced the field of heat two, and Turner blasted into turn one and took the early lead. Kannegiesser was under heavy fire from Cory Dykhoff, Maria Broksieck, and Jace Baloun in second. With the laps counting down, Turner continued to stretch his lead and took the eventual win. After Kannegiesser failed post-race tech, Dykhoff was elevated to second, and Broksieck was third.

A pair of Dakotans sat on row one for heat three, as Madison, SD driver Kenneth Clements and Grand Forks, ND driver Trey Hess paced the field to the green. Hess, who has 15 wins to his credit this season, worked to the high side of the speedway as he took the lead on lap one. Behind Hess, Cody Kummer was joined by Zachary Flickinger in a battle for second. With the top three comfortably in their positions, all eyes were on 10th-starter Greg Jose, who worked his way into the top five in the first handful of laps. Hess raced to the checkered first with Kummer in second, Flickinger third. Jose’s charged ended in fourth.

The front row of the fourth heat race featured two of the top drivers across WISSOTA country, with two-time national champion Justin Vogel and Montana hot shoe Robert Petroff on row one. Vogel wasted no time jumping to the lead, using his familiar high line around the speedway. Petroff settled into second while Kolton Brauer began to work his way up from ninth. A handful of cautions slowed the action, but each time Vogel was able to jump back out to the lead. Vogel continued to flex his muscle and raced to the heat race win with Brauer in second and Petroff third. Petroff was later disqualified after post-race tech, moving Micheal Brockman to third.

Levi Randt jumped to the lead in the fifth heat race from his outside front-row starting spot. Randt searched the ultra-slick speedway for the best way around, while fourth-starter Ty Agen moved into second. Agen worked lap after lap to find away around Randt to no avail, as Randt crossed the line first. Agen was second, with Nick Shumansky third.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[4]; 2. 12C-Cody Kummer[2]; 3. 10V-Justin Vogel[7]; 4. 26-Ty Agen[12]; 5. 27J-Jordan Johnson[1]; 6. 10T-Darek Turner[14]; 7. 19C-Charlie Shiek[3]; 8. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[15]; 9. 35S-Kegan Stueve[6]; 10. 4T-Trey Hess[10]; 11. 11-Levi Randt[8]; 12. 14B-Maria Broksieck[13]; 13. 44-Dylan Arndt[18]; 14. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[24]; 15. 4-Micheal Brockman[19]; 16. 16-Greg Platzer[16]; 17. 76-Braedyn Fleck[9]; 18. 80-Tony Miller[21]; 19. 0-Wyatt Brooker[11]; 20. 16J-Spencer Johnson[23]; 21. (DNF) 12K-Kevin Pender[22]; 22. (DNF) 17-Nick Shumansky[20]; 23. (DNF) Z28-Greg Jose[5]; 24. (DNF) 15F-Zachary Flickinger[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Braedyn Fleck[2]; 2. 0-Wyatt Brooker[4]; 3. 35S-Kegan Stueve[7]; 4. 27J-Jordan Johnson[10]; 5. 44-Dylan Arndt[8]; 6. 23-Maverick Janssen[5]; 7. 14-JR Flickinger[9]; 8. (DNF) I7-Ethan Iiams[6]; 9. (DNF) 30B-Wade Bergerud[1]; 10. (DQ) 24-Mike Hart[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10T-Darek Turner[1]; 2. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[3]; 3. 14B-Maria Broksieck[6]; 4. 19C-Charlie Shiek[10]; 5. 46-Cory Moser[5]; 6. 25J-Jace Baloun[4]; 7. 52-Joe Arndt[9]; 8. 44X-Alex Grinager[8]; 9. 9-Cody Hatch[7]; 10. (DQ) 19K-Cole Kannegiesser[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4T-Trey Hess[2]; 2. 12C-Cody Kummer[6]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[4]; 4. Z28-Greg Jose[10]; 5. 3J-Tanner Freese[5]; 6. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[8]; 7. 10-Chase Pourrier[7]; 8. 3D-Dale Louwagie[3]; 9. 711-Kenneth Clements[1]; 10. (DNF) 69D-Dominick Platow[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 10V-Justin Vogel[2]; 2. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[9]; 3. 4-Micheal Brockman[3]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[5]; 5. 16-Greg Platzer[10]; 6. 49S-Rodney Hulst[8]; 7. (DNF) 57-Jason Fechtner[4]; 8. (DNF) 21H-Scott Huston[7]; 9. (DNS) 127-Parker Anderson; 10. (DQ) 11*-Robert Petroff[1]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[2]; 2. 26-Ty Agen[4]; 3. 17-Nick Shumansky[3]; 4. 12K-Kevin Pender[5]; 5. 16J-Spencer Johnson[7]; 6. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[9]; 7. 5-Royce Jawaski[8]; 8. 2*-Dustin Schultz[6]; 9. 12-Melvin Flickinger[1]