9-17 Page 29 | ATD Racing News

Koch overcomes a pair of bad nights and scores Super Stock Qualifying Feature win Friday at the 100

By Ryan Schmitz
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 13) - Dexton Koch overcame two nights of bad luck and car troubles to nail down the victory during Friday’s Qualifying Feature at the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100, securing the front-row starting spot in the middle row of Saturday’s Championship feature and turning his racing fortunes back around for the week.

Jeffery Frey and Baily Rosch led the 24-car field to the green for the WISSOTA Super Stock Qualifying Feature. Rosch, who had an impressive heat win earlier in the night, jumped out to the early advantage with Zach Schultz in second and Koch third. Koch began to challenge the lead duo, racing by both of them into the top spot on lap four and leaving Rosch and Schultz to duel for second. With Koch beginning to stretch his lead and Schultz now comfortably in second, the main battle on the speedway was for fourth through ninth, with Denis Czech, Dylan Kromschroeder, Jeffrey Frey, Brayden Hedtke, Terran Spacek, and Dylan Nelson locked in an epic battle for position. Czech cleared the fray on lap eight as he settled into fourth.

As the laps continued to wind down, Koch continued to build his lead up front. With two laps remaining Kromschroeder, Frey, and Hedtke settled into fifth, sixth and seventh, leaving Spacek and Nelson battle for the eighth and final spot. With the white flag flying over the speedway Nelson ducked to the inside of Spacek as they raced down the back chute, but Spacek closed the door and grabbed eighth.

Jeffrey Frey and Zach Schultz (Cody Papke Photo)

Out front Koch claimed the dominating win. Schultz, Rosch, Czech, Kromschroeder, Frey, Hedtke, and Nelson filled out the remaining top eight qualifying spots.

Earlier in the night, five heat races were held to narrow down the field for the Qualifying Feature.

In the first heat, Great Falls, MT pilot Casey Steffenson led the field with a torrid pace, while the field behind him jockeyed for position. On lap four, Steffenson lost the bite on his No. 67 machine and spun in turn two, ending his heat race.

This put former I-94 track champion Ryan Satter at the point for the restart. Satter raced to a large lead at the drop of the green and coasted to the eventual win. Max Nelson was second, and Jeffrey Frey was third.

Northern Minnesota drivers Andrew Johnson and Cameron Labelle sat on the front row of the second heat race. Johnson blasted out to the early lead with Labelle following in his tracks. Back in the field, Denis Czech began his march forward from seventh. Czech worked his way into fourth on lap two and then set his sights on Doug Koski. Johnson was too tough to tame, as he drove to the win ahead of Labelle and Czech in the top three.

Russell Kostreba raced quickly from third at the start into the lead to begin heat three. Kostreba, who worked the extreme low side of the speedway, was joined by Bailey Rosch, who was pounding the cushion up near the wall. A yellow flag for an incident among Matt Sparby, Brayden Hedtke, and Riley Groshong slowed the field with only four laps remaining. With the green back out, Rosch jumped back to the outside as he looked to ambush Kostreba, who kept his orange machine glued to the bottom. On the final circuit Rosch was able to complete the pass and take home the heat race win ahead of Kostreba, Hedtke, Terran Spacek, and Sparby.

Great Falls, MT hot shoe Patrick LaMere moved to the early lead in the fourth heat race, with Zach Schultz quickly moving into second. Lap after lap LaMere had his machine planted on the low side of the speedway while Schultz looked to the outside of him. Schultz was able to clear LaMere on lap four and race to the heat race win with LaMere in second, and Josh Schmidt third.

Dylan Kromschroeder and Dylan Nelson quickly raced to the top two spots in the fifth and final heat race of the evening. With the top two locked in place, fans in attendance had their eyes on current national point leader Dexton Koch, as he raced his way forward to challenge for third. Back out front Kromschroeder went on to claim the win, Nelson was second, and Koch was third.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

Feature (15 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[5]; 2. 511-Zach Schultz[4]; 3. 28*-Bailey Rosch[2]; 4. 2-Denis Czech[7]; 5. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[9]; 6. 2F-Jeffrey Frey[1]; 7. 19XH-Brayden Hedtke[8]; 8. 22T-Terran Spacek[11]; 9. 25-Dylan Nelson[13]; 10. 14-Russell Kostreba[12]; 11. 19-Tristan LaBarge[18]; 12. L1-Andrew Johnson[10]; 13. 76-Doug Koski[17]; 14. 67S-Ryan Satter[3]; 15. 32-Max Nelson[6]; 16. 2B1-Matt Fester[14]; 17. 54-William Lund[24]; 18. 2XL-Jason Garner[20]; 19. 3T-Jon Tribble[22]; 20. 27C-Cameron Labelle[15]; 21. 10X-Josh Schmidt[19]; 22. 85-Patrick LaMere[16]; 23. 32*-Bodie Smith[23]; 24. (DNF) 77-Carson Miller[21]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 67S-Ryan Satter[4]; 2. 32-Max Nelson[6]; 3. 2F-Jeffrey Frey[8]; 4. 2B1-Matt Fester[7]; 5. 28-Kaden Woodie[3]; 6. 31W-Chris Winter[5]; 7. 6SIX-Forrest Foster[9]; 8. 31-Rob Revermann[1]; 9. (DNF) 67-Casey Steffenson[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. L1-Andrew Johnson[1]; 2. 27C-Cameron Labelle[2]; 3. 2-Denis Czech[7]; 4. 76-Doug Koski[6]; 5. 54-William Lund[5]; 6. 3T-Jon Tribble[8]; 7. 4AA-Allan Cleveland[4]; 8. (DNF) 8T-Nick Schultz[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28*-Bailey Rosch[6]; 2. 14-Russell Kostreba[3]; 3. 19XH-Brayden Hedtke[7]; 4. 22T-Terran Spacek[8]; 5. 81X-Matt Sparby[4]; 6. 11-Riley Groshong[5]; 7. (DNS) 33-Curt Myers; 8. (DNS) 4A-Anna Cleveland

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 511-Zach Schultz[3]; 2. 85-Patrick LaMere[1]; 3. 10X-Josh Schmidt[2]; 4. 2XL-Jason Garner[4]; 5. 77-Carson Miller[6]; 6. 32*-Bodie Smith[8]; 7. 5-Brad Kopecky[5]; 8. (DNS) 333-Stewart Schipke

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[2]; 2. 25-Dylan Nelson[3]; 3. 78K-Dexton Koch[8]; 4. 19-Tristan LaBarge[6]; 5. 71X-Travis Scott[1]; 6. 14J-Jayden Friauf[7]; 7. 71-Justin Tammen[5]; 8. (DNF) 79M-Josh Roggatz[4]