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Braden Brauer wins Wednesday night Qualifying Feature to earn pole in Saturday night’s Championship feature at the WISSOTA 100

By Meghan Diemel, Editor
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 11) - Mike Jans and Nick Traynor set the pace at the front of the WISSOTA Street Stock feature for their first night of qualifying action Wednesday, as the top 24 qualifiers from the heat races tried to score starting spots in Saturday’s Championship Feature.

After the first lap was negated for a Kasey Ussatis spin, the field regrouped for a full restart; Traynor shot out to the early lead, ahead of a side-by-side battle for second between Jans and Braden Brauer. Parker Anderson was close behind in fourth, with Justin Vogel, Jeff Ekdahl and Kyle Dykhoff vying for top five spots close behind.

With two laps complete, Traynor was the leader with Brauer close behind in second, while Jans, Anderson and Vogel held top-five spots hot on their heels.

One lap later, Jans drifted up along the high side, allowing Vogel to get by for third and displacing Anderson to fifth. Anderson regained fourth a lap later.

The fight for the lead heated up with five laps complete between Traynor and Brauer. Brauer had the slightest advantage to complete the next lap, and was able to pull in front of Traynor in the next turns. Vogel was third, with pressure from Anderson for the spot.

Cory Dykhoff and Tim Johnson (Cody Papke Photo)

Traynor then began to feel the heat from Vogel on the high side, and Anderson along the low lane, with seven laps to go. Dykhoff was right on their bumpers in fifth, and had the steam to charge farther forward. He took fourth with four to go, and slipped by Vogel to third on the final lap. Out front, Brauer bagged the victory, driving into victory lane ahead of Traynor, Dykhoff, Vogel and Anderson in the top five. Kolton Brauer improved eighth spots to take sixth, Ty Agen was seventh, and 12th-starter Tim Johnson was eighth.

The eight drivers accepting positions within the first eight spots of the inside starting row for Saturday night’s Championship Feature included Braden Brauer, Nick Traynor, Kyle Dykhoff, Tim Johnson, Kolby Kiehl, Mike Jans, Ty Schuler and Ethan Beckler.

In the evening’s heat race action, Kolby Kiehl was the early leader in the first heat race following a first-lap caution that ended with a Levi Randt spin and Chase Pourrier sent to the back. Under the green, Tommy Pogones moved to second, and Cody Kummer took third as front-row starter Jace Baloun drifted back through the pack. Eighth-starter Eric Riley was a man on a mission, making his way to fourth and pressuring Kummer for third. Contact was made and Riley took the spot, only to have Kummer return the favor with an elbow in the next turn. Out front, Kiehl drove to the victory ahead of Pogones, with Kummer completing the top three.

Ty Schuler and Zachary Flickinger brought the field to green to start the second heat race, with Flickinger getting the advantage as Schuler bobbled. Cory Moser spun while in third during the next lap and the field was reset. Flickinger led them back to green, with Parker Anderson holding the inside second row spot and Schuler taking the outside. Flickinger had a slight lead ahead of Schuler and Anderson, as they toured the speedway nose to tail in the top three. A few laps later they were three wide for the lead, with Flickinger the meat in the sandwich between Schuler to the inside and Anderson to the outside. Anderson powered to the lead, with Schuler taking second a half lap later. Anderson took the win ahead of Schuler and Flicking in the top three.

Kyle Dykhoff was the early leader from the front row in the third heat race, as Tim Johnson advanced past polesitter Dale Louwagie into second, and Kolton Brauer duplicated the effort to take third. Johnson pressured Dykhoff for the top spot in the eight-lap race, but Dykhoff drove off to the win. Johnson and Brauer completed the top three spots.

Micheal Brockman drove out to a commanding lead to start the fourth heat race, as Tony Miller and Kasey Ussatis battled for second; Ussatis took the position. Farther back eighth-starter Jeff Ekdahl was on the move, making his way into fourth, and then making the pass on Miller for third. Out front, Brockman was victorious ahead of Ussatis, who improved four spots to second. Ekdahl completed his charge in third.

Andrew Hanson and Cole Greseth battled for the lead early on in the fifth heat race, with Jim Gullikson close behind. Nick Traynor, who started ninth, worked his way into fourth with four laps complete and had a front row seat for contact between Greseth and Gullikson right along the wall down the backstretch. Traynor shot into second, as Gullikson and Greseth raced across the start-finish line side by side. Traynor bobbled into turn one, allowing Gullikson to get back by into second. Traynor and Greseth continued to fight for third, side by side and nose to tail through the remaining laps. Hanson had a 1.6-second advantage to take the heat race win, with Gullikson second. Traynor topped Greseth for third.

Ty Agen led the sixth heat race early, with Nick Shumansky sliding back into second and Kegan Stueve third, just ahead of eighth-starter Mike Jans, who had made his way to the front. With three laps to go, Jans slid by Stueve for third, with ninth-starter Cory Dykhoff doing the same to fourth. Agen captured the victory, ahead of Shumansky and Jans in the top three.

In heat seven, it took just five laps for last-row starters Braden Brauer and Justin Vogel to work their way to the front into second and fourth, respectively, behind race-leader Maria Broksieck. A spin by third-place runner Wyatt Brooker reset the field. Broksieck led them back to green, with Brauer and Vogel side by side for second. With three to go, Vogel moved into second along the high side, but Brauer fought back along the low line to regain the runner-up honors. One lap later they were three wide for the lead, with Brauer getting the advantage. Brauer held on for the hard-fought victory, ahead of Vogel and Broksieck in the top three.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 34JR-Braden Brauer[4]; 2. 40-Nick Traynor[2]; 3. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[8]; 4. 10V-Justin Vogel[6]; 5. 127-Parker Anderson[5]; 6. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[14]; 7. 26-Ty Agen[9]; 8. 69-Tim Johnson[12]; 9. 11-Levi Randt[10]; 10. 8-Kolby Kiehl[15]; 11. 51-Eric Riley[23]; 12. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[11]; 13. 04-Tommy Pogones[18]; 14. 21-Jim Gullikson[13]; 15. 20-Andrew Hanson[17]; 16. 25-Mike Jans[1]; 17. 16S-Ty Schuler[20]; 18. 22B-Ethan Beckler[19]; 19. 12C-Cody Kummer[22]; 20. 4-Micheal Brockman[16]; 21. 17-Nick Shumansky[21]; 22. 76-Braedyn Fleck[24]; 23. (DNF) 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[7]; 24. (DNF) 2U-Kasey Ussatis[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Kolby Kiehl[1]; 2. 04-Tommy Pogones[3]; 3. 12C-Cody Kummer[4]; 4. 11-Levi Randt[9]; 5. 51-Eric Riley[8]; 6. 52-Joe Arndt[6]; 7. 10-Chase Pourrier[5]; 8. 30B-Wade Bergerud[7]; 9. (DNF) 25J-Jace Baloun[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 127-Parker Anderson[4]; 2. 16S-Ty Schuler[1]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[2]; 4. 16J-Spencer Johnson[5]; 5. 76-Braedyn Fleck[8]; 6. 69D-Dominick Platow[6]; 7. 10T-Darek Turner[7]; 8. (DNF) 46-Cory Moser[3]; 9. (DNF) 71-Josh Long[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[2]; 2. 69-Tim Johnson[4]; 3. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[6]; 4. 3D-Dale Louwagie[1]; 5. 3J-Tanner Freese[3]; 6. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[7]; 7. 44-Dylan Arndt[5]; 8. 19K-Cole Kannegiesser[8]; 9. 24-Mike Hart[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Micheal Brockman[1]; 2. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[6]; 3. 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[8]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[3]; 5. 22B-Ethan Beckler[9]; 6. 44X-Alex Grinager[5]; 7. 711-Kenneth Clements[7]; 8. 57-Jason Fechtner[2]; 9. (DNF) 2*-Dustin Schultz[4]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Andrew Hanson[1]; 2. 21-Jim Gullikson[4]; 3. 40-Nick Traynor[9]; 4. 19-Cole Greseth[2]; 5. 12K-Kevin Pender[3]; 6. 4T-Trey Hess[8]; 7. 27J-Jordan Johnson[6]; 8. 11*-Robert Petroff[7]; 9. 82JR-Sophie Anderson[5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Ty Agen[2]; 2. 17-Nick Shumansky[1]; 3. 25-Mike Jans[8]; 4. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[9]; 5. 35S-Kegan Stueve[4]; 6. I7-Ethan Iiams[3]; 7. 12-Melvin Flickinger[7]; 8. 49S-Rodney Hulst[5]; 9. 19C-Charlie Shiek[6]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 34JR-Braden Brauer[7]; 2. 10V-Justin Vogel[8]; 3. 14B-Maria Broksieck[3]; 4. 9-Cody Hatch[4]; 5. 16-Greg Platzer[6]; 6. 23-Maverick Janssen[2]; 7. 14-JR Flickinger[5]; 8. (DNF) 0-Wyatt Brooker[1]