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Kolton Brauer bolts away from Street Stock field at the start and fights off challengers on Championship Night for WISSOTA 100 title

By Tony Steuck
All The Dirt! Racing News

FERGUS FALLS, MN (September 14) - Kolton Brauer led all 30 laps of the Street Stock feature to become a WISSOTA 100 champion on Saturday night. The younger of the Brauer brothers turned back all challengers for his first title in the premier WISSOTA event.

Jim Gullikson drove into the top spot out of turn two and down the back chute after the race started, but Brauer used a slide job to steal the lead in turns three and four. Brauer led the field to complete lap one, and Gullikson found his way by the leader in turn two, but the caution waved and the field was reset with one lap scored.

Josh Long briefly moved to second after the restart, but Gullikson regained the spot in short order. Braden Brauer fought his way by Long for third on lap five, and Kyle Dykhoff raced into the mix and battled with Long for fourth—he took the spot on lap nine. The top three pulled away, and Braden Brauer pressured Gullikson for second. Brauer used a slide job to steal second on lap 11, but Gullikson remained close to the Brauer brothers at the front of the pack. Cody Kummer advanced forward and challenged Dykhoff for fourth, with Justin Vogel sixth. Gullikson turned up the heat for second before a caution with 14 laps recorded.

Braden Brauer, Kolton Brauer and Jim Gullikson lead the field to the green flag in the Championship Feature (Cody Papke Photo)

Kolton Brauer remained at the head of the pack, and Gullikson reclaimed second after the restart. Kummer used the inside line to fight Gullikson for second, and Vogel and Dykhoff closed in on Braden Brauer in fourth. Kummer secured second on lap 17, and while Kolton held a several length lead, six cars ran in close contention for second. Braden Brauer used the inside line to pick off Gullikson for third, but dropped from competition with a puff of smoke with 10 to go.

Kolton Brauer held a moderate lead over Kummer with less than 10 laps to go, and Gullikson was a distance back in third. Ty Agen and Dykhoff pressured Gullikson, while Kummer slowly chipped away Brauer’s lead. Brauer used the high groove, and Kummer hugged the inside line; Kummer had erased the deficit to the leader just before a caution with four laps to go.

Kummer charged into the lead down the back chute when the race resumed, but Brauer found the speed up top and led lap 27 at the line. Agen joined the mix, and the trio were nearly three wide for the lead out of turn four on the next lap. Both Agen and Kummer attempted to occupy the low groove into turn one, and the two made contact, which left Kummer stalled on the low side of turn two. Several drivers piled into the slowed car; Kummer and Vogel were among those eliminated, and Agen was blamed for the incident and retired.

Two laps remained, and the top five looked vastly different for the restart. Brauer remained at the point, but Nick Traynor moved in to challenge Gullikson for second, and stole the spot before the next lap was complete. Jeff Ekdahl looked under Gullikson for third in the final dash to the checkers.

Nick Traynor, Cody Kummer and Josh Long (Cody Papke Photo)

Brauer held steady at the front of the pack and raced to his biggest career victory. Traynor crossed the line second, but did not make it through the tech shed and was disqualified from the race for a rules infraction. Gullikson was elevated to second, and Ekdahl was third in the final rundown. Kolby Kiehl and 24th-starter Cole Greseth rounded out the top five, and Eric Riley, Mike Jans, Andrew Hanson, 25th-starter Levi Randt and 29th-starter Trey Hess rounded out the top 10.

The final six cars to earn a spot in the main event came from the Last Chance Qualifier earlier in the night. Levi Randt jumped to a big lead when the 15-lap race took the green, while Micheal Brockman led a swarm in second. Trey Hess charged on the high side and moved to third, but he made contact with the wall and slipped from a transfer spot. Zach Flickinger bypassed Brockman for second on lap three, Nick Shumansky claimed third on lap four, and Maria Broksieck claimed fourth on lap five as Brockman lost ground. Kasey Ussatis and Kegan Stueve battled each other for sixth, before Hess rebounded from his earlier issues and picked off Stueve, and then Ussatis on lap eight. Hess raced around Brockman for fifth before a pair of cautions on lap nine.

Randt continued to set the pace at the front of the pack, while Shumansky settled into second over Broksieck and Flickinger. Ussatis grabbed a pair of spots to claim fifth, and Hess was sixth before Brockman dropped from competition with two laps to go.

The top four tightened up in the final laps, but Randt scored the victory ahead of Shumansky, Broksieck, Flickinger, Hess and Ussatis in the top six spots.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[2]; 2. 21-Jim Gullikson[3]; 3. 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[9]; 4. 8-Kolby Kiehl[13]; 5. 19-Cole Greseth[24]; 6. 51-Eric Riley[15]; 7. 25-Mike Jans[16]; 8. 20-Andrew Hanson[18]; 9. 11-Levi Randt[25]; 10. 4T-Trey Hess[29]; 11. 3C-Cory Dykhoff[23]; 12. 22B-Ethan Beckler[22]; 13. 16S-Ty Schuler[19]; 14. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[30]; 15. 17-Nick Shumansky[26]; 16. 19C-Charlie Shiek[20]; 17. 2*-Dustin Schultz[31]; 18. (DNF) 12C-Cody Kummer[5]; 19. (DNF) 26-Ty Agen[11]; 20. (DNF) 10V-Justin Vogel[8]; 21. (DNF) 10T-Darek Turner[17]; 22. (DNF) 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[7]; 23. (DNF) 23-Maverick Janssen[33]; 24. (DNF) 15F-Zachary Flickinger[28]; 25. (DNF) 14B-Maria Broksieck[27]; 26. (DNF) 71-Josh Long[6]; 27. (DNF) 34JR-Braden Brauer[1]; 28. (DNF) 27J-Jordan Johnson[14]; 29. (DNF) 69-Tim Johnson[10]; 30. (DNF) 04-Tommy Pogones[12]; 31. (DNF) 16A-Coltyn Schuler[21]; 32. (DNF) 10-Chase Pourrier[32]; 33. (DQ) 40-Nick Traynor[4]

LCQ (15 Laps): 1. 11-Levi Randt[1]; 2. 17-Nick Shumansky[8]; 3. 14B-Maria Broksieck[5]; 4. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[9]; 5. 4T-Trey Hess[10]; 6. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[4]; 7. 0-Wyatt Brooker[12]; 8. 35S-Kegan Stueve[6]; 9. 3J-Tanner Freese[14]; 10. 76-Braedyn Fleck[16]; 11. 80-Tony Miller[15]; 12. 16-Greg Platzer[3]; 13. 16J-Spencer Johnson[7]; 14. (DNF) 4-Micheal Brockman[2]; 15. (DNF) 44-Dylan Arndt[13]; 16. (DNF) 52-Joe Arndt[11]