Wissota 100 champions: Sabraski, Dillard, Randt, Overton and Smith

The Wissota 100 wrapped up by crowning five champions Saturday night at I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls.

The weather made a mess of the week, not only at I-94 but at most tracks in the Midwest. In fact, tracks from Knoxville to Cedar Lake to Jackson to Deer Creek all cancelled this weekend with the rain. We need the rain badly up here in Fargo but it’s too late for a lot of the crops in the region. With the rain this week the track had some major holes to navigate but I think the I-94 folks did the best they could to try and make it raceable.

I am just going to write about the racing ON THE TRACK…as far as the DQs go all I will do is  mention if someone was DQed, I won’t offer any more comment on that stuff or what has gone on this week. I am not a tech person and frankly don't want to wade into that realm, just takes the fun away of even blogging.

Not surprisingly the Wissota Super Stock main event was plagued with cautions and also not a shock – Shane Sabraski would work to the lead quickly.   There was a lot of contact in this race in the middle of the pack throughout the race.

The favored Sabraski took the lead from the pole in the Wissota Super Stock feature also in the top five were front-row starters William Lund of Brandon and Dylan Nelson of Merrifield.

With 27 and the restart Sabraski led Dylan Nelson with Brainerd driver Austin Niemeyer fighting with William Lund for third. Dalton Carlson of Grand Rapids was dueling with former Wissota 100 and national champion Dexton Koch of Becker pressuring him. Koch would take the spot.

Jayden Friauf had hard contact with the wall with 24 to go, ending his night and the caution erased a nearly one-second lead for Sabraski. Trevor Nelson of Warner had climbed to eighth and Tim Johnson of Brainerd was up into the top 10 as well.

Sabraski got a strong restart with a four-car tussle for second between Niemeyer, Nelson, Lund and Koch when Carlson tagged the wall after things went three-wide on the frontstretch. Brandon Duellman was charged with that yellow, to me it was a racing deal when cars went three-wide by the flagstand.

Niemeyer took second on the restart but the race, unsurprisingly plagued with cautions, slowed again when Zach Schultz slowed with heavy right-front suspension damage.

Trevor Nelson was the latest casualty as he suffered damage in the rear suspension and would be one of many cars to pull into the infield.

Sabraski led as Nelson moved into second. The car making a charge was the 9 car of R.C. Geiss of Huntley, Montana, who had worked into the top five after starting in the fifth row and would take the third spot.

Nelson meanwhile was within a car length of Sabraski with 15 to go.  The hockey player Bailey Rosch of Alexandria, who started 32nd in the 33-car field, was running well and climbed into the top 10.

Koch would make a charge into the second spot and took a look at Sabraski briefly. Geiss was dueling Nelson for third while Rosch and Bawden were fighting with Niemeyer for fifth in a good race.

Sabraski would weather the challenge from Koch and win his 1,063th feature by .545 seconds, Koch, who started ninth, was a solid second as Nelson was third.  Geiss, who started back in the fifth row,  had a nice run to fourth with Niemeyer wrapping up the top five.  Geiss, by the way is from Huntley, Montana, about 10 minutes north of Billings. I’ll be honest, I had never heard of him until Saturday but he sure made an impression.

It was an incredible run for Rosch from 32nd to sixth, easily earning him hard charger honors. Bawden went from 15th to seventh and was competing for a top five spot late.  Only 19 of the 33 starters finished.

Superman Mike Stearns of Aberdeen took the lead of the Wissota Modified feature as Travis Saurer of Elizabeth and Dusty Bitzan of Evansville fought for second. Brock Gronwald was trying to fend off Brady Gerdes of Villard and Cade Dillard for the fourth spot. Dillard was driving the 51T owned by Tim Thomas.

Saurer was charging and with 35 to go went for the slider to take the lead.  Johnny Broking of Grand Rapids had moved into the top five as Dillard slid out of the top five.  The track was top heavy as the mods flew around the cushion.

Sabraski got into turn three a little hot and made contact with the Ice Man Don Eischens going into turn three and went around to bring out the caution.  In my opinion, looking at the replay, the 7A initiated the contact on that deal. He would pull into the infield and call it a race (but would come out later for the late model feature).

Saurer led Stearns and Bitzan on the restart, and Gerdes was working the bottom trying to get into the top four. 

Gronwold, who has not raced much this year as he and wife Danna have been heavily involved in the Never Alone racing team, was all over Stearns for second. The caution flew for Eischens, who looked like he clipped one of the dreaded tractor tires in turns one and two.

The restart was a disaster as it looked like things got very bottled up with Gerdes and Gronwold getting together; it also collected former Wissota 100 winners Dave Cain and Landon Atkinson along with the 6SL of Seth Brede.  Cain would leave on the hook and Atkinson was done as well.

Saurer led Stearns who had Dillard closing. Gronwold was fourth and Broking in fifth. Saurer was turning it into a route as he pushed the lead to 2.3 seconds with 23 laps left.

Bitzan, Joe Thomas of Glyndon and Justin Froemming of Garfield were fighting for the sixth spot.

The best battle was for second as Dillard, Stearns and Broking were racing hard through hsome lapped cars. With 16 to go Dillard had moved into second but faced a three-second deficit with Saurer. His charge was just beginning. Broking had grabbed third as Stearns fell out of the top five, Thomas was up to the fourth spot.

Dillard, meanwhile was cutting big-time into Saurer’s lead. With six to go, what had been a three-second lead was down. Dillard was putting on a show and passed Saurer with six to go as the 51T car was hauling big-time.

Broking wasn’t done either, moving past Saurer into second. Ryan Gierke of Villard started in 18th but had a made a big-time run up to fourth.

Dillard would pull away over the final four laps in a very impressive run to win his first Wissota 100 title. Broking looked excellent in second with Saurer third. Gierke was the hard charger from his sixth-row starting spot in fourth and Thomas finished a solid fifth. Froemming, the winner of the Fallen Lineman race at Viking earlier this summer, was sixth. 22 of the 33 starters finished.

Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck took the lead in the Wissota Street Stock feature with Parker Anderson and Levi Randt fighting for second. Alex Grinager of Chokio was fourth and national-point contender Keith Tourville was fifth.

Dykhoff had about a 1.1 second lead erased when Jim Gullikson, the defending champion, broke something in his left-front suspension, ending his hopes of a repeat. The restart saw a couple of cars get together towards the back for another yellow.

Dykhoff led on the restart with Anderson second and Tourville and Randt fighting for third. Grinager was still running well in fifth but had a bunch of cars behind him including Cole Greseth of Harwood, Kammron Rose and the Wolverine Justin Vogel.

The lead stood at 1.3 seconds for Dykhoff with Anderson now trying to fend off Tourville. With 17 to go Tourville had taken over second and was within two car lengths of Dykhoff at the front. Greseth had climbed to fifth.

Tourville and Dykhoff put on a heck of battle with sliders at the front with Anderson closing on both. Tourville would take over the lead with 12 to go. Vogel, meanwhile had moved into fifth around Greseth.

The fight for second intensified between Randt, Anderson and Dykhoff with Anderson taking the spot.  Tourville had stretched the lead to 1.1 seconds with eight to go, but Anderson was putting on a huge run late. 

Anderson was simply hauling and worked around Touville on the outside with five to go, erasing a one-second advantage in just a few laps.  Vogel might have been the fastest car on the track late and had moved to fourth.

Things changed with three to go when Andrew Hanson suffered front-end damage after some contact, ending his night. That erased almost a one-second lead for Anderson.

The gloves came off on the final restart as a bunch of cars went for the lead. Randt was turned in turn one as he was fighting to make run for the lead.  I didn’t hear who the caution was on but Randt got his spot back.  Dykhoff would head to the infield.

Randt went for slider with two to go but Anderson made the crossover and would open a few car lengths on the final lap to cross the line first. However, in post-race inspection, Anderson was DQed postrace, and Randt was awarded the win.  Tourville was second, Vogel third. Eric Riley of Morris ran a good, steady race to go from 10th to fourth.

Jose went from 21st to fifth to cap off a good night, and Jeff Ekdahl of North Branch – a guy who usually has horrible luck when I am watching – went from 25th to sixth.

A stacked Wissota Late model field loaded with contenders was up next and Cole Searing was the early leader over Dan Ebert of Lake Shore. Sam Mars of Elk Mound was in third with Cody Overton, driving Scott Ward’s 37 car, in fourth and Johnny Broking fifth.

With 44 to go a big crash happened when Saurer and Thomas Weisgram of Aberdeen made contact going into turn there and that led to a hard crash which heavily damaged four cars. Jayson Good of Watertown took the brunt of it with a hard hit, and it also took out Charlie Olsen of Hendricks. Stearns’s 24 S also had some damage.

Searing led with Eberg chasing once the racing resumed with Mars in third and Overton fourth. The Millenial Farmer

Ebert made a slider for the lead with 37 to go and began pulling away.

Searing would break with 34 to go and pull into the infield with a broken lower control arm. That moved Mars and Overton into Row 2.  TPO, the three-time defending national champion, had moved into the top five.  Defending champion Chad Becker of Aberdeen would pull off, ending his hopes of a repeat.

Mars and Overton were fighting for second as Ebert pulled away to a 1.3 second lead.  But Mars was cutting the gap to a half-second and went for the slider for the lead but Mike Stearns would go around with 25 to go. I didn’t see if he had help.

On the restart Ebert pulled away to a one-second advantage with Mars scraping the wall.  TPO was in fourth ahead of the Millenial Farmer, Zach Johnson.

Ebert was mired in lapped traffic as Mars and Overton both closed the gap.  Johnson had moved around TPO for fourth. The caution came out with Jordan Tollakson and Danny Vang going around with 12 to go.

Mars slid high in turn two and lost second to Overton but those two were swapping sliders over the next several laps. Ebert pushed the lead to 2.6 seconds.  TPO and Kevin Burdick of Proctor were battling for fifth side-by-side.

In stunning fashion things changed and got crazy over the final few laps. Ebert got crossed up with three to go as he was trying to clear a lapped car, and Overton saw an opening and went around the 60 to take the lead. What made things crazier was there were several lapped cars.

Ebert tried to fight back but Overton stayed in front, and Mars, who had put on a show on the outside, got around the 60 for second. Overton would win by nearly a second with Mars second and Ebert third. Johnson was fourth and Burdick took fifth. Burdick, by the way, is the 2026 Wissota Late Model Challenge Series champion, congrats to him. TPO was sixth, and next week he will defend his Jamestown Stampede title. Cole Schill of Hawley started 32nd and went up to 12th at the checkered.

Postrace, Overton admitted Ebert was the fastest car but it comes down to capitalizing on the opportunity. but Mars seemed to be the fastest car on the longer runs but the cautions killed him.

Jake Smith was the class of the Wissota Midwest Modified field. 

Smith led with 17 to go as Sabraski and Jason Vandekamp of Scandia fought for second.  Tony Leiker had climbed to fourth ahead of Nate Reinke of Lisbon.  Landyn Randt made a run but slid too high at the top of turns three and four and lost some ground.

Smith led Sabraski by one second. Wyatt Boyum of International Falls  was having a dogfight with Jamie Davis for theseventh spot.

Smith, having an outstanding season once again, was pulling away, stretching the lead to 1.5 seconds over Sabraski.  Randt had slid outside the top five but rallied back to fifth.

A three-car pileup involving defending champion Nick Koehler, Scott Thompson and Scott Tofte brought out the yellow with eight to go.

Smith got another great start as Vandekamp moved into second and Reinke passed Randt for fourth. But the caution came out with six to go as Justin Bjorklund got hit hard and spun. He and Maddox  Klassen both were involved.

Vandekamp put some pressure on Smith on the restart but the 21 weathered the storm. Landyn Randt was driving the wheels off the 11R, bouncing off the wall several times.

Smith was flawless in earning a 1.1 second victory with Vandekamp, a top runner for many years in eastern Minnesota, taking second. Sabraski was third for his second podium finish of the night with Randt in fourth. Leiker, making the long trek from Wyoming, was fifth. He won at Madison on Sunday.