Wissota 100 wins to Gullikson, Koehler, Becker, Sabraski and Gierke
- tombergie01
- 2 hours ago
- 12 min read
The Wissota 100 wrapped up with the champions crowned on Saturday night at I-94 EMR Speedway after a busy week. The weather held up for the week – always a concern with a multi-day event.
First, the loss of Scott Engfer in a tragic accident earlier this week was incredibly sad. I don’t think people will ever appreciate the amount of laps he put in on track prep there, and all the time he and his wife Deb, did working and maintaining that facility. I talked to him once for a track prep story years ago and he was very candid about what goes into track prep. My lasting memory of Scott at I-94 is seeing him stand near the turn 3 exit to the track weekly, shirt untucked, cigarette in hand, studying that racing surface intently to see what needed to be done next to the track. His work was never done there. They had a nice tribute to Scott, who was also a Wissota board member, prior to the features. My sympathy to Deb and his family, he will be missed.
Second, I want to commend everyone who helps make this big event go, including the entire staff at I-94 EMR Speedway. I counted more than 300 cars for this week who competed and if you include the 100 cars at the MPH event, there were 400 cars who competed. There are many people who take vacation time and work a lot of hours to make this event go, and I tip my hats to them for the time they invested this week. Also a shout out to the photographers and Dirt Race Central crew led by Ben Kruchten for outstanding work, they were busy this week.
I also like seeing drivers from different areas race against each other, it’s cool to see some Wyoming and Montana cars make the long trek east.
Multi-day events like this have their downside, however. I am a firm believer that the drivers who race every night of the event need to be rewarded a bit more. For one I’d like to see the purse increased deeper in the field -- not only for the A mains but for the nonqualifiers as well. I know there are contingency awards, which are nice, and there is the drawing for three spots at the pit meeting – but it needs to be a little more financially feasible, especially for the drivers not making the show. I know that money must come from somewhere but I think that is doable. And don’t worry, I am not singling out Wissota as I see plenty of flaws in other multi-day events like the IMCA Super Nationals (sorry Mr. Root), and the so-called “Legendary” 100 at Cedar Lake with its ridiculous eight classes. I’ll save those suggestions for another blog.
Let’s get into the racing.
The Wissota Street Stock field was loaded. The front row consistent of national point leader and defending 100 champion Kolton Brauer of Eyota and former national champions Kyle Dykhoff Starbuck and Jim Gullikson of Nowthen.
Gullikson led Lap 1 over Dykhoff as the Wolverine Justin Vogel of Brooten grabbed third from Brauer, who did not get a great start. Former national champion Parker Anderson of Phillips was in fifth with pressure from Cole Greseth of Harwood.
Gullikson’s lead was about .6 seconds on Dykhoff, who had a lot of pressure from Vogel. Brauer had company behind him as Anderson, Greseth and Trey Hess of Grand Forks were in pursuit. Greseth had grabbed fifth from Anderson. There was a huge four-second gap between third-place Vogel and fourth-place Brauer. Dykhoff had kept Gullikson within striking distance.
By the halfway point Gullikson’s lead was just under a second, the best battle was for fourth as Greseth, Brauer, Anderson and hess were fighting hard. Gullikson was engaged in very heavy lapped traffic but still maintained a lead of about a second. Some drivers running in the top 10 included Keith Tourville of Janesville, former Wissota 100 winner Eric Riley of Morris and Wisconsin driver Nick Traynor.
Brauer would slow with 12 laps to go to bring out the caution, and his hopes of a Wissota 100 repeat would end with transmission issues. A f
Vogel took a shot with a slider on the restart, but Gullikson recorded the crossover to regain the spot. Greseth was solidly in fourth with Anderson in fifth. Traynor and Hess were dueling for sixth. Tourville would slow with 10 laps left and would pull pitside.
Gullikson’s lead was .562 seconds over Dykhoff when the caution waved with four to go when Hunter Carter of Mapleton slowed with a flat tire. One issue that seemed to plague several Wissota Street Stocks in the feature, according to announcer Scott Tiefs – overheating, and several cars pulled in as a result. It was a heavy racetrack with some longer green flag runs, overheating was not surprising.
Dykhoff peeked under Gullikson on the restart but the 21 fought him off. The white flag was in hand when Coltyn Schuler’s 16A slowed. That led to a green/checkered finish. Dykhoff tried a slider and made a big run underneath Gullikson on the final lap but came up .144 seconds short. It was the first Wissota 100 title for Gullikson, who was the 2005 Wissota Street Stock national champion. He was second a year ago.
Dykhoff was second, Vogel third, Anderson fourth and Hess was fifth. The top 10 included Riley, Greseth, Traynor, Mike Jans of Clarkfield and tommy Pogones. The hard charger was Jamestown driver Dustin Erickson, who went from 30th to 16th.
A total of 20 cars finished, but it wasn’t because of a big wreck as it was a clean race that way (unlike other years when there is a big pileup). In fact, the only three cautions in the race were for single cars that slowed. There were several reports of overheating and a few drivers with flat tires. A nice job by the Wissota streets.
The Wissota Midwest Modifieds, led by a front row of Matt Schow of McIntosh, Brennon Weight of Lamoure and James Trantina on the front row. Trantina took the lead from the high side. Weight was in third while Nick Koehler of Bloomer, Wis. and defending 100 champion Blake Adams of Cameron, Wis., were fighting for fifth, ahead of former 100 champion Lucas Rodin of Marion.
The caution waved when Joey Jensen’s 30 was turned on the front stretch. On the restart Trantina remained out front as Weight pressured Schow for second. Koelter, Adams and Rodin were closing quickly. The caution came out as Wyoming driver Griffin Switzenberg broke in the right front and slowed.
Weight took a look under Trantina on the restart but couldn’t make it stick. Meanwihle there was a fierce fight for third between Koehler, Schow and Adams. The Wissota Midwest Modifieds were running mainly up high. With 20 to go Trantina’s lead was .607 seconds over Weight. Adams and Rodin raced side-by-side for fifth.
Weight was within striking distance and made slider stick for the lead. Schow was also starting to close on Trantina but he had pressure from Koehler with Rodin in fifth. With 14 to go Ashton Schulte spun in turn two to bring out the second caution.
Trantina made a charge for the lead but it cost him some ground as he dropped to fourth. Landyn Randt was running well but something broke in the 11R and he got into the wall. He pulled.
On the restart, Koehler went down low and made a move into the lead; however a caution negated that pass. Trouble then struck in turns three and four as there was contact between Schow and Rodin, and that led to a chain reaction with several cars involved. Schow’s 2S was bounced around hard after contact with several cars, and that led to a multi-car melee. Rodin was intereviewed by Tiefs and stated that something broke in Schow’s car to send him up the track, and it was chaos from there. Montana driver Mario Berger and Schow were done; Shane Howell, Malachi Klassen and Tanner Bitzan each had damage and went into the work area but continued at the tail of the field.
Koehler made the pass of Weight on the restart as Trantina was chasing. Another debris caution came out with 12 to go, and another caution for Zach Benson’s spin.
Klassen’s good run ended with contact with the wall as Koehler pulled away up front. Trantina was second while Weight and Adams fought for third. The battle for fifth was between two cars who started well back in the field – Reise Stenberg of Argusville, who started 26th and Mike Nichols of Watertown, who started xxth.
Koehler was the only car of the top five running consistently on the bottom, and he made it work as he picked up his first Wissota 100. Trantina was second, Adams third, Weight fourth and Nichols was fifth. Stenberg was the hard charger, going from 26th to sixth, while Justin Bjorklund of Sacred Heart went from 27th to ninth.
Braham’s Josh Zimpel grabbed the lead in the Wissota Late Model feature as three-time Wissota 100 winner Chad Becker pressured him. Johnny Broking of Grand Rapids was third, Tyler Peterson (TPO) was fourth and former national champion Cole Searing of Huron in fifth.
Six laps into the feature Zimpel spun in turn two, and fortunately there was no other contact. But he had to go to the tail, all but ending his hopes of winning the 100. Shortly after the restart Broking got a big run entering turn three and made a charge underneath Becker but got into the 12 car, and it led to right-rear suspension damage for Broking’s 45, ending his night.
Searing, driving a new Longhorn Chassis, was fighting with TPO for second with Proctor driver Kevin Burdick dueling with Zach Johnson of Lowry for fourth. The caution waved with 40 to go as Mike Stearns slowed on the frontstretch. It was a tough week for the 24S team.
On the restart Johnson moved into third past TPO who fought back on the outside. Becker opened a 1.33 second lead on Searing. Johnson and TPO fought for third with Burdick in fifth. The caution waved when Cory Crapser’s 07 suffered a left rear flat. When the race resumed Johnson and Searing were fighting for second with TPO and Burdick. Shane Sabraski of Rice and Dave Mass of East Bethel were fighting for sixth in a battle of two of the best drivers ever to race a super stock.
Becker was flying around the high side and pulling away from Searing who had his hands full with Johnson. Cole Schill of Hawley, the John Seitz Memorial winner, was lurking outside the top five and fighting with Mass.
Becker’s lead was about 1.8 seconds as he started hitting lapped traffic. Schill was on the move on the outside and was in a good fight with Burdick for fifth.
The big challenge for Becker on the long green flag run was lapped cars, and once he cleared that, he was pulling away. TPO had passed Johnson for third while Sabraski has seized fifth.
Becker masterfully worked through the lapped traffic and while Searing closed the gap to under a second on the final lap, would prevail for his fourth Wissota 100 crown, and the second he’s claimed at I-94. Searing ran a strong second, TPO third, Johnson fourth and Sabraski fifth. There were only two cautions in the 50-lap feature in what I thought was a nice clean race with multiple grooves, a great job by the lates.
Northville, S.D., driver Thomas Weisgram, a regular at Brown County Speedway, was the hard charger, going from 30th to 15th.
Dylan Nelson of Merrified, a former Wissota 100 champion, led the first three laps of the Wissota Super Stock but had a right front tire go down and could slow; he got the tire changed. That would put former national champion Curt Myers of Cameron, Wis., would inherit the lead with Shane Sabraski and defending 100 and national champion Dexter Koch now right behind him. Koch went to the outside to take a look at the lead but Myers weathered the challenge and pulled away. Jordan Henkemeyer had climbed to fourth with Dustin Nelson of Ogilvie running well in fifth, ahead of Canadian Rick Simpson.
Sabraski had cleared Koch for second and was all over Myers up front, Dustin Nelson had climbed to fourth and was challenging Koch for third. With 24 to go Myers was closing on lapped traffic and the 77 of Carson Miller got a little loose in front of him; there was contact and the 77 went around. My thought after seeing the replay was the 77 had started to get sideways before the contact, so the correct call was made.
On the restart, Dustin Nelson’s strong run was derailed when the left rear tire spun right off the left rear of his 46 machine and he spun. He would go to the work area to change the tire but had to go to the rear. One lap later Simpson, who had now moved into the top five, suffered a flat left front and would slow and go to the infield; he had some other body damage on the 77 but I didn’t see what happened with the flat. His night was over.
Sabraski was running a little higher lane working to find a way around Myers as Koch was third and Jordan Henkemeyer in fourth. Dylan Kromschroeder was having a a good run in fifth.
Myers was working very hard to protect for the lead as Sabraski tried a lot of lines to find a way around the 1M. Those two had pulled away from Koch. After a caution for a two-car incident Myers opened up some a few car lengths on Sabraski with Koch in third. Henkemeyer was fighting with Kromschroeder for fourth, ahead of Wisconsin driver Kolby Kiehl, who had started 12th.
Sabraski worked and worked for a way around Myers, and with seven to go got a really good run on the high side on the backstretch to take the lead. From there, he would open some breathing room on his way to another Wissota 100 title, but the caution would wave when Miller’s 77 stalled in turn two. That led to a green-checkered finish, where Sabraski would pull away for a .594 second win. There was some shuffling on the final restart as Koch grabbed second, and Alex Myers – Curt’s son, made a late move into third to each Kromschroeder. Curt Myers slid back to fifth on the final restart. It was Sabraski’s 998th career win, not too bad.
Brandon Dolman of Evansville led the Wissota Modified feature with Joe Thomas of Glyndon running second. Ryan Gierke of Villard was third, Brandon Beckendorf of Danube fourth and former 100 champion Landon Atkinson of Little Falls in fifth.
Some moisture was added to the top side of the track before the mod feature and everyone went up there at the start of the race. Dolman opened a 1.44 second lead over Thomas with Gierke not behind in third. Beckendorf was battling Gierke for third and would edge ahead of that spot.
Thomas went for the slider and took over the top spot and Gierke would follow suit. Beckendorf would grab third as Dolman started to fade. Sabraski stuck his 7A to the bottom and would clear Dolman.
The top four bunched up as lapped traffic became a real factor. Gierke got a run and made a slider to grab the lead, and Sabraski was closing. The top three went three-wide for a couple laps and they were putting on a heck of a show for the fans up front.
The first caution waved with 11 laps to go when Travis Saurer slowed with a flat right rear. Gierke faced the heat from Sabraski, and was driving the wheels off of the 26G car, running incredibly close to the wall. Beckendorf was running third, and Dusty Bitzan of Evansville had climbed into fourth, ahead of Bryce Sward of Nelson.
Gierke started to pull away Sabraski as the laps wound odwn as Sward was pressuring Bitzan for third. Beckendorf was solidly in fifth.
Gierke, who won his dad’s memorial race at I-94 earlier this summer, had extended the lead to more than 1.7 seconds as he picked up the $6,000 win. Sabraski was second – he finished in the top five in all three features – with Bitzan edging Sward for fourth. Beckendorf capped off a good night in fifth. Johnny Broking, who had tough luck in the late models, had a solid sixth-place finish.
Blake Jegtvig of Hawley, who has not raced much this season, was the hard charger, going from 27th to 11th.
Wissota 100 notes
--Dave Mass won the 2025 Structural Buildings Wissota Late Model Challenge Series championship and was crowned at intermission. It is his first championship of the series. He received a check for $12,000 for the title and other contingency awards.
--Brothers Matt and Ryan Schow both qualified for the A main in the Wissota Midwest Modified as did Canadian siblings Memphis and Malachi Klassen. Brothers Coltyn and Ty Schuler and Kyle and Cory Dykhoff did the same in the Wissota Street Stocks. Brothers Jordan and Jon Tollakson of Montevideo both qualified in the Wissota Late Model as did Cory (late model) and Justin Tammen (super stock). Levi Randt (Wissota Street Stock) and Landyn Randt (Wissota Midwest Modified) also qualified for main events in different classes. Father and son Curt and Alex Myers both qualified in the Wissota Super Stocks.
Father and sons qualifying for A mains in different divisions included Ron and Travis Saurer and Zach and Onyx Johnson.
--Beckendorf is an interesting story. He races IMCA mods and is very good in his 5 car, but has raced Wissota at KRA Speedway in Willmar a handful of times, driving Kent Willms’s car. He qualified for the A main in the Wissota Mods by finishing second in Friday’s qualifier – the only night he was in attendance.
--Sabraski qualified for three A mains – no shock there – while Mike Stearns, Ryan Flaten, Lucas Rodin, Dan Ebert, TPO, Blake Adams and Johnny Broking qualified for two.
--I was happy to see Al Cleveland of Breckenridge get drawn for the A main in the Wissota Super Stocks. A nice guy who doesn’t run a high-buck operation (older car, open trailer, etc.), Cleveland is old-school. Two other drivers with similar situations got in the late models – Robert Bitz and Josh Rieck. I like to see the underdogs rewarded at events like this.
The cars drawn for each feature were as follows (these cars started in Row 11 in the A Main)
Wissota Street Stock: Ken Harmon, William Fisher, Ferlin Sheridan
Wissota Midwest Modified: Chance Kodet, Zach Reinke, Terry Reilly
Wissota Super Stock: Karter Reents, Josh Schmidt, Allan Cleveland
Wissota Modified: Brock Gronwold, Seth Brede, Blake Erickson
Wissota Late Model: Robert Bitz, Josh Rieck, Blake Boelens.