I added my second "new to me" track for 2025 after making the eight hour dive to Fergus Falls, Minnesota, for the second qualifying night of the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100 at the I-94 emr Speedway. The trip was motivated by the opportunity to spend the evening with a good friend who was unable to be at the Knoxville Nationals this year and as I drove into the property it definitely had the feel of what we experienced at Boone ten days ago, but perhaps more like what we see when we get the chance to attend Octoberfest in LaCrosse, but on dirt!
Over 250 cars in five divisions would be in competition with passing points from the heat races determining the twenty-four car feature field in each class. No B-Mains on this night and the top eight in each main event would earn the first eight rows on the outside of Saturday's three-wide start for the championship features. I loved the format and with just one extended farming session prior to the features the program that started just past 5 p.m. wrapped up just shy of 11:00 p.m. with some fantastic racing throughout the evening.
The Street Stocks would be up first and the eventual winner definitely had an interesting story on this night leading him to victory lane. Jim Gullikson started seventh in the first heat race and quickly moved to the front, but as he raced to the inside of leader Darek Turner in turn three they would make contact with Turner going for a spin, his nose piece stuck on the right body work of Gullikson's car as he continued down the front stretch. Officials ruled that Gullikson was at fault and he was sent to the back of the ten car field for the restart.
Once back to green, Turner would fade and eventually pull to the infield and as Gullikson battled his way back toward the front, his car started trailing smoke. After Dustin Schultz scored the win and Gullikson made it back to third, officials told him to stop his car as soon as possible as a fire had erupted under the hood. After it was extinguished, Gullikson's car was pushed back to the pits and while his seventh to third run would give him enough points to make the show, he had to first diagnose the issues under the hood.
Fast forward to feature time and Gullikson would line up eighth in the fifteen lap event where pole-sitter Cole Greseth would race out to a nice early lead until a lap five restart would put Kyle Dykhoff on his back bumper. Dykhoff would pull even with Greseth and appeared ready to make the pass before the caution waved again on lap ten. Gullikson was now up to third and on the restart Dykhoff would pull to the infield with mechanical issues after one circuit and it would now be both Gullikson and Perker Anderson putting the heat on the leader.
It would be a thrilling three car battle over the closing laps with Gullikson taking the lead at the white flag and he would then hold off Anderson by a car length to take the win. Greseth would have to settle for third, Keith Tourville moved from seventh to fourth and Zachary Flickinger would complete the top five. Unfortunately the wireless microphone would cut in and out as Gullikson explained the issues at the end of his heat race, but it was obvious that he did not expect to be in victory lane the way that his night had started.
The Midwest Mods feature had a thrilling finish as well as pole-sitter Nick Koehler would lead all but the last quarter of a lap. He appeared to have things well in control as the battle for second between Joey Jensen, James Trantina III and Memphis Klassen played out behind him. Late in the race though, Trantina would establish himself in second and he would then reel in Koehler looking to take the lead. Trantina looked to have a nice run to the outside exiting turn two with two laps remaining, but when Koehler closed the door Trantina got sideways for a split second before gathering it back together.
Coming to the white flag Trantina got a big kick off of the turn four cushion to close the gap and, after a big run off the top of turns one and two, Trantina would drive to the bottom of turn three. As Koehler tried to execute the crossover move, Trantina was able to keep his car from drifting to the top and he would win the drag race to the checkers by just less than a car length. Jensen finished third, Klassen was fourth and Landyn Randt, the Wisconsin driver who also plays professional hockey for the nearby Alexandria Blizzard, charged from fourteenth to fifth.
Front row starters Chad Becker and Cole Searing were the class of the field in the twenty lap Late Model qualifier and after three cautions, all for actual or possible debris, they would drive away both working the high line around the speedway. Searing would make a couple of attempts on the low line late in the race, but there would be no catching Becker who went flag-to-flag for the victory.. Searing was close behind in second and Cole Schill was actually closing the gap some on the lead duo after he raced from eighth to third. Kevin Burdick started tenth and finished fourth while the fifth place finisher Devin Fouquette was later disqualified in the tech line.
The fifteen lap Super Stock feature likely added an extra thirty minutes to the program as they struggled through six caution flags as drivers tried to lock themselves in for Saturday's finale. For the first nine laps there were more than 1,000 career feature wins represented in the lead duo as Curt Myers tried to hold off Tim Johnson. However, Johnson would be the cause of the sixth and final caution as he came off the cushion and made contact with Jordan Henkemeyer sending Johnson for a spin. The driver with over 600 career feature wins would reluctantly go to the rear for the restart and Myers would be in control of the final six laps to score feature win number 403 of his long career. And, in victory lane, he confirmed the rumors that this would be his final year of racing so that he can focus on being the crew chief for his son Alex. Henkemeyer would finish second, Denis Czech came from ninth to third, Kolby Kiehl came from row seven to finish fourth and Carson Miller faded from the pole to fifth.
The high powered WISSOTA Modifieds would close out the evening and after Brandon Dolman and Johnny Broking crossed the stripe side-by-side on lap one, that darn old debris caution popped up again and the transponder loop had Dolman by inches to place him up front for the restart. Even after all of these laps, this track produced four-wide action exiting turn two, but just behind them a tangle between Blake Jegtvig and Blake Adams would put the field back under caution. Once back to racing both Broking and Don Eischens would keep the pressure on the leader, but the man to watch was Brandon Copp who was riding the rim after starting from ninth and he was coming fast. Once he made it to third though, with three laps remaining, Copp would clip the wall in turn two with his right rear that would then turn him to the right where he climbed the wall exiting turn two.
Copp would maintain forward progress, but a caution was called and using the "blend rule" he be placed in fifth for the restart. Damage from his encounter with the wall would cause Copp to fade to ninth at the checkers though and there would be a couple of more late cautions before this one would draw to a close. Eischens would pull even with, or even ahead of Dolman in turn two only to have Dolman rocket off the cushion to maintain the lead and on the final restart Brady Gerdes would get by Eischens for second but he could not keep Dolman from taking his first feature win in the division. Dustin Bitzan charged from eighteenth to fourth and Shane Sabraski filled out the top five.
It was a very entertaining night and I will definitely have the WISSOTA 100 on my "to do" list in the years to come. I wanted to take some time to touch on a couple of other subjects here, but I need to get on the road to my next destination, the Clay County Fair in Spencer where tonight the MSTS 410 Sprint Cars and the Tri-State Late Models take center stage at the world's largest county fair. Look for me on the Back Stretch!
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