9/21/2017
WISSOTA
Klein captures WISSOTA 100 Midwest Mod crown
By Scott Hughes
All The Dirt!?Racing News
HURON, SD (September 16) - The toughest Midwest Modified drivers in the WISSOTA territory set up three-wide for a 25 lapper on Championship Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway. In their final race of the 2017 Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100, the win went to Randy Klein.
Championship Feature
Shane Halopka, Klein and Mike Nichols had the front row for the biggest feature of their 2017 season. A lot of cash and a career highlight were on the line when they mashed the throttle at the outset. Denis Czech, Mike Jans and Corey Storck were in row two.
Klein shot out of two with the lead while Halopka lifted the left front and steered under Nichols. Klein staged a quick breakaway in the first couple laps and Halopka went with him. Nichols was a ways back in third with Jans right on his bumper and Czech was tight on Jans. Stewart Schipke fought Nick Koehler right behind that group.
The lightning fast race track was just what Klein wanted and he pulled away from Halopka, who needed a break of some kind to close the gap.
Nichols, Jans, Czech ran next and Koehler cleared Schipke, then chased down Czech. Storck was right on Schipke’s tail for eighth. Scott Hansen and Tim Ims were ninth and 10th on lap nine.
Klein had a good lead at the time he caught traffic. But Halopka made good time around the DSFS?oval and inched closer. The lapped cars were three wide when Klein got to them, but they parted and he slipped past a couple of them. Still, Halopka closed in and with 13 laps on the board, Halopka dove low while Klein rode high behind a lapped car. Klein made a strong move by the slower machine and got a cushion back on Halopka.
Czech spun all alone in turn one on lap 14 and although everyone missed him, it ruined his chance for a top-tier finish.
The field regrouped behind Klein with 11 laps remaining on the board. Halopka made the decision to take the high side for the restart and Nichols pulled alongside him with Jans and Koehler on their tails. Schipke and Storck were in row four with Hansen and Ims ahead of Lorin Johnson and Camden Myers next.
Klein maintained the lead out of turn two on the new green and again raced away while Halopka tried to match his pace. Nichols was right with Halopka and Schipke charged in to take fourth with Koehler on his tail. Jans dropped back, where he ran ahead of Hansen for sixth with nine laps left.
The leaders were all on the cushion, tormenting their race engines on every lap. The yellow blinked on with eight to go when a car stalled at the top of turn two and a wrecker was needed to remove it.
The field regrouped behind Klein. On the restart, a midpack tussle between two cars turned into a seven-car parking lot in turn two.
The top 10 for the restart were Klein, Halopka, Nichols, Schipke, Koehler, Jans, Hansen, Randy Laage, Storck and Lorin Johnson.
Nichols tried a slider on Halopka when the green came back out but Halopka crossed him over, then set back off after Klein. The top two raced away from Nichols and Jans came roaring up to fourth. Storck went to fifth using the bottom and closed on Jans. Scott Harrington did the same down low and went past Schipke and Koehler.
Klein continued to dominate while Halopka tried to keep up. Storck caught Jans and Nichols running together and dove underneath them both, but they shut the door on him.
Klein led the way to the white, but on what was supposed to be the final lap, a yellow appeared instead as Nichols and Jans worked each other over hard for the third spot.
Klein lined up again by himself out front with Halopka outside and Jans inside row two. Storck got a huge run out of turn two on the final two laps and bolted into third place.
Klein led flag to flag and took the win over Halopka, Storck, Jans and Harrington in the top five. The second five were Nichols, Justin Froemming, Koehler, Hansen and Casey Skyberg.
Last Chance Race
Earlier on Saturday night, a 16-car field had to be whittled down to six to flesh out the Championship Feature field in the Midwest Mods, so the Last Chance Race was important to a bunch of guys but, unfortunately, unattainable for most of them.
Jay Will rocketed off the front row for the early lead with Mike Rohwedder second. Jason Hoffman burst into third after starting eighth, just two laps into the race. Will built up a huge lead in just four laps and Rohwedder continued to hold off Hoffman for third. When Justin VanEps got turned around on the front chute and the yellow flew, Shawn Fernkes was fourth, James Reiner was fifth and Ryan Schmitt was sixth.
Will and Hoffman got the jump on the restart but a lap later, a five car pileup just past the flagstand led to a red flag and some cleanup time. Several cars rode off on the hook. Only 10 were left for the next green flag.
Will and Hoffman continued to race away as Rohwedder held Fernkes at bay for third. Cole DeJong was fifth and Schmitt sixth as Craig Lofdahl and Brock Hess tried to find a way past him with a haldful of laps left.
Hoffman reeled Will in with two laps left but Will stayed strong out front. The top six who moved on to the Championship feature were Will, Hoffman, Rohwedder, Fernkes, DeJong and Schmitt.
SUMMARY
WISSOTA Midwest Mods:
Championship Feature (25 Laps): 1. 88XXX-Randy Klein, 26:37.619[2]; 2. 3JR-Shane Halopka, 26:38.258[1]; 3. 57-Corey Storck, 26:38.867[6]; 4. 25-Mike Jans, 26:39.263[5]; 5. 14-Scott Harrington, 26:39.570[17]; 6. 67-Mike Nichols, 26:40.077[3]; 7. 33X-Justin Froemming, 26:40.226[9]; 8. 13-Nick Koehler, 26:40.764[7]; 9. 31-Scott Hansen, 26:41.379[10]; 10. 0-Casey Skyberg, 26:18.085[22]; 11. 3-Lorin Johnson, 26:41.481[13]; 12. 58-Tim Ims, 26:41.522[8]; 13. 28-Brennon Weight, 26:42.061[20]; 14. 1-Camden Myers, 26:42.361[11]; 15. EZ1-Randy Laage, 26:42.480[12]; 16. 99-Shawn Fernkes, 26:42.545[28]; 17. 2G-Brock Gronwold, 26:42.802[4]; 18. 30-DJ Tesch, 26:43.172[16]; 19. 6K-Kyle Knouse, 26:43.402[19]; 20. 7-Mike Rohwedder, 26:43.432[27]; 21. 3JRL-Lane Johnson, 26:20.458[18]; 22. 1R-Joey Rowell, 26:46.131[14]; 23. (DNF) 52S-Ryan Schmitt, 22:13.352[30]; 24. (DNF) 10D-Cole DeJong, 21:50.138[29]; 25. (DNF) 71Z-Tanner Zweifel, 10:54.794[24]; 26. (DNF) 23-Jay Will, 10:58.210[25]; 27. (DNF) 25-Brandon Hines, 10:53.428[21]; 28. (DNF) 6-Jamie Neumiller, 10:56.217[23]; 29. (DNF) 1S-Scott (Rebel) Bintz, 09:45.518[15]; 30. (DNF) 57P-Spence Pollock, 03:57.031[33]; 31. (DNF) 77J-Nathan Jager, 02:06.890[31]; 32. (DNF) 4D-Tanner Grohs, 01:44.982[32]; 33. (DNF) 07-Jason Hoffman, 01:16.960[26]
Last Chance Race (15 Laps): 1. 23-Jay Will, 13:45.679[1]; 2. 07-Jason Hoffman, 01:31.523[8]; 3. 7-Mike Rohwedder, 13:51.659[2]; 4. 99-Shawn Fernkes, [3]; 5. 10D-Cole DeJong, 13:52.290[10]; 6. 52S-Ryan Schmitt, 13:53.220[7]; 7. 16-Brock Hess, 13:54.851[14]; 8. CRAZY-Craig Lofdahl, 13:55.647[5]; 9. 69-Britt Williams, 13:57.129[15]; 10. 7J-Colby Jensen, 13:58.306[16]; 11. 20-Mason Lesmeister, 01:34.932[13]; 12. (DNF) JM-James Reiner, 01:33.087[4]; 13. (DNF) 67C-Rex Conrad, 01:12.917[6]; 14. (DNF) 10-Justin VanEps, 01:34.178[11]; 15. (DNF) 5-Brad Kopecky, 01:34.266[12]; 16. (DNF) 15-Jayme Peterson, 01:49.475[17]; (DNS) 62-Aaron Michel
Submitted By: Scott Hughes