9/21/2017
WISSOTA
Gilbertson grabs late lead, Modified feature at 100
By Scott Hughes
All The Dirt!?Racing News
HURON, SD (September 16) - The Modifieds wrapped up action at the 2017 Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100 at Dakota State Fair Speedway on Saturday with the night’s sixth Championship Feature event. Defending champion Kevin Adams was in the front row along with Tim Johnson, fresh off his Super Stock victory just minutes earlier, as well as Don Eischens, who put his #9E on the pole of the 33-car Championship Feature with a dominating qualifying effort the opening night.
When the thunder was done, seventh-starter Matt Gilbertson went to the DSFS victory lane as the 2017 Modified champion.
Championship Feature
Johnson raced to the early lead and Adams went to second. Eischens’ car pushed in turn one and he fell back several spots in the first set of turns. Kent Arment blasted up and into fifth. Johnny Broking and Danny Vang ran side by side for third as Eischens recovered and went after Arment, with Tyler McDonald close behind.
Johnson led Adams by a couple lengths in the first five laps and Vang shook off Broking, who then also lost a spot to Arment before the caution lights blinked on for a car turned around in turn four.
For the Delaware-style restart, Johnson had the point with Adams inside row two and Vang outside row two. Arment and Johnny Broking were next with Eischens and Tyler McDonald in row four. Dave Cain and Zach Johnson were in row five.
Adams completed a determined slider on Johnson in turn three and four and held Johnson off on the rebound out of turn four. Johnny Broking moved back in on Vang for third and it became a four car battle as Arment and Tyler McDonald joined in. Right behind them, Matt Gilbertson raced up and into the fray. He was fifth with 20 laps of work left to do. Gilbertson cut under Arment for fourth a lap later and put Vang and Johnson in his sights.
Adams maintained a 10-length lead on Johnson near the halfway mark and Vang was a fraction of a second behind with Gilbertson in striking distance. Arment was a few lengths back from there in fifth.
Adams reached lapped traffic and had to adjust his line, which gave Johnson a chance to close in. Vang also closed up and Arment rekindled a battle with Gilbertson for fourth with Zach Johnson right on top of them.
Gilbertson shot under Vang with 11 laps to go but couldn’t get past. The two then both caught Johnson a lap later and Vang went past for second. Vang and Gilbertson both cleared Johnson with nine laps on the board in turns one and two. Arment got past Johnson as well. Zach Johnson and Tyler McDonald rode right behind those two.
Adams worked through traffic cleanly as the laps clicked down. Vang and Gilbertson, running second and third, were about 20 lengths back of the leader when the caution lights blinked on with seven laps remaining.
Johnson went to the infield with a flat right rear on the restart and it looked like he was going to call it quits, but at the last moment he returned to the tail of the field.
Adams led Vang and Gilbertson, Arment and Johnson, Tyler McDonald and Dave Cain, Eischens and Johnny Broking - and the rest of the field - back to the starting line. Twenty-nine cars remained on the track for the final seven lap run.
Adams diamonded through the first set of turns to retain the lead and Gilbertson raced past Vang for second. Johnson moved into fourth and applied pressure to Vang, then took the spot. Gilbertson got briefly under Adams for the lead with five to go but Buzzy retook it; they did the exact same thing the next lap.
The two leaders then touched in turn two with two to go; Adams saved his car and Gilbertson backed off to straighten his out as well. The two blasted into three and four and Gilbertson remained right on Adams. The red flag came out when five cars got stacked up and blocked the back chute.
A two-lap shootout remained.
Adams led Gilbertson and Johnson back to the line for the final sprint. Vang and Arment were in row three with Cain and Tyler McDonald next.
It looked like Gilbertson got too high in turns one and two on the restart, but he got a huge run off two and down the back chute, then dove hard across the bottom in turn three.
He cleared Adams just enough, drove up and took his line on the cushion, and Adams wasn’t able to complete the crossover to take back the lead as they raced out of turn four to the white flag. Gilbertson pulled away a couple lengths on the final tour to cap off the win in dramatic fashion.
Adams settled for second with Johnson third, Arment fourth and Cain fifth. Vang fell to sixth at the finish and was followed by Tyler McDonald, Eischens, Denis Czech and Johnny Broking, who rounded out the top 10.
Last Chance Race
Earlier in Saturday’s program, Dale Ames and Mike Storck led the field to the green flag for the Modified Last Chance Race - the last race to set the grid for the final Championship Feature of the 2017 Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100.
Ames charged to the lead and Storck got shuffled back a couple spots, but Nick Grehl spun in turn three on the opening lap and a complete restart was needed. Grehl lost his third row start and went to the back of the 14 car field.
On the second attempted start, Morgan Ward tagged David Carlson in the first turn and spun them both out, which led to start number three for the Mods and a broken front end for Ward. Carlson also dropped from the race, which left 12 cars.
Ames, Storck and Guthmiller had the top three spots initially, but Jayson Good and Scott Ward drove under Guthmiller when his car got loose. He rebounded to take a spot back from Ward. Good moved past Storck for second as Ames led the way with a nice margin out front and five laps complete.
The field stretched it out single file on the cushion as Ames led Good with Storck third, Guthmiller fourth, Scott Ward fifth and Grehl back up to sixth. Justin?Boomsma ended up pointed the wrong way out of turn four at the halfway mark and the yellow flew.
Ames got too high in turns one and two on the restart and Good went by, then Ward did as well. Guthmiller made the inside work well enough one lap to sneak by and suddenly Ames was fourth instead of leading. Storck and Casey Skyberg held the fifth and sixth spots at that point.
During the final five laps, Good led Ward, Guthmiller, Ames, Skyberg and Storck to the finish. Skyberg and Ames traded spots near the conclusion. Those six then moved on to the Championship Feature.
SUMMARY
WISSOTA Modifieds:
Championship Feature (30 Laps): 1. 23-Matt Gilbertson, 31:16.979[7]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams, 31:18.096[2]; 3. 6X-Zach Johnson, 31:18.477[11]; 4. 9-Kent Arment, 31:19.048[5]; 5. 2C-Dave Cain, 31:19.236[12]; 6. 47-Danny Vang, 31:19.680[4]; 7. 5M-Tyler McDonald, 31:20.541[8]; 8. 9E-Don Eischens, 01:20.684[1]; 9. 2-Denis Czech, 31:20.809[20]; 10. 45J-Johnny Broking, 31:21.486[6]; 11. 52X-David McDonald, 31:21.548[14]; 12. 75S-Cody Skytland, 31:22.168[17]; 13. 51-Alex Guthmiller, 31:22.262[27]; 14. 46-Dustin Nelson, 31:22.310[10]; 15. 10C-Chad Olsen, 31:22.852[15]; 16. 91-Andy Davey, 31:22.924[13]; 17. 45-Bob Broking, 31:23.124[9]; 18. 37-Scott Ward, 31:23.167[26]; 19. 85-Jayson Good, 31:23.545[25]; 20. 6*-Brian Haben, 31:23.898[22]; 21. 48-Brent Dutenhoffer, 31:23.987[19]; 22. 5H-Brett Hoium, 31:24.471[18]; 23. 25-Mike Jans, 31:24.892[21]; 24. (DNF) 97M-David Murray Jr, 19:42.320[16]; 25. (DNF) 20-Trevor Anderson, 19:46.036[32]; 26. (DNF) 1JR-Tim Johnson, 01:20.684[3]; 27. (DNF) 1B-Jason Blascyk, 19:47.418[31]; 28. (DNF) 11C-Chris Prussman, 19:48.195[24]; 29. (DNF) 41-Jordan Foster, 19:42.903[23]; 30. (DNF) 6-Casey Skyberg, 18:15.180[28]; 31. (DNF) 75-Mike Storck, 12:03.132[30]; 32. (DNF) 6A-Dale Ames, 09:27.383[29]; 33. (DNF) X-Chris Moore, 01:20.684[33]
Last Chance Race (15 Laps): 1. 85-Jayson Good, 12:43.797[7]; 2. 37-Scott Ward, 12:45.061[12]; 3. 51-Alex Guthmiller, 12:45.641[3]; 4. 6-Casey Skyberg, 12:47.861[16]; 5. 6A-Dale Ames, 12:49.211[1]; 6. 75-Mike Storck, 12:49.993[2]; 7. 5P-Ryan Pommerer, 12:51.421[6]; 8. 1G-Nick Grehl, 12:52.407[5]; 9. 20B-Todd Berg, 12:56.055[4]; 10. 57-Duke Erickson, 12:56.822[14]; 11. 12-Justin Boomsma, 12:57.625[10]; 12. 25F-Thomas Foster, 12:58.848[15]; 13. (DNF) 73M-David Carlson, [9]; 14. (DNF) 37JR-Morgan Ward, [11]; 15. (DNF) 1S-Joey Rowell, [13]; (DNS) 60-Nick Koehler
Submitted By: Scott Hughes