By Ron Krog
All The Dirt! Racing News
FERGUS FALLS, MN (Sept 14) - Opening night of the Speedway Motors
WISSOTA 100 had a little bit of everything for race fans, as close to
200 cars practiced before the WISSOTA?Hornets and Pure Stocks hit the
track for their headlining features.
When the dust settled, in more ways than one, Casey Stremick and Cory
Jorgensen were crowned WISSOTA?100 champions in the Hornet and Pure
Stock division, respectively.
In the 20-lap Hornet feature, Justin Schelitzche took the early lead and
looked very strong, while Matt Pederson and defending champ Jacob Aarhus
were in a dog fight for second. With 11 laps to go Matt Dittman moved
into second, as he passed Aarhus, and Nathan Kohl followed through to third.
For the next three laps Dittman and Schelitzche were side by side,
before Dittman took the lead for good with seven laps left. As the
checkered flew, Stremick rolled across second with Joe Martin third.
Later in the tech shed Dittman and Martin failed tech inspection, due to
polished throttle bodies, so the win was awarded to Stremick. Devin
Goulet was second and Kohl completed the podium of the 28-car feature.
Earlier in the program, the Hornets got the week rolling with their heat
races. Defending WISSOTA 100 champ Jacob Aarhus won the opening heat
race, while Peter Martin was second and ninth-starter Brady Hagen, of
Montevideo, MN, charged to third. In the second heat race, Matt Dittman
came from eighth for the win, while Justin Schelitzche was second. Matt
Pederson held off Casey Stremick for the win in the third heat race.
Cory Jorgensen and Kevin Baumgarner started on the front row of the Pure
Stock feature and Jorgensen took charge early on. The car on the move
was Michael Roth, as he moved to second and gave it a grand effort to
try to get by Jorgensen. Jorgensen was just too strong, however, and
held on for his first Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100 victory. Roth was
second, while Baumgarner held off Austin Carlson for third.
A small but solid field of WISSOTA Pure Stocks hit the track for their
heat races earlier in the night. Michael Roth of Deerwood, MN won the
first heat from his fourth starting spot, just ahead of Kevin Baumgarner
and John Farrington. In heat two, Max Prusak took home the win, with
Josh Berg of Bemidji second and Cory Jorgensen of Duluth fighting his
way to third.