5/26/2018
Granite City Motor Park
MARTINI POWERS TO MODIFIED WIN AT GRANITE CITY SPEEDWAY
SAUK RAPIDS, MN (May 25, 2018) – With a new car and a new number, Eric Martini turned in a not too surprising result, a win in the WISSOTA Modified Feature at Granite City Speedway to kick off Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of Summer.
Brandon Lindquist led the field to the green, but it was fellow front row starter Martini in the D1RT car, who made his move on the backstretch on the opening lap and took control of the race. Third starting Denis Czech and fourth starting Shane Sabraski got past Lindquist to take the next two spots. Martini stretched his lead to three quarters of a straightaway over Czech by the halfway point of the race. Czech continued to rally and slowly began to cut into the lead. With five laps to go, Martini bounced off the backstretch wall, as Czech was right on his tail.
“I guess I kind of let it drift up a little too high there,” said Martini with a laugh following the race when speaking about his brush with the wall. Czech tried to take the top spot on the final lap as he pulled alongside, but Martini hung on for the win. Lap traffic also played into Martini’s favor as he used that as well to help garner the win. “You never know where them guys are going to go and you just kind of gotta be patient with them,” said Martini.
Shane Sabraski in a not so familiar car, the EZ1, parked it in his favorite spot, NAPA Victory Lane after he won the WISSOTA Midwest Modified Feature. Outside pole sitter Tyler Kaeter took the lead from Tom Gill in the charge into the first turn. Kaeter, Matt Baker and Sabraski quickly put a lock on the top three spots. Mitchell Kittridge spun on lap five to bring out a caution. On the restart, Sabraski drove low and took the lead in corner number two. Once in front, Sabraski began to pull away. The advantage would be wiped out when Patrick Howell spun in turn four to bring out another caution with about three laps remaining. When the green waved again, Kaeter tried to challenge, but it was Sabraski who proved to be the stronger as he held on to the lead the rest of the way to bank the win.
Two-time defending WISSOTA Super Stock Track Champion Dexton Koch was winless last year, but he was back up to form as he won the 20 lap feature event. Chad Fouquette and his son Devin Fouquette started on the front row and had an early battle for the lead. Devin would end up taking the spot, but it was short lived as Koch moved into the lead on lap three as he took it coming out of turn four. Shane Sabraski shortly thereafter moved into second, setting up a tight fight for the lead. Koch held the high side, while Sabraski drove the bottom and the pair tore off several laps that way through the middle stages of the race. The race’s only caution came on lap 14, when Megan Schmidt’s car stalled just out of turn two. When the race resumed, Koch had Chad Fouquette right behind as he took over second before Sabraski would take the position back. Meanwhile, it was Koch showing the way, the rest of the way to take the win.
“It’s definitely been a long time, about a year or so ago, but we finally got it done tonight,” said Koch about ending his feature win dry spell. “I kept seeing Shane down in one and two sticking his nose down there, but I kept running my line and tried staying as smooth as I could and we ended up getting it done.”
Dustin Holtquist goes by the nickname “The Dirt Slayer” he lived up to that billing as he slayed the competition in the WISSOTA Mod 4 Feature. Dustin and his father, Bob Holtquist, raced each other hard from the start and that family battle would continue the entire race. Dwight Gilyard followed behind in third, but that would be as high as he would go. Upfront, Dustin showed the way, the whole way as he scored the win with his dad right behind.
Brittany Smith made it back to back wins as she took the “W” in the WISSOTA Hornet Feature. Rookie driver Zachery Schreder looked impressive as he took the lead from the wave of the green. Just past halfway, Smith was able to get by Schreder in turn two. Not long after that, Justin Schelitzche moved into second and started to reel Smith in. With three laps to go, Schelitzche looked to make a pass on the bottom, but Smith held the faster line as she held off numerous attempts in the final few laps, all while working some late race traffic. When the checkered flag flew, Smith took the win and this week got to drive it into Victory Lane.
The next event at Granite City Speedway will be the Advantage RV Modified Tour presented by DM Motors on Friday June 1st along with several other classes. Racing is scheduled to start at 7:30pm. For more information and to purchase tickets online, go to www.gcspeedway.com
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature (20 Laps): 1. D1RT-Eric Martini, [2]; 2. 2-Denis Czech, [3]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski, [4]; 4. 5K-Tyler Kaeter, [7]; 5. 3-Brandon Linquist, [1]; 6. 36K-Jayden Larson, [5]; 7. US-Jonathan Olmscheid, [8]; 8. 27-Tony Proell, [6]; 9. (DNF) 00-Kyle Thell, [9]
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2-Denis Czech, [2]; 2. 7A-Shane Sabraski, [3]; 3. D1RT-Eric Martini, [7]; 4. 36K-Jayden Larson, [9]; 5. 3-Brandon Linquist, [4]; 6. 27-Tony Proell, [6]; 7. 5K-Tyler Kaeter, [1]; 8. US-Jonathan Olmscheid, [5]; 9. (DNF) 00-Kyle Thell, [8]
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature (20 Laps): 1. EZ1-Shane Sabraski, [7]; 2. 5K-Tyler Kaeter, [2]; 3. 27-Matt Baker, [4]; 4. 50-Cody Lee, [6]; 5. 00T-Keith Thell, [8]; 6. 50H-Haley Lee, [12]; 7. 20-Thomas Gill, [1]; 8. 96-Charlie Zander, [5]; 9. 15B-Jack Barta, [11]; 10. 29-Andy Mayavski, [3]; 11. 86-Patrick Howell, [13]; 12. (DNF) 4Q2-Bud Martini, [10]; 13. (DNF) 7D1-Mitchell Kittridge, [14]; 14. (DNF) 3D-Steve Dehler, [9]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 5K-Tyler Kaeter, [1]; 2. 20-Thomas Gill, [3]; 3. 50-Cody Lee, [4]; 4. 29-Andy Mayavski, [2]; 5. 3D-Steve Dehler, [5]; 6. 15B-Jack Barta, [6]; 7. 86-Patrick Howell, [7]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 27-Matt Baker, [1]; 2. 00T-Keith Thell, [2]; 3. EZ1-Shane Sabraski, [5]; 4. 96-Charlie Zander, [3]; 5. 4Q2-Bud Martini, [4]; 6. 50H-Haley Lee, [7]; 7. 7D1-Mitchell Kittridge, [6]
WISSOTA Mod 4
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 5H-Dustin Holtquist, [1]; 2. 5-Robert Holtquist, [2]; 3. 32-Dwight Gilyard, [3]; 4. 7L-Tyler Larson, [5]; 5. 01-Justin Pogones, [4]; 6. 37-Dean Larson, [6]; 7. 30-Dean Shaver, [7]; 8. 95-Brenda Shaver, [8]
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 5-Robert Holtquist, [1]; 2. 5H-Dustin Holtquist, [4]; 3. 01-Justin Pogones, [6]; 4. 32-Dwight Gilyard, [3]; 5. 7L-Tyler Larson, [7]; 6. 37-Dean Larson, [8]; 7. 30-Dean Shaver, [5]; 8. 95-Brenda Shaver, [2]
WISSOTA Hornets
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 5-Brittany Smith, [3]; 2. 14-Justin Schelitzche, [4]; 3. 11-Zachery Schreder, [1]; 4. 21S-Jake Smith, [2]; 5. 5L-Luke Geisler, [5]; 6. 16J-Jay Cheese, [6]; 7. 3-Thomas Inderieden, [8]; 8. (DNF) 16-Brady Albertson, [7]; 9. (DNF) 26-Jakob Mohr, [9]
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 21S-Jake Smith, [4]; 2. 11-Zachery Schreder, [3]; 3. 14-Justin Schelitzche, [8]; 4. 5-Brittany Smith, [6]; 5. 5L-Luke Geisler, [2]; 6. 16J-Jay Cheese, [7]; 7. 16-Brady Albertson, [5]; 8. 3-Thomas Inderieden, [9]; 9. (DNF) 26-Jakob Mohr, [1]
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch, [3]; 2. 7A-Shane Sabraski, [4]; 3. F5-Chad Fouquette, [1]; 4. 15-Devin Fouquette, [2]; 5. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer, [6]; 6. 33-Austin Niemeyer, [7]; 7. 12T-Trent Brutger, [5]; 8. (DNF) 92-Megan Schmidt, [8]
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski, [2]; 2. 78K-Dexton Koch, [7]; 3. F5-Chad Fouquette, [3]; 4. 15-Devin Fouquette, [5]; 5. 12T-Trent Brutger, [4]; 6. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer, [6]; 7. 33-Austin Niemeyer, [1]; 8. 92-Megan Schmidt, [8]
Article Credit: Dean Reller
Submitted By: Dean Reller
