Cain cruises to Race Of Champions victory at 2011 WISSOTA 100! By Kirk Holmes All The Dirt! Racing News HURON, SD (Sept. 16) - The Iron Man Triathalon in Hawaii is said to be the premier test of the will and strength of an athlete. Friday’s version of the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100 could be compared to competing in the Iron Man while wearing a lead jock! After persistent rain put a halt to Thursday’s program at Dakota State Fair Speedway with less than one third of the events in the books, a whopping 19 races were added to Friday’s show, which included the AMSOIL Race of Champions in all six divisions. By the time the last checkered flag fell shortly after 3 a.m., Dave Cain of Corcoran, MN had won the ROC title and 24 competitors in the division were officially qualified for Saturday night’s 33-car main event. The night - and morning - for the Modified competitors consisted of heat races and a qualifying feature from Thursday night, along with Friday’s scheduled ROC race and two last chance qualifiers, from which the top 10 advanced to Saturday’s Last Chance race. The Modifieds ran four heat races and the top six finishers from each (much) later competed for 12 starting spots in Saturday’s feature. The winner, two-time Super Stock defending national champion Dave Mass of Isanti, MN, earned the second starting spot (middle of the front row in the three-wide formation) while the remaining 11 will start in positions 4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20-22-24. Almost all of the above was officially in the record books when Travis Saurer of Elizabeth, MN and Cain took the green flag at the head of the 16-car Race of Champions. Two-time defending national champion Blake Jegtvig of Hawley, MN didn’t line up for the 20-lap race and Nate Heinrich of Bellingham, MN was towed off the track shortly after the Modifieds and Super Stock ROC competitors packed the track after 2 a.m. Cain, mired in traffic most of the first two days of competition, was scheduled to start 14th in the main event after placing seventh in Friday’s qualifying feature. He obviously got the kinks worked out in his #2C because when Layne Roberts waved the green flag, the runner-up in national points flew away from the field like they were spinning their wheels on an ice rink. Scott Hansen of Garden City, SD started third and beat Saurer to the runner-up spot, while Chris Prussman of Brookings, SD and John Corell of Jamestown, ND ran in the top five. Cain’s huge lead disappeared on lap four when Hansen spun in the middle of the first turns and Cody Skytland of Fargo, ND slammed into the #31 head-on. Skytland’s #19B suffered only a mashed front bumper while Hansen was done for the night. Aaron Holtan of Newfolden, MN and Kelly Estey of Kelly Lake, MN had already driven their rides to the pits prior to the incident. When the race re-fired, Cain once again blasted into the night while Saurer led Prussman, Skytland, Kent Arment of Aberdeen, SD and 12th starter Kevin Adams of Cameron, WI. Darian Boyce of Winnipeg, MB called a halt to the proceedings when his #20x got spun and slammed hard into the outside wall at the entrance to turn one on lap nine. With all the stoppages used up, Cain took the green flag one last time. Adams vaulted from fifth on the restart to second by the time they crossed the start/finish line again and whittled Cain’s lead down, but for the second straight year, he had to settle for second place in the ROC race (Jason Grimes won in 2010). Cain completed his green-to-checkers run in first followed by Adams, Skytland, Saurer and  Prussman in the top five. Mass and Brett Hoium of Villard, MN earned the right to start the 20-lap Qualifying Feature on the front row via a redraw among the four heat race winners; Dan Ebert of Lake Shore, MN lined up third and Shane Sabraski of Rice, MN was fourth. Mass took the green flag and the immediate lead while Ebert launched his #60 Ford into second ahead of Hoium. Sabraski, Curt Gelling of Aberdeen, SD, Heinrich, Jegtvig, Don Eischens of Richmond, MN, Cain and Scot Danzeisen of Herman, MN ran in the top 10 early on. Cain and Danzeisen exited that contingent two laps in when Cain’s #2c pushed through turns one and two and Danzeisen got caught on the outside looking at the rear of several cars as they roared by. Four laps in, Corell spun in turn three and the lone caution flag of the race was waved. The veteran of four decades of racing was done for the event. Three laps after the restart, the always fast Danzeisen nearly spun out in turn three; he caught it, drove into the infield and then re-entered the track so no caution was called. He later pulled off and was scored 20th. With nothing to slow him down and no one to present a serious challenge, Mass cruised to the victory followed by Ebert, Hoium, Heinrich (who started 14th) and Gelling in the top five. The remainder of the 12 drivers that qualified for the main event were Sabraski, Cain, Eischens, Boyce, Estey, Jegtvig and Chad Olsen of Henricks, MN. The Modifieds opened their portion of Friday’s show with their heat races from Thursday night. The top six from each moved on to the qualifying feature. Mass started the first heat race on the pole and raced unchallenged to the win. Olsen started third and finished second after an early battle with Eischens and Heinrich; the latter survived an incident on lap four when Arment blew a motor, slowed in front of the flagstand and Kyle Koehntop slammed into the rear of Heinrich’s #10H. Tyler McDonald of Huron, Jayson Corell of Jamestown and Reed Storley of Watertown, SD also got together in a separate incident. Storley, Arment and Koehntop were done. Shane Bruns of Fargo, ND hit the turn one wall with two laps to go and was also scored a DNF. Olsen restarted close to Mass but finished a distant second ahead of Eischens, Heinrich and McDonald in the top five. Jake Wildman of Glenwood, MN earned the final berth in the qualifying feature. Heat race two ran green to checkers with only one stoppage for a spin in turn one on lap five by Keith Tourville of Dairyland, WI.  Estey led the 13-car field up to that point with Ebert challenging followed by Tourville, fourth starter Ryan Aho of Chisholm, MN and Cain. Aho and Cain demoted Tourville to fifth before the #111jr spun. Following the restart, Ebert went to the top of the track, passed Estey before they got back to the line and later scored the win ahead of Estey, Cain, Aho, Boyce and D.J. Tesch of Clear Lake, SD in the top six. John Schulke of Bemidji, MN spun in turn one after the first lap of the third heat was completed, and the eight-lap race ran nonstop from that point on. Polesitter Sabraski scored the win on the ever-slickening race surface followed by Jegtvig, rookie Zach Schultz of Grove City, MN, Dave Schroeder of Glenwood, Hansen and David Orr of Bristol, SD in the top six. For the second time during the event, veteran Dave Storck of Morris, MN was running in a qualifying position when mechanical failure knocked him off the pace and out of the race - he went from sixth to 12th during the final lap. Hoium led all eight laps of the fourth and final heat race, most of which he ran at a considerable distance ahead of the battle for second between Gelling and Danzeisen. Aaron Olson of Mekinock, ND was running fourth - despite hard contact with the outside wall on lap three - when Ben Mickelson of Jamestown spun in turn two with two laps to go. Olson got shuffled backward after the restart and later pulled off. Gelling won the fight for the runner-up spot ahead of Danzeisen, John Corell, Randy Klein of Enderlin, ND and Chaun Peterson of Mina, SD in the top six. When Friday’s schedule of events took center stage, 38 Modified competitors lined up for two Last Chance qualifiers, from which the top 10 finishers in each advanced to Saturday’s Last Chance race. Schultz lined up on the pole in the first 12-lap LCQ and, after Dan Menk’s #19M broke down on lap two and the caution came out, the “Zach Attack” re-commenced and the Grove City pilot raced unchallenged to the win. Klein started third and finished second while Scott Tofte of Madison, MN raced from seventh to third ahead of Schroeder and 13th starter Koehntop in the final top five. The remainder of the drivers that earned the right to race again were 15th starter Arment (with a replacement motor) in sixth, Orr, Cody Ahrendt of Inwood, IA, Randy Tarno of Jamestown (DQed on Wednesday night after his heat win for not scaling) and Storley. The second LCQ was dominated early on by Hansen. Wildman started second and ran there until Danzeisen squeezed by on lap four and Aho did the same one lap later. The Gopher state duo then ran down Hansen, with the help of the leader’s momentary pause to figure out a clear path around lapper Tyler Reagle of Valentine, NE. The top three were racing in a tight pack when Mickelson spun on the frontstretch with two laps to go. With Danzeisen and Aho poised to strike behind him, Hansen hit the throttle when the green flag dropped and raced on to the victory followed by top 10 finishers Danzeisen, Aho, Wildman, Curt Lund of Redwood Falls, MN, Tesch, Tourville, Dustin Nelson of Ogilvie, MN, Engels, Prussman and Olson. SUMMARY WISSOTA Modifieds: AMSOIL Race of Champions - Dave Cain, Kevin Adams, Cody Skytland, Travis Saurer, Chris Prussman, Kent Arment, Mike Stearns, Ryan Aho, Mike Anderson, Dan Ebert, John Corell, Scott Ward, Darian Boyce, Scott Hansen, Aaron Holtan, Kelly Estey Qualifying Feature - Dave Mass, Dan Ebert, Brett Hoium, Nathan Heinrich, Curt Gelling, Shane Sabraski, Cain, Don Eischens, Boyce, Estey, Jegtvig, Chad Olsen, Zach Schultz, Hansen, Dave Schroeder, Jake Wildman, Randy Klein, Tyler McDonald, David Orr, Scot Danzeisen, John Corell, D.J. Tesch, Chaun Peterson, Ryan Aho Heat 1 - Mass, Olsen, Eischens, Heinrich, McDonald, Wildman, Scott Tofte, Dan Menk, Shane Bruns, Kyle Koehntop, Arment, Reed Storley, Jayson Corell Heat 2 - Ebert, Estey, Cain, Aho, Boyce, Tesch, Curt Lund, Jay Triplett, Keith Tourville, Dustin Nelson, Arne Anderson, Tyler Reagle Heat 3 - Sabraski, Jegtvig, Schultz, Schroeder, Hansen, Orr, Randy Tarno, Bryan Nayes, Rich Pavlicek, Cody Ahrendt, Jerry Esler, Mike Storck, John Schulke Heat 4 - Hoium, Gelling, Danzeisen, Jo. Corell, Klein, Peterson, Ryan Engels, Prussman, Trevor Anderson, Aaron Olson, Ben Mickelson Lance Chance Qualifier 1 - Schultz, Klein, Totfe, Schroeder, Koehntop, Arment, Orr, Ahrendt, Tarno, Storley, Nayes, Ja. Corell, Pavlicek, Bruns, Esler, Schulke, Menk, Peterson Last Chance Qualifier 2 - Hansen, Danzeisen, Aho, Wildman, Lund, Tesch, Tourville, Nelson, Engels, Prussman, Olson, Triplett, T. Anderson, A. Anderson, Grehl, Reagle, Mickelson, McDonald