2-25 Page 5 | ATD Racing News

WISSOTA competitors Koch, Rodin and Martini make waves in Arizona racing January 24

By Meghan Diemel
ATD Editor

CASA GRANDE, AZ (January 24) - Friday night several WISSOTA racers made their way into victory lane at Central Arizona Raceway once again, as our local upper Midwestern racers continued to make an impact during the early 2025 season down south.

WISSOTA-area winners included Dexton Koch in the Super Stocks, Lucas Rodin in the Limited Mods, and Mark Martini in the Sport Mods. Clayton Stuckey won in the Late Models, while Troy Morris III was the winner in the Modifieds. Mike Albertsen was victorious in the Stock Cars.

The Limited Modified feature kicked off the evening’s activities. Payce Herrera and Marion, North Dakota’s Lucas Rodin brought the field to the green flag for their 20-lap run. Rodin, a former WISSOTA Midwest Mod National Champion, was the early leader. Herrera was second, while St. Cloud, Minnesota’s James Trantina III was third. With three laps scored Trantina moved by Herrera into second, and another former WISSOTA National Champion – Jake Smith – worked past Herrera and displaced him another spot to fourth. Travis Saurer was in fifth. Saurer was tailed closely by Tyler Johnson and Jess Brekke, engaged in a back-and-forth battle that lasted several laps. Brekke got by Johnson for sixth, and then continued to work Saurer for fifth.

Out front, Rodin continued to lead while Smith applied heavy pressure to Trantina, making the pass for second with 12 laps complete. Farther back Brekke had made the pass on Saurer into the top five.

With five laps to go, Rodin was in heavy lapped traffic, allowing Smith to make up ground, though slowly. Rodin stayed consistent out front and took the checkered flag ahead of Smith, Trantina, Herrera and Brekke in the top five.

Other WISSOTA-area racers making the top 10 Friday included Saurer in sixth, Jarod Klein (8th), Scott Tofte (9th), and Joseph Swearingen (10th).

The Late Models hit the track next, led to green by Clayton Stuckey and Dylan Thornton. Stuckey pushed up the track into Thornton into turns one and two at the start of the race, leaving Thornton wrecked in the wall along the backstretch. The yellow fell and the field regrouped.

Stuckey was the leader once again back under green, now to the inside of former WISSOTA National Champion Don Shaw. Stuckey pulled away from Shaw down the backstretch, before the back of the field became a parking lot for a multi-car wreck in turns three and four and the yellow was back out.

The field was brought back to the green flag once again by Stuckey and Shaw, with no laps on the board. Stuckey pulled away at the start from Shaw again, as Zach Johnson, Cole Schill and Rob Mayea held top-five spots.

With four laps complete, Johnson moved to the inside of Shaw for second, as the two former WISSOTA National Champions raced side by side for the spot. Shaw was able to pull away down the backstretch, with Johnson making up time in the turns. A yellow then fell for a stalled Steve Stultz.

Back under green with seven laps complete, Stuckey had a healthy lead, as Johnson drove by Shaw into second using the outside lane. Mayea moved into fourth and Schill was fifth before another yellow fell for another stalled racer.

Stuckey had a commanding lead with the field back under green, as Johnson and Shaw raced side by side again for second. Schill was right on their bumpers; as Johnson took second, Shaw was under pressure from Schill before a yellow for a spun Chad Olsen brought the field under caution once again.

Back under green Stuckey continued to lead, as Shaw was back to second, and Johnson lost third to Josh Leonard. Schill was fifth with 14 laps remaining. One lap later Johnson drove back past Leonard to third, and set off after Shaw.

With less than 10 to go, Stuckey continued to have a near two-second lead, as Shaw and Johnson raced hard for second. As Stuckey moved through the backmarkers, Shaw and Johnson quickly closed the gap to Stuckey. Stuckey’s lead was down to about a half second, with Johnson right on Shaw’s bumper with three to go. Stuckey stretched his lead back out, and drove on to the checkered flag. Shaw held on for second, Johnson was third, Leonard was fourth and Schill completed the top five.

Other WISSOTA racers making the top 10 Friday included Hickson, North Dakota’s Tyler Peterson, who charged from 23rd to eighth at the finish, and Rapid City, South Dakota’s Lyndon Bolt, who improved seven spots to 10th.

The Sport Mods were next, led to green by Jake Kierstead and Payce Herrera. Kierstead was the early leader ahead of Herrera and Minnesota’s Mark Martini. Kaden Woodie and Ryan Peery were side by side for fourth; Woodie pulled away into the spot. With four laps complete the yellow flew for a spun competitor in turn four.

Kierstead was the leader on the next lap, with Martini moving to second out of a three-car battle. Peery, Herrera and Docekal were top-five runners before the caution fell once again.

Back under green, Kierstead led a side-by-side battle for second between Martini and Peery, but the action ground to a halt with six laps scored for another dustup on the track.

Kierstead continued to lead out front with the green in the air, as Martini settled into second ahead of Peery, Herrera and Woodie in the top five. The field moved to a single-file, nose-to-tail formation just before the halfway point. With nine laps to go the field was back under caution.

Following the restart, Martini used the outside lane to vie for the lead, but a yellow on the restart brought the field back together.

Martini gained the lead along the outside lane following the next restart, as Woodie moved in to battle Kierstead for second, with Peery fourth and Herrera fifth.

With four to go, Woodie was under fire from Peery for third; they were nose-to-tail for the position, as Herrera also moved into the fight for third. With one lap to go, Peery spun and the field was reset for a two-lap shootout.

Martini led the field back to green, with Kierstead in second, Woodie third, and Herrera and Docekal fighting for fourth. One lap later Martini took the checkered flag ahead of Kierstead, Woodie, Herrera, and Docekal in the top five. Jake Smith was the only other WISSOTA-area regular in the top 10, finishing in sixth.

Martini mentioned in victory lane that he was driving a 10-year-old chassis his brother built, making for a more meaningful win for the Minnesota racer.

In the Stock Cars, a short field of seven competitors took the track, led to the green by Shelby Williams and Mike Albertsen. Williams and Albertsen were side by side for top honors for the first lap, before Albertsen took the lead. Kaden Woodie was third, ahead of Don Earven and Brad Whitfield in the top five.

Following a late-race restart, Albertsen continued to lead, as Woodie, Earven and Williams were three wide for a couple laps for runner-up honors. Williams settled into the spot with two laps to go, as Earven was third just ahead of Woodie. Albertsen drove on to the victory, with Williams grabbing second. Earven, Woodie and Whitfield were top-five finishers.

In the Super Stock finale, the field was led to green by Dexton Koch and Max Nelson. Koch was the early leader, as Jordan Henkemeyer blasted past Nelson into second and Jason Hobbs moved in to battle Nelson for third. Matt Sparby was fifth.

With Koch out front by about a second and a half – just before the halfway point of the race – Henkemeyer was slowly closing the gap from second. Nelson, Hobbs and James Trantina were top-five runners behind the lead duo.

As the leaders worked through lapped traffic through the remaining five laps of the race, Koch moved back out to a healthy lead, and hung on to take the victory. Henkemeyer was second, Nelson was third, Hobbs finished fourth and Trantina completed the top five.

The final feature of the night, the Modifieds, hit the track led to green by Tate Johnson and Bryson Yeager. Troy Morris took the lead with just two laps to go and drove to the eventual victory. Kollin Hibdon, who raced in WISSOTA Late Model action last season, completed the night in seventh from his 12th starting spot in his No. 48K Modified.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[1]; 2. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[3]; 3. 32-Max Nelson[2]; 4. 00-Jason Hobbs[4]; 5. 19X-James Trantina III[7]; 6. 81X-Matt Sparby[6]; 7. 00B-Beau Brown[8]; 8. 81B-Doug Bolt[9]; 9. 4A-Allan Cleveland[5]; 10. X81-Alexa Sparby[10]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[2]; 2. 00-Jason Hobbs[1]; 3. 4A-Allan Cleveland[3]; 4. 19X-James Trantina III[4]; 5. 81B-Doug Bolt[5]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 32-Max Nelson[2]; 2. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[4]; 3. 81X-Matt Sparby[1]; 4. 00B-Beau Brown[3]; 5. X81-Alexa Sparby[5]

Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[1]; 2. 42S-Don Shaw[4]; 3. 73-Zach Johnson[5]; 4. 85-Josh Leonard[8]; 5. 44*-Cole Schill[7]; 6. 38-Thomas Hunziker[11]; 7. 74-Karl Tipton[21]; 8. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[23]; 9. 6T-Terry Carter[19]; 10. 3X-Lyndon Bolt[17]; 11. 37M-Rob Mayea[6]; 12. 73X-Larry Fitzsimmons[13]; 13. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[12]; 14. 79-Jaden Christ[20]; 15. 37-Jason Rogers[16]; 16. 10C-Chad Olsen[9]; 17. 63-Maria Hankins[22]; 18. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[15]; 19. 78S-Steve Stultz[10]; 20. 38T-Dylan Thornton[2]; 21. 7-Ricky Weiss[3]; 22. 73B-Adam Bohlman[14]; 23. 2-Rusty Kollman[18]; 24. (DNS) 23-Matt Gilbertson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[4]; 2. 44*-Cole Schill[1]; 3. 7-Ricky Weiss[8]; 4. 78S-Steve Stultz[5]; 5. 3X-Lyndon Bolt[3]; 6. 2-Rusty Kollman[2]; 7. 6T-Terry Carter[6]; 8. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 42S-Don Shaw[2]; 2. 38T-Dylan Thornton[6]; 3. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[1]; 4. 38-Thomas Hunziker[5]; 5. 73X-Larry Fitzsimmons[7]; 6. 73B-Adam Bohlman[8]; 7. 79-Jaden Christ[4]; 8. 23-Matt Gilbertson[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 73-Zach Johnson[1]; 2. 37M-Rob Mayea[2]; 3. 85-Josh Leonard[4]; 4. 10C-Chad Olsen[6]; 5. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[5]; 6. 37-Jason Rogers[7]; 7. 74-Karl Tipton[3]; 8. 63-Maria Hankins[8]

Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 07X-Troy Morris III[6]; 2. 33Y-Bryson Yeager[2]; 3. 77-Tom Berry Jr[4]; 4. 111-Ethan Braaksma[10]; 5. 75JR-Chaz Baca[8]; 6. 413-Tate Johnson[1]; 7. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[12]; 8. 73-Beau Speicher[14]; 9. 82-Eston Whisler[7]; 10. 101-Luke Silber[3]; 11. 118-Jesse Patterson[5]; 12. 111X-Logan Drake[16]; 13. 09-Kelsy Wedelstadt[15]; 14. 21JR-Michael Egurola[11]; 15. 28-Ian Whisler[18]; 16. 33BY-Braxton Yeager[17]; 17. 27EH-Drew Janssen[20]; 18. 97TB-Tyson Blood[22]; 19. 13-Jerry Flippo[24]; 20. 16OZ-CR Eisenzimer[13]; 21. 22G-Paul Guglielmoni[21]; 22. 25G-Randy Shafer[23]; 23. 13B-Jess Brekke[19]; 24. 75-Andrew Peckham[25]; 25. 515-Devin Fouquette[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 515-Devin Fouquette[1]; 2. 73-Beau Speicher[2]; 3. 07X-Troy Morris III[7]; 4. 33BY-Braxton Yeager[3]; 5. 28-Ian Whisler[5]; 6. 111X-Logan Drake[9]; 7. 97TB-Tyson Blood[6]; 8. 75-Andrew Peckham[4]; 9. X-Shawn Keena[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Tom Berry Jr[3]; 2. 09-Kelsy Wedelstadt[1]; 3. 413-Tate Johnson[9]; 4. 21JR-Michael Egurola[7]; 5. 22G-Paul Guglielmoni[5]; 6. 35-William Miller[8]; 7. 0G-Paxton George[2]; 8. 13-Jerry Flippo[6]; 9. 520T-Lukas Tellez[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 82-Eston Whisler[2]; 2. 75JR-Chaz Baca[4]; 3. 111-Ethan Braaksma[5]; 4. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[7]; 5. 27EH-Drew Janssen[3]; 6. 13B-Jess Brekke[1]; 7. 25G-Randy Shafer[9]; 8. 0-Peyton George[8]; 9. 21-KC Dieckman[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 101-Luke Silber[4]; 2. 118-Jesse Patterson[5]; 3. 33Y-Bryson Yeager[9]; 4. 16OZ-CR Eisenzimer[7]; 5. 23C-Chuck Grohnke[6]; 6. 01-Tyler Leach[2]; 7. 57-Drew Christianson[3]; 8. 28H-Kolby Hannah[1]; 9. 46-Adam Boggs[8]; 10. (DNS) 22S-Sean Stacy

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 33BY-Braxton Yeager[1]; 2. 13B-Jess Brekke[5]; 3. 22G-Paul Guglielmoni[3]; 4. 25G-Randy Shafer[4]; 5. 75-Andrew Peckham[8]; 6. 57-Drew Christianson[6]; 7. 35-William Miller[2]; 8. 0G-Paxton George[7]; 9. (DNS) 46-Adam Boggs; 10. (DNS) 21-KC Dieckman; 11. (DNS) 22S-Sean Stacy

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 28-Ian Whisler[2]; 2. 27EH-Drew Janssen[3]; 3. 97TB-Tyson Blood[5]; 4. 13-Jerry Flippo[7]; 5. 01-Tyler Leach[4]; 6. 23C-Chuck Grohnke[1]; 7. X-Shawn Keena[8]; 8. 0-Peyton George[6]; 9. 520T-Lukas Tellez[10]; 10. (DNS) 28H-Kolby Hannah

Limited Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 19-Lucas Rodin[2]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[5]; 3. 19X-James Trantina III[3]; 4. 711-Payce Herrera[1]; 5. 13B-Jess Brekke[8]; 6. 1SX-Travis Saurer[6]; 7. 75-Tyler Johnson[9]; 8. 77-Jarod Klein[4]; 9. 28-Scott Tofte[7]; 10. 001-Joseph Swearingen[16]; 11. 1S-Scott Bintz[10]; 12. 2-Ariel Mueller[13]; 13. 25-Adam Bohlman[21]; 14. 00-Jason Hobbs[18]; 15. 73-Onyx Johnson[19]; 16. 95-Ted Doell[12]; 17. 44-Eric Winemiller[22]; 18. 50-Paul Parks[15]; 19. 65-Cory Wilder[17]; 20. 0-Dakota Girard[11]; 21. 83X-Garett Veldman[20]; 22. 8-Tyler Doell[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Lucas Rodin[2]; 2. 19X-James Trantina III[4]; 3. 1S-Scott Bintz[3]; 4. 28-Scott Tofte[7]; 5. 95-Ted Doell[6]; 6. 65-Cory Wilder[5]; 7. 25-Adam Bohlman[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Jarod Klein[1]; 2. 711-Payce Herrera[7]; 3. 0-Dakota Girard[2]; 4. 75-Tyler Johnson[6]; 5. 50-Paul Parks[4]; 6. 00-Jason Hobbs[3]; 7. 83X-Garett Veldman[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[1]; 2. 1SX-Travis Saurer[3]; 3. 13B-Jess Brekke[4]; 4. 2-Ariel Mueller[2]; 5. 8-Tyler Doell[5]; 6. 001-Joseph Swearingen[6]; 7. 73-Onyx Johnson[7]

Sport Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 4Q2-Mark Martini[3]; 2. 30K-Jake Kierstead[1]; 3. 980-Kaden Woodie[4]; 4. 711-Payce Herrera[2]; 5. 7TG-Joe Docekal[10]; 6. 19-Jake Smith[5]; 7. 44-Eric Winemiller[23]; 8. 316-Brandyn Johnson[20]; 9. 28-David Pitt[11]; 10. 0-Dakota Girard[9]; 11. 73N-Noah Speicher[12]; 12. 217-Tyke Miles[19]; 13. 00T-Crystal Hemphill[18]; 14. 41-Bill Lundock[17]; 15. 21P-Ryan Peery[7]; 16. 99H-Nick Hankins[13]; 17. 75-Tyler Johnson[6]; 18. 2J-Jaylon McEuen[15]; 19. 03-Kevin Risacher[14]; 20. 5O-Braydon Whitfield[8]; 21. 66-Gage Curran[16]; 22. 14-Erick Barraza[22]; 23. 54-Jerry Elliott[21]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4Q2-Mark Martini[4]; 2. 980-Kaden Woodie[6]; 3. 7TG-Joe Docekal[2]; 4. 75-Tyler Johnson[7]; 5. 2J-Jaylon McEuen[1]; 6. 41-Bill Lundock[5]; 7. 217-Tyke Miles[8]; 8. 14-Erick Barraza[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30K-Jake Kierstead[6]; 2. 711-Payce Herrera[7]; 3. 28-David Pitt[2]; 4. 73N-Noah Speicher[5]; 5. 66-Gage Curran[1]; 6. 00T-Crystal Hemphill[3]; 7. 316-Brandyn Johnson[4]; 8. (DNS) 44-Eric Winemiller

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Jake Smith[1]; 2. 21P-Ryan Peery[2]; 3. 0-Dakota Girard[3]; 4. 5O-Braydon Whitfield[6]; 5. 99H-Nick Hankins[5]; 6. 03-Kevin Risacher[7]; 7. 54-Jerry Elliott[4]

Stock Cars:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. Z3-Mike Albertsen[2]; 2. 82-Shelby Williams[1]; 3. 1X-Don Earven[6]; 4. 980-Kaden Woodie[4]; 5. 3-Brad Whitfield[3]; 6. 37-Kyle Falck[5]; 7. 85-Carlos Barraza[8]; 8. (DNS) 22-Larry Brigner

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. Z3-Mike Albertsen[1]; 2. 3-Brad Whitfield[2]; 3. 82-Shelby Williams[6]; 4. 980-Kaden Woodie[4]; 5. 37-Kyle Falck[5]; 6. 1X-Don Earven[3]; 7. 22-Larry Brigner[7]; 8. 85-Carlos Barraza[8]