2-25 Page 7 | ATD Racing News

Peterson, Koch and Rodin top their racing foes during the January 30 program at Central Arizona Raceway

By Meghan Diemel
ATD Editor

CASA GRANDE, AZ (January 30) - Dexton Koch, Tyler Peterson and Lucas Rodin made trips to Central Arizona Raceway’s victory lane Thursday, January 30, highlighting action from the many WISSOTA-area racers on hand in the desert for early-season racing.

Dexton Koch was the early leader in the Super Stock class, as he completed lap one ahead of James Trantina III, Beau Brown, Allan Cleveland and Doug Bolt.

Koch’s lead grew quickly, with more than 1.5 second lead on Trantina with a few laps complete. Trantina held second, Brown was third, Bolt had moved to fourth and Matt Sparby had cracked the top five in fifth.

With seven laps to go, Koch continued to hold the advantage. Trantina, Brown, Bolt and Sparby held top five spots, before a caution fell with just four to go for Jordan Henkemeyer, who ended up against the wall.

Back under green, Koch zipped out immediately to a healthy lead, with Trantina third and Brown third. Bolt and Sparby were top-five runners, with the field mostly single file around the track. Koch became the first multi-time winner as he went on to capture the checkered flag, grabbing the victory ahead of Trantina, Brown, Bolt and Sparby in the top five.

The Late Models hit the track next, with 25 laps on the board. Tyler Peterson and Matt Gilbertson led the field to green, with Gilbertson the early leader. Peterson was second just ahead of a side-by-side battle for third between Chad Olsen and Josh Leonard, before the yellow fell without a lap complete for Don Geist.

With the field back under green, Gilbertson again drove back out to the lead. Peterson was under fire from Leonard for second, with Don Shaw advancing to fourth and Dylan Thornton fifth with two laps in the books.

Gilbertson continued to lead by about a half second with Peterson and Leonard in the top three. Shaw was fourth, and Thornton was fifth. Weiss was knocking on the door of the top five with eight laps complete.

As Gilbertson worked his way through lapped traffic, he was briefly hung up and that allowed the front-runners to close in; Gilbertson escaped back into a half second lead, while Peterson lurked in second. Shaw and Leonard threw sliders back and forth for third, with Thornton still fifth with 10 laps complete.

Two laps later Peterson had a strong run and drove by Gilbertson out of turn four, who was then under heavy pressure from Shaw for second; Shaw got by Gilbertson two laps lap later. Gilbertson also fell into the clutches of Leonard and then Weiss, settling into fifth.

Weiss moved to third, as just ahead, Shaw pulled up to Peterson’s bumper. They were side by side for the lead with five to go, with a lapped car ahead in Peterson’s line through the middle of the track. With Shaw down low, he took the top spot to complete lap 10.

Heading into turn one, Shaw had the slightest of advantage into the corner, now through the middle of the track and Peterson up high; the lapped car was down along the bottom of the track in the turn.

Shaw had the race lead secured down the backstretch, but broke momentum when he came upon the lapped car in front of him as they made their way through turn three; Peterson dove to the bottom, with Shaw trying to squeeze past the lapped car, making contact and allowing Peterson to drive away. Shaw was then off the pace as the field fell under yellow.

Peterson led the restart, as Leonard and Weiss battled for second just behind. Weiss used a slide job to secure the spot with two laps to go. Olsen was fourth and Gilbertson was fifth.

Peterson, the reigning and multi-time WISSOTA Late Model Champion, drove off to the victory, his third in the series’ history. Weiss, who started 12th, was second, while Leonard settled for third. Olsen and Gilbertson completed the top five.

Rob Moseley and Jake Smith led the field of Limited Mods to the green flag of what would become a caution-filled affair. Moseley established himself out front early, before a caution fell and the field regrouped for a full restart. Back under green, Moseley slapped the wall and Smith shot by into the top spot, with Rodin close behind, before another caution fell for a large wreck; James Trantina was one of the race cars involved and was done for the night. Scott Tofte also caught the end of it and had heavy damage, but continued on.

Smith led the field back to green, just ahead of Rodin and Jess Brekke. Rodin drove back down the backstretch and took the top spot to complete the second lap. Brekke was third, with Travis Saurer fourth. Another spin brought the field to a halt.

Rodin set the pace out front back under green, with Smith holding second. As the field came back through turn four, a Scott Bintz spin led to red flag conditions when Chad Ayers caught Bintz’s stalled racer and then rolled.

With five to go, Rodin led once more. Smith was second, with Brekke and Saurer fighting for third before yet another yellow brought the field back together.

The field was given a two-lap shootout to bring their part of the program to a close, and Rodin was back out front. Smith held second, Saurer was third, Brekke was fourth and Klein climbed into the top five. That’s the way they stayed through to the checkered flag, with Rodin netting another Arizona victory.

In the Stock Cars, Kaden Woodie and Shelby Williams brought the field to green. Williams led the opening lap as Woodie came under fire from Mike Albertsen. Todd Heinrich and Larry Brigner were in the top five.

With three laps complete Albertsen got by Woodie, who then retired from the race. Trevor Hidalgo moved into third, Jason Storbakken was fourth and Casey Murdoch cracked the top five with five laps complete.

Albertsen drew to the bumper of Williams a lap later, and took the lead for good a few laps after that. As the laps wound down, Williams kept close but Albertsen was able to drive to the victory. Hidalgo, Storbakken and Murdoch were top five finishers.

Tyler Johnson and Kaden Woodie were the front row for the start of the Sport Mod feature, with Johnson the early leader by a slim margin. As the front duo drove into turn one, Woodie spun alone and the field was under caution.

Johnson led the field back to the green flag, with pressure to his inside from Mark Martini. Dakota Girard and Ryan Peery drove past Martini as the No. 42Q was suddenly off the pace, and he took it off the race track.

Six laps in, the race was for second between Peery and Girard; they were side by side to complete the next lap, with Peery sliding up the track into Girard, and Payce Herrera taking advantage to grab second with eight laps complete.

At the halfway point the battle for second heated up between Herrera and Peery, as Johnson held command out front. A caution a lap later for a spun racer regrouped the field.

Back under green Johnson led the field back to the green. He got a bit high on the track, with Herrera moving in and taking advantage to close the gap. One lap later Herrera drove past Johnson, who was taking his Sport Mod to the ultra high line in the turns. He reclaimed the lead with six to go.

Down the backstretch, Johnson and Herrera were side by side for the lead, with Woodie charging back up through the field to third. As they came through turns one and two with five laps to go, Johnson edged ahead slightly, with Herrera down below in second and Woodie up top in third. Johnson appeared to jump the berm down the backstretch and his car was sucked into the wall, collecting Woodie – who had nowhere to go – and Woodie’s car rolled on its side, slamming back down seconds later. Woodie was okay, but was done for the night.

Herrera was the leader for the restart with five to go, as Joe Docekal and Peery fought for second, complete with an exchange of blows. Peery took the spot and set out after Herrera, but couldn’t get it done as Herrera took the win. Peery, Docekal, Dakota Girard and Taven Woodie were top-five finishers.

The Modifieds were the last feature of the night Thursday, led to green by Troy Morris III and Eston Whisler. Morris was the early leader, as Whisler allowed Kollin Hibdon to get by. Kelsy Wedelstadt was fourth, and Bryson Yeager was fifth. With three laps complete Hibdon hit the wall, falling back to third, while Tate Johnson moved into the top five.

Out front Morris continued to lead and began working through the back of the field, with nearly a 2.5-second lead. Whisler was supplanted again by Hibdon for second, while Johnson moved into fourth and Yeager was fifth with nine laps left.

Hibdon began to cut into Morris’ healthy lead, taking what was a three-second lead to just over one second. Whisler, Johnson and Yeager remained in the top five.

As Morris worked lap 18, Hibdon closed to within half a second. Morris was able to hang on, however, and he took the win ahead of Hibdon, Whisler, Johnson and Ian Whisler in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

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

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 19X-James Trantina III[3]; 2. 00B-Beau Brown[1]; 3. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[4]; 4. 81B-Doug Bolt[5]; 5. 9-RC Geiss[6]; 6. X81-Alexa Sparby[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[3]; 2. 4A-Allan Cleveland[2]; 3. 81X-Matt Sparby[1]; 4. 3T-Jon Tribble[5]; 5. 00-Jason Hobbs[4]

Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss[12]; 3. 85-Josh Leonard[3]; 4. 10C-Chad Olsen[4]; 5. 23-Matt Gilbertson[2]; 6. 11X-Austin Kuehl[7]; 7. 78S-Steve Stultz[15]; 8. 38T-Dylan Thornton[5]; 9. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[14]; 10. 2-Rusty Kollman[9]; 11. 37M-Rob Mayea[13]; 12. 44*-Cole Schill[16]; 13. 74-Karl Tipton[8]; 14. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[17]; 15. 11N-Denver Nickeson[20]; 16. 10G-Don Geist[18]; 17. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[10]; 18. 6T-Terry Carter[11]; 19. 79-Jaden Christ[24]; 20. 3X-Lyndon Bolt[19]; 21. 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[23]; 22. 42S-Don Shaw[6]; 23. 11-Blaine Doppler[22]; 24. (DNS) 15X-Chaz Baca

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Matt Gilbertson[2]; 2. 10C-Chad Olsen[4]; 3. 2-Rusty Kollman[1]; 4. 7-Ricky Weiss[3]; 5. 37M-Rob Mayea[6]; 6. 78S-Steve Stultz[8]; 7. 11N-Denver Nickeson[5]; 8. 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[4]; 2. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 3. 74-Karl Tipton[2]; 4. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[1]; 5. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[6]; 6. 10G-Don Geist[5]; 7. 3X-Lyndon Bolt[7]; 8. 11-Blaine Doppler[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 85-Josh Leonard[2]; 2. 42S-Don Shaw[3]; 3. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[1]; 4. 11X-Austin Kuehl[6]; 5. 6T-Terry Carter[7]; 6. 44*-Cole Schill[8]; 7. 15X-Chaz Baca[5]; 8. 79-Jaden Christ[4]

Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 07X-Troy Morris III[1]; 2. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[3]; 3. 82-Eston Whisler[2]; 4. 413-Tate Johnson[12]; 5. 28-Ian Whisler[8]; 6. 33Y-Bryson Yeager[7]; 7. 101-Luke Silber[13]; 8. 13-Jerry Flippo[16]; 9. 75JR-Chaz Baca[6]; 10. 09-Kelsy Wedelstadt[4]; 11. 28H-Kolby Hannah[11]; 12. 01-Tyler Leach[14]; 13. 58E-Aaron Elwess[21]; 14. 21-KC Dieckman[17]; 15. 58-Devon Reed[24]; 16. 11HB-Troy Householder[15]; 17. 141-Matt Bonine[10]; 18. 97TB-Tyson Blood[5]; 19. 75-Spencer Wilson[22]; 20. 77X-Mike Wedelstadt[19]; 21. 15S-Bill Slocum[23]; 22. 33BY-Braxton Yeager[9]; 23. 13B-Jess Brekke[18]; 24. 16OZ-CR Eisenzimer[25]; 25. (DNS) 22S-Sean Stacy

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 97TB-Tyson Blood[2]; 2. 28-Ian Whisler[3]; 3. 28H-Kolby Hannah[4]; 4. 33BY-Braxton Yeager[7]; 5. 141-Matt Bonine[9]; 6. 13B-Jess Brekke[1]; 7. 22S-Sean Stacy[5]; 8. 75-Spencer Wilson[6]; 9. 16OZ-CR Eisenzimer[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 75JR-Chaz Baca[2]; 2. 07X-Troy Morris III[6]; 3. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[8]; 4. 01-Tyler Leach[1]; 5. 101-Luke Silber[7]; 6. 13-Jerry Flippo[5]; 7. 58E-Aaron Elwess[4]; 8. 58-Devon Reed[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 09-Kelsy Wedelstadt[3]; 2. 82-Eston Whisler[6]; 3. 413-Tate Johnson[4]; 4. 33Y-Bryson Yeager[8]; 5. 11HB-Troy Householder[2]; 6. 77X-Mike Wedelstadt[1]; 7. 21-KC Dieckman[7]; 8. 15S-Bill Slocum[5]

Limited Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 19-Lucas Rodin[4]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[2]; 3. 1SX-Travis Saurer[6]; 4. 13B-Jess Brekke[3]; 5. 77-Jarod Klein[15]; 6. 001-Joseph Swearingen[10]; 7. 7TG-Joe Docekal[8]; 8. 73-Onyx Johnson[19]; 9. 0-Dakota Girard[14]; 10. 711-Payce Herrera[17]; 11. 28-Scott Tofte[18]; 12. 8-Tyler Doell[7]; 13. 95-Ted Doell[26]; 14. 3T-Jon Tribble[22]; 15. 65-Cory Wilder[24]; 16. 25-Adam Bohlman[9]; 17. 2-Ariel Mueller[20]; 18. 00-Jason Hobbs[23]; 19. 59-Travis Sutherlin[16]; 20. 83X-Garett Veldman[25]; 21. 562-Craig Walker[21]; 22. 75-Tyler Johnson[13]; 23. 1S-Scott Bintz[5]; 24. 3D-Chad Ayers[12]; 25. 19X-James Trantina III[11]; 26. M17-Rob Moseley[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Lucas Rodin[3]; 2. 001-Joseph Swearingen[1]; 3. 25-Adam Bohlman[5]; 4. 8-Tyler Doell[9]; 5. 75-Tyler Johnson[6]; 6. 77-Jarod Klein[8]; 7. 28-Scott Tofte[7]; 8. 65-Cory Wilder[4]; 9. 83X-Garett Veldman[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1SX-Travis Saurer[2]; 2. 13B-Jess Brekke[6]; 3. 21-Jake Smith[9]; 4. 3D-Chad Ayers[4]; 5. 711-Payce Herrera[3]; 6. 59-Travis Sutherlin[8]; 7. 73-Onyx Johnson[7]; 8. 3T-Jon Tribble[5]; 9. 95-Ted Doell[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Scott Bintz[3]; 2. M17-Rob Moseley[8]; 3. 7TG-Joe Docekal[6]; 4. 0-Dakota Girard[2]; 5. 19X-James Trantina III[7]; 6. 2-Ariel Mueller[1]; 7. 562-Craig Walker[4]; 8. 00-Jason Hobbs[5]

Stock Cars:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. Z3-Mike Albertsen[4]; 2. 82-Shelby Williams[2]; 3. 16-Jason Storbakken[8]; 4. 5M-Trevor Hidalgo[5]; 5. 7X-Casey Murdoch[9]; 6. 7-Tyler Johnson[7]; 7. 22-Larry Brigner[6]; 8. 3-Mike Tipton[10]; 9. 38-Todd Heinrich[3]; 10. 15X-Dennis Losing[12]; 11. 97-Ron Schreiner[11]; 12. 980-Kaden Woodie[1]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 38-Todd Heinrich[1]; 2. 5M-Trevor Hidalgo[2]; 3. Z3-Mike Albertsen[5]; 4. 16-Jason Storbakken[3]; 5. 7X-Casey Murdoch[6]; 6. 15X-Dennis Losing[4]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 980-Kaden Woodie[2]; 2. 22-Larry Brigner[1]; 3. 82-Shelby Williams[6]; 4. 7-Tyler Johnson[4]; 5. 3-Mike Tipton[3]; 6. 97-Ron Schreiner[5]

Sport Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 711-Payce Herrera[7]; 2. 21P-Ryan Peery[6]; 3. 7TG-Joe Docekal[8]; 4. 0-Dakota Girard[3]; 5. 873-Taven Woodie[11]; 6. 28-David Pitt[9]; 7. 84-Jorddon Braaten[10]; 8. 21M-Eric Murphy[15]; 9. 980-Kaden Woodie[2]; 10. 16-Aaron Spangler[12]; 11. 44-Eric Winemiller[5]; 12. 216-Camron Spangler[13]; 13. 4Q2-Mark Martini[4]; 14. 5O-Braydon Whitfield[16]; 15. (DNS) 3D-Chad Ayers; 16. (DQ) 75-Tyler Johnson[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Tyler Johnson[2]; 2. 0-Dakota Girard[3]; 3. 44-Eric Winemiller[5]; 4. 7TG-Joe Docekal[1]; 5. 84-Jorddon Braaten[4]; 6. 873-Taven Woodie[6]; 7. 216-Camron Spangler[7]; 8. 21M-Eric Murphy[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 980-Kaden Woodie[2]; 2. 4Q2-Mark Martini[3]; 3. 21P-Ryan Peery[4]; 4. 28-David Pitt[1]; 5. 711-Payce Herrera[6]; 6. 16-Aaron Spangler[5]; 7. 3D-Chad Ayers[7]