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Ward leads final six laps to take down Casino Challenge Series Late Model field

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (June 9) - Scott Ward took advantage of Cole Searing’s misfortune to capture the 12th annual Marilyn Olson Memorial at Casino Speedway. Ward led the final six laps for the Late Model Challenge Series victory, while Tommy Pogones topped the Street Stocks, Bradley Rossow scored the Hornet win, and Dustin Holtquist was victorious in a rare appearance by the Mod Fours.

Searing slipped away when the green flag dropped in the 40-lap WISSOTA Late Model feature. Ward and Jayson Good battled for second over a few laps before Ryan Mikkelson picked off Good for third. Mikkelson looked under Ward for second before the first caution flag flew with four laps recorded.

Ward gave Searing a quick test after the restart, but Searing powered away again. Tyler Peterson made his run on the high side and cracked the top five on lap seven. He moved to fourth a few laps later, and grabbed third from Mikkelson on lap 11.

Searing encountered the tail of the field around lap 15, but weaved quickly through slower traffic — even making a three-wide move between a pair just after halfway. Peterson turned up the pressure on Ward for second around the halfway mark, and Mikkelson joined the mix as well in traffic. Mikkelson grabbed third before the next caution with 26 laps recorded.

Once again, Searing drove away when the race resumed. Chad Becker briefly charged to fourth in the high groove, but returned the spot to Jeff Provinzino in the low groove. Provinzino circled the low side and slipped by Peterson for third, but a caution negated the move with seven laps to go.

Ward threw a slide job on the leader in turn two after the restart, but Searing countered and retained the point. Peterson slipped by Ward for second, and the lap was scored before a caution with six to go.

The restart changed the complexion of the race; Searing led the field to the green, but took a shot to his left rear as he exited turn four. When the field thundered into turn one, Searing slowed with a flat tire and the caution waved. His crew replaced the wheel, and he returned to the tail of the lead lap cars for the restart.

Peterson restarted with the lead, but Ward slid into the spot out of turn two. The pair raced side by side through turn four, where Peterson slipped high and Provinzino gained second. Over the final five laps, Provinzino was glued to Ward’s left rear, nearly pulling even down the back chute on the final lap. As they crossed the checkered flag, Provinzino had his nose to the No. 37 on Ward’s door, but Ward earned the victory, his sixth-career Challenge Series win — three of them at his hometown oval. Peterson held off Kevin Burdick and Becker for third.

Luke Johnson moved to a small lead over Scott Hansen when the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified went green. Todd Stark raced in third, but Tommy Nichols worked the middle groove, and methodically worked around Stark. The field completed 11 laps before the first caution.

Nichols returned to the middle groove after the restart, and worked to the outside of Hansen for second. After a lane change and a few laps of effort, Nichols secured second with four to go, but as he set up to go to work on the leader, he lost traction and spun in turn four to bring out a caution.

Johnson remained at the point after the green, while Stark blazed around Hansen for second. Stark was about to mount a charge on the leader, but the caution waved for the final time when Nichols’ slowed after slapping the turn two wall.

Only two laps remained when the field restarted, and Johnson never had an easy moment to the finish; Hansen remained glued to the left rear of the leader, making slight contact on more than one occasion. Stark used the high groove and raced to the outside of the leader; he appeared to have an advantage out of turn two on the final lap, but slid a little high and allowed Johnson to remain beside him. Johnson won the race through turns three and four to score the win, while Terry Reilly came out of nowhere on the final lap and split between Hansen and Stark to almost grab second, but Stark narrowly held him off at the line. Hansen was fourth and Mike Nichols was fifth.

Pogones pulled out to a big lead at the drop of the green in the 20-lap WISSOTA Street Stock main event. Wade Tirrel wrestled second away from Al Schmidt after a few laps, and Maria Broksieck made a high-side charge to third on lap four. Two cautions fell with five laps complete; the first when Grady Myers spun while fifth, and the second was for a tangle among the second-half of the top five.

Tirrel and Broksieck battled for second after the restart while Pogones pulled away in the low groove. Broksieck finally secured second on lap seven before Tirrel turned sideways on the next lap, and fell to the rear as the field stormed past.

Jayden Michaelsohn cruised around the high side in third, while Wyatt Brooker, Cooper Butterfield and Al Schmidt fought for the final top-five position.

Broksieck chipped away at the gap to the leader, and was within a couple car lengths with five to go. She was on Pogones’ bumper under the white, but her final-corner charge around the high side yielded no reward, and the Minnesota traveler Pogones earned his first Casino Speedway feature win. Broksieck was second, Michaelsohn was alone in third, Schmidt passed two cars late to finish fourth, and 12th-starter Brooker rounded out the top five.

Dustin Holtquist grabbed the early lead in the 20-lap WISSOTA Mod Four feature, while Robert Holtquist battled with Blake Hawker for second. The only yellow of the race fell with two laps scored.

Dustin Holtquist pulled away after the restart, and his father Robert settled into second. Tommy Bawden advanced forward, and made a pass for third on lap eight. Bawden shouldered his way by Robert Holtquist in turn four to claim second on lap 12. Dustin Holtquist picked through traffic in the closing laps, but Bawden could not cut into his margin and settled for second. Robert Holtquist was third, Hawker was fourth and Tyler Larson was fifth.

Three of the five cars in the WISSOTA Hornet field were door handle to door handle over the first lap. Bradley Rossow assumed command on the second lap, and quickly distanced himself from the pack. Nathan Smith moved forward after starting at the tail of the field; he made an outside move on Adam VanDerostyne around lap five, then made an inside move on Nathan Telkamp for second with four laps to go.

Rossow completed his run to the checkers, and although Smith crossed the line second, he was disqualified in post-race tech. Telkamp narrowly held off VanDerostyne for second, and Joshua Gebhart was fourth in the final rundown.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 37-Scott Ward[4]; 2. 28-Jeff Provinzino[3]; 3. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[8]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick[5]; 5. 12-Chad Becker[7]; 6. 7A-Shane Sabraski[17]; 7. 54-Rick Niemi[22]; 8. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[6]; 9. 21F-Gunner Frank[16]; 10. 85G-Jayson Good[2]; 11. 87-Curt Kranz[10]; 12. 10-Cole Searing[1]; 13. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[20]; 14. 4J-Lee Grosz[12]; 15. 6M-Jeff Massingill[15]; 16. 21-Todd Frank[13]; 17. 7-Joel Bennett[23]; 18. 57-Chad Williamson[11]; 19. 63-Patrick Kelley[24]; 20. 73M-David Carlson[19]; 21. (DNF) 23-Matt Gilbertson[9]; 22. (DNF) 20-Trevor Anderson[18]; 23. (DNF) 07-Cory Crapser[14]; 24. (DNF) 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[25]; 25. (DNF) 10X-Blake Swenson[21]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 85G-Jayson Good[3]; 2. 28-Jeff Provinzino[4]; 3. 21-Todd Frank[1]; 4. 21F-Gunner Frank[2]; 5. 7A-Shane Sabraski[6]; 6. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[5]; 7. 10X-Blake Swenson[8]; 8. 12S-Trajan Schmidt[7]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 37-Scott Ward[2]; 2. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[3]; 3. 07-Cory Crapser[1]; 4. 87-Curt Kranz[6]; 5. 20-Trevor Anderson[4]; 6. 51-Justin Karlen[7]; 7. 7-Joel Bennett[5]; 8. (DNF) 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[8]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Cole Searing[4]; 2. 12-Chad Becker[3]; 3. 4J-Lee Grosz[1]; 4. 6M-Jeff Massingill[2]; 5. 73M-David Carlson[5]; 6. 63-Patrick Kelley[6]; 7. (DNF) 11-Roger Bitz[7]; 8. (DNS) X-Chuck Swenson

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 30-Kevin Burdick[2]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 3. 23-Matt Gilbertson[4]; 4. 57-Chad Williamson[6]; 5. 14-Nick Schmidt[5]; 6. 54-Rick Niemi[1]; 7. (DNF) 27-Tyler Myers[7]; 8. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[8]

Suburban GM Parts B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[2]; 2. 20-Trevor Anderson[1]; 3. 73M-David Carlson[3]; 4. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[7]; 5. 10X-Blake Swenson[9]; 6. 54-Rick Niemi[6]; 7. 7-Joel Bennett[10]; 8. 51-Justin Karlen[5]; 9. 12S-Trajan Schmidt[11]; 10. 14-Nick Schmidt[4]; 11. 63-Patrick Kelley[8]; 12. T3-Rich Thomas[15]; 13. 11-Roger Bitz[13]; 14. (DNF) 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[14]; 15. (DNS) 27-Tyler Myers; 16. (DNS) X-Chuck Swenson

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 3-Luke Johnson[1]; 2. 54-Todd Stark[4]; 3. 69R-Terry Reilly[2]; 4. 31-Scott Hansen[3]; 5. 67-Mike Nichols[7]; 6. 34J-Derek Rieck[8]; 7. 1-Jake Wranek[6]; 8. 19-Kyle Bertram[11]; 9. 12-Logan Redlin[9]; 10. (DNF) 28-Tommy Nichols[5]; 11. (DNF) 54H-Chad Williamson[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Scott Hansen[2]; 2. 28-Tommy Nichols[1]; 3. 69R-Terry Reilly[4]; 4. 3-Luke Johnson[3]; 5. 12-Logan Redlin[5]; 6. 19-Kyle Bertram[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 54-Todd Stark[1]; 2. 34J-Derek Rieck[2]; 3. 67-Mike Nichols[5]; 4. 1-Jake Wranek[3]; 5. 54H-Chad Williamson[4]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 04-Tommy Pogones[1]; 2. 14-Maria Broksieck[4]; 3. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[9]; 4. 12-Al Schmidt[2]; 5. 0-Wyatt Brooker[12]; 6. E30-Cooper Butterfield[14]; 7. 31-Jason Marko[8]; 8. 01-Chris Serr[7]; 9. 80-Tony Miller[11]; 10. 58-Wade Tirrel[3]; 11. 4-Trey Hess[6]; 12. 12G-Grady Myers[5]; 13. 711-Kenneth Clements[13]; 14. 73-Cory Giessinger[16]; 15. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[15]; 16. (DNF) 99-Andy Rossow[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 01-Chris Serr[2]; 2. 04-Tommy Pogones[1]; 3. 4-Trey Hess[3]; 4. 12-Al Schmidt[5]; 5. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[4]; 6. 80-Tony Miller[8]; 7. (DNF) E30-Cooper Butterfield[7]; 8. (DNF) 20JR-Jayden Bogh[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[6]; 2. 31-Jason Marko[3]; 3. 12G-Grady Myers[1]; 4. 58-Wade Tirrel[5]; 5. 99-Andy Rossow[8]; 6. 0-Wyatt Brooker[4]; 7. 711-Kenneth Clements[2]; 8. (DNF) 73-Cory Giessinger[7]

WISSOTA Mod Fours:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[1]; 2. TB81-Tommy Bawden[5]; 3. 5-Robert Holtquist[2]; 4. 21-Blake Hawker[4]; 5. 7L-Tyler Larson[7]; 6. 14T-Rowan Tramm[6]; 7. 37-Dean Larson[9]; 8. 7A-Alexander McFarlen[8]; 9. 31J-Jordan Fischer[11]; 10. 3G-Craig Gertsema[10]; 11. 4T-Tristan Torres[12]; 12. 7-Rob Arlaud[13]; 13. D5-Doug Frederick[14]; 14. (DQ) XL1-Chad Funt[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. XL1-Chad Funt[1]; 2. 21-Blake Hawker[3]; 3. TB81-Tommy Bawden[4]; 4. 5H-Dustin Holtquist[5]; 5. 37-Dean Larson[7]; 6. 31J-Jordan Fischer[2]; 7. 7-Rob Arlaud[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14T-Rowan Tramm[1]; 2. 5-Robert Holtquist[2]; 3. 7L-Tyler Larson[5]; 4. 7A-Alexander McFarlen[3]; 5. 3G-Craig Gertsema[6]; 6. 4T-Tristan Torres[7]; 7. D5-Doug Frederick[4]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 555-Bradley Rossow[3]; 2. 68JR-Nathan Telkamp[2]; 3. 5AR-Adam VanDerostyne[4]; 4. 79-Joshua Gebhart[1]; 5. (DQ) 25X-Nathan Smith[5]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 555-Bradley Rossow[3]; 2. 5AR-Adam VanDerostyne[4]; 3. 68JR-Nathan Telkamp[5]; 4. 79-Joshua Gebhart[1]; 5. 25X-Nathan Smith[2]