6-18 Page 4 | ATD Racing News

Arment, Schmeling, Schipke, Schmidt and Bogh bend rivals to their will at Aberdeen, SD

By Spencer Heupel

ABERDEEN, SD (June 14) - WISSOTA racing action returned to Brown County Speedway Friday night, with a good car count of 84 cars set to battle. The action was hot and heavy with the addition of last week’s makeup WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature on the docket for the night.

A couple of the winners found their ways back in victory lane after a few years hiatus, while a couple familiar faces returned as well. WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Kent Arment, Cayden Schmeling, Stewart Schipke, Taylor Schmidt, Todd Stark and Michael Bogh.

The first feature of the night was the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds race from June 7. A total of 15 of the 23 scheduled starters returned for the feature event. Jake Wranek and Kyle Schell brought the field to green, with Schell grabbing the lead early using the top side of the race track. He began opening up a slight gap, but it was diminished on the third lap as caution flew for James Irwin spinning in turn one.

Todd Stark and Taylor Schmidt were right on the bumper of Schell out of turn four for the restart, and going into turn one Schell rolled the bottom, which left the top side open for Stark. Stark built up momentum and passed Schell for the lead on lap seven.

As Stark took the lead, Jarod Klein moved his way up to third and set his sights on the lead duo. Racing was getting tight with drivers searching the race track. With only five to go, Klein caught Schell and made quick work to get to second.

Klein hustled to close on Stark in the waning laps, but ran out of time. Stark grabbed his first win of the season and his first win at BCS since 2016. Klein, Schell, Schmidt and Dawson Zabel rounded out the top five.

After they finished the heat races and a lengthy track prep intermission, the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were up again for their regular feature with 22 drivers on hand. Oddly enough Wranek and Schell were once again on the front row. Wranek was the early leader this time around, using the bottom of the track.

Wranek’s lead was short-lived as Schell built momentum on the cushion and passed Wranek on the third lap. While Schell took the lead and began to pull away, the caution flag struck from Connor Blumhardt, Nathan Jager and Scott Hansen, all piling up in turn three. The damage for Blumhardt was too much and it ended his night.

Schell was out front for the restart, with Wranek and Taylor Schmidt in tow. Schmidt used the bottom in one and two to clear Schell and take the lead. Schmidt began to pull away, while Stark clawed his way up to third. The caution flag struck again with eight to go, due to Hansen spinning in turn two.

Schmidt shot out like a rocket following the restart, blasting to a huge lead. Stark fought Wranek for second place, which allowed Schmidt to check out even more. Schmidt went on to score his second win of the season at BCS. Wranek, Stark, Klein and Zabel rounded out the top five. Zabel was also the hard charger, as he improved nine positions.

Next up was the WISSOTA Street Stocks with 21 drivers in attendance. Eric Mehlhaff and Wyatt Brooker brought the field to green, with Mehlhaff taking the early advantage. The field really started to use the entire racing surface, with drivers using the bottom, middle and top side.

As the field ticked off laps, Michael Bogh and Maria Broksieck closed in on Mehlhaff and began battling for the lead. The trio ended up three wide multiple times until Bogh took the top spot on lap five. The caution then fell for Brooker, who spun off the top of turn one.

Chris Serr made his way into the top three for the restart, and tried to slide Broksieck going into turn three. He made contact with the No. 14 machine and sent her over the top. A caution fell and the call was on Serr, sending him to the tail.

Bogh and Broksieck opened up a gap to new third-place runner Kasey Ussatis following the restart. Broksieck was hot on Bogh’s bumper as they ran the cushion around the track. While the lead duo were out to lunch, Grady Myers, who started 11th, made his way to fourth and began challenging Ussatis for third.

With three to go, Broksieck began to roll the bottom and pulled even with Bogh multiple times. The two raced close and clean, and the cushion was just too good for Bogh, allowing him to beat Broksieck to the line by 0.105 seconds. The win was Bogh’s first at BCS since 2015. Broksieck, Ussatis, Myers and Andy Rossow rounded out the top five. Rossow was the hard charger, going plus-10 for the fifth-place finish.

Next up were the WISSOTA Modifieds with 14 cars on hand. Cayden Schmeling and Chaun Peterson set themselves on the front row with Schmeling blasting out to the lead early on. It was not long and the field all fanned out to the cushion in a single-file line.

Schmeling opened up a healthy lead while Peterson had to fend off Tony Konold for second place. Schmeling caught lapped traffic at the halfway point and made quick work of them to extend the lead even more. A caution struck on lap 13 when James Hanley spun off the back straight.

The field was stacked up again and Schmeling proved that nobody could touch him while he blasted out to a huge lead once more. Mike Stearns was on the move following the restart, and passed Konold to take third. Schmeling ran out to a three second lead, leading all 20 laps to win his first feature race of 2024. Peterson, Stearns, Konold and Dale Ames rounded out the top five. Ames was the hard charger, improving nine spots.

The WISSOTA Super Stocks had the lowest count of the night with 13 drivers on hand. Austin Arbogast and Matt Johnson brought the field to the green flag with Johnson using the cushion to grab the early lead.

Nathan Grehl did not wait long though, and took the lead from Johnson on lap five. The first caution struck on lap seven with Tracy Christensen spinning. The reracked field and Grehl had Johnson and Mark Abeln on his bumper; when the flag flew Grehl and Johnson blew out to a massive gap on the field.

The lead duo ran hard until catching lapped traffic with eight to go. The lappers were not friendly to Grehl, which allowed Johnson to make a move to retake the lead. Grehl began to reel Johnson back in until he slipped off the cushion coming out of two, which gave Johnson a huge lead. The lead was gone when Christensen spun again.

With Johnson’s lead diminished, that brought Grehl and Abeln to his bumper with only three to go. As they took off into turn one and two, Abeln threw a haymaker slider at Grehl and ended up not clearing him. It caused major damage to the No. 2G and No. 23 machines. The incident allowed Johnson to open a straightaway lead. It looked like Johnson was going to score his first feature win until coming to the white flag, when he jumped the cushion in turn four and ended up going up and over the corner ending his race.

Stewart Schipke, who was hovering around fifth and sixth place position during the race to this point, inherited the lead. Schipke made the most of it and drove on to win his first feature race in many years at BCS. Arbogast, Dominique Menzia, Luis Chavez and Derek Zastrow rounded out the top five.

The night cap was the WISSOTA Late Models with a car count of 14 on hand. Kent Arment and Dustin Arthur brought the field to green with Arthur beating Arment on the opening lap to grab the lead. It was obvious early the top lane was where you wanted to be, as the rest of the track was slick as ice.

As Arthur got into lapped traffic with 17 to go, it gave Arment an opening and he took it by semi-diamonding turns three and four and clearing Arthur down the frontstretch. Traffic began to thicken for everyone else, but Arment opened up a straightaway lead out front.

As the rest of the night proved, big leads did not last long. With 10 to go, Jayson Good sent a slider on Chase Gelling for fourth and ended up making contact with the red No. 18 machine, sending him spinning and drawing the yellow flag.

The ensuing restart, which proved to be the last, had Arthur and Josh Skorczewski on Arment’s bumper. The savvy veteran did not give either of them a shot, and blasted out to a nice lead again. He scored his first WISSOTA Late Model win since late August of 2022. Arthur, Skorczewski, Gelling and Thomas Weisgram rounded out the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 9-Kent Arment[1]; 2. 21X-Dustin Arthur[2]; 3. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[6]; 4. 18G-Chase Gelling[3]; 5. 16-Thomas Weisgram[5]; 6. 12-Chad Becker[7]; 7. 87-Curt Kranz[4]; 8. 85-Jayson Good[8]; 9. 73M-David Carlson[9]; 10. 1-Konner Sperle[13]; 11. T3-Rich Thomas[10]; 12. 11-Roger Bitz[12]; 13. (DNF) 2T-Todd Thomas[14]; 14. (DNF) 64-Russell Beadle[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Thomas Weisgram[2]; 2. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[4]; 3. 87-Curt Kranz[1]; 4. 85-Jayson Good[7]; 5. 73M-David Carlson[5]; 6. 64-Russell Beadle[6]; 7. 1-Konner Sperle[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Kent Arment[4]; 2. 12-Chad Becker[3]; 3. 21X-Dustin Arthur[2]; 4. 18G-Chase Gelling[5]; 5. T3-Rich Thomas[6]; 6. 11-Roger Bitz[1]; 7. (DNF) 2T-Todd Thomas[7]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 13-Cayden Schmeling[1]; 2. 42-Chaun Peterson[2]; 3. 24S-Mike Stearns[10]; 4. 15-Tony Konold[6]; 5. 6-Dale Ames[14]; 6. 36-Tyler Anglin[4]; 7. 57-Patrick Adler[5]; 8. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[3]; 9. 36G'S-Garrett Gross[7]; 10. 32-Jesse Young[12]; 11. 9J-Zach Jung[11]; 12. 5H-James Hanley[13]; 13. 9-Kent Arment[8]; 14. (DNF) 28-Brady Lacher[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Kent Arment[3]; 2. 36G'S-Garrett Gross[4]; 3. 57-Patrick Adler[2]; 4. 42-Chaun Peterson[5]; 5. 28-Brady Lacher[7]; 6. 9J-Zach Jung[6]; 7. (DNF) 6-Dale Ames[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Cayden Schmeling[3]; 2. 36-Tyler Anglin[1]; 3. 15-Tony Konold[5]; 4. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[4]; 5. 24S-Mike Stearns[6]; 6. 32-Jesse Young[7]; 7. 5H-James Hanley[2]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33-Stewart Schipke[8]; 2. 67-Austin Arbogast[1]; 3. 32-Dominique Menzia[3]; 4. 65-Luis Chavez[12]; 5. 7-Derek Zastrow[10]; 6. 7K-Kody Lehr[9]; 7. 5-Brad Kopecky[7]; 8. 19-Kyle Elsen[5]; 9. 2-Nathan Grehl[4]; 10. 23-Mark Abeln[6]; 11. (DNF) 17J-Matt Johnson[2]; 12. (DNF) 3-Tracy Christensen[13]; 13. (DNF) 71-Trevor Nelson[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Mark Abeln[1]; 2. 33-Stewart Schipke[2]; 3. 2-Nathan Grehl[3]; 4. 17J-Matt Johnson[7]; 5. 7K-Kody Lehr[6]; 6. 7-Derek Zastrow[5]; 7. (DNS) 3-Tracy Christensen

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Brad Kopecky[1]; 2. 32-Dominique Menzia[2]; 3. 67-Austin Arbogast[4]; 4. 19-Kyle Elsen[6]; 5. (DNF) 71-Trevor Nelson[5]; 6. (DNF) 65-Luis Chavez[3]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 15-Taylor Schmidt[4]; 2. 1-Jake Wranek[1]; 3. 54-Todd Stark[8]; 4. 77-Jarod Klein[5]; 5. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[14]; 6. 3-Luke Johnson[6]; 7. 11-Kyle Schell[2]; 8. 37-William Hein[12]; 9. 4-Nick Perry[7]; 10. 77J-Nathan Jager[13]; 11. 99MC-James Irwin[17]; 12. 51-Toby Eilers[16]; 13. 12-Eric Cease[18]; 14. (DNF) 21K-Kagan Cutler[19]; 15. (DNF) 31-Scott Hansen[9]; 16. (DNF) 28W-Brennon Weight[11]; 17. (DNF) 82-Connor Blumhardt[10]; 18. (DNF) 99X-Jerad Summers[22]; 19. (DNS) 55-Jordan Kienow; 20. (DNS) 69-Britt Williams; 21. (DNS) 24X-Ryan Ost; 22. (DNS) 36-Jaren Wibstad

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Taylor Schmidt[3]; 2. 31-Scott Hansen[1]; 3. 3-Luke Johnson[6]; 4. 82-Connor Blumhardt[7]; 5. 77J-Nathan Jager[5]; 6. (DNF) 99X-Jerad Summers[8]; 7. (DNF) 69-Britt Williams[4]; 8. (DNF) 24X-Ryan Ost[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 55-Jordan Kienow[1]; 2. 77-Jarod Klein[5]; 3. 4-Nick Perry[6]; 4. 28W-Brennon Weight[4]; 5. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[2]; 6. 51-Toby Eilers[7]; 7. 12-Eric Cease[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Wranek[2]; 2. 54-Todd Stark[6]; 3. 11-Kyle Schell[1]; 4. 37-William Hein[3]; 5. 36-Jaren Wibstad[5]; 6. 99MC-James Irwin[4]; 7. 21K-Kagan Cutler[7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 20-Michael Bogh[3]; 2. 14-Maria Broksieck[7]; 3. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[8]; 4. 12-Grady Myers[11]; 5. 99R-Andy Rossow[15]; 6. 01-Chris Serr[6]; 7. 5-Royce Jawaski[9]; 8. 54-Jodie Michaelsohn[12]; 9. 7M-Eric Mehlhaff[1]; 10. 24-Ashley Wampler[16]; 11. 3-Ryan Mund[14]; 12. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[10]; 13. 46-Cory Moser[20]; 14. 17G-Chris Gonska[18]; 15. 0-Wyatt Brooker[2]; 16. 4-Mike Mund[13]; 17. 37W-Ferlin Sheridan[17]; 18. 77D-Adam Dehne[4]; 19. 52X-Ava Gonska[19]; 20. (DNF) 20JR-Jayden Bogh[5]; 21. (DNS) S3-John Sundberg

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Royce Jawaski[3]; 2. 2U-Kasey Ussatis[1]; 3. 7M-Eric Mehlhaff[2]; 4. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[5]; 5. 4-Mike Mund[6]; 6. 24-Ashley Wampler[7]; 7. (DNF) 46-Cory Moser[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[5]; 2. 0-Wyatt Brooker[1]; 3. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[6]; 4. 12-Grady Myers[2]; 5. 3-Ryan Mund[7]; 6. 37W-Ferlin Sheridan[3]; 7. 52X-Ava Gonska[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 01-Chris Serr[2]; 2. 20-Michael Bogh[4]; 3. 77D-Adam Dehne[1]; 4. 54-Jodie Michaelsohn[6]; 5. 99R-Andy Rossow[5]; 6. 17G-Chris Gonska[3]; 7. (DNS) S3-John Sundberg