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Johnson nabs a Super Stock win as WISSOTA class makes a rare stop at Casino Speedway Sunday night

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (August 11) - Matt Johnson made a late-race pass to top a visit by the WISSOTA Super Stocks to Casino Speedway on Sunday night. Andy Rossow, Tommy Nichols, Joe Thomas and Christian Kast led the distance in their main events, while Tyler Peterson and Adam VanDerostyne collected trophies as well at the end of their WISSOTA Dirt Track Series features.

Brad Kopecky set the pace through much of the caution-plagued WISSOTA Super Stock feature. Johnson applied pressure on the leader in the early stages, and Trevor Nelson rallied from his 14th starting spot to crack the top three on lap seven. The top three were close, and Nelson worked the middle groove into second before a caution at the halfway point.

Nelson grabbed second after the restart, and looked to cut underneath Kopecky out of the turns in a bid for the lead. With 14 of 20 laps scored, Nelson had a run under the leader out of turn two, but the door was shut and Nelson hit the brakes hard and fell from the top five.

Johnson was back into second with five laps left, and hugged the inside groove while he pressured Kopecky for the top spot. Johnson found the space and they were nearly even under the flagstand with two laps to go; Johnson moved ahead to lead under the white, and captured his first Casino Speedway victory with the checkered flag. Kopecky finished second, Derek Zastrow third, Austin Arbogast fourth and Gerrit Van Liere fifth.

Morgan Ward-Grosz set the early pace in the 25-lap WISSOTA Late Model main with Justin Karlen in second. Peterson settled into third early, then picked off Karlen for second on lap five. He quickly pulled alongside Ward-Grosz, and was narrowly second at the line to complete the sixth lap. Peterson secured the top spot on the following circuit, and promptly left the field in his dust.

Chad Becker worked on Ward-Grosz for a handful of laps, and finally made the pass on lap 16. Jayson Good slipped by Karlen and Ward-Grosz for third in the final five laps. Peterson notched his third Late Model win at the speedway this season over Becker, Good, Ward-Grosz and Karlen.

Nate Heinrich led most of the opening lap in the WISSOTA Modified main event, but Thomas used the low line to steal the point at the flagstand. Heinrich stayed close and worked just off the right rear of the leader for five laps, but then Thomas crept away from his competitor. Tony Konold battled with Heinrich for second, and nabbed the spot on lap 10. Konold made up ground to Thomas, but ran out of laps and Thomas earned win number three at the oval this season. Konold, Heinrich, point-leader Mike Stearns and Tim Thomas rounded out the top five.

Tommy Nichols raced out to a big lead in the first six-lap green-flag run of the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature. Derek Rieck was in second, but had his hands full with Scott Hansen before the caution waved with six scored.

Tommy Nichols slipped away again after the restart, and Rieck shed Hansen and raced alone in second. Mike Nichols battled with Hansen for third and grabbed the spot on lap nine, but spent the final six laps defending the position from Hansen in the No. 31.

Tommy Nichols grabbed his second win of the season in Watertown over Rieck, older brother Mike Nichols, Hansen and Logan Redlin.

Rossow grabbed the lead when the WISSOTA Street Stock main event went green. Chris Serr held off Jason Marko for second in the early going before a lap-five caution.

Maria Broksieck raced alongside Marko for third after the restart, and she slipped under Serr for second on lap nine. She immediately closed onto Rossow’s bumper and applied heavy pressure over the last five laps, but could not find the route through. Rossow picked up his second win of the season with Broksieck second, Marko a close third, Serr fourth and Kenneth Clements a distance back in fifth.

Kast moved to the front when the green dropped in the WISSOTA Hornet feature. Adam VanDerostyne stayed close for a few laps, but Kast slipped away for his first-career victory. VanDerostyne was second with Bradley Rossow third, Nathan Smith fourth and Joshua Gebhart.

VanDerostyne did, however, collect the victory in the Hornet makeup feature from August 4. He was chased across the line by Gebhart, Smith, Kast and Curtis Borstad.

Tony Croninger wrestled the lead away from Trevor Walsh at the halfway point of the Gen X Late Model feature, and sped to the victory. Konner Sperle was closing late, but had to settle for second ahead of Trevor Walsh, Doug Walsh and Blake Swenson.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[4]; 2. 12-Chad Becker[5]; 3. 85-Jayson Good[9]; 4. 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[2]; 5. 51-Justin Karlen[1]; 6. 87-Curt Kranz[3]; 7. 11-Denver Nickeson[8]; 8. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[13]; 9. 1-Ryan Engels[12]; 10. 4J-Lee Grosz[11]; 11. 10C-Chad Olsen[10]; 12. 748-Kyle Jensen[6]; 13. 4-Justin Boomsma[7]; 14. 14-Nick Schmidt[16]; 15. 73M-David Carlson[14]; 16. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[2]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[8]; 3. 87-Curt Kranz[4]; 4. 4-Justin Boomsma[1]; 5. 85-Jayson Good[6]; 6. 4J-Lee Grosz[7]; 7. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[5]; 8. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Chad Becker[2]; 2. 11-Denver Nickeson[1]; 3. 748-Kyle Jensen[4]; 4. 51-Justin Karlen[5]; 5. 10C-Chad Olsen[7]; 6. 1-Ryan Engels[8]; 7. 73M-David Carlson[6]; 8. (DNF) 14-Nick Schmidt[3]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[3]; 2. 15-Tony Konold[4]; 3. 10H-Nate Heinrich[2]; 4. 24S-Mike Stearns[5]; 5. 51T-Tim Thomas[6]; 6. 9L-Trevor Walsh[1]; 7. 65-Dave Brooker[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10H-Nate Heinrich[3]; 2. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[5]; 3. 15-Tony Konold[2]; 4. 24S-Mike Stearns[6]; 5. 9L-Trevor Walsh[7]; 6. 51T-Tim Thomas[4]; 7. 65-Dave Brooker[1]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 17J-Matt Johnson[3]; 2. 5-Brad Kopecky[1]; 3. 7-Derek Zastrow[2]; 4. 67-Austin Arbogast[6]; 5. Y5JR-Gerrit Van Liere[7]; 6. 71-Trevor Nelson[14]; 7. 22-Bryson North[8]; 8. 40-Shawn Schnabel[5]; 9. 19-Kyle Elsen[12]; 10. 65-Luis Chavez[9]; 11. (DNF) 23-Mark Abeln[10]; 12. (DNF) 32-Dominique Menzia[4]; 13. (DNF) 4A-Allan Cleveland[13]; 14. (DNS) 23JR-Kaden Kampa; 15. (DNS) 10R-Rick Whitlock

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Derek Zastrow[2]; 2. 5-Brad Kopecky[3]; 3. 67-Austin Arbogast[7]; 4. Y5JR-Gerrit Van Liere[6]; 5. (DNF) 23JR-Kaden Kampa[4]; 6. (DNF) 19-Kyle Elsen[5]; 7. (DNF) 4A-Allan Cleveland[8]; 8. (DNS) 10R-Rick Whitlock

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17J-Matt Johnson[1]; 2. 22-Bryson North[5]; 3. 32-Dominique Menzia[2]; 4. 40-Shawn Schnabel[3]; 5. 65-Luis Chavez[4]; 6. 23-Mark Abeln[6]; 7. (DNF) 71-Trevor Nelson[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 28-Tommy Nichols[1]; 2. 34J-Derek Rieck[2]; 3. 67-Mike Nichols[4]; 4. 31-Scott Hansen[3]; 5. 12-Logan Redlin[6]; 6. 2DR-Darian Neitzel[7]; 7. (DNF) 22-Matt Heinzerling[5]; 8. (DNF) 56D-Doug Neitzel[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Scott Hansen[1]; 2. 34J-Derek Rieck[3]; 3. 22-Matt Heinzerling[2]; 4. 67-Mike Nichols[6]; 5. 28-Tommy Nichols[4]; 6. 12-Logan Redlin[5]; 7. 2DR-Darian Neitzel[8]; 8. 56D-Doug Neitzel[7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 99-Andy Rossow[1]; 2. 14-Maria Broksieck[5]; 3. 31-Jason Marko[4]; 4. 01-Chris Serr[3]; 5. 711-Kenneth Clements[2]; 6. 80-Tony Miller[6]; 7. 12-Al Schmidt[8]; 8. 11-Scott Gladis[9]; 9. (DNF) 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[2]; 2. 01-Chris Serr[3]; 3. 31-Jason Marko[5]; 4. 711-Kenneth Clements[1]; 5. 99-Andy Rossow[8]; 6. 80-Tony Miller[7]; 7. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[4]; 8. 12-Al Schmidt[9]; 9. 11-Scott Gladis[6]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 03-Christian Kast[2]; 2. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[4]; 3. 555-Bradley Rossow[3]; 4. 81-Nathan Smith[7]; 5. 79-Joshua Gebhart[5]; 6. (DNF) 0BS-Michael Smith[1]; 7. (DNF) 10B-Curtis Borstad[6]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[1]; 2. 555-Bradley Rossow[5]; 3. 03-Christian Kast[2]; 4. 0BS-Michael Smith[7]; 5. (DNF) 79-Joshua Gebhart[6]; 6. (DNF) 10B-Curtis Borstad[4]; 7. (DNF) 81-Nathan Smith[3]

Makeup Feature (12 Laps): 1. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[3]; 2. 79-Joshua Gebhart[1]; 3. 81-Nathan Smith[4]; 4. 03-Christian Kast[6]; 5. 10B-Curtis Borstad[8]; 6. (DNF) 0BS-Michael Smith[7]; 7. (DNF) 555-Bradley Rossow[2]; 8. (DNS) 14-Justin Schelitzche

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 8T-Tony Croninger[3]; 2. 1K-Konner Sperle[8]; 3. 15-Trevor Walsh[6]; 4. 20-Doug Walsh[2]; 5. XJR-Blake Swenson[11]; 6. 811-Bodie Croninger[7]; 7. 50-DJ Tesch[5]; 8. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[10]; 9. 87-Curt Kranz[4]; 10. 40+-Ryan Shepherd Sr[1]; 11. 11X-Brittany Swenson[9]; 12. 1E-Tai Engels[13]; 13. (DNS) 14-Scott Harrington

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8T-Tony Croninger[1]; 2. 1K-Konner Sperle[4]; 3. 50-DJ Tesch[6]; 4. 40+-Ryan Shepherd Sr[7]; 5. 11X-Brittany Swenson[3]; 6. (DNF) XJR-Blake Swenson[2]; 7. (DNF) 1E-Tai Engels[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Curt Kranz[1]; 2. 811-Bodie Croninger[4]; 3. 20-Doug Walsh[2]; 4. 15-Trevor Walsh[6]; 5. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[3]; 6. (DNF) 14-Scott Harrington[5]