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Stearns and Tofte tackle the open-wheeled classes and Brauer brother beats the Street Stock field at Madison Speedway’s 2024 finale

By Tony Steuck

MADISON, MN (September 8) - Brayden Hedtke won a late-race duel with Justin Tammen to top the Super Stock main event at Madison Speedway on Sunday night. Mike Stearns, Scott Tofte and Kolton Brauer also grabbed a WISSOTA Dirt Track Series victory during the La Qui Parle County Fair.

Tammen raced to a big lead when the green flag dropped in the 14-lap WISSOTA Super Stock main event. Brayden Hedtke started fifth—last on the field—and quickly worked his way into second; he slowly tracked down the leader, and cut the margin to a couple car lengths before a caution with four laps to go.

Hedtke took full advantage of the restart and pulled to the inside of Tammen. They had a close battle to the finish; Tammen used the upper groove and held a slight advantage under the white flag, Hedtke maintained an edge down the back chute on the final lap, and they were even leaving turn four to the checkered flag. Hedtke earned the victory by .027 seconds over Tammen at the finish line, with Andrew Hedtke third, Jayden Friauf fourth and Ellen Lange fifth. The trip to victory lane was the first of the season for Hedtke in Madison.

Stearns started on the front row of the 18-lap WISSOTA Modified feature and bolted out to a large lead early. Jacob Knapper raced in second with pressure from Cole Chernosky, but Brian Haben made a power move around the high side and picked off both drivers on lap seven.

Over the final 10 caution-free laps, Haben chipped away at Stearns’ lead, and drew to within about five lengths by the checkered flag, but settled for second. Stearns earned his first win of the season at Madison Speedway over Haben, Chernosky, Knapper and Seth Brede.

Scott Tofte fought off Tim Kanten to lead early in the 18-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature. Tofte slipped away while Kanten had to fend off Scott Hansen for second. After a mid-race restart, Kanten challenged Tofte for a few laps, but could not keep the pace. Tofte pocketed his third win of the season in Madison with Kanten second, Darren Engesser third, Hansen fourth and Taylor Schmidt fifth.

Braden and Kolton Brauer shared the front row for the 14-lap WISSOTA Street Stock main event; Kolton outgunned his brother at the start, and brought Zach Flickinger with him into second. Kolton Brauer slipped away from the pack, and Braden fought by Flickinger for second on lap four. Mike Jans followed Braden into third. Kolton Brauer continued to extend his advantage as the laps clicked off, and grabbed his seventh feature win of the season in Madison. Braden Brauer was second ahead of Jans, Flickinger and Josh Long.

Scott Harrington and Brad Staples were door to door for nearly the entire 12-lap Gen X Late Model feature. Harrington used the low groove, and Staples used the top as they fought for the win. Harrington appeared to have an advantage with a few laps to go, but Staples regained the upper hand, had his largest lead under the white flag, and scored the heavily contested victory. Rich Gregoire rounded out the field in the three-car race.

Coltyn Schuler moved to the lead early in the 14-lap Pure Stock feature and cruised away to his ninth victory of the season at the Madison oval. Landon Albertson finished second with Justin Erp third, Colsten Schultz fourth and Jason Best fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 12D-Mike Stearns[2]; 2. 6*-Brian Haben[5]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 4. 66-Jacob Knapper[3]; 5. 6SL-Seth Brede[8]; 6. 1MORE-Ryan Flaten[10]; 7. 73-Ryan Nelson[1]; 8. 15-Adam Brotherton[9]; 9. 8-Jason Anderson[6]; 10. (DNS) 10H-Nate Heinrich

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12D-Mike Stearns[3]; 2. 73-Ryan Nelson[1]; 3. 10H-Nate Heinrich[2]; 4. 66-Jacob Knapper[5]; 5. (DNF) 1MORE-Ryan Flaten[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6SL-Seth Brede[1]; 2. 6*-Brian Haben[2]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 4. 8-Jason Anderson[5]; 5. 15-Adam Brotherton[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 19-Brayden Hedtke[5]; 2. 71-Justin Tammen[2]; 3. 4-Andrew Hedtke[4]; 4. 14-Jayden Friauf[3]; 5. 40-Ellen Lange[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Justin Tammen[2]; 2. 4-Andrew Hedtke[3]; 3. 14-Jayden Friauf[1]; 4. 40-Ellen Lange[4]; 5. (DNF) 19-Brayden Hedtke[5]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Tofte[2]; 2. 16T-Tim Kanten[1]; 3. 11S-Darren Engesser[3]; 4. 31-Scott Hansen[8]; 5. 15-Taylor Schmidt[4]; 6. 1-Shane Dejong[6]; 7. 17-Jaden Gannott[5]; 8. 7G-Tanner Gregoire[11]; 9. 8W-Tyler Weinmann[12]; 10. 5A-Dana Anderson[14]; 11. (DNF) 10K-Kailey VanEps[10]; 12. (DNF) 11K-Kyle Schell[13]; 13. (DNF) 34J-Derek Rieck[7]; 14. (DNF) 8-Jon Carlson[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Shane Dejong[1]; 2. 31-Scott Hansen[5]; 3. 17-Jaden Gannott[3]; 4. 16T-Tim Kanten[7]; 5. 8-Jon Carlson[4]; 6. 7G-Tanner Gregoire[6]; 7. 11K-Kyle Schell[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 34J-Derek Rieck[5]; 2. 15-Taylor Schmidt[2]; 3. 28-Scott Tofte[3]; 4. 11S-Darren Engesser[4]; 5. 10K-Kailey VanEps[6]; 6. 8W-Tyler Weinmann[7]; 7. (DNF) 5A-Dana Anderson[1]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[2]; 2. 34JR-Braden Brauer[1]; 3. 25-Mike Jans[5]; 4. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[4]; 5. 71-Josh Long[3]; 6. 2-Joe Martin[7]; 7. 18J-Justin Peterson[6]; 8. 7-Logen Gregoire[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 34JR-Braden Brauer[1]; 2. 25-Mike Jans[4]; 3. 71-Josh Long[6]; 4. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[8]; 5. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[7]; 6. 18J-Justin Peterson[3]; 7. 2-Joe Martin[5]; 8. 7-Logen Gregoire[2]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 10-Brad Staples[3]; 2. 14-Scott Harrington[1]; 3. 32X-Rich Gregoire[2]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 14-Scott Harrington[2]; 2. 32X-Rich Gregoire[3]; 3. 10-Brad Staples[1]

Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[4]; 2. 7A-Landon Albertson[3]; 3. 32J-Justin Erp[1]; 4. 511-Colsten Schultz[2]; 5. 47-Jason Best[6]; 6. 45-Tad Peterson[8]; 7. 32-Brady Hagen[5]; 8. 87T-Ian Tjaden[10]; 9. 13-Brett Hedtke[7]; 10. 20A-Jordan Thorson[11]; 11. (DNF) 20-Tyler Minkel[9]; 12. (DNS) 82JR-Sophie Anderson

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 32-Brady Hagen[1]; 2. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[6]; 3. 7A-Landon Albertson[4]; 4. 45-Tad Peterson[3]; 5. 20-Tyler Minkel[2]; 6. 20A-Jordan Thorson[5]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 47-Jason Best[1]; 2. 13-Brett Hedtke[2]; 3. 32J-Justin Erp[4]; 4. 511-Colsten Schultz[3]; 5. 87T-Ian Tjaden[5]; 6. (DNF) 82JR-Sophie Anderson[6]