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Stearns, Konold, Nichols, Marko and Rohner race to wins as Casino cranks up 72nd season opener

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (May 10) - Casino Speedway hosted its 72nd annual season opener on Sunday night. Mike Stearns earned a win, and a runner-up finish, while Tony Konold, Tommy Nichols, Jason Marko and Jeff Rohner also earned victories during the season opener.

Stearns quickly distanced himself from his competitors when the green flag waved in the 25-lap WISSOTA Late Model main event. Justin Karlen held second through a few early restarts until Charlie Olsen found a way around on lap eight; Curt Kranz slipped by Karlen for third on the next circuit before a caution with nine laps recorded.

Kranz claimed second after the restart, but the lap was not recorded before Karlen spun out of turn four and a melee ensued on the frontstretch.

Olsen reclaimed second after the restart, and he and Stearns edged away from the pack as they contested the race lead. Thomas Weisgram slipped by Kranz before another yellow flag on lap 13.

Olsen fell back after the green flag, and Weisgram was the new second-place car. Trevor Anderson was up to third and after another caution one lap later, Stearns maintained a moderate lead at the head of the pack while the top drivers spaced out around the oval. Weisgram was unable to trim away at his disadvantage and Stearns earned the victory at Casino Speedway. Weisgram was second with Anderson third, 11th-starter Trevor Walsh fourth and Kranz fifth.

After an opening lap caution that sent Coltyn Schuler to the rear of the eight-car field, Tony Miller grabbed the initial lead in the 15-lap WISSOTA Street Stock main event. Miller fought back Jayden Bogh for the first lap and three-quarters, but looped his machine in the middle of turn four. The caution waved and Bogh inherited the lead for the restart.

Marko restarted second, and found an opening under Bogh to edge to the lead on lap four. Marko set the pace while Schuler worked through the field and picked off Bogh for second on lap six. Schuler quickly closed on the leader and ducked to his inside to lead lap nine, but Marko returned the favor and squeezed inside to lead lap 10.

Schuler remained close in the final five laps, but Marko did not open the door again and scored the victory. Schuler was second ahead of Bogh, Maria Broksieck and Chris Serr.

Tommy Nichols led the WISSOTA Midwest Modified field to the green of their 20-lap main event and grabbed the early lead. Taylor Schmidt fended off the challenges of Darren Engesser and Terry Reilly in the opening few laps, then gave chase to Nichols at the front of the field. He was a few lengths behind before the first caution with eight laps scored.

Schmidt stayed glued to Nichols after the restart, and worked a line higher than the leader. A few laps after the crossed flags, Nichols inched up the speedway and Schmidt looked to the inside. They battled for the lead with less than five laps to go, including heavy contact into turn one on lap 17. Nichols remained at the point before the final caution with three laps left.

After the restart, Nichols held Schmidt about a car length behind and grabbed his first victory of the new season. Schmidt settled for second with Reilly third, Engesser fourth and Todd Stark fifth.

Konold grabbed the lead when the green flag waved over the 15-lap WISSOTA Modified main event. Stearns moved from row two into second on the opening lap, and chased Konold at the head of the pack. After a handful of laps, Stearns turned up the pressure a groove lower than the leader, but Konold held strong and raced to the victory. Stearns was second ahead of Andy Brooker, Dylan Zabel and Nate Heinrich.

Dylan Tirrel grabbed the lead at the start of the 12-lap WISSOTA Hornet feature. Jeff Rohner started eighth, but was fourth by the end of lap one, and snared second by the completion of lap two. He closed on the leader and made his pass down the inside of the backstretch on lap five. From there, Rohner cruised from there for the feature win ahead of Tirrel, Adam VanDerostyne, Bradley Rossow and Paxton Tjaden in the top five after the tech shed.

Parker Gilbertson took the lead from Tyler McFarland a few laps into the Gen X Late Model main event and turned back a mid-race challenge from Trevor Walsh for the event victory. Walsh settled for second ahead of McFarland, Blake Swenson and Alex Tschackert.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 2. 16-Thomas Weisgram[4]; 3. 20A-Trevor Anderson[6]; 4. 20-Trevor Walsh[11]; 5. 87-Curt Kranz[7]; 6. 1-Ryan Engels[12]; 7. 71-Scott Olson[14]; 8. (DNF) 10CO-Charlie Olsen[3]; 9. (DNF) 57-Chad Williamson[13]; 10. (DNF) 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[5]; 11. (DNF) 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[10]; 12. (DNF) 15-Laela Eisenschenk[15]; 13. (DNF) 1K-Konner Sperle[8]; 14. (DNF) 51-Justin Karlen[2]; 15. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[16]; 16. (DNF) 12-Chad Becker[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Thomas Weisgram[4]; 2. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[1]; 3. 20A-Trevor Anderson[5]; 4. 24S-Mike Stearns[3]; 5. 12-Chad Becker[7]; 6. 20-Trevor Walsh[2]; 7. 57-Chad Williamson[6]; 8. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 51-Justin Karlen[2]; 3. 1K-Konner Sperle[4]; 4. 87-Curt Kranz[3]; 5. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[6]; 6. 1-Ryan Engels[5]; 7. 71-Scott Olson[7]; 8. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[8]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 15-Tony Konold[2]; 2. 24S-Mike Stearns[3]; 3. 8-Andy Brooker[1]; 4. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[5]; 5. 10H-Nate Heinrich[4]; 6. (DNF) 18-Aaron Sowers[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Tony Konold[1]; 2. 10H-Nate Heinrich[3]; 3. 24S-Mike Stearns[6]; 4. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[4]; 5. 8-Andy Brooker[2]; 6. 18-Aaron Sowers[5]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 28-Tommy Nichols[1]; 2. 15-Taylor Schmidt[2]; 3. 69R-Terry Reilly[3]; 4. 11S-Darren Engesser[4]; 5. 33-Todd Stark[5]; 6. 31-Scott Hansen[8]; 7. 1-Jake Wranek[7]; 8. 86-Carter Frost[6]; 9. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[10]; 10. (DNF) 2DR-Tom Neitzel[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Wranek[2]; 2. 11S-Darren Engesser[4]; 3. 15-Taylor Schmidt[3]; 4. 31-Scott Hansen[5]; 5. 2DR-Tom Neitzel[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Todd Stark[2]; 2. 69R-Terry Reilly[3]; 3. 28-Tommy Nichols[4]; 4. 86-Carter Frost[1]; 5. 25R-Trevor Rush[5]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 31-Jason Marko[3]; 2. 16J-Coltyn Schuler[5]; 3. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[2]; 4. 14-Maria Broksieck[4]; 5. 01-Chris Serr[6]; 6. 77D-Adam Dehne[8]; 7. 80-Tony Miller[1]; 8. 12-Al Schmidt[7]; 9. 80C-Kenneth Clements[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[2]; 2. 31-Jason Marko[4]; 3. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[1]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[3]; 5. 16J-Coltyn Schuler[7]; 6. 01-Chris Serr[6]; 7. 12-Al Schmidt[8]; 8. 77D-Adam Dehne[9]; 9. (DNF) 80C-Kenneth Clements[5]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 08-Jeff Rohner[8]; 2. 7-Dylan Tirrel[2]; 3. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[6]; 4. 555-Bradley Rossow[4]; 5. 87TJR-Paxton Tjaden[3]; 6. 69-Skylar Burgher[7]; 7. 79-Joshua Gebhart[17]; 8. 98-Brett Alexander[10]; 9. 4-Miron Fisk[15]; 10. 11L-Jesse Lindner[9]; 11. 13-Kris Eide[14]; 12. 81-Nathan Smith[12]; 13. (DNF) 16-Carly Behrens[13]; 14. (DNF) 00-Brittany Swenson[16]; 15. (DNF) 21-Brandon Downs[11]; 16. (DNF) 0-Matthew Moes[5]; 17. (DQ) 95-Brett Moffenbier[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 69-Skylar Burgher[2]; 2. 555-Bradley Rossow[3]; 3. 7-Dylan Tirrel[8]; 4. 0-Matthew Moes[4]; 5. 11L-Jesse Lindner[1]; 6. 21-Brandon Downs[5]; 7. 13-Kris Eide[9]; 8. 4-Miron Fisk[6]; 9. 00-Brittany Swenson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Brett Moffenbier[1]; 2. 08-Jeff Rohner[8]; 3. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[5]; 4. 87TJR-Paxton Tjaden[4]; 5. 98-Brett Alexander[6]; 6. 81-Nathan Smith[2]; 7. 16-Carly Behrens[3]; 8. (DNF) 79-Joshua Gebhart[7]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[4]; 2. 15-Trevor Walsh[8]; 3. 19-Tyler McFarland[2]; 4. 811-Bodie Croninger[6]; 5. 01-Alex Tschakert[1]; 6. 10X-Blake Swenson[10]; 7. 87-Curt Kranz[5]; 8. 73-Ryan Nelson[3]; 9. 75-Cade Skytland[15]; 10. 11X-Brittany Swenson[13]; 11. 33-Chad Duenwald[11]; 12. 1E-Tai Engels[9]; 13. (DNF) 12-Brandon Fisher[14]; 14. (DNF) 8T-Tony Croninger[7]; 15. (DNF) XJR-Hope Swenson[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[4]; 2. 8T-Tony Croninger[5]; 3. 73-Ryan Nelson[3]; 4. 01-Alex Tschakert[6]; 5. 1E-Tai Engels[7]; 6. 33-Chad Duenwald[2]; 7. 11X-Brittany Swenson[8]; 8. 12-Brandon Fisher[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 811-Bodie Croninger[2]; 2. 87-Curt Kranz[5]; 3. 15-Trevor Walsh[7]; 4. 19-Tyler McFarland[1]; 5. 10X-Blake Swenson[6]; 6. XJR-Hope Swenson[4]; 7. (DNF) 75-Cade Skytland[3]