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Searing, Nelson, Engesser & Bogh begin season strong as Dakota State Fair Speedway weekly racing returns

By Mike Carroll
The Plainsman

HURON, SD (May 2) - Dakota State Fair Speedway kicked off its first full-time racing season since 2017 on Saturday.

A pair of first-time winners emerged during the opening night of a 13-race night schedule, including WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners Darren Engesser and Jayden Bogh. Cole Searing and Trevor Nelson were also victorious in sanctioned action.

Bogh raced this weekend in a brand-new car he built from the ground up with the help of Cody Daly of Daly Fabrications. After finishing second on Friday at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, Bogh was excited for the second solid outing in the row.

“We were able to capitalize tonight, so gotta be happy about that,” Bogh said of securing the win. “This is a brand-new car Cody Daly and I built. He had a vision and trusted me, so we went with it and it’s going better than we imagined.”

Bogh started third in the 16-car Street Stock feature and used the low groove in turn two to take the lead on the third lap of the 15-lap event.

Grady Myers, who started a row behind Bogh, made things work on the high side of the track and stole the lead at the line two laps later, but Bogh battled back to regain the advantage on the following lap. He held onto the top spot by a slim margin until the first caution flag of the race flew with three laps remaining.

On the ensuing restart, Bogh’s father, Michael—who has 19 career wins at DSFS of his own—had his night end with a roll between turns one and two. The elder Bogh emerged from the incident uninjured.

Matt Goth, who moved into third on lap nine, capitalized on the restart and snagged second from Myers. He couldn’t catch Bogh during the final three revolutions, however.

“It was pretty competitive,” Bogh said of the feature race. “I just trusted myself and trusted the car, and all the lines matched up.”

Prior to Saturday’s racing program, Bogh had just a pair of top-five finishes at DSFS, with both of those coming in 2024. In 2025 he earned five wins and recorded 17 top-five finishes in 31 events, but didn’t have the opportunity to race in Huron due to rainouts.

James Hoing and Clifford Houser completed the top five.

Engesser led from start to finish in the 15-lap Midwest Modified main event to claim his first victory at the Huron track. It was not without pressure, however, as he faced a stiff challenge throughout the race.

Jayme Peterson trailed Engesser during the opening lap, while Adam Brotherton used the low groove coming out of turn four to steal second during the second lap.

While Engesser maintained the top spot, Peterson battled back on the high side of the track to regain second during lap five.

Peterson made a strong push for the lead, but with three laps remaining he saw his chance of a victory disappear with a spin while going for the top spot.

Brotherton, who had slipped to fourth, regained third a lap before the race was slowed for Peterson’s spin. He then battled Jake Wranek for the runner-up finish during the final three laps.

Wranek held second with a lap remaining, but Brotherton battled back on the outside to steal the spot coming out of the final turn. At the checkered flag Engesser took the win ahead of Brotherton, Wranek, Nick Perry and Scott Hansen in the top five.

Chad Becker, the most recent Late Model driver to win a feature race at DSFS, started on the pole and was well on his way to win No. 27 at the Huron track. However, a caution flag for a slowing Mike Stearns on lap 14 of the 20-lap feature race changed the complexion of the race.

Eighth-starter Searing, who was in fourth, was the biggest benefactor of the caution period. He lined up on the restart alongside Josh Skorczewski on Becker’s rear bumper and was able to use the low side of the track coming out of turn two take the lead the second go-round following the restart.

“The caution definitely helped. We were probably a second-place car at best without the caution and realistically a third-place car,” Searing said. “This place is just so aerodynamic, dependent that it’s hard to catch anybody in clean air like that. So, the yellow will definitely make you or break you sometimes, and tonight it helped us.”

Searing led the final six laps to secure win No. 27 of his career at his hometown track. Becker was second, followed by Konner Sperle, Skorczewski and Thomas Weisgram in the top five.

Trevor Nelson collected the seventh feature win of his career at the Huron oval on Saturday. After having to change transmissions between the heat and feature races, he started fourth in the nine-car field and moved to the front on the second lap of the 15-lap feature race.

Bryson North, who started on the pole, led the opening lap and ran second for the next four laps.

Brad Kopecky used the low groove in turn two to get past North for second on lap six and stayed there the remainder of the race.

North finished third, followed by Austin Arbogast and Derek Zastrow in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 10-Cole Searing[8]; 2. 12-Chad Becker[1]; 3. 1-Konner Sperle[2]; 4. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[5]; 5. 16-Thomas Weisgram[4]; 6. 18-Chase Gelling[6]; 7. (DNF) 66-Ryan Baumgart[9]; 8. (DNF) 80D-Brandon Sprinkel[7]; 9. (DNF) 24-Mike Stearns[3]; 10. (DNS) 21X-Dustin Arthur

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 12-Chad Becker[4]; 2. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[1]; 3. 24-Mike Stearns[3]; 4. 1-Konner Sperle[5]; 5. 66-Ryan Baumgart[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 10-Cole Searing[3]; 2. 18-Chase Gelling[2]; 3. 16-Thomas Weisgram[4]; 4. 80D-Brandon Sprinkel[5]; 5. (DNF) 21X-Dustin Arthur[1]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 71-Trevor Nelson[4]; 2. 5-Brad Kopecky[2]; 3. 22-Bryson North[1]; 4. 67-Austin Arbogast[5]; 5. 7-Derek Zastrow[3]; 6. 711-Kenneth Clements[7]; 7. 7K-Kody Lehr[6]; 8. (DNF) 13-Brian Hoing[8]; 9. (DNF) 03-Wyatt Schweigert[9]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 71-Trevor Nelson[2]; 2. 22-Bryson North[1]; 3. 7-Derek Zastrow[4]; 4. 5-Brad Kopecky[6]; 5. 67-Austin Arbogast[7]; 6. 7K-Kody Lehr[5]; 7. 711-Kenneth Clements[9]; 8. 13-Brian Hoing[3]; 9. (DNS) 03-Wyatt Schweigert

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11S-Darren Engesser[1]; 2. 14-Adam Brotherton[7]; 3. 1-Jake Wranek[5]; 4. 4-Nick Perry[9]; 5. 31-Scott Hansen[3]; 6. 25-Jace Baloun[18]; 7. 55-Jordan Kienow[16]; 8. (DNF) 21-Devon Carroll[21]; 9. (DNF) X-Chris Moore[22]; 10. (DNF) 73-Trevor Ryan[15]; 11. (DNF) 15-Jayme Peterson[2]; 12. (DNF) 17-Scott Hinricher[20]; 13. (DNF) 21C-Kurtis Clark[11]; 14. (DNF) 82-Sophie Anderson[19]; 15. (DNF) 19-Tracy Johnson[10]; 16. (DNF) 69-Britt Williams[17]; 17. (DNF) 5T-Scott Tyrrell[4]; 18. (DNF) 16-Jeff Metzinger[14]; 19. (DNF) 3-Luke Johnson[8]; 20. (DNF) 22H-Matt Heinzerling[13]; 21. (DNS) 33-Lorin Johnson; 22. (DNS) 33S-Todd Stark

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 31-Scott Hansen[3]; 2. 15-Jayme Peterson[2]; 3. 1-Jake Wranek[4]; 4. 19-Tracy Johnson[1]; 5. 22H-Matt Heinzerling[8]; 6. 55-Jordan Kienow[6]; 7. 25-Jace Baloun[7]; 8. 17-Scott Hinricher[5]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 14-Adam Brotherton[3]; 2. 4-Nick Perry[6]; 3. 11S-Darren Engesser[1]; 4. 21C-Kurtis Clark[4]; 5. 16-Jeff Metzinger[5]; 6. (DNF) 21-Devon Carroll[7]; 7. (DNF) X-Chris Moore[2]

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 5T-Scott Tyrrell[2]; 2. 3-Luke Johnson[4]; 3. 33S-Todd Stark[5]; 4. 33-Lorin Johnson[1]; 5. 73-Trevor Ryan[6]; 6. 69-Britt Williams[3]; 7. 82-Sophie Anderson[7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[3]; 2. 17-Matt Goth[7]; 3. 12X-Grady Myers[5]; 4. 61-James Hoing[1]; 5. 1X-Clifford Houser[10]; 6. 0-Wyatt Brooker[14]; 7. 37W-Ferlin Sheridan[12]; 8. 6C-Chris Asmus[11]; 9. 00-Shane Supik[16]; 10. (DNF) 65-Dave Brooker[9]; 11. (DNF) 49-Broc Stout[4]; 12. (DNF) 01-Chris Serr[6]; 13. (DNF) 20-Michael Bogh[2]; 14. (DNF) 14-Maria Broksieck[8]; 15. (DNF) 88-Casey Carstens[15]; 16. (DNF) 27J-Domanick Havard[13]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[1]; 2. 20-Michael Bogh[4]; 3. 17-Matt Goth[3]; 4. 61-James Hoing[6]; 5. 65-Dave Brooker[7]; 6. 6C-Chris Asmus[5]; 7. 27J-Domanick Havard[8]; 8. 88-Casey Carstens[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 49-Broc Stout[2]; 2. 12X-Grady Myers[1]; 3. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[5]; 4. 01-Chris Serr[8]; 5. 1X-Clifford Houser[4]; 6. 37W-Ferlin Sheridan[6]; 7. 0-Wyatt Brooker[3]; 8. 00-Shane Supik[7]