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Ward dominates home-track action for Challenge Series win at Casino; Johnson and Hess also hoist some hardware at Watertown, SD

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (June 1) - Hometown driver Scott Ward put forth a dominant effort when the WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series rolled into Casino Speedway Sunday, leading all 40 caution-free laps for his eighth-career tour victory.

Out-of-state drivers Onyx Johnson and Trey Hess punched their tickets to victory lane in the Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks as well to highlight WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action at the Watertown, South Dakota speedway.

Ward wrestled the lead from Dave Mass during the opening round of the WISSOTA Late Model main event. He set the pace while Kevin Eder picked off Mass a few laps in, and quickly put heavy pressure on Ward for the lead. The onslaught lasted only a few laps before Ward edged out to a small advantage by lap 10.

The leaders caught the tail of the field with 15 laps scored, and Ward flawlessly disposed of the first few cars while Eder struggled with the traffic. Mass and Tyler Peterson waged a battle for third, and reeled in Eder for second. Ward continued to find the seams in traffic with relative ease, and he slipped away from an intensifying fight for second.

Peterson worked into third, and with less than 10 laps to go, he and Mass found a route around Eder for second and third. Jeff Provinzino also displaced Eder for fourth with three laps to go.

Ward's nonstop run to the checkers earned him his second series win of the weekend, and his fourth series victory at his home track. Peterson, Mass, Provinzino and Eder rounded out the top five.

Onyx Johnson grabbed the lead when the green flag waved over the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature. Tommy Nichols applied heavy pressure to Johnson in the opening stages before the first caution on lap six. After another caution with seven laps complete, Todd Stark had taken second from Nichols, but the two collided in turn four and Stark spun, sending Nichols to the tail with eight laps scored.

Johnson remained at the point, although Stark looked under the leader after the halfway point. Johnson opened a small advantage for a few laps, but Stark reloaded for another run with three laps left; he was all over Johnson in the closing laps, but could not find a way past. Johnson earned his second-career feature win and first at Casino Speedway. Stark was second ahead of Terry Reilly, Nichols and Scott Hansen.

Wade Tirrel was the early leader in the 20-lap WISSOTA Street Stock main event. Jayden Bogh held second early and Hess charged to third, then forced his way by Bogh for second on lap three. Hess caught Tirrel at the point, and found an opening underneath the leader with six laps scored. The first caution waved with eight laps recorded.

Hess opened a slim lead after the restart, but Bogh tracked him down with five laps remaining. Andy Rossow was also on a charge forward in the high groove, and was behind Jason Marko in fourth. One final caution waved with four laps to go.

Bogh shed Marko in a brief battle for second after the restart, and Rossow secured third and went to the cushion in a run for the lead. The lead trio were in a tight cluster when they crossed by the flag stand with two laps to go; Bogh lost touch in the next set of turns, and Rossow’s high side charge came up shy as Hess scored the feature win. Rossow, Bogh, Maria Broksieck and Tony Miller rounded out the top five.

Curt Kranz led the opening few laps of the Gen X Late Model feature, but lost the point to Trevor Walsh on lap three. Kranz used the bottom groove to regain the lead on lap 12 of 20, but a late caution allowed Matthew Larson to find the middle groove and steal the win with less than five laps to go. Kranz settled for second with Tony Croninger third, Parker Gilbertson fourth and Trevor Walsh fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

Feature - A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 37-Scott Ward[2]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 3. 2M-Dave Mass[1]; 4. 28-Jeff Provinzino[5]; 5. 22E-Kevin Eder[4]; 6. 20-Trevor Anderson[10]; 7. 12-Chad Becker[11]; 8. 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[6]; 9. 1-Ryan Engels[12]; 10. 85G-Jayson Good[14]; 11. 7-Joel Bennett[13]; 12. 73-Zach Johnson[17]; 13. 15-Devin Fouquette[7]; 14. 7A-Shane Sabraski[9]; 15. 21F-Gunner Frank[8]; 16. 57-Chad Williamson[19]; 17. 14-Chase Alves[15]; 18. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[20]; 19. (DNF) X-Blake Swenson[18]; 20. (DNS) 4J-Lee Grosz; 21. (DNS) 21-Todd Frank; 22. (DNS) 10-Cole Searing

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22E-Kevin Eder[2]; 2. 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[1]; 3. 21F-Gunner Frank[3]; 4. 15-Devin Fouquette[7]; 5. (DNF) 73-Zach Johnson[6]; 6. (DNF) 4J-Lee Grosz[4]; 7. (DNS) 21-Todd Frank; 8. (DNS) 10-Cole Searing

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2M-Dave Mass[4]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[5]; 3. 20-Trevor Anderson[2]; 4. 1-Ryan Engels[3]; 5. (DNF) X-Blake Swenson[1]; 6. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[7]; 7. (DNF) 57-Chad Williamson[6]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Jeff Provinzino[1]; 2. 37-Scott Ward[5]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[2]; 4. 12-Chad Becker[4]; 5. 7-Joel Bennett[6]; 6. 85G-Jayson Good[3]; 7. 14-Chase Alves[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 73-Onyx Johnson[1]; 2. 33-Todd Stark[4]; 3. 69R-Terry Reilly[9]; 4. 28-Tommy Nichols[2]; 5. 31-Scott Hansen[6]; 6. 2DR-Tom Neitzel[8]; 7. 17-Scott Hinricher[5]; 8. (DNF) 113-Lee Dreher[3]; 9. (DNF) 86-Carter Frost[7]; 10. (DNS) 25R-Trevor Rush

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 73-Onyx Johnson[1]; 2. 17-Scott Hinricher[2]; 3. 28-Tommy Nichols[4]; 4. 86-Carter Frost[3]; 5. 2DR-Tom Neitzel[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Todd Stark[1]; 2. 31-Scott Hansen[4]; 3. 113-Lee Dreher[2]; 4. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[5]; 5. (DNF) 69R-Terry Reilly[3]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 4-Trey Hess[5]; 2. 99-Andy Rossow[8]; 3. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[2]; 4. 14-Maria Broksieck[10]; 5. 80-Tony Miller[3]; 6. 17-Matt Goth[6]; 7. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[7]; 8. 52-Joe Arndt[9]; 9. 73-Cory Giessinger[12]; 10. 12-Al Schmidt[11]; 11. 58-Wade Tirrel[1]; 12. (DQ) 31-Jason Marko[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Andy Rossow[2]; 2. 58-Wade Tirrel[1]; 3. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[4]; 4. 4-Trey Hess[6]; 5. 52-Joe Arndt[3]; 6. 12-Al Schmidt[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[4]; 2. 31-Jason Marko[1]; 3. 17-Matt Goth[2]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[6]; 5. 14-Maria Broksieck[5]; 6. 73-Cory Giessinger[3]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 8-Matthew Larson[7]; 2. 87-Curt Kranz[4]; 3. 8T-Tony Croninger[5]; 4. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[2]; 5. 15-Trevor Walsh[6]; 6. 811-Bodie Croninger[3]; 7. 19-Tyler McFarland[1]; 8. 1E-Tai Engels[10]; 9. 11X-Brittany Swenson[12]; 10. (DNF) XJR-Hope Swenson[8]; 11. (DNF) 12-Brandon Fisher[11]; 12. (DNS) 14-Scott Harrington

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Matthew Larson[2]; 2. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[1]; 3. 811-Bodie Croninger[3]; 4. 8T-Tony Croninger[5]; 5. (DNF) 14-Scott Harrington[4]; 6. (DNS) 12-Brandon Fisher

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Curt Kranz[4]; 2. 15-Trevor Walsh[1]; 3. XJR-Hope Swenson[5]; 4. 19-Tyler McFarland[3]; 5. 11X-Brittany Swenson[6]; 6. (DNF) 1E-Tai Engels[2]