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Overton outruns Late Model field for Challenge Series victory at Casino Speedway on Sunday

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (June 7) - For the third year in a row, Scott Ward was in victory lane after Casino Speedway’s Marilyn Olson Memorial—although this year, Ward was celebrating just as the car owner. Cody Overton of Thomson, GA piloted Ward’s No. 37 to his first Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series victory after a dominating effort.

Taylor Schmidt and Coltyn Schuler also picked up WISSOTA Dirt Track Series wins at the oval.

Overton grabbed the initial lead of the out of turn two in the 40-lap WISSOTA Late Model main event, and Thomas Weisgram advanced into second in the opening turns as well. Tyler Peterson held third with pressure from Chad Becker; Becker used the lowside to slip ahead of Peterson on lap four. Overton edged away from the pack before the first caution with eight laps recorded.

Becker worked the outside groove after the restart and moved around Weisgram for second. Mike Stearns challenged to the outside of Peterson in a battle for fourth while Overton slipped away at the point. The caution waved with 10 laps scored after a spin in turn four.

Peterson displaced Weisgram to fourth after the restart, and Stearns and Matt Gilbertson challenged him for position. Stearns shook out into fourth by lap 15 and Gilbertson gave chase in fifth. Stearns reeled in Peterson for third, and stole the position near the halfway mark.

Overton caught the tail of the field just after the halfway mark, and showed precision slicing through the backmarkers; he maintained his margin over Becker.

The leader was in thick traffic with 10 to go and Becker closed in, but Overton executed a thread-the-needle move between two lapped cars to regain his margin. Overton slipped away again with open track, but one final caution waved with two laps remaining.

Overton edged away over the final laps for victory with Becker second, Stearns third, Kevin Eder fourth and Peterson fifth.

Todd Stark and Schmidt had a spirited battle in the opening laps of the WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature; Stark used the low groove and had a slight edge early, but Schmidt’s high groove propelled him into the top spot to complete lap four. Schmidt held a narrow margin over Stark, and Tommy Nichols closed on the lead pair before the first caution with seven laps in the books.

Nichols stole second from Stark a few laps after the restart, then grabbed the lead briefly with a slide job in turn two on lap 10. Schmidt regained the top spot down the back chute, but Nichols cut low out of turn four and led lap 11 by a hair. Schmidt muscled to the top spot out of turn four and led lap 12, with Stark and Luke Johnson still in the picture.

The top four cars ran in a tight formation with five laps to go; Nichols mounted another charge at the leader, but a caution flag waved for a spin with four laps to go.

Nichols first had to fend off Stark after the restart, and the top three remained close over the final laps. Nichols was unable to make another serious bid for the win, and Schmidt picked up his first win in Watertown. Nichols was second, and Stark was a close third. Terry Reilly just nipped Johnson for fourth.

Jason Marko started on the front row of the 15-lap WISSOTA Street Stock main event and grabbed the initial lead, but Coltyn Schuler quickly went to work for the top spot. Schuler looked low and was nearly even with Marko at the flagstand to complete lap two; Marko charged hard into the first turn and spun his machine. He collected Tony Miller as a result, but only Marko was unable to continue.

Schuler grabbed the top spot after the restart, and Maria Broksieck settled into second just off his trunk lid. Miller ran third with five laps recorded, although with pressure from Joe Arndt. The top two broke away, with Schuler holding around a one-car-length advantage before Broksieck took a run at the lead at the halfway mark. She could not find the room on the low side, and searched the speedway for momentum. She charged the outside groove in turns three and four over the final laps, but could not make another serious bid for the lead. Schuler notched his first win at Casino Speedway ahead of Broksieck, Miller, Arndt and Kenneth Clements.

Bodie Croninger snatched the lead from Curt Kranz after a lap-five restart, and led the rest of the way for the Gen X Late Model main event win. Kranz was second ahead of Trevor Walsh, Tony Croninger and Alex Tschackert.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 37-Cody Overton[1]; 2. 12B-Chad Becker[4]; 3. 24S-Mike Stearns[6]; 4. 22E-Kevin Eder[8]; 5. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[2]; 6. 85-Jayson Good[13]; 7. 16-Thomas Weisgram[3]; 8. 7A-Shane Sabraski[7]; 9. 10-Cole Searing[11]; 10. 28-Jeff Provinzino[9]; 11. 30-Kevin Burdick[14]; 12. 62-Justin Zeitner[10]; 13. 78K-Dexton Koch[15]; 14. 45J-Johnny Broking[20]; 15. 73-Zach Johnson[18]; 16. 07-Cory Crapser[21]; 17. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[16]; 18. 34-Taylor Madrinich[22]; 19. 57-Chad Williamson[23]; 20. 1-Ryan Engels[26]; 21. 19X-James Trantina III[24]; 22. 51-Justin Karlen[19]; 23. 71-Scott Olson[27]; 24. (DNF) 23-Matt Gilbertson[5]; 25. (DNF) 73X-Onyx Johnson[17]; 26. (DNS) 20-Trevor Anderson; 27. (DNS) 2M-Dave Mass

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Thomas Weisgram[2]; 2. 22E-Kevin Eder[1]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 4. 20-Trevor Anderson[3]; 5. 73X-Onyx Johnson[5]; 6. 78K-Dexton Koch[8]; 7. 07-Cory Crapser[6]; 8. 19X-James Trantina III[7]; 9. 1-Ryan Engels[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12B-Chad Becker[1]; 2. 23-Matt Gilbertson[3]; 3. 24S-Mike Stearns[6]; 4. 10-Cole Searing[4]; 5. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[5]; 6. 73-Zach Johnson[7]; 7. 51-Justin Karlen[8]; 8. 34-Taylor Madrinich[9]; 9. 2M-Dave Mass[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[2]; 2. 37-Cody Overton[4]; 3. 62-Justin Zeitner[1]; 4. 28-Jeff Provinzino[6]; 5. 85-Jayson Good[3]; 6. 30-Kevin Burdick[8]; 7. 45J-Johnny Broking[7]; 8. 57-Chad Williamson[5]; 9. 71-Scott Olson[9]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-Taylor Schmidt[2]; 2. 28-Tommy Nichols[3]; 3. 33-Todd Stark[1]; 4. 69R-Terry Reilly[4]; 5. 3-Luke Johnson[5]; 6. 31-Scott Hansen[8]; 7. 1-Jake Wranek[10]; 8. 11S-Darren Engesser[7]; 9. 2DR-Tom Neitzel[11]; 10. 86-Carter Frost[6]; 11. 20-Devan Dobbs[13]; 12. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[12]; 13. (DNS) 56D-Doug Neitzel

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 69R-Terry Reilly[3]; 2. 11S-Darren Engesser[2]; 3. 28-Tommy Nichols[4]; 4. 86-Carter Frost[5]; 5. 56D-Doug Neitzel[6]; 6. 20-Devan Dobbs[7]; 7. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Scott Hansen[1]; 2. 3-Luke Johnson[2]; 3. 33-Todd Stark[5]; 4. 15-Taylor Schmidt[4]; 5. 1-Jake Wranek[3]; 6. 2DR-Tom Neitzel[6]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[4]; 2. 14-Maria Broksieck[3]; 3. 80-Tony Miller[1]; 4. 52-Joe Arndt[5]; 5. 711-Kenneth Clements[6]; 6. (DNF) 12-Al Schmidt[7]; 7. (DNF) 31-Jason Marko[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16A-Coltyn Schuler[2]; 2. 31-Jason Marko[1]; 3. 14-Maria Broksieck[3]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[4]; 5. 52-Joe Arndt[5]; 6. 12-Al Schmidt[6]; 7. 711-Kenneth Clements[7]

Gen X Late Models:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 811-Bodie Croninger[2]; 2. 87-Curt Kranz[4]; 3. 01-Alex Tschakert[6]; 4. 10X-Blake Swenson[3]; 5. 73-Ryan Nelson[1]; 6. 11X-Brittany Swenson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Trevor Walsh[4]; 2. 19-Tyler McFarland[1]; 3. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[5]; 4. 8T-Tony Croninger[6]; 5. XJR-Hope Swenson[2]; 6. 1E-Tai Engels[3]