7-15 Page 32 | ATD Racing News

Becker, Stearns, Stark and Henkemeyer handle rivals on first of two nights at Aberdeen, SD

By Spencer Heupel

ABERDEEN, SD (July 11) - After another rainout, Brown County Speedway was back in action with its first doubleheader of the 2025 season, the Andy Daly Memorial. For the first night, 116 drivers checked in and readied for battle.

Todd Stark, Chad Becker, Mike Stearns and Jordan Henkemeyer were all victorious in their respective WISSOTA Dirt Track Series classes.

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds kicked the program off with 20 drivers in attendance. Todd Stark and Adam Brotherton led the field to green, as Stark grabbed the early advantage. Brotherton banged the cushion and took the lead on lap five, before caution struck with eight to go.

Stark gained the lead back from Brotherton using the bottom lane following the restart. They fought for the top spot for several laps before Stark began to pull away and brought Dawson Zabel with him.

In the end, nobody had anything for Stark, and he went on to win his third feature at the track this year. Zabel, Brotherton, 11th-starter Taylor Schmidt and Jarod Klein were top-five finishers.

Next up were the WISSOTA Modifieds, with 13 drivers on hand. A pair of Aberdeen drivers - Mike Stearns and Kent Arment - brought the field to life. They had a heated battle during the opening circuits until Arment jumped the cushion, giving Stearns the lead.

Stearns’ healthy lead was cut when caution struck on lap six. The restart gave Arment another shot at Stearns, and he pulled even a few times. Arment then bobbled on the cushion again, allowing Dylan Zabel and Adam Brotherton to both get by him. Stearns gained a big lead out front, but a yellow flew with five to go.

Following the restart Zabel threw it up top and tried to challenge Stearns, but could not get a run around him. Stearns went to win for the second time this year at the track, taking the checkered flag ahead of Zabel, Garrett Gross, Brotherton and 13th-starter Tony Konold.

WISSOTA Late Models battled next with 24 drivers in the pit area. A pair of young Aberdeen drivers sat on the front row - Konnor Sperle and Chase Gelling. It was a wild start: Gelling grabbed the lead on the opening lap but tagged the barrel inside turn two on lap two, which ended his night and gave way to Chad Becker.

Becker set a quick pace out front and he was in lapped traffic early, just four laps in. As traffic got heavy for Becker, Josh Skorczewski and Cole Searing began to track down the leader; it got dicey with 14 to go as they went three and four wide in traffic; Becker made his way through and opened up the advantage he had on Searing.

It looked like Becker may check out on the field when a caution struck with five to go. On the restart, Searing got a big run out of turn two and dove inside Becker, but the momentum pushed him too far through the corner and allowed Becker to get by him. The two battled in the closing laps, but Becker hit his marks to score the win and became the first repeat winner in WISSOTA Late Models at Brown County this year. Ninth-starter Thomas Weisgram was third, 12th-starter Kent Arment was fourth, and Mike Stearns was fifth.

The final race of the night was for the WISSOTA Super Stocks, with 25 drivers in attendance. Mike Rohwedder and Jordan Henkemeyer redrew the front row and after the green flag, Henkemeyer blasted out to the lead before the caution waved on lap two for Trevor Nelson, who had a flat right rear.

On the restart, Henkemeyer pulled ahead again but Stewart Schipke stayed with him along the top side. Caution struck again with 15 to go and on the restart, Henkemeyer pulled ahead as Curt Myers moved into a battle with Schipke for second.

Henkemeyer caught the back of the field with eight laps remaining, which allowed Schipke and Myers to reel him in. As they caught him caution struck again with only five laps left. The ensuing restart involved a pileup, as Tristan LaBarge broke and ended his night, along with several others.

On what was the final restart, Myers found something on bottom and challenged Henkemeyer but the momentum up top carried the No. 11A machine to victory lane. Myers, Schipke, Rohwedder and Trevor Nelson, who rallied from the back of the pack, completed the top five.

Brad Kopecky was the hard charger, improving 16 spots for a seventh-place finish.

The INEX Legends were also in attendance. It was a showdown between brothers Gage and Noah Madler, as they bested the field for a first-second finish.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 12-Chad Becker[4]; 2. 10-Cole Searing[6]; 3. 16-Thomas Weisgram[9]; 4. 9-Kent Arment[12]; 5. 24S-Mike Stearns[8]; 6. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[5]; 7. 21X-Dustin Arthur[3]; 8. 11-Denver Nickeson[15]; 9. 10XX-Blake Swenson[11]; 10. 2RK-Rusty Kollman[17]; 11. 1-Konner Sperle[1]; 12. 49-Collin Compson[10]; 13. 64-Russell Beadle[21]; 14. 18T-Jeromy Thorstenson[13]; 15. X-Chuck Swenson[18]; 16. 32-Pat Weisgram[14]; 17. 73M-David Carlson[24]; 18. T3-Rich Thomas[23]; 19. 10X-Robert Bitz[20]; 20. (DNF) 3T-Tyler Thomas[22]; 21. (DNF) 7-Mike Rohwedder[16]; 22. (DNF) 18-Chase Gelling[2]; 23. (DNF) 2T-Todd Thomas[19]; 24. (DNS) 79-Jaden Christ

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2S-Josh Skorczewski[1]; 2. 10-Cole Searing[2]; 3. 1-Konner Sperle[7]; 4. 49-Collin Compson[4]; 5. 18T-Jeromy Thorstenson[8]; 6. 7-Mike Rohwedder[6]; 7. 2T-Todd Thomas[5]; 8. 3T-Tyler Thomas[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Chase Gelling[1]; 2. 21X-Dustin Arthur[4]; 3. 79-Jaden Christ[6]; 4. 10XX-Blake Swenson[5]; 5. 32-Pat Weisgram[7]; 6. 2RK-Rusty Kollman[8]; 7. 10X-Robert Bitz[3]; 8. T3-Rich Thomas[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Chad Becker[2]; 2. 16-Thomas Weisgram[3]; 3. 24S-Mike Stearns[4]; 4. 9-Kent Arment[8]; 5. 11-Denver Nickeson[7]; 6. X-Chuck Swenson[5]; 7. 64-Russell Beadle[1]; 8. 73M-David Carlson[6]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 2. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[6]; 3. 36G'S-Garrett Gross[3]; 4. 14-Adam Brotherton[5]; 5. 15-Tony Konold[13]; 6. 9-Kent Arment[2]; 7. 13-Cayden Schmeling[8]; 8. 32-Jesse Young[9]; 9. 42-Chaun Peterson[4]; 10. B12-Eric Cease[10]; 11. 17-Tyler Gefroh[11]; 12. 8-Andy Brooker[12]; 13. (DNF) 6-Dale Ames[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[1]; 2. 13-Cayden Schmeling[3]; 3. 6-Dale Ames[5]; 4. 14-Adam Brotherton[7]; 5. 32-Jesse Young[4]; 6. 17-Tyler Gefroh[2]; 7. (DNF) 15-Tony Konold[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 2. 9-Kent Arment[3]; 3. 36G'S-Garrett Gross[5]; 4. 42-Chaun Peterson[4]; 5. B12-Eric Cease[6]; 6. (DNF) 8-Andy Brooker[2]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[2]; 2. 1M-Curt Myers[8]; 3. 33-Stewart Schipke[4]; 4. 22-Mike Rohwedder[1]; 5. 71-Trevor Nelson[6]; 6. 12D-Mark Abeln[3]; 7. 5-Brad Kopecky[23]; 8. 67-Austin Arbogast[5]; 9. 19-Kyle Elsen[13]; 10. 40-Shawn Schnabel[15]; 11. 65-Luis Chavez[12]; 12. 81-Damon Hoftiezer[18]; 13. 8Z-Andrew Zastrow[20]; 14. 49-Tim Compson[7]; 15. 23JR-Kaden Kampa[19]; 16. 3-Tracy Christensen[9]; 17. 7K-Kody Lehr[21]; 18. 711-Kenneth Clements[16]; 19. 38-Garrett Crawford[24]; 20. 19L-Tristan LaBarge[10]; 21. Y5JR-Gerrit Van Liere[22]; 22. 32-Dominique Menzia[14]; 23. 00-Jason Hobbs[11]; 24. (DNF) 03-Wyatt Schweigert[17]; 25. (DNS) 7-Derek Zastrow

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[1]; 2. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[2]; 3. 3-Tracy Christensen[5]; 4. 19L-Tristan LaBarge[8]; 5. 19-Kyle Elsen[7]; 6. 711-Kenneth Clements[9]; 7. 23JR-Kaden Kampa[4]; 8. Y5JR-Gerrit Van Liere[6]; 9. (DNS) 7-Derek Zastrow

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Austin Arbogast[2]; 2. 22-Mike Rohwedder[4]; 3. 12D-Mark Abeln[1]; 4. 00-Jason Hobbs[5]; 5. 32-Dominique Menzia[6]; 6. 03-Wyatt Schweigert[7]; 7. 8Z-Andrew Zastrow[8]; 8. (DNF) 5-Brad Kopecky[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Trevor Nelson[1]; 2. 33-Stewart Schipke[8]; 3. 49-Tim Compson[4]; 4. 65-Luis Chavez[3]; 5. 40-Shawn Schnabel[5]; 6. 81-Damon Hoftiezer[2]; 7. 7K-Kody Lehr[6]; 8. (DNF) 38-Garrett Crawford[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33-Todd Stark[1]; 2. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[5]; 3. 14-Adam Brotherton[2]; 4. 15-Taylor Schmidt[11]; 5. 77-Jarod Klein[7]; 6. 31-Scott Hansen[3]; 7. 24X-Ryan Ost[10]; 8. 82-Connor Blumhardt[4]; 9. 3-Luke Johnson[6]; 10. 22-Shawn McFarlane[12]; 11. 99MC-James Irwin[16]; 12. 9J-Zach Jung[9]; 13. 62-Aaron Michel[8]; 14. 51-Toby Eilers[19]; 15. 69-Britt Williams[13]; 16. 77J-Nathan Jager[14]; 17. 16-Jeff Metzinger[15]; 18. 72-Caden Kirnan[20]; 19. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[17]; 20. (DNF) 49-Zander Compson[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Adam Brotherton[2]; 2. 33-Todd Stark[6]; 3. 31-Scott Hansen[4]; 4. 24X-Ryan Ost[1]; 5. 69-Britt Williams[3]; 6. 99MC-James Irwin[5]; 7. (DNF) 49-Zander Compson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[4]; 2. 62-Aaron Michel[2]; 3. 3-Luke Johnson[6]; 4. 15-Taylor Schmidt[5]; 5. 77J-Nathan Jager[1]; 6. 72-Caden Kirnan[7]; 7. (DNF) 51-Toby Eilers[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Jarod Klein[2]; 2. 9J-Zach Jung[3]; 3. 82-Connor Blumhardt[4]; 4. 22-Shawn McFarlane[6]; 5. 16-Jeff Metzinger[1]; 6. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[5]

Semi-Pro Legends:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 700-Gage Madler[2]; 2. 800-Noah Madler[3]; 3. 7-Kody Machart[4]; 4. 33K-Alex Kukowski[6]; 5. 19-Donavin Wiest[5]; 6. 77-Preston Martin[9]; 7. 28-Joshua Wiest[10]; 8. 7T-Ty Olson[7]; 9. 58-Sean Johnson[14]; 10. 00-Duston Hagen[11]; 11. 0-Ryan Erdahl[20]; 12. 9R-Tyler Riewer[8]; 13. 87-Gus Jensen[1]; 14. 94-Levi Broer[13]; 15. 66-Casey Martin[22]; 16. 29S-Trever Sahr[23]; 17. 79S-Clay Smith[15]; 18. 11D-Shawn Dement[16]; 19. 29V-Rylan Vetter[21]; 20. 6-Brent Perleberg[18]; 21. DIRT-Tony Brockhouse[19]; 22. 13-Trent Pfeiffer[12]; 23. (DNF) 79R-Scott Richardson[17]; 24. (DNF) 13L-Ben Lundquist[24]