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Olsen and Stark speed to first Casino Speedway wins of the season Sunday night

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (July 19) - Charlie Olsen and Todd Stark won their first features of the season at Casino Speedway on Sunday night. Mike Stearns, Jason Marko and Dylan Tirrel also picked up WISSOTA Dirt Track Series wins at the quarter-mile oval.

Olsen grabbed the lead when the green flag dropped in the 20-lap WISSOTA Late Model main event. Mike Stearns, Curt Kranz and Thomas Weisgram battled three wide for second, and continued an intense battle for a few laps. Stearns finally secured second with five laps scored, and started to close the gap to Olsen, although his progress seemed to steady before the halfway mark.

Weisgram raced in third while Chad Becker pressured Trevor Anderson for fourth. The battle in the back half of the top five tightened up late; Becker and Jayson Good made contact, and Good spun to bring out the caution with five laps to go.

Becker made a few inside moves to race into third on the lap after the restart, and he challenged Stearns in the final laps. Olsen raced uncontested for his first WISSOTA Late Model win at the oval, with Stearns second, Becker third, Anderson fourth and Tyler Peterson fifth.

Garrett Gross grabbed the lead at the start of the 12-lap WISSOTA Modified main event. Stearns powered into second on the opening lap while Tony Konold battled with Andy Brooker in a race for third. Gross ran at the head of the pack, but Stearns started to put the pressure on after a few laps

Stearns made an outside move in turns one and two and was the new leader to complete lap six. A three-car tangle at the tail of the field brought out the yellow with six laps recorded. Stearns pulled away after the restart before Gross spun in turn two to bring out a caution with five laps remaining.

Konold secured second after the restart, but could not keep pace with Stearns, who raced to his second WISSOTA Modified win of the season at the speedway. Konold, Arne Anderson and Gross completed the finishing field.

Marko and Maria Broksieck battled for the lead on the opening lap of the WISSOTA Street Stock main event. Marko outgunned Broksieck on the high side of the speedway, while Cole Greseth worked the inside groove and challenged Andy Rossow in a battle for third. Greseth took the spot, and Jayden Bogh looked to slide by as well, but made contact with Rossow and spun in turn four.

Marko took off on the restart with 16 laps remaining, while five cars engaged in a battle for second. Broksieck shook out ahead of the rest of the group, and Greseth went to work on Rossow for third. Marko opened a straightaway advantage by the time he took the crossed flags at the halfway point.

Broksieck bobbled on the cushion on lap 11 and Rossow shot into second; she slowed in the next set of turns and Greseth moved into third with Bogh fourth. Marko continued to flex his muscle to the checkered flag and picked up his third feature win of the season in Watertown. Rossow finished a distant second with Greseth third, Bogh fourth and Kyle Bertram fifth.

Stark jumped out to a big lead on the opening lap of the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature. Joel Waba settled into second with early pressure from Tommy Nichols, while Darren Engesser and Chad Williamson battled for fourth. Nichols secured second on lap three, and the battle for fourth caught Waba a few laps later.

Stark had a half straightaway advantage with 10 laps recorded in the 20-lap race. He had to negotiate lapped traffic, and made a strong move between two lapped cars with five laps to go. Nichols followed suit shortly after, and when Stark made a slight miscue on the cushion with two laps to go, Nichols closed quickly, but he came up about a car length shy at the checkered flag. Stark earned his first feature win of the season at the oval with Nichols second, Waba third, Williamson fourth and Engesser fifth.

Tirrel pulled away quickly when the green flag waved over the 12-lap WISSOTA Hornet feature. Four cars fought for the second position - Dalten Pederson, Adam VanDerostyne, Bradley Rossow and Matthew Moes raced three wide at times when not in door-to-door formation. The caution flag fell with a few laps complete.

Tirrel again distanced himself from the pack after the restart, while the battle for second raged on, and added another car in Christian Kast. Pederson slipped up with five laps to go and allowed VanDerostyne and Kast to shoot into second and third, but Pederson remained close.

Tirrel raced unchallenged to the checkered flag for his third win of the season. Kast outduelled VanDerostyne in the late going for second. Pederson and Rossow rounded out the top five.

Trevor Walsh dominated the Gen X Late Model main event. John Winge moved by Alex Tschackert for second after a late restart, with Parker Gilbertson fourth and Tyler McFarland fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[1]; 2. 24S-Mike Stearns[2]; 3. 12-Chad Becker[8]; 4. 20-Trevor Anderson[6]; 5. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[7]; 6. 16-Thomas Weisgram[3]; 7. 87-Curt Kranz[4]; 8. 51-Justin Karlen[11]; 9. 37JR-Morgan Grosz[9]; 10. 85-Jayson Good[5]; 11. 71-Scott Olson[12]; 12. (DNF) 1K-Konner Sperle[10]; 13. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[2]; 2. 85-Jayson Good[1]; 3. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 4. 10CO-Charlie Olsen[5]; 5. 37JR-Morgan Grosz[6]; 6. 51-Justin Karlen[4]; 7. 71-Scott Olson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Chad Becker[1]; 2. 16-Thomas Weisgram[6]; 3. 20-Trevor Anderson[3]; 4. 87-Curt Kranz[5]; 5. 1K-Konner Sperle[4]; 6. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[2]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[3]; 2. 15-Tony Konold[4]; 3. 3-Arne Anderson[5]; 4. 36-Garrett Gross[1]; 5. (DNF) 8-Andy Brooker[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 2. 36-Garrett Gross[2]; 3. 15-Tony Konold[4]; 4. 3-Arne Anderson[5]; 5. 8-Andy Brooker[3]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33-Todd Stark[2]; 2. 28-Tommy Nichols[5]; 3. 83-Joel Waba[1]; 4. 9L-Chad Williamson[12]; 5. 11S-Darren Engesser[6]; 6. 22-Shawn McFarlane[3]; 7. 38-Garrett Crawford[4]; 8. 72-Caden Kirnan[9]; 9. 56D-Doug Neitzel[7]; 10. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[11]; 11. (DNF) 86-Carter Frost[10]; 12. (DNS) 20-Devan Dobbs

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Todd Stark[1]; 2. 28-Tommy Nichols[5]; 3. 83-Joel Waba[4]; 4. 56D-Doug Neitzel[2]; 5. 72-Caden Kirnan[6]; 6. (DQ) 9L-Chad Williamson[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11S-Darren Engesser[6]; 2. 38-Garrett Crawford[1]; 3. 20-Devan Dobbs[5]; 4. 22-Shawn McFarlane[3]; 5. 86-Carter Frost[4]; 6. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[2]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 31-Jason Marko[2]; 2. 99-Andy Rossow[4]; 3. 19C-Cole Greseth[5]; 4. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[6]; 5. 19-Kyle Bertram[8]; 6. 314-Tyler Lamb[3]; 7. X-Dexter Wipf[12]; 8. 711-Kenneth Clements[11]; 9. 12-Al Schmidt[10]; 10. 80-Tony Miller[9]; 11. (DNF) 14-Maria Broksieck[1]; 12. (DNF) 58-Wade Tirrel[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Jason Marko[1]; 2. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[3]; 3. 14-Maria Broksieck[6]; 4. 58-Wade Tirrel[5]; 5. 80-Tony Miller[4]; 6. 711-Kenneth Clements[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Kyle Bertram[2]; 2. 99-Andy Rossow[1]; 3. 19C-Cole Greseth[5]; 4. 314-Tyler Lamb[4]; 5. 12-Al Schmidt[3]; 6. X-Dexter Wipf[6]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 7T-Dylan Tirrel[1]; 2. 03-Christian Kast[11]; 3. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[6]; 4. 7D-Dalten Pedersen[5]; 5. 555-Bradley Rossow[3]; 6. 87TJR-Paxton Tjaden[7]; 7. 79-Joshua Gebhart[9]; 8. 11L-Jesse Lindner[10]; 9. 00A-Adam German[12]; 10. (DNF) 0-Matthew Moes[2]; 11. (DNF) 4-Miron Fisk[4]; 12. (DNF) 69-Skylar Burgher[8]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 7T-Dylan Tirrel[6]; 2. 7D-Dalten Pedersen[1]; 3. 555-Bradley Rossow[4]; 4. 0-Matthew Moes[3]; 5. 79-Joshua Gebhart[5]; 6. 11L-Jesse Lindner[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[5]; 2. 69-Skylar Burgher[1]; 3. 87TJR-Paxton Tjaden[3]; 4. 4-Miron Fisk[4]; 5. 00A-Adam German[6]; 6. (DNF) 03-Christian Kast[2]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-Trevor Walsh[1]; 2. 17J-John Winge[6]; 3. 01-Alex Tschakert[3]; 4. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[4]; 5. 19-Tyler McFarland[2]; 6. 10X-Blake Swenson[8]; 7. 87-Curt Kranz[5]; 8. 8T-Tony Croninger[7]; 9. 1E-Tai Engels[12]; 10. 11X-Brittany Swenson[11]; 11. (DNF) 811-Bodie Croninger[10]; 12. (DNF) 33-Chad Duenwald[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10X-Blake Swenson[3]; 2. 19-Tyler McFarland[1]; 3. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[4]; 4. 87-Curt Kranz[5]; 5. 33-Chad Duenwald[2]; 6. 11X-Brittany Swenson[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8T-Tony Croninger[1]; 2. 17J-John Winge[2]; 3. 01-Alex Tschakert[3]; 4. 15-Trevor Walsh[5]; 5. 811-Bodie Croninger[4]; 6. 1E-Tai Engels[6]