8-12 Page 31 | ATD Racing News

Night of firsts for Flaten and Brotherton at Casino, while Becker, Broksieck and Rohner keep on rollin’

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (August 10) - Ryan Flaten topped the Midwest Modified main event at Casino Speedway on Sunday for his first victory at the Watertown oval. Adam Brotherton captured his first feature win at the speedway in more than two years — plus his first in Watertown in the Modified division — while Chad Becker, Maria Broksieck and Jeff Rohner each picked up a WISSOTA Dirt Track Series victory as well after a long stretch of rainouts at the speedway.

Scott Tofte and Flaten spent the opening laps of the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature locked in a side-by-side duel. Flaten led the opening lap by a hair before Tofte went ahead on the next circuit using the upper groove. Tofte led by a small margin over the next few laps before Flaten edged ahead again on lap five. Flaten opened a slight lead on the next round as the leaders caught traffic, and a slower car spun in the high line which collected Tofte and Tommy Nichols, who raced close by in third in the opening stages. All drivers were able to continue.

Flaten maintained a slight advantage after the restart, while Dawson Zabel and Scott Hansen joined the mix to create a tight four-car battle for second. Zabel used the inside line to move ahead of Nichols for third, and challenged Tofte to the inside. Flaten opened some room over the battle for second in the late stages, and cleared a slower car, which then caused issues in the battle for second. Contact out of turn two caused Tofte to slow and bring out a caution; Tofte was done for the race.

Three laps remained when Flaten led the pack to the restart, and Nichols saw an opportunity to challenge for the win. He used the upper groove to inch toward Flaten and was on his bumper under the white flag, but Nichols lost a little ground on the final lap and Flaten scored the victory. Nichols settled for second ahead of Zabel, Terry Reilly and Todd Stark.

Mike Stearns and Brotherton shared the front row for the 20-lap WISSOTA Modified main event; on the first two attempted starts both called back for cautions, Stearns got the jump and led out of turn two. On the third and final start, Brotherton fired off better and led the field into turn one. Stearns used the inside line to keep the pressure on for a couple laps, but Brotherton edged away and Stearns switched to the high line to give chase.

Stearns started reeling in the leader just before the halfway mark, and was within striking distance with five laps to go as both drivers caught a slower car. Stearns ducked to the inside of Brotherton in turns one and two for two straight laps, and was even with the leader through turns three and four with just over a pair of laps to go. Brotherton regained the edge, and despite a slight miscue on the top of turn two on the final lap, the Modified rookie held on for his first win in Watertown since a June 18, 2023 triumph in the Midwest Modified division. Stearns finished second ahead of Tony Konold, Cayden Schmeling and Kenny Mayer.

Becker and Stearns led the WISSOTA Late Models to green in their 25-lap main event. They battled over the first lap before Becker secured the top spot in the low groove. Tyler Peterson raced by Stearns on lap two, and Jayson Good displaced Stearns on the next lap, but Stearns found his rhythm in the high lane and battled side by side with Good. The lone caution in the race waved when a slowed car attempted to drop to the infield just in front of the leader, which caused Becker to stall in turn two; he was restored to the point with 18 laps to go.

Peterson jumped to the high side after the restart, and barely edged ahead to lead lap eight at the line. Becker nosed ahead to lead again on the next lap, and the two drivers stayed door to door for a few more laps before Becker pulled ahead at the halfway point.

Peterson stayed in the leader’s tire tracks — using whichever groove Becker did not ahead of him. Becker slowly inched away from the runner-up in the closing laps, even as he worked through traffic late. Peterson fell into the grips of Good in the last five laps, but was able to fend him off for second. Becker earned his fourth win of the season at the oval ahead of Peterson, Good, Morgan Ward-Grosz and Stearns.

Broksieck redrew the pole for the 20-lap WISSOTA Street Stock main event. She slipped away from the pack when the green dropped, while Tyler Lamb battled with Jayden Michaelsohn for second in the early laps. Lamb grabbed the spot and Matthew Goth advanced to third. Jason Marko pulled up to the party and raced door to door with Goth just behind Lamb. Marko used the high groove to secure third, and then dropped to the inside line to take second from Lamb at the halfway mark. Andy Rossow, who started eighth, made an outside move around Goth on lap 11, and then engaged with Lamb in a battle for third until he secured the spot with five laps to go.

Marko trimmed over a second off Broksieck’s lead in the last half of the race, but could only cut the disadvantage to a half straightaway in the caution-free race. Rossow finished third ahead of Goth and Lamb.

Dean Roe and Adam VanDerostyne shared the front row for the 15-lap WISSOTA Hornet main event, and battled door to door for the top spot over the opening few laps. VanDerostyne secured the position, and Travis Bruns moved by Roe for second before a yellow flag late in the first half of the race.

Roe regained second after the restart, but Rohner — who started 12th on the original grid — worked his way into second by the halfway mark, and chased down VanDerostyne for the lead. Rohner was in position with about five laps to go, and made an inside pass to grab the lead with just over two laps to go. Rohner picked up the win to remain perfect — five for five — in Hornet action at the speedway this season. VanDerostyne was second with Bruns third, Brett Moffenbier fourth and Brandon Downs fifth.

Parker Gilbertson and Tyler McFarland traded the lead over the first few rounds of the Gen X Late Model feature. Gilbertson edged away into the top spot and brought Trevor Walsh into second. After a mid-race restart, Walsh switched to the inside groove, took the lead from Gilbertson with just over five laps to go, and survived a late restart to earn his third win of the year at the oval. Jeff Nelson climbed to second with McFarland third, Blake Swenson fourth and Gilbertson fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 12-Chad Becker[2]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 3. 85-Jayson Good[4]; 4. 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[5]; 5. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 6. 10C-Chad Olsen[7]; 7. 20-Trevor Anderson[8]; 8. 37-Scott Ward[9]; 9. 4J-Lee Grosz[14]; 10. 20W-Trevor Walsh[10]; 11. 1K-Konner Sperle[11]; 12. 748-Kyle Jensen[6]; 13. 87-Curt Kranz[18]; 14. 57-Chad Williamson[13]; 15. X-Chuck Swenson[12]; 16. 73M-David Carlson[16]; 17. T3-Rich Thomas[17]; 18. (DNF) 3T-Tyler Thomas[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[2]; 2. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 3. 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz[3]; 4. 20W-Trevor Walsh[4]; 5. 57-Chad Williamson[6]; 6. 73M-David Carlson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10C-Chad Olsen[1]; 2. 20-Trevor Anderson[2]; 3. 12-Chad Becker[5]; 4. 1K-Konner Sperle[6]; 5. 4J-Lee Grosz[4]; 6. T3-Rich Thomas[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Scott Ward[1]; 2. 85-Jayson Good[3]; 3. 748-Kyle Jensen[5]; 4. X-Chuck Swenson[2]; 5. 3T-Tyler Thomas[6]; 6. 87-Curt Kranz[4]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 14-Adam Brotherton[2]; 2. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 3. 15-Tony Konold[4]; 4. 13-Cayden Schmeling[3]; 5. 15X-Kenny Mayer[8]; 6. 10H-Nate Heinrich[6]; 7. 17-Tyler Gefroh[5]; 8. 8-Andy Brooker[7]; 9. (DNF) 18-Aaron Sowers[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[2]; 2. 15-Tony Konold[1]; 3. 14-Adam Brotherton[4]; 4. 13-Cayden Schmeling[3]; 5. 17-Tyler Gefroh[5]; 6. 10H-Nate Heinrich[9]; 7. 8-Andy Brooker[8]; 8. 15X-Kenny Mayer[6]; 9. (DNF) 18-Aaron Sowers[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 2. 28-Tommy Nichols[4]; 3. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[6]; 4. 69R-Terry Reilly[7]; 5. 33-Todd Stark[8]; 6. 8-Jason Anderson[3]; 7. 31-Scott Hansen[5]; 8. 11-Kyle Schell[12]; 9. 3-Luke Johnson[10]; 10. 2DR-Tom Neitzel[9]; 11. 56D-Doug Neitzel[13]; 12. 25R-Trevor Rush[15]; 13. (DNF) 28T-Scott Tofte[2]; 14. (DNF) 22-Shawn McFarlane[11]; 15. (DNF) 86-Carter Frost[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28T-Scott Tofte[1]; 2. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[4]; 3. 69R-Terry Reilly[6]; 4. 28-Tommy Nichols[7]; 5. 2DR-Tom Neitzel[2]; 6. 22-Shawn McFarlane[8]; 7. 56D-Doug Neitzel[5]; 8. 25R-Trevor Rush[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Ryan Flaten[1]; 2. 33-Todd Stark[3]; 3. 31-Scott Hansen[5]; 4. 8-Jason Anderson[4]; 5. 3-Luke Johnson[7]; 6. 11-Kyle Schell[2]; 7. 86-Carter Frost[6]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[1]; 2. 31-Jason Marko[6]; 3. 99-Andy Rossow[8]; 4. 17-Matt Goth[4]; 5. 314-Tyler Lamb[3]; 6. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[2]; 7. 80-Tony Miller[5]; 8. 12-Al Schmidt[7]; 9. X-Dexter Wipf[10]; 10. (DNF) 73-Cory Giessinger[9]; 11. (DNS) 11-Scott Gladis

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Andy Rossow[2]; 2. 17-Matt Goth[1]; 3. 31-Jason Marko[5]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[3]; 5. 73-Cory Giessinger[6]; 6. X-Dexter Wipf[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[1]; 2. 314-Tyler Lamb[2]; 3. 12-Al Schmidt[5]; 4. 95-Jayden Michaelsohn[4]; 5. (DNF) 11-Scott Gladis[3]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 08-Jeff Rohner[12]; 2. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[3]; 3. 275X-Travis Bruns[5]; 4. 95-Brett Moffenbier[10]; 5. 43-Brandon Downs[4]; 6. 03-Christian Kast[6]; 7. 988-Dean Roe[1]; 8. 81-Nathan Smith[7]; 9. 87TJR-Paxton Tjaden[9]; 10. 69-Skylar Burgher[13]; 11. (DNF) 71X-Adam Castle[11]; 12. (DNF) 555-Bradley Rossow[8]; 13. (DNS) 79-Joshua Gebhart

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[5]; 2. 81-Nathan Smith[3]; 3. 43-Brandon Downs[4]; 4. 555-Bradley Rossow[6]; 5. 87TJR-Paxton Tjaden[2]; 6. 71X-Adam Castle[1]; 7. 69-Skylar Burgher[7]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 275X-Travis Bruns[6]; 2. 988-Dean Roe[2]; 3. 03-Christian Kast[5]; 4. 79-Joshua Gebhart[1]; 5. 95-Brett Moffenbier[3]; 6. 08-Jeff Rohner[4]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 15-Trevor Walsh[4]; 2. 33-Jeff Nelson[3]; 3. 19-Tyler McFarland[1]; 4. 10X-Blake Swenson[5]; 5. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[2]; 6. 00-Kevin Youngquist[9]; 7. 75-Cade Skytland[11]; 8. 11X-Brittany Swenson[10]; 9. (DNF) 811-Bodie Croninger[7]; 10. (DNF) XJR-Hope Swenson[8]; 11. (DNF) 87-Curt Kranz[6]; 12. (DNF) 12-Brandon Fisher[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 811-Bodie Croninger[4]; 2. 10X-Blake Swenson[5]; 3. 15-Trevor Walsh[2]; 4. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[1]; 5. 00-Kevin Youngquist[3]; 6. 75-Cade Skytland[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Curt Kranz[5]; 2. 19-Tyler McFarland[2]; 3. 33-Jeff Nelson[3]; 4. XJR-Hope Swenson[1]; 5. 11X-Brittany Swenson[4]; 6. 12-Brandon Fisher[6]