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Stearns stakes claim to Late Models & Mods, Johnson wins first at Casino in seven years, and Pedersen posts first career win Sunday

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (August 30) - Lorin Johnson won his first race at Casino Speedway in nearly seven years, while Dalten Pederson won the first race of his career Sunday night in Watertown. Mike Stearns dominated a pair of features, and Jayden Bogh earned a hard-fought victory as well in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action.

Terry Reilly and Lorin Johnson shared the front row for the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature. They spent the first few laps door to door with Reilly scored as the leader, until Johnson edged ahead on lap three. The caution fell with three laps in the books, and again with four laps recorded.

Todd Stark — who was squeezed into the backstretch wall and nearly climbed over it before the lap-three caution — raced around Reilly for second on lap six, and brought Tommy Nichols with him into third. Nichols challenged Stark for second near the halfway mark, and the pair slowly closed on Johnson at the point. A caution flag waved with seven laps remaining.

Nichols slipped over the cushion in turn two after the restart, and Dawson Zabel stole third and, along with Stark, put pressure on Johnson for the lead. Stark kept the heat on for the lead until he slowed with three laps to go, and brought out the yellow.

Zabel stayed close to the leader after the restart, but could not mount a serious bid for the lead. Johnson navigated the high side and “The Dirt Doctor” scored his first win at the speedway since September 21, 2019. Zabel was second ahead of Reilly, Jake Wranek and Nichols.

Pederson pulled out to the early lead when the green flag waved over the 12-lap WISSOTA Hornet feature. Adam VanDerostyne settled into second, and kept the heat on the leader in the opening laps.

VanDerostyne remained glued to Pederson’s bumper, and with two laps to go he cut low out of turn four and the top two were nearly even at the flagstand. Neither gained the advantage on the next lap, and they remained neck and neck under the white flag. Pederson’s momentum in the upper groove carried him to his first career feature win ahead of VanDerostyne. Nearly a half track behind the lead pair, Jesse Lindner made an outside move in turns three and four on the final lap to race from fifth to third, edging out Bradley Rossow and Matthew Moes.

Cory Giessinger grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag in the 20-lap WISSOTA Street Stock main event, but Maria Broksieck stole the top spot out of turn four and led the opening lap. A caution fell with only one lap recorded.

Broksieck pulled away with the lead after the restart, but Wade Tirrel and Giessinger led a six-car battle behind her. Giessinger edged away before the second caution with three laps scored. After another caution, Jayden Bogh moved to second, while Giessinger fought with Kyle Bertram for the final podium position. Seven laps had been scored before another caution waved.

Bogh used the outside line to pull alongside Brosieck, and narrowly led the field to complete lap eight. Broksieck remained to his inside, while Bertram and Tirrel were door to door right behind the leaders. The top four were tight, but contact among them sent Broksieck around in turn two; both Broksieck and Bertram retired from the event with half the race scored.

Bogh edged away after the restart, and after a few laps of door-to-door racing, Tirrel pulled away from Giessinger for second. Tony Miller worked by Giessinger into third with four laps to go. Unchallenged in the remaining laps, Bogh cruised to his second win of the season in Watertown. Tirrel was second ahead of Miller, Wyatt Brooker and Jodie Michaelsohn.

Stearns jumped out to the lead at the start of the WISSOTA Modified feature. Nate Heinrich fended off Dylan Zabel for second, and Zabel was third until he turned sideways in turn four and collected Tony Konold and Garrett Gross — all three were done for the night with three laps complete.

Stearns cruised away from the pack as the laps ticked away, and Heinrich was comfortably in second until he spun his machine in turn four with three laps to go, and brought out the final caution.

Stearns ran away for his fourth WISSOTA Modified win of the season at the oval, and Arne Anderson turned back the challenges of Heinrich for the runner-up finish.

Stearns started on the front row of the 20-lap WISSOTA Late Model main event, and pulled away at the drop of the green. Chad Williamson settled comfortably into second, while Trevor Walsh had his hands full with Jayson Good. As the top two pulled away, Walsh and Good remained locked in a battle for third, with Walsh on the high side and Good in the low groove. Finally, Good prevailed on the inside line and was third on lap 13.

Stearns raced unchallenged and took the checkers with a half-straightaway gap to Williamson in second. Good finished in the final podium position, while Walsh and Scott Harrington rounded out the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 2. 57-Chad Williamson[2]; 3. 85-Jayson Good[3]; 4. 20W-Trevor Walsh[4]; 5. 14-Scott Harrington[6]; 6. 20-Trevor Anderson[5]; 7. 1-Ryan Engels[7]; 8. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 85-Jayson Good[2]; 2. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 3. 20-Trevor Anderson[3]; 4. 20W-Trevor Walsh[4]; 5. 57-Chad Williamson[6]; 6. 14-Scott Harrington[5]; 7. 1-Ryan Engels[8]; 8. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[7]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 2. 3-Arne Anderson[6]; 3. 10H-Nate Heinrich[3]; 4. (DNF) 18-Aaron Sowers[7]; 5. (DNF) 15-Tony Konold[4]; 6. (DNF) 36-Garrett Gross[5]; 7. (DNF) 11Z-Dylan Zabel[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10H-Nate Heinrich[4]; 2. 15-Tony Konold[3]; 3. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[2]; 4. 24S-Mike Stearns[5]; 5. 36-Garrett Gross[6]; 6. 3-Arne Anderson[1]; 7. 18-Aaron Sowers[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 3-Lorin Johnson[2]; 2. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[8]; 3. 69R-Terry Reilly[1]; 4. 1-Jake Wranek[14]; 5. 28-Tommy Nichols[7]; 6. 11S-Darren Engesser[6]; 7. 20-Devan Dobbs[9]; 8. 86-Carter Frost[12]; 9. (DNF) 33-Todd Stark[5]; 10. (DNF) 38-Garrett Crawford[10]; 11. (DNF) 22-Shawn McFarlane[11]; 12. (DNF) 2DR-Cayden Schmeling[3]; 13. (DNF) 4-Zach LaQua[4]; 14. (DNF) 95-Brett Moffenbier[15]; 15. (DNS) 25R-Trevor Rush

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Tommy Nichols[4]; 2. 33-Todd Stark[6]; 3. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[7]; 4. 11S-Darren Engesser[2]; 5. 20-Devan Dobbs[1]; 6. 22-Shawn McFarlane[3]; 7. 86-Carter Frost[5]; 8. (DNF) 95-Brett Moffenbier[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 69R-Terry Reilly[6]; 2. 2DR-Cayden Schmeling[3]; 3. 3-Lorin Johnson[5]; 4. 4-Zach LaQua[7]; 5. 38-Garrett Crawford[2]; 6. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[1]; 7. (DNF) 1-Jake Wranek[4]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[3]; 2. 58-Wade Tirrel[4]; 3. 80-Tony Miller[9]; 4. 0-Wyatt Brooker[13]; 5. 95-Jodie Michaelsohn[12]; 6. 99-Andy Rossow[8]; 7. 12-Al Schmidt[14]; 8. 711-Kenneth Clements[11]; 9. 16-Andrew White[16]; 10. 81-Travis Oxandaburu[18]; 11. 73-Cory Giessinger[2]; 12. (DNF) 14-Maria Broksieck[1]; 13. (DNF) 19B-Kyle Bertram[6]; 14. (DNF) 31-Jason Marko[5]; 15. (DNF) 6C-Chris Asmus[17]; 16. (DNF) 314-Tyler Lamb[15]; 17. (DNF) 19-Cole Greseth[7]; 18. (DNF) 77D-Adam Dehne[10]; 19. (DNF) X-Dexter Wipf[19]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Tony Miller[3]; 2. 73-Cory Giessinger[5]; 3. 19B-Kyle Bertram[4]; 4. 77D-Adam Dehne[6]; 5. 0-Wyatt Brooker[7]; 6. 16-Andrew White[1]; 7. (DNF) X-Dexter Wipf[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Cole Greseth[1]; 2. 14-Maria Broksieck[3]; 3. 58-Wade Tirrel[4]; 4. 711-Kenneth Clements[2]; 5. 12-Al Schmidt[6]; 6. 6C-Chris Asmus[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 20JR-Jayden Bogh[2]; 2. 99-Andy Rossow[1]; 3. 31-Jason Marko[6]; 4. 95-Jodie Michaelsohn[4]; 5. 314-Tyler Lamb[5]; 6. 81-Travis Oxandaburu[3]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 27D-Dalten Pedersen[1]; 2. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[2]; 3. 11L-Jesse Lindner[4]; 4. 555-Bradley Rossow[5]; 5. 0-Matthew Moes[3]; 6. 10B-Curtis Borstad[6]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 3-Adam VanDerostyne[2]; 2. 27D-Dalten Pedersen[6]; 3. 0-Matthew Moes[3]; 4. 555-Bradley Rossow[5]; 5. 11L-Jesse Lindner[1]; 6. 10B-Curtis Borstad[4]