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Peterson, Stearns, Stark, Broksieck and Begalka win final regular-season shake of the dice at Casino Speedway

By Tony Steuck

WATERTOWN, SD (August 31) - Four drivers made late-race passes for feature wins during the final Sunday for racing at Casino Speedway in 2025. Tyler Peterson, Todd Stark, Maria Broksieck and Brayden Begalka all claimed dramatic wins, while Mike Stearns ran away to a WISSOTA Dirt Track Series victory at the quarter-mile.

Stearns blasted off to the early lead when the green waved in the 25-lap WISSOTA Late Model feature. Thomas Weisgram held second while Curt Kranz and Ryan Engels fought for third. Kranz secured the position on lap three, and Chad Becker — who entered the race with a single-point advantage over Jayson Good in the standings — moved to fourth on lap four.

Stearns ran comfortably at the head of the pack, and Weisgram had no pressure in second. Kranz dealt with Becker and Tyler Peterson in his tire tracks as they circled the high side, and when Becker slipped over the cushion in turn four, Peterson stole fourth with 15 laps scored. The caution waved before another lap could be completed when the leader slowed to a stop in turn three.

Weisgram inherited the top spot for the restart with 10 laps remaining. Peterson quickly snared second at the green, and pressured Weisgram to the inside for a few laps while Kranz fought off Becker for third. Peterson lost a little bit of ground to Weisgram, but was back in position with three laps left. Peterson took his shot with just under two laps left; he dove deep into turn one, and slid up in front of Weisgram at the exit of turn two. Weisgram attempted to duck under Peterson into turn three, but Peterson blocked the move, took the white flag and checkered flags in first, and scored his third win at the oval this season. Weisgram was second, Kranz was third, Becker was fourth and Engels barely held off Good for fifth.

Becker earned the track championship — his seventh straight and 13th total in the Late Models — by three points over Good.

The race and track championship came down to the final turn in the WISSOTA Hornet division; Nathan Smith trailed Christian Kast by three points when the feature took the green flag. Brett Moffenbier jumped to the initial lead, but Smith fought from the outside of the second row into contention. There was a mad scramble behind the lead pair as Begalka made his way through traffic.

Smith kept the heat on the leader, and found the opening down the back chute on lap six of 12. Begalka joined and the leaders were almost three wide before a red flag for a fire, which was quickly extinguished.

Smith remained at the head of the pack, and with a few laps to go, Kast had entered the top three, which created a tie at the top of the standings. The last few laps were pure chaos; Begalka worked to the inside of Smith with Kast and Moffenbier in close contention. Out of the final turn, Begalka scraped his way along the inside of Smith and won the race to the checkered by about a foot with Kast a close third ahead of Moffenbier and Joshua Gehbart.

Kast earned his first Casino Speedway track championship by two points over Smith.

Todd Stark and Tommy Nichols entered the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature tied atop the point standings. They started in the third and fourth rows when the green dropped, while Taylor Schmidt raced away to an early lead. Luke Johnson and Jason Anderson fought for second, and Johnson grabbed the spot while Terry Reilly fought off the advances of Stark in fourth. Stark had a one-car buffer between himself and Nichols before the caution fell with seven of 20 laps scored.

Stark used the high groove when the race resumed and moved to third behind Schmidt and Johnson. Anderson was close as well and the top four ran nose to tail at the front of the field before a caution with 11 laps scored.

Schmidt led the charge again, and Stark moved to second when Johnson slowed with mechanical trouble less than a lap after the restart. Stark ran close to the leader, and turned up the heat with five laps to go. Stark made an inside move down the back chute with just over two laps to go and stole the lead from Schmidt into turn three. Schmidt stayed right with the leader over the closing laps, but settled for runner-up. Stark scored his second-straight win at the oval ahead of Schmidt, Reilly, Dawson Zabel and Anderson.

Stark earned his first Casino Speedway track championship by six points over Nichols.

Jodie Michaelsohn took the lead at the drop of the green in the WISSOTA Street Stock feature, and slipped away to an early lead. Tony Miller and Jason Marko raced door to door for second before Miller claimed the position. Broksieck entered the race with an eight-point advantage over Andy Rossow in the standings, and grabbed third from Marko on lap two. She slipped by Miller for second on lap six, and brought Marko with her to third.

Broksieck trimmed away at the leader’s advantage over the next few laps, and was on his deck lid at the halfway mark. She saw an opening as the lead pair caught a slower machine on lap 13, but Michaelsohn rejected the attempt. The lone caution in the race fell with six laps to go when Rossow slowed with a flat tire — he pitted for repair and rejoined the race a substantial distance behind the pack.

Michaelsohn led the pack to the restart, but Broksieck used the upper groove to sweep around Michaelsohn in turns three and four on the next lap and steal the lead. Michaelsohn stayed close over the final laps, but could not deny Maria her fourth win of the season in Watertown. Michaelsohn was second ahead of Marko, Cory Giessinger and Wade Tirrel.

Broksieck earned her sixth Casino Speedway Street Stock track championship — and her fourth straight in Watertown — by 18 points over Rossow.

Despite a caution on each of the first two laps of the WISSOTA Modified feature, Stearns held the early advantage. Nate Heinrich challenged for a few laps, but Stearns slipped away, and Joseph Thomas supplanted Kenny Mayer as the third-place driver on lap five. Thomas turned up the pressure on Heinrich for second at the halfway point of the race, and held the spot briefly, but settled back into a close third.

Stearns continued to stretch his legs at the front of the pack and raced to his second win of the season at the oval. Heinrich held off Thomas for second, and Tony Konold finished fourth after starting in the ninth position. After contact between Mayer and Dylan Zabel in the final turn, Alex Guthmiller slipped through for fifth at the line.

Stearns scored his second-straight Modified championship at Casino Speedway. Heinrich finished 27 points back in second, and Konold was 28 back in third.

Matthew Larson made the pass on Parker Gilbertson on lap four of 20, and raced to his third Gen X Late Model win of the season at the speedway. Gilbertson was second, Trevor Walsh was third, and Blake Swenson just nipped Curt Kranz at the line for fourth.

Kranz earned his first track championship at the speedway by 16 points ahead of Walsh.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[5]; 2. 16-Thomas Weisgram[2]; 3. 87-Curt Kranz[4]; 4. 12-Chad Becker[8]; 5. 1-Ryan Engels[3]; 6. 85-Jayson Good[6]; 7. 57-Chad Williamson[9]; 8. M8-Dalton Magers[11]; 9. (DNF) 1K-Konner Sperle[10]; 10. (DNF) 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 11. (DNF) 133-Jon Starnes[13]; 12. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[12]; 13. (DNS) 20-Trevor Anderson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Curt Kranz[1]; 2. 20-Trevor Anderson[4]; 3. 12-Chad Becker[6]; 4. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[3]; 5. 57-Chad Williamson[5]; 6. M8-Dalton Magers[2]; 7. 133-Jon Starnes[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Thomas Weisgram[2]; 2. 85-Jayson Good[1]; 3. 24S-Mike Stearns[3]; 4. 1-Ryan Engels[4]; 5. 1K-Konner Sperle[5]; 6. (DNF) T3-Rich Thomas[6]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[2]; 2. 10H-Nate Heinrich[4]; 3. 6T-Joseph Thomas[5]; 4. 15-Tony Konold[9]; 5. 51-Alex Guthmiller[6]; 6. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[3]; 7. 8-Andy Brooker[8]; 8. 15X-Kenny Mayer[1]; 9. (DNF) 18-Aaron Sowers[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24S-Mike Stearns[1]; 2. 15X-Kenny Mayer[2]; 3. 11Z-Dylan Zabel[3]; 4. 10H-Nate Heinrich[5]; 5. 6T-Joseph Thomas[9]; 6. 51-Alex Guthmiller[7]; 7. 18-Aaron Sowers[4]; 8. 8-Andy Brooker[6]; 9. 15-Tony Konold[8]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33-Todd Stark[6]; 2. 15-Taylor Schmidt[1]; 3. 69R-Terry Reilly[8]; 4. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[5]; 5. 8-Jason Anderson[2]; 6. 28-Tommy Nichols[7]; 7. 22-Shawn McFarlane[9]; 8. 2DR-Tom Neitzel[12]; 9. (DNF) 3-Luke Johnson[3]; 10. (DNF) 86-Carter Frost[10]; 11. (DNF) 25R-Trevor Rush[11]; 12. (DNF) 1-Shane Dejong[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Todd Stark[5]; 2. 3-Luke Johnson[3]; 3. 8-Jason Anderson[2]; 4. 69R-Terry Reilly[6]; 5. 22-Shawn McFarlane[4]; 6. 25R-Trevor Rush[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1Z-Dawson Zabel[1]; 2. 1-Shane Dejong[4]; 3. 28-Tommy Nichols[5]; 4. 15-Taylor Schmidt[6]; 5. 86-Carter Frost[2]; 6. (DNF) 2DR-Tom Neitzel[3]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 14-Maria Broksieck[3]; 2. 54-Jodie Michaelsohn[2]; 3. 31-Jason Marko[4]; 4. 73-Cory Giessinger[6]; 5. 58-Wade Tirrel[10]; 6. 80-Tony Miller[1]; 7. 12-Al Schmidt[7]; 8. 314-Tyler Lamb[8]; 9. X-Dexter Wipf[9]; 10. 99-Andy Rossow[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 314-Tyler Lamb[2]; 2. 12-Al Schmidt[4]; 3. 14-Maria Broksieck[5]; 4. 99-Andy Rossow[3]; 5. X-Dexter Wipf[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Jason Marko[1]; 2. 73-Cory Giessinger[2]; 3. 54-Jodie Michaelsohn[3]; 4. 80-Tony Miller[4]; 5. 58-Wade Tirrel[5]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 25-Brayden Begalka[5]; 2. 81-Nathan Smith[4]; 3. 03-Christian Kast[3]; 4. 95-Brett Moffenbier[2]; 5. 79-Joshua Gebhart[6]; 6. 555-Bradley Rossow[1]; 7. (DNF) 69-Skylar Burgher[7]; 8. (DNF) 988-Dean Roe[8]; 9. (DNF) 43-Brandon Downs[9]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 95-Brett Moffenbier[1]; 2. 81-Nathan Smith[4]; 3. 555-Bradley Rossow[3]; 4. 03-Christian Kast[5]; 5. 25-Brayden Begalka[6]; 6. 79-Joshua Gebhart[8]; 7. 69-Skylar Burgher[2]; 8. 988-Dean Roe[9]; 9. (DNF) 43-Brandon Downs[7]

Gen X Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 8-Matthew Larson[4]; 2. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[1]; 3. 15-Trevor Walsh[3]; 4. 10X-Blake Swenson[8]; 5. 87-Curt Kranz[6]; 6. 27-Jarrett Huus[5]; 7. 01-Alex Tschakert[7]; 8. 75-Cade Skytland[10]; 9. 11X-Brittany Swenson[11]; 10. (DNF) 1E-Tai Engels[9]; 11. (DNF) XJR-Hope Swenson[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Curt Kranz[5]; 2. XJR-Hope Swenson[2]; 3. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[3]; 4. 01-Alex Tschakert[1]; 5. 1E-Tai Engels[4]; 6. 11X-Brittany Swenson[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Trevor Walsh[1]; 2. 27-Jarrett Huus[2]; 3. 8-Matthew Larson[3]; 4. 10X-Blake Swenson[5]; 5. 75-Cade Skytland[4]