Casino Speedway victories to Broksieck, Stark, Konold, Tschakert and TPO

Tony Konold

It was Watertown Lawn and Garden Fan Night at Casino Speedway with free admission to the grandstands.  There was bonus money chipped in for each class, back-row challenges issued from some sponsor, and it led to each class running for a good amount to win.

I think the car counts were perfect for a weekly show with 67 cars in five classes. Enough to have a good field in each class, but not too many to turn into a wreck ‘em rodeo.  I am happy to see Casino Speedway have a good month after a brutal weather stretch in June and July. 

The points races are close in several divisions at Casino.  Andy Rossow entered the night with a five-point lead over Maria Broksieck of Goodwin in the Wissota Street Stocks; Chad Becker of Aberdeen led Jayson Good of Watertown by nine in the Wissota Late Models; Tommy Nichols of Watertown led Todd Stark of Watertown by five points in the Wissota Midwest Modified class; Mike Stearns of Aberdeen led Adam Brotherton of Huron by 16 in the Wissota Modifieds. The season championship is Aug. 31, the final points night of the year.

The close point race took center stage in the Wissota Street Stocks as Broksieck and Matt Goth of Huron had the front row; Rossow was on the inside of row 2.  Broksieck jumped out front with Rossow in second and Goth in third. Josh Long of Canby and Jayden Goth of Huron were side-by-side for fifth with Zach Flickinger of Madison giving chase.

Jason Marko of Watertown took the back-row challenge; he started at the tail and if he won the feature, would get $1,000.

Broksieck’s lead was .866 seconds over Rossow when the first caution waved for a pair of cars that spun in turn two. Rossow had a big advantage on third-place Goth erased as a result. Bogh’s 20 machine was pouring smoke and I was curious how long that would last.

After a pair of spins led to cautions, Broksieck resumed up front as Marko was on the move. He climbed to third past Rossow as Goth took over second. Flickinger was also close to the three-car battle for second. Marko had moved into second; but the caution waved shortly after he did that as Dexter Wipf's X machine broke and spun off the backstretch; he would also leave on the hook.

On the restart Marko grabbed second and set his sights on Broksieck, while Flickinger got by Rossow for fourth although that battle wasn’t over. Tony Miller of Browns Valley wasn’t far behind Rossow in fifth, but he broke on the left front as well and his night would be over.

Broksieck had about a one-second lead on Marko who had pulled away from Goth. The caution waved with six to go as Kenneth Clements and Travis Oxandaburu of Huron got together.  Broksieck got a good restart on the ensuing green as Flickinger was battling on the outside of Goth for third. Oxandraburu, who was having a tough night, got into a tractor tire in turns one and two to bring out another caution; I couldn’t tell if he had help. Under the caution, Josh Long – who had worked back to fifth after going to the tail – would pull pitside, ending a top five run.

With four to go Marko had another chance at the front but Broksieck got a tremendous surge and opened a 1.6 advantage on Marko, who now had heavy pressure from Tyler Lamb as those two raced very hard to the finish.

Broksieck, one of the more popular drivers picked up the win by more than 2.4 seconds, and had a good points night as well.  She is warming up late in the year; since Aug. 10, she has four wins and two runner-up finishes in six starts. She picked up up $1,100 for the win, a nice payout. Marko gave a valiant effort coming from the tail and took second, edging  Lamb went from 10^th to third while Goth was fourth and Flickinger fifth. The ageless Al Schmidt of Watertown went from 14^th to sixth, a nice run for the veteran.

Nichols took the lead from the outside pole in the Wissota Midwest Modifieds as Stark grabbed second. Dawson Zabel of Selby was up to third but got high in turn two and lost a couple of spots. Another long-time veteran, Lorin Johnson of Miller, was fighting with Nick Wranek for third.

Nichols was pulling away to a 1.5 second lead over Stark, who was well ahead of the battle for third. Neitzel was running fifth before Terry Reilly of Watertown cleared up for the spot.  Wranek took over third  as Reilly and Johnson were running side-by-side for fourth.

Stark cut into the lead as Nichols encountered the back of the field, as the lead was down to 1.2 seconds with eight to go. Wranek was all alone in third was Reilly and Johnson, two long-time drivers with a ton of laps between them, continued to wage a good duel for fourth.

Stark was pushing hard desperately trying to reel in Nichols and was within about one second when the caution waved with three to go when Kyle Schell’s 11 came to a halt in turn two.  That was the last thing Nichols’ wanted to see, and on the restart, Sark pushed hard on the bottom and made his move out of turn two with two laps left. Nichols made a big-time surge on the higher lane on the final lap and fell a few feet short as Stark prevailed by .108 seconds. The points race will go down to the final night in that class. The win was good financially for Stark – with all of the bonuses chipped in on the night, he walked away with $1,600.

Zabel had a good run after the early slip up out of the groove and would take third. Reilly and Johnson rounded out the top five, with Schell taking sixth.

The Wissota Mods – which were plagued with cautions later in the race -- were up next with Nate Heinrich of Bellingham and Tony Konold of Clear Lake were on the front row. TPO brought out his modified as well and started third with Cayden Schmeling in fourth.

The caution waved when Garrett Gross of Aberdeen spun in turn one; he broke something in the suspension and would pull off. Konold had his hands full with TPO as Heinrich was running way up high fighting Schmeling for second. Stearns was up to fifth.

Konold found a good line up top and was pulling away, opening a one-second lead on Peterson, had a major challenge from Schmeling, who would grab the spot and set his sight on Konold. The caution flew with 12 to go for debris in turn four.

TPO and Schmeling resumed their duel for second as Konold pulled away; Stearns had climbed to fourth past Heinrich, who was fighting Dylan Zabel for fifth.

With eight to go Schmeling was one second behind but was closing. TPO’s night ended with a flat right-rear and he would pull pitside.  

After a debris caution with seven to go Stearns was up to third and would work the ditch under Schmeling for second. Konold was pulling away up front. Schmeling’s would spin in turntwo, and collected Dale Ames and Zabel. There didn’t appear to be hard contact but Schmeling would go to the tail.

Konold got a good restart as Heinrich went way up high to try and get around Stearns. Zabel also joined that battle. Adam Brotherton of Huronhad moved into that battle and was in fifth.

The fight for second allowed Konold to open a 1.4 second lead as the while flag waved, but the caution flew for a spin in turn four. Konold did not want to see that yellow. On the restart Zabel went around at the top of turn two to bring out yet another caution.

Stearns chose the high side on the final restart looking to make a late run at the lead but Konold wasn’t going to be denied as he picked up his third win of 2025. I thought he drove a flawless race, and he needed to with some good cars pursuing him.  It was a good night for the Konold family, as his sister is Maria Broksieck, who won the streets earlier.

Curt Kranz of Watertown led the Gen X late models as Tyler McFarland of Goodwin was in second. John Winge and Bodie Croninger were fighting for third. Fisher spun in turn three to bring out the caution. Jeff Nelson of Perham suffered a flat and would go to the work area during that caution. McFarland stuck his machine to the bottom and it was working as Trevor Walsh of Watertown closed on the top three.

Kranz and McFarland were racing hard – probably too hard – and they made contact down the frontstretch which saw Kranz tag the wall.  Kranz was charged with the caution and not happy about it, and I don’t blame him. My call is it was a racing deal and fighting for the same real estate, and when that happens incidents exactly like that take place.

Blake Swenson of Watertown had climbed to fifth.

The red flag waved for Brittany Swenson’s 11x machine; a wheel broke and that was all that was needed for the car to get into a barrel roll. She climbed out of the car and signaled she was OK by getting on the roo, fortunately, but it was a hard tumble and the car was a cluster of damage. Swenson has had some truly bad luck at Casino, last year she ended up over the wall in turns three and four. When a wheel or axle breaks, you are sometimes just along for the ride.

McFarland really was making the low lane work as Walsh and Croninger squared off for second. Alex Tschakert of Kent was up to fourth ahead of Winge.  Croninger was closing on McFarland after taking second as Walsh was throwing the 15 along the high side looking to make a charge. Both were gained on McFarland, and Croninger made an aggressive move underneath for the lead with some contact , and that allowed Walsh to go around both on the outside.  

McFarland would fight back with some hard racing of his own leading to more; I don’t know if McFarland and Croninger were friends before the race but I don’t think they were after that sequence.  

McFarland got crossed up in turn one and Tschakert had nowhere to go, leading to contact in turn one. Both Croninger and McFarland ended up DQed in the race, I suspect the flag man did not appreciate their game of bumper cars up front.

That shuffled the lineup pretty good, moving Tschakert and Winge to Walsh’s bumper on the restart with Kranz back up to fifth.  Tschakert, Winge and Kranz were next to battle for second with young Parker Gilbertson in fifth.

Walsh would cross the finish line first, but was DQed post race -- in his haste to get ready for the next late model race, he forgot to go to the scale. That cost him $1,125. That moved Alex Tschakert to the win with Winge second, Kranz third, Gilbertson fourth and Blake Swenson fifth.

As of Aug. 17, Tyler Peterson (TPO) of Hickson leads the national points by 81 over Kevin Burdick of Proctor. Chad Becker of Aberdeen is third.  Becker had the inside pole while Peterson started sixth.

Becker built a decent lead over Stearns as Trevor Anderson of Watertown fought Denver Nickeson for third. TPO was working the high side, trying to get it to clean off.

Becker would slow four laps into the main event with a mechanical issue; he would get pushed pitside in a stunning development.

Stearns took over the top spot with Anderson and Nickeson chasing. Nickeson went to the high side to try and reel in Stearns with Anderson running low. TPO was up on the high side and David Carlson of Huron was in fifth.

Peterson and Nickeson were fighting for third when the caution waved with 15 to go. Jayson Good of Watertown, who took the backrow challenge from MTH, started 14^th but was up to sixth at that point.

Anderson and Peterson made contact after Anderson checked up for a moment, and it cost both some valuable ground. Stearns had about two or three car lengths up on Nickeson. Anderson stuck his 20 to the bottom while TPO was persistent in making the high lane work. It turned into a three-car fight for third as Stearns pulled away by a second.

The top started coming around for TPO and he got around both Nickeson and Anderson for second. He was closing to within a half second with three to go.  He made up most of his ground in turns three and four as the top was much better in  those corners. TPO edged ahead on the white flag lap and finished the pass on the final lap to pick up the win by .289 seconds. Stearns was second, Nickeson third; Good advanced to fourth and Anderson was fifth. It turned into a heck of a race over the final 12 laps.

Casino Notes

-- Flickinger is the point leader at Madison Speedway heading into the Sept. 1 season championship there.  He is having a solid year overall with two wins and 18 top fives in 27 starts and is a driver who has gotten better and better every year.

--The Wissota Hornets had the night off, but Christian Kast of Fairmount leads the points in the class by five over Nathan Smith of Watertown in a race that will go down to the final night.

--The Gen X Late Models are running for a points fund at the end of the season. As of Aug. 19 Walsh led the points by 40 over Jarrett Huus of Fergus Falls. Jeff Nelson of Perham is third, Parker Gilbertson of Montevideo was fourth and Kevin Youngquist of Barney was fifth. They run weekly at Sheyenne (Which concluded its season on Thursday), Madison, Casino and I-94 EMR, and have also made appearances at Murray County Speedway in Slayton, Fiesta City Speedway and at Renegade Speedway in Canby.

Bemidji Speedway wins to Simpson, Foster, Beaulieu, Nelson, Kiker, Puffe, Brauer and Schwinn

Rick  Simpson of Thunder Bay, Ontario topped Dalton Carlson of Cohasset for the Wissota Super Stock win. Dylan Nelson of Merrifield was third, Cameron Labelle of Laporte was fourth and Nic Lewis of Bemidji was fifth.

Troy Foster of Bemidji topped Nick McCann of Brainerd for the Mini Stock win Sunday night at Bemidji Speedway. Conrad Schwinn of Little Falls was third, Cooper Francis of Bemidji was fourth, Cody Bush of Bemidji was fifth.

Josh Beaulieu of Bemidji topped Jeff Reed of Bemidji for the Wissota Mod win, his second in as many nights. Rick Jacobson of Bemidji was third, Adam Johnson of Perham was fourth and Devyn Weleski of Bemidji was fifth.

Gary James Nelson of Blackduck topped Michael Blevins Sr. of Hibbing for the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. Kalin Honer of Laporte was third, Skyler Smith of Bemidji fourth and Travis Klein of Bemidji fifth.

Russell Kiker Jr. of Brainerd topped Brady Fosso of Hibbing for the Wissota Hornet win. Ryker Larson of Grand Rapids was third, Jada Lore of Embarrass fourth and Adam Kessler of Hines fifth.

National point leader Dustin Puffe of Laporte won the Wissota Pure Stock feature over Jake Smith of Cohasset.  Mason Smith of Bemidji was tqhird, Brandon Puschinsky of Bemidji was fourth and Joshua Bitker of Bemidji was fifth.

Kolton Brauer of Eyota, the national point leader, topped Scotty Messner of Bemidji for the Wissota Street Stock feature. Chris Dudley of Bemidji was third.

Ashston Schwinn of Little Falls topped Blake Erickson of Shevlin for the Wissota Mod 4 win. Conrad Schwinn of Little Falls was third, Kevin Bahr of Bemidji fourth and Jordan Thayer of Bemidji was fifth.