Rossow, Heinrich, Walsh, Nichols, Becker and Rohner win at Casino

Andy Rossow won the Wissota Street Stock feature.

Casino Speedway held NAPA night on a cool June evening. While most tracks up in my neck of the woods rained out, Casino was spared the rain showers that passed through.  The good news for Casino fans was it was a northwest wind so the stands can provide some protection  – on the opening night it was a straight cold, east wind right into the stands.

Sunday night tracks have a tough dilemma when it comes to starting times. Start too early, and the sun and heat of the summer (on most nights) will just bake the racetrack and you spend the whole night watering and packing in water, and the show will take forever. Start too late, and people are getting out of there too late with having to work the next day.  With the cool temperatures forecast in the 60s and a steady northwest breeze, Casino management elected for a 5 p.m. start.

The heat races seemed to move quickly and after an intermission the features kicked off around 6:30 p.m., and the final checkered waved at 8:15 p.m., which isn’t a bad night.

The most action-packed, and controversial race of the night, in my opinion was the Wissota Street Stocks.  It featured some old-school, short-track racing with plenty of contact. It’s the kind of race a lot of fans like but also the kind that leaves some drivers pissed off.

Tyler Lamb of Clark and Jayden Michaelsohn of Aberdeen fought side-by-side for the early lead in the Wissota Street Stock feature with Trey Hess of Grand Forks giving chase. Several cars were fighting for spots behind them, including Cory Giessinger of Watertown, Jason Marko of Watertown, Andy Rossow of Florence and Maria Broksieck of Goodwin.

After a spin by Joe Arndt of Ortonville, Hess went to work on the outside of Lamb for the top spot; Marko was on the move into third.

Hess had to hit the brakes as Lamb briefly got crossed up, and Marko took advantage to move into second on the outside. It turned into a three-car fight for the lead. Marko was working up high and Hess was working under Lamb. Marko would inch ahead with seven laps to go when the caution waved for a multi-car spin in turns one and two.

Michaelsohn was running fourth ahead of Jayden Bogh of Huron. On the restart Hess got by Lamb for second as Bogh battled Lamb for third.  Rossow, the winner Friday at Brown County Speedway, had climbed into fifth.

Then things got crazy with a lot of contact in the fight for the lead. Marko slid just a bit out of the lower groove and Hess made a move on the outside. Marko tried to protect the spot and he and Hess got together. When that occurred, Hess and Marko got together in turn four as they , and things went three-wide down the frontstretch into turn one, when Hess, Marko and Bogh all made contact, forcing Bogh into a spin. Michaelsohn spun to avoid T-boning Bogh, who got the worst of it. His left front was all messed up and he left on the hook. Michaelsohn also dropped out.

Hess was charged with the caution, and I don’t think was happy with the call as my theory would be he felt squeezed a bit by Marko. In my view, after looking at the DRC replay, there is a case for the call to go either way as both were fighting for the spot on the bottom coming off of four, and when that is the case, one driver is going to end up upset.  Without spending time to track down both drivers for their side – which I don’t have time to do – I’ll leave it at that. Check out the replay on DRC and make your own call. I chalk it up to hard, short-track racing, and others have the right to disagree.

On the restart, Rossow charged to the outside and passed Mark for the lead when a caution came out after Hess, who had an adventurous night, was spun by Michael Bogh of Huron in turns one and two. The restarts and shuffling moved Broksieck into the top five, she had gone to the rear for a spin earlier in the race.

On the restart Rossow pulled away to a comfortable win as Marko took second. Hess crossed the line third but was DQed postrace, I suspect for showing his displeasure towards Marko on the cool down lap. That moved Lamb to third, Broksieck to fourth and Arndt, who started way back in 12th, into fifth.

Tony Konold of Clear Lake took the opening lead in the Wissota Mod feature over Nate Heinrich of Bellingham. Mike Stearns of Aberdeen was third and Cayden Schmeling was fourth

The 8 car of Andy Brooker had a tough night, and his second spin brought out the caution with 11 to go.  On the restart Stearns and Heinrich fought for second with Joe Thomas now in fourth.

The top side was the place to be for the mods after some water was applied

Heinrich pulled a slider with eight to go and got by Konold as Stearns was solidly in third and Thomas in fourth.  Schmeling and Adam Brotherton of Huron, a Wissota Mod rookie, were running in the top six.

Heinrich steadily pulled away from Konold to pick up the feature win, his second of 2025. Konold ran a strong second with Stearns third, Schmeling fourth and Brotherton fifth. Thomas would drop out late with a mechanical issue, ending his hopes of a top four run.

Trevor Walsh won the Gen X Late Models.

There were only seven Gen X Late Models on hand, a bit of  surprise since the class is usually around 10 weekly at Casino. Tai Engels of Watertown and Trevor Walsh of Watertown had the front row. Sp

I figured Walsh would be tough from the outside pole and he surged out front as Curt Kranz moved into second.

A big pileup involving more than half the field happened in turn three. Tai Engels got sideways and collected both Croningers and Brittany Swenson. Fortunately all were able to continue. There was another caution that involved some contact as well.

On the restart Walsh took control and pulled away as  Tony Croninger pf Watertown moved into second with Kranz in third and Engels in fourth. Brodie Croninger would pull pitside with some damage on the right rear; he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Walsh finished about a straightaway ahead of Tony Croninger for the win with Kranz third. Engels finished a season-best fourth with Swenson in fifth.

Darren Engesser and Todd Stark led the Wissota Midwest Modifieds to green

The 113 car of Lee Dreher of Watertown tagged the wall and would have to get towed pitside for the first caution of the race. The second restart also saw a spin for rookie Carter Frost. When the racing resumed Engesser took the lead with Stark in second and Tommy Nichols of Watertown in third. Scott Hansen of Watertown was fourth ahead of Tim Kanten of Milan.

Nichols and Stark were side-by-side for second as Engesser opened an advantage. The caution came out for Frost, who spun in turn four, ending his night.

Engesser pulled away on the restart as Nichols and Start continued to fight side-by-side for second in a great duel. Hansen was fourth and Terry Reilly of Watertown in fifth.

Nichols would make the pass on the outside and looked to chase down Engesser. Stark had Hansen and Reilly in hot pursuit.

Nichols was closing on Engesser and was within a car length with five to go. Nichols was patient and looked for an opening, and with three to go got one. Engesser slid high in turns three and four and that opened the door for the 28 to make a surge off of turn four into the lead. He would go on to a 2-3 car length victory, his second of the season at Casino. Engesser ran well all race long and took second. Stark was third, Hansen was fourth and Reilly, who started eighth, rounded out the top five.

One interesting note about the Wissota Midwest Modified class at Casino Speedway. The top two cars in points from 2024, Mike Nichols of Watertown and Derek Rieck of Ortonville, are not racing in 2025, opening the door for a new champion. The class has some new faces in it but a solid core of veterans like Reilly, Tommy Nichols, Stark and Hansen who will fight for feature wins weekly.

The draw/redraw format Wissota is using for features can lead to some interesting lineups. The Wissota Late Model feature had two-time defending national champion Tyler Peterson (TPO) of Hickson on the inside and former national champion Chad Becker of Aberdeen on the outside.

Becker used the outside line to take the lead over TPO with Ryan Engels of Watertown moving into third. Jayson Good of Watertown and Trevor Anderson of Watertown were battling for fourth.

It didn’t take Becker long to reach lapped traffic as he opened about 4-5 car lengths on TPO as the top side was the place to be for the late models.  Good was slowly closing on Engels for third.

The biggest challenge for Becker was lapped traffic but he manuevered through it without trouble to win by a little less than a straightaway over TPO. Engels was third, Good fourth and Anderson fifth.  The caution-free feature was pretty uneventful but that also means no equipment was torn up.

Jeff Rohner of Willmar is a contender for the Wissota Hornet national championship, already armed with four wins, and he had the inside pole for Sunday’s feature. He quickly jumped to the lead with Nathan Smith moving second. Gebart was facing a challenge from Christian Kast of Fairmount with Brett Alexander of Brookings settling into fourth.

The top two cars opened up a big gap on the field. The best battle was for third as Kast worked on the outside of Gebhart and eventually took the top spot.  Rohner had zero worries as he cruised to a straightaway win. Smith was second, Kast was third, Gebhart was fourth and Alexander fifth.

The heat races took their toll on the hornets as only seven of the 10 cars in attendance took the green flag.

Racing notes

--Bemidji Speedway and Buffalo River Speedway both cancelled because of the weather. The same went for tracks outside the area as Proctor KME Speedway, Granite City Motor Park and Nodak Speedway in Minot all called off their shows.

--Followers of the blog know I like to keep track of drivers that get their first career feature wins, and this is what I have so far, subject to change.

First wins club

Gabe Ridlon, plIMCA Sport Compacts (May 3, North Central Speedway)

Tyler Bitzan, Wissota Midwest Modified (May 9, I-94 EMR Speedway)

Onyx Johnson, Wissota Midwest Modified (May 23, Fiesta City Speedway)

Chris Dudley, Wissota Pure Stock (May 26, Bemidji Speedway)

Brady Fosso, Wissota Hornet (May 26, Bemidji Speedway)

Brandon Bunnis, INEX Legends (June 5, Norman County Raceway)

Kyle VanMil, IMCA SportMod, (June 6, Red River Valley Speedway)

Thomas Worth, Wissota Street Stocks (June 6, Princeton Speedway)