HURON — A matter of a few pounds prevented 16-year-old Charlie Olsen of Hendricks, Minn., from becoming the youngest driver ever to win a Tri-State Late Model Series event on Thursday during Wheel Jam – Wild Race Car Night at Dakota State Fair Speedway.

Olsen, who is following in his father’s footsteps as far dirt late model racing is concerned, led from start to finish in the 25-lap feature race, which paid $3,000 to win. Unfortunately he came up just shy of the required minimum weight when he crossed the scale following the race and was disqualified.

The victory was handed to runner-up Josh Skorczewski of Aberdeen, who started along side Olsen in the pole position on front row.

The pair battled for the top spot from the start, but Olsen was able to put some distance on the rest of the field once the leaders reached lapped traffic on the seventh lap of the race. He used a nifty move to split a pair of slow cars coming out of turn four, which left those seeking to challenge for the lead searching for route past the slower traffic while he pulled away.

Unfortunely, the first of five caution flags waved two laps later to regroup the field.

After having the top challengers linedup on his bumper for the restart, Olsen managed to stay oot front until the yellow flag was brought out a second time just three laps later.

The second restart found Olsen holding the point for five more laps until the field was brought to a complete stop to peel the No. 8 car of Layne Brenden out of Mitchell off the wall between turns three and four. After the field was allowed to start rolling again, the fourth of five caution flags flew on the first lap of the restart due to a blown motor.

With 11 laps still remaining, the field to the green hoping for a run to the finish, but such wouldn’t be the case as a mishap on the front straightaway resulted in a pile up of cars entering turn one. Included in the melee was Olsen’s father, Chad, who was running third at the time and had to retire from the race after making hard contact with the retaing wall.

The misforturne provided the opportunity for the elder Olsen to watch his son’s push for the win from the stands along with the rest of his family and friends.

The final restart found Olsen being able to build a slight advantage as Skorzczewski and Scott Ward of Watertown battled for the second spot. However, the edge quickly evaporated when Olsen’s car jumped the cushion as he made his way through turnes one and two with five laps remaining.

Skorczewski moved to his bumper, which set the stage for a final attempt at the win as the duo exited turn four on the final lap. With Olsen on the top of the track, he was able to hold on for the win as the crowd erupted.

As the fans waited for the top two drivers to return from the scales for the award presentation, it was only Skorczewski that made his way back on to the track.

Although the win gave Skorczewski his fourth victory of his career at DSFS and his first since July of 2010, he said it wasn’t the way he wanted to earn the win and credited Olsen with running a strong race.

That same sentiment was echoed by Ward, who would take the checkered flag in the third spot, but was awarded second with the disqualification.

“We finished third tonight,” Ward said in a social media post. “No one deserved that win more than Charlie Olsen. So in our book, we finished third!”

In the official results, Gary Brown Jr. of Brandon was third in the 25-car field, while Tad Pospisil of Norfolk, Neb., was fourth.

Rounding out the top five was Kent Arment of Aberdeen, who had to reach the feature race by virtue of the B-main after suffering a flat tire whlle leading his heat race.

Arment raced his way from 14th to second in the B-main to secure the No. 22 starting spot in the A-main event. He was able to advance 17 spots during the feature race.

Having an equally impressive performance in the feature race was Chad Becker of Aberdeen, who also needed a top-four finish in the B-main to advance. He started No. 23 in the feature race and finished sixth.

Blair Northdurft of Renner snagged the win in the B-feature and was seventh. Rounding out the top 10 were Corey Zeitner of Omaha, Neb.; Trevor Anderson of Watertown; and Tyler Myers of Sioux Falls.
Earing heat wins for the Tri-State late models were Zeitner, Chase Alves of Sioux Falls, Skorczewski; Brown Jr. and Charlie Olsen.

The Tri-State Late Model Series, which had 36 cars in attendance on Thursday, will return to DSFS today for Challenge Cup XXII, which pays $5,000 to win.

Joining the late modelson Thursday were the WISSOTA street stocks, Midwest modifieds and super stocks.

Maria Broksieck of Goodwin earned her fourth feature win street stock division. She passed Broc Stout of Winner for the lead on the fourth lap of the 15-lap feature race and held off a strong challenge from Andy Rossow of Florence, who won earlier this season at DSFS, to claim the victory.

Stout was third in the 21-car field, followed by Josh Long of Canby, Minn., and Matt Goth of Huron.

Long, Rossow and Broksieck won the street stock heat races.
Trevor Nelson of Warner needed just a half a lap to move from eighth on the starting grid to second and just two more laps to take over the lead from Bryson North of Huron in the 15-lap super stock main event.

While Nelson went virtually unchallenge for the fifth victory of his career and second this season at the speedway, the three-car battle for the second spot was a heated one. Nathan Grehl of Hitchcock, who started 10th in the 11-car field, used the high side of the track to get around Doug VanLiere of Madison in turns three and four on the final lap to secure the runner-up finish.

VanLiere was third, followed by Corey Elward of Mitchell and Austin Arbogast of Huron.

Nelson and Elward were the winners in the super stock heat races.
Lane Johnson of Miller started on the pole and led the duration of the Midwest modified feature race to collect his third win at DSFS. His last victory came in June of 2017.

However, the victory didn’t come east for Johnson, as he had to hold of a stiff challenge from his father Lorin, who owns 100 feeature wins at the Huron track, for a majority of the 15-lap race.

Lorin Johnson would finish second, followed by Jayme Peterson of Highmore, Scott Hansen of Garden City and Dawson Zabel of Selby.
Winning Midwest modified heat races were Lane Johnson, Hansen and Lorin Johnson.

The Midwest modifieds will join the Tri-State Late Model Series for tonight’s show, which begins at 7 p.m.

Wheel Jam – Wild Race Car Nights
June 6 at Dakota State Fair Speedway

WISSOTA Street Stock
Heat 1: 1, Josh Long, Canby, Minn.; 2, Kenneth Clements, Madison; 3, Jayden Michaelsohn, Aberdeen; 4, Travis Oxandaburu, Huron; (did not finish) 5, James Hoing, Kimball; 6, Jayden Bogh, Huron; (disqualified) Arlen Ferguson, Wolsey.
Heat 2: 1, Andy Rossow, Florence; 2, Broc Stout, Winner; 3, Chris Serr, Aberdeen; 4, Leonard Ferguson, Kyle; 5, Cutter Murray, Ft. Pierre; 6, Cole Philips, Winner; 7, Chandler Aspelin, Rapid City.
Heat 3: 1, Maria Broksieck, Goodwin; 2, Clifford Houser, Kimball; 3, Richard Hartland, Winner; 4, Matt Goth, Huron; 5, Michael Bogh, Huron; 6, Wyatt Brooker, Tulare; 7, Jace Baloun, Highmore.
Main event: 1, Broksieck; 2, Rossow; 3, Stout; 4, Long; 5, Goth; 6, M. Bogh; 7, L. Ferguson; 8, Michaelsohn; 9, Hartland; 10, Hoing; 11, Clements; 12, Oxandaburu; 13, Brooker; 14, Baloun; 15, Murray; 16, Aspelin; 17, A. Ferguson; (did not finish) 18, Phillips; 19, J. Bogh; 20, Houser; 21, Serr.

WISSOTA Midwest Modified
Heat 1: 1, Lane Johnson, Miller; 2, Jake Wranek, Sioux Falls; 3, Jayme Peterson, Highmore; 4, Dawson Zabel, Selby; 5, Chad Kopfmann, Alpena; 6, Camden Rassel, Woonsocket; 7, Shawn McFarlane, Miller; (disqualified) Britt Williams, Ft. Pierre.
Heat 2: 1, Scott Hansen, Garden City; 2, Matt Heinzerling, Spearfish; 3, Tracy Johnson, Lake Preston; 4, Nick Perry, Huron; (did not finish) 5, Trevor Ryan, Highmore; 6, Luke Johnson, Miller; (disqualified) James Embree, Rapid City.
Heat 3: 1, Lorin Johnson, Miller; 2, Darren Engesser, Gary; 3, Kyle Bertram, Dallas; 4, Logan Redlin, Watertown; 5, Joel Morris, Box Elder; 6, Tom Koster, Mitchell; (did not finish) 7, Paxton George, Rapid City.
Main event: 1, Lane Johnson; 2, Lorin Johnson; 3, Peterson; 4, Hansen; 5, Zabel; 6, T. Johnson; 7, Heinzerling; 8, Wranek; 9, Perry; 10, Engesser; 11, Bertram; 12 Luke Johnson; 13, Morris; 14; Redlin; 15, Embree; 16, Rassel; 17, Kopfmann; (did not finish) 18, George; 19, Koster; 20, McFarlane; (did not start) Williams; Ryan.

WISSOTA Super Stock
Heat 1: 1, Trevor Nelson, Warner; 2, Bryson North, Huron; 3, Jeremy North, Huron; 4, Dale Tomes, Dell Rapids; 5, Derek Zastrow, Gann Valley; 6, Brad Kopecky, Miller.
Heat 2: 1, Corey Elward, Mitchell; 2, Austin Arbogast, Huron; 3, Doug VanLiere, Madison; 4, Robin Schmitt, Redfield; 5, Nathan Grehl, Hitchcock; 6, Shawn Schnaebel, Aberdeen.
Main event: 1, Nelson; 2, Grehl; 3, VanLiere; 4, Elward; 5, Arbogast; 6, B. North; 7, Schnabel; 8 Zastrow; (did not finish) 9, Schmitt; 10, Kopecky; 11, Tomes; (did not start) J. North.

Tri-State Late Models
Heat 1: 1, Corey Zeitner, Omaha, Neb.; 2, Jordan Heiman, Sioux Falls; 3, Cody Martin, Mitchell; 4, Trevor Anderson, Watertown; 5, Morgan Ward Grosz, Watertown; 6, Benjamin Chukuska, Welcome, Minn.; 7, Mike Benson, Wakefield, Neb.; (did not finish) 8, Corey Bosma, Ocheyedan, Iowa.
Heat 2: 1, Chase Alves, Sioux Falls; 2, Lane Brenden, Mitchell; 3, Chuck Swenson, Watertown; 4, Chris Palsrok, Estherville, Iowa; 5, Justin Boomsma, Huron; 6, Colby Klaassen, Little Rock, Iowa; 7, Alissa Palsrok, Estherville, Iowa.
Heat 3: 1, Josh Skorczewski, Aberdeen; 2, Tad Pospisil, Norfolk, Neb.; 3, Scott Ward, Watertown; 4, Chad Olsen, Hendricks, Minn.; 5, Blair Nothdurft, Renner; 6, Chad Becker, Aberdeen; 7, Dyllan Ricks, Boyden, Iowa.
Heat 4: 1, Gary Brown Jr., Brandon; 2, Shane DeMey, Denison, Iowa; 3, Nick Schmidt, Florence; 4, Tyler Myers, Sioux Falls; 5, Jayke Glanzer, Bridgewater; 6, Jared Jelsma, Springfield; (did not finish) 7, Kent Arment, Aberdeen.
Heat 5: 1, Charlie Olsen, Hendricks, Minn.; 2, Dustin Arthur, St. Lawrence; 3, Justin Karlen, Howard; 4, Layne Saathoff, Bruce; 5, Brandon Sprinkel, Pierre; 6, Terry McCarthy, Springview, Neb.; (did not start) Roger Bitz, Aberdeen.
B-Main event: 1, Northdurft; 2, Arment; 3, Becker; 4, Boomsma; 5, Ward Grosz; 6, Chukuska; 7, Klaassen; 8, Glanzer; 9, Bosma; 10, Benson; 11, Sprinkel; 12, A. Palsrok; 13, Jelsma; 14 McCarthy; (did not finish) 15, Ricks; (did not start) Bitz.
Main event: 1, Skorczewski; 2, Ward; 3, Brown Jr.; 4, Pospisil; 5, Arment; 6, Becker; 7, Nothdurft; 8, Zeitner; 9, Anderson; 10, Myers; 11, Swenson; 12, C. Palsrok; 13, Chukuske; (did not finish) 14, DeMey; 15, Martin; 16, Alves; 17, Brenden; 18, Arthur; 19, Heiman; 20, Karlen; 21, Boomsma; 22, Schmidt; 23, Chad Olsen; 24, Saathoff; (disqualified) Charlie Olsen.