HURON — The Bauman Agency Harvest of Champions, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, will cap the 2024 season at Dakota State Fair Speedway.

The event will include a $2,000-to-win feature race for the Tri-State Late Model Series, which is making its third visit to the track this season.

Joining the late models will be the WISSOTA street stocks, Midwest modifieds, super stocks and modifieds. It will be the first appearance at the speedway for the modifieds in the past two years.

“It will be exciting to get to race at Dakota State Fair Speedway again. It’s been my favorite track since I started racing in 1996,” said Dave Brooker of Tulare, who has competed in several division, before finding himself behind the wheel of an A-mod during the past several years.

“I’m very thankful to Orville (Chenoweth) to include WISSOTA modifieds this race and I want to give a shout-out to Bauman Agency for sponsoring the races this week,” he said.

Saturday’s program will provide Brooker with the first opportunity to compete against one of his two sons, both of whom have followed in their father’s footsteps and taken to the track in cars of their own.

“Wyatt will be racing in a street stock and Andy is going to be racing in a modified against me,” Brooker said. “It’s going to be exciting. This is the first time that he and I are going to be on the track together at the same time.”

The brothers have previously raced against each other in the pure stock division at Miller Central Speedway, but they have never raced against their dad.

It will be just the fourth time on the track for Andy in the modified division.

“It’s definitely still a work in progress,” Brooker said of Andy’s move up to the modified division this season. “He purchased the car this year and his intention is to run only five races this year so he can maintain his rookie eligibility in the class for next year. Next year he’s planning to run a full season.”

After getting off to a somewhat rocky start this season, Wyatt is starting to find some success in the street stock division, according to his dad.

“He got his first ever heat race win in a street stock last Saturday night in Miller,” Brooker said.

On Friday, Wyatt inked his best finish of the season with a third-place finish in the main event during the season champions at the Miller track. He has competed in 24 events this season with nine finishes inside the top 10.

Also looking forward to getting back on his hometown track with his WISSOTA modified is Dale Ames of Huron. He has a total of six career wins at DSFS, with the most recent coming in August of 2022.

“It is always fun to race at your local track and get to see all your fans that live in town,” Ames said of returning to the Huron oval. “It’s big and it’s fast, so hopefully we’ll get some excitement going. It’s good to be back at home.

“Thanks to Orville for putting out races,” he said. “My family has been a big part of this deal and we all love it.”

Ames, who has been a perennial frontrunner in the modified division throughout his career, is winless thus far this season.

He’s top finish was second on July 14 at Casino Speedway in Watertown.

After some early-season struggles, Ames believes he may have turned the corner and is ready to notch that first win of the season.

“Our season is a testament to our team. It’s been a struggle, it has not been good yet, but if we keep our heads up, we’ll get there,” he said. “We’ve had good cars, but we’ve had some bad flat tires. We’ve had speed and that’s what matters, so I think we’ll do good here Saturday.”

Ames is coming off a six-race Minnesota swing.

“We ran good, we just didn’t draw really well and had to start in the back and work our way up into the field,” he said. “We made the features and kind of were mid-pack, but against that competition, it’s still pretty good.”

With just four races remaining on the 2024 RepairableVehicles.com Tri-State Late Model Series 2024 schedule earning points to climb in the final season standings will be a priority for the drivers.

The series will stop at Miller Central Speedway on Friday night for a $2,000-to-win show before heading to DSFS on Saturday.
Blair Nothdurft of Renner is seeking his second series championship after claiming his first in 2020. He currently holds a 60-point lead over Corey Zeitner of Omaha, Neb., for the top spot in the season standings.

Scott Ward of Watertown is third, while a pair of past series champions, Trevor Anderson of Watertown and Gary Brown Jr. of Brandon round out the top five.

Holding spots No. 6-10, respectively, are Cody Martin of Mitchell, Chris Palsrock of Estherville, Iowa, Tyler Myers of Sioux Falls, Chase Alves of Sioux Falls and Mike Benson of Wakefield, Neb.
Earning victories during the previous two appearances by the Tri-State late models at the Huron track were Aberdeen drivers Josh Skorczewski and Chad Becker.

Skorczewski was awarded the win on June 6 after race winner Charlie Olsen was disqualified for being too light at the scales following the race. It was his second win at the track and first since July of 2010.

In 19 events this season, Skorczewski had seven wins and 15 finishes inside the top five.

Becker claimed the ‘W’ during the Challenge Cup event on June 8 at DSFS. He has a total of 28 career wins at the Huron track.

This season Becker has nine wins in 23 events, with 18 finishes inside the top five.

Fans might also catch a glimpse of one of the area’s top late model drivers in Cole Searing of Huron.

After missing the first two events at his hometown track due to prior commitments, Searing said there’s a chance he maybe on hand to compete in Saturday’s program.

Searing, who is the defending Tri-State Late Model Series champion, committed to run the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series this season and is the current points leader with just five events remaining on the 2024 schedule. However, the next event for the WISSOTA Challenge Series is Aug. 29 at Proctor Speedway in Minnesota.

Searing has five wins in 25 events this season, with a total of 19 top-5 finishes.

After earning his first-ever feature win at DSFS earlier this season in the WISSOTA Midwest modified division, Jayne Peterson of Highmore will be looking to secure his third career win at the track on Saturday.

Lane Johnson of Miller won the other Midwest modified feature at DSFS this season. It was his third career win at the track.

Also searching for his third win of the season in Huron on Saturday will be Trevor Nelson of Warner in the WISSOTA super stock division. He inked wins on May 11 and June 6 and now has a total of five wins at the track.

Nelson has raced 26 times this season and has come away with 11 wins. He finished in the top five a total of 23 times.

Andy Rossow of Florence found his way to Victory Lane for the second time in his career on May 11 in the WISSOTA street stock division.

Maria Broksieck of Goodwin, who tallied Rossow across the finish line in the season-opening event, earned her fourth career win at the Huron track on June 6. She has 10 wins in 35 races this season, with 26 finishes inside the top five.