HURON — History was made Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway.

Aberdeen’s Chad Becker became the first three-time Challenge Cup winner.

Becker led from start to finish in the 30-lap feature race to claim the top prize of $5,000 for Challenge Cup XXIII, which turned out to be the lone event of the season at the Huron track for

RepairableVehicles.com Tri-State Late Model Series after the first two events were rained out.

“It’s awesome. We’ve always like running here for Orville (Chenoweth),” said Becker, who won late model track titles at DSFS in 2009, 2012 and 2017. “He puts up a lot of money, which is awesome, and I just enjoy racing for Orville. Any big shows, I always try to be here and be competitive.”

Becker, who started on the outside of the front row in the 24-car field, powered to the front on the opening lap, but the race was slowed just two laps later for a spinning car.

When the race resumed, Becker was able to start putting some considerable distance between himself and the rest of the field. He left polesitter Mike Stearns of Aberdeen to battle Blair Nothdurft of Renner for the second spot.

Stearns ran second for the first nine laps with his car making its way around on the high side of the track. Meanwhile, Nothdurft was in the bottom groove and was able to make the pass on Stearns right before the pair entered lapped traffic on lap 11.

Becker was able to build more than a half a lap lead on second-placed Nothdurft before the field was slowed a second time with just six laps to go due to a car coming to a stop on the track.

“The car was awesome. You know, we’ve been working hard and struggling,” Becker said. “It’s a new style car and everything, and we are finally getting her handled a little bit.”

Another caution flag flew just two laps later, but no one had anything to challege Becker for the win during the final laps.

“The track was good,” said Becker, who defended his Challenge Cup title from a year ago after winning his first one in 2021. You can run all over it, I loved it.

Scott Ward of Watertown edged Stearns at the line to briefly claim the third spot with two laps remaining. Stearns would battle back to finish third behind Nothdurft and Ward would take the fourth spot.

Rounding out the top five was Cole Searing of Huron, who was one of only two other drivers to win multiple Challenge Cup races. He claimed back-to-back Challenge Cup titles in 2022 and 2023.

Searing was making his return to the track after having his appendix removed a week earlier. He started 13th and gained eight spots during the 30-lap race.

Justin Zeitner of Malvern, Iowa, who recorded a win at the Huron track on June 2 of 2022, was sixth, followed by Josh Skorczewski of Aberdeen, Lee Grosz of Watertown, Trevor Anderson of Watertown and Jesse Sobbing of Malvern, Iowa.

Sobbing was the hard charger, cracking the top 10 after starting No. 21 on the grid.

Two sets of heat races were held to determine the qualifiers for the main event redraw based on passing points for the 42 late models on hand for the event.

Recording heat race wins for the Tri-State late models were Curt Kranz of Watertown; Becker; J.T. Wasmund of Pine Island, Minn.; Stearns; an Skorczewski.

The lineups were inverted from the finishes in the first set of five heat races for the start of the second set.

Inking wins in the final set of heat races were Kent Arment of Aberdeen; Grosz; Zeitner; Charlie Olsen of Hendricks, Minn.; and Tad Pospisil of Norfolk, Neb.

A pair of B-main events were held, with the top two finishers from each 12-car race advancing to the feature race.

Chad Olsen of Hendricks, Minn., won the first B feature race, with Sobbing finishing second. Pospisil won the second B feature race, with Chris Palsrok of Esterville, Iowa, finishing second.

Joining the late models for Saturday’s show were the WISSOTA Midwest modifieds.

Adam Brotherton of Huron, who sat out the 2024 racing season at DSFS, picked right up where he left off in August of 2023, with a victory.

Brotherto, who has a total of 17 feature wins at his hometown track, led from start to finish in the 15-lap main event after starting on the outside of the front row in the 15-car field.

Nick Perry of Huron, who started beside Brotherton, was able to challenge for the top spot on a pair of restarts. He battled Matt Heinzerling of Spearfish for the second spot a majority of the race and held on to recorded the runner-up finish.

Tracy Johnson of Lake Preston, who started eighth passed Heinzerling on the final lap to claim the third spot. Lane Johnson of Miller rounded out the top five.

Claiming heat wins in the Midwest modified division were Tracy Johnson and Brotherton.

Saturday’s event was the final scheduled event for 2025 at Dakota State Fair Speedway. Chenoweth, who has promoted racing at the facility for the past 30 years, will announce any future racing plans during the off season.

Dakota State Fair Speedway
June 7 results

WISSOTA Midwest Modified

Heat 1: 1, Tracy Johnson, Lake Preston; 2, Dawson Zabel, Selby; 3, Nick Perry, Huron; 4, Lane Johnson, Miller; 5, Lorin Johnson, Miller; 6, Scott Hansen, Garden City; 7, Nathan Jager, Groton; 8, Camden Rassel, Woonsocket.
Heat 2: 1, Adam Brotherton, Huron; 2, Matt Heinzerling, Spearfish; 3, Taylor Schmidt, Aberdeen; 4. Chandler Aspelin, Rapid City; 5, Britt Williams, Ft. Pierre; 6, Jeff Metzinger, Pierre; (did not start) Jayme Peterson, Highmore.
Main event: 1, Brotherton; 2, Perry; 3, T. Johnson; 4, Heinzerling; 5, Lane Johnson; 6, Zabel; 7, Lorin Johnson; 8, Hansen; 9, Schmidt; 10, Aspelin; 11, Jager; 12, Williams; 13, Rassel; 14, Metzinger; Peterson.

Tri-State Late Model
Heat 1: 1, Curt Kranz, Watertown; 2, Scott Ward, Watertown; 3, Kent Arment, Aberdeen; 4, Justin Boomsma, Huron; 5, Shane DeMey, Denison, Iowa; 6, Kyle Jensen, Brookings; 7, Troy Daly, Omaha, Neb.; 8, Justin Thornton, Chandler, Ariz.; 9, Jay Norton, Omaha, Neb.
Heat 2: 1, Chad Becker, Aberdeen; 2, Cole Searing, Huron; 3, Trevor Anderson, Watertown; 4, Lee Grosz, Watertown; 5, Dylan Ricks, Boyden, Iowa; 6, Lyndon Bolt, Box Elder; 7, Corey Aga, Rapid City; 8, Derrick Nordstrom, Sioux Falls; (did not start) Dustin Larson, Rushmore, Minn.
Heat 3: 1, J.T. Wasmund, Pine Island, Minn.; 2, Blair Nothdurft, Renner; 3, Justin Zeitner, Malvern, Iowa; 4, Jesse Sobbing, Malvern, Iowa; 5, Elijah Zevenbergen, Ocheyedan, Iowa; 6, Kole Nordquist, Beresford; 7, Chad Olsen, Hendricks, Minn.; 8, Benjamin Chukuske, Welcome, Minn.
Heat 4: 1, Mike Stearns, Aberdeen; 2, Jeffrey Larson, Reading, Minn.; 3, Charlie Olsen, Hendricks, Minn.; 4, Corey Bosma, Ocheyedan, Iowa; 5, Alissa Palsrok, Estherville, Iowa; 6, Chris Paslrok, Estervillel, Iowa; 7 Jayke Glanzer, Bridgewater; (did not start) Gary Brown Jr., Brandon.
Heat 5: 1, Josh Skorczewski, Aberdeen; 2, Dustin Arthur, St. Lawrence; 3, Corey Zeitner, Omaha, Neb.; 4, Chase Alves, Sioux Falls; 5, Morgan Ward-Grosz, Watertown; 6, Tad Pospisil, Norfolk, Neb.; 7, Keith Schenkel, Sioux Falls; 8, Mike Benson, Wakefield, Neb.
Heat 1B: 1, Arment; 2, Ward; 3, DeMey; 4, Boomsma; 5, Jensen; 6, Jenson; 7, Daly; 8, Norton; (did not start) Thornton.
Heat 2B: 1, Grosz; 2, Anderson; 3, Becker; 4, Searing; 5, Ricks; 6, Bolt; 7, Aga; (did not start) Nordtrom; D. Larson.
Heat 3B: 1, J. Zeitner; 2, Nothdurft; 3, Sobbing; 4, Chad Olsen; 5, Wasmund; 6, Zevenbergen; 7, Nordquist; 8, Chukuska.
Heat 4B: 1, Charlie Olsen; 2, Stearns; 3, J. Larson; 4, C. Palsrok; 5, A. Palsrok; 6, Bosma; 7, Glanzer; (did not start) Brown Jr.
Heat 5B: 1, Pospisil; 2, Ward-Grosz; 3, C. Zeitner; 4, Skorczewski; 5, Alves; 6, Arthur; 7, Schenkel; 8, Benson.
B-main 1 (top 2 transfer): 1, Chade Olsen; 2, Sobbing; 3, Arthur; 4, Nordquist; 5, Daly; 6, Benson; 7, A. Palrok; 8, Glanzer; 9, Thornton; (did not start) Bosma; Jensen; D. Larson.
B-main 2 (top 2 transfer): 1, Pospisil; 2, C. Palsrok; 3, Zevenbergen; 4, Alves; 5, Bolt; 6, Schenkel; 7, Ricks; 8, Chukuska; 9, Aga; 10, Norton; 11 Nordstrom; (did not start) Brown Jr.
Main event: 1, Becker; 2, Nothdurft; 3, Stearns; 4, Ward; 5, Searing; 6, J. Zeitner; 7, Skorczewsky; 8, Grosz; 9, Anderson; 10, Sobbing; 11, C. Zeitner; 12, Chad Olsen; 13, Boomsma; 14, Kranz; 15, Arment; 16. DeMey; 17, Pospisil; 18, C. Palsrok; 19, Ward-Grosz; 20, Ricks; 21, Charlie Olsen; 22, D. Larson; 23, J. Larson; (did not start) Wasmund.