As the curtain came down on the racing season at Brown County Speedway Saturday night, the final races were definitely fitting of a curtain call.

From the first feature race to the last, there was plenty of suspense, intensity and high-stakes drama during the final night of the Big Buck Nationals.

It started with Goodwin’s Maria Broksieck holding on to a slim lead to win the Steet Stock feature and was capped off by Chad Becker of Aberdeen making a move on the final turn of the last race of the year at BCS to capture the Late Model feature. And there were notable performances in between as well.

Broksieck used the high side of the track to hold off a hard-charging Andy Rossow of Florence to take the checkered flag by about a car-length in the Street Stock feature.

“That top side was getting a little more slick and a little more slick,” Broksieck said. “There wasn’t a whole lot to hold us up there anymore and Andy ran a heckuva race down there on the bottom.”

Broksieck had to endure six yellow flags to hold on to the lead.

“Every restart that came out, I thought I was more and more in trouble each time,” she said.

Lucas Rodin led from start to finish to win the Midwest Modified main. The Marion, N.D., driver swept all of his feature races during the three-day event.

“That was a good one. Starting positions were big I guess. I was able to start out front a lot of those races. That helps,” Rodin said. “There’s a lot of good cars here, so I guess if you can do it through the draw shack that helps a lot.”

Rodin found a spot to his liking and stuck to it.

“The track was just changing so much,” Rodin said. “The top looked like maybe it was coming in, but I ran the bottom the whole race, so it’s just hard to know if I should change my line or not. But I didn’t see anybody, so I figured I better just keep going where I’m going.”

Joseph Thomas of Fargo, N.D., took all the suspense out of the Modified feature by pulling out to a large lead.

“We’ve been coming here the last couple of weeks trying to figure it out,” Thomas said. “We’ve been close, but we just haven’t been fast enough, and tonight the track and the car just kind of came to us.”

Unlike most drivers, Thomas found the middle groove to be the place to drive.

“I got in there right away and I felt good enough to stay there,” Thomas said, “and it felt like they were kind of throwing stuff off the bottom for me to pack in.”

With just two races remaining on the season, who would have expected the drama would go up a couple of notches?

Jeremy North of Huron and Warner’s Trevor Nelson hooked up in a classic during the Super Stock feature. North found the high side a few laps into the race and Nelson soon took up pursuit.

Nelson was unable to get past North up high and tried a couple of runs down on the low side. While he came close, he was never able to catch him.

“I could see him down below,” North said. “I just wanted to make sure I hit my marks is all.”

North was able to main his lead and hold off the hard-charging Nelson, one of the top national drivers in WISSOTA.

“It was awesome,” North said following the victory. “It’s always an awesome feeling when you can beat Trevor Nelson.”

North, this year’s BCS track champion in Super Stock, called the win the biggest of his 20-year career.

“It’s the top of the top,” North said. “Winning the track champion and then coming back and winning this, it’s unbelievable.”

That race set the stage for the closest event of the evening, and likely the entire season. Becker and Huron’s Cole Searing had an epic battle during the Late Model main.

Searing ran the high side, while Becker was looking for a place to run to try and catch him as the pair dealt with lap traffic.

“The car was good, I just needed a free lane,” Becker said. “I never had a free lane.”

Becker inched closer to Searing throughout the 45-lap main event, but was running out of time before making one last-ditch effort on the final lap.

Becker was able to get a strong push coming out of turn four and passed Searing just before the checkered flag for a win he won’t soon forget.

“It was pretty wild. That was a toss-up there,” Becker said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t think I was going to get it, actually. I was just driving my heart out.”

When asked how he was finally able to get past Searing, Becker responded, “I just stuck it with everything she had. It was good. The car was really good.”

Becker led for about three seconds in the race, but it turned out to be the most important seconds of the event.

“That was awesome. It was fun,” Becker said. “Those are the one’s you live for.”

Becker, who has been in his share of big races throughout his stellar racing career, said his latest win is among the best he’s ever experienced.

“This one ranks right up there. That was pretty wild,” Becker said. “You didn’t know what was going to happen until the end. It was fun.”

To see complete race results, click on the following link:

https://www.myracepass.com/events/472626/races