Wi Dirt Racin

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, August 18 – Despite only having a 30% chance of rain in the forecast, a strong thunderstorm hit the Rice Lake Speedway at just before 6:30 p.m., ending all hope quickly of getting in a racing program as everyone ran for cover. Saturday was slated to be the last track point night of the 2012 racing season, thus the points championships have now be decided by the will of nature.

There were two point championships that were potentially hanging in the wind Saturday, but the cancellation decided both of them. In the Street Stocks, Eric Olson won the title by the narrowest of margins over Cody Kummer. With a white flag pass of Kummer last Saturday, Olson finished one position ahead of Kummer and that proved to be his margin of victory, a single point.

Ryan and Tito Viltz had traded the point lead back and forth in recent weeks in the Midwest Modified class, but with the rainout Ryan will finish seven points ahead of his brother in the final standings.

The other three point leaders had a more substantial lead over their competition and basically just needed to start Saturday’s races to guarantee titles. They were Kevin Adams in the Modifieds, Shane Kisling in the Super Stocks and Joel Hinrichs in the Pure Stocks.

Attention will now focus on the rest of the racing season which consists of three more nights of racing. Next Saturday, August 25th, the Season Championships will be decided in all five classes. The drivers will line up for their heat races based on points earned over the season, and will qualify for their feature races based on heat race finishes.

However, there will be more than just the five regular classes on the card. The UMSS Sprint Cars, who were rained out earlier this year in their scheduled appearance at the track, will return to put on a full show also. The winged sprints, who look just like their more high powered brethren of the Outlaws but have smaller motors, feature a number of drivers primarily from Minnesota that travel with the series and have visited the Rice Lake Speedway on a couple of occasions previously. The current point leader of their series is Jerry Richert Jr. from Forest Lake MN.

The season will then conclude on Labor Day weekend. As has been done for many years, the speedway will wrap up the racing season with a doubleheader on Saturday, Sept. 1st and Sunday, Sept. 2nd. All five classes that normally race at the speedway will be in racing action and all classes will be racing for extra money . Gates will open both days at 3:00 p.m. and racing will begin at 7 p.m.

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