Baxter and Randall Join Rice Lake Speedway Winner’s List
Rice Lake WI, July 19 – Racing action Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway saw two more new drivers join the list of feature winners for 2014 while the top winner at the track won yet again. Dave Baxter and Jimmy Randall won the WISSOTA Modified and Street Stock features respectively and took home their first wins at the track this year while Jason Havel added to his top winning total for the year. Others winners on a balmy and breezy Saturday night included Ryan Viltz, Willy Johnsen Jr. and Curt Myers.
Baxter has shown times this year when he has been very fast but has not been able to put together a complete race, but that all changed Saturday as Dave led from start to finish in the Modified main event. He came off the top side to take the early lead with pressure being applied by Pat Hoffman and Steve Hallquist. As Baxter continued to race the cushion, Cory Mahder started to move forward after starting fifth in the field. He got past Hallquist and then Hoffman to take over second and then tried to track down the leader.
Two quick midrace yellows for minor incidents bunched the field and on the final green, Baxter got a surprise as Hoffman got a great restart on the low side and shot into the lead down the back chute. However, Baxter got back up on the cushion and blasted past Pat through turn three to again claim the top spot.
The last few laps of the race saw Baxter continue his solid pace and while Mahder could run within a few car lengths of the leader, he never was able to make a solid challenge for the lead. Mike Anderson made a late charge to move up to third in the finishing order after starting in the fourth row and Mark Hessler and Hoffman ran next in line.
For Baxter it was only his second ever Modified win at Rice Lake with the last one coming during the 2012 racing season.
Randall has been making noise recently at area tracks and Saturday night he added Rice Lake to his list of tracks won at as he fought off a tough field of Street Stocks with a late race move that proved to be the winning one. Once again, Simon Wahlstrom was one of the major players in the Street class as he again led a number of laps during the main event. Kirk Bogdanovic was his early challenger with Ron Hanestad and Randall then moving in to join the group fighting for the lead along with Sam Fankhauser, Scott Clark and Adam Soltis as a seven car wad battled all around the track, changing lanes and positions on the track on nearly every corner.
Wahlstrom continued to show the way while Hanestad and Randall had a great battle for second with Bogdanovic before Randall finally found an opening on the high side and shot into second. He then began to pressure the leader, looking to his outside lap after lap when finally, with only three laps to go, he shot past Wahlstrom to take over the lead.
Randall didn’t have any breathing room however, as Clark was now the driver on the move as he wedged his way into third and then pressured Wahlstrom.
The final two lap sprint to the finish after a spin triggered another yellow saw Randall maintain a two car length lead as “The Blade” drove on to his first of the year at Rice Lake and became the eighth different Street Stock winner to date in 2014. Clark continued his charge as he got past Wahlstrom for second with Hanestad and Fankhauser completing the top five.
The Pure Stocks put on perhaps their best feature race of the year as eighteen cars took the green, the race ran nonstop on only one car failed to complete the distance with none being lapped.
Havel had to work his hardest to get the win Saturday and it took until the white flag lap for him to see the front of the field. Bob Thompson led many laps of the feature as he tried to get his first win of the year. Behind him a great battle took place as Hunter Van Gilder and Rob Grabon went side by side for a number of laps battling for second with Havel having worked up from the ninth starting position to ride behind and try lap after lap to pass both of then, unsuccessfully. Finally, with only a couple of laps left, Grabon got pass Van Gilder but both cars slid up the track and Havel drove under both of them.
Jason then closed on leader Thompson and when he slid up the track in turn one, Havel drove under him to take over the lead. On the final lap Grabon made the same move as Thompson settled for third after having led most of the contest. Van Gilder and Joel Hinrichs completed the top five. For Havel it was his track leading seventh win overall as he has lost only three feature races at the track all year.
Other than a lap two collision that eliminated the cars of Josh Wahlstrom and Terry Sirek, the Midwest Modified feature also went without a stoppage and this enabled Ryan Viltz to race up from the fourth row and win his second main of the year.
Rookie Austin Ellis led the first few laps and he proved tough to pass as he improves every week. Viltz had to work his way through traffic and a low side move saw him gain much ground and put the leader in sight.
Finally, after attempting on a couple of occasions, he was able to make a move and drive past Ellis to take over the lead. Once in front, he disappeared from the field and built up nearly a straightaway lead over the pack as he cruised home for the win. Brother Tito made a late race charge and passed Ellis for second with only a couple of laps remaining. Shane Halopka came back from a heat race breakdown to claim fourth ahead of Travis Anderson.
The Super Stocks ran twin features that included a makeup feature from June 28th that was held over due to rain. In that event, point leader Willie Johnsen Jr. got to the front early and lead the rest of the contest to record his second feature win of the year. Jason Forehand chased Johnsen and did close up at the end, but Johnsen hung on for the win. Eric Olson settled for third with Kyle Helling and Derek Baskin completing the top five.
Saturday’s regularly scheduled main saw Myers get past Jim Harris after some hard battling and then put distance on the field. A spin on lap seven bunched the pack but Curt again pulled away from the field.
Bart Steffen made a strong run up to second and at one point was gaining on the leader but Myers again picked up the pace in the late going for take his second win of the year here. Forehand settled for third at the finish ahead of Harris and Johnsen Jr.
All five classes will be on hand again next Saturday night for a race program that begins with hot laps at 6:30 p.m. ON July 26th bike races for the kids and adults will be the halftime entertainment and entries are already rolling in for the Street Stock Little Dream race scheduled for Aug. 5th with a rain date of Aug. 6th. Modifieds will be the support class for the Little Dream with $1,000 on the line for the winner of the open wheel cars.
Check the speedway website at www.ricelakespeedway.net for information on the races or FYE Motorsports for special news on the Little Dream.
SUMMARY
Rice Lake Speedway
Rice Lake WI
July 19, 2014
WISSOTA Modifieds
20 lap Feature – Dave Baxter(Eau Claire), Cory Mahder(Eau Claire), Mike Anderson(Colfax), Mark Hessler(Menomonie), Pat Hoffman(Rice Lake), Curt Myers(Cameron), Matt Leer(Bruce), Tim McMann(Duluth MN), Jamie Davis(Devlin ONT), Will Fisher(Shell Lake), Cody Cimfl, Buddy Mayala, Scott Heikkinen, Dave Mayala, Jeff Davis, Kevin Adams, Wayne Poteet, Aric Lindberg, Steve Hallquist, Scott Miller
10 lap Heat 1 – Mahder, Myers, Baxter, Lindberg(Dallas), B. Mayala(Barron), Jeff Davis, Poteet
Heat 2 – Anderson, Hessler, McMann, Leer, Miller(Rice Lake), Fisher, D. Mayala
Heat 3 – Adams(Cameron), Hoffman, Hallquist(Eau Claire), Jamie Davis, Cimfl(Barron), Heikkinen
WISSOTA Super Stocks
20 lap Feature – Curt Myers(Cameron), Bart Steffen(Eau Claire), Jason Forehand(Eau Claire), Jim Harris(Menomonie), Willie Johnsen Jr.(Superior), Darrel Hazelton(Chippewa Falls), Patrick Heikkinen(Eveleth MN), Kyle Helling(Rice Lake), Jim Cimfl(Turtle Lake), Derek Baskin(Menomonie), Mike Siewert, Eric Olson
12 lap Makeup Feature from June 28 – Johnsen Jr., Forehand, Olson(Ladysmith), Helling, Baskin, Cimfl
10 lap Heat 1 – Myers, Olson, Harris, Steffen, Heikkinen, Baskin
Heat 2 – Forehand, Johnsen Jr., Hazelton, Helling, Cimfl, Siewert
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
15 lap Feature – Ryan Viltz(Chetek), Tito Viltz(Rice Lake), Austin Ellis(Rice Lake), Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Travis Anderson(Colfax), Reid Teigs(Dallas), Dan Tautges(Colby), Joe Chaplin Jr(Cameron), Dusty Brown(Cameron), Terry Sirek(Rice Lake), Josh Wahlstrom
10 lap Heat 1 – T. Viltz, Chaplin Jr, Teigs, Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Sirek, Brown
Heat 2 – R. Viltz, Anderson, Ellis, Tautges, Halopka
WISSOTA Street Stocks
15 lap Feature – Jimmy Randall(Rice Lake), Scott Clark(Cameron), Simon Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Ron Hanestad(Glenwood City), Sam Fankhauser(Rice Lake), Cody Kummer(Medford), Kirk Bogdanovic(Phillips), Kolby Kiehl(Cameron), Derek Eberl(Tomahawk), Troy Chaplin(Barron), Heidi Karshbaum, Nate Langeberg, Cooper Berlin, Adam Soltis
10 lap Heat 1 – Fankhauser, Bogdanovic, Randall, Hanestad, Kummer, Chaplin, Karshbaum
Heat 2 – Clark, Wahlstrom, Soltis(Ladysmith), Kiehl, Langeberg(Tomahawk), Berlin, Eberl
Pure Stocks
12 lap Feature – Jason Havel(Rice Lake), Rob Grabon(Bruce), Bob Thompson(Cameron), Hunter Van Gilder(Rice Lake), Joel Hinrichs(Chetek), Mike Chaplin(Cameron), C.J. Wagner(Rice Lake), Mike Knopps(Chippewa Falls), Jay Folz(Rice Lake), John Erickson(Rice Lake), Brent Miller, Jimmy Holden, Scott Pittman Sr., Tucker Quinn, Cody Tisdale, Cody Stead, Michael Miller, James Clausen
8 lap Heat 1 – Van Gilder, Havel, Folz, Holden(Rice Lake), Hinrichs, Quinn
Heat 2 – Wagner, Thompson, Knopps, Chaplin, Tisdale(Eau Claire), M. Miller
Heat 3 – Erickson, B. Miller(Cameron), Grabon, Clausen(Barron), Pittman Sr(Cameron), Stead
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