Rice Lake Speedway Racers Compete Outstanding Year

Rice Lake WI – While the Rice Lake Speedway had one of its best seasons in recent memory in 2015, drivers who raced at the track also recorded some outstanding achievements of their own. In fact, with regular competitors at the track recording two national championships, one national rookie of the year title and another national rookie of the year runner up finish, it was one of the most successful years for local racers ever at the speedway. High ranking drivers received the awards at the WISSOTA National Awards banquet held on November 14th in St. Cloud Mn.
Kevin Adams and Curt Myers, who coincidentally only live about a mile a part just East of Cameron, both won national point titles while competing for points under the WISSOTA sanctioning body. Hunter Van Gilder from Rice Lake was the national rookie of the year in his class of competition and Kerry Halopka finished as the runner up in his class in the rookie standings while his brother Shane finished as the national runner up in yet another class. Several other drivers also had successful seasons, finishing toward the top in national points as well as in the Wisconsin state point races.
For Adams, it was his second straight WISSOTA national point championship in the Modified class and his fifth overall title. He was also the Wisconsin state champion in 2015.

Myers earned the Super Stock national title after finishing a very close third in the points race in 2014 along with winning one previous title in the Street Stock class in 2000. Myers also won the Wisconsin title this year.
Van Gilder moved up to the WISSOTA sanctioned Street Stocks in 2015 after spending two years running Pure Stocks locally and he was the highest placing rookie in the national point standings as well as finishing third in the Wisconsin state points.
Halopka finished as the runner up in the Modified rookie standings after leading that race much of the year while also finishing tenth in Wisconsin points.
Several other drivers who competed at the Speedway also recorded outstanding years. In the Modified class, Matt Leer and Mike Anderson tied for ninth in the national point standings while finishing second and third in the Wisconsin point chase. Dave Baxter finished fifth in the Wisconsin points while Steve Hallquist finished seventh.
Along with Myers, several other Super Stock drivers at the speedway had outstanding years also. Rice Lake Super Stock point champion Jason Forehand finished fifth in the national points as well as finishing third in the Wisconsin points. Mike Anderson recorded his second top ten finish in national points as he took eighth in the Supers to go along with his top ten finish in the Modifieds. He also finished fourth in Wisconsin points. Other Rice Lake regulars in the top ten in Wisconsin points included Eric Olson in sixth and Bart Steffen in tenth.
Shane Kisling, who raced a partial season at Rice Lake, finished fifth in Wisconsin points while Cole Spacek, who raced about half the season at Rice Lake, was the national rookie in the Super Stocks for 2015. His cousin Terran, who also raced a partial season at Rice Lake, finished runner up in the national points behind Cole.
Shane Halopka, the 2015 Rice Lake point champion in the Midwest Modifieds, led the majority of the season in the national points but at the end was edged out for the title by a mere eleven points. Still, he won the Wisconsin state points to go along with a national runner up award. Michael Truscott, who raced the majority of the season at Rice Lake, finished fifth in the national points to go along with runner up honors in the Wisconsin state points. Other top twenty finishers in the Wisconsin state points included Grant Southworth, Travis Anderson, Kent Baxter and Austin Ellis.
Cody Kummer, who was the 2015 point champion in the Street Stocks at the Rice Lake Speedway, also won the Wisconsin state title. Other top finishers in the Wisconsin state points included Sam Fankhauser in fourth, Adam Soltis in fifth, Jay Kesan in eighth and Ron Hanestad in ninth. Kummer, Fankhauser and Soltis also finished in the top twenty in national points.
These and many other drivers are now making repairs or building new cars as they look toward the beginning of the 2016 racing season at the Rice Lake Speedway which is expected to begin in mid April.

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