Spacek Wins Super Stock Thriller at Rice Lake Speedway; Rahn and Amundson Also Repeat
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, May 29 – While Darrell Nelson won the Trackside Collectibles 40 for WISSOTA Late Models, three other divisions were also in action on Sunday night and in a very unusual occurence, the same three drivers that won on Saturday night would repeat victories on Sunday night. While not having had a repeat winner during the racing season so far, James Rahn and Shawn Amundson both took their second wins of the weekend and thus became the first repeat winners of the year in the Pure Stock and Street Stock classes respectively. And in a thrilling Super Stock feature race that may end up being one of the best races of the entire racing season, Terran Spacek continued his dominance of that class, winning his fourth feature race in five outings so far this year.
The speedway survived two rounds of thunderstorms during the day to get the program completed on Sunday night with the race track being in fantastic shape for high speed action on this night.
And despite the fact that the Super Stock ran their main event last on the program after the Late Models pounded the oval for forty laps, they put on a memorable feature race that saw a three car battle for the win with Spacek making a lap seventeen pass to get the win.
Nineteen Super Stocks would take the green flag for the twenty lap Super Stock finale and the two drivers in the front row would be two of the participants in a great full race battle for the lead. D.J. Keeler would grab the early lead but he was almost immediately challenged by Nick Oreskovich as they went wheel to wheel for the lead.
Keeler would continue to hold the top spot in the first few laps but Oreskovich was up beside him on every corner as the leaders raced very close to each other. Oreskovich started trying to make crossover moves for the lead and each time Keeler would counter as the cat and mouse game continued.
Three time winner Spacek started eighth on the grid but he quickly moved into third, making some great moves to get past other fast cars and challenge the leaders.
On lap six, Oreskovich was able to edge into the lead but then Keeler turned a strong lap on the cushion and would edge back in front by lap eight with Spacekd closing on both as the race neared the halfway point .
The second half of the race would provide some great entertainment as the top three cars ran in a tight formation, jockeying for position and using different lines on the track as they sought to gain precious ground. Several times they were three wide off the corners but all raced clean and the battle continued.
Spacek would finally nose ahead of Oreskovich for second and set out to get by Keeler too. Terran tried to get by on several occasions but D.J. Fought him off. Finally, with just three laps to go, Spacek would successfully slide up the track in turn four and clear Keeler to take over the top spot.
However, the race wasn’t done yet, as Keeler attempted to fight back, pushing hard on the high side in an attempt to slip back past Spacek. He gave it his all, but he came up just short as Spacek would hold on by a car length for his second win of the weekend and fourth at Rice Lake already this year. Oreskovich would finish another car length behind in third while Simon Wahlstrom would race up from ninth starting spot to finish a close fourth ahead of Nick Traynor.
The Pure Stock feature would go green to checkered and for Zach Folz, it was his best run of his career so far. The young driver would take the early lead and would show the way for the first four laps of the main event. However, James Rahn, on a tear lately, would come flying forward in the field after starting fifth and he would make the pass to take over the lead.
Rahn would then pull away from the field as the race remained under the green flag. Ryan Olson was also working his way to the front after starting seventh and by the halfway mark, he had moved into third.
With no yellow flags to bunch the field, Rahn continued to pull away and he too would take his second win of the weekend. Olson closed the distance in the late laps, but Folz would hold on for second at the line. Rob Grabon and Kevin Bartelt would complete the top five.
The Street Stock feature race would see the two same competitors that battled it out on Saturday night go at it again on Sunday with Shawn Amundson again getting the better of Adam Soltis for the win.
Amundson would start right on the pole and would take the early lead over Cole Richards. Richards was soon challenged for second however by Hunter VanGilder who worked high and low, looking for a path to pass.
Unfortunately, the two got together coming off turn four as they fought for that position and the lone yellow of the race would fly. VanGilder would go to the tail for the restart with Richards retaining second.
Amundson would continue to lead with Soltis now challenging for second. He would get past Richards to take that spot and then would close up on the leader. Just like on Saturday night, it would be Soltis trying high and low as he looked for an opening but Amundson would give him no opportunities as he drove smooth and steady laps.
At the wire, it was Amundson by a car length with Soltis again a close runner up.Things got interesting in the battle for third as Cole Richards tried to hold off his father Danny and they had a spirited battle for that spot. A bold last corner high side pass would see Danny edge his son at the line for third with Travis Loew completing the top five.
Next week, the speedway returns to their regular Saturday night program schedule. However, the June 4th program is a special one too as it is Kid’s Night at the track. The drivers will have their cars on the front chute before the program where the fans can mingle with the drivers and pick up photos while many of the drivers also bring treats. There will be many bikes to be given away to the kids, a tradition live and well at the speedway. Anyone who would like to contribute a bike for the giveway is asked to check the speedway face book page for information on who to contact. Racing will begin at 7 pm on June 4th.
Media Results
20 entries
WISSOTA SUPER STOCK
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[8]; 2. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[1]; 3. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[2]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[9]; 5. 40-Nick Traynor[5]; 6. 20*-Andrew Davis[4]; 7. 1E-Eric Olson[13]; 8. 11-Tucker Quinn[6]; 9. 14X-Leslie Leu[10]; 10. 2F-Jeffrey Frey[3]; 11. 1776-Wayne Dean[11]; 12. 28-Josh Cappo[15]; 13. 20-Chris Johnson[18]; 14. 01-Michael Anderson[17]; 15. 22AT-Austin Tilton[19]; 16. (DNF) 1DIRT-Kody Koski[7]; 17. (DNF) 14-Kori Richter[12]; 18. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[16]; 19. (DNF) 77-Josh Saunders[14]; 20. (DNS) 29M-Michael Miller
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[2]; 2. 11-Tucker Quinn[3]; 3. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[7]; 4. 14X-Leslie Leu[5]; 5. 1E-Eric Olson[6]; 6. 21-Mike Siewert[4]; 7. 20-Chris Johnson[1]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 20*-Andrew Davis[1]; 2. 40-Nick Traynor[3]; 3. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[4]; 4. 1776-Wayne Dean[5]; 5. 77-Josh Saunders[2]; 6. 01-Michael Anderson[6]; 7. 22AT-Austin Tilton[7]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 2F-Jeffrey Frey[1]; 2. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[3]; 3. 1DIRT-Kody Koski[4]; 4. 14-Kori Richter[2]; 5. 28-Josh Cappo[5]; 6. (DNF) 29M-Michael Miller[6]
11 entries
WISSOTA STREET STOCK
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 30-Shawn Amundson[1]; 2. 9-Adam Soltis[3]; 3. 3R-Danny Richards[7]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[2]; 5. 40-Travis Loew[5]; 6. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[8]; 7. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 8. 17-Zach Beaulieu[9]; 9. 1M-Alex Myers[10]; 10. 19H-Jenna Herrman[11]; 11. (DNF) 71H-Ron Hanestad[6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Travis Loew[2]; 2. 1R-Cole Richards[1]; 3. 30-Shawn Amundson[4]; 4. 84-Hunter VanGilder[5]; 5. 17-Zach Beaulieu[3]; 6. 19H-Jenna Herrman[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards[1]; 2. 9-Adam Soltis[2]; 3. 71H-Ron Hanestad[3]; 4. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[5]; 5. 1M-Alex Myers[4]
13 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[5]; 2. 52-Zachary Folz[2]; 3. 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 4. 29M-Rob Grabon[3]; 5. 26-Kevin Bartelt[4]; 6. 55-Kevin Meeds[1]; 7. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[9]; 8. 101-Michael Grover[6]; 9. 52F-Austin Fencl[11]; 10. 12-Aaron Holmberg[10]; 11. 70-Bob Thompson[8]; 12. 4K-Terry Kemp[13]; 13. (DNF) 17-Chris Gross[12]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Zachary Folz[1]; 2. 29M-Rob Grabon[2]; 3. 101-Michael Grover[6]; 4. 26-Kevin Bartelt[3]; 5. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 6. 52F-Austin Fencl[7]; 7. 4K-Terry Kemp[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[1]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 3. 70-Bob Thompson[5]; 4. 55-Kevin Meeds[6]; 5. 12-Aaron Holmberg[3]; 6. 17-Chris Gross[2]
