Three Repeat Winners Emerge In Rice Lake Speedway Action; Holiday Special Upcoming
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, July 1 – Racing returned to the Rice Lake Speedway following a two week break due to rain but during that break some of the previous winners continued to sharpen their skills which allowed Danny Richards, Mike Schnider and Ryan Olson to all become the first repeat winners at the speedway in 2023. However, for Tucker Quinn, it was a big night for another reason as he won his first ever Rice Lake Super Stock victory to round out the night’s list of winners.
The USRA Late Models made their first ever appearance at the track also on Saturday nightwith Dylan Kromschroeder from Cambridge Minnesota winning that event.
Drivers will have a quick turnaround this week as one of the season highlight events comes to the track on Monday night, July 3rd with the running of the annual Firecracker event which will feature a full program in the five WISSOTA sanctioned divisions that routinely race at the track plus the spectacular fireworks display that the speedway is well known for presenting. It will also be the annual Relay at the Races night at the track with many activities associated with that event ongoing, all to benefit the American Cancer Society of Barron County.
The Street Stock feature was the highlight event of the night as it featured five lead changes among three different drivers before Richards would fight off Kolby Kiehl for his second win of the year. Cody Cimfl, seeking his first win of the year, would lead the opening lap of the Street Stock main from his pole position but Richards was making noise early, going to the cushion and moving from his eighth place starting position to second after only one lap. It took him just one more lap to pass Cimfl and then take over the lead.
However, Kiehl was having just about as much success moving forward as Richards as he quickly moved up to second and then began to close on the leader. Thus began a classic back and forth battle between the two young veterans with Richards riding the banking and Kiehl running the low groove. They swapped the lead back and forth between them as they continued to roll around the track side by side. Each time they would cross the finish line it would be nip and tuck as to who would be the leader.
On lap seven, Kiehl would take over the top spot but Richards was still beside him and would return the favor the next lap. Danny would then lead until lap thirteen when Kiehl would again take over the leader while the top two were working their way through traffic.
Once clear of traffic, Richards would climb the banking again and race past Kiehl again to take over the lead. Racing clean and green for the first thirteen laps, the yellow would then wave on three straight occasions, frustrating efforts of the two leaders to settle the issue. Richards had edged into the lead before the last yellow so he would lead the pack to what would be the final restart. Kiehl pushed as hard as possible but Danny again used the banking to edge out front and hold on for his second win here this year and third of his career here in the Street Stocks. Kiehl would finish a very close second with Danny’s son Cole rounding out the top three.
Returning to racing here for the first time this year, Jay Kesan would show that he still had it as he came from fourteenth to round out the top five behind Adam Soltis.
Kiehl would be involved in two separate battles for the lead which would see both come right down to the wire with Kolby coming up short in both. Just as tight as his battle in the Street Stocks were, he went through the same kind of anguish in the Super Stock feature as he fought it out with Tucker Quinn for the top honors. Kiehl would start on the outside pole for the Super Stock feature and take the early lead. It took three attempts to get the first lap completed but after that, the race would run green to checkered. Mike Siewert would run second early until Quinn came from the fourth position to move into second and then the chase was on.
Kiehl would run the banking in turns one and two and then tuck low on the North end of the track while Quinn was running a low line all the way around the track. With the race staying under the green, Kiehl had built up a nice early lead but slowly Quinn began to reel him in, car length by car length. By the halfway signal he was right behind the leader and testing a passing move as Leslie Leu, Eric Olson and Jeff Eisner Jr. battled for third.
Quinn tried to go under Kiehl but wasn’t able to make it happen until with just five laps left in the race he got a good run off turn four and edged past Kiehl to take over the lead. After that, Quinn was able to edge away from Kiehl, who was under the gun from a pressing Leu for second.
At the finish, Quinn had taken solid command of the race and drove on for the win. Kiehl finished a frustrating second as he held off Leu, Olson and Eisner Jr. For Quinn, it was his first ever Super Stock win at Rice Lake after last having visited victory lane here in 2017 while running a Pure Stock.
Schnider would lead from start to finish to claim his second Midwest Modified feature win of 2023 at the track. He started on the outside pole and would pull away at the beginning. It was a frustrating race for many with the yellow flag getting a work out as it would wave six times in the first seven laps of the race as some of the competitors had a tough time keeping their machines pointed the proper direction. Shadow Kitchner would hold second early until passed by Jason Schill who would chase Schnider the rest of the way but would never be able to offer a solid challenge to the Cameron driver.
Schnider’s win would be his third career victory in the Midwest Modifieds with Schill finishing second. The last lap was a bit chaotic as Kitchner went high on the final lap and Jesse Bryan spun while in the top five. This would allow George Dalbeck to complete an impressive eleventh to third charge.
In a race with much calamity, Ryan Olson would drive a steady and smooth course and that would allow him to win his second Pure Stock Feature of the season. Devin Fries would be the early leader with George Richards providing the challenge. Olson started seventh but slowly and steadily he would work his way to the front.
Contender Bob Wahlstrom would be knocked out early by a wreck and Austin Fencl spun out of second. Even Richards got turned by another car and barely avoided a crash. Finally, on lap six, Olson edged in front and the final half of the race would see a classic duel between Olson and Richards as George looked for an opening to get by. They would race in a right formation the rest of the way with Richards trying to get a nose under the leader in each corner but Olson fighting him off.
George would take one more shot on the last corner but Ryan would hold him off by a car length to grab his second win of the year here. Richards would finish a tight second and Fries would round out the top three.
The USRA Late Models made their first ever visit to the track and they provided an entertaining main event. Duane Halvorson would be the early leader of the race with challenges from Chad Prissel for he top spot. Ashley Wahlstrom, in her first race of the year, drove up into contention and would fight for the second spot for a number of laps
Finally, Dylan Kromschroeder would move to the inside line and take over the lead. He would then pull away as the driver on the move was Cade Nelson. He started seventh but gradually worked his way into second and after he passed Wahlstrom, he began to close on the leader. However, the laps ran out and Kromschroeder would take the win over Nelson and Wahlstrom.
The USRA Late Models will next return to the speedway for a race on July 29th.
The pits will open at 4 pm on July 3rd with the grandstands opening at 5 pm. Racing is scheduled to begin at 7 pm with the fireworks being shot off at dusk, whether the racing program is completed by that time or not. More information on event pricing will be available on the speedway face book page as well as information on upcoming races. July 8th is the rain date for the Firecracker special. However, if the race comes off as scheduled on July 3rd, there will be no racing at the track on July 8th.
7/1/2023
RICE LAKE SPEEDWAY
Media Results
14 entries
WISSOTA SUPER STOCK
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11-Tucker Quinn[3]; 2. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[2]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[4]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[5]; 5. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[8]; 6. 20*-Andrew Davis[10]; 7. 21-Mike Siewert[1]; 8. 94-Hunter VanGilder[6]; 9. 24-Chuck Metzger[7]; 10. 28-Josh Cappo[11]; 11. 01-Michael Anderson[13]; 12. (DNF) 22-Clay Albrecht[9]; 13. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[12]; 14. (DNF) 247-Jackson Larson[14]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[7]; 2. 94-Hunter VanGilder[3]; 3. 21-Mike Siewert[4]; 4. 24-Chuck Metzger[6]; 5. 22-Clay Albrecht[5]; 6. 28-Josh Cappo[1]; 7. 01-Michael Anderson[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Tucker Quinn[2]; 2. 14X-Leslie Leu[3]; 3. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[1]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[7]; 5. 20*-Andrew Davis[5]; 6. 22AT-Austin Tilton[4]; 7. 247-Jackson Larson[6]
18 entries
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7-Mike Schnider[2]; 2. 11X-Jason Schill[5]; 3. 23DD-George Dalbeck[11]; 4. 68-Shadow Kitchner[3]; 5. 63JR-Brady Larson[4]; 6. T25-Mark Thomas[13]; 7. 13-Derrick Reed[14]; 8. 63L-Calvin Iverson[9]; 9. 28H-Francis Hanson[1]; 10. 19H-Kevin Herrman[10]; 11. 18-Tacoma Randall[18]; 12. 1-Jake Stai[12]; 13. 21B-Jesse Bryan[7]; 14. (DNF) 40D-Blake Adams[8]; 15. (DNF) 19A-Aiden Hoffman[17]; 16. (DNF) 119-Travis Anderson[6]; 17. (DNF) 1M-Matt Brandemuehl[15]; 18. (DNF) 410-Jesse Young[16]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 119-Travis Anderson[1]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 3. 28H-Francis Hanson[4]; 4. 19H-Kevin Herrman[2]; 5. T25-Mark Thomas[5]; 6. 410-Jesse Young[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 63JR-Brady Larson[4]; 3. 11X-Jason Schill[6]; 4. 23DD-George Dalbeck[5]; 5. 13-Derrick Reed[2]; 6. 19A-Aiden Hoffman[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 63L-Calvin Iverson[1]; 2. 21B-Jesse Bryan[4]; 3. 68-Shadow Kitchner[3]; 4. 1-Jake Stai[6]; 5. 1M-Matt Brandemuehl[5]; 6. 18-Tacoma Randall[2]
20 entries
WISSOTA STREET STOCK
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards[8]; 2. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[4]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[7]; 4. 9-Adam Soltis[5]; 5. 7-Jay Kesan[18]; 6. 79-Joseph Ott[10]; 7. 66-Eric Haupt[6]; 8. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[11]; 9. 10B-Dylan Baskin[12]; 10. 7BR-Lucas Boyce[16]; 11. T20-Michael Tuma[3]; 12. 20-Connor Franson[2]; 13. 92R-Courtney Rose[13]; 14. 52-Aden Saunders[20]; 15. 19J-Jenna Herrman[15]; 16. (DNF) 19C-Cody Cimfl[1]; 17. (DNF) 19H-Kevin Herrman[14]; 18. (DNS) 6H-Dusten Holub; 19. (DNS) 40-Travis Loew; 20. (DNS) 10-Derek Baskin
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. T20-Michael Tuma[2]; 2. 3R-Danny Richards[5]; 3. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[7]; 4. 79-Joseph Ott[4]; 5. 10B-Dylan Baskin[1]; 6. 19H-Kevin Herrman[3]; 7. 7BR-Lucas Boyce[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Adam Soltis[7]; 2. 66-Eric Haupt[2]; 3. 20-Connor Franson[6]; 4. (DNF) 40-Travis Loew[3]; 5. (DNF) 7-Jay Kesan[5]; 6. (DNF) 10-Derek Baskin[4]; 7. (DNF) 52-Aden Saunders[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Cole Richards[5]; 2. 19C-Cody Cimfl[1]; 3. 6H-Dusten Holub[4]; 4. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[3]; 5. 92R-Courtney Rose[2]; 6. 19J-Jenna Herrman[6]
11 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 2. 5R-George Richards[6]; 3. 95F-Devin Fries[1]; 4. 16-Rob Grabon[8]; 5. 15H-Trenten Holub[3]; 6. 23R-James Rahn[2]; 7. 101-Michael Grover[10]; 8. 17G-Chris Gross[11]; 9. (DNF) 52W-Austin Fencl[4]; 10. (DNF) 12-Aaron Holmberg[9]; 11. (DNF) 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 3. 1-Ryan Olson[6]; 4. 15H-Trenten Holub[5]; 5. 12-Aaron Holmberg[4]; 6. 17G-Chris Gross[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards[1]; 2. 52W-Austin Fencl[5]; 3. 23R-James Rahn[4]; 4. 16-Rob Grabon[3]; 5. 101-Michael Grover[2]
10 entries
USRA LATE MODELS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[4]; 2. 44-Cade Nelson[7]; 3. 19-Ashley Wahlstrom[5]; 4. 65-Lucas Peterson[6]; 5. 54-Chad Prissel[3]; 6. 14-Steven O’Brien Jr[9]; 7. 26D-Chad Dawson[8]; 8. (DNF) 35X-Parker Foster[2]; 9. (DNF) 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[10]; 10. (DNF) 10-Duane Halverson[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Dylan Kromschroeder[3]; 2. 19-Ashley Wahlstrom[1]; 3. 35X-Parker Foster[2]; 4. 54-Chad Prissel[4]; 5. 14-Steven O’Brien Jr[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Cade Nelson[1]; 2. 65-Lucas Peterson[5]; 3. 26D-Chad Dawson[4]; 4. 10-Duane Halverson[3]; 5. (DNF) 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[2]
