Bahr, Richards and Grabon First Time Winners at Rice Lake Speedway
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, July 9 – On a warm Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway, three drivers won their first feature races of the year while another driver tied one of the most significant records in track history. Three of the features were decided on the final lap while the two most dominant figures of the season both added to their feature win totals as there was plenty to talk about after Saturday night’s show.
Tony Bahr, Rob Grabon and Danny Richards all won their first feature wins of the season at the track and all three were decided by last lap action with two needing the electronic scoring and timing to determine just who the official winner was. Meanwhile, Terran Spacek and Kevin Adams, the two most dominant drivers at the track this season, both added to their feature win totals with strong runs again. And to top things off, Adams tied one of the most prized records in track history while doing so.
The Midwest Modified feature had the closest finish of the night with Bahr making a last corner pass on Travis Anderson to get his first feature win of the year here at Rice Lake. Until that last lap pass, Anderson had led all fourteen laps of the main leading up to the last corner drama.
Travis had the outside pole and he took the early lead over Jamie Bisonette and Aric Lindberg while Bahr was working his way forward after starting eighth on the grid. As Anderson fought off Lindberg, who had moved into second place, Bahr continued to move up in the standings and he raced into third just before the halfway point of the race.
Bahr then made a big move when Lindberg got hung up in traffic and dived to the low side of the track at the flag stand to move into second. He then began to close on Anderson as he laps ticked off, but a late yellow for a spinning Kenny Kincaid, set up a two lap dash for the win.
Bahr dove for the bottom on the green and slid up Anderson but Travis crossed him over and continued to lead as they took the white flag. Bahr made another strong move in turn one and was able to get up beside the leader as they raced down the back chute. Tony powered low into turn three and slid up in front of Anderson and when Travis tried to cross him back over, Bahr had the lane blocked. Travis was delayed slightly but then dove to the inside of Bahr and when they crossed the line, Bahr was the winner by .092 seconds in a thriller that had the crowd on their feet. Mike Schnider made a late race charge that would see him get up to third in the final point standings.
While it was the first win of the year for Bahr at Rice Lake, the part time racer these days has a long history of success at the track. With feature wins in Midwest Modifieds, Super Stocks, Modifieds and Late Models over the course of his career at Rice Lake, Saturday night was his thirty fifth career win at the track. He was also the seventh different winner at the track in seven nights with no repeat winners so far this season.
Nearly as close as the finish was in the Midwest Modified feature, the Pure Stocks put on a show that was decided by a fender length at the checkered. Mike Grover would lead the opening lap of the feature race before he was passed by Rob Grabon for the lead. The Pure Stocks had a few issues early with three yellows in the first four laps but then they raced the rest of the event right up to the checkered flag. While Grabon continued to lead over Grover following that last yellow, James Rahn and Bob Wahlstrom were both on the move after starting in the third and fourth rows respectively.
Rahn was able to move into second while both Bryar Zimmerman and Ryan Olson were both also heading toward the front of the field. As Grabon continued to hold the lead, it gradually began to shrink with Wahlstrom picking up the pace and moving past Rahn into second. The last couple of laps saw Grabon’s lead continue to shrink as Wahlstrom was gaining ground rapidly.
On the last corner of the race, Wahlstrom was able to get a great run off the bottom and dive to inside of Grabon, gaining ground constantly. As they surged to the checkered, Grabon’s lead continued to shrink but he was able to hold on by a fender length to get the win with the margin of victory being a very close .100 seconds. Rahn would finish third.
For Grabon, it was his first feature win at Rice Lake this season, his second all time and first since the 2017 racing season. He was also the sixth different winner in the class so far this year.
The other new winner was in the Street Stock class where Danny Richards would get the win in another race with a wild conclusion. Rapidly improving Eric Haupt would lead the first two laps of the feature as a mad scramble broke out behind him with drivers racing two and three wide as they fought to move up in the strong field of drivers. Hunter VanGilder, looking for his first win here this season, would find an opening on the low side of the track and advance from tenth on the starting grid to the front at breakneck speed.
With a strong run off turn four, he would drive past Haupt and take over the lead only three laps into the race. Just two laps later, the race would be stopped as the red flag waved when Derek Baskin took the first rollover of the season at the track. Baskin climbed the back stretch concrete wall, flipped over onto his rood and slid much of the length of the back straightaway on his top in a wild wreck. However, Baskin was fine and with some careful righting of the car, the damage did not appear to be significant.
The race would go green for the last ten laps and after battling with his son, Danny Richards would take over the second spot from Cole Richards and close in on VanGilder.
Richards found a fast line on the top side of the track and using that cushion, he would blow past VanGilder to take over the lead. As Richards continued to push the cushion, VanGilder would stay within a few car lengths of the leader as the top two pulled away from the pack. Suddenly, with only four laps to go, Richards would completely misjudge turn three and he went far too high, up out of the groove and VanGilder was able to drive under him and retake the lead.
Richards then drove as hard as possible, trying to regain the lead he had held previously. He managed to get up to the rear bumper of VanGilder’s car and as they raced off turn four to get the white flag, it looked like another nailbiter would take place. However, just as the reached the start/finish line, Hunter had a red light come on his dashboard, he lost all power and the race was lost. He managed to crawl to the infield and not trigger a yellow and with his competition disabled, Richards would then drive on for the win.
It was a big night for the Richards family as his son Cole would then take the second spot and join dad in victory lane. Travis Loew would then inherit the third finishing spot. Danny Richards became the sixth different winner in the Street Stocks so far this year with his triumph.
The most dominant driver at the track this season, Terran Spacek, would do it again as he won his sixth Super Stock feature race of the year after an entertaining battle with Nick Traynor to do so. Reid Tiegs, back in racing just recently, would lead the first lap of the race before Traynor would drive past him to take over the point. Spacek would start seventh on the grid but was quickly up to third and then would also drive past Tiegs to take over second when the yellow flew for a hard crash on the front chute.
Mike Siewert got into the concrete wall hard and when he rebounded off the wall, he crashed hard with Josh Cappo with both cars disabled and needing assistance to get to the pits.
The following laps were some of the most entertaining of the night as Spacek and Traynor exchanged slide jobs back and forth as they battled for the lead. Finally, on lap eight, Spacek would execute another slider and Traynor couldn’t quite march his move and Spacek would then claim the top spot for good.
The last fifteen lap of the race would go nonstop with Spacek gradually pulling away over Traynor. A good battle for third would see Leslie Leu hold off Eric Olson for that position with Josh Saunders, and early spin victim, rebounding to round out the top five.
The Modified feature would see rookie driver Joe Chaplin Jr get the jump and lead the first four laps of the feature race. Sam Fankhauser would move into second while Adams would race his way up from eighth to move into third by the time that the only yellow of the race would wave for a slowing Steve Hallquist.
Adams would get a great break on the green and would blow past Fankhauser to take the second spot. He would then quickly close on Chaplin Jr and drive past him in turn three to take over the lead. The rest of the race would run off nonstop and Adams was in control with a comfortable margin the for the rest of the event. Chaplin Jr would run an excellent race, keeping Adams in sight and finishing a strong second with Fankhauser also shaking some bad racing luck as he finished third.
It would be Adams fifth feature win of the season but much more significantly, it would be his ninety third Modified feature win at the Rice Lake Speedway, as he would match the mark of the late Russ Laursen for most feature wins by a driver in a single class of competition. In all, with feature wins in Late Models, Modifieds, Midwest Modifieds, Super Stocks and Street Stocks, Adams has won one hundred and sixty one feature wins in his Rice Lake career, tops on the all time list.
Next Saturday night, July 16th, the Rice Lake Speedway will celebrate its seventieth consecutive year of operation as a race track and fans are invited to dig out their old t-shirts, coats and sweatshirts to wear on that night. Also, it will be Hall of Fame night and Pat Becker, Marge Rettenmund, Larry James Quinn and Scott Clark will be added to the speedway Hall of Fame. Race time is 7 pm.
14 entries
WISSOTA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[7]; 2. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[2]; 3. 11-Sam Fankhauser[1]; 4. 308-Pat Hoffman[5]; 5. 10-Kyle Helling[3]; 6. 20-Denny Cutsforth[9]; 7. 20E-Austin Ellis[10]; 8. 6-Shane Kisling[8]; 9. 4A-Hunter Anderson[12]; 10. 18W-Wayne Poteet[11]; 11. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[14]; 12. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[4]; 13. (DNS) 1M-Curt Myers; 14. (DNS) 57-Mike Anderson
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Kyle Helling[3]; 2. 308-Pat Hoffman[4]; 3. 27H-Steve Hallquist[2]; 4. 11-Sam Fankhauser[7]; 5. 20-Denny Cutsforth[5]; 6. 18W-Wayne Poteet[6]; 7. (DNF) 57-Mike Anderson[1]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[3]; 2. 6-Shane Kisling[2]; 3. 40-Kevin Adams[6]; 4. 1M-Curt Myers[5]; 5. 20E-Austin Ellis[4]; 6. 4A-Hunter Anderson[1]; 7. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[7]
11 entries
WISSOTA SUPER STOCK
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[7]; 2. 40-Nick Traynor[4]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[6]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[8]; 5. 77-Josh Saunders[1]; 6. 77L-Andy Ladd[9]; 7. 01A-Reid Tiegs[2]; 8. (DNF) 01-Michael Anderson[3]; 9. (DNF) 28-Josh Cappo[10]; 10. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[5]; 11. (DNS) 22AT-Austin Tilton
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[1]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[4]; 3. 40-Nick Traynor[5]; 4. 01A-Reid Tiegs[2]; 5. 77L-Andy Ladd[6]; 6. 28-Josh Cappo[3]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14X-Leslie Leu[2]; 2. 21-Mike Siewert[1]; 3. 77-Josh Saunders[3]; 4. 01-Michael Anderson[4]; 5. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[5]
12 entries
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. QQ-Tony Bahr[8]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[2]; 3. 40S-Mike Schnider[5]; 4. 221-Aric Lindberg[4]; 5. 93-CJ Wagner[6]; 6. 17-Jamie Bisonette[1]; 7. 28H-Francis Hanson[9]; 8. 28-Paul Ripley[3]; 9. 19H-Kevin Herrman[10]; 10. 18-Tacoma Randall[11]; 11. (DNF) 4K-Kenny Kincaid[7]; 12. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[12]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. QQ-Tony Bahr[3]; 2. 40S-Mike Schnider[2]; 3. 17-Jamie Bisonette[1]; 4. 221-Aric Lindberg[4]; 5. 28H-Francis Hanson[5]; 6. 18-Tacoma Randall[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[1]; 2. 93-CJ Wagner[5]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 4. 28-Paul Ripley[3]; 5. 19H-Kevin Herrman[2]; 6. 88K-Donavan Knutson[6]
18 entries
WISSOTA STREET STOCK
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards[8]; 2. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 3. 40-Travis Loew[6]; 4. 7-Caiden Engel[4]; 5. 17-Zach Beaulieu[5]; 6. 30-Shawn Amundson[9]; 7. 79-Joseph Ott[18]; 8. 71H-Ron Hanestad[11]; 9. 15B-Mike Brown[12]; 10. 66-Eric Haupt[1]; 11. 56-Ethan Hommerding[7]; 12. 19H-Jenna Herrman[13]; 13. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[10]; 14. (DNF) 10-Derek Baskin[2]; 15. (DNS) 71X-William Fisher; 16. (DNS) 54-Scott Davis; 17. (DNS) 10B-Dylan Baskin; 18. (DNS) 9-Adam Soltis
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards[2]; 2. 40-Travis Loew[1]; 3. 56-Ethan Hommerding[4]; 4. 84-Hunter VanGilder[3]; 5. 15B-Mike Brown[6]; 6. (DNF) 10B-Dylan Baskin[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Shawn Amundson[5]; 2. 17-Zach Beaulieu[2]; 3. 7-Caiden Engel[4]; 4. (DNF) 71X-William Fisher[1]; 5. (DNF) 54-Scott Davis[6]; 6. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 2. 66-Eric Haupt[5]; 3. 10-Derek Baskin[1]; 4. 71H-Ron Hanestad[2]; 5. 19H-Jenna Herrman[6]; 6. (DNF) 79-Joseph Ott[4]
18 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 29M-Rob Grabon[4]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 3. 23R-James Rahn[8]; 4. 1-Ryan Olson[11]; 5. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[6]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[1]; 7. 31T-Tom Treviranus[9]; 8. 21-Ryan Clausen[10]; 9. 26-Kevin Bartelt[13]; 10. 52-Zachary Folz[3]; 11. 9W-Anthony Woodhull[15]; 12. 12-Aaron Holmberg[2]; 13. 131-Jessie Limberios[7]; 14. (DNF) 52F-Austin Fencl[14]; 15. (DNF) 17-Chris Gross[16]; 16. (DNF) 7D-Trevor Phillips[12]; 17. (DNF) 81-Charlie Pitcavage[17]; 18. (DNS) 4K-Terry Kemp
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[3]; 2. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[1]; 3. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 4. 21-Ryan Clausen[2]; 5. 26-Kevin Bartelt[4]; 6. 17-Chris Gross[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Aaron Holmberg[2]; 2. 52-Zachary Folz[1]; 3. 29M-Rob Grabon[4]; 4. 1-Ryan Olson[3]; 5. 52F-Austin Fencl[5]; 6. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 31T-Tom Treviranus[1]; 2. 131-Jessie Limberios[4]; 3. 101-Michael Grover[5]; 4. 7D-Trevor Phillips[2]; 5. 9W-Anthony Woodhull[3]; 6. (DNF) 4K-Terry Kemp[6]
