By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, May 8 – The second night of racing for the 2021 racing season at the Rice Lake Speedway saw five different winners visit victory lane from opening night on a clear but cool evening. Taking their first wins at the track this year were Mike Anderson, Dave Flynn, Austin Ellis, Shawn Amundson and Travis Hazelton. 

The Best Appearing car presentations, based on balloting on opening night went to Mike Anderson, making him a double winner for the evening, Mickey Anderson, Travis Anderson, James Clausen and Bob Thompson for his unique El Camino Pure Stock. 

For Anderson, his feature win was a relatively easy one in that he started on the outside pole, took the point quickly and then drove away from the field in what turned out to be a caution free Modified finale. Anderson stretched his margin to nearly a full straightaway over the field as he received absolutely no challenges to his leadership position. Sam Fankhauser pulled into second behind him and also rode in that position throughout the race. 

The best battle was for third where it was members of the Spacek family battling it out once again, this week for third whereas last week it was for the win. Father Jeff and son Cole swapped the third spot several times and it was clear they didn’t mind leaning on each other, family member or not. They crossed over each other several times before Cole finally secured the position. He then tore off after Fankhauser and was able to draw near to him but ran out of time to provide a severe challenge for that second spot. 

For defending track champion Anderson, it just marked another win in a long and successful career of racing at this track. 

Dave Flynn won his first ever Super Stock feature win at the track on Saturday and he led from start to finish in doing so. While Flynn was strong throughout the race, the several yellow flags that flew meant that he had to be on his guard every time the green flag flew, so as to not make a mistake and give one of the challengers a chance at him. And there was plenty of them trying to reach him as the battles for second and behind were very good. 

Nick Traynor first of all challenged Flynn for the lead at the beginning and then settled into second where he was soon challenged for that spot by D.J. Keeler. Traynor and Keeler battled hard for that runner up position before Keeler used the top side of the track to move into second. Also charging hard toward the front were Terran Spacek, Kevin Burdick and Steve Stuart. Spacek particularly was on the move as he gained several positions and then pulled up to challenge first Traynor and then after passing him, Keeler for second. Burdick, meanwhile, was also working his way to the front as those positions behind Flynn continued to be a scramble. 

Following the last yellow flag for a spin with eight laps to go, as Flynn once again pulled away, Spacek was finally able to drive past Keeler and take over second and while Keeler didn’t give up and remained close, Spacek would go on to maintain second to the checkered as Flynn pulled away from the field once again. Eric Olson would make one of the strongest chargers of the race as he worked his way from a thirteenth place start to round out the top five at the end. 

The Midwest Modifieds put on a great show on Saturday with twenty three of them taking the green flag and with only two minor yellows and two cars that didn’t finish the race, there was much green flag racing and several strong charges to the front put on. 

Chris Bretting would lead the first lap of the main before he was overtaking by last year’s track champion Travis Anderson. Anderson would remain on top for several laps but he was severely challenged by Kennedy Swan and Mike Schnider with Swan nearly slipped past him before the second and final yellow flew with four laps complete. 

At this point Austin Ellis moved to the second lane and he found immediate success and he marched to the front after starting fifth on the grid. He found the outside lane to his liking as he continued to charge to the front and he drove past Anderson on the outside to take over the lead. Following Ellis’ strategy, Michigan driver Marcus Dunbar also moved to the second lane and his success was immediately noticeable also and he started moving up in the field. He caught Anderson for second and then had a great duel before Dunbar made the top side work and he drove into second. He tried to track down Ellis but Austin had a good lead and continued to make strong laps and the Rice Lake driver would go on to take the win. Swan stalked Anderson for third but could never quite complete the pass while Schnider got his first top five finish in this his rookie season behind the wheel of a Midwest Modified. 

Amundson earned his second ever feature win in the Street Stocks as he led from start to finish in their main event but it was a challenge as he was stalked throughout the race by veteran Adam Soltis who very nearly got by several times to take the lead. Amundson started on the pole and would ease past Josh Beaulieu to take the early lead while Soltis moved up quickly and took over the second spot. Right behind them, Travis Loew and James Clausen were having an outstanding battle for third. 

Soltis moved up the track and he found that to his liking as he closed on Amundson and then began a series of attacks on the lead. Lap after lap he would get to the outside of Amundson but just not quite have enough momentum to get past. He tried different approaches into the corners but each time, Amundson would have just enough speed to hold him off as Shawn was making no mistakes while guarding the low side of the track. 

Soltis would have one last shot when Ty Agen would spin out of fourth place with just four laps left to go. However, Soltis and Loew would rub as the race restarted and that killed Soltis’ momentum. He was able to fight his way back to second but he would have nothing for Amundson who drove a solid race to get the win. Following the checkered, Loew was moved back two positions for jumping the final restart so the official running order would show Clausen in third, followed by Will Fisher and Loew. 

The most impressive drive of the night was turned in by Pure Stock driver Travis Hazelton who came from the sixth row to win the Pure Stock feature race. Dusten Holub was the early leader of the main event after starting on the pole. Only one lap could be completed before a multi car collision slowed the action with all drivers except Max Prusak able to continue. Holub continued to hold the lead but he was receiving heavy pressure from a pack that included Randy Graham, Tristan Scheuermann, Bryar Zimmerman and Jeremy Cash. 

Also moving up quickly was Ryan Olson from the third row and he found an opening on the inside and shot up into serious contention for the lead. He would continue his charge as he challenged Holub for the lead. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed, Hazelton was making a run forward from his eleventh starting spot and was soon a part of the lead race battle. 

Olson got under Holub to take over the lead and he would show the way for several laps until Hazelton appeared on his rear bumper and when Ryan gave him an opening down the front chute, Travis drove past to take over the lead. Olson would continue to closely follow the leader but Hazelton was in the groove and would drive on for the win, his second at the track having earned his first ever win last year while second year driver Olson looks for his first Rice Lake win. 

Cory Jorgensen would also make a strong advance as last week’s winner would move from ninth to a third pace finish with Zimmerman and Aaron Bernick completing the top five. 

Next Saturday night will mark the first special event of the 2021 racing season at the track. The WISSOTA Late Models will make their first appearance of the season, racing in the Trackside Collectibles 40 which will see the feature winner earn two thousand dollars for their efforts with a strong field of competitors expected for one of the first specials for the Late Models this season. As a bonus, all classes that race at the speedway on a weekly basis will also be in action so it should be a great night of racing. As always, hot laps begin at 6:30 pm with racing at 7 pm. 

Race fans should follow the face book page for the speedway for other information about this event with the defending winner of this event in 2020, Pat Doar from New Richmond expected to be among the contenders.

5/8/2021 at Rice Lake Speedway

WISSOTA Modifieds

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[2]; 2. 11-Sam Fankhauser[1]; 3. 22S-Cole Spacek[4]; 4. 22-Jeff Spacek[3]; 5. 0-Zack Drews[7]; 6. 99-Neil Balduc[9]; 7. 20-Denny Cutsforth[5]; 8. 27H-Steve Hallquist[8]; 9. 3H-Jake Hiatt[6]; 10. (DNS) 204-David Mayala; 11. (DNS) 308-Pat Hoffman

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[2]; 2. 22-Jeff Spacek[5]; 3. 22S-Cole Spacek[3]; 4. 0-Zack Drews[6]; 5. 20-Denny Cutsforth[4]; 6. 3H-Jake Hiatt[1]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[1]; 2. 27H-Steve Hallquist[4]; 3. (DNF) 99-Neil Balduc[3]; 4. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[5]; 5. (DNF) 308-Pat Hoffman[2]

WISSOTA Super Stock

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 29F-Dave Flynn[2]; 2. 22T-Terran Spacek[7]; 3. 12-Duane (DJ) Keeler[4]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick[8]; 5. 1E-Eric Olson[13]; 6. 80-Steve Stuart[9]; 7. 18-Willie Johnsen Jr[14]; 8. 40-Nick Traynor[1]; 9. 26-Kyle Copp[11]; 10. 46-Simon Wahlstrom[17]; 11. 67-Josh Bach[3]; 12. 20*-Andrew Davis[6]; 13. 01-Michael Anderson[12]; 14. 77-Josh Saunders[10]; 15. 28-Josh Cappo[18]; 16. (DNF) 11X-Jason Schill[16]; 17. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[5]; 18. (DNF) XJR-Austin Workman[15]; 19. (DNS) 21F-Nick Oreskovich

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Duane (DJ) Keeler[2]; 2. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 3. 80-Steve Stuart[7]; 4. 77-Josh Saunders[4]; 5. 1E-Eric Olson[6]; 6. 11X-Jason Schill[5]; 7. 28-Josh Cappo[1]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[1]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[3]; 3. 40-Nick Traynor[2]; 4. 26-Kyle Copp[4]; 5. 18-Willie Johnsen Jr[5]; 6. 46-Simon Wahlstrom[6]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 29F-Dave Flynn[3]; 2. 21-Mike Siewert[6]; 3. 67-Josh Bach[1]; 4. 01-Michael Anderson[5]; 5. XJR-Austin Workman[4]; 6. (DNF) 21F-Nick Oreskovich

WISSOTA Midwest Mods

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 20-Austin Ellis[5]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[7]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[2]; 4. 18S-Kennedy Swan[3]; 5. 40-Mike Schnider[4]; 6. 19J-Jack Rivord[11]; 7. 32C-Cody Carlson[17]; 8. B37-Cody Borgeson[14]; 9. 17-Jamie Bisonette[10]; 10. 4-Kenny Kincaid[13]; 11. 91-Paul Suzik[16]; 12. 43-Kaden Blaeser[9]; 13. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[8]; 14. 7P-Jeff Klopstein[18]; 15. 93-CJ Wagner[12]; 16. 13-Chris Bretting[1]; 17. 28-Francis Hanson[20]; 18. 44-David Dishaw[19]; 19. 46-Zach Slayton[21]; 20. 2-Tanner Gehl[23]; 21. 19H-Kevin Herrman[22]; 22. (DNF) 63JR-Brady Larson[6]; 23. (DNF) 31-Jason Vokovan[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[4]; 2. 40-Mike Schnider[2]; 3. 63JR-Brady Larson[1]; 4. 17-Jamie Bisonette[3]; 5. 4-Kenny Kincaid[5]; 6. 91-Paul Suzik[8]; 7. 44-David Dishaw[7]; 8. 19H-Kevin Herrman

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Austin Ellis[1]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[3]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[4]; 4. 19J-Jack Rivord[5]; 5. B37-Cody Borgeson[6]; 6. 32C-Cody Carlson[7]; 7. 28-Francis Hanson[2]; 8. 2-Tanner Gehl[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 43-Kaden Blaeser[3]; 2. 13-Chris Bretting[2]; 3. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[7]; 4. 93-CJ Wagner[6]; 5. 31-Jason Vokovan[4]; 6. 7P-Jeff Klopstein[5]; 7. 46-Zach Slayton

WISSOTA Street Stock

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 30-Shawn Amundson[1]; 2. 9-Adam Soltis[3]; 3. 24-James Clausen[5]; 4. 71X-William Fisher[4]; 5. 40-Travis Loew[6]; 6. 79-Joseph Ott[7]; 7. 26T-Ty Agen[9]; 8. 17-Zach Beaulieu[2]; 9. 66-Eric Haupt[11]; 10. (DNF) 9K-Kolby Kiehl[8]; 11. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Travis Loew[1]; 2. 30-Shawn Amundson[2]; 3. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[5]; 4. 17-Zach Beaulieu[4]; 5. 26T-Ty Agen[3]; 6. 66-Eric Haupt[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Adam Soltis[1]; 2. 24-James Clausen[3]; 3. 79-Joseph Ott[4]; 4. 71X-William Fisher[5]; 5. 84-Hunter VanGilder

WISSOTA Pure Stock

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 31-Travis Hazelton[11]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[5]; 3. 16-Cory Jorgensen[9]; 4. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[4]; 5. 17-Aaron Bernick[10]; 6. 57-Randy Graham[2]; 7. 4-Jeremy Cash[6]; 8. 70-Bob Thompson[13]; 9. 2B-Nicholas Hazelton[20]; 10. 52F-Austin Fencl[16]; 11. 23R-James Rahn[12]; 12. 52-Zachary Folz[18]; 13. 72-Cully Butterfield[22]; 14. (DNF) 4K-Terry Kemp[19]; 15. (DNF) 15H-Dusten Holub[1]; 16. (DNF) 15X-George Hansford[15]; 17. (DNF) 19J-Jared Akervik[8]; 18. (DNF) 2S-Tristan Scheuermann[3]; 19. (DNF) 101-Michael Grover[17]; 20. (DNF) 66P-Max Prusak[7]; 21. (DNF) 91-Michael Holmstrom[14]; 22. (DNS) 88-Robert Wahlstrom

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[2]; 2. 16-Cory Jorgensen[4]; 3. 57-Randy Graham[5]; 4. 17-Aaron Bernick[3]; 5. 70-Bob Thompson[7]; 6. 52F-Austin Fencl[1]; 7. 52-Zachary Folz[8]; 8. (DNF) 72-Cully Butterfield[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[3]; 2. 66P-Max Prusak[2]; 3. 15H-Dusten Holub[1]; 4. 31-Travis Hazelton[6]; 5. 91-Michael Holmstrom[4]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[7]; 7. 4K-Terry Kemp[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19J-Jared Akervik[6]; 2. 2S-Tristan Scheuermann[2]; 3. 4-Jeremy Cash[1]; 4. 23R-James Rahn[3]; 5. 15X-George Hansford[4]; 6. (DNF) 2B-Nicholas Hazelton[5]; 7. (DNF) 88-Robert Wahlstrom