By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, May 25 – Along with the Swant Graber Auto Group thirty for WISSOTA Late Models, racing was also held in four other divisions on Saturday night, May 25^th at the Rice Lake Speedway with two current point leaders, a former point champion and a first time ever winner among those that stood in victory lane at the completion of the night.

Current track point leaders Curt Myers and Danny Richards were winners while 2022 point champion Kenny Kincaid returned to victory lane for the first time in two years and Austin Fencl, who started racing in the Pure Stock class in 2018, finally reached victory lane for the very first time.

Myers was a dominant driver in the Super Stock class as he drove up from ninth on the starting grid to grab the lead before the halfway point of the race and then drove away from the field for the win. As Tucker Quinn grabbed the early lead from the pole, Myers went to work early, moving up to the second groove and motored by other drivers almost at will as he quickly moved to the front of the field. By lap six, he was beside leader Quinn and edged into the top spot, only to have a yellow pause the action and back up the running order one lap.

Tommy Richards got edged up into the back stretch wall where hard contact between himself and Mike Siewert ended the night for both drivers. When racing resumed, Myers jumped back to the outer line and Quinn had nothing for Curt and the Cameron veteran drove past and pulled away.

Bad luck struck Simon Wahlstrom as after he moved into the third spot and began to challenge Quinn, he stopped quickly with some mechanical issues that ended his night. As Myers drove away from the pack, the action was provided by the Olson family as both Eric and Ryan had to start in the back of the eighteen car field after having problems in their heat races.

They would march to the front of the pack though, and eventually found themselves up in third and fourth place at the finish, trailing only Myers and Quinn. Randy Graham drove a consistent race to complete the top five. It was Myers’ second win of the early season here.

For Kincaid, it was a very nice return to Midwest Modified racing as while the Shell Lake driver won the 2022 points title at the track, he did not race last year and his return this year turned successful early. Travis Anderson led the opening lap of the main event but Kincaid, who started right behind him was fast from the start, moving up the track and driving by Anderson on lap two to take over the lead.

Anderson tried to fight back but the driver on the move was Nick Koehler who had started fifth on the grid. He got past Anderson for second by the halfway point of the race and then began to put big pressure on the leader.

Several times Nick looked under Kincaid in the corners and they drew even, but each time Kincaid would pull away slightly as they continued to race hard. Near the end of the contest, Kincaid dropped lower on the track and while Koehler was right on his tail, he wasn’t able to get past. One last shot on the final corner saw Koehler come up a half car length short as Kincaid drove on for his second ever feature win at Rice Lake. Shadow Kitchner made his own late race charge as he got past Anderson for third with Jake Stai completing the top five.

When the second groove is available for racing, Danny Richards is always a threat to take a Street Stock victory, no matter where he starts on the grid. The current point leader started fifth on Saturday but he immediately moved up the track and drove past other contenders on the high side, as he joined a pack racing for the lead. His son Cole was the early leader and it was just a few laps before he was racing his son side by side for the top spot with Levi Randt, Hunter VanGilder and Cody Cimfl in a swarm.

VanGilder would nail one of the large corner tires and this would both end his night and trigger the first yellow flag of the race. Following that yellow, Richards then would continue his charge as he passed Cole to take over the top spot. Bad luck then struck the younger Richards, as his car lost power in turn four and slowed the action once again.

Danny Richards had the setup from this point on, as he led the rest of the contest, but it wasn’t an easy win by any means. Randt was showing lots of speed and managed to stay with Richards through a series of yellow flags that would bog down the second half of the race. No matter how dominant Richards appeared, the yellows managed to always pack the field once again and Randt would take another shot at the leader.

Another late race spin set up a three lap dash to the finish and Richards was up to the task as he again fought off Randt to drive on for the win. For the current point leader, it was his first win of the year here as the Street Stock competition remains the toughest at the track with four different winners in four nights.

Randt drove a great race to finish second while Shawn Amundson moved up to finish third ahead of Cimfl. Rookie driver Nolan Brown got his first top five finish as he completed the top five.

The Pure Stock feature started off with a chaotic first lap. Bob Thompson and James Rahn were racing hard for the lead as they approached turn four. However, Thompson lost control and spun across the track in front of the whole field, sending drivers scrambling in all directions. Somehow, a mass collision was avoided but Thompson had to go to the tail for the restart and Rahn was eliminated with a flat tire.

With the front row gone, Austin Fencl would produce a powerful opening lap as he shot up from the second row to take over the lead. He immediately began to pull away from the pack as those drivers started to sort out their running order. Fencl was flying as he built up half a straightaway lead over the field. By the half way point of the race, Bob Wahlstrom had raced into second and began to close the gap.

Fencl was struggling in turn one as he car ran up the banking lap after lap as Wahlstrom edged nearer and nearer. The gap closed considerably in the final few laps and as the field took the white flag, Fencl’s car pushed up the track even farther and Wahlstrom was able to sneak under him leaving turn two.

Not willing to settle for second, Fencl drove up to the rear bumper of Wahlstrom and laid on the new leader quite hard. Wahlstrom felt his car get moved up the track in turn three and Fencl drove back under him, accelerated away and then crossed the finish line as the winner. While a strategy used in NASCAR, it is not as highly thought of on the short tracks but Fencl was able to pull it off on this night.

For Fencl, who started racing in the Pure Stock class here in 2018, it was his first ever feature win at the track as he celebrated in victory lane. Wahlstrom settled for second with Devin Fries making a late charge to nab third from Charlie Pitcavage with Eric Crosby completing the top five.

Next Saturday night, June 1^st, the speedway will be back in action once again. Saturday’s show will mark the first appearance for the Vintage cars at the track in several years as they will be making a special appearance. Joining them on the card are the WISSOTA sanctioned Modifieds, Midwest Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks. The Super Stocks will be off on Saturday as they run the first leg of the Fast Lane Super Stock series.

A quick turnaround following next Saturday night’s program will see the Fastlane Super Stock Series make a visit to the Rice Lake Speedway on Thursday night, June 6^th for a very special week night show. Last year the series made its first appearance here and brought a huge field of cars with fifty or more certainly possible once again in 2024. The Midwest Mods will join the Super Stocks on that Thursday for a quick, two division program. The Midwest Mods will be running a special event on that night also with details expected to be released shortly about their program. Race time for that Thursday night show is expected to be one hour later that the normal Saturday night shows. The speedway will not be racing on Saturday night, June 8^th in deference to the Aquafest celebration in Rice Lake.

5/25/2024
RICE LAKE SPEEDWAY

Results

18 entries

WISSOTA SUPER STOCK

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A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[9]; 2. 390-Tucker Quinn[1]; 3. 1E-Eric Olson[17]; 4. 1-Ryan Olson[18]; 5. 57-Randy Graham[2]; 6. 71X-William Fisher[12]; 7. 01-Michael Anderson[13]; 8. 28-Josh Cappo[15]; 9. 22-Clay Albrecht[11]; 10. (DNF) 02-Travis Anderson[14]; 11. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[16]; 12. (DNF) 14-Kori Richter[7]; 13. (DNF) 38-Simon Wahlstrom[8]; 14. (DNF) 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 15. (DNF) 7R-Tommy Richards[6]; 16. (DNF) 176-Matt Koski[5]; 17. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[10]; 18. (DNF) 1M-Alex Myers[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20*-Andrew Davis[4]; 2. 7R-Tommy Richards[2]; 3. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[5]; 4. 21-Mike Siewert[6]; 5. 01-Michael Anderson[3]; 6. (DQ) 1E-Eric Olson[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[5]; 2. 176-Matt Koski[2]; 3. 57-Randy Graham[4]; 4. 22-Clay Albrecht[3]; 5. 02-Travis Anderson[6]; 6. (DQ) 1-Ryan Olson[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Alex Myers[2]; 2. 390-Tucker Quinn[3]; 3. 14-Kori Richter[6]; 4. 71X-William Fisher[5]; 5. 28-Josh Cappo[4]; 6. 22AT-Austin Tilton[1]

17 entries

WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS

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A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[3]; 2. 13-Nick Koehler[5]; 3. 68-Shadow Kitchner[6]; 4. 37-Travis Anderson[1]; 5. 1-Jake Stai[2]; 6. 48-Cole Kelley[10]; 7. 19H-Cody Cimfl[11]; 8. 31-Jason Vokovan[9]; 9. 7-Mike Schnider[8]; 10. 12-Joseph Swearingen[12]; 11. 09-Skylar Findley[13]; 12. 101-Michael Grover[15]; 13. (DNF) 40-Nick Traynor[4]; 14. (DNF) 63JR-Brady Larson[7]; 15. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[16]; 16. (DNF) 1848-Matthew Findley[17]; 17. (DNF) 5-Rory Taber[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Nick Traynor[4]; 2. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[7]; 3. 1-Jake Stai[2]; 4. 68-Shadow Kitchner[6]; 5. 31-Jason Vokovan[1]; 6. 19H-Cody Cimfl[3]; 7. 09-Skylar Findley[8]; 8. 101-Michael Grover[9]; 9. 88K-Donavan Knutson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Travis Anderson[1]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 3. 63JR-Brady Larson[5]; 4. 13-Nick Koehler[2]; 5. 48-Cole Kelley[6]; 6. 12-Joseph Swearingen[4]; 7. 5-Rory Taber[8]; 8. (DNF) 1848-Matthew Findley[7]

16 entries

WISSOTA STREET STOCK

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A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards[5]; 2. 11X-Levi Randt[1]; 3. 30-Shawn Amundson[7]; 4. 19C-Cody Cimfl[4]; 5. 19H-Nolan Brown[12]; 6. 20F-Connor Franson[9]; 7. 17G-Chris Gross[14]; 8. 79-Joseph Ott[11]; 9. 19J-Jenna Herrman[13]; 10. 74-Bruce Stanley[15]; 11. (DNF) 10B-Dylan Baskin[10]; 12. (DNF) 40-Travis Loew[8]; 13. (DNF) 76S-Dan Svee[6]; 14. (DNF) 1R-Cole Richards[2]; 15. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[3]; 16. (DNS) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards[2]; 2. 30-Shawn Amundson[1]; 3. 40-Travis Loew[3]; 4. 19C-Cody Cimfl[6]; 5. 20F-Connor Franson[4]; 6. 79-Joseph Ott[7]; 7. 19J-Jenna Herrman[8]; 8. 17G-Chris Gross[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11X-Levi Randt[1]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[2]; 4. 76S-Dan Svee[3]; 5. 10B-Dylan Baskin[6]; 6. 19H-Nolan Brown[5]; 7. (DNF) 74-Bruce Stanley[7]; 8. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[8]

16 entries

WISSOTA PURE STOCK

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A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 52W-Austin Fencl[5]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 3. 95F-Devin Fries[7]; 4. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[3]; 5. 28-Eric Crosby[8]; 6. 12-Aaron Holmberg[10]; 7. 7D-Trevor Phillips[9]; 8. 19F-Gunner Orcutt[12]; 9. 04K-Jerame Ristau[14]; 10. 70-Bob Thompson[2]; 11. 17-Brian DeNucci[11]; 12. (DNF) 4K-Terry Kemp[13]; 13. (DNF) 47-Anthony Schultz[15]; 14. (DNF) 16-Rob Grabon[4]; 15. (DNF) 23R-James Rahn[1]; 16. (DNS) 6A-Keith Arnett

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 52W-Austin Fencl[8]; 2. 16-Rob Grabon[1]; 3. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[6]; 4. 28-Eric Crosby[4]; 5. 7D-Trevor Phillips[5]; 6. 17-Brian DeNucci[2]; 7. 4K-Terry Kemp[7]; 8. 47-Anthony Schultz[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[3]; 2. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 3. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 4. 70-Bob Thompson[5]; 5. 12-Aaron Holmberg[1]; 6. 19F-Gunner Orcutt[7]; 7. 04K-Jerame Ristau[8]; 8. (DNS) 6A-Keith Arnett