Myers Repeats, Anderson Dominates As Dairyland Dash at Rice Lake Speedway Concludes
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, September 1 – The Rice Lake Speedway concluded the 2024 racing season Sunday night, September 1st on a cool but sunny note, while hot racing action on the track saw Curt Myers become the only repeat winner of the weekend as he survived another classic battle with national point leader Dexton Koch to win a second close Super Stock feature race. The Modified main event saw Mike Anderson have a stranglehold over the field as he dominated in leading from green to checkers with other winners including Kody Koski with a late race pass in the USRA Late Models, Hunter VanGilder in the Street Stocks, Blake Adams in the Midwest Modifieds and Dusten Holub in the Pure Stocks.
The first annual Dairyland Dash concluded the 2024 racing season at the Rice Lake Speedway under the new ownership of Kolby and Dean Kiehl along with Dean Kalow on a successful note.
Koch is likely on a his way to WISSOTA National title in the Super Stocks, leading the way in the points while amassing well over twenty feature wins. However, on this weekend he found Curt Myers to be a worthy opponent as they locked in a classic battle for the second straight night. Unlike Saturday night, when Koch led until Myers passed him very late in the race, on Sunday it was Myers who had the top spot and had Koch riding his rear bumper.
Myers started on the pole but Terran Spacek surprised him by grabbing the initial lead after a strong first lap but Myers quickly changed that scenario by diving deep into turn three and taking over the lead on lap two.
By lap eight, when the first yellow flag waved for a spin, Myers found Koch on his rear bumper after Dexton had gained two spots and was on his tail. Jesse Redetzke and Shane Kisling were also in the top five when the first break came. The restart was a disaster as someone in the big pack either got sideways or was helped and the cars stacked up in turn four. Five cars were done at this point, some with rather heavy damage.
The good news was that following that pile up, the final seventeen laps of the race would run off nonstop and most of that time, it was Myers in the lead with Koch all over him looking for a way past.
Koch was right on the bumper of the Cameron racer and tried going high, diving low and just about every other maneuver that was legal but he just couldn’t get past Myers, who had just enough speed to hold off all advances. Several times Koch tapped the rear bumper of Myers, but never to the point to dislodge him from his spot, only as a notice that he was right behind and looking for an opening.
This tense battle continued right to the end with Koch making one last challenge, driving low off corner four on the final lap but as had been the case all of the race, he came up a car length short as Myers drove home for the important win. Spacek ran third the whole race, faster than those behind him but not able to challenge the top two. Eric Olson had a fine run up from the fourth row to finish fourth with Curt’s son Alex continuing to improve as he rounded out the top five. It was Curt Myers’ sixth win of the year at the track.
Mike Anderson was in a class of his own on Sunday night, as he drove away from a solid field and completely dominated the Modified feature. A shocking development occurred before the initial green flag was even waved as Dave Cain, considered a strong contender for the win, slowed on the back chute and then pulled back to his pit stall before the race even began, thus eliminating one of the fastest cars on the track.
But even Cain may not have been able to catch Anderson on this night as the Jim Falls veteran drove away from the field and left no doubt that he was the fastest driver in the field. From his pole position, he pulled away to a four second cushion in the first half of the race before the lone yellow flag waved for a two car spin in turn three. Kevin Adams and Nick Oreskovich has exchanged slide jobs before Adams took the second spot but he was nearly a full straightaway behind Anderson when the yellow waved with Brady Uotinen and Tyler Vernon running in the top five.
The yellow was no matter to Anderson, who just simply turned the jets back on when the green reappeared and he then impressively drove away from the field once again. Adams lost second to Oreskovich on the restart but a couple laps later returned to second with another slide job to take the spot.
The last half of the race saw Anderson continue his domination, this time pulling to a five second plus advantage over Adams, who simply couldn’t stay with Anderson. Oreskovich was comfortably in third with the top three separating themselves from the field.
Anderson never slowed his pace and even as he backed off on the final lap to avoid the back markers he was catching, his final margin was still over five seconds as he took his second win of the year at the track. Vernon completed a nice charge by edging past Uotinen for fourth at the finish.
The USRA Late Model feature race saw an upset win by Koski after developments twice during the race changed the final results markedly. Cade Nelson and Matthew Larson are locked in a very tight battle for the USRA Late Model National points chase and both were involved in the two biggest moments of the race. Early on, even though Nelson started on the pole, it was Josh Wahlstrom, the local driver, that got the jump on Nelson to take the early lead. Nelson was all over Wahlstrom but couldn’t find a path past him as he tried lap after lap diving low in the corners and trying to slide up ahead of Wahlstorm but each lap, Josh would fight him off.
Meanwhile, Larson, who started sixth, drove hard as he moved up and after breaking into third, started to track down the two top drivers. Quickly it became a three car battle for the lead as Nelson continued to work on Wahlstrom while Larson rode right behind them both.
Things quickly changed in a shocking way as on lap seven, the three leaders approached a slower car who unfortunately, spun right in front of the three as they headed into turn three. Both Wahlstrom and Larson made hard contact with the spinner while Nelson was able to avoid crashing. Wahlstrom’s car was not hurt and he was able to regain the lead for the restart. Unfortunately, both Larson and the slower car were towed from the track, done for the event.
For lap after lap following the tangle, Nelson would continue to dog Wahlstrom as he continued to try to find a way past the Rice Lake racer. As the end of the race drew near, Nelson would get up beside Wahlstrom down the back chute but just not be able to complete the pass and have to back off in turn three.
The final lap saw things come to a head. Nelson got an even better run on the leader, trying to edge past on the final chute but in hard racing action, the two would come together down the back chute and Wahlstrom’s car ended up spinning across the track. Instead of the checkers, the yellow flag was displayed, Wahlstrom was reassigned the lead and Nelson headed to the tail of the pack.
Wahlstrom chose the bottom for the restart, but he took off poorly and Koski, who had run third most of the later half of the race, then shockingly drove past the former leader down the back chute to take over the top spot. Smoke poured from the rear wheel well off Wahlstrom’s car as the contact while battling for the lead had obviously caused damage.
Koski then pulled away on the final lap to record the upset win with Wahlstrom suffering a flat tire on the final lap and that allowed Larry Fitzsimmons to steal second away from him. It was a bitter pill for Wahlstrom to swallow, being just two laps away from recording the win in his home town. Steve O’Brien and Lucas Peterson rounded out the top five.
Koski’s win saw him surrounded by family and friends in victory lane as he had a brother racing in the Super Stocks and many family members on hand. Koski is the grandson of Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Tom Nesbitt from Thunder Bay Ontario and Nesbitt was also in the crowd watching the race.
Close battles for the lead seemed to be the order of Sunday night racing and another occurred in the Street Stock feature where Hunter VanGilder fought off challenges from Andrew Hanson for twenty laps to claim the honors in that class. The Street Stocks provided a clean race, going from green to checkers without a single yellow flag and for just about the entire distance, it was VanGilder who had Andrew Hanson riding his rear bumper, looking for an opening. Hanson would get right up on VanGilder but just didn’t have the push to make a pass on him as those two pulled away from a third place battle that saw last night’s winner Cody Cimfl racing with Parker Anderson and Nick Traynor.
VanGilder drove a steady line and while Hanson tried low and high, he was just short of the power needed to make a pass but he kept trying, right to the end of the race. One last attempt off the final corner saw him drop inside VanGilder but he came up a half car length short as Hunter drove on for his first win of 2024 at the track while becoming the eighth different winner in the division this season. Cimfl finished a strong third, completing a solid weekend for him with Traynor and Danny Richards, up from the fifth row, finishing off the top five.
Travis Anderson started on the pole for the Midwest Modified feature but it would be teenager Landyn Randt that raced off the high side of the track to take the early lead. Anderson tucked in behind him in the early going with the race slowed with three laps complete for a spinner at the back of the pack.
Already, Blake Adams was up to third after starting fifth as he was showing big speed and driving both the top side and low side of the track.
Adams continued his charge on the green, driving by Anderson and then challenging Randt for the lead as the pair of teens fought for the lead. Adams drove by on the outside for the lead, but the yellow waved for another spin and saved Randt from losing the lead.
Landyn quickly adjusted his line for the restart, moving to the cushion that appeared to be the fastest part of the track. However, Adams showed just what an adjustable race car he was riding this night was like as with his top side taken away, he simply pulled off a crossover maneuver, going to the bottom of the track, driving under Randt on lap ten and taking over the lead.
Once in front, the high Freshman at Cameron then drove away from the field, opening up some distance on the pack as the last half of the race ran off nonstop.
Making a late race charge, Tyler Vernon completed a highly successful night in the open wheel cars as he drove past Randt to take second and bring home a pair of top five finishes while Wyatt Boyum, all the way from International Falls Minnesota, nipped Randt for third at the line with Anderson completing the top five.
Dusten Holub led from start to finish to win the Pure Stock feature race. He started on the pole and kept Aaron Bernick several car lengths behind him from start to finish in the race. One yellow, three laps into the race, slowed the action when Shane Basina blew a motor and caused so much smoke the drivers couldn’t see, thus the yellow.
Following that, Holub once again took off and would not be caught as he drove on for the win. Bernick settled for second with Devin Fries making a late race pass for third as Rob Grabon and Charlie Pitcavage completed the top five. It has been an excellent year at the track for Holub as his win was the fourth for him here in 2024.
The first annual Dairyland Dash was a highly successful event with over one hundred and seventy drivers in attendance and despite the surprise storm that delayed the action on Saturday night, a large crowd was in attendance both nights and saw some excellent dirt track action.
Watch the track website at www.ricelakespeedway.net and their face book page for off season announcements of upcoming events and other news during the off season.
9/1/2024
Rice Lake Speedway
Results
32 entries
WISSOTA Modifieds
Tims Automotive Machine A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[1]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams[5]; 3. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[6]; 4. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[8]; 5. 9-Brady Uotinen[3]; 6. 44N-Darrell Nelson[7]; 7. 9E-Don Eischens[10]; 8. 17B-Zach Benson[11]; 9. 18-Mark Hanson[12]; 10. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[9]; 11. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[4]; 12. 24-Brandon Dolman[18]; 13. 20-Austin Ellis[14]; 14. 98-Al Uotinen[13]; 15. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[16]; 16. 22S-Cole Spacek[17]; 17. 18S-Kennedy Swan[22]; 18. 2-Tanner Gehl[15]; 19. 112-Brennan Gave[19]; 20. 10-Kyle Helling[24]; 21. 22-Jeff Spacek[23]; 22. 78R-Ross Prochnow[20]; 23. (DNF) 13H-Mark Hessler[21]; 24. (DNF) 2C-Dave Cain[2]
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22S-Cole Spacek[3]; 2. 112-Brennan Gave[2]; 3. 13H-Mark Hessler[5]; 4. 22-Jeff Spacek[8]; 5. 12-Jason Gross[6]; 6. 43-Lance Schilling[1]; 7. 3-Bryan Hessler[4]; 8. 03F-Jason Fall[7]
B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 24-Brandon Dolman[1]; 2. 78R-Ross Prochnow[4]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[8]; 4. 10-Kyle Helling[6]; 5. T40-Danny Thomas[2]; 6. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[3]; 7. 308-Pat Hoffman[7]; 8. (DNF) 37-Travis Anderson[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[1]; 2. 44N-Darrell Nelson[3]; 3. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[5]; 4. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[2]; 5. 2-Tanner Gehl[8]; 6. 3-Bryan Hessler[4]; 7. 10-Kyle Helling[7]; 8. (DNF) 18S-Kennedy Swan[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[6]; 2. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[1]; 3. 18-Mark Hanson[4]; 4. 9E-Don Eischens[8]; 5. 24-Brandon Dolman[7]; 6. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[2]; 7. 37-Travis Anderson[3]; 8. 03F-Jason Fall[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[1]; 2. 2C-Dave Cain[7]; 3. 20-Austin Ellis[2]; 4. 43-Lance Schilling[4]; 5. 112-Brennan Gave[3]; 6. 78R-Ross Prochnow[6]; 7. 12-Jason Gross[5]; 8. 22-Jeff Spacek[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[1]; 2. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 3. 98-Al Uotinen[4]; 4. 17B-Zach Benson[8]; 5. T40-Danny Thomas[3]; 6. 22S-Cole Spacek[7]; 7. 13H-Mark Hessler[2]; 8. 308-Pat Hoffman[6]
30 entries
WISSOTA Super Stock
Southworth Chevrolet A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[1]; 2. 78K-Dexton Koch[4]; 3. 22T-Terran Spacek[2]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[7]; 5. 1M-Alex Myers[6]; 6. 6-Shane Kisling[8]; 7. 27-Matt Deragon[9]; 8. 207-Jesse Redetzke[3]; 9. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[10]; 10. 32R-Cory Casari[16]; 11. 390-Tucker Quinn[17]; 12. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[14]; 13. 1-Ryan Olson[18]; 14. 245-James Cimfl[15]; 15. 176-Matt Koski[22]; 16. 77-Jake Nevala[21]; 17. 20*-Andrew Davis[5]; 18. (DNF) 96-Chris Gorka[24]; 19. (DNF) 247-Jackson Larson[23]; 20. (DNF) 14X-Leslie Leu[12]; 21. (DNF) 25X-Chad Johnson[13]; 22. (DNF) 24-Andy Grymala[11]; 23. (DNF) 62-Dalton Truchon[19]; 24. (DNF) 1776-Wayne Dean[20]
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 390-Tucker Quinn[4]; 2. 62-Dalton Truchon[1]; 3. 77-Jake Nevala[5]; 4. 247-Jackson Larson[2]; 5. 28-Josh Cappo[6]; 6. 00-Jason Quarders[7]; 7. (DNF) 9-Jakob Bond[3]
B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[1]; 2. 1776-Wayne Dean[2]; 3. 176-Matt Koski[3]; 4. 96-Chris Gorka[4]; 5. 01-Michael Anderson[6]; 6. 7N-William Nusser[5]; 7. (DNF) 44-Trenton Bond[7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1E-Eric Olson[1]; 2. 207-Jesse Redetzke[6]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[7]; 4. 32R-Cory Casari[3]; 5. 62-Dalton Truchon[2]; 6. 96-Chris Gorka[5]; 7. 77-Jake Nevala[8]; 8. (DNF) 44-Trenton Bond[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[2]; 2. 20*-Andrew Davis[5]; 3. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[6]; 4. 245-James Cimfl[1]; 5. 1-Ryan Olson[3]; 6. 390-Tucker Quinn[4]; 7. 01-Michael Anderson[7]; 8. 00-Jason Quarders[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[3]; 2. 1M-Alex Myers[5]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 4. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[6]; 5. 247-Jackson Larson[4]; 6. 9-Jakob Bond[7]; 7. 7N-William Nusser[2]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[6]; 2. 6-Shane Kisling[4]; 3. 25X-Chad Johnson[1]; 4. 24-Andy Grymala[7]; 5. 1776-Wayne Dean[5]; 6. 176-Matt Koski[2]; 7. 28-Josh Cappo[3]
25 entries
WISSOTA Midwest Mods
Mastercraft Industries A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[5]; 2. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[4]; 3. 21-Wyatt Boyum[3]; 4. 11R-Landyn Randt[2]; 5. 37-Travis Anderson[1]; 6. 17M-Ashley Boyum[9]; 7. 63JR-Brady Larson[16]; 8. 31-Jason Vokovan[8]; 9. 19H-Cody Cimfl[6]; 10. 15-James Vendela[14]; 11. 13-Derrick Reed[11]; 12. 14K-Shawn Kelley[10]; 13. 21L-Jimmy Latvala[15]; 14. 68-Shadow Kitchner[12]; 15. 1-Jake Stai[13]; 16. 15G-Eric Gadach[20]; 17. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[23]; 18. 445-Charles Bistodeau[24]; 19. 16-Cory Jorgensen[7]; 20. 13B-Chris Bretting[19]; 21. 101-Michael Grover[17]; 22. 1848-Matthew Findley[22]; 23. (DNF) 48-Cole Kelley[18]; 24. (DNF) 03F-Connor Fall[21]; 25. (DNF) 3B-Ryan Bauer[25]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 2. 16-Cory Jorgensen[1]; 3. 14K-Shawn Kelley[4]; 4. 17M-Ashley Boyum[8]; 5. 68-Shadow Kitchner[9]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[3]; 7. 03F-Connor Fall[7]; 8. (DNF) 4K-Kenny Kincaid[2]; 9. (DNF) 3B-Ryan Bauer[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11R-Landyn Randt[3]; 2. 31-Jason Vokovan[1]; 3. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[8]; 4. 15-James Vendela[2]; 5. 21L-Jimmy Latvala[6]; 6. 63JR-Brady Larson[7]; 7. 13B-Chris Bretting[4]; 8. (DNF) 445-Charles Bistodeau[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Wyatt Boyum[2]; 2. 19H-Cody Cimfl[3]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[7]; 4. 13-Derrick Reed[6]; 5. 1-Jake Stai[8]; 6. 48-Cole Kelley[5]; 7. 15G-Eric Gadach[4]; 8. 1848-Matthew Findley[1]
19 entries
WISSOTA Street Stock
Adams Automotive A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 84-Hunter VanGilder[1]; 2. 20-Andrew Hanson[2]; 3. 19C-Cody Cimfl[4]; 4. 40-Nick Traynor[7]; 5. 3R-Danny Richards[9]; 6. 12-Cody Kummer[6]; 7. 127-Parker Anderson[5]; 8. 26-Ty Agen[13]; 9. 11X-Levi Randt[8]; 10. 7-Caiden Engel[10]; 11. 17-Zach Beaulieu[15]; 12. 20F-Connor Franson[12]; 13. 40T-Travis Loew[14]; 14. 1R-Cole Richards[19]; 15. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[11]; 16. 77-Melvin Raska[18]; 17. (DNF) 30-Shawn Amundson[3]; 18. (DNF) 74-Bruce Stanley[16]; 19. (DNF) T20-Michael Tuma[17]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Andrew Hanson[3]; 2. 19C-Cody Cimfl[4]; 3. 40-Nick Traynor[6]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[7]; 5. 26-Ty Agen[5]; 6. 74-Bruce Stanley[1]; 7. (DNF) 1R-Cole Richards[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Shawn Amundson[3]; 2. 127-Parker Anderson[4]; 3. 11X-Levi Randt[6]; 4. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[1]; 5. 40T-Travis Loew[5]; 6. T20-Michael Tuma[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[3]; 3. 7-Caiden Engel[1]; 4. 20F-Connor Franson[2]; 5. 17-Zach Beaulieu[5]; 6. 77-Melvin Raska[6]
10 entries
WISSOTA Pure Stock
Lakes Gas A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 18M-Dusten Holub[2]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[1]; 3. 95F-Devin Fries[6]; 4. 16-Rob Grabon[4]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[3]; 6. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 7. 24H-Dylan Baskin[7]; 8. 70-Bob Thompson[9]; 9. (DNF) 7D-Trevor Phillips[10]; 10. (DNF) 69ER-Shane Basina[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[4]; 2. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[3]; 3. 95F-Devin Fries[1]; 4. 24H-Dylan Baskin[5]; 5. (DNF) 7D-Trevor Phillips[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18M-Dusten Holub[4]; 2. 16-Rob Grabon[1]; 3. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 5. 70-Bob Thompson[3]
17 entries
USRA Late Models
Mastercraft Industries A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 1-Kody Koski[4]; 2. 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[3]; 3. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[2]; 4. 14-Steven O’Brien Jr[5]; 5. 65-Lucas Peterson[7]; 6. 52-Jason McFadden[10]; 7. 18-Ken Dallman[13]; 8. 99F-Mitchell Fenske[9]; 9. 3-Tyler Stargardt[8]; 10. 67-Josh Bach[12]; 11. 71-Ron Hanestad[14]; 12. 26D-Chad Dawson[16]; 13. 44-Cade Nelson[1]; 14. 17-Chase Swerman[17]; 15. (DNF) 54-Chad Prissel[11]; 16. (DNF) 8-Matthew Larson[6]; 17. (DNF) 17J-Jared Bamberger[15]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Cade Nelson[1]; 2. 1-Kody Koski[2]; 3. 65-Lucas Peterson[4]; 4. 8-Matthew Larson[8]; 5. 99F-Mitchell Fenske[7]; 6. 54-Chad Prissel[9]; 7. 71-Ron Hanestad[5]; 8. 26D-Chad Dawson[3]; 9. 17-Chase Swerman[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[4]; 3. 14-Steven O’Brien Jr[5]; 4. 3-Tyler Stargardt[3]; 5. 52-Jason McFadden[7]; 6. 67-Josh Bach[6]; 7. 18-Ken Dallman[8]; 8. 17J-Jared Bamberger
