Nelson, Schnider and Olson Top Rice Lake Speedway Mains
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, July 30 – While Darrell Nelson won the special event for the WISSOTA Late Models Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway, three other classes were also in action and the winners included Nelson, who doubled up by also winning the Modified feature, Mike Schnider in the Midwest Modifieds and Ryan Olson in the Pure Stocks.
It was a busy night but successful one for Nelson, as the Hermantown Minnesota driver, who frequently races both his Late Model and Modified at area tracks, scored a rare doubleheader win. And in both cases, he had to come from the third row to win, with his Modified triumph coming after a lap thirteen pass of Daniel Bargender to claim the victory.
Bargender had jumped out to the early lead as he pulled away from Paul Harelstad at the start to lead the opening lap with Sam Fankhauser, Mike Anderson and Joe Chaplin Jr next in line. Anderson had gotten a great start as he tore to the cushion immediately and moved all the way up from the fourth row into the top five in only one lap.
The race was slowed twice in the early laps but Bargender continued to hold the lead while there was a heavy battle for position going on behind him. Just like in the Late Model feature, Nelson, who started sixth, moved slowly at the beginning but once there were some continuous racing, he quickly moved up and as he worked both the high and low groove of the track, by the halfway point of the race he was up to second and challenging Bargender for the lead. Harelstad was still hanging on to third but both Anderson and Kevin Adams, who started seventh, were pressuring him for position.
Adams was able to get by Anderson for fourth and then began to put the heat on Harelstad. Meanwhile, Nelson was all over the leader and on lap thirteen he swept past Bargender coming off turn four and pulled into the top spot. And once in the lead, he began to pull away from the field. However, just when it looked like he would be home free, a late yellow for a spinning car set up a two lap dash to the finish. Nelson was up for it though, and he quickly put distance on the field as no one was going to catch him on this night. Adams was able to use the late restart though, as he powered past Bargender on the high side of the track and would come home second. Bargender, in his first appearance of the year, ran a strong third and was followed home by Anderson and Harelstad.
It was Nelson’s first appearance of the year at Rice Lake with the Late Model and he became the fifth different winner in the class this year. It was also his tenth career Modified feature win at Rice Lake but first since the 2016 racing season. His first win at the track dates all the way back to 1991.
Schnider is peaking at just the right time of the racing season as he chases Kenny Kincaid in a close battle for the track point title. The Midwest Modified feature got off to a wild start as Schnider and a number of other drivers would spin on the opening lap as the track was still a bit too wet from mid program watering to race on. Once that problem was corrected, the field was lined up once again and took another shot at starting the race.
Josh Wahlstrom would get the jump on the field and become the initial leader and he would hold that spot for three laps before Schnider, who started beside him on the front row, would blow past him on the outside exiting turn four and pull into the top spot. And once in front, he would be gone as he would pull away from the pack and lead the last eleven laps.
By the halfway point, he had a comfortable lead over Wahlstrom with a good battle behind him seeing Travis Anderson and C.J. Wagner swap spots as they raced to the front. There was one late yellow that would bunch the field a final time for the single file restart but it would cause no problems for Schnider who would pull away from the pack and dominate for the win. Wahlstrom would have a fine run as he held on for second over Anderson, Wagner and Kincaid.
Schnider broke streak in the Midwest Modifieds as after having eight different winners so far this season, Mike became the first repeat winner in the class during this racing season.
Olson would lead all the way as the Pure Stock point leader would gather another victory in his fight to add a second straight point title to his resume. He would start on the outside of row one and would maintain control for the entire twelve laps of the Pure Stock feature.
However, there was plenty of activity going on directly behind Olson that he probably didn’t see but certainly provided plenty of action. Rob Grabon moved into second while Austin Fencl would challenge and in an effort to stay with the leaders, he would instead spin, triggering a yellow and bunching the field after three laps of racing.
The rest of the event would go nonstop and Olson would control the lead but again there was plenty of fighting for position behind him. James Rahn and Grabon would battle hard for second with several other drivers also in the mix as the positions changed rapidly.
A scrum off turn four on the final lap left the final running order to be sorted out after Olson crossed the line as the winner. Officially, it was Rahn finishing second over Grabon with Zach Folz and rookie Aaron Holmberg completing the top five. For Olson it was his third Pure Stock win of the year at Rice Lake, which leads all drivers in the class.
Following the Street Stock Little Dream race on Tuesday night, August 2nd, the speedway will take Saturday night, August 6th off. Racing will return with a big event on Saturday night, August 13th. The WISSOTA Late Models will return for their third and final appearance of the year with Darrell Nelson looking for a season sweep of racing in the Late Models, having won both the feature races so far this year at Rice Lake. Along with the Late Models, all five WISSOTA sanctioned classes that race weekly at the track will be in action and it will be the final night of the 2022 racing season to gain points and at least two of the divisions currently feature very tight point races. Race time will be 7 pm.
For more information and for the latest news, follow the speedway website atwww.ricelakespeedway.net or the track’s face book page.
Results
12 entries
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 40S-Mike Schnider[2]; 2. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[1]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 4. 93-CJ Wagner[3]; 5. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[6]; 6. 63L-Mitchell Larson[11]; 7. T25-Mark Thomas[7]; 8. 46-Zach Slayton[9]; 9. 18-Tacoma Randall[10]; 10. 28H-Francis Hanson[5]; 11. 19H-Kevin Herrman[12]; 12. 64-Evan Checkalski[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40S-Mike Schnider[1]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 3. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[2]; 4. T25-Mark Thomas[4]; 5. 46-Zach Slayton[5]; 6. 63L-Mitchell Larson[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[1]; 2. 64-Evan Checkalski[2]; 3. 93-CJ Wagner[5]; 4. 28H-Francis Hanson[3]; 5. 18-Tacoma Randall[6]; 6. 19H-Kevin Herrman[4]
14 entries
WISSOTA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 44N-Darrell Nelson[6]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams[7]; 3. 10B-Daniel Bargender[2]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson[8]; 5. 1H-Paul Harelstad[1]; 6. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[5]; 7. 308-Pat Hoffman[4]; 8. T40-Danny Thomas[9]; 9. 11-Sam Fankhauser[3]; 10. 20-Denny Cutsforth[12]; 11. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[14]; 12. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[10]; 13. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[11]; 14. (DNF) 20E-Austin Ellis[13]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[2]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams[4]; 3. 308-Pat Hoffman[7]; 4. 10B-Daniel Bargender[6]; 5. T40-Danny Thomas[3]; 6. (DNF) 20-Denny Cutsforth[1]; 7. (DNF) 20E-Austin Ellis[5]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 44N-Darrell Nelson[1]; 2. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[5]; 3. 1H-Paul Harelstad[3]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson[4]; 5. 10-Kyle Helling[6]; 6. 27H-Steve Hallquist[7]; 7. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[2]
19 entries
14 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[2]; 2. 23R-James Rahn[7]; 3. 29M-Rob Grabon[5]; 4. 52-Zachary Folz[3]; 5. 12-Aaron Holmberg[9]; 6. 15H-Trenten Holub[11]; 7. 101-Michael Grover[6]; 8. 26-Kevin Bartelt[14]; 9. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[10]; 10. 7D-Trevor Phillips[12]; 11. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[8]; 12. 52F-Austin Fencl[1]; 13. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[4]; 14. (DNF) 17-Chris Gross[13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29M-Rob Grabon[2]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 3. 101-Michael Grover[4]; 4. 52F-Austin Fencl[5]; 5. 12-Aaron Holmberg[1]; 6. 15H-Trenten Holub[3]; 7. 7D-Trevor Phillips[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[1]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[5]; 3. 52-Zachary Folz[3]; 4. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[7]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[6]; 6. (DNF) 17-Chris Gross[2]; 7. (DNS) 26-Kevin Bartelt
