Nine Different Winners At Rice Lake Speedway
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, May 20 – The Rice Lake Speedway was able to get their first full racing program of the 2023 racing season completed on Saturday night, May 20th on a simply beautiful night for outdoor activity. The fans on hand were able to see plenty of racing as not only was there a complete five division program but four make up feature races, from last Saturday’s rain shortened event were also held. In total, twenty three races including nine feature races were held and the winners included Rob Grabon, James Rahn, Jeff Nowak, Nick Traynor, Mike Schnider, Curt Myers, Terran Spacek, Mike Anderson and Kevin Adams as no repeat winners emerged in the full night of racing.
The Pure Stock make up feature race from May 13th would see Devin Fries, who earlier was awarded the Best Appearing Pure Stock in voting from last week, take the early lead. He would hold on to the top spot for the first four laps until being overtaken by Rob Grabon, who moved up from fourth. Grabon would then go on to lead the rest of the way to take the win with Ryan Olson making a late charge that saw him overtake Fries for second.
The regularly scheduled feature for the Pure Stocks would see Austin Fencl lead the first half of the race in quest of his first ever main event victory. James Rahn would challenge him for the first half of the contest, until a yellow on eight would slow the field. The restart would prove to be fatal to Fencl who didn’t get a good run on the green and Rahn was able to drive past him and take over the top spot. Fencl would try to fight back but Rahn would have him covered to take the win. Bob Wahlstrom would drive into third late and take that spot.
The make up event for the Street Stocks would see Nick Traynor take the early lead after the first start was negated but he would be edged out on a second restart by Hunter VanGilder who would take over the point. Jeff Nowak was on the move after starting fifth and on lap six he would slip inside VanGilder to take over the lead. From then on it would be a two car race with VanGilder trying his best to regain the top spot but Nowak was able to fight off every challenge and drive on for his second ever feature race win at Rice Lake. Kolton Brauer would finish third after starting sixth.
Traynor would make up for the disappointment of the first feature by winning the regularly scheduled Street Stock main. It would be a hard fight as he had to get past Kevin Bogdanovic to do so after Bogdanovic led the first four laps. Traynor tried to the inside to pass but Kevin would shut the door so finally Traynor moved to the high side and drove past to take over the lead. VanGilder would follow suit and those two would then battle it out for the rest of the race. VanGilder would again give it his best effort but would come up second best for the second time of the evening as Traynor would drive on for the win. Bogdanovic would hold on for the third spot.
The Midwest Modifieds were able to get their feature race completed last Saturday so they were the only class to run a single event and Cameron’s Mike Schnider would be the winner of that feature race. Matt Brandemuhl would lead the opening laps before Schnider would fly by him and take over the lead. After that, the field was chasing Schnider for the rest of the race, unsuccessfully as it turned out. A late race caution would give Shadow Kitchner a shot at the leader but Schnider was able to slowly pull away once again and drive on for the win. Blake Adams would complete the top three.
The make up Super Stock feature would see Curt Myers lead from start to finish after he drew the pole position. He would power away from the field after each of the yellow flags, of which there were four, and would drive to a relatively easy win. The win would be his forty eighth Super Stock main event win at Rice Lake as he moves to within ten wins of all time leader Don Drew.
While Myers drove away from the field, there was quite a battle for second with Kyle Copp eventually claiming that spot after he held off challenges from Tucker Quinn and Cody Kummer. Kummer made one of the better drives of the night as he moved up from the eighth starting spot to finish third.
The regularly scheduled Super Stock feature was full of drama, perhaps overly so. Terran Spacek would take the early lead after starting on the pole and would be in front after the first yellow flag flew. However, a botched restart would see the field stack up behind the leaders and Spacek was sent to the tail for inproperly restarting the race. This would give the leader to defending track champion Eric Olson but all eyes were on Myers has he charged through the field after starting ninth. He put on a show as he moved all over the track to pass cars and was able to move around more than anyone else on this night. He caught the leader and just at the halfway point he swept past Olson to take over the lead.
Myers would then pull away but all eyes now turned to Spacek who was making his own charge back up through the field after being sent to the tail early. By the halfway point he was back up to fourth and continued to charge, taking second from Olson with just two laps to go. Then, a late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish and the fireworks broke out. Spacek decided to move up the track and try an outside pass on Myers and he had immediate success as he pulled up beside the leader and they were side by side as they took the white flag. Spacek continued to charge into turn one, up on the outside of Myers and as he tried to edge away from the leader, Myers moved up the track and contact occured. The leaders didn’t back off and both slammed hard into the turn two outside concrete wall, with the red flag flying due to the violent nature of the accident.
Crews rushed to the scene and Spacek, who took the worst of the contact, was unhurt but his car was heavily damaged. Track officials, since the leaders had taken the white flag, ruled the race as being complete. Spacek was awarded the victory despite his car leaving the track on the wrecker while Myers was disqualified for rough driving. Olson was elevated to second in the final standings and Quinn third.
The makeup feature for the Modifieds also had plenty of drama with three official different leaders in twenty laps. Kennedy Swan, awarded Best Appearing in the class in judging last week, would take the green flag for the Modified feature in quest of her first ever main event win in the division. Kevin Adams and Kaden Blaeser would closely pursue her with Adams making several attempts but not quite completing the pass. Pat Hoffman hit the wall violently on the front stretch to trigger a yellow but he was OK and racing would resume. On lap nine, Adams would slip past Swan and take over the top spot with Blaeser still in the mix and Mike Anderson charging up from tenth to fourth. Then, just as it looked that Adams was in control, he slowed suddenly with mechanical issues and was done and under the same yellow, Blaeser slowed and pulled off the track too.
This gave the lead back to Swan but on lap fourteen she slid high in turn one and Mike Anderson was there to duck under her and take over the top spot. Anderson would then pull away as his brother Travis would make a late move and slip past Swan for second, making rookie drivers the second and third place finishers.
Mike Anderson, meanwhile, with the win continues his remarkable streak as his early season win guarantees that he will have at least one feature win in each of his now twentieth consecutive season of racing in the class at Rice Lake.
Adams would make up for his early race disappointment by leading from start to finish to win the Modified regularly scheduled main. He would start on the outside pole and lead all laps with there being no significant challenge to his advantage. Adams would also cement his place in the track record book as his victory would be his ninety fourth Modified feature win at Rice Lake, by far the tops in the class. He would also break the record for the most feature wins by a driver in one class of racing as he was tied at ninety three with the late Russ Laursen, who won his races driving a Super Modified at the track in the 1950’s and 60’s.
Blaeser would also make up for the first feature disappointment by finishing a solid second as Kaden is another outstanding driver in the class yet to complete his high school days. Steve Hallquist is off to a solid start this season and he would finish a strong third.
Next Saturday night will mark one of the biggest nights at the track in quite some time. Last week’s Trackside Collectibles 40 for the WISSOTA Late Models, which was rained out, will be run in its entirety next week along with the Swant Graber 40, previously scheduled for the Late Models on that night. In essence, fans will get to see two full Late Model features, each paying two grand to win, for one admission price. Also, a full show will be conducted for the Super Stocks, Midwest Mods, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks with the Modifieds taking next Saturday night off.
Check the speedway website or face book page for more information .
May 13, 2023 Results
27 entries
WISSOTA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[16]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[19]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[1]; 4. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[15]; 5. 19J-Jack Rivord[2]; 6. 1M-Curt Myers[17]; 7. 10-Kyle Helling[18]; 8. 27P-Parker Anderson[9]; 9. (DNF) 43K-Kaden Blaeser[7]; 10. (DNF) 40-Kevin Adams[6]; 11. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[23]; 12. (DNF) 308-Pat Hoffman[24]; 13. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[8]; 14. (DNF) 38-Simon Wahlstrom[12]; 15. (DNF) 20-Austin Ellis[14]; 16. (DNS) 22-Brandon Copp; 17. (DNS) 3JR-Shane Halopka; 18. (DNS) 9-Brady Uotinen; 19. (DNS) 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar; 20. (DNS) 26G-Ryan Gierke; 21. (DNS) 44-Adam Hensel; 22. (DNS) 21-Jake Smith; 23. (DNS) 88-Tanner Williamson; 24. (DNS) 40JR-Tyler Vernon
20 entries
WISSOTA SUPER STOCK
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[1]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[3]; 3. 12-Cody Kummer[9]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[6]; 5. 11-Tucker Quinn[4]; 6. 14X-Leslie Leu[12]; 7. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[5]; 8. 1E-Eric Olson[10]; 9. 75-Scott Geiger[13]; 10. 21-Mike Siewert[8]; 11. 28-Josh Cappo[14]; 12. 01-Michael Anderson[18]; 13. 247-Jackson Larson[17]; 14. (DNF) 22-Clay Albrecht[11]; 15. (DNF) 22T-Terran Spacek[7]; 16. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[20]; 17. (DNS) 76-Doug Koski; 18. (DNS) 77-Jake Nevala; 19. (DNS) 57-Randy Graham; 20. (DNS) 33C-Cole Chernosky
31 entries
WISSOTA STREET STOCK
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 79N-Jeff Nowak[5]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 3. KOLT34-Kolton Brauer[6]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[7]; 5. 3R-Danny Richards[10]; 6. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[15]; 7. 40-Travis Loew[12]; 8. 17-Zach Beaulieu[16]; 9. 7-Caiden Engel[9]; 10. 11-Sam Fankhauser[1]; 11. 357-Kyle King[17]; 12. 66-Eric Haupt[20]; 13. 79-Joseph Ott[11]; 14. 92R-Courtney Rose[24]; 15. (DNF) 26-Ty Agen[2]; 16. (DNF) 10B-Dylan Baskin[22]; 17. (DNF) 40T-Nick Traynor[3]; 18. (DNF) 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[8]; 19. (DNF) 10-Derek Baskin[21]; 20. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[14]; 21. (DNS) 6H-Dusten Holub; 22. (DNS) 7BR-Lucas Boyce; 23. (DNS) 20H-Andrew Hanson; 24. (DNS) T20-Michael Tuma
13 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 16-Rob Grabon[5]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[6]; 3. 95F-Devin Fries[1]; 4. 31-Travis Hazelton[7]; 5. 15H-Trenten Holub[8]; 6. 23R-James Rahn[11]; 7. 86J-Jake Smith[3]; 8. 04K-Jerame Ristau[9]; 9. 17G-Chris Gross[13]; 10. (DNF) 19F-Gunner Orcutt[12]; 11. (DNF) 101-Michael Grover[10]; 12. (DNF) 52W-Austin Fencl[4]; 13. (DNS) 17-Aaron Bernick
5/20/2023
RICE LAKE SPEEDWAY
Media Results May 20, 2023
20 entries
WISSOTA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[2]; 2. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[3]; 3. 27H-Steve Hallquist[1]; 4. 27P-Parker Anderson[4]; 5. 19J-Jack Rivord[6]; 6. T40-Danny Thomas[9]; 7. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[16]; 8. 37-Travis Anderson[11]; 9. 20-Austin Ellis[13]; 10. 18S-Kennedy Swan[7]; 11. 55-Taylor Olson[19]; 12. 10-Kyle Helling[5]; 13. 204-David Mayala[17]; 14. (DNF) 38-Simon Wahlstrom[18]; 15. (DNF) 57-Mike Anderson[8]; 16. (DNF) 8-Dakota Smith[14]; 17. (DNF) 18H-Mark Hanson[12]; 18. (DNF) 1M-Curt Myers[10]; 19. (DNS) 18W-Wayne Poteet; 20. (DNS) 308-Pat Hoffman
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Kyle Helling[1]; 2. 19J-Jack Rivord[2]; 3. 40-Kevin Adams[6]; 4. 1M-Curt Myers[7]; 5. 20-Austin Ellis[5]; 6. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[3]; 7. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[4]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 27H-Steve Hallquist[1]; 2. 18S-Kennedy Swan[3]; 3. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[5]; 4. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 5. 8-Dakota Smith[7]; 6. 204-David Mayala[4]; 7. 55-Taylor Olson[2]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. T40-Danny Thomas[1]; 2. 27P-Parker Anderson[6]; 3. 57-Mike Anderson[5]; 4. 18H-Mark Hanson[4]; 5. 18W-Wayne Poteet[3]; 6. (DNS) 308-Pat Hoffman
19 entries
WISSOTA SUPER STOCK
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[1]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[2]; 3. 11-Tucker Quinn[5]; 4. 12-Cody Kummer[7]; 5. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[3]; 6. 14X-Leslie Leu[4]; 7. 3B-Austin Blom[6]; 8. 75-Scott Geiger[10]; 9. 67-Josh Bach[12]; 10. 21-Mike Siewert[11]; 11. 28B-Stefan Hogue[15]; 12. 81B-Doug Bolt[13]; 13. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[14]; 14. (DNF) 28-Josh Cappo[16]; 15. (DNF) 01-Michael Anderson[18]; 16. (DNF) 247-Jackson Larson[17]; 17. (DNF) 26-Kyle Copp[8]; 18. (DNF) 22-Clay Albrecht[19]; 19. (DQ) 1M-Curt Myers[9]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11-Tucker Quinn[5]; 2. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[2]; 3. 1E-Eric Olson[6]; 4. 75-Scott Geiger[3]; 5. 81B-Doug Bolt[1]; 6. 28-Josh Cappo[7]; 7. (DNS) 22-Clay Albrecht
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[6]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[3]; 3. 3B-Austin Blom[4]; 4. 21-Mike Siewert[2]; 5. 22AT-Austin Tilton[5]; 6. 247-Jackson Larson[1]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[5]; 2. 14X-Leslie Leu[2]; 3. 26-Kyle Copp[3]; 4. 67-Josh Bach[4]; 5. 28B-Stefan Hogue[6]; 6. 01-Michael Anderson[1]
10 entries
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7-Mike Schnider[8]; 2. 68-Shadow Kitchner[6]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[9]; 4. 87-William Moelter[7]; 5. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[5]; 6. 19H-Kevin Herrman[3]; 7. 410-Jesse Young[2]; 8. 1M-Matt Brandemuehl[4]; 9. 88K-Donavan Knutson[10]; 10. (DNF) 18-Tacoma Randall[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Shadow Kitchner[1]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 3. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[4]; 4. 18-Tacoma Randall[2]; 5. 40D-Blake Adams[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-William Moelter[1]; 2. 19H-Kevin Herrman[2]; 3. 1M-Matt Brandemuehl[3]; 4. 410-Jesse Young[4]; 5. 88K-Donavan Knutson[5]
28 entries
WISSOTA STREET STOCK
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[2]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[8]; 3. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[1]; 4. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[5]; 5. 11-Sam Fankhauser[4]; 6. 7-Caiden Engel[9]; 7. 3R-Danny Richards[11]; 8. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[7]; 9. 357-Kyle King[3]; 10. 40-Travis Loew[12]; 11. 66-Eric Haupt[18]; 12. 77-Kyle Bolt[21]; 13. 10B-Dylan Baskin[27]; 14. 79-Joseph Ott[16]; 15. 1R-Cole Richards[6]; 16. 19H-Kevin Herrman[17]; 17. 92R-Courtney Rose[10]; 18. 79N-Jeff Nowak[15]; 19. 57-Jim King[22]; 20. 19J-Jenna Herrman[14]; 21. (DNF) 17-Zach Beaulieu[19]; 22. (DNF) 20L-Roger Lee[20]; 23. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[23]; 24. (DNF) 26-Ty Agen[13]; 25. (DNF) 10-Derek Baskin[24]; 26. (DNS) 6H-Dusten Holub; 27. (DNS) 24-James Clausen; 28. (DNS) 9-Adam Soltis
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Cole Richards[1]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 3. 7-Caiden Engel[5]; 4. 26-Ty Agen[2]; 5. 19H-Kevin Herrman[6]; 6. (DNS) 9-Adam Soltis; 7. (DNS) 10B-Dylan Baskin
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[5]; 2. 357-Kyle King[1]; 3. 92R-Courtney Rose[7]; 4. 19J-Jenna Herrman[4]; 5. (DNS) 10-Derek Baskin; 6. (DNS) 6H-Dusten Holub; 7. (DNS) 24-James Clausen
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[2]; 2. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[1]; 3. 3R-Danny Richards[6]; 4. 79N-Jeff Nowak[5]; 5. 66-Eric Haupt[4]; 6. 20L-Roger Lee[3]; 7. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[1]; 2. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[2]; 3. 40-Travis Loew[4]; 4. 79-Joseph Ott[3]; 5. 17-Zach Beaulieu[5]; 6. 77-Kyle Bolt[6]; 7. 57-Jim King[7]
14 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[2]; 2. 52W-Austin Fencl[1]; 3. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 4. 15H-Trenten Holub[9]; 5. 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 6. 5R-George Richards[6]; 7. 31-Travis Hazelton[3]; 8. 95F-Devin Fries[4]; 9. 17G-Chris Gross[13]; 10. 19F-Gunner Orcutt[14]; 11. 04K-Jerame Ristau[12]; 12. (DNF) 101-Michael Grover[10]; 13. (DNF) 16-Rob Grabon[8]; 14. (DNS) 86J-Jake Smith
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 2. 5R-George Richards[3]; 3. 1-Ryan Olson[6]; 4. 52W-Austin Fencl[5]; 5. 15H-Trenten Holub[7]; 6. 86J-Jake Smith[1]; 7. 17G-Chris Gross[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[4]; 2. 16-Rob Grabon[6]; 3. 31-Travis Hazelton[7]; 4. 23R-James Rahn[5]; 5. 101-Michael Grover[1]; 6. 04K-Jerame Ristau[2]; 7. 19F-Gunner Orcutt[3]
