By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake Wi., May 15 – Along with Sam Mars’ first ever win in a WISSOTA Late Model(see separate story), two other drivers got their first ever feature wins at the Rice Lake Speedway on Saturday night. Along with that, another driver became the first repeat winner of the 2021 racing season and yet another driver continued his remarkable win streak at the speedway. This was all part of a notable Saturday night at the track. 

On a night when storms threatened the track early on and remarkable hail totals were noted not too far away, the weather spared the speedway and an excellent crowd, given the circumstances, was on hand to enjoy a full racing program with six classes on hand this night. 

Among the achievements successfully completed on Saturday were first ever wins at the track for Ryan Olson and Jeff Nowak, the continuation of the longest winning streak in track history with Kevin Adams’ win and the first repeat winner of the year in Austin Ellis’ triumph. 

For Ryan Olson, the second year racer and high school student at Ladysmith High School, the win made him a winner at Rice Lake For the first time and continued a legacy for the Olson family that has now seen three generations of feature winners at the track with his father Eric a successful long time winner in the Super Stock class and his grandfather Howie a Hall of Fame driver at the track.

The Pure Stock feature was a highly competitive race that saw three different leaders during the twelve lap event and Olson have to endue a late race exciting adventure that saw him turned around in turn four with only two laps to go, thus just increasing the drama. 

The Pure Stocks raced last on the card Saturday and the rubbered up track made it easy for them to race two and three wide and that is what they did during the race which produced some great and wild action. Mike Grover was the early leader of the race but he was then overtaken by Dusten Holub who moved up from the second row to take that spot. 

Holub would continue to hold the lead while drivers Tristan Scheuermann, Travis and Nicholas Hazelton, Olson and Randy Graham among others all headed for the front of the pack. However, Holub would continue to hold the top spot but as the pack raced three and four wide, the inevitable happened with a multi car pileup in turn one that eliminated three cars and triggered the yellow. 

Holub would continue to lead and it looked like his first ever victory might come on this night but Olson then began a charge that has started in the ninth position and he got to the inside of Holub where they battled for the lead with Olson finallly taking the top spot with just two laps to go. 

However, in his haste to try and get the lead back, Holub got into the leader and spun out Olson in turn four, triggering the yellow once again. Olson was restored to the top spot and in a wild two lap shoot out, held off Cory Jorgensen, who started eleventh and James Rahn, who started thirteenth, spun on the first lap and went to the back of the pack and then raced his way back up to third. 

The other first time winner was Jeff Nowak who dominated over a strong field of Street Stocks and led from start to finish in recording his historic victory. The early going was a struggle though as he raced wheel to wheel with Andrew Hanson for the first couple of laps before Nowak was able to edge into the lead. Hanson remained close to him while Shawn Amundson moved into third and began to pressure Hanson for the runner up spot. 

Nowak was able to maintain the lead with the action heavy behind him as drivers diced for position. Particularly intense was the battle for second as Hanson saw Amundson try both high and low in an effort to get past him. 

A late race yellow set up a sprint to the finish but Nowak didn’t falter as he actually pulled away from the field in the closing laps and made his advantage larger. The former black top racer from Wausau took on the best local racers and beat them solidly on this night to record a memorable win. The battle for second ended up wild as while racing for second they had to negotiate a slower car down the front chute with both diving for an opening and Amundson just edging out Hanson for second. 

The Midwest Modified feature was a great one with Ellis just edging out Cody Borgeson by inches as the race was decided in the final few feet of the front straightaway on the final lap. 

Borgeson was the initial leader from the front row before a wild scramble saw Ellis turned around along with several other cars that triggered a yellow flag. Austin was restored to his spot but second place runner Aric Lindberg had bad luck and had to pit with mechanical issues at this point, which shuffled the field. While Borgeson continued to lead, Ellis was on the move from his eighth starting position and he raced into second and began to pressure for the lead. 

Meanwhile, a great battle saw Jack Rivord and Cody Carlson fighting side by side for the third spot and Kennedy Swan and Simon Wahlstrom side by side for position behind them. 

Ellis tried both high and low but he just couldn’t quite make the move on Borgeson who was driving an inspired race as he looked for his first ever Midwest Modified feature win at any track. Ellis made the pass on lap eleven, only to see the yellow flag wave for a collision and Borgeson was restored to the lead. 

On the green, Ellis made a strong outside run and would edge into the top spot but Borgeson fought back and as they took the white flag, they were wheel to wheel. Ellis edged out slightly in front but as the leaders raced down the back chute they both had to squeeze down past a slower car and Borgeson drove hard into the corner and edged past Ellis. However, Austin wasn’t done yet and he cut down across the front of the Borgeson car and the two leaders raced side by side to the flag with Ellis wining by a margin of .054 seconds, or the blink of an eye in a race that had the crowd on their feet. Carlson would finish off a strong run as he would hold off Rivord for third. 

Ellis’ win also made him the first repeat winner at the track this season. 

The Super Stock feature would see Nick Traynor lead all the way to get his first win of 2021 but it was not quite as easy as it sounds as he had to fight off stiff challenges from Dave Flynn, one of the hottest drivers on the circuit right now with a fortuitous yellow flag certainly helping him out. 

Traynor would start on the pole while Flynn would drive past Josh Bach and Simon Wahlstrom to move up to second and then close on Traynor for the lead. Several times Flynn would look to the inside of Traynor going for the lead but come up just short. Finally, just one laps past the halfway point, Traynor would slip up the track and Flynn would drive past him to take over the lead. However, the yellow would save Traynor as a spinning car would stop the action and Traynor would be restored to the lead. 

The yellow was a life saver for Traynor and he adjusted his line on the restart and would maintain his lead over Flynn the rest of the way. Even a late yellow that set up a three lap sprint to the finish would not help Flynn with Traynor now locked in the groove and he drove on for the win, the first for him here this season. Eric Olson drove a solid race to finish third while Terran Spacek, after a terrible start, was able to fight his way back up to fourth at the finish. 

Adams would score a relatively easy win in the Modified feature as he started on the outside pole, would take the lead from Steve Hallquist immediately and lead all the way in the nonstop main event. Adams would pull out to a comfortable advantage while the race was for second as Cole Spacek would battle Hallquist for that spot for most of the race before making his move right near the end of the contest and competing another solid run for him here at the Rice Lake Speedway in the early going of 2021. Mike Anderson and Dan Bargender would complete the top five while Jeff Spacek, who broke down while leading a heat race, would come from fifteenth on the grid to finish sixth. 

With Adams win, his streak remains alive for another season as starting way back in 1997, when he won his first Street Stock feature at the track, Adams has won at least one feature race a year at Rice Lake for what is now the twenty fourth consecutive year and counting. 

The next two Saturday nights will be busy ones at the Rice Lake Speedway. Next Saturday night will feature the ROC(Race of Champions) qualifiers in all divisions with the winners guaranteed starting spots in the Race of Champions event held during the WISSOTA 100 at the Sure Step I-94 Speedway in Fergus Falls Minnesota. All divisions will operate under the draw/redraw format next Saturday night. 

And then, back by popular demand, the Late Models return to the Rice Lake Speedway on Saturday night, May 29^th for round number two of the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Challenge Series, the second leg of that weekend’s busy three night series for the Late Models. 

After taking a hiatus in 2020, the Challenge Series is back and bigger than ever with the top drivers in WISSOTA expected to be on hand for that holiday treat. The Late Models will run a forty lap feature race and will be racing for $2,000 to the top prize winner. Along with the Late Models, all other classes will also be racing with the exception of the Modifieds who will have that night off. 

Check the speedway face book page for announcements about that race and other upcoming attractions at the speedway. 

5/15/2021 at Rice Lake Speedway

WISSOTA Late Model

Trackside Collectables A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 28-Sam Mars[1]; 2. 28M-Jimmy Mars[6]; 3. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill[8]; 4. 11-Pat Doar[3]; 5. 85-John Kaanta[10]; 6. 44-Darrell Nelson[12]; 7. 71JR-Buddy Hanestad[5]; 8. 71H-Rick Hanestad[9]; 9. 519-Steve Laursen[7]; 10. 55C-Chad Mahder[11]; 11. 18L-Marcus Simonson[4]; 12. (DNF) 89-Scott Meeds[13]; 13. (DNF) 11G-James Giossi[2]; 14. (DNF) 92-Aaron Wilson[14]; 15. (DNF) T18-TJ Adams[15]; 16. (DNS) 14J-James Kannegiesser

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 71JR-Buddy Hanestad[2]; 2. 28M-Jimmy Mars[5]; 3. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill[6]; 4. 18L-Marcus Simonson[3]; 5. 71H-Rick Hanestad[8]; 6. 55C-Chad Mahder[7]; 7. 89-Scott Meeds[1]; 8. T18-TJ Adams[4]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 11G-James Giossi[2]; 2. 11-Pat Doar[4]; 3. 28-Sam Mars[1]; 4. 519-Steve Laursen[3]; 5. 85-John Kaanta[7]; 6. 44-Darrell Nelson[8]; 7. 92-Aaron Wilson[6]; 8. (DNF) 14J-James Kannegiesser[5]

WISSOTA Modifieds

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[2]; 2. 22S-Cole Spacek[4]; 3. 27H-Steve Hallquist[1]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson[3]; 5. 10B-Daniel Bargender[8]; 6. 22-Jeff Spacek[15]; 7. 11-Sam Fankhauser[16]; 8. 10-Kyle Helling[7]; 9. 308-Pat Hoffman[11]; 10. 2-Todd Gehl[6]; 11. 3H-Jake Hiatt[10]; 12. 18W-Wayne Poteet[9]; 13. 33-Cooper Berlin[12]; 14. 204-David Mayala[13]; 15. (DNF) 12-Jason Gross[5]; 16. (DNS) 20-Denny Cutsforth

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[7]; 2. 22S-Cole Spacek[6]; 3. 12-Jason Gross[1]; 4. 10-Kyle Helling[8]; 5. 18W-Wayne Poteet[3]; 6. 308-Pat Hoffman[4]; 7. 204-David Mayala[5]; 8. (DNF) 22-Jeff Spacek[2]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[1]; 2. 27H-Steve Hallquist[8]; 3. 10B-Daniel Bargender[7]; 4. 2-Todd Gehl[2]; 5. 3H-Jake Hiatt[5]; 6. 33-Cooper Berlin[4]; 7. (DNF) 20-Denny Cutsforth[3]; 8. (DNF) 11-Sam Fankhauser[6]

WISSOTA Super Stock

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40-Nick Traynor[1]; 2. 29F-Dave Flynn[6]; 3. 1E-Eric Olson[5]; 4. 22T-Terran Spacek[8]; 5. 18-Willie Johnsen Jr[10]; 6. 46-Simon Wahlstrom[4]; 7. 67-Josh Bach[3]; 8. 01-Michael Anderson[12]; 9. 2F-Jeffrey Frey[11]; 10. 11-Tucker Quinn[7]; 11. (DNF) 77-Josh Saunders[2]; 12. (DNF) 28-Mike Siewert[13]; 13. (DNF) 1DIRT-Kody Koski[9]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 40-Nick Traynor[4]; 2. 22T-Terran Spacek[1]; 3. 67-Josh Bach[5]; 4. 11-Tucker Quinn[2]; 5. 1DIRT-Kody Koski[3]; 6. 2F-Jeffrey Frey[7]; 7. 28-Mike Siewert[6]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1E-Eric Olson[1]; 2. 46-Simon Wahlstrom[3]; 3. 77-Josh Saunders[6]; 4. 29F-Dave Flynn[5]; 5. 18-Willie Johnsen Jr[4]; 6. 01-Michael Anderson[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 20-Austin Ellis[8]; 2. B37-Cody Borgeson[2]; 3. 32III-Cody Carlson[7]; 4. 19J-Jack Rivord[4]; 5. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[6]; 6. 18S-Kennedy Swan[5]; 7. 37-Travis Anderson[14]; 8. R1-Jay Richardson[9]; 9. 4-Kenny Kincaid[3]; 10. 40-Mike Schnider[11]; 11. 93-CJ Wagner[13]; 12. 2-Tanner Gehl[12]; 13. 28-Francis Hanson[15]; 14. 19H-Kevin Herrman[18]; 15. (DNF) 46-Zach Slayton[16]; 16. (DNF) 410-Jesse Young[17]; 17. (DNF) 221-Aric Lindberg[1]; 18. (DNF) T17-Tanner Hicks[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. B37-Cody Borgeson[3]; 2. 221-Aric Lindberg[4]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[5]; 4. T17-Tanner Hicks[1]; 5. 93-CJ Wagner[6]; 6. (DNF) 410-Jesse Young[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Austin Ellis[2]; 2. 4-Kenny Kincaid[3]; 3. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[5]; 4. 40-Mike Schnider[6]; 5. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 6. 46-Zach Slayton[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 32III-Cody Carlson[4]; 2. 19J-Jack Rivord[2]; 3. R1-Jay Richardson[5]; 4. 2-Tanner Gehl[1]; 5. 28-Francis Hanson[3]; 6. (DNF) 19H-Kevin Herrman[6]

WISSOTA Street Stock

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 79N-Jeff Nowak[1]; 2. 30-Shawn Amundson[3]; 3. 20-Andrew Hanson[2]; 4. 9-Adam Soltis[6]; 5. 40-Travis Loew[7]; 6. 12-Cody Kummer[9]; 7. 84-Hunter VanGilder[16]; 8. 71X-William Fisher[5]; 9. 79-Joseph Ott[10]; 10. 17-Zach Beaulieu[11]; 11. 24-James Clausen[8]; 12. 33-Daniel Boissy[14]; 13. 28-Colten Klueckman[13]; 14. 16-Warren Bartelt[12]; 15. 66-Eric Haupt[17]; 16. 19F-Gunner Orcutt[15]; 17. (DNF) 26T-Ty Agen[4]; 18. (DNS) 4-Matt Bray

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Andrew Hanson[3]; 2. 24-James Clausen[5]; 3. 40-Travis Loew[6]; 4. 79-Joseph Ott[4]; 5. 28-Colten Klueckman[2]; 6. 19F-Gunner Orcutt[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 79N-Jeff Nowak[2]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[1]; 3. 9-Adam Soltis[3]; 4. 17-Zach Beaulieu[5]; 5. 33-Daniel Boissy[4]; 6. (DNF) 66-Eric Haupt[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 71X-William Fisher[2]; 2. 26T-Ty Agen[1]; 3. 30-Shawn Amundson[3]; 4. 16-Warren Bartelt[4]; 5. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[5]; 6. (DNF) 4-Matt Bray[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stock

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Travis Hazelton[1]; 2. 2B-Nicholas Hazelton[2]; 3. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[3]; 4. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 5. 23R-James Rahn[7]; 6. 52-Zachary Folz[6]; 7. (DNF) 19J-Jared Akervik[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 2. 15H-Dusten Holub[1]; 3. 52F-Austin Fencl[6]; 4. 16-Cory Jorgensen[4]; 5. 91-Michael Holmstrom[3]; 6. OXSR-Michael Huebner Sr[5]; 7. (DNF) 4K-Terry Kemp[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Randy Graham[6]; 2. 2S-Tristan Scheuermann[3]; 3. 101-Michael Grover[2]; 4. 70-Bob Thompson[5]; 5. 18M-Leo Moos[4]; 6. 72-Cully Butterfield[1]