Red Cedar Speedway Opens to Empty Grandstands
Brad Erickson
On Friday, April 30, 2021, the Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, Wisconsin, opened its 2021 season with empty grandstands due to Dunn County’s Covid rules and restrictions. The first two attempts at racing in Menomonie with the Randy Buss Icebreaker were thwarted, firstly by weather and then by the county’s concern of Covid exposure. The track was allowed to open without spectators in the grandstand but no limit to pit entry. This decision will be reviewed and made on a weekly basis at this time. The racing action was presented by Design Built Structures and Dean n’ Sue’s Bar and Grill. There were further donations made by sponsors and friends of the racing community to help assist with and increase the payouts.
It was a surreal and quiet night as the fans in the stands were greatly missed, which is unfortunate for the racing community and local businesses in and around Menomonie. However, the WISSOTA Late Models, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Modifieds, Street Stocks, and RCS Hornets forged forward and provided great racing action.
The WISSOTA Late Models had two heats with the father and son duo of Jimmy and Sam Mars each earning the checkered flag. At feature time it was Jimmy Mars and John Kaanta on the front row and Mars bolted to the lead on the high side and never looked back on his way to the win. Kaanta too, was strong as he used the high line and the middle of the track to try to close on the leader. Mike Keller chased in third early as Kevin Eder ran fourth, and eventually overtook Keller for third.
A single yellow flag, possibly for debris, slowed the action and regrouped the field. Mars was back out front quickly under green and It was Eder side by side with Kaanta. Eder overtook second and sparks flew as he scrapped the outer wall and tried to run down Mars. Eder was able to put some distance on Kaanta initially, but Kaanta regrouped and ran him back down and retook the runner up position. Sam Mars caught Eder and drove into third, but Eder was able to rebound and take back the position. It was Mars to the win with Kaanta in second. Eder finished third over Sam Mars, and Mike Keller came home on fifth. Jake Miller had a fine fun in sixth in his first visit to Menomonie in a Late Model as the long-time Modified driver has changed classes recently.
In the WISSOTA Modifieds, Cory Williams drove his new SSR race car from the tail of heat one to take an impressive heat win. It was Mike Anderson beating Ashley Anderson off the high side in a run to the checkers in an outstanding side by side battle in the second heat. The start of the feature saw Ashley Anderson spin and bring out the caution in the first turn of the race. Adam Ayotte, Steve Hallquist, and Kerry Halopka were not able to avoid the melee as cars stacked up behind Anderson. Anderson was relegated to the rear of the field, but that was only the beginning of the action that was about to unfold.
Pole sitter Cory Mahder moved to the point under green but third starting Josh Hessler tried to work under him as they went door to door for first. Mike Anderson worked from sixth to third as Mahder regain himself as the leader. Mike Anderson found his way past Hessler and set his sights on Mahder. It was Mahder up high and Anderson down low as they stretched their advantage on the field. However, Ashley Anderson was on a mission as he cleared his way into third coming from the back of the pack in the distance.
Shane Halopka slowed on the speedway, drawing the caution flag. The Delaware style restart, with the leader, Mahder, alone on the front row, pitted the two Andersons in row two with Mike on the inside of Ashley. On the start, it was Mike going low and Ashley going high as the two engulfed Mahder, relegating him to third. Mike Anderson led but Ashley Anderson was simply a rocket on the high side and he overtook the lead and drove off into the night for the victory. Mike Anderson moved away to a safe distance over third finishing Mahder at the finish. Daniel Bargender drove from tenth at the start to finish fourth and Ayotte moved from eleventh to round out the top five at the line.
As the WISSOTA Super Stocks rolled onto the track for their feature, I heard a pitman from a competitor say, “Welcome to the Jesse Redetzke show.” He was right. Redetzke won the heat and then went on to simply dominate the feature after starting fourth. It was the front row of Kyle Copp and Andrew Mackey running one and two early, but on lap three, Redetzke overtook the lead on the outside and he never looked back. The race ran cover to cover without a slowdown and Redetzke stretched the lead to nearly a half lap over second finishing Copp. Bart Steffen raced home in third and Andrew Mackey finished fourth, ahead of Chad Gullixson who eventually earned fifth in a multi-lap battle with Rick Hallquist.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds ran three heats with Tommy Richards, Brandon Jensen, and Kadden Kath each earning victories. It is gotten to the point where spectators can no longer look at Kennedy Swan as a young teenage girl in a race car. After winning an invitational at the end of last season at thirteen years of age, she is simply looked upon as a race car driver to her competitors. She looked strong early on the feature and she grabbed the lead from the front row and ran out front until she was run down and passed by Bud Richards in the low line. Swan remained in second for several laps before fifth starting Brandon Jensen tracked her down and drove by on the outside.
A caution flag flew, and the field was reset with Richards still out front. Swan bobbled slightly in turn two on the restart, opening the door for Kadden Kath, Cody Carlson, and Jay Richardson to move into the top five. As the laps wound down, the Master of the Low-side, Richards continued to lead the race. Jensen was in his shadow working through the middle of the raceway as he pressured hard for the win, but he had to settle for second as Richards held his line and beat him to the checkers. Richardson looked very strong as he drove to third from his tenth starting position and Kath finished fourth. Carlson ended up and impressive fifth after beginning the race in thirteenth.
The WISSOTA Street Stocks were heavy on talent as Andrew Hanson and Dustin Doughty topped their heats. Doughty rounded the night out with a sweep, taking the feature win in impressive fashion. Early in the race, Danny Richards ran out front as Doughty was in second and William Fisher looked strong in third, up from fifth. Doughty used the inside to move into the lead in turns one and two and as the cross flags were displayed signaling the halfway point, Cody Kummer passed Fisher for third.
Doughty was comfortable out front as he and Richards moved away from the pack. However, a slowing Cole Richards drew a caution flag, and the restart provided a fine side by side battle for second between Richards and Kummer. One last caution flew as Kolton Brauer slowed on the backstretch. This time it was Doughty again, all the way to the checkers as Kummer got the best of Richards for second. Andrew Hanson and Adam Soltis rounded out the top five.
Jeremy Johnson, a dominate RCS Hornet racer, is back in the saddle and he toped the single heat. However, at feature time, it was Roy Cooper out front as he led every lap to the win. On the second lap, Johnson had moved into second from fifth, but he was not able to entirely dissolve Cooper’s advantage and was forced to settle for runner up as Cooper was impressive out front. Scott Cooper raced home in third as Levi Price and Venessa Seipel rounded out the top five.
The Red Cedar Speedway is scheduled to return to racing a Friday, May 07, 2021, with Ladies Night Out at the Track, presented by Lewis Bjork Septic. Dunn County will make a decision on the size of the crowd allowed in the grandstand on Wednesday, May 05, 2021, and this information will be posted immediately on multiple social media sites. Due to the racetrack being leased on the county owned fairgrounds, the decision is not made by the Red Cedar Speedway. Your continued support is crucial in these trying times. The Wissota Late Models, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Mods, Street Stocks, and RCS Hornets will all be in attendance.
WISSOTA Late Model Feature: (20 Laps): 1. 28M-Jimmy Mars[2]; 2. 85-John Kaanta[1]; 3. 22E-Kevin Eder[4]; 4. 28-Sam Mars[5]; 5. 31-Michael Keller[3]; 6. 65-Jake Miller[6]; 7. 31B-Travis Budisalovich[7]; 8. 27-Jake Redetzke[8]; 9. 92-Aaron Wilson[9]; 10. 13-Mark Hessler[10]; 11. 14-Robbie Johnson[11]; 12. (DNF) XG-Lucas Kallenbach[12]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Sam Mars[2]; 2. 31-Michael Keller[5]; 3. 22E-Kevin Eder[6]; 4. 31B-Travis Budisalovich[4]; 5. 92-Aaron Wilson[3]; 6. (DNF) XG-Lucas Kallenbach[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28M-Jimmy Mars[3]; 2. 27-Jake Redetzke[1]; 3. 85-John Kaanta[6]; 4. 65-Jake Miller[2]; 5. 13-Mark Hessler[5]; 6. 14-Robbie Johnson[4]
WISSOTA Modified Feature (20 Laps): 1. 81-Ashley Anderson[4]; 2. 57-Mike Anderson[6]; 3. 55-Cory Mahder[1]; 4. 10-Daniel Bargender[10]; 5. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[11]; 6. W-Cory Williams[5]; 7. 83-Kylie Kath[12]; 8. 23-Kerry Halopka[9]; 9. (DNF) 14W-Clayton Wagamon[2]; 10. (DNF) 9-Josh Hessler[3]; 11. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[7]; 12. (DNF) 3JR-Shane Halopka[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. W-Cory Williams[6]; 2. 3JR-Shane Halopka[1]; 3. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[2]; 4. 55-Cory Mahder[4]; 5. 23-Kerry Halopka[3]; 6. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[3]; 2. 81-Ashley Anderson[5]; 3. 27H-Steve Hallquist[1]; 4. 9-Josh Hessler[2]; 5. 10-Daniel Bargender[4]; 6. 83-Kylie Kath[6]
WISSOTA Super Stock Feature (18 Laps): 1. 207-Jesse Redetzke[4]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[1]; 3. 2-Bart Steffen[3]; 4. 7-Andrew Mackey[2]; 5. 56-Chad Gullixson[6]; 6. 26H-Rick Hallquist[5]; 7. 25-Chad Johnson[7]; 8. (DNF) 55S-Derrike Suckow[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 207-Jesse Redetzke[7]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[8]; 3. 2-Bart Steffen[5]; 4. 7-Andrew Mackey[4]; 5. 26H-Rick Hallquist[6]; 6. 56-Chad Gullixson[2]; 7. 25-Chad Johnson[1]; 8. 55S-Derrike Suckow[3]
WISSOTA Midwest Modified Feature (15 Laps): 1. 7R-Tommy Richards[3]; 2. 121B-Brandon Jensen[5]; 3. R1-Jay Richardson[10]; 4. 83X-Kadden Kath[7]; 5. 32LLL-Cody Carlson[13]; 6. 18S-Kennedy Swan[1]; 7. 37-Travis Anderson[2]; 8. 21B-Jesse Bryan[11]; 9. B37-Cody Borgeson[9]; 10. 2-Kyle Kirberger[4]; 11. 343-JD Ford[8]; 12. 04N-Nick Ayotte[6]; 13. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[16]; 14. 21-Reese Schlosser[15]; 15. 89-Matt Klukas[14]; 16. 7W-Charlie Wihren[18]; 17. 63JR-Brady Larson[12]; 18. (DNS) 61-Andrea Keeney
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7R-Tommy Richards[1]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 3. 04N-Nick Ayotte[3]; 4. R1-Jay Richardson[5]; 5. 32LLL-Cody Carlson[4]; 6. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 121B-Brandon Jensen[5]; 2. 2-Kyle Kirberger[1]; 3. B37-Cody Borgeson[2]; 4. 21B-Jesse Bryan[4]; 5. 89-Matt Klukas[3]; 6. 61-Andrea Keeney[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 83X-Kadden Kath[5]; 2. 343-JD Ford[6]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[2]; 4. 63JR-Brady Larson[3]; 5. 21-Reese Schlosser[1]; 6. 7W-Charlie Wihren[4]
WISSOTA Street Stock Feature (12 Laps): 1. D1-Dustin Doughty[3]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[6]; 3. 3R-Danny Richards[1]; 4. 20-Andrew Hanson[7]; 5. 9-Adam Soltis[4]; 6. 1R-Cole Richards[8]; 7. 80-Brandon Hakala[9]; 8. 71X-William Fisher[5]; 9. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[2]; 10. (DNS) 34JR-Braden Brauer
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Andrew Hanson[1]; 2. 71X-William Fisher[4]; 3. 9-Adam Soltis[3]; 4. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[5]; 5. (DNF) 34JR-Braden Brauer[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. D1-Dustin Doughty[3]; 2. 3R-Danny Richards[5]; 3. 12-Cody Kummer[1]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[2]; 5. 80-Brandon Hakala[4]
Hornet Feature (12 Laps): 1. 9JR-Roy Cooper[2]; 2. 917-Jeremy Johnson[5]; 3. 9SR-Scott Cooper[4]; 4. 21P-Levi Price[3]; 5. 42-Vanessa Seipel[1]; 6. 17-Randy Stensgaard[8]; 7. 16-Jake Bettendorf[6]; 8. 98-Brandon Larson[7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 917-Jeremy Johnson[5]; 2. 9JR-Roy Cooper[2]; 3. 9SR-Scott Cooper[1]; 4. 21P-Levi Price[3]; 5. 42-Vanessa Seipel[6]; 6. 16-Jake Bettendorf[8]; 7. 98-Brandon Larson[7]; 8. (DNF) 17-Randy Stensgaard[4]
