Stai Nips Schnider In Rice Lake Speedway Thriller
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, Aug. 10 – The Rice Lake Speedway was back in action for the first time since the Little Dream Race was held and the racing was furious on a comfortable Saturday night. In one of the closest finishes of the 2024 racing season, Jake Stai was able to withstand a heavy challenge from Mike Schnider to win the Midwest Modified feature by the small margin of .028 seconds and become the first repeat winner in the class this year. Two other drivers won their first feature races of the season at the track in Cole Richards and Cole Chernosky while two other multiple winners added to their totals in James Rahn and Curt Myers. Saturday night’s racing action featured the second to the last point race of the season and the standings going into the final week of points on August 17th are tightening up.
The Midwest Modified feature saw plenty of old school, wheel banging, sparks flying, sheet metal grinding action as the leaders jockeyed for position and slugged it out right o the final checkers.
Kenny Kincaid took the early lead from the outside pole and he maintained the top spot through the first four laps and two yellows, the second of which saw second place runner Brady Larson go for a spin and stop the action.
There were four cars closely chasing leader Kincaid and the restart proved to be a disaster for the Shell Lake driver as he got too high in turn one and before the lap was over, he fell from first to fifth, just that quickly with Stai, who started third, then assuming the leadership role in the race.
However, he was being severely challenged by Schnider, Cody Cimfl and David Baxter as the top four ran in tight formation. Schnider lost the second spot at the halfway point to Cimfl but then fought his way back into second.
The last five laps would be wild with the two leaders battling it out. Schnider was trying to get his car under the leaders’s while Stai was pinching down in the corners and the resulting action saw much banging and bumping between the two but they both maintained control and continued to aggressively go for the lead. This continued into the final lap as they raced side by side off the final corner and in the charge to the finish line, Stai would nose out Schnider by the smallest of margins. Cimfl, Baxter and Travis Anderson completed the top five at the line. While Stai became the first repeat winner in the class this year, Schnider, however, will go into the final points gathering week as the leader.
Two drivers won their first feature races of the season at the track with one also taking his first ever Rice Lake Speedway winner’s shirt home with him. That would be Thunder Bay Ontario’s Cole Chernosky, who made a midpoint pass for the lead in what had been a hotly contested Modified feature and then would hold off the competition to take the win back with him North of the border.
Veteran Danny Thomas took the initial lead after the first start was called back when Austin Ellis spun in turn four. Ellis would later make a tremendous comeback, fighting his way from the back of the pack to finish in the third position.
Thomas was in front for the first five laps with Travis Anderson moving to the cushion and gradually edging up on the leader. Down the back chute, Travis drove around Thomas to take over the top spot but he was challenged quickly by Pat Hoffman and Chernosky who had driven his way to the front after starting in the fourth row. Anderson fought hard to retain the lead but in doing so as Chenosky tried to go around him, Travis lost control just as Chernosky tried to make the pass and spun in turn two, forfeiting the top spot to Chernosky.
At the halfway point of the race, Chernosky had the advantage over Hoffman with Joe Chaplin Jr putting much pressure on Hoffman while Shane Halopka and Ellis, fighting his way back through the field, appeared in the top five.
The last half of the race would go green to checkers and Chernosky gradually began to pull away from the pack. Hoffman and Chaplin Jr had a great battle for second before Chaplin Jr. prevailed and then attempted to catch the leader. However, Chernosky was in the groove and there would be no catching him in this race as he would motor on for the win and become the first Canadian driver to win a Modified feature race at Rice Lake since way back in 2007. Chaplin Jr finished a strong second and Ellis completed his march back up through the field to finish third. Halopka and Aiden Hoffman, passing his dad late, completed the top five.
Rahn dominated the Pure Stock feature, leading from start to finish and having to just hold off Dusten Holub for the win. Holub, who started sixth, was up to second by the time the first yellow waved when Aaron Holmberg took a wild ride in turn four, nearly going over as he took some air after rolling a rear tire off the rim.
Rahn continued to lead following the yellow with Holub and Bob Thompson next in line and racing hard to catch him. As Rahn continued to control the lead and Holub continued to chase, a good race for third developed with Thompson having his hands full as Austin Fencl and Brent Mindock both challenged him. While there was much jockeying of position during the last half of the race, that would be the order they would finish in with Rahn winning his second straight Pure Stock feature. However, he believed that he blew up his motor at the finish and needed a push up to victory lane by another competitior.
The Street Stock feature went green to checkers Saturday and it was Cole Richards, starting from the outside pole, that would dominate the race and lead from start to finsh to take the win. The early part of the event was a fight as Jay Kesan battled Richards hard for the top spot before Cole prevailed.
Cole then began to put some distance on the field as Kesan battled with Hunter VanGilder for second, a contest that VanGilder would secure by the mid point of the race.
Richards continued to maintain a good sized lead as VanGilder tried to catch him while the “Thirty Thousand Dollar Man”, Cody Kummer, started to make his move after starting seventh. He was in the top five by that halfway point of the race and just continued to march forward.
While Richards maintained his comfortable lead and drove on for his first win of the year here, VanGilder managed to finish a strong second and Kummer charged all the way up to third, edging past Kesan and Cody Cimfl. Richards became the seventh different winner in the class here so far in 2024.
Perhaps the hottest driver at the track right now is Curt Myers and the current runner up in national points added to his total as he won his third Super Stock feature race of the season here and padded his track points lead.
Despite the fact that he started eighth in the field, it took him only ten laps to march to the front and secure the top spot and after that, he pulled away from the pack. Cory Davis led his first feature race laps of the year, maintaining the top spot for the first three revolutions before Simon Wahlstrom threw a slider at him and took over the top rung. By this point, Myers was already up to third, having fought his way past Leslie Leu and D.J. Keeler.
Myers continued to move forward and by the halfway point of the race, was knocking on the rear bumper of Wahlstrom and with a slide job of his own, took over the lead. Simon tried to cross him back over without success and after that, Myers gradually pulled away from the field. One more yellow would bunch the pack again, but no matter to Myers who again drove away from the field. Wahlstrom, Keeler and Leu would finish behind Myers with Eric Olson making a late pass on son Ryan to complete the top five.
Going into the final point night of 2024, the five leaders are Chaplin Jr, Myers, Schnider, Danny Richards and Bob Wahlstrom with the closest battle being in the Super Stocks where Myers holds a thirty seven point advantage over Eric Olson. The kids get a chance to race their bikes during intermission next Saturday night with racing starting promptly at 6 pm.
Season Championships are scheduled for Saturday night, August 24th and the season will conclude with the first annual Dairyland Dash on August 31st and September 1st. Run in cooperation with the Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, racing will take place there on Friday night of the Labor Day weekend and then racing will move to Rice Lake on Saturday and Sunday. Complete details for the drivers on the purse structure is expected to be released within a few days.
8/10/2024
Rice Lake Speedway
Results
14 entries
WISSOTA Modifieds
Lubrication Station / Red Cedar Speedway Night A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[7]; 2. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[6]; 3. 20-Austin Ellis[8]; 4. 3JR-Shane Halopka[11]; 5. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[9]; 6. 308-Pat Hoffman[2]; 7. 13H-Mark Hessler[3]; 8. 10-Kyle Helling[5]; 9. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 10. T40-Danny Thomas[1]; 11. 78-Brent Prochnow[12]; 12. 204-David Mayala[13]; 13. (DNF) 18-Mark Hanson[10]; 14. (DNS) 12-Jason Gross
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[1]; 2. 13H-Mark Hessler[3]; 3. 10-Kyle Helling[4]; 4. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 5. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[5]; 6. 3JR-Shane Halopka[7]; 7. 204-David Mayala[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. T40-Danny Thomas[2]; 2. 20-Austin Ellis[1]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 4. 308-Pat Hoffman[7]; 5. 18-Mark Hanson[6]; 6. 78-Brent Prochnow[4]; 7. (DNF) 12-Jason Gross[5]
20 entries
WISSOTA Super Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[8]; 2. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[3]; 3. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[6]; 4. 14X-Leslie Leu[4]; 5. 1E-Eric Olson[9]; 6. 1-Ryan Olson[5]; 7. 57-Randy Graham[11]; 8. 1M-Alex Myers[13]; 9. 20-Cory Davis[2]; 10. 1776-Wayne Dean[7]; 11. 28-Josh Cappo[14]; 12. 20*-Andrew Davis[1]; 13. 247-Jackson Larson[16]; 14. 22-Clay Albrecht[12]; 15. 01-Michael Anderson[17]; 16. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[10]; 17. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[18]; 18. (DNF) 02-Travis Anderson[15]; 19. (DNS) 90-Adam Pratt; 20. (DNS) 10-Jeff Eisner Jr
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[2]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[4]; 3. 20*-Andrew Davis[5]; 4. 22AT-Austin Tilton[7]; 5. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[3]; 6. (DNF) 90-Adam Pratt[1]; 7. (DNF) 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[3]; 2. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[4]; 3. 20-Cory Davis[1]; 4. 57-Randy Graham[6]; 5. 1M-Alex Myers[5]; 6. 02-Travis Anderson[7]; 7. 01-Michael Anderson[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[1]; 2. 1776-Wayne Dean[4]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[6]; 4. 22-Clay Albrecht[2]; 5. 28-Josh Cappo[3]; 6. 247-Jackson Larson[5]
15 entries
WISSOTA Midwest Mods
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Stai[3]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[8]; 3. 19H-Cody Cimfl[6]; 4. 35B-David Baxter[7]; 5. 37-Travis Anderson[5]; 6. 63JR-Brady Larson[4]; 7. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[2]; 8. 13-Derrick Reed[14]; 9. 00-Joseph Swearingen[1]; 10. 410-Jesse Young[13]; 11. 88K-Jason Knutson[10]; 12. 39-Rusty Taber[9]; 13. (DNF) 101-Michael Grover[12]; 14. (DNF) 63C-Braydon Larson[15]; 15. (DNF) 78-Bently Prochnow[11]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 63JR-Brady Larson[1]; 2. 1-Jake Stai[3]; 3. 35B-David Baxter[5]; 4. 19H-Cody Cimfl[7]; 5. 39-Rusty Taber[6]; 6. 78-Bently Prochnow[8]; 7. 410-Jesse Young[2]; 8. 63C-Braydon Larson[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Mike Schnider[1]; 2. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[6]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 4. 00-Joseph Swearingen[3]; 5. 88K-Jason Knutson[5]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[2]; 7. 13-Derrick Reed[7]
17 entries
WISSOTA Street Stock
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1R-Cole Richards[2]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 3. 12-Cody Kummer[7]; 4. 12K-Jay Kesan[1]; 5. 19H-Cody Cimfl[3]; 6. 30-Shawn Amundson[8]; 7. 3R-Danny Richards[10]; 8. 7-Caiden Engel[6]; 9. T20-Michael Tuma[12]; 10. 16-Warren Bartelt[14]; 11. 31-Tom Treviranus[16]; 12. 20F-Connor Franson[11]; 13. 9-Adam Soltis[13]; 14. 19J-Nolan Brown[5]; 15. 79-Joseph Ott[15]; 16. 74-Bruce Stanley[17]; 17. (DNF) 10B-Dylan Baskin[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12K-Jay Kesan[2]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 4. 19J-Nolan Brown[6]; 5. 10B-Dylan Baskin[8]; 6. 20F-Connor Franson[7]; 7. 74-Bruce Stanley[9]; 8. 16-Warren Bartelt[1]; 9. 31-Tom Treviranus[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Shawn Amundson[3]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[5]; 3. 19H-Cody Cimfl[1]; 4. 7-Caiden Engel[4]; 5. 3R-Danny Richards[7]; 6. T20-Michael Tuma[6]; 7. 9-Adam Soltis[8]; 8. 79-Joseph Ott[2]
13 entries
WISSOTA Pure Stock
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[1]; 2. 15H-Dusten Holub[6]; 3. 70-Bob Thompson[3]; 4. 52W-Austin Fencl[5]; 5. 57M-Brent Mindock[7]; 6. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[8]; 7. 17-Brian DeNucci[11]; 8. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[10]; 9. 28-Eric Crosby[9]; 10. 7D-Trevor Phillips[4]; 11. 55-Brad Hudson[12]; 12. (DNF) 4K-Terry Kemp[13]; 13. (DNF) 12-Aaron Holmberg[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 52W-Austin Fencl[2]; 2. 15H-Dusten Holub[6]; 3. 23R-James Rahn[7]; 4. 12-Aaron Holmberg[1]; 5. 28-Eric Crosby[4]; 6. 17-Brian DeNucci[3]; 7. 4K-Terry Kemp[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57M-Brent Mindock[4]; 2. 7D-Trevor Phillips[1]; 3. 70-Bob Thompson[6]; 4. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[3]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[5]; 6. 55-Brad Hudson[2]
