Three New Winners In Rice Lake Speedway Action
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, June 1 – Mike Tuma, Nick Oreskovich and Jake Stai all visited victory lane for the first time on Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway. For Dusten Holub, it was his second win of the 2024 racing season but he needed a thrilling last lap pass in order to guarantee the win.
Rain on Friday night that lasted into the morning hours of Saturday made the racing program questionable, but as the skies cleared and temperatures rose, track officials and a whole host of volunteer helpers got the track into racing shape so that the program could be completed. And while victory lane and the infield of the track were a muddy mess, everyone made due and racing would be held.
For Tuma, it was his first feature win ever as the Weyerhaeuser racer fought with a tough field of Street Stocks before claming his first ever trophy and victory lane interview. He did start on the pole for the Street Stock main and led the opening lap but was passed by Travis Loew after leading just that opening circuit.
A yellow after five laps for a slowing car bunched the field once more as Loew and Tuma were both challenged by a charging Shawn Amundson, who has started eighth but was up to third by this point with the Richards’ family cars just behind.
Loew was able to open up a few car lengths as the leader once racing resumed again with Tuma fighting to hold off Amundson. The last nine laps of this race ran off nonstop and gradually Tuma closed up the distance on Loew as Travis was struggling just a bit in the corners. Tuma was showing great speed and on lap eleven he dived to the inside of Loew, and made what turned out to be the winning pass in turn four.
And once in front, he was able to pull away slightly while Loew again pushed up the track and allowed Amundson to slip into second. And while Shawn made a late push, Tuma was just too fast on this night to be caught as he drove home for the win with Amundson several car lengths behind in second. Loew settled for third with Cole and Danny Richards trailing. Tuma announced in a victory lane interview with track announcer Ben Brost that Saturday was his birthday so it turned out to be an even more memorable night for him. The win for Tuma marked the fifth different winner in five nights of racing so far this season.
Nick Oreskovich has been a winner a number of times at the Rice Lake Speedway over the years in the Super Stock class but Saturday night marked his first ever victory since moving up to the Modified ranks last year. His win followed a race long battle with Brady Uotinen for the top spot as Oreskovich used his front row starting spot to advantage, taking the early lead and holding on through two third lap yellows for spinning cars.
Following those breaks in the action, the rest of the race ran off green to checkers as Uotinen, who started fifth, quickly moved to the second spot and near the halfway point of the race, made a heavy challenge for the lead. Brady got a nose under Nick O. but just couldn’t complete the pass and after a couple more tries, he slipped back a few car lengths as Oreskovich picked up his pace.
The distance between the two leaders stayed static for the rest of the contest, and with Nick O. not slipping up in any way, he drove home for the first ever Modified win here but three car lengths over Uotinen with Travis Anderson recorded his best finish of the year in third. No Modified feature winner has repeated so far this year at the track.
Stai’s first win of 2024 at the track in the Midwest Modified division came in the wake of a heartbreaking ruling in technical inspection following the race as apparent winner Cody Cimfl was disqualified as his car weighed in too light on the scales.
Cimfl, who has taken over the ride in car owner Kevin Herrman’s Midwest Modified in recent weeks, led the race from start to finish as he was chased by Stai throughout the contest. Several times Stai got close but each time, Cimfl fought him off and maintained the lead. On the move late in the race was Jimmy Latvala who was right in the middle of a good battle for position with Jesse Polson and Mike Schnider.
Up front, Cimfl continued to fight off challenges by Stai and at the line, was a winner by several car lengths over the New Auburn driver. Latvala continues his charge as he got by Polson for third with Schnider following him.
Cimfl and family celebrated in victory lane but what seemed a victory went bad when the car weighed in fifteen pounds too light at the scales. The win was then awarded to Stai, with Latvala and Schnider next in line. Stai became the fifth different winner in five nights of Midwest Modified feature racing.
The racing ended with a wild finish as Dusten Holub executed a last lap pass on Rob Grabon to win an exciting Pure Stock feature that had the crowd on their feet. Grabon had taken the early lead and indeed, led all laps until the final one when Holub was able to slip under him. Holub had moved to the second spot early in the race and by the halfway point was closing on the leader. Jake Smith had moved into third with Brent Mindock and Aaron Holmberg next in line.
As the laps clicked off, Holub was able to gain some ground on the leader and the last three laps the racing got very tight. Holub was able to get the nose of his car under Grabon but each time Grabon fought him off down the chutes.
After a failed attempt with two laps to go, Holub tried once again in turn two and this time was able to pull under the car of Grabon and edge past him down the back chute. Holub gained the edge in the last corner and then just edged away as they raced to the finish line to take a thrilling win. The win was his second of the year at Rice Lake while runner up Grabon still looks for that first victory. Smith finished a solid third and Trenten Holub made a last lap charge that allowed him to claim fourth ahead of Mindock.
The Super Stocks had Saturday night off but they will return on Thursday night, June 6th for one of their biggest races of the year at the track. This special Thursday night show will see the Northland Super Stock Series visit the Rice Lake Speedway for round one of their eight event series after the planned opener for the series was rained out at another track on Saturday.
Last year, a gigantic field of over fifty Super Stocks, featuring many of the best drivers in WISSOTA in the class, was on hand and another forty to fifty car field is expected this coming Thursday. The best local drivers will be tested by drivers from throughout the region and it is possible that drivers from the Dakotas and Canada will also be on hand.
It was announced this week also that the Midwest Modifieds, who will be the second class racing on Thurday, got a nice purse increase for their part of the program too with their feature race being a six hundred dollar to win, one hundred dollar to start event and a large field of them are expected also.
This program will offer just the two classes so that it can be completed in a timely fashion on a work night.
The pit gates will open at 4 pm on Thursday with the draw cutoff at 6:30 pm and racing at 7 pmsharp. Regular admission prices will again be in effect for this show, despite the fact that it is a special event.
For more information, check the speedway face book page and speedway website at www.ricelakespeedway.net.
For Super Stock drivers, contact series director Dennis McCauley at 218-348-9919.
The speedway will take off Saturday night, June 8th so race fans and drivers can enjoy the local festivities. The speedway will resume racing on Saturday night, June 15th with a very special night, The Relay at the Races featuring all five divisions in racing action.
6/1/2024
RICE LAKE SPEEDWAY
Results
9 entries
WISSOTA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[2]; 2. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[3]; 4. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[4]; 5. 78-Brent Prochnow[8]; 6. 10-Kyle Helling[6]; 7. 204-David Mayala[7]; 8. (DNF) 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[1]; 9. (DNF) 308-Pat Hoffman[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[2]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[1]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[4]; 4. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[8]; 5. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[5]; 6. 10-Kyle Helling[6]; 7. 204-David Mayala[3]; 8. 78-Brent Prochnow[7]; 9. (DNS) 308-Pat Hoffman
10 entries
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Stai[5]; 2. 21-Jimmy Latvala[8]; 3. 7-Mike Schnider[7]; 4. 55-Jesse Polson[6]; 5. 101-Michael Grover[2]; 6. 09-Skylar Findley[3]; 7. 78-Bently Prochnow[9]; 8. (DNS) 5-Rory Taber; 9. (DNS) 39-Rusty Taber; 10. (DQ) 19H-Cody Cimfl[4]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Mike Schnider[1]; 2. 19H-Cody Cimfl[4]; 3. 55-Jesse Polson[2]; 4. 09-Skylar Findley[3]; 5. 78-Bently Prochnow[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jimmy Latvala[1]; 2. 1-Jake Stai[3]; 3. 5-Rory Taber[5]; 4. 101-Michael Grover[4]; 5. (DNF) 39-Rusty Taber[2]
16 entries
WISSOTA STREET STOCK
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. T20-Michael Tuma[1]; 2. 30-Shawn Amundson[8]; 3. 40-Travis Loew[2]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[4]; 5. 3R-Danny Richards[7]; 6. 7-Caiden Engel[5]; 7. 19H-Nolan Brown[12]; 8. 10B-Dylan Baskin[16]; 9. 20F-Connor Franson[11]; 10. 79-Joseph Ott[13]; 11. 19J-Jenna Herrman[15]; 12. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[10]; 13. (DNF) 16-Warren Bartelt[14]; 14. (DNF) 12K-Jay Kesan[3]; 15. (DNF) 19C-Cody Cimfl[6]; 16. (DNS) 17-Zach Beaulieu
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Caiden Engel[1]; 2. 40-Travis Loew[6]; 3. 19C-Cody Cimfl[7]; 4. 12K-Jay Kesan[8]; 5. 17-Zach Beaulieu[3]; 6. 20F-Connor Franson[4]; 7. 79-Joseph Ott[5]; 8. (DNF) 10B-Dylan Baskin[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Shawn Amundson[2]; 2. T20-Michael Tuma[1]; 3. 3R-Danny Richards[6]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[5]; 5. 9-Adam Soltis[8]; 6. 19H-Nolan Brown[7]; 7. 16-Warren Bartelt[3]; 8. 19J-Jenna Herrman[4]
17 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 15H-Dusten Holub[5]; 2. 16-Rob Grabon[1]; 3. 86J-Jake Smith[4]; 4. 18M-Trenten Holub[9]; 5. 57M-Brent Mindock[7]; 6. 12-Aaron Holmberg[2]; 7. 28-Eric Crosby[3]; 8. 7D-Trevor Phillips[14]; 9. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[15]; 10. 70-Bob Thompson[13]; 11. 4K-Terry Kemp[16]; 12. 47-Anthony Schultz[17]; 13. (DNF) 02-Nicholas Hazelton[8]; 14. (DNF) 52W-Austin Fencl[10]; 15. (DNF) 31-Travis Hazelton[6]; 16. (DNF) 81-Charlie Pitcavage[12]; 17. (DNS) 95F-Devin Fries
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57M-Brent Mindock[6]; 2. 86J-Jake Smith[2]; 3. 16-Rob Grabon[4]; 4. 15H-Dusten Holub[9]; 5. 18M-Trenten Holub[5]; 6. 95F-Devin Fries[7]; 7. 70-Bob Thompson[3]; 8. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[8]; 9. 47-Anthony Schultz[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Travis Hazelton[2]; 2. 02-Nicholas Hazelton[3]; 3. 12-Aaron Holmberg[1]; 4. 28-Eric Crosby[6]; 5. 52W-Austin Fencl[7]; 6. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[8]; 7. 7D-Trevor Phillips[5]; 8. 4K-Terry Kemp[4]
