Wagner and Wahlstrom Top List of Winners at Rice Lake Speedway
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, June 4 – It was Kid’s Night Saturday at the Rice Lake Speedway and a large group of future fans were on hand with their adults to participate in Kid’s Night activities. Activities for the kids included a “meet the driver” session on the track before the racing started with lots of goodies being offered by the drivers. There was also the fifty seven bikes and baskets that were given away as door prizes to the kids while on the track they were entertained by some fine racing action which saw C.J. Wagner and Simon Wahlstrom win their first feature wins of the year. Technically, while Wahlstrom won his first Super Stock feature of the season, he has one victory previously in the Midwest Modifieds so he is a two time winner overal to go along with Kolby Kiehl, Bryar Zimmerman and Kevin Adams who all won their second features of the year at the track on Saturday.
It was a night of ups and downs for Wahlstrom as he went from the extreme low point of getting crashed out of the Midwest Modified feature while leading on the last lap to immediately jumping into his Super Stock and then edging out Nick Traynor for the win in that division.
Kennedy Swan would start on the pole for the Midwest Modified feature race and the odds seemed strong that she would do well with such a favorable starting spot. However, the first lap proved to be a shocker that added to her early season problems when instead of turning for the first turn, her car shot straight up the banking as the field managed to avoid her machine going in an opposite direction from which it should have. One more corner of the same action and she rolled to a halt and needed a wrecker’s assistance to get off the track.
Josh Wahlstrom would take the early lead when racing resumed with Wagner and Simon Wahlstrom falling in line next. Simon was on the move after starting sixth on the grid and he continued to pressure as Cody Carlson also began to move up.
Simon continued his push on the high side of the track and on lap four he would pass his brother and take over the lead. By the halfway point, the Wahlstroms would continue to run in first and second with Wagner, Carlson and Mike Schnider, who started dead last after motor problems in his heat, first appearing in the top five.
Simon continued to lead with Schnider the story as he continued to climb through the field, and when a late yellow slows the action once again, he was in second with only Simon left to pass for the win. However, things went terribly bad after that. The green flag waved and Schnider tried a very ill conceived slide job, hoping to pass Simon on the inside in turn one. He was not close to getting past his competitor however, and instead slammed very heavily into the side of Wahlstrom’s car, knocking the car up on two wheels where it very nearly flipped before slamming into the outside concrete wall. A shaken Wahlstrom eased out of his car gently, his race over, while Schnider limped to the pits, his race over also.
So, for the one lap dash to the finish, Wagner inherited the lead and while Carlson made a strong attempt to pass him on the final tour, C.J would hang on for his first win of 2022. Point leader Carlson would settle for second with Josh Wahlstrom third.
Wahlstrom would then gingerly ease into his Super Stock for that main event and things would go decidely better in that race, although it got dicey at the end. Wahlstrom would blast off the outside pole to take the early lead as after a first lap spin, this race would run green for twenty laps. Wahlstrom would build up a big lead while Nick Traynor would work his way into second and try to track down the leader. Meanwhile, a great battle for third saw Tucker Quinn and Terran Spacek fighting it out for position.
At the halfway point, Wahlstrom still had a big lead but Traynor would then put on an impressive drive as he cut the nearly full straightaway lead that Wahlstrom had and got within a challenging position in the closing laps. Wahlstrom found Traynor within a couple of car lengths but made a great move to split some traffic that gained him some ground. Still, Traynor would not stop coming and racing off the final corner for the event, Traynor would cut low and close the gap even further. At the finish, Simon would hold on by a car length for his first win in his new Super Stock while Traynor’s impressive charge would come up just short. Quinn would have a strong run for fourth with Eric Olson and Leslie Leu completing the top five.
The closest race of the night would be the nightcap event as the Pure Stock feature turned out to be decided by the smallest of margins. Max Prusak would lead through the first three laps and first two cautions after starting on the pole. He was battling Bob Wahlstrom and Bob Thompson until Thompson got turned around which triggered the yellow once again.
Bryar Zimmerman was on the move after starting eighth as the cautions allowed him to close in and advance up to fourth and then to second after Thompson’s spin. When the green came out, he drove around Prusak and took over the lead with Prusak then battling with Ryan Olson for that runner up spot.
As Olson moved into second, the yellow would fly one last time for debris and bunch up the field for the four lap race to the finish. Olson was on the rear bumper of Zimmerman and when they took off, Ryan made a good move to get to the inside and the leaders would then be side by side for the race to the wire. As the white flag waved, Olson would nose ahead by inches but they remained side by side on the final lap. Zimmerman was on the outside and Olson low as they came off the final corner and at the checkered, Zimmerman would win by the tiny margin of .02 seconds over Olson in a dynamite Pure Stock feature. George Richards would quietly move up after starting ninth and he would edge out Wahlstrom by a razor thin margin for third with Prusak completing the top five.
The Modified feature would see an exciting five car swarm at the front until Adams was able to break away following a late restart. Steve Hallquist would get the jump and take the early lead but he was soon challenged by Shane Halopka for the lead. Hallquist was running high and Halopka low and then would start a series of laps where they ran wheel to wheel in an entertaining duo. Hallquist would the edge off the corners but than Halopka would power down the chutes and pull up beside Hallquist once again.
What made this even more entertaining was that Kevin Adams had moved up after starting seventh and was right behind Hallquist as he looked for an opening to pass both drivers and he worked high and low as he sought an opening to take both the front runners. The three of them would continue to juggle amongst each other and soon Mike Anderson and Pat Hoffman were a part of the group as five drivers ran in close proximity for the lead.
The big break came following a lap twelve yellow for a spin and on the restart Adams would make a spectacular move, diving low and beating Hallquist up the track off turn two to take over the lead and to leave Hallquist and Halopka to fight for second. Adams would then pull away to a big lead in the final laps and while Anderson had slipped back to fifth, he got up on the cushion and made a late tear to the front.
He would storm by Hoffman, Halopka and then Hallquist would finish a strong second with Hallquist settling for third.
Kolby Kiehl was got his new car really dialed in as he would take his second Street Stock feature win of the season and do so in dominating fashion against the largest field of competitors of the night. He started on the outside pole and quickly pulled away from Braden Brauer who tried but couldn’t keep up with the high flying Kiehl. With the race staying under the green, the top two pulled away from the pack but the race was for third where Kolton Brauer, Travis Loew and Ty Agen would battle it out. And they really jockeyed for position with Loew driving up to third after sliding back slightly while Agen charged up from the fourth row.
The front two were gone but Agen moved to the high side of the track and was able to drive around Kolten Brauer and on the final corner nip Loew for third in an exciting finish as Kiehl and Braden Brauer would finish up front. This race ran off nonstop, green to checkered and all nineteen cars were still on the track at the finish and all on the lead lap.
The speedway will see a different form of entertainment next Saturday night. The oval track racers will take the night off and instead, the speedway will host a demolition derby. Details on that can be found on the speedway face book page. The Rice Lake Speedway Speed Pit Kart track will also be in action next Friday, with a program under the lights. Oval track racing will resume on Saturday night, June 18th, when the Race of Champions qualifier for the WISSOTA 100 will be held in all five classes with the night’s winners automatically entered in the Race of Champions event to be held during the WISSOTA 100 in September. Most important for the drivers, it will be a draw/redraw event. Race time will be 7 pm.
13 entries
WISSOTA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[7]; 2. 57-Mike Anderson[5]; 3. 27H-Steve Hallquist[2]; 4. 3JR-Shane Halopka[6]; 5. 20E-Austin Ellis[10]; 6. 308-Pat Hoffman[3]; 7. 97-Cole Anderson[4]; 8. 10-Kyle Helling[12]; 9. 20-Denny Cutsforth[11]; 10. (DNF) 16C-Cole Varsho[8]; 11. (DNF) 11-Sam Fankhauser[9]; 12. (DNF) 18W-Wayne Poteet[1]; 13. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[13]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[1]; 2. 3JR-Shane Halopka[4]; 3. 308-Pat Hoffman[5]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson[7]; 5. 11-Sam Fankhauser[2]; 6. 20E-Austin Ellis[3]; 7. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[6]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 27H-Steve Hallquist[1]; 2. 97-Cole Anderson[6]; 3. 16C-Cole Varsho[3]; 4. 18W-Wayne Poteet[4]; 5. (DNF) 20-Denny Cutsforth[5]; 6. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[2]
12 entries
WISSOTA SUPER STOCK
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[2]; 2. 40-Nick Traynor[6]; 3. 11-Tucker Quinn[3]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[4]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu[7]; 6. 21-Mike Siewert[1]; 7. 67-Josh Bach[5]; 8. 01-Michael Anderson[9]; 9. 28-Josh Cappo[11]; 10. 22AT-Austin Tilton[12]; 11. (DNF) 22T-Terran Spacek[8]; 12. (DNF) 01A-Reid Tiegs[10]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[6]; 2. 11-Tucker Quinn[2]; 3. 21-Mike Siewert[3]; 4. 67-Josh Bach[5]; 5. 01-Michael Anderson[4]; 6. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[1]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 2. 40-Nick Traynor[3]; 3. 22T-Terran Spacek[6]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[5]; 5. 01A-Reid Tiegs[4]; 6. 28-Josh Cappo[2]
14 entries
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 93-CJ Wagner[2]; 2. 32III-Cody Carlson[8]; 3. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[4]; 4. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[5]; 5. 46-Zach Slayton[9]; 6. 19H-Kevin Herrman[10]; 7. 18-Tacoma Randall[12]; 8. 88K-Jason Knutson[13]; 9. (DNF) 38-Simon Wahlstrom[6]; 10. (DNF) 40S-Mike Schnider[14]; 11. (DNF) 87-William Moelter[11]; 12. (DNF) 28H-Francis Hanson[3]; 13. (DNF) 18S-Kennedy Swan[1]; 14. (DNS) 37-Travis Anderson
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32III-Cody Carlson[2]; 2. 93-CJ Wagner[3]; 3. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[1]; 4. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[6]; 5. 46-Zach Slayton[4]; 6. 87-William Moelter[5]; 7. 88K-Jason Knutson[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18S-Kennedy Swan[2]; 2. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[3]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 4. 28H-Francis Hanson[5]; 5. 19H-Kevin Herrman[4]; 6. 18-Tacoma Randall[7]; 7. (DNF) 40S-Mike Schnider[1]
19 entries
WISSOTA STREET STOCK
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[2]; 2. 34JR-Braden Brauer[1]; 3. 26T-Ty Agen[8]; 4. 40-Travis Loew[3]; 5. KOLT34-Kolton Brauer[5]; 6. 9-Adam Soltis[7]; 7. 84-Hunter VanGilder[12]; 8. 30-Shawn Amundson[9]; 9. 17-Zach Beaulieu[4]; 10. 24-James Clausen[11]; 11. 1R-Cole Richards[6]; 12. 37-Mike Chaplin[10]; 13. 7-Caiden Engel[14]; 14. T20-Michael Tuma[15]; 15. 71X-William Fisher[17]; 16. 1M-Alex Myers[19]; 17. 79-Joseph Ott[18]; 18. 66-Eric Haupt[13]; 19. 19H-Jenna Herrman[16]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 26T-Ty Agen[1]; 2. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[5]; 3. KOLT34-Kolton Brauer[6]; 4. 37-Mike Chaplin[2]; 5. 66-Eric Haupt[3]; 6. 19H-Jenna Herrman[7]; 7. (DNF) 1M-Alex Myers[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Shawn Amundson[3]; 2. 40-Travis Loew[2]; 3. 17-Zach Beaulieu[1]; 4. 24-James Clausen[6]; 5. 7-Caiden Engel[4]; 6. 71X-William Fisher[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Cole Richards[4]; 2. 9-Adam Soltis[2]; 3. 34JR-Braden Brauer[1]; 4. 84-Hunter VanGilder[3]; 5. T20-Michael Tuma[5]; 6. (DNF) 79-Joseph Ott[6]
17 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[8]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 3. 5R-George Richards[9]; 4. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[3]; 5. 66-Max Prusak[1]; 6. 70-Bob Thompson[6]; 7. 26-Kevin Bartelt[10]; 8. 101-Michael Grover[12]; 9. 52F-Austin Fencl[2]; 10. 12-Aaron Holmberg[14]; 11. 09-Skylar Findley[15]; 12. 4K-Terry Kemp[13]; 13. (DNF) 81-Charlie Pitcavage[11]; 14. (DNF) 52-Zachary Folz[4]; 15. (DNF) 29M-Rob Grabon[5]; 16. (DNF) 17-Chris Gross[16]; 17. (DNS) 23R-James Rahn
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Max Prusak[4]; 2. 52-Zachary Folz[2]; 3. 29M-Rob Grabon[7]; 4. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[8]; 5. 5R-George Richards[6]; 6. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[5]; 7. 4K-Terry Kemp[1]; 8. 09-Skylar Findley[9]; 9. (DNS) 23R-James Rahn
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 70-Bob Thompson[4]; 2. 52F-Austin Fencl[1]; 3. 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 4. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 5. 26-Kevin Bartelt[3]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[2]; 7. 12-Aaron Holmberg[8]; 8. (DNF) 17-Chris Gross[5]
