Ladysmith Racers Shine at Rice Lake Speedway

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, May 27 – Ladysmith Wisconsin racers Eric Olson and Tucker Quinn highlighted the racing action Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway. Current Super Stock point leader Olson won his second straight main event at the speedway and became the first repeat winner in the division while Quinn won his first ever Pure Stock feature race at Rice Lake. Other feature winners included Kevin Bogdanovic, Grant Southworth and Kevin Adams.

Along with the regular five classes, the UMSS Sprint Cars were in action also and their winners included Scott Brandt from Andover Minnesota in the Traditional Sprints and Chris Graf from Glencoe Minnesota in the Winged Sprints.

The early leader of the Super Stock feature was John Erickson after he had an early battle with Jim Cimfl for the top spot. As Erickson drove under Cimfl to take the lead, Adam Soltis, Olson and Nick Traynor were all on the move to the front of the pack. Olson got past Soltis and then moved in on Erickson.

They raced side by side for a couple of laps before Olson was able to edge into the lead. Once in front, he started to pull away while Erickson battled with Traynor and Soltis who were both on the move to the front also. A collision on lap twelve knocked Cooper Berlin out of the running and bunched the field and while Olson was able to again move away from the pack, the battle for second between Traynor and Soltis heated up. Adam stole away the second spot but Traynor then picked up the pace and retook second. Olson continued to roll on for the win with Traynor fighting off the challenges of Soltis for second. Bart Steffen drove a steady race to finish fourth ahead of Ryan Kostreba.

Quinn's win was a big one for him and was also the closest finish of the night with the top four cars finishing under a blanket. Quinn started on the pole and after a first lap tangle almost before the green flag flew, the twenty three car field then raced nonstop the rest of the way.

Quinn was able to get away from the pack early and build up a nice sized lead while a swarm of about eight cars fought it out behind him. Jason Havel, George Richards and Dustin Doughty were all trying to move up from midpack, and the action was frantic as they raced through the heavy traffic.

Havel was able to get to second and he slowly began to eat away at Quinn's lead. Richards and Doughty were also moving up as the lead began to shrink more rapidly.

Havel caught Quinn with about three laps to go and tried to work under him for the lead. Meanwhile, Richards was knocking on the door of Havel with Doughty closing in at a rapid pace also. The white flag saw the top four close together and as Richards tried to get under Havel, Jason tried to do the same to Quinn. Quinn slid just a little high and Richards dove for the bottom with Havel in between. As they flashed across the line, Quinn held on to edge Richards by about a half car length while Richards did the same to third running Havel. Doughty was right on the tail of all three with Jamie Fisher having his best run to date to round out the top five.

Bogdanovic made a great passing move to take the Street Stock lead and then held off a strong charge by Jimmy Randall to take his first Street Stock win of 2017 at Rice Lake. Randall started on the pole and normally that would cause for the rest of the field to be fighting for second. However, as Jimmy took a very slight lead on the green, Bogdanovic made a move to the second lane on the track and was able to get up beside Randall for the lead. Working very well in the middle of the track, Bogdanovic kept the pressure on Randall and was able to drive past him on the high side to take the lead as Randall found he couldn't keep his momentum up low on the track.

While Bogdanovic continued to show the way, Randall tried on every corner to duck back under for the top spot as he continually pressured to regain the lead. Hunter VanGilder was moving into a challenging spot until he spun and triggered the yellow with just two laps to go. Randall was working on Bogdanovic on the green while Troy Voth moved up also. Suddenly, Shawn Amundson caught fire as he too moved to the middle lane and he drove around Voth to take over third.
Randall continued to pressure and he made a strong move going into turn three. Unfortunately, there was contact between the two leaders and Bogdanovic spun just as the white flag was displayed. Randall was judged at fault and he left the track while Bogdanovic returned to the point.

Amundson then had his chance for the last two laps but Bogdanovic finished up strong to take the win. Amundson's second place finish was his best run of the year. Voth finished third but was disqualified following the race for a technical issue which elevated Simon Wahlstrom, driving his father Bob's car to third with Kirk Bogdanovic and Russell Kostreba next in line.

Southworth won his second Midwest Modified feature of the year but first since opening night. To do so, he had to make a passing move on the most recent race winner in the class, Joe Chaplin Jr. Chapin Jr and Reig Tiegs battled in the opening laps before Chaplin Jr grabbed away the top spot. Southworth then moved in to challenge and with Chaplin Jr running the low groove, Southworth moved up the track. He made that line work as he pulled up beside Chaplin Jr and then eased away into the lead.

While the first half of the race ran caution free, the yellow got a workout in the closing laps with three slowdowns in the last five laps.

Each time, Chaplin Jr would make a strong run at Southworth but each time Grant would fight off the challenge to maintain the lead. One last attempt by Chaplin Jr came up short as Southworth drove on for the win. Kent Baxter's first appearance of the year was a good one as he finished a strong third, fighting off many challenges by Shane Halopka to hold the spot while Austin Ellis completed the top five.

It only took Adams two laps to track down Mark Hessler and take over the lead in the Modified feature. After that, Adams would lead all the way for his second win of the year and become the first repeat winner in the division. Hessler would keep the distance close for a number of laps until Adams gradually pulled away.

The driver on the move was Jeff Spacek who started seventh and moved in to challenge Hessler for second. They had an excellent battle for that position with Spacek at one point actually taking over the runner up slot. However, a late yellow bunched the field again and after a brief battle, Hessler was able to reestablish his claim to second while edging out Spacek for the spot. Jason Schill rode the high side of the track to fourth with Pat Hoffman right behind him.

Racing action will continue next Saturday night, June 3rd with a regular five class program of racing. Only three days later, the first midweek special of the year comes to the Rice Lake Speedway as in line with the city wide Aquafest celebration, racing in all five classes will be held on Tuesday, June 6th with the Aquafest trophies to be contested. The speedway will then take off on Saturday, June 10th with no racing on that night before returning on June 17th with another five division program. All races will se a 6:30 pm cut off for the racers with racing to follow around 7 pm.

SUMMARY

Rice Lake Speedway
Rice Lake WI
May 27, 2017

WISSOTA Modifieds

20 lap Feature – Kevin Adams(Cameron), Mark Hessler(Menomonie), Jeff Spacek(Phillips), Jason Schill(Centuria), Pat Hoffman(Rice Lake), Dave Baxter(Eau Claire), Kelly Checkalski(Poplar), Jake Miller(Somerset), Ryan Viltz(Chetek), Wayne Poteet(Spooner), Dave Mayala

8 lap Heat 1 – Adams, Hessler, Spacek, Viltz, Miller, Baxter
Heat 2 – Poteet, Checkalski, Schill, Hoffman, Mayala(Barron)

WISSOTA Super Stocks

20 lap Feature – Eric Olson(Ladysmith), Nick Traynor(Barron), Adam Soltis(Ladysmith), Bart Steffen(Eau Claire), Ryan Kostreba(Elk River MN), John Erickson(Rice Lake), Jim Cimfl(Turtle Lake), Don Cimfl Jr(Rice Lake), Steve Davidson(Richland Center), Lukas Koski(New Richmond), Luke Schultz, Cooper Berlin, Mike Siewert

8 lap Heat 1 – Erickson, Olson, Kostreba, Berlin(Rice Lake), Schultz(Cameron), Koski, Siewert, Josh Cappo
Heat 2 – Soltis, Traynor, Steffen, J. Cimfl, D. Cimfl Jr, Davidson, Kyle Helling

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

15 lap Feature – Grant Southworth(Bloomer), Joe Chaplin Jr(Cameron), Kent Baxter(Colfax), Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Austin Ellis(Rice Lake), Travis Anderson(Colfax), Reid Tiegs(Dallas), Alex Smith(Solon Springs), Aric Lindberg(Dallas), Justin Claassen(Chippewa Falls), Fran Hanson, Brady Larson, Denny Cutsforth

8 lap Heat 1 – Ellis, Southworth, Baxter, Anderson, Claassen, Cutsforth, Lindberg
Heat 2 – Halopka, Chaplin Jr, Smith, Tiegs, Hanson(Almena), Larson, James Kannegiesser

WISSOTA Street Stocks

15 lap Feature – Kevin Bogdanovic(Wausau), Shawn Amundson(Rice Lake), Simon Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Kirk Bogdanovic(Phillips), Russell Kostreba(Zimmerman MN), Hunter VanGilder(Rice Lake), Don Cook(Barron), Josh Bach(Barron), Jimmy Randall(Rice Lake), Chad Eastman(Rice Lake), Travis Loew, Andy Cimfl

8 lap Heat 1 – Kirk Bogdanovic, Amundson, Randall, Kostreba, Bach, Loew, Eastman
Heat 2 – VanGilder, Wahlstrom, Troy Voth(Mazeppa MN), Kirk Bogdanovic, Cook, Cimfl

WISSOTA Pure Stocks

12 lap Feature – Tucker Quinn(Ladysmith), George Richards(Mondovi), Jason Havel(Rice Lake), Dustin Doughty(Oakdale MN), Jamie Fisher(Rice Lake), Kyle Copp(Brule), Justin Madsen(Foxboro), Dylan Shelton(Wrenshall MN), Mike Pratt(Bloomer), Zach Beaulieu(Chetek), James Clausen, Cory Jorgenson, Jimmy Holden, Wayne Braun Jr, Bob Thompson, Stefan Hogue, Chad Nikstad, C.J. Wagner, Austin Workman, Aaron Bernick, Ryan Lindenfelser, Jake Sandman, Michael Holmstrom

8 lap Heat 1 – Copp, Madsen, Fisher, Shelton, Beaulieu, Thompson, Hogue, Sandman
Heat 2 – Havel, Jorgenson(Hermantown MN), Clausen(Barron), Wagner(Rice Lake), Bernick(Duluth MN), M. Holmstrom, Rob Holmstrom Jr
Heat 3 – Richards, Doughty, Quinn, Pratt, Braun Jr(Rice Lake), Workman, Nikstad, Lindenfelser