Travis Loew and Eric Olson New Rice Lake Speedway Winners

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, July 15th – It was Hall of Fame Night Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway and Paul Brust, Ken Coleman, LaVerne Crapser and Bruce Soldner were added to the Rice Lake Speedway Hall of Fame during a ceremony at intermission at the track. There was also a full five division program held and for the first time in 2023, Travis Loew and Eric Olson sat in victory lane, having scored their first feature wins of the year at the track. Continuing their strong runs so far this season, the other three feature winners, James Rahn, Mike Schnider and Mike Anderson all visited victory lane for the third time already here this season.

The speedway will take next Saturday night off from racing in deference to the Barron County Fair which will be in full swing but will return on July 29th when the USRA Late Models make their second appearance of the year at the track while the Street Stocks will take the night off. They will then return on Tuesday night, August 1st for the biggest night of the season at the track, the Street Stock Little Dream race.

The Street Stocks were making their second to the last appearance at the track before the Little Dream night and they possibly were a little too excited for this evening as they had a tough time keeping their main event under the green flag with a whole series of mostly minor spins that nevertheless slowed the action and ultimately led to the event being checkered early when the time limit for the event ran out.

Cody Cimfl led lap one as he debuted a new car for the Herrman Racing Team by being the initial leader. Kevin Bogdanovic quickly moved into the second spot with Travis Loew slipping into third.

On lap three, following a restart, Loew would show great speed as he drove around Cimfl to take over the lead and the battle would then be on. Unfortunately, the yellow flag would then get a work out as it would wave three more times in the next couple of laps, each time slowing what was building to be a big battle. Most of the spins were minor ones but for Jay Kesan, who as making just his second appearance at the track this year, his car suffered enough damage that a wrecker was needed to assist him from the racing surface.

The drivers were warned that another yellow would put the race over the time limit but once again they weren't able to keep the race moving without a spin and the yellow and checkered were waved together by starter Jim Sauls. Loew would get his first win of the season with Cimfl, Bogdanovic, Cole Richards and Sam Fankhauser completing the top five. Loew becomes the seventh different winner here already this season in the Street Stocks, signaling just how competitive this class is.

The other new winner was veteran and defending point champion Eric Olson. With steady finishes so far this year, Olson is again battling for the points title but had yet to visit victory lane until Saturday when he made a late race pass on Fellow Ladysmith driver Tucker Quinn to claim the win. Clay Albrecht would lead lap one for his first time to pace the feature field so far this year. One lap later the speedy Quinn would drive past Albrecht and take over the top spot.

Olson, meanwhile, would start fifth on the field and move into second following a lap eight yellow for a spinning car. The battle would then be on for the top spot with the two Rusk County drivers fighting it out.

They would soon be challenged by Leslie Leu who moved into third and was using the high groove on the track as he tried to work past the two leaders. Finally, Olson also moved up the track and on lap twelve he passed Quinn down the front chute with that high side move. Quinn tried to fight back as they remained close while Leu threatened while still using the top side also.

One late yellow set up a six lap sprint to the finish with Olson controlling things from that point on. Quinn remained close but Olson would not make a mistake and would drive home for the win which was his thirty sixth career Super Stock feature win at Rice Lake. Quinn would finish a very close second with Leu settling for third. Making his first appearance of the year, Warren Bartelt would finish fourth with Rich Bishop next in line.

James Rahn would lead from start to finish to win his third Pure Stock feature race of the year here at Rice Lake. He would start on the pole and would set a blistering pace, one that no one could keep up with. Devin Fries would grab second for a couple laps before being passed by Trenten Holub for that position. Those three would remain in that order for the rest of the race, which would click off nonstop.

And while some of the fastest cars were behind them and trying to catch up, the leaders would run strong from start to finish as some new drivers emerged with sterling races on this night.

Rahn would drive on for the win with Holub finishing a very strong second and Fries next in line. Chasing them home were Austin Fencl and Rob Grabon at the finish.

Jesse Bryan would start on the pole as he sought his first ever Midwest Modified feature win here. Bryan would get off to a good start, taking the early lead as he fought off Mitchell Larson. There was a large group of cars running in the lead pack as Schnider worked his way up to third after starting sixth as he battled with Shadow Kitchner and “Cowboy” Shane Howell.
Kitchner would move to the high groove and nearly get by Bryan following a lap eight yellow for a spinning car but then Schnider would pick up speed and with a burst of power, drive past Bryan to take over the top spot on lap nine.

Schnider would then lead the rest of the race although Kitchner would continue to pester him as he tried and tried on the top side of the track. A stalled car late would set up a one lap sprint to the finish and Schnider would hold off the field once again, as Kitchner would make one last attempt on the outside. It would be win number three for Schnider while Kitchner would finish a very close second as he continues to search for his first win here. Bryan would recover for third with Blake Adams coming from fourteenth to finish fourth ahead of Mitchell Larson.

Mike Anderson has been putting together a strong Modified season at the Rice Lake Speedway and that would continue this week as he would take his third win of the season and continue as the only Modified driver with more than one win at the track this year. He would start fourth on the grid and quickly move into second where he would challenge early leader Austin Ellis for the top spot. Ellis would maintain that spot for the first two laps until Anderson kicked it into high gear and drove into the lead. Kevin Adams was also on the move, taking second from Ellis on lap four and then the battle for the lead would rage.

Adams would push as hard as he could, trying lanes all over the track as he hoped to cut into Anderson's lead. He was able to accomplish that to a point and following the last yellow of the race on lap twelve for a stalled car, Adams gave it his best shot.

For a period of two or so laps, the leaders were side by side with Anderson running low and Adams trying to edge past him in the second lane. Adams would get very close to accomplishing his task, but he was never quite able to drive past Anderson and after a few intense laps, Anderson would edge away once again.

Kaden Blaeser was having his own great race as he ran a strong third and would actually show his nose under the leaders on the restarts as he very nearly stole the show. He continued to run a strong third until on the last couple of laps his car slowed dramatically with problems and he drove into the infield.

Anderson would maintain that slight lead to the checkers and he drove on for another win with Adams second.
Denny Cutsforth would celebrate his first race of the year as he returned from the injury list with a strong third place finish and he would be trailed by Mark Hanson and Joe Chaplin Jr. to round out the top five.

Racing action will begin at 7 pm on July 29th for that special show featuring the USRA Late Models. Check the speedway website and face book page for updates on that event along with the Little Dream Race to follow shortly.

16 entries
WISSOTA MODIFIEDS

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[4]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams[8]; 3. 20C-Denny Cutsforth[5]; 4. 18H-Mark Hanson[2]; 5. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[3]; 6. 78-Brent Prochnow[6]; 7. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[11]; 8. 27H-Steve Hallquist[12]; 9. 20-Austin Ellis[1]; 10. 37-Travis Anderson[9]; 11. 308-Pat Hoffman[14]; 12. (DNF) 43K-Kaden Blaeser[7]; 13. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[15]; 14. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[13]; 15. (DNF) 23-John Toppozini[10]; 16. (DNF) 28-Don Gleason[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[1]; 2. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[3]; 3. 20C-Denny Cutsforth[4]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson[8]; 5. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 6. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[5]; 7. 10-Kyle Helling[7]; 8. 204-David Mayala[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[2]; 2. 18H-Mark Hanson[6]; 3. 78-Brent Prochnow[3]; 4. 20-Austin Ellis[1]; 5. 23-John Toppozini[4]; 6. 27H-Steve Hallquist[7]; 7. 308-Pat Hoffman[5]; 8. (DNF) 28-Don Gleason[8]

12 entries
WISSOTA SUPER STOCK

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 1E-Eric Olson[5]; 2. 11-Tucker Quinn[4]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[8]; 4. 14-Warren Bartelt[6]; 5. 10B-Rich Bishop[7]; 6. 01-Michael Anderson[2]; 7. 21-Mike Siewert[3]; 8. 22-Clay Albrecht[1]; 9. (DNF) 247-Jackson Larson[9]; 10. (DNF) 28-Josh Cappo[11]; 11. (DNF) 23J-Jared Bamberger[12]; 12. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Tucker Quinn[1]; 2. 21-Mike Siewert[5]; 3. 14-Warren Bartelt[4]; 4. 22-Clay Albrecht[6]; 5. 247-Jackson Larson[2]; 6. 28-Josh Cappo[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14X-Leslie Leu[5]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[6]; 3. 10B-Rich Bishop[1]; 4. 01-Michael Anderson[2]; 5. 22AT-Austin Tilton[3]; 6. (DNF) 23J-Jared Bamberger[4]

14 entries
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7-Mike Schnider[6]; 2. 68-Shadow Kitchner[5]; 3. 21B-Jesse Bryan[1]; 4. 40D-Blake Adams[14]; 5. 63JR-Mitchell Larson[3]; 6. L1-Shane Howell[7]; 7. 63L-Brady Larson[8]; 8. 19A-Aiden Hoffman[9]; 9. 19H-Kevin Herrman[11]; 10. 18-Tacoma Randall[2]; 11. (DNF) 12-Mitchell Kesan[13]; 12. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[12]; 13. (DNF) 1-Jake Stai[4]; 14. (DNF) 13M-Cole Mueller[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. L1-Shane Howell[1]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[7]; 3. 63JR-Mitchell Larson[2]; 4. 63L-Brady Larson[4]; 5. 19A-Aiden Hoffman[6]; 6. 19H-Kevin Herrman[5]; 7. 88K-Donavan Knutson[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Shadow Kitchner[1]; 2. 21B-Jesse Bryan[2]; 3. 1-Jake Stai[3]; 4. 18-Tacoma Randall[4]; 5. 13M-Cole Mueller[6]; 6. (DNF) 12-Mitchell Kesan[7]; 7. (DNF) 40D-Blake Adams[5]

21 entries
WISSOTA STREET STOCK

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 40-Travis Loew[3]; 2. 19C-Cody Cimfl[2]; 3. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[4]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[5]; 5. 11-Sam Fankhauser[6]; 6. 3R-Danny Richards[9]; 7. 30-Jim Randall[11]; 8. 19J-Brady Larson[8]; 9. T20-Michael Tuma[12]; 10. 37-Mike Chaplin[13]; 11. 10B-Dylan Baskin[10]; 12. 66-Eric Haupt[16]; 13. 52-Aden Saunders[20]; 14. 19H-Kevin Herrman[17]; 15. 92R-Courtney Rose[18]; 16. 79-Dusten Holub[14]; 17. 9-Adam Soltis[21]; 18. (DNF) 20-Connor Franson[19]; 19. (DNF) 17-Zach Beaulieu[1]; 20. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[15]; 21. (DNF) 7-Jay Kesan[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Cole Richards[5]; 2. 40-Travis Loew[3]; 3. 3R-Danny Richards[7]; 4. 10B-Dylan Baskin[1]; 5. 37-Mike Chaplin[4]; 6. 66-Eric Haupt[2]; 7. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[5]; 2. 19C-Cody Cimfl[7]; 3. 7-Jay Kesan[6]; 4. 30-Jim Randall[2]; 5. 79-Dusten Holub[4]; 6. 19H-Kevin Herrman[3]; 7. 20-Connor Franson[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19J-Brady Larson[2]; 2. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[6]; 3. 17-Zach Beaulieu[1]; 4. T20-Michael Tuma[7]; 5. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[4]; 6. 92R-Courtney Rose[3]; 7. 52-Aden Saunders[5]

11 entries
WISSOTA PURE STOCK

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[1]; 2. 15H-Trenten Holub[4]; 3. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 4. 52W-Austin Fencl[3]; 5. 16-Rob Grabon[6]; 6. 1-Ryan Olson[8]; 7. 5R-George Richards[7]; 8. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 9. 18M-Leo Moos[10]; 10. 09-Skylar Findley[9]; 11. 17G-Chris Gross[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[3]; 2. 23R-James Rahn[4]; 3. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 4. 16-Rob Grabon[2]; 5. 09-Skylar Findley[1]; 6. 17G-Chris Gross[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards[1]; 2. 95F-Devin Fries[3]; 3. 15H-Trenten Holub[5]; 4. 52W-Austin Fencl[4]; 5. 18M-Leo Moos[2]