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Four New Winners at Rice Lake Speedway's Kid's Night

Rice Lake WI- May 24 – Week number four of the 2025 racing season at the Rice Lake Speedway produced four first time winners in feature racing action with a huge crowd on hand as a part of Kid's Night with one hundred and thirty six bikes and gift packages given to the kids on hand along with many other activities. Mark Hanson, Alex Myers, Kolton Brauer and Rob Grabon all stood in victory lane for the first time on Saturday while the speedway's most dominant to this point, Nick Koehler, stood for the trophy presentation for the third time already this season.

Next Saturday night the Winged and Traditional Sprint Cars of the UMSS will make their first visit to the speedway in two years along with the regular racing action in four other classes.

Chippewa Falls' Mark Hanson made his first appearance of the 2025 racing season with his Modified and he was flawless as he led from start to finish to pick up the twenty lap feature race. However, while he was scored the leader of all twenty laps, things got tight for him in the late going with a pair of teenagers pushing him to the limit.

Hanson took the early lead over Simon Wahlstrom who was looking to get his second win of the year. Hanson was working the cushion on the well prepared oval with Aiden Hoffman, Mark Hessler and Joe Chaplin Jr all close behind. With five laps completed, the lone yellow of the race was triggered by a spin in turn four as Blake Adams cracked the top five for the first time.

Hoffman was on the move as he passed Wahlstrom for second and very gradually started to reel in the leader. Adams was also on the charge as he drove up to third and also started closing in on the top pair of drivers.

With five laps to go, the top three were running in a tight group as Hanson's lead continued to shrink. Hoffman looked to the inside of the leader, but was repelled by Hanson while Adams was also in tight formation. On the last lap, Adams threw a slider on Hoffman and was able to drive into second but he didn't have enough time to put a serious challenge on Hanson, and Mark, known as “The Mad Dog” drove on to his first victory of the season. Behind the top three, Wahlstrom and a fast closing Matt Leer completed the top five.

A family affair in the Super Stock main event was almost interrupted by a late charge from another party in what a great race by all the drivers. Leslie Leu started on the pole and he jumped into the initial lead with Eric Olson, Alex Myers, Andrew Davis and Curt Myers all bunched behind him. The lead pack was running double file with Alex Myers starting to move on the outside.

A long run flag for a medical emergency in the pits stopped the action for several minutes but when racing resumed, Leu continued to be challenged by Olson and Alex Myers. Alex was making the outside work and he drove steadily past Olson and on lap seven, took the lead from Leu.

By the halfway point of the contest, Curt Myers had picked up the pace and had moved into the second spot and began to challenge his son for the lead, poking his nose inside Alex in the corners but finding that Alex wasn't just going to pull over and let “Dear Old Dad” past easily.

A late yellow with just five laps to go when Randy Graham stalled on the track changed the course of the event. Alex Myers continued to lead while Curt opted for the low side on the restart and to the shock of every one in the house, Leu took off like a rocket on the top side, driving past Curt Myers and then closing on Alex.

Leu closed to within a car length of Alex as the white flag waved, and when Leu went for broke in turn one in an attempt to steal away the win, his car jumped the cushion and he lost ground. This took the pressure off Alex who then drove home for the win with Curt using the break to drive back up into second. Leu recoved for third with Austin Blom and Olson completing the top five.

For Alex Myers, it was his first of the season and second ever feature win at Rice Lake, having won his first last year in his rookie year in the class. He also became the fourth different winner already this year in what has turned out to be the most competitive class at the track.

Kolton Brauer has been in the national point chase every year recently in the Street Stock class but until Saturday, had never won a feature race at Rice Lake. However, that changed as he held off Hunter VanGilder to get that initial win in a hard fought battle.

Brauer started on the pole and immediately took the top spot with VanGilder battling with Danny Hanson and Sam Fankhauser for position right behind Brauer. An early spin packed the field and on the restart, Brauer had VanGilder tight on his rear bumper as they raced the low side of the track. Hanson was pounding the cushion as he battled for second with Fankhauser right in the mix also. Cody Kummer, who started eighth, would be a driver to watch over the final half of the race as he moved to the cushion also and found speed there.

Brauer continued to guard the low line with VanGilder nailed to his rear bumper and occasionally giving the leader a bit of a tap. When Travis Loew slowed on the track, it led to a final five lap sprint to the finish. VanGilder looked both high and low for an opening but Brauer failed to make a mistake as he led Hunter across the line for the win. Kummer was the driver to watch at the end as he used the top side of the track to move up to third and with a few more laps, who knows how far he could have advanced? Richards and Fankhauser completed the top five.

The closest feature race of the night was in the Pure Stocks where Rob Grabon completed a last lap pass on Devin Fries to get the win in a thrilling way to conclude the evening. Jamey Fisher took the early lead but when he slid up the track, Fries was right there to grab the top spot away from the Cameron driver.

Fries would then lead the majority of the race with Grabon gradually closing up on him after starting sixth. A great battle for third raged with Mark Barta and Bob Wahlstrom exchanging the spot.

As Fries continued to lead, Grabon got on his rear bumper and with Fries not giving up the inside line, Grabon moved up the track and slowly but surely started to move closer. He was nearly side by side with Fries when the white flag waved to start the final lap. Down the back chute the leaders were side by side and racing off the final corner, they were still door to door. As they raced to the line, Grabon edged ahead by perhaps a fender length and final margin of victory was .033 seconds over Fries in a great battle.

Barta held off Wahlstrom in the fight for third and C.J. Wagner, making his first start in his distinctive Station Wagon, came from fourteenth to complete the top five.

Nick Koehler has been the hottest driver at the track so far in 2025 and the Bloomer driver earned his third Midwest Modified feature win after a hard battle with Blake Adams. Koehler started on the pole and used that advantage to take the initial lead with Mike Schnider quickly driving into second and Adams up to third.

Koehler continued to show the way as Adams got under Schnider for second and then closed on Koehler. Just before the halfway point, Adams had a shot off turn four but Koehler, who got just a bit high, quickly recovered and closed the door.

The second half of the race was a two car battle as Adams stayed a couple of car lengths behind Koehler, searching for an opening or hoping for a mistake. However, neither were coming as Koehler was in a groove and despite Adams' best efforts, there would be no stopping Koehler as he drove home with a two car length win over Adams. Schnider would hold third to the finish with Jake Stai and C.J. Hedges next in line.

The next two events at the speedway will both be special programs. Next Saturday night, May 31th, the Winged and Traditional Sprint Cars of the Upper Midwest Sprint Series (UMSS) will be on hand for their first appearance in two years, having had last year's race rained out and unable to reschedule. Both classes of fire breathing Sprints will run a full program of heats and feature races and will be joined by the WISSOTA Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, Midwest Modifieds and Super Stocks with the Modifieds having the night off.

And then, on Thursday night, June 5th the Fast Lane Super Stock Series will present the first race in their ten race series at the speedway. Drivers from several states will be participating in the series and with Rice Lake being the first race in the series, somewhere between thirty and fourty Super Stocks are expected to be on hand. Along with the Super Stocks, the Midwest Modifieds will also have a special event for themselves with the two class program designed to provide a quick midweek racing program. The speedway will then take off on Saturday night, June 7th with no racing on that night.

For further information and the latest news from the speedway, follow the speedway website at www.ricelakespeedway.net and the speedway face book page.

Results

14 entries

WISSOTA Modifieds

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 18-Mark Hanson[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 3. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[3]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 5. 30-Matt Leer[7]; 6. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[5]; 7. 20-Austin Ellis[9]; 8. 308-Pat Hoffman[10]; 9. 3-Bryan Hessler[8]; 10. 38Z-Zach Gibson[11]; 11. 73-Jeff Helget[13]; 12. 204-David Mayala[12]; 13. (DNF) 13H-Mark Hessler[4]; 14. (DNS) 10-Kyle Helling

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Matt Leer[3]; 2. 18-Mark Hanson[2]; 3. 13H-Mark Hessler[1]; 4. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[7]; 5. 20-Austin Ellis[6]; 6. 38Z-Zach Gibson[4]; 7. 73-Jeff Helget[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 3-Bryan Hessler[6]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[7]; 5. 308-Pat Hoffman[5]; 6. 204-David Mayala[1]; 7. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[3]

17 entries

WISSOTA Super Stock

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21M-Alex Myers[5]; 2. 1M-Curt Myers[6]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[8]; 5. 1E-Eric Olson[4]; 6. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 7. 01-Michael Anderson[2]; 8. 15-Jonathan Dachel[13]; 9. 22-Clay Albrecht[11]; 10. 28-Josh Cappo[15]; 11. 21-Mike Siewert[9]; 12. 22AT-Austin Tilton[16]; 13. (DNF) 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 14. (DNF) XJR-Austin Harris[12]; 15. (DNF) 57-Randy Graham[10]; 16. (DNF) 11-Tucker Quinn[14]; 17. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[7]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[1]; 3. 3B-Austin Blom[3]; 4. 01-Michael Anderson[6]; 5. 21-Mike Siewert[8]; 6. 22-Clay Albrecht[4]; 7. 15-Jonathan Dachel[5]; 8. 28-Josh Cappo[2]; 9. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 2. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 3. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 4. 21M-Alex Myers[7]; 5. 57-Randy Graham[8]; 6. XJR-Austin Harris[6]; 7. 11-Tucker Quinn[5]; 8. 22AT-Austin Tilton[2]

16 entries

WISSOTA Midwest Mods

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 4. 1-Jake Stai[5]; 5. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[2]; 6. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[6]; 7. 37-Travis Anderson[9]; 8. 19H-Cody Cimfl[8]; 9. 21-Jimmy Latvala[11]; 10. 48-Cole Kelley[13]; 11. 24-Liz Toepper[10]; 12. 10Z-Cade Johnson[14]; 13. 101-Michael Grover[12]; 14. 88K-Donavan Knutson[15]; 15. (DNF) 88-Jacob Toepper[7]; 16. (DNS) 91L-Jacob Dachel

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 4. 19H-Cody Cimfl[6]; 5. 37-Travis Anderson[7]; 6. 21-Jimmy Latvala[8]; 7. 48-Cole Kelley[3]; 8. 88K-Donavan Knutson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Mike Schnider[4]; 2. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[3]; 3. 88-Jacob Toepper[1]; 4. 1-Jake Stai[6]; 5. 24-Liz Toepper[2]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[7]; 7. 10Z-Cade Johnson[5]; 8. 91L-Jacob Dachel[8]

17 entries

WISSOTA Street Stock

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[1]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 3. 12-Cody Kummer[8]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[2]; 5. 11-Sam Fankhauser[3]; 6. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[10]; 7. 7-Caiden Engel[5]; 8. 1R-Cole Richards[6]; 9. 17-Zach Beaulieu[12]; 10. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[16]; 11. 20T-Michael Tuma[11]; 12. 19J-Jenna Herrman[13]; 13. 19H-Kevin Herrman[14]; 14. (DNF) 40-Travis Loew[9]; 15. (DNF) 86-Layla Chaplin[17]; 16. (DNF) 20F-Connor Franson[7]; 17. (DNS) 19C-Cody Cimfl

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[9]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[1]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[8]; 5. 40-Travis Loew[2]; 6. 20T-Michael Tuma[7]; 7. (DNF) 19C-Cody Cimfl[4]; 8. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[6]; 9. (DNF) 86-Layla Chaplin[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[3]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[8]; 3. 20F-Connor Franson[5]; 4. 7-Caiden Engel[6]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[1]; 6. 17-Zach Beaulieu[4]; 7. 19J-Jenna Herrman[2]; 8. 19H-Kevin Herrman[7]

15 entries

WISSOTA Pure Stock

Lakes Gas A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 16-Rob Grabon[6]; 2. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 3. 78-Mark Barta[7]; 4. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 5. 93-CJ Wagner[14]; 6. 3-Jamey Fisher[1]; 7. 7D-Trevor Phillips[3]; 8. 47-Anthony Schultz[12]; 9. 925-Dnae Rose[4]; 10. (DNF) 24-Shane Strenke[10]; 11. (DNF) 15H-Dusten Holub[9]; 12. (DNF) 89-Steve Karshbaum[8]; 13. (DNF) 55-Caleb Duffie[11]; 14. (DNS) 17-Brian DeNucci; 15. (DNS) 4K-Terry Kemp

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 3. 89-Steve Karshbaum[6]; 4. 78-Mark Barta[4]; 5. 15H-Dusten Holub[7]; 6. 55-Caleb Duffie[1]; 7. 47-Anthony Schultz[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Jamey Fisher[3]; 2. 16-Rob Grabon[5]; 3. 7D-Trevor Phillips[4]; 4. 925-Dnae Rose[6]; 5. 24-Shane Strenke[8]; 6. (DNF) 17-Brian DeNucci[2]; 7. (DNF) 93-CJ Wagner[1]; 8. (DQ) 4K-Terry Kemp[7]

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