5/4/2026
Rice Lake Speedway
Four Drivers Repeat at Rice Lake Speedway
Four Drivers Repeat at Rice Lake Speedway
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, May 2 – Despite there being nearly one hundred racers in the pits on Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway, four of the five opening night winners repeated their victories again with only the Midwest Modifieds producing a different winner. And that winner won too on opening night but just in a different division. And to top things off, he was also a double winner on Saturday.
The drivers in question were Simon Wahlstrom in the Pure Stocks, Shawn Amundson in the Street Stocks, Steve Stuart in the Super Stocks and Blake Adams in the Modifieds. Only in the Midwest Modifieds did the opening night winner not repeat with Adams exchanging positions at the finish this week with last week's winner Nick Koehler. And that win helped make Adams the first multi division winner on the same night so far in 2026.
The USRA Late Models were a special addition to Saturday night's program and in their feature race, Cooper Sundby made a late race pass to claim the win in that main event.
Adams redrew the outside pole for the Midwest Modified feature race and that allowed him to grab the early lead over Dave Dishow and Cody Cimfl after the first attempt to start the race was negated by a spin.
Nick Koehler had to do quite a bit more work as he started fifth but he was soon on a charge of his own and by the halfway point of the race, he was up to second with Cimfl and George Dalbeck falling in line behind him. Koehler slowly but surely began to cut into the lead that Adams held as Blake began to encounter slower traffic.
A lap eleven yellow for another spin bunched the field and set up a chase to the finish. Several times Koehler got to within a car length or two of the leader and tried to maneuver under Adams but Blake had the fast groove and was not about to yield.
Nick tried one last time on the final lap, driving deep into turn three but Adams would hold on by about two car lengths for the win. Brady Larson and Joe Swearingen made late charges to get up to third and fourth with Dalbeck completing the top five.
Hunter VanGilder nearly pulled the upset of the night as he took the early lead in the Street Stock feature driving the Rose Racing car that was a late entry and one that he had never driven before. However, he was able to lead the opening four laps before Shawn Amundson tracked him down and made what turned out to be the winning pass.
Amundson had started seventh on the grid but came to the front very quickly, as he was able to get past Sam Fankhauser and Cole Richards to claim the runner up spot and then do the same to VanGilder, driving past him down the front chute to take over the lead.
A couple of yellow flags in the second half of the race kept the field bunched but it was no bother to Amundson who pulled away each time the pack was reformed. VanGilder remained rock solid in second and no one was going to move him out of that spot which he claimed at the finish.
There was plenty of shuffling behind him though, with Richards holding on for third ahead of Fankhauser and Connor Franson who had to drive up through the field after an early spin.
Blake Adams in on a roll with his Modified and even a poor starting spot didn't deter him from repeating his opening night victory. Matt Leer took the initial lead after a battle with Austin Ellis but just a lap later, Ellis brushed with another driver on the back chute and the resulting contact with the concrete wall caused him to slow, and triggered the first yellow of the race.
Adams, who had started eighth and was up to fifth when the yellow flew, then made a great charge to the front quickly, slicing between Nick Oreskovich and David Simpson to take over third and then passing another Canadian in Cole Chernosky to move into second.
He then closed on leader Leer and after experimenting a couple times with the middle lane, he was able to power under Leer and drive into the lead. The last eighteen laps of the race would go off nonstop and Adams was able to build up a comfortable lead.
However, late in the contest, Leer started to pull back in closer and he made it a fairly close finish, even though Adams would claim the win. Chernosky, Oreskovich and Simpson completed the top five in a race that saw only three drivers drop out before the finish.
The USRA Late Model feature saw three different leaders in the fifteen lap contest with winner Cooper Sundby not making the winning pass until just over one lap was left. Jess Sem took the initial lead but the driver on the move was Steve O'Brien. He had started sixth on the field but the Red Wing Minnesota driver moved to the cushion and that launched him forward as he passed driver after driver very quickly, taking over the lead on just the second lap.
O'Brien then pulled away from the field with no one having anything for him. By the halfway point of the race, he had nearly a full straightaway lead over Seim and Sundby and was just cruising.
However, that lead came to a crushing halt as as he crosssed under the finish line on lap ten, his motor made a very bad popping sound, he immediately lost power and pulled into the infield, turning the lead back over the Seim.
However Jess was under pressure from Sundby and when he slipped up the track as they raced to the white flag, Sundby ducked under him and drove into the lead as he saw the white flag. He then pulled away on the final lap to take the surprise win. Seim held on for second and was trailed by Jason McFadden, Josh Wahlstrom and Matt Kelley. For Sundby, it was his second feature win at Rice Lake in two years in the limited appearances that USRA Late Models have made at the track.
Steve Stuart has been on a victory string early in the season and he continued that on Saturday, winning his second straight Super Stock feature and leading all laps in doing so. He was fortunate to start on the pole but that was just adding insurance as he pulled away from the pack and had no serious challenges in the twenty lap main event.
He was chased by the Canadian duel of Rick Simpson and Chernosky and they swapped the second spot several times. Shawn McFadden also made a charge after he started in the fourth row and gradually worked his way forward.
This race was stopped five times for a variety of spins and tangles and was a test of patience for the drivers, some of who failed the test. One last yellow set up a three lap dash to the finish. McFadden had worked his way up to third and went for broke on the restart but he got just a bit high and forfeited a couple of the positions he fought so hard to gain.
Stuart, meanwhile, was automatic as he again pulled away from the field and took the win with Simpson fighting off Chernosky for second. Alex Myers also made a nice drive through the field to finish up fourth ahead of McFadden.
The Pure Stock feature produced a wild way to conclude the night's racing action with a somewhat controversial conclusion to their fifteen lap feature.
Fireworks started early in this race with defending track champion Rob Grabon losing a wheel on the third lap and George Richards nearly going over after making contact with Grabon. Tom Treviranous had taken the early lead with James Rahn and Jake Smith close behind.
The top six soon separated themselves from the big pack and their battles grew increasingly intense. Rahn spun triggering a yellow and during the infighting both Mark Barta and Smith were eliminated with flat tires
Meanwhile, through all the early action Treviranous had continued to lead with Bob Wahlstrom holding on to second. Simon Wahlstrom, last week's winner, joined the leaders after he worked his way forward after starting ninth. Simon and Bob battled hard for second while at the same time closing in on Treviranous for the lead.
Bob nearly got under Treviranous two straight laps before one final yellow set up a two lap dash to the finish. The feeling that a wild finish was upcoming was confirmed when after the green flag dropped, the leaders got nearly three wide as they battled. Coming down the front chute for the white flag, they were indeed three wide and as they tried to get to corner one, Treviranous spun and the yellow waved.
The decision was made that the penalty would be assessed to Treviranous, a decision that was difficult and hard for some to accept. However, this set up a one lap dash to the finish with the Wahlstrom to battle it out with Bob holding the lead.
However, when the green dropped, Bob pushed badly up the track and Simon drove under him to take the lead and complete his back to back victories. Bob hung on for second over Austin Fencl, Trevor Treviranous and Rahn who came from the back of the pack.
The Best Appearing Car awards, voting for on opening night, were announced. The winners were Sean Duffy in the Pure Stocks, Cole Richards in the Street Stocks, Travis Anderson(Colfax) in the Midwest Modifieds, Travis Anderson(Dallas) in the Super Stocks and Joe Chaplin Jr in the Modifieds.
Next Saturday night, May 9th, it will be the first chance for the Modifieds to run for some extra cash as they are the featured divison. The Springtime Modified Spectacular, presented by Henry Repeating Arms, will offer a twelve hundred dollar to win Modified feature that will pay one hundred dollars just to start the event with no entry or draw fees. On top of that, the winner will go home with a one of kind trophy, a rifle produced by Henry that will be a one of a kind item.
All four other divisions will run a complete program and there will be no increase in admission to either the fans or competitors.
Race time will be 6 pm and more information is available on the speedway website or the track's face book page.
Results
15 entries
WISSOTA Modifieds
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[8]; 2. 30-Matt Leer[2]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 4. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[6]; 5. 70-David Simpson[3]; 6. 22S-Cole Spacek[5]; 7. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[10]; 8. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[9]; 9. 22T-Michael Truscott[11]; 10. 24-Dylan Goettl[14]; 11. 57-Mike Anderson[15]; 12. 204-David Mayala[12]; 13. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[7]; 14. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[13]; 15. (DNF) 20-Austin Ellis[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Matt Leer[7]; 2. 70-David Simpson[2]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 4. 20-Austin Ellis[5]; 5. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[1]; 6. 22T-Michael Truscott[8]; 7. 204-David Mayala[4]; 8. 10-Kyle Helling[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 2. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[1]; 3. 22S-Cole Spacek[7]; 4. 27H-Steve Hallquist[2]; 5. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[5]; 6. (DNF) 24-Dylan Goettl[3]; 7. (DNF) 57-Mike Anderson[4]
23 entries
WISSOTA Super Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[1]; 2. 77K-Rick Simpson[3]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 4. 2M-Alex Myers[10]; 5. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[8]; 6. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[4]; 7. 1-Ryan Olson[18]; 8. 14X-Leslie Leu[6]; 9. 01-Michael Anderson[9]; 10. 34-Joe Miller[15]; 11. 20-Andrew Davis[11]; 12. 22AT-Austin Tilton[17]; 13. 21-Mike Siewert[20]; 14. 28-Josh Cappo[21]; 15. (DNF) 9-Jakob Bond[12]; 16. (DNF) 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[14]; 17. (DNF) 90-Adam Pratt[7]; 18. (DNF) 75-Scott Geiger[5]; 19. (DNF) 62-Dalton Truchon[16]; 20. (DNF) 22T-Terran Spacek[13]; 21. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[19]; 22. (DNF) 02-Travis Anderson[22]; 23. (DNS) 44-Trenton Bond
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[2]; 2. 80-Steve Stuart[6]; 3. 75-Scott Geiger[1]; 4. 2M-Alex Myers[8]; 5. 22T-Terran Spacek[3]; 6. 62-Dalton Truchon[4]; 7. 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 8. 21-Mike Siewert[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[6]; 2. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 3. 01-Michael Anderson[2]; 4. 20-Andrew Davis[3]; 5. 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[8]; 6. 22AT-Austin Tilton[5]; 7. 17G-Chris Gross[4]; 8. (DNF) 02-Travis Anderson[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[6]; 2. 77K-Rick Simpson[4]; 3. 90-Adam Pratt[1]; 4. 9-Jakob Bond[5]; 5. 34-Joe Miller[2]; 6. (DNF) 28-Josh Cappo[3]; 7. (DNS) 44-Trenton Bond
17 entries
WISSOTA Midwest Mods
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[2]; 2. 13-Nick Koehler[5]; 3. 63JR-Brady Larson[6]; 4. 00-Joseph Swearingen[8]; 5. 23DD-George Dalbeck[4]; 6. 37-Travis Anderson[11]; 7. 7-Mike Schnider[9]; 8. 10Z-Cade Johnson[10]; 9. 44-David Dishaw[1]; 10. 18-Hunter Brink[14]; 11. 18K-Braedyn Kirtland[12]; 12. 88K-Donavan Knutson[15]; 13. 401K-Mitch Patrick[16]; 14. R1-Robert Crust[17]; 15. (DNF) 19C-Cody Cimfl[3]; 16. (DNF) 317-Austin Polonoski[13]; 17. (DNF) 1-Jake Stai[7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[2]; 2. 1-Jake Stai[1]; 3. 13-Nick Koehler[4]; 4. 63JR-Brady Larson[5]; 5. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 6. 37-Travis Anderson[8]; 7. 317-Austin Polonoski[7]; 8. 88K-Donavan Knutson[9]; 9. R1-Robert Crust[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23DD-George Dalbeck[1]; 2. 19C-Cody Cimfl[4]; 3. 00-Joseph Swearingen[6]; 4. 44-David Dishaw[5]; 5. 10Z-Cade Johnson[3]; 6. 18K-Braedyn Kirtland[2]; 7. 18-Hunter Brink[7]; 8. 401K-Mitch Patrick[8]
13 entries
WISSOTA Street Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 19A-Shawn Amundson[7]; 2. 92R-Hunter VanGilder[1]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[2]; 4. 11-Sam Fankhauser[4]; 5. 20F-Connor Franson[6]; 6. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[9]; 7. 24-Andrew Piilo[8]; 8. 86-Layla Chaplin[10]; 9. 3R-Danny Richards[5]; 10. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[3]; 11. 17-Zach Beaulieu[12]; 12. (DNF) 5-Alaina Chaplin[11]; 13. (DNS) 31-Tom Treviranus
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[1]; 2. 20F-Connor Franson[2]; 3. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[5]; 4. 24-Andrew Piilo[4]; 5. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[6]; 6. 5-Alaina Chaplin[7]; 7. (DNS) 31-Tom Treviranus
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Cole Richards[1]; 2. 3R-Danny Richards[4]; 3. 92R-Hunter VanGilder[5]; 4. 19A-Shawn Amundson[6]; 5. 86-Layla Chaplin[2]; 6. 17-Zach Beaulieu[3]
23 entries
WISSOTA Pure Stock
Lakes Gas A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[9]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[8]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[7]; 4. 231-Trevor Treviranus[10]; 5. 23R-James Rahn[4]; 6. 1-Carsyn Olson[15]; 7. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[12]; 8. 9M-Marlene Lannet[16]; 9. 70-Bob Thompson[14]; 10. 89A-Alyson Karshbaum[23]; 11. 31T-Tom Treviranus[2]; 12. 3D-Sean Duffy[17]; 13. 67-Alex Larson[19]; 14. 67P-Dale Peterson[20]; 15. (DNF) 24-Dylan Helget[11]; 16. (DNF) 86J-Jake Smith[3]; 17. (DNF) 93-CJ Wagner[13]; 18. (DNF) 78-Mark Barta[6]; 19. (DNF) 5R-George Richards[1]; 20. (DNF) 07-Thomas LaPage[21]; 21. (DNF) 16-Rob Grabon[5]; 22. (DNS) 131-Jessie Treviranus; 23. (DNS) 89-Steve Karshbaum
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[2]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[3]; 3. 16-Rob Grabon[6]; 4. 231-Trevor Treviranus[4]; 5. 93-CJ Wagner[7]; 6. 9M-Marlene Lannet[1]; 7. 131-Jessie Treviranus[8]; 8. (DNF) 07-Thomas LaPage[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards[7]; 2. 23R-James Rahn[5]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[2]; 4. 24-Dylan Helget[6]; 5. 70-Bob Thompson[1]; 6. 89A-Alyson Karshbaum[8]; 7. 67-Alex Larson[3]; 8. (DNF) 89-Steve Karshbaum[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[3]; 2. 31T-Tom Treviranus[1]; 3. 78-Mark Barta[2]; 4. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[6]; 5. 1-Carsyn Olson[4]; 6. 3D-Sean Duffy[7]; 7. 67P-Dale Peterson[5]
8 entries
USRA Late Models
Mastercraft Industries A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 20S-Cooper Sundby[2]; 2. 007-Jess Seim[1]; 3. 52-Jason McFadden[4]; 4. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[5]; 5. 63K-Matt Kelley[3]; 6. 55-Clayton Hofteig[7]; 7. 26D-Chad Dawson[8]; 8. (DNF) 14-Steven O'Brien Jr[6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20S-Cooper Sundby[2]; 2. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[6]; 3. 63K-Matt Kelley[1]; 4. 52-Jason McFadden[4]; 5. 007-Jess Seim[3]; 6. 14-Steven O'Brien Jr[8]; 7. 55-Clayton Hofteig[7]; 8. 26D-Chad Dawson[5]
Article Credit: Ed Reichert