Adams As Hot As The Rice Lake Speedway Fireworks

By Ed Reichert
 
RICE LAKE, WI (July 2) - It was holiday racing Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway as a huge crowd was on hand under great weather conditions to witness a speedway tradition, a great fireworks display and some spectacular racing action. With a season high one hundred and three cars signed in to race Saturday, race fans saw amongst other things, a Modified driver that came through the B feature to win the main event, a national point leader barrel roll down the back chute in his main event, one first time winner for the season and a whole lot of spectacular racing action.

Kevin Adams spun the rear end gears at the drop of the green in his heat race, which relegated him to the back of the B feature which he managed to win. But then he really turned up the wik as he came from the seventeenth starting spot to win the Modified main event as well.

Robby Bunkelman and Keith Tourville battled during the opening lap of the Modified headliner before Tourville took the position. Moving up quickly to challenge him were Tim McMann and Mike Anderson. Two quick yellows kept the field bunched but Tourville continued to lead on the green. However, he was soon challenged as Tony Bahr went to the high side of the track and really picked up the pace, as he charged forward from a fourth row starting spot and he drove by Tourville on the high side to take over the lead.

Meanwhile, Adams was cutting through the field like a hot knife through butter as he charged up from his ninth row starting spot. Going both high and low, he was able to advance into the top five by the time a debris yellow slowed the field at the halfway point. Things got wild on the restart as while Bahr continued to lead, the battle was four wide for second with Adams, Tourville, McMann and Anderson battling for the position. Adams made the low side work as he took the spot. He then quickly moved in on Bahr and drove under him for the lead. McMann was on the move also as he took second and kept Adams within a car length of him.

|However, Adams gradually began to extend his lead while Anderson found success on the low side also and drove under McMann for second. At the finish, Adams drove on for his seventh win in nine starts at Rice Lake. Anderson, McMann, Bahr and Paul Brust completed the top five.

Nearly as dominant as Adams has been Matt Leer in the Midwest Modifieds. He won again Saturday to record his fourth victory of the year at Rice Lake but it was a hard fought win. The race got off to a violent start as on the opening corner a car got crossed up, went shooting up the track first and then back down into traffic. Clipped was national point leader Cory Crapser whose car got turned sideways, dug into the track and barrel rolled down the back chute. Crapser was not injured but his car was heavily damaged and eliminated, along with those of Darren LaBlonde and Jake Stai.

After the opening lap action, the rest of the race went nonstop and it was a dandy with four different leaders during the course of the event. Mark Thomas took the early lead and led several laps with pressure from Zach Manley. Manley was eventually able to get under Thomas and drove into the lead, a lead that didn’t last long as Shane Halopka moved up to the cushion and went buzzing by both the front runners to take over the top spot.

Meanwhile, Leer along with the Viltz brothers were on the move also. Matt worked on Manley and was finally able to get past him for the second spot. He then closed on Halopka and they raced side by side for the top spot. With only a couple of laps left, Leer was able to edge past and take over the lead. Shane was able to stay close, but Leer would go on to win his fourth feature win at Rice Lake. Manley finished a solid third with Tito Viltz and Josh Smith completing the top five.

The first time winner was Jason Forehand and he beat the biggest field of the night to take the Super Stock honors. He also had to overcome a high flying Shane Kisling to take the win. Kisling started in the front row and built up a huge early lead, running the cushion to perfection as he pulled away from the pack. Forehand was involved in a hard battle with Eric Olson and Ben Hillman for position before he secured the second spot and started to close on Kisling.

A yellow flag when Hillman lost control and nearly collected a large number of cars slowed the action, and when the green reappeared, Forehand was tight on Kisling and challenging for the top spot. Lap after lap they raced side by side, but gradually Forehand was able to slowly edge away from Kisling, who continued to work the high side and not let Forehand get away from him, but at the same time wasn’t able to mount any kind of attack to reclaim the top spot.  They continued that way to the finish with Olson finishing a close third. Scott Lawrence worked into the fourth spot with Tommy Richards completing the top five.

The Street Stock feature was a rocking, socking kind of event that saw several of the leaders eliminated for various reasons and a finish that was somewhat shuffled. Simon Wahlstrom fought off the early challenges of Ashley Husby to take the early lead and then he was soon heavily pursued by Sam Fankhauser. The yellow was triggered on lap three for a spin and just seconds after the spin occurred, several of the front runners got together on the opposite end of the track with Cody Kummer, Doug Wojcik, Adam Soltis and James Vought all being eliminated.

That left it to Wahlstrom and Fankhauser to battle it out. They were fighting hard for the lead, with Fankhauser getting a nose under Wahlstrom on several occasions as they raced for the top spot. At the halfway point on the front chute, the leaders got together with Wahlstrom going for a spin into the infield. Wahlstrom was restored to the top spot and then he had Danny Richards to deal with.

Wahlstrom was able to fight off the late race challenges and go on for his second win of the year at Rice Lake. Apparent second place finisher Richards failed to pass technical inspection however, and was disqualified. That moved veteran Paul Wrazidlo into the second spot with Fankhauser racing back through the field for third ahead of Josh Wahlstrom and Ralph Stark.

Nick Traynor came from the third row to win his second Pure Stock feature of the season. Cooper Berlin had his best run of the year as he led the opening laps with Jamey Fisher, Bob Thompson and John Erickson all battling to take the top spot away from him. A single yellow on lap five slowed the field and on the restart Traynor was able to drive past Berlin and take over the lead.

Jason Havel was on the charge too, as he came flying up from the fourth row to battle for second and eventually took over the position. He also was closing on the leader as the laps ran down, and it would be a question if he would have enough time. Traynor was smooth as he led and Havel would have to give it his all to get the win. One the last lap Jason tried too hard exited the final corner and he spun into the infield which cost him a number of positions. Traynor drove on for the win with the scrambled last lap seeing Dustin Doughty finish second ahead of Erickson, Thompson and Jay Folz.

Next Saturday night will be another exciting five class program with Main Stop Auto Sales and Tony’s Lawn Care being the presenting sponsors. Race time will be 6:30 p.m.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds
20 lap Feature – Kevin Adams(Cameron), Mike Anderson(Colfax), Tim McMann(Duluth MN), Tony Bahr(Eau Claire), Paul Brust(Rice Lake), Doug Gustafson(Frederic), Keith Tourville(Dairyland), Scott Miller(Rice Lake), Brent Prochnow(Colfax), Robby Bunkelman(Abbotsford), Destin Lorimor, Jason Gross, Mark Hanson, Chris Prussman, Jason Swan, Shaun Kreyer, Jared Loos,  Jeremy Gross, Mark Hessler, Paul Niznik
10 lap B Feature – Adams, Ja. Gross, Swan, Hessler, Aric Lindberg(Dallas), Kent Baxter, Buddy Mayala, Dave Mayala, Pat Hoffman
10 lap Heat 1 – Tourville, Bunkelman, Lorimor(Superior), Je. Gross(Cushing), Ja. Gross(Cushing), Lindberg, D. Mayala
Heat 2 – Gustafson, McMann, Brust, Prussman(Brookings S.D.), B. Mayala(Barron), Adams
Heat 3 – Bahr, Prochnow, Kreyer(Hayward), Loos(Loyal), Hoffman(Rice Lake), Swan
Heat 4 – Anderson, Hanson(Chippewa Falls), Niznik(Medford), Miller, Hessler(Menomonie), Baxter

WISSOTA Super Stocks
20 lap Feature – Jason Forehand(Eau Claire), Shane Kisling(Sarona), Eric Olson(Ladysmith), Scott Lawrence(Superior), Tommy Richards(Mondovi), Aaron Wilson(Menomonie), Andy Grymala(Superior), Steve Thomas(Menomonie), Cory Karshbaum(Chetek), Joe Oliver(Superior), Scott Clark, Ben Hillman, Jim Harris, Willie Johnsen Jr, Tad Schoonover, Roy Pumala, Trevor Wilson, Tim Shackleton, Josh Rodewald, Darrel Hazelton
June_11_201112 lap B Feature – Hazelton, Wilson, Schoonover, Johnsen, Kirk Bogdanovic(Phillips), Marcel Hoaglan, Joe Olson, Cody Carlson, Pat Jungerberg, David Pospyhalla
10 lap Heat 1 – Kisling, Lawrence, Richards, Harris(Menomonie), Hazelton(Chippewa Falls), Johnsen, Olson
Heat 2 – Grymala, Shackleton(Barron), Wilson(Superior), Rodewald(Lake City MN), Hoaglan(Hudson), Schoonover, Jungerberg
Heat 3 – Hillman(Menomonie), Oliver, Karshbaum, Pumala(Mason), Bogdanovic, Pospyhalla
Heat 4 – Forehand, Olson, Thomas, Clark(Cameron), Wilson, Carlson

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
15 lap Feature – Matt Leer(Bruce), Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Zach Manley(Cameron), Tito Viltz(Rice Lake), Josh Smith(Rice Lake), Ryan Viltz(Chetek), Mark Thomas(Menomonie), Kerry Halopka(Wheeler), Taylor Leuthner(Superior), Neil Balduc(Bessemer MI), Dusty Brown, Don Craig, Jake Stai, Cory Crapser, Darren LaBlonde
10 lap Heat 1 – R. Viltz, Manley, Leer, T. Viltz, Smith, Leuthner, Balduc, Craig
Heat 2 – Crapser(Chippewa Falls), S. Halopka, Thomas, LaBlonde(Baldwin), Stai(New Auburn), K. Halopka, Brown

WISSOTA Street Stocks
15 lap Feature – Simon Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Paul Wrazidlo(Duluth MN), Sam Fankhauser(Cameron), Josh Wahlstrom(Cameron), Ralph Stark(Withee), Ashley Husby(Menomonie), Jim Miller(Hayward), Andy Cimfl(Turtle Lake), Josh Amans(Rice Lake), Cody Kummer(Medford), Adam Soltis, Doug Wojcik, James Vought, David Mastill,
10 lap Heat 1 – Wojcik(Ladysmith), Fankhauser, Soltis(Ladysmith), Vought(Hudson), Cimfl, Joel Hinrichs, Mastill, Stark
Heat 2 – Kummer, S. Wahlstrom, Husby, Amans, J. Wahlstrom, Wrazidlo, Miller, Danny Richards
 
Pure Stocks
12 lap Feature – Nick Traynor(Barron), Dustin Doughty(Ladysmith), John Erickson(Cameron), Bob Thompson(Cameron), Jay Folz(Rice Lake), Mike Schnider(Rice Lake), Jamey Fisher(Rice Lake), Cooper Berlin(Rice Lake), Chad Eastman(Rice Lake), C.J. Wagner(Hayward), Brandon Davis, Jon Wigchers, Josh Bach, Jason Havel, Rob Lowe, Kendall Grover, Mike Grover, Chad Nikstad, Darwin Brown, Kolby Kiehl
8 lap Heat 1 – Havel(Rice Lake), Thompson, Erickson, Schnider, Nikstad(Superior), Wigchers
Heat 2 – Berlin, Fisher, Traynor, Davis(Chetek), Kiehl(Cameron), M. Grover, Gunnar Watkins
Heat 3- Brown(Cumberland), Folz, Doughty, Eastman, Bach(Rice Lake), K. Grover, Lowe