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  .: May 6th, 2017 :.

Halopka and Spacek Top List of Rice Lake Speedway Winners

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, May 6 – Shane Halopka earned his one hundred and eighth fifth career feature win and Jeff Spacek won his first feature race at Rice Lake in the last twelve years to highlight the racing action Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway. Nick Oreskovich took his first win of the year while both Dustin Doughty and Jay Kesan became repeat winners as the track completed its third race of the year after an opening night rain out.

With over hundred race cars signing in to race for the third consecutive week, it was a full night of racing in all five classes at the track.

Halopka has been teetering on the brink of reaching the milestone mark since the start of the season but hasn't been able to crack victory lane at any of the area speedways yet. However, he made sure of things on Saturday as his win was a dominant one as he built nearly a half lap lead over the field by the time Troy Holder's checkered flag waved.

For the second straight week, the Midwest Modifieds had a tough time getting their race going with five yellows plaguing the action in the first three laps. Halopka had jumped into the early lead over Denny Cutsforth before the yellow flag fever started and it was just a matter of waiting until the drivers could string together some consecutive laps of racing.

Once they did settle down, they raced the final dozen laps nonstop and Halopka simply motored away from the field. Cutsforth continued to run second and there was a good battle behind him as Dan Kingsley, Paul Suzik, Cody Carlson and Michael Truscott jockeyed for position. Carlson ended up making the strongest moves as he used the second lane to drive up to the third position.

Meanwhile, up front Halopka continued his torrid pace as he was not going to let this milestone victory slip away and at the finish, he was a full straightway ahead of the field. Cutsforth had his career best finish at Rice Lake in the Midwest Modifieds as he finished a strong second with Carlson holding off Suzik and Kingsley for third.

Spacek is not a Rice Lake regular but has raced at the track a considerable number of times over the years, particularly early in the season before his home track at Ashland opens up. Saturday night he led all twenty laps to record his first feature win at Rice Lake since the 2003 racing season and only his second overall.

He started on the pole and after a first lap spin brought out the yellow flag, he motored away from the field from start to finish for the win. He would manufacture a big lead early but in the second half of the race, he started to slip and slide a little on the track and Steve Hallquist was able to cut into his margin considerably. In the last few laps Hallquist was able to pull to within a couple of car lengths of the leader but Spacek then produced a solid finish as he hung on for the win.

Mike Anderson moved into third early and held off Neil Balduc for most of the race for that spot while Paul Wrazidlo went to the trail on the opening lap and worked his way back up through the field to complete the top five.

Spacek's nephew Terran nearly pulled off a family double win as he led the first thirteen laps of the Super Stock feature, only to be overtaken by Oreskovich after a pass off turn one. Spacek started on the pole and fought off an early challenge by Adam Soltis until Oreskovich moved to the second lane and drove up into second. He looked strong as he closed up beside Spacek and they spent most of the first half of the race running side by side, with Nick O trying time and time again to make the pass.

However, Spacek proved strong in his new car which is identical to Oreskovich's and he continued to fight off the repeated challenges for the lead.

However, on lap fourteen, Spacek pushed out in turn one and opened the door for Oreskovich who blew past Spacek on the inside to take over the lead. Once in front, he fought off one challenge by Spacek and then pulled away at the end.
Oreskovich, who frequently in the past few years has dropped in to Rice Lake early in the season and stolen the money, did it once again as he drove home for the win. Spacek finished a strong second while Soltis and Nick Traynor both completed their best runs of the early season and last week's winner Scott Lawrence finished off the top five.

Doughty has proven to be the early season dominator in local Pure Stock action at area tracks and he won his second in a row here but it was a hard fought win as he had to pass last year's track champion Jason Havel in the late laps to secure the victory.

Tucker Quinn started on the outside pole and led for the opening laps of the race as Rob Grabon, Jimmy Holden, Kyle Copp and Havel challenged. Havel was on the move after starting eighth on the grid and he pulled up to challenge Quinn following a restart on lap four. Havel was able to drive around Quinn and take over the top spot but soon Doughty was on his rear bumper, having moved up after starting ninth on the grid.

Doughty continued his charge and was able to pull past Havel to take over the top spot before the yellow waved once again to set up a three lap sprint to the finish. On the green, Doughty had Havel riding his rear bumper and Jason tried as hard as he could but that's the way they crossed the line in a nose to tail finish. The race finished as a checkered and red situation after a grinding crash as the field was racing to the line. A couple of cars tangled as they raced to the stripe and Dusten Holub hit the front stretch wall extremely hard and then rebounded off the wall where he was clobbered a second time by Zach Beaulieu who had no where to go.

Both drivers were shook by the violent collision and Beaulieu reportedly went to hospital for evaluation later. The race was scored complete on the white flag lap with Quinn awarded third ahead of Grabon and John Kallas. Holub and Beaulieu were scored seventh and ninth respectively but that wasn't much satisfaction as both cars may be total losses.

By comparison, the Street Stock main was a much smoother event with all cars that started still on the track at the end and only two minor yellows to slow the action. Rookie Josh Bach led the first few laps of the race before he was overtaken by Kolby Kiehl. Meanwhile, Jay Kesan, along with Hunter VanGilder and Cody Kummer were all moving toward the front.

Kesan was really finding the opening and his car would go anywhere on the track and he was able to move to the second groove and take over the lead. VanGilder was also heading to the front as he shot into second and tried to keep pace with Kesan.

A late spin set up a two lap sprint to the finish but Kesan didn't give any openings and he drove home to follow up his opening night triumph. VanGilder finished a strong second while Sam Fankhauser, who was bottled up in the pack for much of the race, make a late tear and passed Kiehl on the last trip around the track for third with Kummer completing the top five.

Warm ups continue next Saturday night at 6:30 pm with racing to follow and on May 20th, the Mini Mods make their first ever appearance at the track along with the normal five division program.

SUMMARY

Rice Lake Speedway
Rice Lake WI
May 6, 2017

WISSOTA Modifieds

20 lap Feature – Jeff Spacek(Phillips), Steve Hallquist(Eau Claire), Mike Anderson(Colfax), Neil Balduc(Bessemer MI), Paul Wrazidlo(Duluth MN), Pat Hoffman(Rice Lake), Dave Mayala(Barron), Deven Van House(Silver Bay MN), Bryan Hessler(Chetek), Wayne Poteet(Spooner), Kevin Adams, Ryan Viltz

8 lap Heat 1 – Adams(Cameron), Anderson, Wrazidlo, Hallquist, Hoffman, Poteet

Heat 2 – Spacek, Balduc, Viltz(Chetek), Van House, Hessler, Mayala

WISSOTA Super Stocks

20 lap Feature – Nick Oreskovich(Mason), Terran Spacek(Phillips), Adam Soltis(Ladysmith), Nick Traynor(Barron), Scott Lawrence(Superior), Eric Olson(Ladysmith), Willie Johnsen Jr(Superior), Don Cimfl Jr(Rice Lake), Kyle Oman(Chisholm MN), Jim Cimfl(Turtle Lake), Cooper Berlin, Kyle Helling, Andy Grymala, Jeff Klopstein Jr, Steve Davidson, Mike Siewert, Matt Hammitt, John Erickson, Don Muzzy, Simon Wahlstrom, Matt Deragon, Josh Cappo

8 lap Heat 1 – Oreskovich, Traynor, Soltis, Erickson(Rice Lake), Davidson(Richland Center), Cappo, Berlin

Heat 2 – Johnsen Jr, Olson, Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Deragon(Ashland), Helling(Rice Lake), Grymala, Siewert

Heat 3 – Lawrence, Muzzy(Ironwood MI), Spacek, D. Cimfl, J. Cimfl, Oman, Hammitt

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds


15 lap Feature – Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Denny Cutsforth(Rice Lake), Cody Carlson(Superior), Paul Suzik(Ironwood MI), Dan Kingsley(Superior), Travis Anderson(Colfax), Michael Truscott(Chippewa Falls), Reid Tiegs(Dallas), Deven Van House(Silver Bay MN), Tyler Hudack(Ashland), Calvin Iverson, Tad Schoonover, Cole Chernosky, Brady Jokinen, George Dalbeck, Alex Smith, Fran Hanson, Grant Southworth, James Kannegiesser, Joe Chaplin Jr

10 lap B Feature – Van House, Iverson(Eleva), Dalbeck(Wakefield MI), Chernosky(Thunder Bay Ont.) Clay Passuello(Ironwood MI), Dan Roatch, Chris Bretting, Brad Doyen, Justin Weinberger, Brady Larson, Jeff Hanninen, Scott Anderson, Jake Kruzan

8 lap Heat 1 – Truscott, Carlson, Hanson(Almena), Tiegs, Weinberger(Park Falls), Bretting, Larson

Heat 2 – Suzik, T. Anderson, Smith(Solon Springs), Kannegiesser(Hayward), Iverson, Passuello, S. Anderson

Heat 3 – Southworth(Bloomer), Halopka, Schoonover(Eagle River), Jokinen(Mellen), Roatch(Cameron), Hanninen, Kruzan
Heat 4 – Cutsforth, Kingsley, Hudack, Chaplin Jr(Cameron), Van House, Chernosky, Doyen

WISSOTA Street Stocks

15 lap Feature – Jay Kesan(Weyerhaeuser), Hunter VanGilder(Rice Lake), Sam Fankhauser(Rice Lake), Kolby Kiehl(Barron), Cody Kummer(Medford), Josh Bach(Barron), Kevin Bogdanovic(Wausau), Mitch Kesan(Medford), Don Cook(Barron), Travis Loew(Barron), Kirk Bogdanovic, Andy Cimfl, Mike Blevins, Nate Langeberg, Shawn Amundson, Bob Wahlstrom, Parker Anderson

8 lap Heat 1 – Fankhauser, VanGilder, Langeberg(Tomahawk), Cook, Kirk Bogdanovic(Phillips), Amundson

Heat 2 – Kiehl, Bach, Loew, Cimfl(Rice Lake), Anderson(Phillips), Kevin Bogdanovic

Heat 3 – J. Kesan, Kummer, M. Kesan, Blevins(Hibbing MN), Wahlstrom(Chetek), Chad Eastman

WISSOTA Pure Stock

12 lap Feature – Dustin Doughty(Oakdale MN), Jason Havel(Rice Lake), Tucker Quinn(Ladysmith), Rob Grabon(Bruce), John Kallas(Hurley), Jimmy Holden(Rice Lake), Dusten Holub(Chetek), James Clausen(Barron), Zach Beaulieu(Chetek), Bob Thompson(Cameron), Wayne Braun Jr, Randy Graham, Kyle Copp, Annika Hammitt, Andy Ladd, Stefan Hogue, Mike Blevins, Rob Holmstrom Jr, Josh Miller, Austin Workman

8 lap Heat 1 – Havel, Thompson, Workman(Barron), Jamie Fisher(Rice Lake), Blevins(Hibbing MN), Hogue, Holub

Heat 2 – Doughty, Quinn, Kallas, Braun Jr(Rice Lake), Clausen, Holmstrom Jr, Miller

Heat 3 – Copp(Brule), Grabon, Holden, Beaulieu, Graham(Trego), Hammitt, Ladd