Bahr Surprises Rice Lake Super Stock Foes

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (August 18) - Tony Bahr, running a Super Stock for only the second time in 2011, led all the way to win the Super Stock feature on Thursday night as the Super Stocks shared the card with the USMTS Modifieds at the Rice Lake Speedway. Nick Traynor came out of a wild scramble on the last corner to win the Pure Stock feature to round out the program while Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown Iowa topped the USMTS race.

Bahr, driving the second car in Shane Kisling’s stable, started on the pole and quickly jumped out to a small lead in the early going. A great battle for second saw Tommy Richards, Darrel Hazelton and Luke Plank battling for the spot.

Five laps were completed when the lone yellow flew for a Ben Hanke spin. Back on green, Bahr again pulled away from the pack as he was clearly hooked up. Thomas was on the move as he took third and moved in to challenge Richards for the second spot while Kisling, who started in the fourth row, was also starting to advance.

Thomas and Richards then engaged in a good battle for second with Steve moving into that position. Very quietly and almost without notice, Eric Olson was making a monumental charge of his own. After having mechanical problems in his heat, he was forced to start twelfth in the feature race but gradually he moved through the field until he worked his way to Thomas’ bumper. Using the low side, Eric was able to get past Thomas and take over second.

Bahr was long gone, and no one was going to challenge him as he drove home for the impressive win. Thomas tried to fight back on the final lap on the high side but he had to settle for third behind Olson’s strong gains, with Kisling and Richards completing the top five.

The Pure Stock feature had lots of wild action, including the second flip at the track this year. Jeremy Dahl and Jay Folz battled side by side on the opening lap for the lead with Folz edging past Dahl but the lead was still being contested. Coming out of turn four, Gunnar Watkins and Dustin Doughty got locked together with Watkins’ car up on the side of Doughty’s. They were weaving out of control down the front chute when the pack came bearing down on them, many with no way to avoid contact. Chad Eastman ran into Doughty hard, and the last car in, Kendall Grove smashed into Watkins so hard his car went up and on its roof.

Despite the violent contact, there were no injuries although all four cars were eliminated with heavy damage. Folz continued to lead on the green with Dahl still challenging but then Traynor and Jason Havel also joined the battle. Racing into turn three, Traynor spun and Havel was judged to have caused the incident and was sent to the tail.

The last six laps went nonstop, but things came to a head on the final corner. Folz was continuing to fight off Dahl, but as Jeremy pressed hard in turn four, Folz lost control and spun. Dahl managed to avoid contact but was crossed up also, and Traynor, who was running third going into the corner, hit the gas and found open track as he raced on to his third win of the year here. Dahl recovered to finish second and Havel, relegated to the back of the pack earlier, came charging through to finish third ahead of Cooper Berlin and Mike Schnider.

Racing action continues Saturday night, August 20th with the final regular season race of 2011. Saturday will be the last points night as drivers fight for point championships. It will also be Hall of Fame night, with the first inductees into the Rice Lake Speedway Hall of Fame. Race time is 6:30 p.m. On August 27th, Season Championships will be held in all five divisions and then the season concludes with the first ever triple header program in track history. The Labor Day weekend will be a busy one with racing scheduled on Friday, September 2nd, Saturday, September 3rd and Sunday, September 4th. Big money will be on the line all three nights and all five classes will be in action, running full programs all three nights. A corn feed and live music are among the after race highlights and camping is welcome at the track. Race time will be 6 p.m. on Friday, and at 4 p.m. both on Saturday and Sunday to accommodate the large field of drivers expected and to complete the programs at a reasonable hour. More information can be obtained by calling Dave Adams at 715-205-2861 or check the speedway website at www.ricelakespeedway.net.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Super Stocks
20 lap Feature – Tony Bahr(Rice Lake), Eric Olson(Ladysmith), Steve Thomas(Menomonie), Shane Kisling(Sarona), Tommy Richards(Mondovi), Darrel Hazelton(Chippewa Falls), Cory Davis(Turtle Lake), Mike Keller(Menomonie), Cory Karshbaum(Chetek), Tad Schoonover(Eagle River), Jeff Heintz, Kirk Bogdanovic, Donnie Talmage, Ben Hanke, Luke Plank
10 lap Heat 1 – Hazelton, Richards, Jason Forehand(Eau Claire), Kisling, Schoonover, Keller, Bogdanovic, Talmage, Hanke
Heat 2 – Plank(Eau Claire), Bahr, Thomas, Davis, Heintz(Turtle Lake), Karshbaum, Mike Siewert, Olson

Pure Stocks
12 lap Feature – Nick Traynor(Barron), Jeremy Dahl(Knapp), Jason Havel(Rice Lake), Cooper Berlin(Rice Lake), Mike Schnider(Rice Lake), C.J. Wagner(Hayward), Brandon Davis(Chetek), Kolby Kiehl(Cameron), Jay Folz(Rice Lake), Jason Stevens(Menomonie), Josh Bach, Jon Wigchers, Chad Eastman, Kendall Grover, Gunnar Watkins, Dustin Doughty
8 lap Heat 1 – Dahl, Bach(Rice Lake), Doughty(Ladysmith), Kiehl, Wagner, Berlin, Stevens, Grover
Heat 2 – Folz, Havel, Traynor, Watkins(Elk Mound), Eastman(Rice Lake), Davis, Wigchers, Schnider