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  .: July 1st, 2017 :.

Olson Tops Rice Lake Speedway Special; Doughty Doubles and Howdy Rides High

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, July 1 – The Super Stocks were the featured class Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway and veteran racer and track point leader Eric Olson held off the challenges of Nick Oreskovich and Shane Kisling to take the thirty lap main event and earn one thousand dollars for his efforts. With the Modifieds getting the night off, four classes ran full programs and in addition, three of the make up features from the June 14th rain shortened program were held.

Aric “Howdy” Lindberg, a long time competitor in both the Midwest Modifieds and Modifieds, won his first ever feature race in the Midwest Modifieds which set off a large celebration in the small community of Dallas. Dustin Doughty became the only double winner of the night when he won both the regularly scheduled program and the makeup event. Jay Kesan won the Street Stock makeup and the regularly scheduled feature in that class went to Jimmy Gullikson while the makeup event for the Midwest Modifieds went to Shane Halopka.

Olson started on the pole for the twenty two car, thirty lap special for the Super Stocks and he quickly sprinted into the early lead. As Olson extended his lead, Kyle Oman moved into second and was running well there. The drivers on the move were Kisling and Oreskovich who started sixth and eighth respectively after the redraw. Both those drivers were using the outside line to move up as they found the track to have multiple grooves in which to run.

Olson remained steady up front, turning very consistent laps and continuing to maintain his advantage. Oreskovich continued to be the driver to watch as he passed Nick Traynor and then drove around Oman to take over second with Kisling right behind him. By the halfway point, they were slowly but surely closing in on Olson.

The margin was down to about three car lengths when the first yellow flag flew with twenty two lap complete for a spin in turn four. This would put Oreskovich and Kisling right on Olson's bumper. After a false start on the green due to another tangle, the last eight laps ran off nonstop.

Oreskovich was right on Olson's rear bumper, looking to his inside and getting a nose inside Olson on each corner, only to Olson fight him off. While these two battled, it gave Kisling an open outside lane and he came within half a car length of stealing away the lead, but he couldn't quite complete the pass.

After another near pass with two to go, Oreskovich gave it one last shot in the last corner, he got inside Olson off the last corner and while he could get his front wheel to Olson's rear wheel, Eric had most of a car length lead as he flashed under Troy Holder's checkered flag. Kisling finished less than a car length behind in third while Traynor drove a consistent race to finish fourth. On the last lap, Jim Cimfl nipped Oman to complete the top five. The win was Olson's third of the year at Rice Lake.

Lindberg, the veteran racer in both of the open wheel classes at Rice Lake, withstood some heavy pressure as he led from start to finish to win for the first time ever at Rice Lake and please his many fans and fellow competitors too. In the early going he was chased by rookie driver Justin Weinberger, Reid Tiegs and Austin Ellis. For a time Tiegs moved into second and Dallas residents held down the top two spots.

A couple yellow flags bunched the field but on each green, Lindberg would again pull out to a small lead as the car challenging him changed many times during the race. Travis Anderson was able to work his way into second while Shane Halopka steadily marched his way to the front after starting ninth.

A late yellow with three to go gave Anderson one last chance. He dove to the low side in turn one and nearly got a nose inside Lindberg, but Aric, known to his friends as “Howdy”, fought off Anderson and raced home to the win by two car lengths, a historic win for himself as he became the sixth different winner in the class this year. Halopka completed his charge by moving up to third at the finish with Ellis and Denny Cutsforth completing the top five.

It wasn't his first win ever at Rice Lake, but it was the first win in 2017 for Jim Gullikson as he took the Street Stock feature while fighting off a late challenge from Jay Kesan for the victory. Andy Cimfl and Kirk Bogdanovic battled for the early lead before Shawn Amundson split them and took over the top spot. Unfortunately, Amundson was only able to hold the top spot for a lap before he spun in turn four, triggering a yellow flag.

Bogdanovic then claimed the lead and fought to hold off Kolby Kieh, Gullikson and Kesan. Gullikson was working the outside and he made some strong moves to the front, culminating in an outside pass in turn two when he took over the lead.

Once in front, he opened up a small lead, but Kesan was quickly moving up also and a late yellow gave Jay one last chance. He dove to the inside of Gullikson but Jim had enough momentum that he fought off the challenge and raced home the winner by two car lengths. Hunter VanGilder's car was smoking most of the night but he drove it home to third ahead of Kiehl and Bogdanovic.

Doughty produced some of the most excitement for the crowd as he made a last lap pass on Jason Havel to take the regularly scheduled Pure Stock feature. After a first lap yellow, the Pures raced nonstop to the finish and it was wild as the top racers weaved their way through heavy traffic toward the front.

Mike Grover led some laps with his new car as he battled with James Clausen and Rob Grabon before Havel came up from the fourth row to take over the lead. Jason looked like he was in line to take his first win of the year until Doughty made a late charge after starting ninth. He caught Havel with a couple of laps to go and was riding his rear bumper as the white flag waved. Going down the back chute, Doughty gave Havel a hard tap in the rear bumper and then dove low inside him coming out of the last corner. The sprint to the line saw Doughty take the win by less than a car length. Grabon finished a strong third ahead of Clausen and Jimmy Holden.

Earlier, the Pure Stock makeup feature saw Doughty move into the lead before one lap was completed and drive to an easy win in the nonstop event. Michael Miller did the unusual thing of driving to the best finish of the year for him when he finished second and then he turned around and sold his car right after the race, with the new driver, Andrew Conklin, racing it in the second set of races! Tucker Quinn blew his engine in finishing third with Havel and Grabon next in line. The wins were Doughty's fifth and sixth of the year at the track, tops for all competitors.

The makeup Street Stock feature was restarted from the lap eight point, where it was stopped by rain two weeks ago. Kesan was leading then and he completed the task, driving comfortably away from the field for his fourth win at Rice Lake this year. Ron Hanestad put plenty of pressure on Hunter VanGilder before settling for third behind Hunter. Kiehl and Don Cook completed the top five.

The other makeup feature was in the Midwest Modifieds and with Halopka on the pole, he jumped into an immediate lead and led from start to finish in the nonstop main. Joe Chaplin did his best to pressure Halopka before settling for third. Rookie drivers shown in this event as first year drivers Calvin Iverson and Alex Smith finished third and fifth with Ellis sandwiched between them. It was Halopka's second feature win at Rice Lake and one hundred and eighty ninth of his career.

Racing continues on a busy week at the speedway on Monday night, July 3rd when the annual Firecracker special is held. The Modifieds will return on Monday and along with a full five class program, the speedway's famous fireworks display will be presented.

Then, on Saturday, July 8th, another five class program will be run with the added bonus on double features for the Super Stocks and Modifieds, due to the earlier rain shortened program. Kid's night will be July 15th with nearly seventy bikes set to be given away to young race fans.

All shows feature 6:30 pm warm ups with racing at 7 pm.

SUMMARY

Rice Lake Speedway

Rice Lake WI

July 1, 2017

WISSOTA Super Stocks

30 lap Feature – Eric Olson(Ladysmith), Nick Oreskovich(Mason), Shane Kisling(Park Falls), Nick Traynor(Barron), Jim Cimfl(Turtle Lake), Kyle Oman(Chisholm MN), Andy Miskowic(Princeton MN), Bart Steffen(Eau Claire), Willie Johnsen Jr(Superior), Terran Spacek(Phillips), Scott Lawrence, Tristan Labarge, Kyle Helling, Don Cimfl Jr, Steve Davidson, Cooper Berlin, Joel Peterson, Dylan Kromschroeder, D.J. Keeler, Russ Chester, Adam Soltis, Mike Siewert

8 lap Heat 1 – Oreskovich, Traynor, Olson, J. Cimfl, Kromschroeder(Princeton MN), Helling, Berlin, Siewert

Heat 2 – Spacek, Oman, Soltis(Ladysmith), Miskowic, Johnsen Jr, Labarge, Chester

Heat 3 – Kisling, Steffen, Lawrence(Superior), D. Cimfl, Keeler(Superior), Davidson, Peterson

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

15 lap Feature – Aric Lindberg(Dallas), Travis Anderson(Colfax), Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Austin Ellis(Rice Lake), Denny Cutsforth(Rice Lake), Kent Baxter(Colfax), Joe Chaplin Jr(Cameron), Justin Weinberger(Park Falls), Kenny Kinkaid(Shell Lake), Reid Tiegs(Dallas), Cy Hoaglan, Calvin Iverson, Craig Elliott, Ross Fuhrman, Zach McKinnon, Alex Smith, Brad Doyen, Fran Hanson, Steve Altman, Brady Larson

15 lap Makeup Feature from June 14 – Halopka, Chaplin Jr, Iverson(Mondovi), Ellis, Smith(Solon Springs), Anderson, Baxter, Tiegs, Cutsforth, Hanson(Almena), Larson, Elliott

8 lap Heat 1 – Halopka, Tiegs, Weinberger, Hoaglan(Ashland), Fuhrman(Ashland), Altman

Heat 2 – Chaplin Jr, Ellis, Baxter, Elliott(Hillsdale), McKinnon(Antigo), Hanson, Doyen

Heat 3 – Lindberg, Anderson, Iverson, Cutsforth, Kinkaid, Smith

WISSOTA Street Stocks

15 lap Feature – Jim Gullikson(Zimmerman MN), Jay Kesan(Weyerhaeuser), Hunter VanGilder(Rice Lake), Kolby Kiehl(Barron), Kirk Bogdanovic(Phillips), Don Cook(Barron), Andy Cimfl(Rice Lake), Josh Back(Barron), Hunter Anderson(Phillips), Josh Schmidt(Becker MN), Parker Anderson, Warron Hanson, Shawn Amundson, Ron Hanestad

15 Makeup Feature from June 14 – Kesan, VanGilder, Hanestad(Glenwood City), Kiehl, Cook, Chad Eastman(Rice Lake), Bogdanovic, Bach, Cimfl, Colton Klueckman(Wausau), H. Anderson, P. Anderson, Kevin Bogdanovic, Sam Fankhauser

8 lap Heat 1 – Kesan, Hanestad, Amundson, Cimfl, Bach, H. Anderson

Heat 2 – Gullikson, Kiehl, VanGilder, Kirk Bogdanovic, Schmidt, P. Anderson, Hanson, Klueckman

WISSOTA Pure Stocks

12 lap Feature – Dustin Doughty(Oakdale MN), Jason Havel(Rice Lake), Rob Grabon(Bruce), James Clausen(Barron), Jimmy Holden(Rice Lake), Justin Weinberger(Park Falls), Mike Grover(Chetek), Bob Thompson(Cameron), Jon Wigchers(Rice Lake), Trenten Holub(Sarona), Dustin Gibson, Andrew Conklin, Scotty VanGilder, Josh Miller, Ken Larson, Rob Holmstrom Jr, Stefan Hogue

12 lap Make up Feature from June 14 – Doughty, Michael Miller(Barron), Tucker Quinn(Ladysmith), Havel, Grabon, Holden, Holmstrom Jr(Weyerhaeuser), Wigchers, Miller(Spooner), VanGilder(Birchwood), Thompson, Zach Beaulieu, T. Holub, James Thurs

8 lap Heat 1 – Weinberger, Grabon, Wigchers, T. Holub, VanGilder, Larson, Austin Workman

Heat 2 – Grover, Holmstrom Jr, Gibson, Conklin(Ladysmth), Carl Hover(Rice Lake)

Heat 3 – Doughty, Havel, Clausen, Holden, Dave Holub(Rice Lake), Miller, Hogue