Four More New Winners In Rice Lake Speedway Action

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, July 14 – On a steamy July Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway, it was a night for new drivers to find victory lane for the first time and get their pictures taken as winners at the speedway. Only Pure Stock driver George Richards had visited victory lane earlier this year while Justin Oestreich, Tommy Richards, Shane Halopka and Dustin Doughty were all first time winners. While Oestreich and Tommy Richards were visiting victory lane for the first time ever at Rice Lake, Doughty was a previous winner in the Pure Stock class and Halopka is the all time feature win leader in the Midwest Modified class at the track.

George Richards became the second driver in the Pure Stock class to win more than one feature race at the track this year, tying him with Jason Havel in that category. Richards was the third leader in the Pure Stock feature and held off a tough challenge from Bob Thompson to take the win.

Will Fisher grabbed the lead at the start of the race but he was passed by Mike Grover to take over the top spot. Grover soon felt the pressure from Richards who had moved up from the second row to challenge with Thompson, Krysta Doughty and Havel also on the move.

Richards was able to maneuver under Grover and take over the top spot on the third try after having made the pass for the lead, only to twice see that move called back by yellow flags for minor spins that stopped the action.

Finally, on the third try, Richards was able to drive past Grover and take over the lead for good. Thompson soon moved into second and began to apply the pressure. Bob would drive hard into the corners and get up next to the leader but then each time Richards would drive away on the straightaways. Thompson kept trying but just couldn't quite make the winning move and Richards would remain steady as he drove on for the win with Thompson a very close second.

There was a wild last last scramble for position behind the top two with Doughty coming home third, trailed by Grover and Havel.

Krysta's husband Dustin probably provided the most excitement of the night as he won his first ever Street Stock feature in the night's most exciting race. The Street Stocks are tuning up for the “Little Dream” race coming up soon and a big field of cars on Saturday engaged in the closest feature race of the night.

Doughty has been very impressive in the Street Stocks in this, his rookie year, as his first three outings have all resulted in top five finishes, but Saturday he topped all that as he won his first ever Street Stock main event and a most thrilling event.

Another rookie driver, Jason Havel took the early lead and in doing so, led his first laps ever in the Street Stock class. However, coming on strong was Russ Kostreba who was able to duck under Havel and take the top spot. The early going in the race saw contenders Jay Kesan and Hunter VanGilder rub together in a corner with the result that both suffered flat tires. Kesan retired from the race while VanGilder used the yellow flag to change and tire and return.

On the green, Kostreba continued to lead with Havel, Scott Clark, Doughty and Kolby Kiehl all challenging him. Kiehl was able to move to the second lane on the track and he was the driver on the move. He pulled up beside Havel to take second and then challenged Kostreba for the lead. Just as it appeared that Kiehl had the leader cleared, there was some contact in turn one and around went Kiehl, triggering a yellow with six laps completed. Unfortunately for Kiehl, he suffered a flat tire and had to pit for a change also.

Havel inherited the second spot but on the next lap, while challenging for the lead, he too would spin in the same corner and the yellow would come out again, slowing the action. Now it was Doughty's time. He would also move to the second lane on the track and soon would pull up beside Kostreba in a battle for the lead. The race would now go to the checkered without further interruptions, and lap after lap, Doughty and Kostreba would battle for the lead, side by side. Kostreba had the inside line with Doughty outside him and Kostreba had Clark pinned to his rear bumper also as the top three continued lap after lap, side by side. Kostreba would throw his car hard into the corners, holding the inside line but Doughty would stay right with him and pull up beside him on every lap.

They came right down to the wire in the same fashion. Starter Troy Holder showed them the white flag as both were pushing as hard as they could into turn one. However, Kostreba's car would break traction for just a second and as his car's nose pushed up the track, Doughty would clear him and shoot into the lead. Clark then dove inside Kostreba as they raced down the back chute for the final time.

At the line, Doughty was the winner by a car length while Kostreba held on by inches to edge Clark for second. Cody Kummer finished a strong fourth and Sam Fankhauser, subbing for Don Cook, came from twentieth to round out the top five.

Halopka has had a frustrating year at Rice Lake, being involved in several accidents not of his doing and not producing the results that he normally does. However, Saturday he got untracked and won his first Midwest Modified feature of the year here, fighting off all challenges from Kevin Adams to take the win.

Josh Wahlstrom led his first laps of the year in the early going with pressure from Mark Thomas who almost made a pass for the lead on the outside. However, Halopka came on strong and was able to duck to the inside and take over the lead. Once in front, he was able to put some distance on the field while a big battle for second broke out among Wahlstrom, Thomas, Adams, Tommy Richards, Austin Ellis and Calvin Iverson. By the time they got that fight sorted out, Halopka had taken advantage of the situation to move away from the rest of the pack.

Adams was eventually able to work into second and he set off after the leader but the final nine laps of the race stayed under the green and despite trying all lines on the track, Adams was not able to cut into the margin and Halopka drove home with room to spare for the win. The win was his one hundred and ninety ninth career win, many of which he earned at Rice Lake as the all time feature win leader in the Midwest Modifieds. Ellis came shooting up at the end as the point leader finished third ahead of Richards and Wahlstrom.

While it was a good night for the Doughty family, it was also a good night for the Richards family too. Besides George's Pure Stock win, brother Tommy won the Super Stock feature also. Incredibly, it was the first ever Super Stock win for Richards, who has had much success at area tracks but has never found victory lane at Rice Lake, until Saturday.

The early going in the race found Cody Kummer and Ryan Kostreba battling for the top spot with each taking a shot as being the leader. Two early yellows slowed the pace but then the last sixteen laps of the main went nonstop. Richards steadily worked his way to the front from the fourth row, fighting his way past Aaron Wilson and Randy Spacek to get toward the front, where he could take on the top two racers.

Richards was very fast on the bottom and he was able to drive under both Kostreba and Kummer and take over the lead. Once in front, he methodically began to pull away and by the end of the race, he had nearly a straightaway lead on the field. Kummer and Kostreba spent most of the event fighting for second place before Kummer, the Super Stock rookie, took the spot. Spacek made things interesting by running the very high side of the track and he passed several cars to take fourth, with Kosbreba just nipping him at the line while Wilson completed the top five. Richards became the ninth different winner in the Super Stocks already this year.

Speaking of different winners, Oestreich became the seventh different Modified winner and earned his first ever feature win at Rice Lake, as he took the early lead, gave it to Mike Anderson and then battled back to take the win in the closing laps.

The Modifieds had a tough time of it on Saturday with five yellows in the first ten laps as aggressive driving led to some encounters in the early going. While all this was happening, Oestreich had led from the opening green flag but was challenged by Jason Richardson and Mark Hansen in the early going.

The race saw short bursts of racing, followed by yellow flags to sort out the issues between the drivers, with serious, non stop racing finally breaking out in the last half of the event.

Anderson had worked his way up from the third row gradually and using the high and middle lanes, moved in to challenge Oestreich and blew past him on the front chute for the lead. However, Oestreich, who was committed to the low side, fought back and gradually he reeled in Anderson and with just a few laps left, was able to repass the #57 for the lead.

Anderson would not give up and dove hard into each corner, pulling up beside Oestreich but then Justin would edge away out of the corners. At the finish, it was Oestreich by the narrowest of margins and both the front runners were probably lucky the race ended when it did as Dave Cain made a late rush and was closing fast on both of the leaders. Hansen took another top five with Ashley Anderson surviving a wheel banging issue at midrace to come from fifteenth and complete the top five.

A solid field of ninety four cars signed in to race on the last Saturday night before the speedway takes its annual break for the Barron County Fair next week. But after the break, the speedway returns with two of its biggest nights, back to back to close out the month of July.

On Saturday night, July 28th , the Late Models join the regular five divisions for their second appearance of the year at the track. This time it will be a Wollak Construction WISSOTA Challenge Series race along with the regular five divisions. Late Model fans will get to see the largest field of Late Models at the track all season on that night as they race for a $2,000 top prize.

Then, on Tuesday night, July 31st, the nationally recognized twenty fourth annual Street Stock “Little Dream” race will take center stage. Last year fifty seven drivers from the Upper Midwest and Canada were on hand to race for the big money, with Minnesota's Keith Tourville going home with $15,400 for his efforts. The hopes are that 2018 will bring even more drivers and hopefully, continue to break records for the total purse. Entries are already starting to roll in for the event from drivers all over the Upper Midwest. The rain date for that event is Wednesday night, August 1st. The speedway will then take off on Saturday, August 4th.

Watch the speedway website for updates and announcements concerning both events or check the speedway face book page.

SUMMARY

Rice Lake Speedway

Rice Lake WI

July 14, 2018

WISSOTA Modifieds

20 lap Feature – Justin Oestreich(Elk River MN), Mike Anderson(Jim Falls), Dave Cain(Corcoran MN), Mark Hansen(Chippewa Falls), Ashley Anderson(Elk Mound), Jason Richardson(Spring Valley), Sam Fankhauser(Rice Lake), Mark Hessler(Menomonie), Jake Miller(Somerset), Pat Hoffman(Rice Lake), Jay Richardson, Cory Williams, Darrel Hazelton, Donnie Lofdahl, Bryan Hessler, Josh Hessler, Kyle Helling, Kevin Adams, Mitch Anderson, Jason Gross, Dave Mayala

8 lap Heat 1 – Cain, Adams(Cameron), Jason Richardson, Williams(Spring Valley), Mayala(Barron), J. Hessler, Helling, Steve Hallquist
Heat 2 – Hansen, Hazelton(Chippewa Falls), Miller, Hoffman, Jay Richardson(Spring Valley), Lofdahl, Gross, Wayne Poteet
Heat 3 – Mike Anderson, Oestreich, M. Hessler, Fankhauser, A. Anderson, B. Hessler, Mitch Anderson

WISSOTA Super Stocks

20 lap Feature – Tommy Richards(Mondovi), Cody Kummer(Medford), Ryan Kostreba(Elk River MN), Randy Spacek(Phillips), Aaron Wilson(Eau Claire), Bart Steffen(Eau Claire), Simon Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Jim Cimfl(Turtle Lake), Adam Soltis(Ladysmith), Steve Davidson(Richland Center), Cody Cimfl, Jason Quarders, Scott Pittman, Jesse Young, Andy Cimfl, Hunter VanGilder

8 lap Heat 1 – J. Cimfl, Kostreba, Kummer, C. Cimfl(Chetek), VanGilder(Rice Lake), A. Cimfl, Quarders, Young, Thomas Martin
Heat 2 – Richards, Spacek, Wilson, Steffen, Soltis, Wahlstrom, Davidson, Pittman

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

15 lap Feature – Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Kevin Adams(Cameron), Austin Ellis(Rice Lake), Tommy Richards(Mondovi), Josh Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Mark Thomas(Menomonie), Calvin Iverson(Eleva), Jason Schill(Centuria), Travis Anderson(Colfax), Cody Borgeson(New Richmond), Aric Lindberg, Joe Chaplin Jr, Pete Paulus, Fran Hanson, Craig Elliott, J.D. Ford, Jon Marsh

8 lap Heat 1 – Richards, Halopka, Wahlstrom, Thomas, Schill, Anderson, Hanson, Paulus, Chaplin Jr
Heat 2 – Adams, Iverson, Ellis, Borgeson, Elliott(Hillsdale), Lindberg, Ford, Marsh

WISSOTA Street Stocks

15 lap Feature – Dustin Doughty(Oakdale MN), Russ Kostreba(Zimmerman MN), Scott Clark(Cameron), Cody Kummer(Medford), Sam Fankhauser(Rice Lake), Simon Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Hunter VanGilder(Rice Lake), Parker Anderson(Phillips), Danny Richards(Mondovi), Kevin Bogdanovic(Wausau), Kirk Bogdanovic, Jamey Fisher, Mike Chaplin, Rob Grabon, Duane Halverson, Bill Grambow, Ron Hanestad, Kolby Kiehl, Ashley Wahlstrom, Jason Havel, Hunter Anderson, Jay Kesan

8 lap Heat 1 – Kiehl(Barron), Clark, Richards, S. Wahlstrom, Kirk Bogdanovic(Phillips), A. Wahlstrom, H. Anderson, Grambow
Heat 2 – VanGilder, Kummer, Havel(Rice Lake), Chaplin(Rochester MN), Halverson(Shell Lake), Fisher, Fankhauser
Heat 3 – Kesan(Weyerhaeuser), Doughty, Kostreba, Hanestad(Glenwood City), P. Anderson, Kevin Bogdanovic, Grabon

WISSOTA Pure Stocks

12 lap Feature – George Richards(Mondovi), Bob Thompson(Cameron), Krysta Doughty(Oakdale MN), Mike Grover(Chetek), Jason Havel(Rice Lake), Will Fisher(Shell Lake), Scotty VanGilder(Birchwood), Ryan Lindenfelser(Trego), Mike Holmstrom(Rice Lake), Mike Huebner(Cumberland), Austin Fencl, Adam Pratt, Dan Boissy, Cooper Berlin

8 lap Heat 1 – Zach Beaulieu(Chetek), Havel, Fisher, Doughty, Pratt(Bloomer), Boissy, Huebner, Holmstrom
Heat 2 – Thompson, Berlin(Rice Lake), Richards, Grover, VanGilder, Lindenfelser, Fencl