Grover and Terran Spacek Earn First Ever Wins at Rice Lake Speedway

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, June 30 – On a Saturday night when the Rice Lake Speedway played “chicken” with the weather and came out a rare winner, the speedway saw four first time feature winners for the 2018 season at the track and among those four, Mike Grover and Terran Spacek won their first ever features at the speedway to highlight the racing program. Only Hunter VanGilder was a winner previously at the track during the season.

It was Kid's Night and bike drawing night at the track and the large number of children on hand were not disappointed and although heavy rains moved to within just miles of the track and it sprinkled before the action began, the speedway was able to get the entire racing program completed without any interference from the weather.

Mike Grover has been racing at the Rice Lake Speedway for a considerable number of years and has been close before but finally on Saturday he earned his first ever feature win at the track. He started on the outside pole of the season high twenty six car field of Pure Stocks and fought off several challenges and worked through several yellow flags to earn the win.

Early on, the field was over anxious and several yellow flags slowed the racing in the first few laps of the event. Grover had grabbed the lead immediately and was challenged early by Will Fisher, Zach Beaulieu, last week's first time winner and Randy Graham. A couple of spins, a wall banger by Wayne Braun Jr and then a multi car pileup in turn four slowed the action in the first five laps.

Finally, everyone settled in and raced clean the last half of the race but by then nearly half the field was already off the track. Grover continued to lead and he was setting a nice pace as Graham moved into second and tried to track him down. Jason Havel had worked his way up from the fourth row and moved into third and looked to be ready to track down the leaders but he was then challenged himself by Andrew Hanson for that position.

But up front Grover continued to set a fast pace and despite Graham's best efforts, Mike was not to be denied as he raced across the line for the big win. Hanson managed to get past Havel in the late going for third while Fisher was turned on the last corner and post race was given the fifth position back. Grover became the seventh different winner in seven nights of racing for the Pure Stocks.

Spacek has not been a regular at the Rice Lake Speedway but when he can, he always makes an appearance at the track and has been close to winning before, both in the Pure Stocks and again after he moved up to the Super Stocks.

Saturday night he would grab the leader early, set a blistering pace and would allow no one to even get close as he dominated the Super Stocks and took home the big prize for the first time. Cory Davis started on the pole and would lead the first three laps before Spacek would work his way up from the second row, move to the outside and then drive past Davis to take over the lead.

The Super Stocks got the yellows out of the way early including two debris cautions and a yellow when out side pole sitter Cody Kummer slowed with issues. Once these slowdowns were out of the way, the class raced the last nineteen laps under the green and Spacek managed to pull away from the field.

Adam Soltis and Simon Wahlstrom moved up to battle Davis for second with both Curt Myers and Eric Olson also on the move. Wahlstrom was able to use the outside to drive into second but he had a considerable distance to make up on the leader.

Spacek was not backing off once he grabbed the lead though, and he maintained a fast pace as he worked his way past several lapped cars near the end of the race. He would not relinquish his advantage though and his first win at Rice Lake was a dominating one. Wahlstrom held on for second as he fought off some late race challenges from Myers with Olson and Davis rounding out the top five.

The Modified feature saw Mike Anderson jump into the early lead when he drove past Steve Hallquist and then he held off the heavy challenges of Kevin Adams in the late going to earn his first win of 2018 at the track. Adams started in the third row but quickly moved to the front and the top three of Anderson, Adams and Matt Leer soon moved away from the field as they fought with each other.

A couple of spins saw the action slowed and the field bunched up and on each green, Anderson had his hands full with Adams pressuring but Mike refused to yield and fought off all challenges.

Late in the race Adams picked up the pace and put even more pressure on the leader with him right on Anderson's rear bumper and looking for a route to the front. With two laps to go, Adams dove under Anderson in turn one and took the lead for a second but Anderson is a cool customer and he used a cross over move to ease back into the lead and then strengthened it the last lap to take the win.

Leer's first appearance of the year resulted in a strong third place run followed by exceptional runs by Tyler Kintner and Cody Carlson that both resulted in top five finishes.

The Midwest Modified feature may have been the most competitive race of the night with three different leaders before Austin Ellis claimed the win. Canadian visitor David Simpson was the early leader in a race that saw the yellow wave twice before a lap could be completed, once when eventual winner Ellis was turned around on a ragged start that was called back and Ellis got his place back.

Simpson was challenged in the early going by Cody Borgeson and Joe Chaplin Jr with Brandon Copp also racing with the leaders.

They were soon joined by Kevin Adams who had started in the fourth row, Ellis and Calvin Iverson. Chaplin Jr was pressuring leader Simpson hard for the top spot with Copp and Adams battling right behind them. Unfortunately, in that battle, Copp got “walled” and his night was done with Adams being sent to the tail of the field.

Chaplin Jr took over the lead but suddenly, almost out of no where, Ellis made a hard charge to the inside and surprised everyone as he came out of no where to take over the top spot. And once in front, he began to pull away from the field as the later part of the race ran without any slow downs.

As Ellis pulled away, Iverson continued his charge and the national rookie of the year in 2017 moved into second. Ellis continued his strong run as he pulled away in the late going to earn his first win since the 2016 racing season and third ever at Rice Lake. Iverson continues to get closer to earning his first win as he finished a strong second ahead of Chaplin Jr. Simpson followed and Borgeson, after falling back, used the top side of the track to charge back up into the top five.

The Street Stock feature was the only main event to go nonstop and VanGilder used a dominating performance to pull away in the late going for the win. Ashley Wahlstrom was the early leader of the race and she set a fast pace as she looked for her first ever win at the track. She led the first half of the race as Cody Kummer used the high side of the track to gradually close in on her and challenge for the lead. Lap after lap he would draw just a little closer as Wahlstrom raced hard to hold on to the lead.

Just as Kummer was in a position to possibly drive around Wahlstrom and take over the lead, VanGilder came charging up and the leaders made it three wide down the front stretch for the lead. VanGilder was strong into turn one and he took over the top spot and immediately began to draw away from the field.

Kummer continued to work the top side and was able to finally slide past Wahlstrom and take over the second spot but he wasn't able to keep up with VanGilder who drew away from the field.

With the race going nonstop, VanGilder continued to build on his advantage and he drove home for his second win of the year at the track with Kummer finishing a solid second.

Rookie Dustin Doughty had a good battle at the end with Wahlstrom but had to settle for fourth with Parker Anderson completing the top five.

Tuesday night, July 3rd, one of the premier events at the track will be held. It is the Firecracker special and one race that everyone will want to see. Along with a full race program in all five divisions that compete at the track, one of the best fireworks displays in northwestern Wisconsin will also be presented with both aerial and ground displays a part of the program. Warm ups begin at 6:30 pm with racing to follow. Check the speedway website for more details.

The Mini Mods made an appearance at the track also on Saturday and their winner was Andrew Zimmerman from Altoona.

SUMMARY

Rice Lake Speedway

Rice Lake WI

June 30, 2018

WISSOTA Modifieds

20 lap Feature – Mike Anderson(Jim Falls), Kevin Adams(Cameron), Matt Leer(Bruce), Tyler Kintner(Hibbing MN), Cody Carlson(Superior), Dave Baxter(Eau Claire), Ryan Viltz(Chetek), Kyle Helling(Rice Lake), Pat Hoffman(Rice Lake), Dave Mayala(Barron), Cooper Berlin, Taton Hansen, Sam Fankhauser, Jake Hanson, Steve Hallquist

8 lap Heat 1 – Hallquist(Eau Claire), Adams, Leer, Hoffman, Mayala, Carlson, Hansen, Hanson
Heat 2 – Kintner, Baxter, Anderson, Viltz, Fankhauser(Rice Lake), Helling, Berlin

WISSOTA Super Stocks

20 lap Feature – Terran Spacek(Phillips), Simon Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Curt Myers(Cameron), Eric Olson(Ladysmith), Cory Davis(Turtle Lake), Adam Soltis(Ladysmith), Jim Cimfl(Turtle Lake), Cody Kummer(Medford), Aaron Wilson(Eau Claire), Hunter VanGilder(Rice Lake), Steve Davidson, Matt Koski, Scott Pittman, Austin Workman, Andy Cimfl, Andy Ladd, Jesse Young, Luke Schultz

8 lap Heat 1 – Myers, Wilson, Wahlstrom, Davis, VanGilder, Koski, A. Cimfl, Workman, Ladd
Heat 2 – Spacek, Kummer, J. Cimfl, Soltis, Olson, Davidson, Pittman, Schultz, Young

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

15 lap Feature – Austin Ellis(Rice Lake), Calvin Iverson(Eleva), Joe Chaplin Jr(Cameron), David Simpson(Thunder Bay ONT), Cody Borgeson(New Richmond), Aric Lindberg(Dallas), Travis Anderson(Colfax), Kevin Adams(Cameron), Don Craig(Thunder Bay ONT), Shane Halopka(Greenwood), McLean Andrews, Fran Hanson, Tad Schoonover, Jack Rivord, Craig Elliott, Tanner Williamson, Colin Chaschuk, Murray MacLeod, James Lambert, Doug Toepper, Jon Marsh, Josh Wahlstrom, Brandon Copp, Gunner Peterson

8 lap Heat 1 – Adams, Iverson, Ellis, Andrews(Duluth MN), Craig, Williamson, Lambert, MacLeod
Heat 2 – Simpson, Chaplin Jr, Copp(Brule), Halopka, Peterson(Mason), Wahlstrom, Chaschuk, Marsh
Heat 3 – Borgeson, Lindberg, Hanson(Almena), Anderson, Craig, Rivord, Toepper, Elliott

WISSOTA Street Stocks

15 lap Feature – Hunter VanGilder(Rice Lake), Cody Kummer(Medford), Ashley Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Dustin Doughty(Oakdale MN), Parker Anderson(Phillips), Jay Kesan(Weyerhaeuser), Mike Knudtson(Osseo), Kolby Kiehl(Barron), Travis Loew(Barron), Mitch Kesan(Medford), Rob Grabon, Jason Havel, Don Cook

8 lap Heat 1 – Kummer, M. Kesan, Anderson, Cook(Barron), Knudtson, Grabon, Havel
Heat 2 – Loew, Doughty, VanGilder, Wahlstrom, Kiehl, J. Kesan

Pure Stocks

12 lap Feature – Mike Grover(Chetek), Randy Graham(Trego), Andrew Hanson(Iron River), Jason Havel(Rice Lake), Will Fisher(Shell Lake), Bob Thompson(Cameron), Zach Beaulieu(Chetek), Leslie Leu(Stetsonville), James Vendela(South Range), Jeremy Cash(Duluth MN), Markia Smith, Austin Gibson, Aaron Bernick, Tucker Quinn, Scotty VanGilder, Dusten Holub, Josh Miller, Austin Fencl, Dan Boissy, Wayne Braun Jr, C.J. Wagner, Mike Holmstrom, Kyle Copp, Cory Jorgensen

8 lap Heat 1 – Beaulieu, Graham, Braun Jr(Rice Lake), VanGilder(Birchwood), Miller(Spooner), Wagner, Mike Huebner, Jorgensen, Adam Pratt
Heat 2 – Thompson, Quinn(Ladysmith), Grover, Copp(Brule), Boissy(Trego), Holub, Gibson, Holmstrm, Bernick
Heat 3 – Hanson, Fisher, Havel, Cash, Leu, Vendela, Smith, Fencl