Mahder Tops Rice Lake Speedway Opener

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, May 4 – It took four tries, but the Rice Lake Speedway was finally able to open up Saturday night and begin its sixty seventh consecutive year of racing at the venerable facility on Rice Lake's North side. In opening night action, the first five feature winners of the season included Cory Mahder, Curt Myers, Kevin Adams, Jay Kesan and Jeremy Cash.

Mike Anderson was the early leader of the Modified feature after he drew the pole for the main event. Early on he fought off Ashley Anderson until Kevin Adams came storming up from the third row to challenge. Adams was driving hard on the cushion as he moved past cars on the outside lane of the track and he was soon up to challenging Mike Anderson for the lead.

When Anderson bobbled leaving turn two, Adams shot to his inside and raced past him down the back chute but his momentum was too much and he slid up the track, opening the inside line to Anderson who pulled back beside Adams as they went side by side into turn one. However, the right front tire on Adams' car couldn't take the strain and it blew, sending him hurtling up towards the wall but he was able to stop at the last second, although this triggered the first yellow of the event. Adams changed a tire and returned to the tail of the field.

Mike Anderson continued to lead on the restart with Ashley Anderson still pressuring him but this is when Mahder decided to move to the cushion too and within two laps, he was challenging Mike Anderson for the lead. With his own strong move through turn four, he blew past Anderson to take over the lead, at which point he soon was stretching the advantage.

The best battle was for the fourth spot where Paul Suzik was trying his best to get past Pat Hoffman for the position. Adams' frustrating night came to a conclusion as while he was trying to battle his way back up through the field he jumped the cushion in turn three and slid up to the wall, once again triggering another yellow flag.

The three lap race to the finish saw Mahder pull away from the field while Suzik became the show. With a great move he was able to split Hoffman and Ashley Anderson and he found himself up to the third spot and challenging Mike Anderson for second. Mahder won by a comfortable margin and earned his eighth career Modified win at Rice Lake. Mike Anderson held off Suzik for second but the rookie driver from Michigan, in his first time out in a Modified, showed that he will be a driver to be watched this season. Ashley Anderson and Hoffman completed the top five.

Defending Super Stock point champion Curt Myers had a rocky start to the evening which included an unforced spin in his heat race and set him back to the tenth starting spot in the main event. However, whatever adjustments he made all worked as he was a force to be reckoned with in the main event, as he came from the fifth row to win the race.

Two early tangles slowed the action in the Super Stock main but once everyone settled down, the last eighteen laps clicked off nonstop with Willie Johnsen Jr the early leader. Willie led the first few laps until Tommy Richards moved up to the top side and blew past Johnsen Jr coming off turn four to take over the top spot. Meanwhile, Myers was on the charge as he was cutting through the field, using the whole track and soon made himself into a challenger for the lead.

He drove past Johnsen Jr for second and then closed on Richards. As both drivers were running the high side, Myers quickly dropped low and found that groove to his liking also and he drove under Richards and took over the lead. Once in front, he wasted little time pulling away from the pack as Richards tried to keep up but just couldn't maintain the pace Myers was setting. Terran Spacek was also moving up and he worked his way into the top five and then proceeded to battle it out with Nick Oreskovich for position.

Myers continued to speed away into the night and he was unchallenged as he took the win. Richards maintained second and was followed by Johnsen Jr, Terran Spacek and Oreskovich.

Adams made up partially for his frustrating night in the Modifieds by charging up from the fourth row to win the Midwest Modified feature race. David Simpson got the jump on Shane Halopka to lead the early laps as Simpson set a hot pace and Halopka, Calvin Iverson, Tony Bahr and Austin Ellis all tried to keep up with the speedy Canadian. Two early yellow slowed the action but as racing resumed, Adams was challenging for a top five position within the first five laps. He and Ellis had a good battle for position until Austin lost in and triggered another yellow.

Simpson continued to lead as the race resumed but Adams was showing much speed as he drove past Bahr and Halopka and closed on the leader. They then engaged in a good battle for the top spot with Adams finally sliding under Simpson in turn one to take over the lead. After that, Adams gradually pulled away as the last six laps were clicked off after early contender George Dalbeck rolled to a halt in turn two.

Simpson did a fine job hanging on for second as he fought off both Bahr and Halopka while Ellis drove the wheels off his car to return to the top five at the end.

The Street Stocks had the biggest field of any class and their main event was a wild one that unfortunately was marked by a few too many yellow flags. Rookie Street Stock driver Will Fisher led the opening few laps as he fought off Dustin White in the early going . Behind him it was crazy as the pack was big and drivers were seen to be running four wide down the back chute as they fought for position. Once again, there was a driver back in the pack that was making a hard charge to the front and in this race it was defending track champion Jay Kesan who had started ninth on the field. However, using the yellow flags to his advantage and surgically moving around drivers, he soon found himself in contention.

Fisher had hung on to the lead through several restarts but finally it was Kesan who was able to get past him on the outside and take over the lead. However, Cody Kummer was also in a position to challenge and he went to the high groove and began to close on Kesan while C.J. Wagner was also moving into a challenging position too. Each lap Kummer would get just a little bit closer to Kesan and just when it looked like he might be able to squeeze by on the high side, the yellow flag waved.

A three lap sprint to the finish saw Kesan get a good start and open up a small margin while Wagner was pushing for second as Kummer made an all out charge on the high side to try and steal the win. Kesan continued his march though, and drove on for the win with Wagner nipping Kummer for second in a photo finish. Travis Lowe came from fifteenth to finish fourth and a post race disqualification shuffled the final order with Colten Klueckman earning his first ever top five at Rice Lake.

Jeremy Cash was the only driver in the five divisions to start up front and stay there as he led all the way to top the Pure Stock feature race. The Pure Stocks ran off a nonstop main and it was Cash and Randy Graham that fought for the lead from start to finish. Cash took the lead from the pole but immediately moved to the top lane and he rode the cushion from start to finish in the race. At the midway point he continued to maintain several car lengths over the field while Graham was being challenged by Aaron Bernick, Cory Jorgensen and Ryan Clausen.

Gradually Graham began to close in and with just a few laps left, he appeared in a challenging position. However, just then the leaders hit lapped traffic and Cash was able to stretch his advantage slightly. The leaders then came upon another lapped car on the final circuit, Cash was able to get by without an issue but there was a scramble for second and Jorgensen emerged with the position as he edged out Graham. Cody Cimfl came from twelfth to finish fourth ahead of Burnick.

For Cash, the defending WISSOTA National Rookie of the Year earned his first ever win at Rice Lake with four of the top five finishers being visitors to the track on this night.

Next Saturday night, May 11th, the first special event of the 2019 racing season will take place at the track. Highlighted by the first appearance of the WISSOTA Late Models this year, the Trackside Collectibles 40 will feature the best Late Model drivers in the area tackling the Rice Lake Speedway with $2,000 on the line for the winner. A solid field of drivers representing the area is expected aling with a full racing program in the track's regular five divisions. Warm ups are slated for 6:30 pm with racing to follow. Check the speedway website and face book page for updates as the week progresses.

The Rice Lake Speedway is located one mile North of Rice Lake midway between state highway 48 and Barron County SS.

SUMMARY

Rice Lake Speedway

Rice Lake WI.

May 4, 2019

WISSOTA Modifieds

20 lap Feature – Cory Mahder(Elk Mound), Mike Anderson(Jim Falls), Paul Suzik(Ironwood MI), Ashley Anderson(Elk Mound), Pat Hoffman(Rice Lake), Justin Oestreich(Elk River MN), Dan Kingsley(Superior), Sam Fankhauser(Rice Lake), Kyle Helling(Rice Lake), Kevin Adams(Cameron), Wayne Poteet, Steve Hallquist

8 lap Heat 1 – Adams, Hoffman, A. Anderson, Helling, Poteet(Spooner), Hallquist
Heat 2 – Oestreich, Suzik, M. Anderson, Mahder, Kingsley

WISSOTA Super Stocks

20 lap Feature – Curt Myers(Cameron), Tommy Richards(Mondovi), Willie Johnsen Jr(Superior), Terran Spacek(Phillips), Nick Oreskovich(Mason), Randy Spacek(Phillips), Matt Deragon(Ashland), Nick Traynor(Barron), Eric Olson(Ladysmith), D. J. Keeler(Superior), Kyle Copp, Adam Soltis, Cory Casari, Mickey Anderson, Luke Schultz, Scott Lawrence, Josh Bach, Tucker Quinn

8 lap Heat 1 – T. Spacek, Deragon, Olson, Myers, Soltis(Ladysmith), Quinn
Heat 2 – R. Spacek, Richards, Traynor, Schultz(Cameron), Copp(Brule), Bach
Heat 3 – Johnsen Jr, Casari(Montreal), Oreskovich, Keeler, Lawrence(Superior), Anderson

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

15 lap Feature – Kevin Adams(Cameron), David Simpson(Thunder Bay ONT), Tony Bahr(Haugen), Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Austin Ellis(Rice Lake), Kenny Kinkaid(Shell Lake), Denny Cutsforth(Rice Lake), Aric Lindberg(Dallas), Jack Rivord(Superior), Jon Marsh(Rice Lake), Duane Halvorson, Jamie Bisonette, George Dalbeck, Calvin Iverson, Steve Altman, Craig Elliott, Travis Anderson

8 lap Heat 1 – Adams, Ellis, Iverson(Eleva), Anderson(Colfax), Kinkaid, Bisonette, Rivord, Elliott, Halverson
Heat 2 – Dalbeck(Wakefield MI), Simpson, Bahr, Halopka, Lindberg, Marsh, Altman, Cutsforth

WISSOTA Street Stocks

15 lap Feature – Jay Kesan(Weyerhaeuser), C.J. Wagner(Rice Lake), Cody Kummer(Medford), Travis Loew(Barron), Colten Klueckman(Wausau), Andrew Hanson(Iron River), Parker Anderson(Phillips), Ryan Valeria(Rhinelander), Josh Beaulieu(Chetek), Dustin White(Conover), Russ Chester, Ty Agen, Kolby Kiehl, Michael Tuma, Will Fisher, Jason Havel, Hunter VanGilder, Hunter Anderson, Rob Grabon, Duane Halverson, Bob Wahlstrom, Danny Richards

8 lap Heat 1 – Richards(Mondovi), Kummer, Kesan, Kiehl(Barron), Havel(Rice Lake), Beaulieu, Tuma, Alex Minks
Heat 2 – VanGilder(Rice Lake), Wagner, White, Klueckman, Hanson, Agen, P. Anderson, Chester
Heat 3 – Fisher(Shell Lake), Valeria, Wahlstrom(Chetek), Grabon(Bruce), Loew, H. Anderson, Halverson

WISSOTA Pure Stocks

12 lap Feature – Jeremy Cash(Duluth MN), Cory Jorgensen(Duluth MN), Randy Graham(Trego), Cody Cimfl(Chetek), Aaron Burnick(Duluth MN), Ryan Clausen(Barron), Jacques Boissy(Spooner), Joe Prusak(Minnetonka MN), Ryan Lindenfelser(Trego), Devin Fries(Phillips), Ken Oftedahl, Allen Metz, Cole Richards, Nick Carvelli, Charlie Pitcavage, Trenten Holub

8 lap Heat 1 – Jorgensen, Bob Thompson(Cameron), Metz(Rice Lake), Oftedahl(Cameron), Prusak, Lindenfelser, Austin Fencl
Heat 2 – Cash, Bernick, Carvelli(Maplewood MN), Boissy, Pitcavage(Eau Claire), Fries, Mike Huebner
Heat 3 – Graham, Clausen, Holub(Sarona), Cimfl, Richards(Mondovi)