Mad Dog Hanson Tops Rice Lake Speedway Modifieds

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, July 2 – Mark “Mad Dog” Hanson led all the way to top the Modified feature and highlight the annual Firecracker special held Thursday night at the Rice Lake Speedway. On a blazing hot July night, other winners included Nick Oreskovich, Shane Halopka, Cody Kummer and Dan Boissy as a large holiday crowd of fans enjoyed a full five class program of racing along with a spectacular display of fireworks to round out the evening.

Sam Fankhauser got the jump on the pack in the Modified main event but Hanson got up to the cushion and made a strong rush through corner four to edge past Fankhauser and led the opening lap. Once in front, there was no stopping him as he pulled away in a dominating run to control the rest of the race. The event got bogged down in the first half of the race with the yellow waving five times in the first ten laps, all for minor spins or slow downs due to mechanical issues. These were beneficial to Nick Koehler as the Bloomer driver, who started seventh, was able to pass cars on every quick burst of racing and soon found himself in the runner up spot for the second half of the race.

The last ten laps of the event ran off nonstop and Hanson was at his best as he flew around the top side of the oval and pulled out to nearly a full straightaway advantage over the field. Koehler was the only one that could keep him within reach but Nick was never able to mount a charge as Hanson drove on for an impressive win.

Making it even more so was the fact that this was the first race of the 2020 season for the driver from Chippewa Falls. It was his fifth career Modified win at Rice Lake but his first at the track since way back in 2011. Kyle Helling made the podium with a third place finish in what was his best race of the year in his new car. Behind him at the end were Zack Drews and Pat Hoffman and all three drivers backed up top five finishes from last Saturday night's show by doing the same thing again on Thursday.

Also dropping in on Thursday for his first race of the year at the track and turning that appearance into a victory was Nick Oreskovich who won an exciting feature race in the Super Stock class. The “Flying Farmer” from Mason came all the way from the eighth starting spot to win over a strong field of Super Stocks after a good battle with Jesse Redetzke for the top spot.

The race saw a group of about drivers battling in the early going with Patrick Beeksma leading on the opening lap, only to slide high in turn three and open the door for Redetzke to motor into the lead. Terran Spacek and Curt Myers quickly moved in to challenge so when the first yellow flew, those three held the top positions.

On the green, Myers made a bold move between the two of them going into turn one and drove into the lead. However, Redetzke charged right back at him and was able to slip under him and retake the top spot. A real battle for the lead broke out with Myers, Spacek, Beeksma running in tight formation and Oreskovich joining that group.

Disaster struck in turn one just one lap short of the halfway point when Myers, battling hard to retake Redetzke, spun and was collected by both Spacek and Beeksma who couldn't avoid the spinning car. All three were retired from the event with considerable damage to all the cars after the high speed him and this changed the makeup of the restart.

Oreskovich moved into the second spot and he quickly set off after Redetzke and was able to make an outside pass and blast into the lead. Also on the move were Nick Traynor and Simon Wahlstrom as they raced into the top five and were battling hard between themselves.

The last eleven laps of the race ran off nonstop and Oreskovich set a fast pace and while Redetzke was able to keep him close, Nick had control of the contest and he drove on for the win with Redetzke a close second. Traynor and Wahlstrom continued their battle for position throughout the event with Traynor getting the podium finish while Eric Olson, who started sixteenth, drove up for a top five finish.

It took a lap fourteen pass to do it, but Shane Halopka became the first repeat winner of 2020 in the Midwest Modifieds when he pulled off a late race outside pass on Kent Baxter to take the win.

The Midwest Modifieds pulled off a lightning quick main event that went from green flag to checkered without a stoppage and it was necessary to make a move quickly before time ran out in this race.

Brady Larson had the pole but he pushed up the track in turn four on the opening round and Baxter was right there to drive under him and take over the lead. Once in front, Kent secured the top spot as he continued to lead with Halopka moving into second while Austin Ellis and Travis Anderson also raced past Larson for position.

Halopka closed to the rear bumper of Baxter but Kent held his line and while Halopka could get close, he couldn't find the opening that he needed as Ellis and Anderson both started to gain ground on the leaders.

Finally, with the laps running down and Baxter firmly guarding his line, Halopka opted to move up the track and try the high side and it proved to be a winning decision. It took him a couple laps to build up his momentum as he needed to squeeze by Baxter up against the wall but with two laps left he was able to get beside the Colfax racer down the back chute and coming off turn four, he cleared Baxter to move into the lead.

On the final circuit Halopka maintained the top side and he stretched his lead to several car lengths as he drove on for the win. Baxter's first appearance of the year netted him a fine second with Ellis also on the podium as he finished third ahead of Anderson and Larson.

Cody Kummer led all the way as he became the fourth different winner in four nights of Street Stock racing in the highly competitive division at the track. He had his hands full with the Anderson brothers from Phillips who pressured him all the way for the lead. Early on, Kolby Kiehl challenged hard, running side by side with Kummer before Cody was able to edge away for the lead.

Hunter and Parker Anderson then moved up to take the next two positions and they spent as much time battling with each other as they did in the fight for the lead. Three yellows in the first half of the race kept the field bunched and the Anderson's exchanged the second spot twice with Hunter finally securing that position just past the halfway point of the race.

They continued to put the pressure on Kummer but Cody was not about to make a mistake and he led the brothers home by several car lengths as they took the checkered flag. Shawn Amundson made a late rush up through the field after starting ninth and he edged past Andrew Hanson for fourth on the final corner.

Winning his first feature race ever at Rice Lake and stopping Mike Schnider's win streak at three was Trego racer Dan Boissy. He started in the front row and pulled out to the early lead with Travis Hazelton and George Richards putting the pressure on him. Two quick yellows kept the field bunched in the first half of the race and also aided Schnider who started ninth on the grid to move up into a challenging position.

While Boissy continued to lead the way, Schnider put the pressure on, passing Richards and then Hazelton as he closed in on the leader. Schnider was making headway and cut the lead between himself and Boissy considerably in the final laps.

The white flag waved and Schnider was able to get to the back bumper of the leader. Coming off the final corner, they touched briefly as Schnider tried to get to the inside of Boissy but both maintained control and Boissy drove home for the win with Schnider glued to his rear bumper. Hazelton had another strong run as he finished third with Randy Graham's late rush resulting in a fourth place finish ahead of Richards.

There will be no racing at the Rice Lake Speedway this Saturday night, July 4th. The next action at the track will be a five division program slated for Saturday night, July 11th. In a schedule change , the speedway has decided to take off the night of July 18th. Originally planned as an off night and then changed, the speedway has decided to go back to their original plan of not racing on July 18th. Instead, the Rice Lake Speed Pit Kart track will be racing a day/night doubleheader on that date. The speedway will also prepare for the huge demolition derby that will be held on Sunday afternoon, July 19th. Starting time for that event will be 3 pm with more information on that activity on the speedway face book page. It was also announced that July 25th will be Kid's Night at the track with the gigantice bike giveaway a big part of that night. Call Dave Adams at 715-205-2861 or Mitch Hansen at 715-205-1122 for more information.

SUMMARY

Rice Lake Speedway
Rice Lake WI
July 2, 2020

WISSOTA Modifieds

20 lap Feature – Mark Hanson(Chippewa Falls), Nick Koehler(Bloomer), Kyle Helling(Rice Lake), Zack Drews(Superior), Pat Hoffman(Rice Lake), Paul Niznik(Medford), Paul Suzik(Ironwood MI), Cole Varsho(Stratford), Denny Cutsforth(Rice Lake), Dakota Smith(Chippewa Falls), Wayne Poteet, Shaun Kreyer, Sam Fankhauser, Jason Richardson, Matt Leer, Steve Hallquist, Ross Prochnow, Curt Myers, Cooper Berlin

10 lap Heat 1 – Hallquist(Eau Claire), Fankhauser(Rice Lake), Drews, Leer(Bruce), Suzik, Richardson, Cutsforth
Heat 2 – Koehler, Hanson, Prochnow(Boyceville), Niznik, Kreyer(Hayward), Berlin
Heat 3 – Hoffman, Helling, Myers(Cameron), Varsho, Poteet(Spooner), Smith

WISSOTA Super Stocks

20 lap Feature – Nick Oreskovich(Mason), Jesse Redetzke(Eau Claire), Nick Traynor(Barron), Simon Wahlstrom(Rice Lake), Eric Olson(Ladysmith), Ryan Kostreba(Elk River MN), Tucker Quinn(Ladysmith), Chad Johnson(Colfax), Josh Bach(Barron), Austin Workman(Dallas), Andrew Davis, Mike Siewert, Matt Roux, Scott Pittman, Josh Cappo, Mickey Anderson, Terran Spacek, Patrick Beeksma, Curt Myers, C.J. Wagner

10 lap Heat 1 – Redetzke, Quinn, Spacek(Phillips), Siewert(Rice Lake), Davis(Turtle Lake), Wagner, Olson
Heat 2 – Beeksma(Ironwood MI), Myers(Cameron), Kostreba, Roux(Rice Lake), Pittman(Turtle Lake), Anderson, Cappo
Heat 3 – Traynor, Oreskovich, Wahlstrom, Bach, Johnson, Workman

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

15 lap Feature – Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Kent Baxter(Colfax), Austin Ellis(Rice Lake), Travis Anderson(Colfax), Brady Larson(Amery), Jake Stai(New Auburn), Jamie Bisonette(Dallas), Mark Thomas(Menomonie), Craig Elliott(Hillsdale), Fran Hanson(Almena), Aric Lindberg, Zach Slayton, Nate Erickson

8 lap Heat 1 – Bisonette, Larson, Elliott, Ellis, Hanson, Diamond Bressette, Slayton
Heat 2 – Halopka, Anderson, Baxter, Stai, Thomas, Lindberg, Erickson

WISSOTA Street Stocks

15 lap Feature – Cody Kummer(Medford), Hunter Anderson(Phillips), Parker Anderson(Phillips), Shawn Amundson(Rice Lake), Andrew Hanson(Iron River), Zach Manley(Chetek), Kolby Kiehl(Barron), Hunter VanGilder(Rice Lake), Travis Loew(Barron), Russ Kosbreba(Zimmerman MN), Will Fisher, Joe Ott, Jeff Ekdahl, Caiden Engel, Jim Cimfl, Jay Kesan, Adam Soltis, Michael Tuma, Jimmy Randall, James Clausen

8 lap Heat 1 – Kiehl, Soltis(Ladysmith), H. Anderson, Fisher(Shell Lake), Ekdahl(Oakdale MN), Tuma, Loew
Heat 2 – Amundson, Kummer, P. Anderson, Randall(Rice Lake), Kosbreba, Engel
Heat 3 – Hanson, Manley, Clausen(Barron), VanGilder, Ott(Spooner), Cimfl

WISSOTA Pure Stocks

12 lap Feature – Dan Boissy(Trego), Mike Schnider(Cameron), Travis Hazelton(Chippewa Falls), Randy Graham(Trego), George Richards(Mondovi), Rob Grabon(Bruce), Devin Fries(Phillips), Ryan Olson(Ladysmith), Nicholas Hazelton(Chippewa Falls), Mike Grover(Chetek), James Rahn, Dave Holub, Mike Holmstrom, Brent Mindock, Jay Folz, Bob Thompson, Jake Sandman, Terry Kemp, Leonard Osterberg Jr, Chris Gross

8 lap Heat 1 – Thompson(Cameron), N. Hazelton, Folz(Cameron), Fries, Grover, Olson, Kemp
Heat 2 – Schnider, Graham, Boissy, Rahn(Haugen), Mindock(Prentice), Grabon, Osterberg Jr
Heat 3 – Richards, T. Hazelton, Sandman(Rice Lake), Holmstrom, Gross(Turtle Lake), Holub