Challenge Series Postponed; Rice Lake Speedway Weighs Options

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, May 14 – With Wisconsin's Safer-at-Home order struck down on May 13th, the status of the 2020 racing season at the Rice Lake Speedway is being examined as to when the speedway can and will reopen and what the remainder of the racing season's schedule will look like.

The WISSOTA Promoter's Association has postponed the opening weekend for the Structural Buildings Challenge Series events, slated for Saturday night, May 23rd at Rice Lake to be preceded by another event on Friday night, May 22nd at the Princeton Minnesota Speedway.

According to WISSOTA Executive Director Carson Gramm, Minnesota does not yet allow spectators for large scale events so that race can not be held presently, and it was decided by WISSOTA officials, in accord with series sponsor Structural Buildings Inc. and the Rice Lake Speedway owners that it would be better to postpone the Rice Lake event rather than run it as a stand alone program without proper time for the sponsor to promote the event. The Rice Lake Speedway will attempt to reschedule that race for later this Summer.

As far as when the Rice Lake Speedway will open, track owners Mitch Hansen and Dave Adams are gathering information in terms of what the track can and cannot do and what rules or guidelines they must adhere to as many things are quite unclear at the moment.

With many tracks rushing into starting their seasons and some events being rescheduled , it is also important to determine that there will be no major conflicts between tracks as the first green flags are dropped for 2020.

The ownership team of the speedway plans to meet very early next week and make a decision about whether the speedway will open on Saturday night, May 23rd and what divisions will be racing that night if the opener does take place and there does remain the possibility that Late Models may still be racing but not as a Challenge Series event.

Any questions regarding the Rice Lake Speedway should be directed to Dave Adams at 715-205-2861 or Mitch Hansen at 715-205-1122. The speedway website and face book page will also have the most current status regarding the speedway opener.