Traynor Wins Rice Lake Speedway Little Dream; Record Payoff Tops Twenty Eight Grand

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, August 2 – The Twenty Eighth Annual Street Stock Little Dream Race, held on Tuesday night at the Rice Lake Speedway, may well go down as one of the most memorable races in this long series. For Barron Wisconsin's Nick Traynor, it was his second win in this long event's history in the last three years. For fans, this race will be long remembered as the race stopped once by rain and once by a tornado warning and yet the event was completed despite these setbacks. And for those backers of this event, both individuals and businesses from the upper Midwest, they dug deep into their pockets once again as the winner's purse again broke a record for when Traynor crossed the finish line after thirty five laps of racing, he earned $28, 212 for his efforts as the old record set last year was shattered once again.

Fifty three drivers from four states and Canada signed in to race on Tuesday, despite forecasts that indicated a 90% chance of rain by race time. Fifteen qualifying events were completed with lightning flashing in all directions around the speedway. At this point, track owners Mitch Hansen and Dave Adams ordered that the grandstands be evacuated as the area was under a tornado warning for the next twenty minutes. Most spectators sought shelter in speedway buildings or headed to their cars. When the warning expired, racing would continue with the Last Chance race seeing Kolton Brauer pass up the $500 winner's share for the opportunity to race in the main event.

Twenty six cars would take the green flag for the thirty five lap main event with defending Street Stock WISSOTA National Champion Parker Anderson leading the first lap over Jason Havel and Traynor with four wide racing right behind these two all the way around the track.

A spin would stop the action one lap later and as the cars circled the track under yellow, it began to rain. The field would peel off for the pits and the track's heavy equipment would immediately roll on to the track in an effort to save the racing surface.

Despite some violent lightning in all directions, it only rained lightly for a few minutes and then stopped. As track saving measures continued, the decision was made that despite the stormy skies, the racing would continue and after about a half hour delay to get the track back to racing shape, the event would continue as all twenty six drivers would return to the track.

Anderson would lead to the restart but in turn one his car would push up the track and Traynor, who restarted on the inside, would drive under him and take over the lead as this point. Traynor would immediately stretch his lead to several car lengths as Anderson tried to chase him down and regain the top spot.

Behind those two, Havel was having a great battle with Justin Vogel for position while Simon Wahlstrom, who started eighth, would climb into contention using the higher side of the track to make several passes and move to the front.

At the halfway point of the race, Traynor would still hold the lead by several car lengths over Anderson, Wahlstrom who continued to climb up through the field, Vogel and Havel. A long stretch of green flag racing would see Anderson close to within a couple of car lengths of the leader but then Traynor would seem to pick up the pace and edge away slightly. While this was going on, some great battles were taking place farther back in the pack with much three or four wide racing going on as the track proved to be holding up well despite the unexpected watering by Mother Nature.

The long string of green flag laps ended at twenty two when on lap twenty three, Hunter VanGilder, Shawn Amundson and Jay Kesan all got tied up together and slid to a halt on the back chute.

As often happens, yellows breed yellows and the next two attempts to keep the race going ended with spins. However, despite the skies still lighting up constantly, no rain fell and the third attempt proved successful as the final eleven laps of the race were completed.

Traynor continued to lead but Wahlstrom took advantage of the restart to drive around the outside of Anderson and take over second with three time winner of this race and defending champion Tim Johnson appearing in the top five for the first time.

Wahlstrom made an all out charge to catch Traynor but Nick continued to turn steady and fast laps and while Wahlstrom pushed hard, the margin stayed at about four car lengths. Johnson was now challenging Vogel for fourth as the final few laps progressed.

Wahlstrom gave it his all the last few laps, pushing hard in an effort to catch Traynor, but Nick was just a bit too fast on this night as he would cross the finish line with a four car length lead over Wahlstrom to secure his second win in this event in the last three years. Anderson would settle for third, his best finish ever in this race and Johnson would get past Vogel for fourth.

The second five would include Havel, Danny Richards, Cody Cimfl, Kesan and Andrew Hanson. Twenty two of the twenty six starters would still be on the track at the finish and all would be on the lead lap.

For local driver Traynor, who only races a Street Stock a couple of times a year while concentrating on his Super Stock ride, and car owner Travis Loew, it was a great victory and Traynor, with wins in this race in 2020 as well as Tuesday night, has hauled back to Barron over fifty four thousand dollars from this race in his two wins! Track owners Adams-Hansen Inc. wish to thank event sponsors S & R Towing, Mahle Motorsports and Quanex for their support of this race and special thanks to all the contributors to the purse, both individuals and businesses throughout the area that continue to support this race so strongly.

The speedway will take this coming Saturday night, August 6th, off. However, the next event at the track will be a big one with the WISSOTA Late Models returning for the third and final time during the 2022 racing season on Saturday night, August 13th. It will be another two thousand to win, three hundred to start event for the Late Models and following by one night the Mahder 55 Late Model race at the Red Cedar Speedway, a good field of drivers is expected to be on hand with everyone shooting to beat Darrell Nelson, who is undefeated at the track this year. Best of all, all five classes that routinely race at the speedway will also be in action including WISSOTA sanctioned Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks. It will also be the last point night for the track in 2022 and champions will be determined on August 13th. Race time is 7 pm and for more information, check the speedway website at www.ricelakespeedway.net or the speedway face book page.

8/2/2022

53 entries

WISSOTA STREET STOCK

A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[5]; 2. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[8]; 3. 127P-Parker Anderson[1]; 4. 69-Tim Johnson[10]; 5. 10-Justin Vogel[4]; 6. 5H-Jason Havel[2]; 7. 3R-Danny Richards[17]; 8. 19H-Cody Cimfl[7]; 9. 7-Jay Kesan[21]; 10. 20-Andrew Hanson[11]; 11. 34JR-Braden Brauer[15]; 12. 79N-Jeff Nowak[13]; 13. 5K-Kyle King[20]; 14. KOLT34-Kolton Brauer[26]; 15. 67-Ryan Satter[22]; 16. 980-Kaden Woodie[25]; 17. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[24]; 18. 30-Shawn Amundson[9]; 19. 24-James Clausen[16]; 20. 17-Zach Beaulieu[23]; 21. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[12]; 22. (DNF) 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[6]; 23. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[19]; 24. (DNF) 15-Jim Randall[3]; 25. (DNF) 42K-Mike Knudtson[14]; 26. (DQ) 26T-Ty Agen[18]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards[13]; 2. 5K-Kyle King[11]; 3. 17-Zach Beaulieu[4]; 4. 54-Jodie Michaelsohn[8]; 5. 7BR-Lucas Boyce[9]; 6. 15B-Mike Brown[6]; 7. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[7]; 8. (DNF) 4HJR-Dusten Holub[12]; 9. (DNF) 12-Cody Kummer[2]; 10. (DNF) 18T-Gunnar Watkins[1]; 11. (DNF) T20-Michael Tuma[3]; 12. (DNS) 12X-Dave Mass; 13. (DQ) 40-Travis Loew[5]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 26T-Ty Agen[2]; 2. 7-Jay Kesan[1]; 3. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[7]; 4. 05-Kyle Howland[5]; 5. 79-Joseph Ott[3]; 6. 314-Tyler Lamb[9]; 7. 56-Ethan Hommerding[8]; 8. 87X-Quentin Busitzky[11]; 9. (DNF) 16-Warren Bartelt[4]; 10. (DNS) 26-Jordan Kurtti; 11. (DNS) 3-John Kallas; 12. (DNS) 9-Adam Soltis

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 84-Hunter VanGilder[11]; 2. 67-Ryan Satter[1]; 3. 980-Kaden Woodie[2]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[12]; 5. KOLT34-Kolton Brauer[10]; 6. 16X-Kyle Genett[4]; 7. 1M-Alex Myers[8]; 8. 55-Tylar Wilson[7]; 9. 47-Russell Carlson[6]; 10. 66-Eric Haupt[9]; 11. (DNF) 28-Colten Klueckman[5]; 12. (DNF) X01-Travis Krause[3]

Heat 1 (Round 1) (8 Laps): 1. 980-Kaden Woodie[2]; 2. 5H-Jason Havel[3]; 3. 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[4]; 4. 05-Kyle Howland[6]; 5. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[7]; 6. 12X-Dave Mass[8]; 7. 54-Jodie Michaelsohn[9]; 8. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[5]; 9. (DNF) 5K-Kyle King[1]

Heat 2 (Round 1) (8 Laps): 1. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[2]; 2. 24-James Clausen[1]; 3. 42K-Mike Knudtson[4]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[7]; 5. 67-Ryan Satter[5]; 6. 26T-Ty Agen[6]; 7. 47-Russell Carlson[3]; 8. 314-Tyler Lamb[9]; 9. (DNF) KOLT34-Kolton Brauer[8]

Heat 3 (Round 1) (8 Laps): 1. 15-Jim Randall[4]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[5]; 3. 40T-Nick Traynor[9]; 4. 30-Shawn Amundson[7]; 5. 56-Ethan Hommerding[6]; 6. 1M-Alex Myers[1]; 7. 7BR-Lucas Boyce[2]; 8. (DNF) 3-John Kallas[3]; 9. (DNF) 87X-Quentin Busitzky[8]

Heat 4 (Round 1) (8 Laps): 1. X01-Travis Krause[6]; 2. 19H-Cody Cimfl[5]; 3. 10-Justin Vogel[7]; 4. 79-Joseph Ott[8]; 5. 15B-Mike Brown[2]; 6. 55-Tylar Wilson[9]; 7. (DNF) 4HJR-Dusten Holub[4]; 8. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[1]; 9. (DQ) 1R-Cole Richards[3]

Heat 5 (Round 1) (8 Laps): 1. 127P-Parker Anderson[1]; 2. 7-Jay Kesan[2]; 3. 79N-Jeff Nowak[3]; 4. 20-Andrew Hanson[9]; 5. 26-Jordan Kurtti[4]; 6. 17-Zach Beaulieu[5]; 7. 28-Colten Klueckman[6]; 8. 16X-Kyle Genett[8]; 9. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[7]

Heat 6 (Round 1) (8 Laps): 1. 69-Tim Johnson[3]; 2. 34JR-Braden Brauer[2]; 3. 18T-Gunnar Watkins[7]; 4. 40-Travis Loew[1]; 5. 16-Warren Bartelt[4]; 6. T20-Michael Tuma[8]; 7. 66-Eric Haupt[5]; 8. (DQ) 3R-Danny Richards[6]

Heat 7 (Round 2) (8 Laps): 1. 26T-Ty Agen[4]; 2. 20-Andrew Hanson[1]; 3. 79N-Jeff Nowak[7]; 4. 18T-Gunnar Watkins[2]; 5. 12-Cody Kummer[5]; 6. 40-Travis Loew[8]; 7. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[3]; 8. 5K-Kyle King[9]; 9. (DNS) 4HJR-Dusten Holub

Heat 8 (Round 2) (8 Laps): 1. 16X-Kyle Genett[2]; 2. 67-Ryan Satter[5]; 3. 15-Jim Randall[6]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[7]; 5. 7-Jay Kesan[8]; 6. 05-Kyle Howland[4]; 7. 55-Tylar Wilson[1]; 8. (DNS) 3R-Danny Richards

Heat 9 (Round 2) (8 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[1]; 2. 127P-Parker Anderson[9]; 3. 42K-Mike Knudtson[6]; 4. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[5]; 5. 79-Joseph Ott[2]; 6. 15B-Mike Brown[8]; 7. 66-Eric Haupt[4]; 8. (DNF) 3-John Kallas[7]; 9. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[3]

Heat 10 (Round 2) (8 Laps): 1. 10-Justin Vogel[3]; 2. 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[6]; 3. 28-Colten Klueckman[4]; 4. 16-Warren Bartelt[5]; 5. 47-Russell Carlson[7]; 6. 314-Tyler Lamb[1]; 7. 7BR-Lucas Boyce[8]; 8. 87X-Quentin Busitzky[2]; 9. (DNS) 9-Adam Soltis

Heat 11 (Round 2) (8 Laps): 1. 30-Shawn Amundson[3]; 2. 5H-Jason Havel[7]; 3. 17-Zach Beaulieu[5]; 4. 69-Tim Johnson[6]; 5. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[8]; 6. 54-Jodie Michaelsohn[1]; 7. KOLT34-Kolton Brauer[2]; 8. 1M-Alex Myers[9]; 9. X01-Travis Krause[4]

Heat 12 (Round 2) (8 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[3]; 2. T20-Michael Tuma[1]; 3. 19H-Cody Cimfl[5]; 4. 34JR-Braden Brauer[7]; 5. 24-James Clausen[9]; 6. 26-Jordan Kurtti[6]; 7. 980-Kaden Woodie[8]; 8. 56-Ethan Hommerding[4]; 9. (DQ) 12X-Dave Mass[2]

Special 1 Non Qualifier (15 Laps): 1. KOLT34-Kolton Brauer[6]; 2. 16X-Kyle Genett[9]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 4. 7BR-Lucas Boyce[4]; 5. 54-Jodie Michaelsohn[1]; 6. 1M-Alex Myers[12]; 7. 05-Kyle Howland[2]; 8. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[10]; 9. 79-Joseph Ott[5]; 10. 15B-Mike Brown[7]; 11. 55-Tylar Wilson[15]; 12. (DNF) 56-Ethan Hommerding[11]; 13. (DNF) 314-Tyler Lamb[8]; 14. (DNF) 87X-Quentin Busitzky[14]; 15. (DNF) 4HJR-Dusten Holub[13]