The “Angry Farmer” and “Mad Dog” Among Rice Lake Speedway Winners

By Ed Reichert

Rice Lake WI, June 3 – It was a spectacular night for racing on Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway. The thunderstorms stayed to the East of Rice Lake and it was a marvelous night to be outside in northern Wisconsin. On the track some different winners emerged in racing action and among them were the colorfully nicknamed Jake Stai, “The Angry Farmer” from New Auburn who won his first ever Midwest Modified feature of his career and Mark “Mad Dog” Hanson from Chippewa Falls who topped the Modified feature. Other winners for the first time at the track in 2023 included Kevin Bogdanovic and George Richards while the most dominant driver so far this season at the track, Terran Spacek, continued to roll with his third feature win already here this season.

Saturday night was the final tuneup for the Super Stocks before their big race this coming Thursday night when the for the first time the Fast Lane Northland Super Stock series will visit the Rice Lake Speedway on leg one of their eight night, two week swing through the western Wisconsin area and then on to Minnesota. It would appear that Spacek will be a prime contender as for the third time in four nights this year he dominated the Super Stock division here, driving home for yet another win. Leslie Leu would take the initial lead in the Super Stock feature while Spacek would start sixth on the grid. He would quickly move to grab the lead on lap two but that effort would be halted by the first of three yellow flags that would fly during the twenty lap main.

Leu would continue as the leader but it only took Spacek two more laps to build up enough steam that he would drive around the outside of Leu who was helpless to halt his charge and Spacek would drive into the lead. After that, Terran was gone and there would be no catching him. Eric Olson would work into second place and following a lap eleven slowdown for a spin, would run as close to Spacek as anyone had all night but he could never muster a serious challenge and would settle for second as Spacek drove on to his third win in four nights of action so far this year. Leu would settle for third with Josh Cappo and Mike Siewert having solid top five rides. Current point leader Tucker Quinn had a rough night as mechanical issues would force him to take the green for the feature and then pull off immediately.

Stai farms in the New Auburn area and has been an off and on racer at the track for a number of years. He had taken several years off from the sport and had just returned to racing in 2022 and in fact, Saturday night was his first apparance of the year at the track. However, he made it more than worthwhile as after trying for years to get that elusive first win here, Saturday night he drove a dandy event to earn that first ever victory. The opening lap would see Will Moelter make a terrific move of his own as he came from the outside of row two, found an opening and shot into the lead at the completion of the first go round. Shadow Kitchner would move into second and put the pressure on Moelter for the lead when the yellow would slow the action as current point leader Mike Schnider would go for a spin in turn one.

Back on the green, Moelter would continue to hold the lead as Stai started to work the low side of the track while most of the other competitors were riding the rim. Stai found that groove worked for him and he drove past Kitchner into second and then began to close on Moelter who was also seeking his first ever win here.

One more yellow at the halfway point bunched the field and back under green, it was Stai that made the big move, driving low in turn one and getting under Moelter to take over the top spot. The rest of the race would stay under green and slowly but gradually Stai would put a little distance on the field as the battle was now for second as Schnider had come from the back of the pack to get back into contention. He would pass Kitchner and then challenge Moelter for second but up front, Stai was in control and he would drive on for that first win ever here. Moelter would hold off a late charge from Schnider for second with Kitchner and Blake Adams completing the top five finishers.

The Modifieds would be flying around the track on Saturday night as the high groove was fast and most of the drivers were riding the banking. Mark Hanson and Simon Wahlstrom battled hard on the opening lap for the lead but the yellow would fly before one lap was complete as point leader Kevin Adams would get into the wall and stall on the track. His night would be done but after that the Modifieds would run twenty clean green flag laps to the finish of the race.

The second attempt saw Hanson take the clear lead and he would immediately put some distance on the field. Wahlstrom was fighting for second but would eventually give that spot to Steve Hallquist as “SuperMan” was running strong on this night. Hanson would continue to maintain his lead while Hallquist would try to track him down.

Farther back in the pack there was action as Kennedy Swan and Mike Anderson were both on the move after starting in the third and fifth rows respectively. Swan put a thrilling slider on Wahlstrom to take over third and then began to chase down Hallquist while Anderson methodically marched to the front.

The last half of the race would see Hanson comfortably out front in the lead with Hallquist also alone but in second. Anderson tried his best to get past Swan but that was not to be as she would drive home for a strong third place finish as Wahlstrom would round out the top five.

For Hanson, who started out racing here in the Midwest Modifieds many years ago, it was his sixth ever Modified feature win here but first since the 2020 racing season.

The Street Stock division had by far the largest contingent of drivers on hand again on Saturday and their main event would see twenty two of them take the green for fifteen laps of racing. For James Clausen it would be heartbreak as he would lead fourteen and three quarter laps of the event, only to see Kevin Bogdanovic squeeze past him off the final corner of the race in what was a hectic final lap.

Clausen would take the early lead from the pole with Michael Tuma and Dylan Baskin battling behind him. This race would be of slow down and speed up nature as the yellow flag flew frequently for spins and a few fender benders as it was tough keeping the large field going.

Through all the yellows and starts and stops, Clausen would continue to hold the lead though. Meanwhile, Bogdanovic was riding closely behind, having started fourth in field and hanging with the leaders through all the shuffling due to those slowdowns.

The yellow flew six times in the first half of the race but they then raced the second half of the event nonstop. Bogdanovic worked his way into second and tried to press the leader, getting the nose of his car inside Clausen several times but just not quite being able to complete the pass. Danny Richards, who has started tenth on the grid, suddenly became a factor near the end as he battled with Travis Loew with both pressing toward the front.

The white flag would wave and again Bogdanovic would get a nose inside Clausen's car which seemed to want to slip up the track slightly exiting the corners. Richards stormed into turn one and it seemed like he might pass both but got too high and lost ground. Bogdanovic got inside Clausen fully down the back chute and they were side by side exiting the final corner. In a NASCAR style finish with both drivers bouncing off the other, Bogdanovic was able to edge out Clausen by a half car length for a wild win. Richards would settle for third with Loew and Caiden Engel completing the top five.

Bogdanovic, who drives all the way over from Wausau to compete, won for the sixth time in his career here but the win was the first for him at Rice lake since the 2017 racing season while there have now been four different winners in four nights of racing in the frantic Street Stock class.

The Pure Stocks would complete the night with a nice nonstop main event. George Richards would start on the pole and he would lead from start to finish in the race and never was seriously challenged. While he ran alone up front, there was quite a battle for second and Bob Wahlstrom made a solid run as he started sixth and would work his way up to second at the finish. Austin Fencl, seeking the first ever win, would be in the mix throughout the race but would have to settle for third with Rob Grabon and Trenten Holub completing the top five.

For Richards, who is one of the most highly decorated Pure Stock drivers in track history, it was his twenty seventh career Pure Stock win here, second on the all time list but his first for the 2023 racing season.

It will be a quick turnaround for the speedway as racing action will continue this coming Thursday night, June 8th with the Fast Lane Super Stock series set to make their debut here. This long standing series is the most popular series around for the Super Stocks but the first time that the Rice Lake Speedway has been fortunate to be included in the series. Series Director Dennis McCauley does a great job of running this series with the drivers that travel with the series for its two week run being well supported for their efforts. Typically at least forty Super Stocks would be running this event and being the first race of the eight race series is advantagous to the track. Along with the Super Stocks, the Midwest Modifieds will also be participating in a full program, running for national points only.

The speedway website and face book page will have the latest information for this event including spectator admission pricing. Race time is 7 pm. The speedway will then take the night off on Saturday night, June 10th with racing resuming on Saturday night, June 17th.

Racing on that night will resume in a big way as for the first time in several years, the Upper Midwest Sprint Series will return to the speedway with racing in both the Traditional Non Winged and also Winged Sprint divisions. Along with both classes of Sprints, The Modifieds, Midwest Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks will all be in action with the Super Stocks off to complete their series events that weekend.

6/3/2023

13 entries

WISSOTA MODIFIEDS

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 18H-Mark Hanson[1]; 2. 27H-Steve Hallquist[4]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[5]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson[10]; 5. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[2]; 6. 27P-Parker Anderson[9]; 7. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[6]; 8. 10-Kyle Helling[3]; 9. 308-Pat Hoffman[11]; 10. 37-Travis Anderson[7]; 11. 204-David Mayala[12]; 12. (DNF) 40-Kevin Adams[8]; 13. (DNS) 28-Don Gleason
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[2]; 2. 18S-Kennedy Swan[3]; 3. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 4. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 5. 27P-Parker Anderson[5]; 6. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[6]; 7. (DNF) 28-Don Gleason[7]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[1]; 2. 18H-Mark Hanson[2]; 3. 10-Kyle Helling[4]; 4. 27H-Steve Hallquist[3]; 5. 57-Mike Anderson[6]; 6. 308-Pat Hoffman[5]

11 entries

WISSOTA SUPER STOCK

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[6]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[5]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[4]; 4. 28-Josh Cappo[2]; 5. 21-Mike Siewert[3]; 6. 01-Michael Anderson[11]; 7. (DNF) XJR-Austin Harris[7]; 8. (DNF) 247-Jackson Larson[9]; 9. (DNF) 22-Clay Albrecht[1]; 10. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[10]; 11. (DNF) 11-Tucker Quinn[8]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 1E-Eric Olson[4]; 2. 21-Mike Siewert[1]; 3. 22-Clay Albrecht[6]; 4. 28-Josh Cappo[5]; 5. 247-Jackson Larson[2]; 6. 22AT-Austin Tilton[3]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 2. 22T-Terran Spacek[4]; 3. XJR-Austin Harris[2]; 4. 11-Tucker Quinn[5]; 5. (DNF) 01-Michael Anderson[3]

11 entries

WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Stai[6]; 2. 87-William Moelter[4]; 3. 7-Mike Schnider[7]; 4. 68-Shadow Kitchner[3]; 5. 40D-Blake Adams[5]; 6. 1M-Matt Brandemuehl[9]; 7. 28H-Francis Hanson[8]; 8. 19H-Kevin Herrman[2]; 9. 18-Tacoma Randall[1]; 10. 410-Jesse Young[10]; 11. (DNS) #22-Codii Young
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Shadow Kitchner[1]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[4]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 4. 87-William Moelter[5]; 5. 1M-Matt Brandemuehl[3]; 6. (DNF) #22-Codii Young[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Stai[3]; 2. 19H-Kevin Herrman[1]; 3. 28H-Francis Hanson[4]; 4. 18-Tacoma Randall[5]; 5. 410-Jesse Young[2]

23 entries

WISSOTA STREET STOCK

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[4]; 2. 24-James Clausen[1]; 3. 3R-Danny Richards[10]; 4. 40-Travis Loew[8]; 5. 7-Caiden Engel[6]; 6. 10B-Dylan Baskin[3]; 7. 66-Eric Haupt[5]; 8. 56-Ethan Hommerding[7]; 9. T20-Michael Tuma[2]; 10. 15B-Mike Brown[17]; 11. 77-Zach Degner[9]; 12. 92R-Courtney Rose[18]; 13. (DNF) 52-Aiden Saunders[22]; 14. (DNF) 10-Derek Baskin[12]; 15. (DNF) 20-Connor Franson[21]; 16. (DNF) 1R-Cole Richards[11]; 17. (DNF) 19H-Kevin Herrman[14]; 18. (DNF) 17-Zach Beaulieu[16]; 19. (DNF) 16-Warren Bartelt[15]; 20. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[20]; 21. (DNF) 19J-Jenna Herrman[19]; 22. (DNF) 37-Mike Chaplin[13]; 23. (DNS) 9-Adam Soltis
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24-James Clausen[3]; 2. 66-Eric Haupt[1]; 3. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[5]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[4]; 5. 37-Mike Chaplin[7]; 6. 17-Zach Beaulieu[2]; 7. 19J-Jenna Herrman[6]; 8. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Travis Loew[2]; 2. 7-Caiden Engel[1]; 3. 56-Ethan Hommerding[4]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[7]; 5. 19H-Kevin Herrman[3]; 6. 15B-Mike Brown[5]; 7. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[6]; 8. 52-Aiden Saunders[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10B-Dylan Baskin[3]; 2. T20-Michael Tuma[4]; 3. 77-Zach Degner[2]; 4. 10-Derek Baskin[1]; 5. 16-Warren Bartelt[7]; 6. 92R-Courtney Rose[6]; 7. 20-Connor Franson[5]

11 entries

WISSOTA PURE STOCK

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards[1]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[2]; 4. 16-Rob Grabon[5]; 5. 15H-Trenten Holub[3]; 6. 1-Ryan Olson[8]; 7. 95F-Devin Fries[4]; 8. 23R-James Rahn[7]; 9. 101-Michael Grover[9]; 10. 99-Trevor Schumann[10]; 11. (DNS) 17G-Chris Gross
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 23R-James Rahn[4]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[2]; 4. 15H-Trenten Holub[6]; 5. 101-Michael Grover[3]; 6. 99-Trevor Schumann[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards[1]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[2]; 3. 16-Rob Grabon[3]; 4. 95F-Devin Fries[4]; 5. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[5]