4-29 Page 21

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

A nice field of Hornets was on hand and Chase Pourrier ran off and hid for the win. This race also went nonstop and Pourrier had a comfortable margin from start to finish. The battle for second was a good one though, with Jeff Rohner edging out Hunter Goulet for that spot. Lincoln Miller and Christian Kast completed the top five, with only two drivers not finishing the event.

The only down side of the entire night was the length of the program. While they started right on time, it was well after midnight before the final checkers waved. The crowd was a very good one for opening night. We appreciated the good racing and variety of drivers that were on hand.

Saturday, April 26

Rice Lake Speedway started its 2025 racing season Saturday, April 26. They lost one night of racing due to weather, which is about par for the course.

Kolby Kiehl and his crew stuck their necks out and went ahead and raced. Was the track perfect? No. Was it raceable without tearing up a bunch of equipment? Yes. The feature races were excellent, with two of the closest finishes in the Super Stock and Mid Mod features that you will probably see all year. Those winning margins were .029 and .052. In one, I called it incorrectly as I wrote them down, that's how close the drivers were. There was only one big wreck, a massive collision on the opening corner of the 26-car Super Stock feature, which could have happened any night. Unfortunately, five cars were lost in that crash; Randy Graham suffered serious damage to his car. Other than that, it was a pretty normal night of racing.

The changes to the track are noticable, and after a couple weeks have passed and the surface is ironed out, I am anxious to see how it races. I think they may have made some upgrades that will really make the racing better.

Cody Papke was on hand from South Dakota to take pictures. What a murderous schedule he must keep, particularly in the spring when he is trying to get photos of as many cars as possible. I ran into him at Fergus on Friday and he was scheduled to attend practice sessions at both Monte and Watertown on Sunday.

Sean Cimfl was introduced as the new race director at Rice Lake and he has experience working as a flagman and race director here previously. He has also worked with the UMSS Sprints. Former race director Ryan Viltz now has new duties at the track.

The car count on opening night was 89 in five WISSOTA classes, which was higher than the 2024 opener. The Modified field remains somewhat worrisome, as it is at a number of tracks. There are always drivers not ready for the opener, however, and some who take a “wait and see” attitude for the first couple of weeks.

There also seems to have been a change over the years and many drivers now don't like to venture out and try any other tracks until they have raced at least once at their “home” track. That wasn't always the case. I also believe there are more drivers who now race at one track only, despite the amount of money they have invested in their programs.

The Pure Stock opening night field was, on the other hand, encouraging. And while 17 cars doesn’t seem like anything to shoot off flares about, when compared to most tracks that run Pure Stocks, it’s pretty darn good. Rice Lake used to be a Pure Stock hotbed, along with Bemidji, but the last couple of years things have slowed down quite a bit. Seventeen for opening night is more than they had at any point in 2024 I think. And while there will be at least a couple drivers who head elsewhere once other tracks open, I know of at least three or four local Pure Stocks that aren’t quite ready yet.

The second-year improvements to the facility looked very good, with more yet to come. The new entrance for the spectators seemed very nice and now gives them room to highlight the history of the track with pictures, plaques and other interesting items. The new fencing gives the spectators much more walking room behind the grandstands and I look for that area to eventually have picnic tables and other adornments that will be fan friendly. The whole place just looks sharp and tidy.

Now they need to get the track name up on the concrete wall, so every action picture of cars racing has the name of the track in the background.

Former ice racer Eric Crosby was one of the drivers to earn his first-ever feature win at the track on Saturday. He has a lot of success over the last year or so, particularly at northern tracks.

And Blake Adams continues to just continue to do more and more impressive things behind the wheel of a race car. It was only his second time driving a Modified at Rice Lake, yet he won the feature race in impressive style. Anyone who can beat Mike Anderson at Rice Lake is doing well. He has a knack for reading a track and how it's changing, and where to put his car on the track to be most successful.

He nearly had a double win night as he had taken the lead in the Mid Mod feature after a great battle with Brady Larson that ended when Larson broke, only to suffer his own suspension issue and ensuing flat tire, retiring from that event early.

A strong 26-car field of Super Stocks was on hand and while there wasn't a lot of visitor support, there is always a good crop of ABC Super Stock drivers who show up at Rice Lake when they get the chance. Three of the top five ABC regulars on hand included Terran Spacek, Matt Deragon and Shawn McFadden. Spacek has found Rice Lake to be a home away from home, with a number of wins here the last couple of years. He nearly stole one away again on Saturday.

Curt Myers continues to roll and now Don Drew's record for Super Stock feature wins is in grave danger. Myers is just two behind from tying the record, which could very likely fall yet this year.

Chalk Rice Lake up as another track not willing to try the new “choose cone” rule on restarts. Come on, who out there will give this new rule a shot? I almost guarantee that if you try it, you will like it. I've seen it in action and it makes every restart a real strategy session.

A couple of drivers long into retirement made appearances on Saturday including Steve Karshbaum and Shane Strenke. Both were back on track in Pure Stocks. Strenke had mechanical issues with the car that was originally built by Tony Bahr, while Karshbaum finished with a top-five in the feature race.

Mark Barta is a rookie driver, never having raced before, but he had an excellent opening night, getting a third in a heat and fifth in the feature for the Pure Stocks. He was driving the car formerly ran by “Biker” Bob Thompson, who was reported to be retired. However, now I’ve heard that he bought a car, so we will see.

Simon Wahlstrom and his crew are going to be busy this summer —Simon is racing in both the Mid Mods and the Modified class. He got sixth-place finishes in both mains on Saturday.

Shane Kisling was shaking down the Larson No. “2 and a fraction” Super Stock on Saturday. Kisling’s car was not done yet so he ran Larson's car. He got a second in a heat and also led laps in the feature, until some handling issues crept in. The car, by the way, is one of the finest looking on the track, in my opinion.

One of the stated goals of Rice Lake Speedway LLC this year is to make sure that they run a tight program. And despite the fact that they had to do extra track prep after the heats and after the practice session, they started within minutes of their advertised starting time and the final checkered waved well before 10 p.m. Many of the fans on hand stayed right to the final lap.