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Kaden Blaeser was just too fast for the Modified field on Friday. Shane Halopka held the early lead but Blaeser could not be held back. After roaring past Halopka, he left the field in his wake. A couple yellow bunched the field but each time he again pulled away to record a resounding victory. Justin Weinberger had a fine run, coming from the fifth row to finish second. Another consistent run by Matt Leer placed him in third.

The bad crash theme continued when A.J. Diemel, Kennedy Swan and Mitch Anderson all came together hard in turn four, with all eliminated from the race.

Ashley Anderson led from start to finish to win the Late Model race. He and James Giossi seemed evenly matched and after Anderson got the early lead, Giossi chased him for the whole race. The margin between them stayed about the same.

This race had a bad crash seconds after the green flag dropped when the first two rows of drivers were all squeezed together as they raced to the first turn. Cory Crapser suffered front end damage, couldn't steer and went into the wall. Many others plowed into each other, with Jake Redetzke seemingly getting the worst of things. Those two, along with John Kaanta and Lance Hofer, were all done before a lap was completed.

The finish was really jumbled up: both Giossi and Cade Nelson, each running in the top five, suddenly slowed and pulled off in the final couple laps.

Cory Bruggeman and Mark Hessler benefitted and finished the race with top-five finishes.

The late-race battle between Sam Mars and Jesse Glenz was also very exciting. It is not very often, however, when only seven Late Models finish the feature at Red Cedar.

There was lots of excitement and goings on during the night and hopefully some of those folks who got in for free, particularly the first-timers, liked what they saw and will return again at some point during the season. After all, that is the primary purpose of a night like this.

Saturday, May 9

Saturday, May 9, Rice Lake Speedway was back in action for the third night of racing so far in 2026.

And when, oh when, is it going to start to warm up? I think most of us are more than sick of these cool temperatures and the darn northwest wind that seems to howl, day after day.

However, despite what was less than a pleasant night, a good-sized crowd was on hand to witness the Henry Modified special. It is nice to see a local business, which is really a multi-national company, get involved with the race program and help out with sponsorship. Henry has long been involved in local racing, certainly in part due to the number of people who work there who are racers or are affiliated with racing.

Kaden Blaeser took the big Modified money back home to Chippewa Falls. He got the lead early and then pretty much dominated the racing. The only driver who really pushed him for awhile was Brady Uotinen, who was hard to find driving a red race car!

Both of these drivers, whose appearances at Rice Lake are rare, seem to do so well here, despite the fact they are far from regulars. Blaeser's last run here was during Labor Day weekend of 2025, when he won the Dairyland Dash feature race.

Uotinen and Jack Rivord don’t race here much but both were in the top five of last year's first Henry special, with Rivord second and Uotinen fourth. They repeated that level of effort again on Saturday. It was a pretty strong way for Uotinen to begin his season.

Justin Weinberger should also be mentioned. He has professed he has never been able to get around Rice Lake very well. He had a strong weekend, with a good run on Friday at Red Cedar as well.

Mitch Patrick from Stone Lake is a new driver in the Midwest Mod class. Starting his racing career at a rather late age, Mitch said he has been around racing for a long time. Originally from the Alexandria, MN area with family still in that area, he knew just about all the big names and families of Viking Speedway’s history—and some who I didn't even know. He had recently made a visit to Alex and had to stop and check out the famous “Wall of Fame” at the speedway.

He has invested in his retirement race car, No. 401K, which is a converted Mod that SSR’s Jake Hartung turned into a Midwest Mod for him. He is a part of the new “Stone Lake Racing Mafia,” with Marlene Lannet, Sean Duffy and perhaps any of the Youngs if they start racing again.

Shane Halopka had a strong run going last night at Red Cedar until he faded back and then eventually pulled off. The culprit was a tiny pin hole in the tire, but a day later they are still trying to figure out just where the hole was. After being aired up, the tire is still holding air today. On Saturday Shane made a great drive, moving up from 14th to fifth at the finish.

Matt Leer also suffered from a slow leak on Friday. He got a good finish but felt it would have been even better if his tire hadn't been slowly losing air. His situation sounded very much like the one suffered by Halopka, as a day later the tire is now still holding air.

It was a busy over night for a lot of teams following the Friday night races. Leslie Leu was one who had his Super Stock damaged. Following a lot of hard work, the defending point champion at Rice Lake didn't miss the night and got another consistent, top-five finish.

Nick Koehler had to change a motor for Saturday after he had issues on Friday night during the feature. He was rewarded for the effort with a runner-up on Saturday in the Midwest Mods.

Koehler also drove the Mod of Cory Crapser for the first time on Saturday, leading laps and challenging Blaeser. Then he suddenly shut it down near the halfway point of the race and took a push to the pits. You would not have known he wasn't the regular driver, the way he was making laps. He put the car through its paces impressively until he had the mechanical failure.

Mark Barta blew the engine in his Pure Stock during hot laps but wanting to salvage a point night if possible for the defending track Rookie of the Year, he caught a last minute ride in the Mark Peterson car, salvaging a mid-pack finish.

We can't forget the efforts of Midwest Mod winner Brady Larson either. He went off the track on the hook on Friday night with what looked to be significant damage but returned on Saturday and the team was rewarded for their efforts with a checkered flag.

The Pure Stock field remains very strong, despite some rough goes of it over the past couple of weeks. The northern drivers are obviously very anxious to get out and race as seven of them from the Twin Ports area were counted in the field on Saturday. I don't ever remember that many before on a single night. Perhaps some were just tuning up for next week's “Bomber Bash” when big money will be on the line for the Pure Stocks.

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