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Sharpshooter Adams tops Henry-sponsored Mod special at Rice Lake while Olson, Koehler, Traynor and Fries also make victory lane visits on Saturday

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (May 10) - The first special of the 2025 season at Rice Lake Speedway was held Saturday, as WISSOTA Modified drivers gathered for the Henry Repeating Arms Springtime Modified Spectacular, worth $1,200 to the winner. Rookie driver Blake Adams continued to dazzle, holding off Jack Rivord to win the extra money on the line.

In other WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action, Nick Traynor continued his winning streak, taking his third straight victory in the Street Stock class. Nick Koehler became a repeat winner in the closest finish of the night in the Midwest Modified feature, and new winners Devin Fries and Eric Olson also visited victory lane. In total, fans were entertained by 104 entries in five classes.

Aiden Hoffman, driving one of the Henry-sponsored cars, grabbed the early lead in the WISSOTA Modified special. Track regulars Simon Wahlstrom and Joe Chaplin, Jr. ran right behind Hoffman in tight formation in the early going. Those three continued to fight for the lead, with Hoffman showing the way.

Hoffman was still in the lead at the halfway point of the race. Brady Uotinen and Mike Anderson worked their way into the top five and there was a lot of shuffling of position back in the pack.

With 14 laps completed, there was a momentary tie-up in turn one, with the three leaders slowed and Chaplin, Jr. spun. He got a piece of Wahlstrom, who also went around. This brought out the first yellow of the race; Chaplin, Jr. left the track with front end damage and Wahlstrom, minus a door, returned to start second when the green flew again.

Adams made his move following the restart, into fifth. He shot to the outside of the track, running the high line and making it work. He drove past one row battling in front of him, and then got past Uotinen for second. He continued his charge, raced around Hoffman, and took the lead. This all occurred within two laps and when the yellow flew again for a spin with 16 laps completed, Adams was scored the leader of the race.

Back under green, Uotinen shot into second, with Hoffman slipping all the way back to fifth when the third and final yellow flew two laps later. This set up a seven-lap dash to the finish.

Adams continued to lead, while Jack Rivord drove by Uotinen for second and began to pressure Adams. During the last few laps, Rivord rode the rear bumper of Adams, but he couldn't make a pass and Adams drove on for his second win of the season. Rivord had to settle for second, while Hoffman recovered to fight his way back up to third, nosing out Uotinen for that spot. Dave Cain also came alive following the final yellow, using the top of the track to drive into the top five.

The closest finish of the night was in the Midwest Modified main event, where it was hard to determine just who took the win without electronic scoring. Thunder Bay’s Kolby Reed took the initial lead from the pole, with Nick Koehler fighting him hard for the top spot. Koehler was using the cushion, and two laps later was able to edge past Reed to take over the lead. Tyler Vernon was also on the move, along with Mike Schnider; they were soon in a tight, three-way fight for the lead. Lapped traffic became a factor at this point, and when the three leaders went down the back chute, a slower car spun right in front of them — Vernon and Schnider were a part of the accident.

Schnider rejoined the race but unfortunately for Vernon, his night was done.

By the halfway point of the race, Adams, doing double duty, worked his way up to third ahead of Reed, with Travis Anderson next in line.

Koehler continued to run the outside line but Schnider was getting a great run on the bottom. As the laps ran down, Schnider made it exceedingly close. Koehler was forced to adjust his line and on the final two laps, the two ran the track as if welded together. They came off the final corner door to door and at the finish, Koehler held on by a 0.022-second margin to take the win. Adams finished third with Reed and Cody Cimfl rounding out the top five. It was Koehler’s second win of the year here, after he topped the opener.

The Street Stock class is normally one of the most competitive at the track, but so far in 2025 it’s been all Nick Traynor. Saturday night he was back in victory lane as he took his third-straight win.

VanGilder led the opening six laps of the race, with Traynor and Andrew Hanson battling for position behind him. VanGilder began to feel the heat by lap six, as the field was bunched after three early yellows. Traynor moved to the outside and drove into the lead just one lap later. VanGilder and Hanson then got together in turn three and the yellow flew once again.

Both drivers were eliminated by the tangle, with Cody Cimfl and Danny Richards now the drivers directly behind Traynor.

From this point on, Traynor started to put distance on the field, as he faced no challengers during the latter half of the race, driving on for the win. Cimfl hung tough to finish second with Travis Loew making the charge near the end of the race to take third, ahead of the duo of Danny and Cole Richards.

Eric Olson led from start to finish to record a popular win in the Super Stock feature. He started on the pole but had several different drivers pressuring him throughout. In the early going Alex Myers used the cushion to nearly get past him. Olson, however, maintained his inside line and made it work, while the positions behind him changed rapidly. By the halfway point Curt Myers challenged the leader, as he used the top side to his advantage. Shawn McFadden was also on the move as he raced up to third.

McFadden continued to move through the field, working the inside line and driving under Myers to take over second. A late yellow set up a two-lap sprint to the finish and Olson took off, putting distance between himself and the pack. Myers tried the outside once again, edging up to second but then slipping back behind McFadden. That’s how they finished the race, with Olson scoring the win ahead of McFadden, Curt Myers, Matt Deragon and Leslie Leu in the top five.

It was the first win of the year for Olson, the third-most winning driver in this class in track history. (His first Super Stock victory came way back in 1998.) There have been no repeat winners in the Super Stocks so far in 2025.

A first-time winner emerged in the Pure Stocks, after Eric Crosby dominated through the first two weeks of the season. Devin Fries took the lead early and then fought off challenges from several other drivers to take his first win of the season, and his first feature win ever at Rice Lake.

Mike Karshbaum, Crosby and George Richards all took turns trying to take the lead away from the Phillips, Wisconsin driver. This race was slowed a number of times due to spinning cars.

Crosby looked several times to the inside of Fries and nearly got by on several occasions but each time, Fries fought off the challengers. Richards started working higher on the track and drove past Crosby, trying several times to get past Fries up top. However, Fries hung in his line well and in the final, two-lap sprint to the checkers, held off Richards to take the win. Crosby settled for third with Aaron Bernick and Caleb Duffie all in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 2. 19J-Jack Rivord[9]; 3. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[1]; 4. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 5. 2C-Dave Cain[13]; 6. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[2]; 7. 57-Mike Anderson[11]; 8. 44X-Jesse Glenz[10]; 9. 44N-Darrell Nelson[18]; 10. 33C-Cole Chernosky[8]; 11. 18S-Kennedy Swan[19]; 12. 32III-Cody Carlson[17]; 13. 27X-Calvin Iverson[14]; 14. 11JR-Andrew Inman[7]; 15. 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[21]; 16. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[24]; 17. 20-Austin Ellis[15]; 18. 308-Pat Hoffman[22]; 19. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[23]; 20. (DNF) 74-Shaun Kreyer[12]; 21. (DNF) 11-Justin Weinberger[16]; 22. (DNF) 30-Matt Leer[6]; 23. (DNF) 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[3]; 24. (DNF) 22S-Cole Spacek[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[1]; 2. 11JR-Andrew Inman[2]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[6]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson[5]; 5. 2C-Dave Cain[4]; 6. 32III-Cody Carlson[3]; 7. 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[7]; 8. 10-Kyle Helling[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 3. 44X-Jesse Glenz[3]; 4. 19J-Jack Rivord[7]; 5. 27X-Calvin Iverson[5]; 6. 44N-Darrell Nelson[6]; 7. 18S-Kennedy Swan[8]; 8. 308-Pat Hoffman[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 30-Matt Leer[6]; 4. 74-Shaun Kreyer[3]; 5. 20-Austin Ellis[5]; 6. 11-Justin Weinberger[7]; 7. 22S-Cole Spacek[2]; 8. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[8]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 1E-Eric Olson[1]; 2. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[5]; 3. 1M-Curt Myers[6]; 4. 27-Matt Deragon[7]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu[12]; 6. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 7. 21M-Alex Myers[2]; 8. 57-Randy Graham[13]; 9. 3B-Austin Blom[21]; 10. 22T-Terran Spacek[3]; 11. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[8]; 12. 25X-Chad Johnson[16]; 13. 44-Trenton Bond[10]; 14. 77-Jake Nevala[15]; 15. 247-Jackson Larson[20]; 16. 28-Josh Cappo[17]; 17. (DNF) 01-Michael Anderson[19]; 18. (DNF) 33C-Cole Chernosky[9]; 19. (DNF) 90-Adam Pratt[11]; 20. (DNF) 02-Travis Anderson[18]; 21. (DNF) 62-Dalton Truchon[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1E-Eric Olson[1]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[2]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[5]; 4. 44-Trenton Bond[3]; 5. 57-Randy Graham[6]; 6. 25X-Chad Johnson[7]; 7. 01-Michael Anderson[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[1]; 2. 21M-Alex Myers[3]; 3. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[2]; 4. 90-Adam Pratt[6]; 5. 62-Dalton Truchon[5]; 6. 28-Josh Cappo[7]; 7. (DNF) 247-Jackson Larson[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[2]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 3. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[6]; 4. 14X-Leslie Leu[5]; 5. 77-Jake Nevala[7]; 6. 02-Travis Anderson[4]; 7. (DNF) 3B-Austin Blom[1]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[2]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[8]; 4. 89-Kolby Reed[1]; 5. 19H-Cody Cimfl[4]; 6. 37-Travis Anderson[9]; 7. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[5]; 8. 16-Cory Jorgensen[10]; 9. 1-Jake Stai[12]; 10. 00-Joseph Swearingen[13]; 11. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[7]; 12. 10Z-Cade Johnson[11]; 13. 8-Jonny Nowak[16]; 14. 410-Jesse Young[19]; 15. 101-Michael Grover[14]; 16. 88K-Jason Knutson[15]; 17. R1-Robert Crust[18]; 18. (DNF) 41-Tyler Vernon[6]; 19. (DNF) 71-Jacob Anderson[17]; 20. (DNS) 78-Bently Prochnow; 21. (DNS) 5-Rory Taber

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Travis Anderson[3]; 2. 89-Kolby Reed[4]; 3. 19H-Cody Cimfl[5]; 4. 16-Cory Jorgensen[7]; 5. 00-Joseph Swearingen[1]; 6. (DNF) 71-Jacob Anderson[2]; 7. (DNF) 410-Jesse Young[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[3]; 3. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[5]; 4. 10Z-Cade Johnson[6]; 5. 101-Michael Grover[2]; 6. (DNF) R1-Robert Crust[4]; 7. (DNS) 5-Rory Taber

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[3]; 2. 41-Tyler Vernon[1]; 3. 7-Mike Schnider[4]; 4. 1-Jake Stai[2]; 5. 88K-Jason Knutson[5]; 6. 8-Jonny Nowak[6]; 7. (DNF) 78-Bently Prochnow[7]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[4]; 2. 19C-Cody Cimfl[2]; 3. 40-Travis Loew[8]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[6]; 5. 1R-Cole Richards[5]; 6. 20T-Michael Tuma[10]; 7. 7-Caiden Engel[12]; 8. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[19]; 9. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[11]; 10. 16-Warren Bartelt[16]; 11. 19J-Jenna Herrman[14]; 12. 31-Tom Treviranus[15]; 13. 19H-Kevin Herrman[13]; 14. (DNF) 86-Layla Chaplin[18]; 15. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[1]; 16. (DNF) 20-Andrew Hanson[7]; 17. (DNF) 20F-Connor Franson[9]; 18. (DNF) 11-Sam Fankhauser[3]; 19. (DNF) 17-Zach Beaulieu[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Travis Loew[2]; 2. 40T-Nick Traynor[5]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 4. 20T-Michael Tuma[6]; 5. 19H-Kevin Herrman[1]; 6. 16-Warren Bartelt[7]; 7. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Hunter VanGilder[3]; 2. 11-Sam Fankhauser[6]; 3. 20F-Connor Franson[4]; 4. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[5]; 5. 19J-Jenna Herrman[2]; 6. 17-Zach Beaulieu[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Andrew Hanson[1]; 2. 19C-Cody Cimfl[2]; 3. 3R-Danny Richards[4]; 4. 7-Caiden Engel[5]; 5. 31-Tom Treviranus[3]; 6. 86-Layla Chaplin[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95F-Devin Fries[5]; 2. 17B-Aaron Bernick[1]; 3. 78-Mark Barta[4]; 4. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 5. 925-Dnae Rose[3]; 6. 24-Dylan Helget[7]; 7. 9M-Marlene Lannet[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Rob Grabon[3]; 2. 28-Eric Crosby[5]; 3. 5R-George Richards[1]; 4. 55-Caleb Duffie[6]; 5. 47-Anthony Schultz[2]; 6. (DNF) 12-Aaron Holmberg[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 89-Steve Karshbaum[4]; 2. 17-Brian DeNucci[6]; 3. 4K-Terry Kemp[1]; 4. 33S-Jason Simonson[2]; 5. 52W-Austin Fencl[5]; 6. (DQ) 15-Dusten Holub[3]