5-27 Page 17 | ATD Racing News

Four first-timers topple rivals at Rice Lake, including Hanson, Myers, Brauer and Grabon - and Koehler continues rolling in MidMods

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (May 24) - Rice Lake Speedway produced four first-time winners in feature racing action Saturday, May 24, with a huge crowd on hand as a part of Kids’ Night.

Mark Hanson, Alex Myers, Kolton Brauer and Rob Grabon all stood in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series victory lane for the first time on Saturday, while the speedway's most dominant 2025 driver so far, Nick Koehler, won for the third time already this season.

Hanson made his first appearance of the season in the WISSOTA Modifieds and he was flawless, as he led from start to finish to pick up the victory.

Hanson took the early lead over Simon Wahlstrom, working the cushion on the well-prepared oval, with Aiden Hoffman, Mark Hessler and Joe Chaplin, Jr. all close behind. With five laps completed, the lone yellow of the race was triggered by a spin in turn four and Blake Adams cracked the top five for the first time.

Hoffman was on the move as he passed Wahlstrom for second and gradually started to reel in the leader. Adams was also on the charge, as he drove up to third and started closing in on the top pair of drivers.

With five laps to go, the top three were running in a tight group as Hanson's lead continued to shrink. Hoffman looked to the inside of the leader, but was repelled by Hanson, while Adams was also in tight formation. On the last lap, Adams threw a slider on Hoffman and was able to drive into second, but he did not have enough time to put a serious challenge on Hanson. “The Mad Dog” drove on to his first victory of the season ahead of Adams and Hoffman, as Wahlstrom and a fast-closing Matt Leer completed the top five.

In the WISSOTA Super Stocks, Leslie Leu started on the pole and jumped into the initial lead with Eric Olson, Alex Myers, Andrew Davis and Curt Myers all bunched up behind him. The lead pack was running double file with Alex Myers starting to move on the outside.

A red flag for a medical emergency in the pits stopped the action for several minutes, but when racing resumed, Leu continued to be pressured by Olson and Alex Myers. Alex was making the outside work; he drove steadily past Olson and took the lead from Leu on lap seven.

By the halfway point of the contest, Curt Myers had picked up the pace and moved into second. He then began to challenge his son for the lead, poking his nose inside Alex in the corners.

A late yellow with just five laps to go for Randy Graham stalled on the track changed the course of the event. Alex Myers continued to lead while Curt opted for the low side on the restart. To the shock of everyone in the house, Leu took off like a rocket on the top side, driving past Curt Myers and then closing on Alex.

Leu closed to within a car length of Alex as the white flag waved, and when Leu went for broke in turn one in an attempt to steal away the win, his car jumped the cushion and he lost ground. This took the pressure off Alex, who then drove home for the win. Curt used the break to drive back up into second, as Leu recovered for third. Austin Blom and Olson completed the top five.

For Alex Myers, it was his first of the season and second ever feature win at Rice Lake.

Kolton Brauer had never won a feature race at Rice Lake until Saturday, when he held off Hunter VanGilder to get that initial win in a hard-fought battle.

Brauer started on the pole of the WISSOTA Street Stock main event and immediately took the top spot with VanGilder battling with Danny Hanson and Sam Fankhauser for position right behind Brauer. An early spin packed the field; on the restart, Brauer had VanGilder tight on his rear bumper as they raced the low side of the track. Hanson was pounding the cushion as he battled for second with Fankhauser right in the mix also. Cody Kummer, who started eighth, moved to the cushion as well and found speed there.

Brauer continued to guard the low line with VanGilder nailed to his rear bumper, occasionally giving the leader a bit of a tap. When Travis Loew slowed on the track, it led to a final five-lap sprint to the finish. VanGilder looked both high and low for an opening, but Brauer failed to make a mistake and led Hunter across the line for the win. Kummer completed his charge in third, while Richards and Fankhauser rounded out the top five.

The closest feature race of the night was in the WISSOTA Pure Stocks, where Rob Grabon completed a last lap pass on Devin Fries to get the win in a thrilling way to conclude the evening. Jamey Fisher took the early lead, but when he slid up the track, Fries was right there to grab the top spot away.

Fries then led the majority of the race with Grabon gradually closing up on him after he started sixth. A great battle for third raged with Mark Barta and Bob Wahlstrom exchanging the position.

As Fries continued to lead, Grabon got on his rear bumper. With Fries not giving up the inside line, Grabon moved up the track and slowly but surely started to move closer. He was nearly side by side with Fries when the white flag waved to start the final lap. Down the back chute the leaders were side by side and racing off the final corner, they were still door to door. As they raced to the line, Grabon edged ahead by perhaps a fender length and final margin of victory was .033 seconds over Fries in a great battle.

Barta held off Wahlstrom in the fight for third and C.J. Wagner, making his first start in his distinctive station wagon, came from 14th to complete the top five.

Nick Koehler has been the hottest driver at the track so far in 2025 and he earned his third WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature win after a hard battle with Blake Adams. Koehler started on the pole and used that advantage to take the initial lead, with Mike Schnider quickly driving into second and Adams up to third.

Koehler continued to show the way as Adams got under Schnider for second and then closed on Koehler. Just before the halfway point, Adams had a shot off turn four, but Koehler, who got just a bit high, quickly recovered and closed the door.

The second half of the race was a two-car battle as Adams stayed a couple of car lengths behind Koehler, searching for an opening or hoping for a mistake. However, neither were coming as Koehler was in a groove and despite Adams' best efforts, there was no stopping Koehler. He drove home with a two-car-length lead to get the win over Adams. Schnider held third to the finish with Jake Stai and C.J. Hedges next in line.

Earlier in the night as part of the Kids’ Night promotion, the track gave away 136 bikes and gift packages to the kids on hand, along with many other activities.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 18-Mark Hanson[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 3. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[3]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 5. 30-Matt Leer[7]; 6. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[5]; 7. 20-Austin Ellis[9]; 8. 308-Pat Hoffman[10]; 9. 3-Bryan Hessler[8]; 10. 38Z-Zach Gibson[11]; 11. 73-Jeff Helget[13]; 12. 204-David Mayala[12]; 13. (DNF) 13H-Mark Hessler[4]; 14. (DNS) 10-Kyle Helling

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Matt Leer[3]; 2. 18-Mark Hanson[2]; 3. 13H-Mark Hessler[1]; 4. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[7]; 5. 20-Austin Ellis[6]; 6. 38Z-Zach Gibson[4]; 7. 73-Jeff Helget[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 3-Bryan Hessler[6]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[7]; 5. 308-Pat Hoffman[5]; 6. 204-David Mayala[1]; 7. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21M-Alex Myers[5]; 2. 1M-Curt Myers[6]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[8]; 5. 1E-Eric Olson[4]; 6. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 7. 01-Michael Anderson[2]; 8. 15-Jonathan Dachel[13]; 9. 22-Clay Albrecht[11]; 10. 28-Josh Cappo[15]; 11. 21-Mike Siewert[9]; 12. 22AT-Austin Tilton[16]; 13. (DNF) 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 14. (DNF) XJR-Austin Harris[12]; 15. (DNF) 57-Randy Graham[10]; 16. (DNF) 11-Tucker Quinn[14]; 17. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[7]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[1]; 3. 3B-Austin Blom[3]; 4. 01-Michael Anderson[6]; 5. 21-Mike Siewert[8]; 6. 22-Clay Albrecht[4]; 7. 15-Jonathan Dachel[5]; 8. 28-Josh Cappo[2]; 9. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 2. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 3. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 4. 21M-Alex Myers[7]; 5. 57-Randy Graham[8]; 6. XJR-Austin Harris[6]; 7. 11-Tucker Quinn[5]; 8. 22AT-Austin Tilton[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 4. 1-Jake Stai[5]; 5. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[2]; 6. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[6]; 7. 37-Travis Anderson[9]; 8. 19H-Cody Cimfl[8]; 9. 21-Jimmy Latvala[11]; 10. 48-Cole Kelley[13]; 11. 24-Liz Toepper[10]; 12. 10Z-Cade Johnson[14]; 13. 101-Michael Grover[12]; 14. 88K-Donavan Knutson[15]; 15. (DNF) 88-Jacob Toepper[7]; 16. (DNS) 91L-Jacob Dachel

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 4. 19H-Cody Cimfl[6]; 5. 37-Travis Anderson[7]; 6. 21-Jimmy Latvala[8]; 7. 48-Cole Kelley[3]; 8. 88K-Donavan Knutson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Mike Schnider[4]; 2. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[3]; 3. 88-Jacob Toepper[1]; 4. 1-Jake Stai[6]; 5. 24-Liz Toepper[2]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[7]; 7. 10Z-Cade Johnson[5]; 8. 91L-Jacob Dachel[8]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[1]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[4]; 3. 12-Cody Kummer[8]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[2]; 5. 11-Sam Fankhauser[3]; 6. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[10]; 7. 7-Caiden Engel[5]; 8. 1R-Cole Richards[6]; 9. 17-Zach Beaulieu[12]; 10. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[16]; 11. 20T-Michael Tuma[11]; 12. 19J-Jenna Herrman[13]; 13. 19H-Kevin Herrman[14]; 14. (DNF) 40-Travis Loew[9]; 15. (DNF) 86-Layla Chaplin[17]; 16. (DNF) 20F-Connor Franson[7]; 17. (DNS) 19C-Cody Cimfl

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. KOL34-Kolton Brauer[9]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[1]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[8]; 5. 40-Travis Loew[2]; 6. 20T-Michael Tuma[7]; 7. (DNF) 19C-Cody Cimfl[4]; 8. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[6]; 9. (DNF) 86-Layla Chaplin[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[3]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[8]; 3. 20F-Connor Franson[5]; 4. 7-Caiden Engel[6]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[1]; 6. 17-Zach Beaulieu[4]; 7. 19J-Jenna Herrman[2]; 8. 19H-Kevin Herrman[7]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Lakes Gas A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 16-Rob Grabon[6]; 2. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 3. 78-Mark Barta[7]; 4. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 5. 93-CJ Wagner[14]; 6. 3-Jamey Fisher[1]; 7. 7D-Trevor Phillips[3]; 8. 47-Anthony Schultz[12]; 9. 925-Dnae Rose[4]; 10. (DNF) 24-Shane Strenke[10]; 11. (DNF) 15H-Dusten Holub[9]; 12. (DNF) 89-Steve Karshbaum[8]; 13. (DNF) 55-Caleb Duffie[11]; 14. (DNS) 17-Brian DeNucci; 15. (DNS) 4K-Terry Kemp

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 3. 89-Steve Karshbaum[6]; 4. 78-Mark Barta[4]; 5. 15H-Dusten Holub[7]; 6. 55-Caleb Duffie[1]; 7. 47-Anthony Schultz[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Jamey Fisher[3]; 2. 16-Rob Grabon[5]; 3. 7D-Trevor Phillips[4]; 4. 925-Dnae Rose[6]; 5. 24-Shane Strenke[8]; 6. (DNF) 17-Brian DeNucci[2]; 7. (DNF) 93-CJ Wagner[1]; 8. (DQ) 4K-Terry Kemp[7]