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Wahlstrom adds to his running total, Koehler cashes in again, and Olson, Leer and Anderson also score at Rice Lake

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (May 30) - St. Croix Casino presented the racing program Saturday night at Rice Lake Speedway, and the racing program proved to be a gamble for some. Drivers laid it all out on the line, with some finishes almost too close to call.

Ryan Olson, Matt Leer and Parker Anderson were first-time features winners for the season, while Simon Wahlstrom increased his win total to the highest of all drivers so far. Nick Koehler was also a winner in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action Saturday.

Leer was the early leader in the WISSOTA Modified feature, as last week’s winner Kennedy Swan moved to second. Mike Anderson and Blake Adams moved into position behind the front duo as the top four marched away from the field. Adams and Anderson had quite the battle for third, with several slide jobs thrown back and forth. The running order remained the same through the halfway point of the race.

Anderson adjusted his line around the track slightly and it paid dividends, as he drove under Swan for second and then began to close on the leader. In the last five laps, Anderson made a couple strong challenges for the lead, dropping to the inside of Leer, but not quite able to clear him. His best run was stifled by a lapped car blocking his line into turn three, and he had to readjust his line.

He made one last attack on the final lap and again dipped to the inside of Leer, but Leer had enough of a run off the turn to nip Anderson by about a half car length at the checkered flag. The exact margin of victory was .195 seconds.

Adams was also able to pass Swan for third with Austin Ellis getting a solid top five run.

It was Leer’s 10th career Modified feature win at Rice Lake but his first since the 2017 racing season.

Alex Myers led all 20 laps of the WISSOTA Super Stock main, only to not pass muster in the post-race examination and hand the win to Ryan Olson.

Myers rode the cushion expertly for the whole race, which was stopped just once only three laps into the contest. Myers opened up a lead on the field and was not really challenged over the course of the event.

Meanwhile, Olson and Jeff Eisner, Jr. had a great battle for second and they literally raced side by side for the entire contest. In fact, after Myers crossed the line, Olson edged out Eisner for second by the razor thin time of .019 seconds, which became the winning margin when Myers failed post-race inspection.

Ryan's father Eric also had a solid run, as he finished third after a race-long battle with Leslie Leu, while Bart Steffen completed the top five.

Parker Anderson was the third driver to claim his first WISSOTA Street Stock feature win of the season at the track. He started on the pole and led all 20 laps, but had to withstand several yellow-flag induced challenges.

For the first half of the race, Cole and Danny Richards pushed Anderson, as they swapped second and kept Anderson within range for a pass.

Nick Traynor was attacking the track aggressively, as he raced higher on the track than anyone and pushed the banking up as far as he could go. Eventually that line began to work and he drove by both Richards into second.

A late yellow with just two laps to go bunched the field one last time.

He gave it a shot, but Anderson held his line and drove on for the win, with Traynor a close second. There was considerable shuffling of the pack behind the two leaders; Cole Richards held on for third while Hunter VanGilder and Canadian driver Kyle Bolt completed the top five.

Nick Koehler won his third WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature of the season as he held off some late-race attacks from Blake Adams to take the win. Koehler used the cushion to grab the early lead ahead of Travis Anderson and Joe Swearingen. Adams started sixth and began to move forward, picking off drivers one by one as Koehler continued to show the way.

By the halfway point of the race, Adams was up to second as he tried to catch the leader. Two yellows helped him out, and the last one came with just two laps remaining.

Things got very interesting as Adams twice threw sliders at Koehler, both times clearing him for the lead. Each time Koehler crossed him back over and regained the top spot. Koehler was not to be denied as he drove home for the win ahead of Adams. Anderson finished a solid third, 10th-starter Brady Larson was fourth and Jason Vokovan was fifth.

Simon Wahlstrom continued his strong start in the WISSOTA Pure Stock division as he won a track-best fourth feature so far. He led all laps and held off the challenges of George Richards to claim the win.

Early on, Simon held off his brother Tyler and father Bob to lead the race. Richards, who started fifth, moved up a lane on the track and was successful; he drove past both of them to take second.

Wahlstrom was strong up front though, and while Richards pushed hard, he was not successful in cutting into the lead. Wahlstrom drove home with a fairly comfortable winning margin. Late in the going, Tyler edged past his father to claim third, while C.J. Wagner completed the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 30-Matt Leer[1]; 2. 57-Mike Anderson[3]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[5]; 4. 18S-Kennedy Swan[2]; 5. 20-Austin Ellis[6]; 6. 204-David Mayala[8]; 7. 4A-Hunter Anderson[4]; 8. (DNS) 27H-Steve Hallquist

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 30-Matt Leer[6]; 4. 18S-Kennedy Swan[7]; 5. 4A-Hunter Anderson[1]; 6. 20-Austin Ellis[8]; 7. 27H-Steve Hallquist[5]; 8. 204-David Mayala[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[1]; 2. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[3]; 3. 1E-Eric Olson[8]; 4. 14X-Leslie Leu[4]; 5. 2-Bart Steffen[5]; 6. 20-Andrew Davis[7]; 7. 02-Travis Anderson[9]; 8. 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[11]; 9. 28-Josh Cappo[6]; 10. 38-Trevor Koslowski[12]; 11. 21-Mike Siewert[10]; 12. 17G-Chris Gross[13]; 13. (DQ) 2M-Alex Myers[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Andrew Davis[1]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[2]; 3. 2-Bart Steffen[3]; 4. 1-Ryan Olson[7]; 5. 02-Travis Anderson[4]; 6. 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[6]; 7. 17G-Chris Gross[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2M-Alex Myers[1]; 2. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[5]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[3]; 4. 28-Josh Cappo[6]; 5. 21-Mike Siewert[2]; 6. 38-Trevor Koslowski[4]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 4. 63JR-Brady Larson[10]; 5. 31-Jason Vokovan[1]; 6. 19C-Cody Cimfl[5]; 7. 1-Jake Stai[8]; 8. 17-Calin Haas[12]; 9. 17B-Zach Beaulieu[16]; 10. 00-Joe Swearingen[7]; 11. 20-Jaxon Helland[3]; 12. 33-Cooper Berlin[9]; 13. 101-Michael Grover[11]; 14. 11K-Chase Brown[15]; 15. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[13]; 16. (DNF) 401K-Mitch Patrick[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 00-Joe Swearingen[4]; 2. 20-Jaxon Helland[3]; 3. 31-Jason Vokovan[5]; 4. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 5. 33-Cooper Berlin[1]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[2]; 7. 88K-Donavan Knutson[7]; 8. (DQ) 17B-Zach Beaulieu[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[1]; 2. 1-Jake Stai[2]; 3. 19C-Cody Cimfl[3]; 4. 40D-Blake Adams[7]; 5. 63JR-Brady Larson[6]; 6. 17-Calin Haas[4]; 7. 401K-Mitch Patrick[8]; 8. (DNF) 11K-Chase Brown[5]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 27-Parker Anderson[1]; 2. 19C-Nick Traynor[8]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 4. 84-Hunter VanGilder[12]; 5. 77-Kyle Bolt[7]; 6. 86-Layla Chaplin[4]; 7. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[10]; 8. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[5]; 9. (DNF) 3R-Danny Richards[2]; 10. (DNF) 5-Alaina Chaplin[11]; 11. (DNF) 20F-Connor Franson[9]; 12. (DNF) 19A-Shawn Amundson[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Parker Anderson[3]; 2. 19C-Nick Traynor[1]; 3. 3R-Danny Richards[2]; 4. 19A-Shawn Amundson[4]; 5. 20F-Connor Franson[5]; 6. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Cole Richards[3]; 2. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[1]; 3. 86-Layla Chaplin[2]; 4. 77-Kyle Bolt[5]; 5. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[4]; 6. 5-Alaina Chaplin[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[2]; 2. 5R-George Richards[5]; 3. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[1]; 4. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[3]; 5. 93-CJ Wagner[7]; 6. 52W-Austin Fencl[8]; 7. 04K-Jerame Ristau[4]; 8. 1-Carsyn Olson[6]; 9. 55-Caleb Duffie[13]; 10. 24-Shane Strenke[14]; 11. 9M-Marlene Lannet[10]; 12. 3D-Sean Duffy[9]; 13. (DNF) 925-Dnae Rose[11]; 14. (DNS) 89A-Alyson Karshbaum

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 93-CJ Wagner[3]; 2. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[7]; 3. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[4]; 4. 04K-Jerame Ristau[2]; 5. 3D-Sean Duffy[5]; 6. (DNF) 925-Dnae Rose[1]; 7. (DNF) 55-Caleb Duffie[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[4]; 2. 5R-George Richards[6]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[5]; 4. 1-Carsyn Olson[1]; 5. 9M-Marlene Lannet[2]; 6. (DNF) 89A-Alyson Karshbaum[3]; 7. (DQ) 24-Shane Strenke[7]