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Jensen doubles up at Rice Lake’s Kyle Runkle “K-Runk” Memorial & annual Firecracker event

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (July 2) - The 10th annual WISSOTA Midwest Modified Kyle Runkle Memorial was held Thursday, July 2, as part of the annual Firecracker special held at Rice Lake Speedway.

Joey Jensen won the main event and the $2,323 top prize in honor of Runkle, who raced the No. 23KR Midwest Modified before his untimely passing.

Jensen made it a two-victory night by also topping the Super Stock feature race for the first time. Other winners on Thursday in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action included Kennedy Swan, Simon Wahlstrom, and Shawn Amundson.

Thirty-one Midwest Modified drivers signed in to race on Thursday, part of a season-high 104 drivers from all parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Nick Koehler jumped into the lead on the opening lap of the feature, as Landyn Randt and Jensen moved into position behind him. Only two laps were scored when a spinning driver triggered the yellow. Travis Anderson and Shadow Kitchner were in the top five.

Back under green, Jensen quickly moved into second and then began to pressure Koehler for the lead. Koehler raced the high side of the speedway while Jensen selected a lower line and they then produced amazing side-by-side action.

Between laps three and 12, they officially exchanged the lead three times. Meanwhile, Randt and Kitchner raced hard to stay with them as the leaders set a frantic pace. Blake Adams started 11th, but also worked into the top five by the halfway point.

Just after the drivers received the halfway signal, Jensen was able to use a slower car to finally pull himself just a car length or so in front of Koehler, who continued to push hard to try and catch him.

Jensen had a couple slower drivers to navigate past in the last going, but he did so without incident and he drove home for the big win, with Koehler settling for second. Randt, Kitchner and Adams completed the top five.

Joey Jensen…again! (Chris Burback Photo)

Jensen warmed up for his Runkle victory with a 20-lap win in the WISSOTA Super Stock feature, held earlier in the program. Jensen took advantage of drawing the pole and grabbed the lead during the opening lap ahead of Rich Bishop.

The first part of the race was a bit rocky, with three yellows in the first five laps that knocked a few drivers out of the action.

After Jensen grabbed the lead, Eric Olson and Bishop raced side by side for second. Olson finally grabbed that spot, but he was soon challenged by last week's winner Jesse Redetzke. After they raced for position for several laps, Redetzke claimed the spot, after which he took off after leader Jensen.

Alex Myers and Leslie Leu had raced up into the top five by the halfway point of the contest.

Jensen was smooth up front and while Redetzke could get to within several car lengths of the leader, he was not able to cut into that margin. The top five remained the same to the checkered flag, with Jensen taking his second Runkle Memorial trophy back to Minnesota.

In the WISSOTA Modifieds, Swan drove one of her finest races to top Blake Adams. Jason Gross started on the outside pole and took the early lead as Swan battled with Brent Prochnow and Don Eischens for position behind the leader.

Gross set a fast pace and opened up several car lengths on the field, while Swan drove by Eischens and Adams followed suit; the battle for second was a good one.

Gross continued to hold a narrow lead when the only yellow flag of the race flew just at the halfway point of the contest for a spinning driver. While there was only one yellow, it was huge in the race's outcome.

In a bold move, Swan opted for the outside line for the restart. She got up on the wheel and with a dynamic move, drove around Gross in turns one and two and into the lead. Adams eventually drove past Gross and the battle of the teenagers was on.

Adams pushed for all he was worth and tried several different lines; while he was able to close to within a few car lengths, Swan refused to yield as she drove on for her second win of the year at the track. Adams, Eischens, Gross and Matt Leer completed the top five.

The WISSOTA Street Stock feature was highlighted by a great three-driver battle as they crossed the finish line in a wild finish.

Cole Richards edged past Layla Chaplin and led the opening lap of the 15-lapper for the Street Stocks. He was immediately challenged by Sam Fankhauser, who was riding the cushion along with Shawn Amundson, Cody Cimfl and Levi Randt as the top five or more ran very close together.

The first yellow flag, with seven laps complete, was for the slowing car of Chanda Fjorden-Nord. Amundson got by Fankhauser for second by this point. Parker Anderson had also managed to work his way into the top five.

Amundson was hot on the rear bumper of Richards, trying several times to sneak under him in the corners. Finally, on lap 11, he took over the lead. Trouble broke out one lap later when Richards tried to duplicate the move and retake the lead, and they got together in turn one. Both spun and triggered another yellow.

Richards was judged to be at fault and he went to the tail of the field, with Amundson being restored as the leader. However, Amundson was still not home free and in the last few laps, he was heavily challenged by Randt, who tried to drive around him on the outside and very nearly accomplished that move.

Shawn Amundson (19A), Parker Anderson (27) and Levi Randt (11) come to the checkered flag in the Street Stock feature. (Chris Burback Photo)

During the final lap, Randt tried once again and as they raced into turn three, and was up alongside the leader. However, exiting that turn, as Amundson tried to move up the track to block that move, Anderson came out of nowhere to dive to the inside of Amundson as he tried to steal the win. They bumped, which drove Amundson farther up the track and crowded out Randt, who was up against the concrete wall and had nowhere to go. All three scrambled to regain control and as they crossed the line; Amundson took the win by a car length over Anderson. Randt was just inches behind in a spectacular conclusion to the race. Fankhauser was also close behind in fourth, while fifth-row starter Braedyn Fleck completed the top five.

Simon Wahlstrom continues to be the driver to beat in the WISSOTA Pure Stock class, his win on Thursday was the sixth of the year here - tops for all racers. He had a challenge in the early going though, as C.J. Wagner took the lead early and held off Wahlstrom for the first four laps of the 15-lap finale. However, Wahlstrom was just too strong and drove past Wagner on the outside to take over the point.

Wagner was not done, however, as he kept his car right up with the leader, challenging on the outside several times before falling back a few car lengths. Tyler Wahlstrom was also on the move as he raced up to third by the halfway point of the race and then was able to also get to second with a move past Wagner.

He, however, ran into bad luck when he tangled with a slower car while battling with Wagner for second and was knocked out of the race.

One late yellow set up a two-lap dash to the finish and Simon Wahlstrom took off without trouble, pulling away for the win. In a surprise though, James Rahn got a great restart and drove past Wagner to secure second at the finish. Carsyn Olson started 12th and raced up to fourth as the finish, edging out Bob Wahlstrom.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 18S-Kennedy Swan[4]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[8]; 3. 9E-Don Eischens[3]; 4. 12-Jason Gross[2]; 5. 30-Matt Leer[10]; 6. 05-Jake Hartung[5]; 7. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[15]; 8. 78-Brent Prochnow[1]; 9. 2-Tanner Gehl[7]; 10. 12M-Mike Gibson[9]; 11. 204-David Mayala[14]; 12. 73-Jeff Helget[11]; 13. 23K-Al Klingsporn[13]; 14. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[6]; 15. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Tanner Gehl[2]; 2. 18S-Kennedy Swan[4]; 3. 78-Brent Prochnow[3]; 4. 10-Kyle Helling[7]; 5. 12M-Mike Gibson[5]; 6. 73-Jeff Helget[1]; 7. 23K-Al Klingsporn[6]; 8. (DNF) 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 2. 12-Jason Gross[1]; 3. 05-Jake Hartung[5]; 4. 9E-Don Eischens[4]; 5. 30-Matt Leer[7]; 6. 27H-Steve Hallquist[3]; 7. 204-David Mayala[2]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21-Joey Jensen[1]; 2. 207-Jesse Redetzke[5]; 3. 1E-Eric Olson[3]; 4. 2M-Alex Myers[9]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu[11]; 6. 1-Ryan Olson[10]; 7. 10E-Jeff Eisner Jr[4]; 8. 10-Rich Bishop[2]; 9. 17-Mike Loomis[16]; 10. 01-Michael Anderson[6]; 11. 22TA-Tate Anderson[18]; 12. 4-Jay Hedtke[8]; 13. 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[12]; 14. 13-Brock Hedtke[7]; 15. 02-Travis Anderson[19]; 16. (DNF) 21S-Mike Siewert[14]; 17. (DNF) 38-Trevor Koslowski[15]; 18. (DNF) 2-Bart Steffen[17]; 19. (DNF) 77L-Andy Ladd[21]; 20. (DNF) 5*-Andrew Hedtke[13]; 21. (DNF) 28-Elizabeth Nord[20]; 22. (DNS) 22AT-Austin Tilton

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2M-Alex Myers[2]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[1]; 3. 21-Joey Jensen[6]; 4. 1-Ryan Olson[5]; 5. 5*-Andrew Hedtke[3]; 6. 17-Mike Loomis[8]; 7. 22TA-Tate Anderson[7]; 8. 28-Elizabeth Nord[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10E-Jeff Eisner Jr[2]; 2. 10-Rich Bishop[1]; 3. 207-Jesse Redetzke[4]; 4. 14X-Leslie Leu[6]; 5. 21S-Mike Siewert[3]; 6. 2-Bart Steffen[5]; 7. 02-Travis Anderson[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Jay Hedtke[1]; 2. 01-Michael Anderson[2]; 3. 13-Brock Hedtke[4]; 4. 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[7]; 5. 38-Trevor Koslowski[6]; 6. (DNF) 77L-Andy Ladd[5]; 7. (DNS) 22AT-Austin Tilton

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (23 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[5]; 2. 13K-Nick Koehler[1]; 3. 11R-Landyn Randt[3]; 4. 68-Shadow Kitchner[4]; 5. 40D-Blake Adams[11]; 6. 16-Jason VandeKamp[8]; 7. 80-Derek Haas[10]; 8. 19C-Cody Cimfl[7]; 9. 5-David Swearingen[6]; 10. 35B-David Baxter[14]; 11. 00-Joe Swearingen[16]; 12. B37-Cody Borgeson[18]; 13. 1-Jake Stai[12]; 14. 19P-Antonio Pintaro[20]; 15. 23KR-Les Duellman[22]; 16. 13-Scott Oeltjen[21]; 17. 6-Steve Haas[23]; 18. 20-Jaxon Helland[19]; 19. 17-Zach Beaulieu[9]; 20. 33-Cooper Berlin[17]; 21. 410-Jesse Young[24]; 22. (DNF) 31-Jason Vokovan[13]; 23. (DNF) 63JR-Brady Larson[15]; 24. (DNF) 37-Travis Anderson[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Shadow Kitchner[1]; 2. 19C-Cody Cimfl[6]; 3. 17-Zach Beaulieu[3]; 4. 31-Jason Vokovan[2]; 5. 33-Cooper Berlin[8]; 6. 23KR-Les Duellman[5]; 7. 101-Michael Grover[7]; 8. 401K-Mitch Patrick[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13K-Nick Koehler[1]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[7]; 3. 80-Derek Haas[3]; 4. 35B-David Baxter[4]; 5. B37-Cody Borgeson[6]; 6. 13-Scott Oeltjen[8]; 7. 62K-Ryan Kough[2]; 8. 26-Matt Joslin[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5-David Swearingen[2]; 2. 16-Jason VandeKamp[3]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[7]; 4. 63JR-Brady Larson[8]; 5. 20-Jaxon Helland[6]; 6. 9M-Jake Molitor[5]; 7. 410-Jesse Young[1]; 8. 88K-Donavan Knutson[4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Travis Anderson[1]; 2. 11R-Landyn Randt[6]; 3. 1-Jake Stai[2]; 4. 00-Joe Swearingen[7]; 5. 19P-Antonio Pintaro[4]; 6. 6-Steve Haas[5]; 7. (DNF) 78-Bently Prochnow[3]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 13-Scott Oeltjen[2]; 2. 23KR-Les Duellman[1]; 3. 6-Steve Haas[4]; 4. 410-Jesse Young[7]; 5. 26-Matt Joslin[9]; 6. 78-Bently Prochnow[11]; 7. 62K-Ryan Kough[6]; 8. (DNF) 101-Michael Grover[5]; 9. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[10]; 10. (DNS) 9M-Jake Molitor; 11. (DNS) 401K-Mitch Patrick

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 19A-Shawn Amundson[3]; 2. 27-Parker Anderson[7]; 3. 11X-Levi Randt[6]; 4. 11-Sam Fankhauser[4]; 5. 76-Braedyn Fleck[9]; 6. 19C-Cody Cimfl[5]; 7. 12-Kammron Rose[11]; 8. 84-Hunter VanGilder[8]; 9. 86-Layla Chaplin[1]; 10. 12K-Jay Kesan[10]; 11. 20F-Connor Franson[15]; 12. 7-Caiden Engel[13]; 13. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[14]; 14. 1R-Cole Richards[2]; 15. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[16]; 16. 5-Alaina Chaplin[18]; 17. (DNF) 5FN-Chanda Fjorden Nord[19]; 18. (DNF) 79-Jeff Nowak[17]; 19. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[2]; 2. 1R-Cole Richards[4]; 3. 27-Parker Anderson[7]; 4. 12K-Jay Kesan[5]; 5. 7-Caiden Engel[6]; 6. 82-Kevin Bogdanovic[3]; 7. 5-Alaina Chaplin[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11X-Levi Randt[5]; 2. 19A-Shawn Amundson[4]; 3. 84-Hunter VanGilder[2]; 4. 12-Kammron Rose[6]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[3]; 6. (DNF) 5FN-Chanda Fjorden Nord[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19C-Cody Cimfl[1]; 2. 86-Layla Chaplin[2]; 3. 76-Braedyn Fleck[6]; 4. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[3]; 5. 20F-Connor Franson[4]; 6. 79-Jeff Nowak[5]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[4]; 2. 23R-James Rahn[8]; 3. 93-CJ Wagner[2]; 4. 1-Carsyn Olson[12]; 5. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 6. 55-Caleb Duffie[1]; 7. 52W-Austin Fencl[10]; 8. 925-Courtney Rose[14]; 9. 89A-Alyson Karshbaum[13]; 10. 3D-Sean Duffy[16]; 11. 70-Bob Thompson[11]; 12. (DNF) 31C-Tim Carlson[9]; 13. (DNF) 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[6]; 14. (DNF) 9M-Marlene Lannet[17]; 15. (DNF) 67-Dale Peterson[15]; 16. (DNF) 78-Mark Barta[7]; 17. (DNF) 38W-Charlie Wilson[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 93-CJ Wagner[6]; 3. 38W-Charlie Wilson[5]; 4. 55-Caleb Duffie[7]; 5. 31C-Tim Carlson[9]; 6. 70-Bob Thompson[4]; 7. 89A-Alyson Karshbaum[8]; 8. 67-Dale Peterson[2]; 9. (DNF) 9M-Marlene Lannet[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[3]; 3. 78-Mark Barta[8]; 4. 23R-James Rahn[2]; 5. 52W-Austin Fencl[5]; 6. 1-Carsyn Olson[7]; 7. 925-Courtney Rose[4]; 8. 3D-Sean Duffy[6]