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VandeKamp tops K-Runk Memorial at Rice Lake while Adams, Myers, Traynor and Grabon top other Firecracker features at Rice Lake

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (July 3) - A huge night of racing was held on Thursday, July 3 at Rice Lake Speedway. The Firecracker special featured a spectacular display of fireworks for the fans, and the Barron County Relay for Life event was also a part of the show.

The main event was the ninth annual K-Runk Memorial Race for Midwest Modifieds, returning to Rice Lake for the first time since 2018. Jason VandeKamp drove to victory in that Mid Mod main and earned $2,323 for his win. Other WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Nick Traynor, Curt Myers, Blake Adams and Rob Grabon.

After the Missing Man formation was held to start the race in honor of Runkle, a young Midwest Modified driver who lost his life in 2016, 24 drivers took the green flag for the 23-lap main event, Runkle's car number.

Cody Borgeson grabbed the lead by inches over VandeKamp on the opening lap, but Vandekamp overcame him by lap two to lead the field. Borgeson and Shadow Kitchner raced back and forth in a great battle for second, as they traded the positions several times.

Travis Anderson and Blake Adams also moved in among the leaders, with the first five drivers breaking away slightly from the pack.

The race was stopped three times in the first six laps for spins, and VandeKamp continued to hold the top spot by several car lengths. The intense battle for second continued with Kitchner and Borgeson swapping the spot and working all lanes of the track. By the halfway point of the race, Adams moved into fourth and Nick Koehler, the track's biggest winner to date in 2025, had also cracked the top five.

A stalled car slowed the action once again and set up a seven-lap fight to the finish. Once again, VandeKamp continued to maintain the lead, but it was Kitchner that picked up the pace as he edged away from Borgeson and started to close on the leader.

The race came down to the last two laps with Kitchner pulling to the rear bumper of VandeKamp as they raced for the final time down the back chute. A final push by Kitchner came up a car length short as VandeKamp held on for the win. Borgeson, Adams and Koehler completed the top five.

A historic feature win was achieved by Myers, who has now tied the great Don Drew for all-time feature wins in the Super Stock class at Rice Lake, earning his 57th triumph over his long career. And this win was special since he had to fight off serious challenges by his son Alex to hold on for the win.

Tommy Richards started on the pole, but Myers wasted little time after the drop of the green, somehow finding racing room as he advanced from fifth to nip Richards for the lead by the completion of the first lap. After that, it was a matter of maintaining his groove and then holding off a couple of stiff challenges to his lead.

Alex Myers and Richards went at it for second, with them trading that position several times in the early going. This race was a marathon, with the yellow flag ever present. By the halfway point of the race, the yellow had waved eight times already and track officials made the decision to shorten it due to time constraints and approaching weather.

With two laps to go, Alex Myers got a great restart and went for broke in turn three, throwing a big slider on his father in an effort to slip past. However, Curt had him covered and when Alex could not complete his attempt, he lost control of his car and spun, thus ending his attempt to steal a win.

The final restart turned into a one-lap dash to the finish and Myers was up to the task, beating Richards to the line to take the win. Andrew Davis and Chad Johnson both drove consistent races to finish in third and fourth and Leslie Leu was a late charger up to fifth.

In the early going of the WISSOTA Street Stock class, Cole Richards held the point with Trey Hess and Caiden Engel following closely. However, Traynor was on the move early, as he was up to fifth when the first caution flew with five laps completed.

By the time the race was slowed again for a yellow, Traynor was up to third as he continued to show great speed, driving past other drivers both on the inside and top side of the track.

At the halfway point of the race, Traynor drove past Richards to take over the lead and from that point, the big field was just chasing him. Richards and Hess, making his first start of the year at the track, ended up second and third. Andrew Hanson, who debuted a new ride after a violent flip recently at another track, finished fourth. Danny Richards completed the top five.

Traynor's win was his fifth already this year at the track as he leads all drivers in feature wins earned so far in 2025.

Simon Wahlstrom started on the pole of the WISSOTA Modified feature and led the first 13 laps of the race, much of that time with Adams all over him for the lead. The two engaged in some entertaining racing as they crossed each other over several times in their battle for the top spot, with Wahlstrom continuing to hold the position.

That is, until lap 14, when Adams was finally able to edge out in front. When Wahlstrom got hung up in traffic, the issue was decided. For Adams, his rookie season in the Modifieds continues to produce great results with his fourth feature win at the track so far this year. Wahlstrom finished up a strong second with Joe Chaplin, Jr., Kyle Kirberger and Matt Leer, who came from the rear after an early spin, completing the top five.

The WISSOTA Pure Stocks wrapped up the evening with a very entertaining main event. Caleb Duffie took the lead from the outside pole and early in the event, fought off challenges from Grabon and Eric Crosby to hold the top spot. Duffie held the lead for the first five laps before Crosby was able to pass him on the outside to take over the point. Then, following a yellow flag for a spin, both Duffie and Grabon fought back.

The leaders raced three wide around the track before Grabon had a good run on the inside and took over the top spot. Crosby then slipped into second and put the heat on the leader as they began to pull away from the pack.

They battled it out right to the finish, with Grabon holding on for the win. Five or more cars all battling for third completed the race in a wild scramble; during the final corner Duffie and others were dislodged from their positions.

The checkered flag was thrown, but the running order was adjusted to reflect the final corner incident. Duffie was officially scored in third with C.J. Wagner fourth. Devin Fries completed the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 2. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 3. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[4]; 4. 2-Kyle Kirberger[2]; 5. 30-Matt Leer[6]; 6. 18-Mark Hanson[8]; 7. 3-Bryan Hessler[9]; 8. 204-David Mayala[11]; 9. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[7]; 10. (DNF) 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[10]; 11. (DNS) 78-Brent Prochnow; 12. (DNS) 20-Austin Ellis; 13. (DQ) 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[2]; 2. 30-Matt Leer[1]; 3. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[5]; 4. 18-Mark Hanson[3]; 5. 3-Bryan Hessler[7]; 6. 204-David Mayala[4]; 7. (DNF) 20-Austin Ellis[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[3]; 2. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[1]; 3. 27H-Steve Hallquist[5]; 4. 2-Kyle Kirberger[6]; 5. 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[2]; 6. (DNF) 78-Brent Prochnow[4]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[5]; 2. 7R-Tommy Richards[1]; 3. 20*-Andrew Davis[7]; 4. 25X-Chad Johnson[6]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu[8]; 6. 11-Tucker Quinn[9]; 7. 1-Ryan Olson[12]; 8. 17-Mike Loomis[17]; 9. 90-Adam Pratt[11]; 10. 21M-Alex Myers[3]; 11. 77L-Andy Ladd[15]; 12. 28-Josh Cappo[13]; 13. 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[23]; 14. (DNF) 22AT-Austin Tilton[20]; 15. (DNF) 2-Bart Steffen[4]; 16. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[21]; 17. (DNF) 22C-Clay Albrecht[10]; 18. (DNF) 49-Thomas Hauert[2]; 19. (DNF) 02-Travis Anderson[22]; 20. (DNF) 01-Michael Anderson[18]; 21. (DNF) 3-Alexander Lessard[24]; 22. (DNF) TB81-Tommy Bawden[19]; 23. (DNF) XJR-Austin Harris[14]; 24. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[6]; 2. 20*-Andrew Davis[1]; 3. 49-Thomas Hauert[2]; 4. 22C-Clay Albrecht[5]; 5. 28-Josh Cappo[3]; 6. 17G-Chris Gross[7]; 7. TB81-Tommy Bawden[8]; 8. (DNF) 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 2. 2-Bart Steffen[2]; 3. 7R-Tommy Richards[6]; 4. 90-Adam Pratt[3]; 5. XJR-Austin Harris[4]; 6. 17-Mike Loomis[7]; 7. 22AT-Austin Tilton[8]; 8. (DNF) 3-Alexander Lessard[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21M-Alex Myers[7]; 2. 25X-Chad Johnson[2]; 3. 11-Tucker Quinn[5]; 4. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 5. 77L-Andy Ladd[1]; 6. 01-Michael Anderson[3]; 7. 21-Mike Siewert[6]; 8. 02-Travis Anderson[8]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (23 Laps): 1. 16-Jason VandeKamp[2]; 2. 68-Shadow Kitchner[3]; 3. B37-Cody Borgeson[1]; 4. 40D-Blake Adams[8]; 5. 13X-Nick Koehler[7]; 6. 11R-Landyn Randt[19]; 7. 63JR-Brady Larson[13]; 8. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 9. 13-Scott Oeltjen[18]; 10. 1-Jake Stai[5]; 11. 23KR-Les Duellman[9]; 12. 19H-Cody Cimfl[6]; 13. 88-Jacob Toepper[16]; 14. 410-Jesse Young[21]; 15. 19-David Madsen[17]; 16. 11K-Chase Brown[24]; 17. (DNF) 00-Ross Fuhrman[22]; 18. (DNF) 101-Michael Grover[20]; 19. (DNF) 4K-Kenny Kincaid[11]; 20. (DNF) 33CC-Cole Boston[14]; 21. (DNF) 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[15]; 22. (DNF) 78-Bently Prochnow[23]; 23. (DNF) 25-Justen Seipel[12]; 24. (DNF) 48-Cole Kelley[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19H-Cody Cimfl[5]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 23KR-Les Duellman[1]; 4. 63JR-Brady Larson[7]; 5. 19-David Madsen[2]; 6. 78-Bently Prochnow[6]; 7. 410-Jesse Young[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Shadow Kitchner[6]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[2]; 3. 48-Cole Kelley[1]; 4. 33CC-Cole Boston[7]; 5. 13-Scott Oeltjen[5]; 6. 03F-Connor Fall[3]; 7. (DNF) 7-Mike Schnider[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 13X-Nick Koehler[1]; 2. 16-Jason VandeKamp[7]; 3. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[5]; 4. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[3]; 5. 11R-Landyn Randt[4]; 6. 00-Ross Fuhrman[2]; 7. 11K-Chase Brown[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Stai[1]; 2. B37-Cody Borgeson[5]; 3. 25-Justen Seipel[2]; 4. 88-Jacob Toepper[4]; 5. 101-Michael Grover[6]; 6. 63-Braydon Larson[3]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 410-Jesse Young[5]; 2. 00-Ross Fuhrman[3]; 3. (DNF) 78-Bently Prochnow[1]; 4. (DNF) 11K-Chase Brown[6]; 5. (DNS) 03F-Connor Fall; 6. (DQ) 7-Mike Schnider[7]; 7. (DQ) 63-Braydon Larson[4]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[9]; 2. 1R-Cole Richards[1]; 3. 4-Trey Hess[3]; 4. 8-Andrew Hanson[5]; 5. 3R-Danny Richards[11]; 6. 11X-Levi Randt[21]; 7. 19C-Cody Cimfl[14]; 8. 7-Caiden Engel[2]; 9. 40-Travis Loew[4]; 10. 17B-Rachel Boston[6]; 11. 17-Zach Beaulieu[12]; 12. 86-Layla Chaplin[13]; 13. 31-Tom Treviranus[23]; 14. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[22]; 15. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[16]; 16. 92R-Courtney Rose[19]; 17. 19J-Jenna Herrman[20]; 18. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[7]; 19. (DNF) 12-Kammron Rose[17]; 20. (DNF) 19H-Shawn Amundson[8]; 21. (DNF) 11-Sam Fankhauser[15]; 22. (DNF) 20F-Connor Franson[18]; 23. (DNF) 20T-Michael Tuma[10]; 24. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[24]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19H-Shawn Amundson[1]; 2. 9-Adam Soltis[2]; 3. 7-Caiden Engel[8]; 4. 20T-Michael Tuma[4]; 5. 86-Layla Chaplin[6]; 6. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[7]; 7. 92R-Courtney Rose[3]; 8. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Trey Hess[4]; 2. 8-Andrew Hanson[3]; 3. 1R-Cole Richards[8]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[7]; 5. 19C-Cody Cimfl[5]; 6. 12-Kammron Rose[2]; 7. 19J-Jenna Herrman[1]; 8. (DNF) 84-Hunter VanGilder[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[6]; 2. 17B-Rachel Boston[1]; 3. 40-Travis Loew[5]; 4. 17-Zach Beaulieu[4]; 5. 11-Sam Fankhauser[3]; 6. 20F-Connor Franson[7]; 7. 11X-Levi Randt[8]; 8. 31-Tom Treviranus[2]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 16-Rob Grabon[3]; 2. 28-Eric Crosby[4]; 3. 55-Caleb Duffie[2]; 4. 93-CJ Wagner[6]; 5. 95F-Devin Fries[8]; 6. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[9]; 7. 52W-Austin Fencl[12]; 8. 89-Steve Karshbaum[15]; 9. 23R-Jimmy Rahn[5]; 10. 24-Dylan Helget[17]; 11. 3D-Sean Duffy[18]; 12. 925-Dnae Rose[16]; 13. (DNF) 7D-Trevor Phillips[11]; 14. (DNF) 91-Reginald Felzkowski[10]; 15. (DNF) 9M-Marlene Lannet[13]; 16. (DNF) 4K-Terry Kemp[1]; 17. (DNF) 12-Aaron Holmberg[19]; 18. (DNS) 15H-Cody Cimfl; 19. (DQ) 15-Dusten Holub[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[1]; 2. 23R-Jimmy Rahn[6]; 3. 4K-Terry Kemp[2]; 4. 91-Reginald Felzkowski[3]; 5. 9M-Marlene Lannet[5]; 6. 925-Dnae Rose[4]; 7. 3D-Sean Duffy[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 16-Rob Grabon[6]; 3. 93-CJ Wagner[5]; 4. 7D-Trevor Phillips[3]; 5. 15H-Cody Cimfl[2]; 6. (DNF) 12-Aaron Holmberg[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 95F-Devin Fries[2]; 2. 15-Dusten Holub[4]; 3. 55-Caleb Duffie[1]; 4. 52W-Austin Fencl[6]; 5. 89-Steve Karshbaum[3]; 6. 24-Dylan Helget[5]