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Hall Of Fame inductees Saturday at Rice Lake Speedway were Brent Laursen (posthumously) - award accepted by (from left) Kimm Laursen and Steven Sevals; Darwin Brown; Dave Havel; and Rick Kurshinsky, whose award was accepted by Bill Kurshinsky. (Doug Zimmer Photo)

Adams, Myers, Koehler, Traynor and Barta best of the championship night oval-trackers Saturday at Rice Lake

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (August 23) - Season championship night was held Saturday at Rice Lake Speedway, with five drivers earning the title in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action.

Winners included Blake Adams, Curt Myers, Nick Koehler, Nick Traynor, and Mark Barta.

Adams started on the pole for the WISSOTA Modified feature and led all 20 laps to get the win. He was challenged hard for the distance by Mike Anderson, who started right behind him.

Adams finally broke loose and gained some ground when he adjusted his racing line on the track and found the top side of turns one and two to be the fast way, while hugging the inside line on the north end of the track.

In the later portion of the race, Adams gradually pulled away from Anderson to a more comfortable lead. Aiden Hoffman had an excellent run, starting on the outside pole and racing with the leaders throughout the event, finally finishing third. Matt Leer used the upper lip to march his way to the finish behind Brandon Copp, who was fourth.

In the WISSOTA Super Stocks, Alex Myers started on the pole, with father Curt flanking him. For the majority of the race they battled for the lead, often side by side.

Alex led the opening two laps before Curt edged in front and was scored the leader for the rest of the race. For much of the contest, they were side by side, with Curt just edging ahead at the start-finish line.

Terran Spacek moved into third by lap five and he closely followed the lead group until he was then challenged by Tommy Richards for that spot, side by side.

As the fast cars moved through traffic on lap 13, one of the slower cars lost control and spun, clipping Spacek, triggering the yellow and ending the night for Spacek, who had damage.

Curt picked up speed and he opened up his biggest lead of the night at that point, maintaining a two-car-length advantage to the finish. Alex finished a strong second ahead of Richards, with Patrick Beeksma and track point champion Leslie Leu trailing.

Along with winning the title in the Super Stocks, Myers broke one of the longest standing track records with his win. He now leads the all-time victories list in the division, topping the long-held record by speedway Hall-of-Famer Don Drew.

Adams also started on the pole of the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature and led for the majority of the contest, pressured first by Mike Schnider and then Nick Koehler. Schnider moved into second quickly and followed Adams in the early going, with Travis Anderson and Koehler trailing.

Koehler continued his charge as he took over second by lap eight and then closed on the leader. A couple of yellow flags near the halfway point of the race kept the field bunched and allowed Koehler to put the pressure on Adams for the lead.

Yet another yellow waved at the halfway point of the race and as the field went back to green flag racing, Koehler got a great run off the second turn, closed up on Adams down the back chute, and slid up under him in turn three to take over the lead.

The race remained under green flag conditions and Koehler maintained his slight lead over Adams to the checkered flag. Schnider had a strong run for third with Dave Baxter and Jake Stai completing the top five.

Cole Richards was the early leader of the WISSOTA Street Stock feature, with Traynor and teammate Travis Loew challenging. Shawn Amundson and Parker Anderson were also moving up through the pack.

Just at the halfway point of the race, Adam Soltis rolled to a halt with mechanical problems. Traynor used the restart to pass Richards with a bold outside move, squeezing between Richards and the outside wall to take over the lead. Just seconds later, Richards lost power and slowed dramatically, and the yellow flew once again.

Traynor then took off and pulled away from the pack while Anderson was making significant progress, getting past both Amundson and Loew to move into second and he began to close on Traynor.

However, Traynor had a solid lead and despite Parker getting within a couple car lengths, Traynor maintained his advantage and drove on for the win. Anderson finished a close second and was trailed by Amundson, Loew and track point champion Danny Richards in the top five.

Rookie WISSOTA Pure Stock driver Mark Barta picked a very good night to earn his first-ever victory at Rice Lake. Bob Wahlstrom led the opening lap, but Barta was fast from the start and just one lap later, he passed Wahlstrom for the lead. Wahlstrom tried to fight back and regain the top spot, but he lost control in turn four, did a wild slide across the track, and thankfully everyone avoided him. However, Wahlstrom's car suffered a flat tire during the incident and he called it a night.

Barta then had Austin Fencl and Jake Smith close behind him for the restart, and he took off strong and maintained his advantage. By the halfway point of the race, Eric Crosby was up to fourth with Trevor Phillips next in line.

The final 12 laps went green to checkered with the top five maintaining about the same distance among each other. Fencl drove hard into the corners along with Smith, as they tried to narrow Barta’s lead, but Barta continued to run strongly and they couldn’t cut into his advantage. Barta, a veteran of kart and ice racing but a rookie to the dirt tracks, continued to maintain a smooth line and the challengers had nothing for him as he crossed the line a winner for the first time.

Fencl ended up second and was trailed across the line by Smith, Crosby and 15th-starter Rob Grabon.

Along with the other activities on Saturday night it was also Hall of Fame night at the track, with four new members added to the Rice Lake Speedway Hall of Fame. The 2025 inductees were Darwin Brown, Dave Havel, Rick Kurshinshy and the late Brent Laursen.

One weekend of racing remains for the track, with the second annual Dairyland Dash to be held August 30-31. All five WISSOTA sanctioned classes will be in action both days, with a full program of heats and features each night, with increased pay in each class. USRA Late Models will also be part of the program.

For more details and further updates as the week progresses, follow the speedway website at www.ricelakespeedway.net.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 57-Mike Anderson[3]; 3. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[2]; 4. 22-Brandon Copp[6]; 5. 30-Matt Leer[7]; 6. 18S-Kennedy Swan[4]; 7. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[9]; 8. 20-Austin Ellis[10]; 9. 204-David Mayala[13]; 10. (DNF) 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[12]; 11. (DNF) 13H-Mark Hessler[11]; 12. (DNF) 32III-Cody Carlson[8]; 13. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Matt Leer[6]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[2]; 3. 32III-Cody Carlson[3]; 4. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[5]; 5. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[7]; 6. 13H-Mark Hessler[1]; 7. 204-David Mayala[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[5]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[1]; 3. 27H-Steve Hallquist[2]; 4. 18S-Kennedy Swan[6]; 5. 20-Austin Ellis[3]; 6. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[4]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[2]; 2. 21M-Alex Myers[1]; 3. 7R-Tommy Richards[7]; 4. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[8]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu[10]; 6. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 7. 5-Jason Havel[16]; 8. 62-Dalton Truchon[6]; 9. 1-Ryan Olson[13]; 10. 14L-Dylan Leu[5]; 11. 245-James Cimfl[17]; 12. 57-Randy Graham[14]; 13. 01-Michael Anderson[12]; 14. 28-Josh Cappo[18]; 15. (DNF) 22T-Terran Spacek[4]; 16. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[20]; 17. (DNF) Y22-Codii Young[19]; 18. (DNF) XJR-Austin Harris[11]; 19. (DNF) 00-Joseph Swearingen[9]; 20. (DNS) 8-Jim Harris

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[2]; 2. 20*-Andrew Davis[1]; 3. 22T-Terran Spacek[3]; 4. 14X-Leslie Leu[5]; 5. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 6. 5-Jason Havel[7]; 7. 28-Josh Cappo[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21M-Alex Myers[2]; 2. 14L-Dylan Leu[4]; 3. 7R-Tommy Richards[6]; 4. XJR-Austin Harris[5]; 5. 57-Randy Graham[1]; 6. 245-James Cimfl[3]; 7. Y22-Codii Young[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers[4]; 2. 62-Dalton Truchon[6]; 3. 00-Joseph Swearingen[2]; 4. 01-Michael Anderson[3]; 5. 8-Jim Harris[5]; 6. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[1]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[5]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 3. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 4. 35B-David Baxter[8]; 5. 1-Jake Stai[4]; 6. 37-Travis Anderson[2]; 7. 21-Jimmy Latvala[10]; 8. 31J-Mike Jacques[7]; 9. 23KR-Les Duellman[19]; 10. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[12]; 11. 88-Jacob Toepper[16]; 12. 10Z-Cade Johnson[6]; 13. 24-Liz Toepper[15]; 14. 88K-Donavan Knutson[18]; 15. 5-Rory Taber[17]; 16. (DNF) 00-Joseph Swearingen[13]; 17. (DNF) 79-Bryan Lund[14]; 18. (DNF) 31-Jason Vokovan[9]; 19. (DNF) 19H-Kevin Herrman[11]; 20. (DNF) 410-Jesse Young[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[3]; 2. 10Z-Cade Johnson[1]; 3. 31J-Mike Jacques[5]; 4. 21-Jimmy Latvala[7]; 5. 00-Joseph Swearingen[4]; 6. 88-Jacob Toepper[6]; 7. 88K-Donavan Knutson[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[4]; 3. 35B-David Baxter[7]; 4. 19H-Kevin Herrman[1]; 5. 79-Bryan Lund[2]; 6. (DNF) 23KR-Les Duellman[5]; 7. (DNF) 410-Jesse Young[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Stai[2]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[6]; 3. 31-Jason Vokovan[5]; 4. 01C-CJ Hedges Jr[4]; 5. 24-Liz Toepper[3]; 6. 5-Rory Taber[1]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[4]; 2. 27-Parker Anderson[8]; 3. 19H-Shawn Amundson[7]; 4. 40-Travis Loew[3]; 5. 3R-Danny Richards[10]; 6. 20F-Connor Franson[2]; 7. 12K-Jay Kesan[12]; 8. 86-Layla Chaplin[13]; 9. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[9]; 10. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[5]; 11. 19C-Nolan Brown[11]; 12. (DNF) 1R-Cole Richards[1]; 13. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[6]; 14. (DNF) 19J-Jenna Herrman[15]; 15. (DNS) 60-Mike Pratt

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[4]; 2. 40-Travis Loew[5]; 3. 20F-Connor Franson[3]; 4. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[6]; 5. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[8]; 6. 19C-Nolan Brown[7]; 7. 86-Layla Chaplin[2]; 8. (DNF) 60-Mike Pratt[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19H-Shawn Amundson[3]; 2. 1R-Cole Richards[5]; 3. 9-Adam Soltis[1]; 4. 27-Parker Anderson[2]; 5. 3R-Danny Richards[4]; 6. 12K-Jay Kesan[6]; 7. (DNS) 19J-Jenna Herrman

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

Lakes Gas A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 78-Mark Barta[2]; 2. 52W-Austin Fencl[4]; 3. 86J-Jake Smith[6]; 4. 28-Eric Crosby[5]; 5. 16-Rob Grabon[16]; 6. 55-Caleb Duffie[9]; 7. 89-Steve Karshbaum[10]; 8. 7D-Trevor Phillips[3]; 9. 1-Carsyn Olson[12]; 10. 24-Dylan Helget[7]; 11. 12-Aaron Holmberg[8]; 12. 47-Anthony Schultz[14]; 13. 925-Dnae Rose[13]; 14. 9M-Marlene Lannet[11]; 15. (DNF) 88-Robert Wahlstrom[1]; 16. (DNS) 70-Bob Thompson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[4]; 2. 78-Mark Barta[1]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[6]; 4. 7D-Trevor Phillips[8]; 5. 55-Caleb Duffie[2]; 6. 9M-Marlene Lannet[5]; 7. 925-Dnae Rose[3]; 8. 47-Anthony Schultz[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[2]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[5]; 3. 24-Dylan Helget[3]; 4. 12-Aaron Holmberg[4]; 5. 89-Steve Karshbaum[6]; 6. 1-Carsyn Olson[1]; 7. (DNF) 70-Bob Thompson[8]; 8. (DNF) 16-Rob Grabon[7]