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Blaeser, Adams, Koch, VanGilder & Barta are the season’s final winners at Rice Lake Speedway

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (August 31) - Blake Adams swept the weekend in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds to highlight the conclusion of Rice Lake Speedway’s 2025 racing season at the second annual Dairyland Dash event.

Other WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners Sunday included Kaden Blaeser, Dexton Koch, Hunter VanGilder and Mark Barta.

Adams came from the fourth row to top the Midwest Modified main event for the second-straight night. There was lots of early passing in this race, as Brady Larson led the opening lap only to be passed two laps later by Joey Jensen for the lead.

Larson and Jensen then swapped the lead back and forth until just a few laps later when Adams, who was moving forward rapidly, joined them to make it a three-car battle for the top spot.

High-speed jockeying for position among the top three made this a thrilling race and on lap seven, Larson dove low in turn one to block Jensen, with Adams then moving to the cushion where he got a great run and passed both his rivals down the back chute and claimed the lead.

Adams then pulled away from his challengers as he set a blistering pace, while Larson and Jensen continued their battle for second.

Adams’ biggest challenge the rest of the race was to weave his way through the traffic, but he did so successfully and drove home for a convincing win, recording his third Midwest Modified feature win of the year at the track. Larson was able to fend off Jensen the rest of the race to claim second, as Cody Cimfl and James Vendela, both with strong runs of their own, completed the top five.

In the WISSOTA Modified class, Kaden Blaeser led from start to finish to claim the win and the $2,000 that went to the winner. Blaeser got the jump on Shane Halopka at the start, moved to the cushion and then drove a flawless race, as he was never seriously challenged for the win.

He built up an early lead and after the race was yellow flagged on its first starting attempt, it then went green to checkered with Blaeser’s biggest challenge being lapped traffic.

Behind him there was plenty of passing and Mike Anderson was putting together his best drive of the year at the track. Anderson hugged the inside line and made it work; the seventh-starter made it to second by the halfway point of the race.

However, Blaeser maintained a fast pace and Anderson remained a corner behind him the rest of the race, as Blaeser took his first win of the year at the track.

Using the low side, 11th-starter Brady Uotinen finished a strong third with Darrell Nelson coming from the fourth row to finish fourth, one spot ahead of Matt Leer.

Joey Jensen started on the pole for the WISSOTA Super Stock feature and took an immediate lead with Dexton Koch right behind him. Koch moved to the rear bumper of Jensen and they put on a pleasing battle as they fought for the top spot. Dan Nissalke, who started in the third row, moved to third by the halfway point of the race, with Ryan and Eric Olson next in line.

The battle for the lead continued, with Koch looking to the inside of Jensen lap after lap, but just not quite able to make the pass. The yellow flew with just five laps to go when Warren Bartelt hit the concrete wall on the front chute.

Suddenly, Jensen dove into the infield under yellow and then headed to the pits, as his car apparently suffered some serious mechanical issues.

Koch inherited the lead at this point, but he was not home-free quite yet, as Nissalke threw a couple challenges at him in the remaining laps. Koch held on to claim the win over Nissalke, with Alex Myers nipping Patrick Beeksma for third and Eric Olson completing the top five. It was Koch's first win of the year at the track.

Hunter VanGilder shook off the issues from Saturday night to top the WISSOTA Street Stock feature race on Sunday. He edged out Nick Traynor in the closest feature finish of the night.

VanGilder started on the pole and was scored the leader of all 20 laps, but it was tight as he was challenged by both Traynor and Saturday night winner Parker Anderson from start to finish.

A late yellow set up a five-lap sprint to the checkers and Traynor worked to the high side of VanGilder in the late going, gradually nosing up alongside the leader. On the final lap Traynor was able to get beside VanGilder down the back chute and they raced into the final corner side by side, but VanGilder got just a little bit better run off the final corner and nipped Traynor by .076 seconds or about a half car length.

Anderson finished a close third with Travis Loew and Cody Kummer rounding out the top five.

The WISSOTA Pure Stock feature completed the evening's entertainment and this was perhaps the most competitive race of the entire weekend. Eric Crosby took the early lead, but was only able to hold the top spot for one lap before Mark Barta took over when Crosby slipped up the track. A lone spin bunched the field with four laps completed as Barta continued to lead over Crosby and Tyler Wahlstrom.

However, once the race resumed, Wahlstrom showed speed and in two laps he had passed both the drivers in front of him to take over out front. At the midpoint of the race, Wahlstrom continued to hold the lead over Barta and Crosby. That's when it really got good as for the next seven laps, Wahlstrom and Barta ran side by side around the track, inches away from each other as they battled for the win without making contact.

Barta took the lead back on lap 10 and he also led lap 12, but in between Wahlstrom led lap 11 and then reclaimed the lead the final time on lap 13. He put a car length on Barta and continued to hold that margin as he raced across the finish line.

However, the race was not yet official and Wahlstrom failed the post-race technical inspection as his car had an illegal wheel on the front of the car. The win went to Barta, his second of the year in his rookie season.

Officially, Crosby was awarded second with Steve Karshbaum, Austin Fencl and Dylan Helget next in line in the top five.

After a battle for the lead in the closing laps of the USRA Late Model feature, Cade Nelson was able to navigate away from Cooper Sundby to take the victory, his second of the weekend in the class.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 428-Kaden Blaeser[1]; 2. 57-Mike Anderson[7]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[11]; 4. 44N-Darrell Nelson[8]; 5. 30-Matt Leer[5]; 6. 3JR-Shane Halopka[2]; 7. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 8. 98-Al Uotinen[10]; 9. 20-Austin Ellis[3]; 10. 24-Brandon Dolman[6]; 11. 17B-Zach Benson[9]; 12. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[16]; 13. 9E-Don Eischens[14]; 14. 18S-Kennedy Swan[12]; 15. 78R-Ross Prochnow[19]; 16. 12-Jason Gross[13]; 17. 7X-Marcus Dunbar[20]; 18. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[17]; 19. 43-Lance Schilling[18]; 20. 14-Brad Johnson[21]; 21. 204-David Mayala[23]; 22. 44X-Mitch Anderson[22]; 23. T40-Danny Thomas[24]; 24. (DNF) 18-Mark Hanson[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3JR-Shane Halopka[2]; 2. 30-Matt Leer[4]; 3. 17B-Zach Benson[1]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson[8]; 5. 9E-Don Eischens[3]; 6. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[5]; 7. 7X-Marcus Dunbar[6]; 8. 14-Brad Johnson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Austin Ellis[1]; 2. 428-Kaden Blaeser[7]; 3. 98-Al Uotinen[2]; 4. 12-Jason Gross[4]; 5. 18-Mark Hanson[3]; 6. 43-Lance Schilling[5]; 7. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[8]; 8. (DNS) T40-Danny Thomas

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 24-Brandon Dolman[2]; 3. 44N-Darrell Nelson[4]; 4. 9-Brady Uotinen[6]; 5. 18S-Kennedy Swan[8]; 6. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[3]; 7. 78R-Ross Prochnow[5]; 8. 44X-Mitch Anderson[7]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[3]; 2. 22N-Dan Nissalke[5]; 3. 21M-Alex Myers[6]; 4. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[7]; 5. 1E-Eric Olson[8]; 6. 7R-Tommy Richards[12]; 7. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[4]; 8. 9-Jakob Bond[10]; 9. 42-Jake Luark[9]; 10. 6-Shane Kisling[11]; 11. 245-James Cimfl[15]; 12. 20*-Andrew Davis[19]; 13. 14X-Leslie Leu[21]; 14. 14L-Dylan Leu[17]; 15. 77-Jake Nevala[20]; 16. 01-Michael Anderson[18]; 17. 1-Ryan Olson[2]; 18. (DNF) 247-Jackson Larson[14]; 19. (DNF) 21J-Joey Jensen[1]; 20. (DNF) 49-Thomas Hauert[16]; 21. (DNF) 12-Warren Bartelt[24]; 22. (DNF) 62-Dalton Truchon[23]; 23. (DNF) 11-Tucker Quinn[13]; 24. (DNS) 00-Jason Quarders

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21J-Joey Jensen[6]; 2. 42-Jake Luark[1]; 3. 6-Shane Kisling[5]; 4. 7R-Tommy Richards[7]; 5. 14L-Dylan Leu[2]; 6. 77-Jake Nevala[8]; 7. 22AT-Austin Tilton[4]; 8. (DNF) 12-Warren Bartelt[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21M-Alex Myers[2]; 2. 22N-Dan Nissalke[6]; 3. 11-Tucker Quinn[1]; 4. 49-Thomas Hauert[4]; 5. (DNF) 14X-Leslie Leu[7]; 6. (DNF) 1M-Curt Myers[5]; 7. (DQ) 62-Dalton Truchon[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[3]; 2. 9-Jakob Bond[2]; 3. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[7]; 4. 247-Jackson Larson[1]; 5. 20*-Andrew Davis[4]; 6. 00-Jason Quarders[6]; 7. 28-Josh Cappo[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 2. 78K-Dexton Koch[7]; 3. 1E-Eric Olson[6]; 4. 245-James Cimfl[2]; 5. 01-Michael Anderson[1]; 6. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[5]; 7. (DNF) 90-Adam Pratt[3]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 14L-Dylan Leu[2]; 2. 01-Michael Anderson[1]; 3. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 4. 77-Jake Nevala[4]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu[8]; 6. 00-Jason Quarders[5]; 7. 62-Dalton Truchon[13]; 8. 12-Warren Bartelt[12]; 9. 22AT-Austin Tilton[6]; 10. 28-Josh Cappo[7]; 11. (DNF) 1M-Curt Myers[9]; 12. (DNF) 17G-Chris Gross[10]; 13. (DNF) 90-Adam Pratt[11]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[8]; 2. 63JR-Brady Larson[1]; 3. 30-Joey Jensen[3]; 4. 19H-Cody Cimfl[2]; 5. 15-James Vendela[4]; 6. 68-Shadow Kitchner[5]; 7. B37-Cody Borgeson[10]; 8. 17-Ashley Boyum[11]; 9. 71-Jacob Anderson[7]; 10. 35B-David Baxter[6]; 11. 14K-Shawn Kelley[9]; 12. 7-Mike Schnider[14]; 13. 7X-Marcus Dunbar[13]; 14. 21-Wyatt Boyum[16]; 15. 87-William Moelter[12]; 16. 00-Joseph Swearingen[17]; 17. 23KR-Les Duellman[19]; 18. 19D-Dane Durbin[15]; 19. 1-Jake Stai[22]; 20. 31-Jason Vokovan[21]; 21. 21L-Jimmy Latvala[20]; 22. 0K-Matt Kelley[23]; 23. (DNF) 48-Cole Kelley[24]; 24. (DNF) 37-Travis Anderson[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15-James Vendela[1]; 2. 71-Jacob Anderson[4]; 3. 7X-Marcus Dunbar[3]; 4. 87-William Moelter[7]; 5. 21-Wyatt Boyum[8]; 6. 37-Travis Anderson[9]; 7. 4L-Carey LePage[5]; 8. 16-Matt Joslin[6]; 9. 79-Bryan Lund[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Shadow Kitchner[1]; 2. 14K-Shawn Kelley[2]; 3. B37-Cody Borgeson[5]; 4. 19D-Dane Durbin[6]; 5. 0K-Matt Kelley[3]; 6. 09-Skylar Findley[7]; 7. 31-Jason Vokovan[8]; 8. (DNF) T17-Steve Thomas[9]; 9. (DNS) 48-Cole Kelley

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 63JR-Brady Larson[5]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[6]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[7]; 4. 17-Ashley Boyum[8]; 5. 23KR-Les Duellman[2]; 6. 17V-Kevin Vought[4]; 7. 1-Jake Stai[3]; 8. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 35B-David Baxter[1]; 2. 19H-Cody Cimfl[7]; 3. 7-Mike Schnider[3]; 4. 00-Joseph Swearingen[4]; 5. 21L-Jimmy Latvala[2]; 6. 410-Jesse Young[5]; 7. 03F-Connor Fall[6]; 8. 11K-Chase Brown[8]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 00-Joseph Swearingen[1]; 2. 23KR-Les Duellman[2]; 3. 31-Jason Vokovan[5]; 4. 0K-Matt Kelley[3]; 5. 16-Matt Joslin[7]; 6. 4L-Carey LePage[6]; 7. 79-Bryan Lund[8]; 8. (DNS) 17V-Kevin Vought; 9. (DNS) 88K-Donavan Knutson

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 37-Travis Anderson[1]; 2. 21L-Jimmy Latvala[2]; 3. 1-Jake Stai[5]; 4. 48-Cole Kelley[9]; 5. 09-Skylar Findley[3]; 6. 410-Jesse Young[4]; 7. 03F-Connor Fall[6]; 8. 11K-Chase Brown[7]; 9. (DNF) T17-Steve Thomas[8]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 84-Hunter VanGilder[1]; 2. 40T-Nick Traynor[2]; 3. 27-Parker Anderson[8]; 4. 40-Travis Loew[3]; 5. 12-Cody Kummer[10]; 6. 1R-Cole Richards[6]; 7. 3R-Danny Richards[11]; 8. 1RT-Tommy Richards[9]; 9. 20F-Connor Franson[15]; 10. 19J-Jenna Herrman[13]; 11. (DNF) 69-Jim Randall[5]; 12. (DNF) 60-Mike Pratt[12]; 13. (DNF) 19H-Shawn Amundson[7]; 14. (DNF) 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[14]; 15. (DNF) 20-Andrew Hanson[4]; 16. (DNS) 19C-Cody Cimfl

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Hunter VanGilder[2]; 2. 40-Travis Loew[3]; 3. 20-Andrew Hanson[6]; 4. 1R-Cole Richards[8]; 5. 12-Cody Kummer[1]; 6. 60-Mike Pratt[4]; 7. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[7]; 8. 20F-Connor Franson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40T-Nick Traynor[1]; 2. 69-Jim Randall[2]; 3. 19H-Shawn Amundson[3]; 4. 27-Parker Anderson[4]; 5. 1RT-Tommy Richards[7]; 6. 3R-Danny Richards[8]; 7. 19J-Jenna Herrman[5]; 8. (DNS) 19C-Cody Cimfl

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 78-Mark Barta[1]; 2. 28-Eric Crosby[2]; 3. 89-Steve Karshbaum[5]; 4. 52W-Austin Fencl[7]; 5. 24-Dylan Helget[6]; 6. 93-CJ Wagner[8]; 7. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[20]; 8. 69ER-Shane Basina[9]; 9. 12-Aaron Holmberg[3]; 10. 55-Caleb Duffie[11]; 11. 925-Dnae Rose[10]; 12. 1-Carsyn Olson[12]; 13. 9M-Marlene Lannet[14]; 14. 47-Anthony Schultz[13]; 15. 3D-Sean Duffy[15]; 16. 6A-Keith Arnett[17]; 17. (DNF) 16-Rob Grabon[18]; 18. (DNS) QQ-Shane Strenke; 19. (DNS) 17XJR-Madison Marincel; 20. (DQ) 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 78-Mark Barta[4]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 3. 89-Steve Karshbaum[7]; 4. 1-Carsyn Olson[3]; 5. 3D-Sean Duffy[5]; 6. QQ-Shane Strenke[6]; 7. (DQ) 88-Robert Wahlstrom[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[3]; 2. 12-Aaron Holmberg[5]; 3. 24-Dylan Helget[7]; 4. 925-Dnae Rose[6]; 5. 47-Anthony Schultz[4]; 6. (DNF) 6A-Keith Arnett[2]; 7. (DNS) 17XJR-Madison Marincel

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 52W-Austin Fencl[3]; 3. 93-CJ Wagner[6]; 4. 55-Caleb Duffie[5]; 5. 9M-Marlene Lannet[4]; 6. (DNF) 16-Rob Grabon[2]

USRA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 44-Cade Nelson[1]; 2. 20S-Cooper Sundby[2]; 3. 55-Clayton Hofteig[3]; 4. 77-Ryan Howe[10]; 5. LXV-Lucas Peterson[13]; 6. 42K-Patrick Kletschka[6]; 7. 1-Kody Koski[4]; 8. 71-Ron Hanestad[12]; 9. 17-Chase Swerman[7]; 10. 90-Hoyt Cournoyer[18]; 11. 99F-Mitchell Fenske[17]; 12. 18-Kenneth Dallman[15]; 13. 80-Andy Zimmerman[24]; 14. 52-Jason McFadden[5]; 15. 63-Patrick Kelley[14]; 16. 3-Zack Friske[25]; 17. 11-Reginald Felzkowski[19]; 18. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[8]; 19. 26D-Chad Dawson[20]; 20. 8-Douglas Ferguson[23]; 21. 57-Brent Mindock[21]; 22. B61-Jason Quarders[16]; 23. 03F-Matthew Fall[22]; 24. (DNF) 07-Tyler Stargardt[11]; 25. (DNF) 14-Steven O'Brien Jr[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20S-Cooper Sundby[3]; 2. 52-Jason McFadden[4]; 3. 77-Ryan Howe[5]; 4. LXV-Lucas Peterson[6]; 5. 99F-Mitchell Fenske[7]; 6. 57-Brent Mindock[2]; 7. (DQ) 3-Zack Friske[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Kody Koski[1]; 2. 42K-Patrick Kletschka[3]; 3. 14-Steven O'Brien Jr[6]; 4. 18-Kenneth Dallman[2]; 5. 26D-Chad Dawson[5]; 6. 03F-Matthew Fall[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 55-Clayton Hofteig[2]; 2. 17-Chase Swerman[3]; 3. 07-Tyler Stargardt[4]; 4. 63-Patrick Kelley[6]; 5. 11-Reginald Felzkowski[1]; 6. 8-Douglas Ferguson[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Cade Nelson[5]; 2. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[3]; 3. 71-Ron Hanestad[1]; 4. B61-Jason Quarders[2]; 5. 90-Hoyt Cournoyer[6]; 6. (DNF) 80-Andy Zimmerman[4]