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VandeKamp got the jump but that start was called back by a yellow and on the second attempt, I think Vandy was even surprised that Adams was able to get bite low on the track and take the lead. Lap after lap, Adams hugged the low side, while Vandy tried to use the cushion, which was fast but choppy.

A late restart changed things and Vandy used his years of experience to get a great restart and move past Adams to take over the lead. Adams tried to fight back but VandeKamp was now in his high groove and Adams couldn't mount a charge. Chock one up for the veteran, while it was a great learning experience for the second-year driver. Twenty-one Mid Mods signed in to race on Friday.

Jason VandeKamp leads on the low side at Red Cedar Speedway (Brent Creaser Photo)

The Super Stocks tied for the largest field of drivers at 22 and they had themselves a wild feature race that also ended in a bit of controversy. Jesse Redetzke and Terran Spacek were the players, as they battled for the front spot. Several cautions slowed the action and the race was cut to seven laps by the time limit.

Every time there was a restart, Spacek charged hard to the inside of Redetzke, who was riding the cushion, and they raced hard and close. On another restart, the same thing happened and this time, after trying several other times but failing, Spacek squeezed by in turn four, a move that Redetzke apparently didn't appreciate. When they then raced down the front chute, Spacek got dumped in turn one.

After a pause for the decision, Redetzke was sent to the tail and Spacek back to the front. Apparently all cars hadn't taken the white flag though, as the race turned into a one-lap sprint to the finish. Spacek held off Curt Myers and Matthew Larson to record the win.

Myers, as a side note, is back running the No. 33 car, a nod to his days when he was racing with Duane Koivisto.

I thought that perhaps with the Adams racing team planning an all-out charge for the Mid Mod national title in 2024, Kevin Adams’ Modified program would take a back seat and become an afterthought. However, based on his performance on Friday night, it seems like Buzzy is pretty serious about the Mod, too. He unloaded very fast on Friday and dominated both his heat and feature to win in the Mods. A nice redraw for the outside pole didn't hurt, either, and he drove away from the field.

This race had its share of yellow flags and another confusing finish. All cars seemed to have taken the white flag except a spinning car, but instead of calling the race like earlier, it was another one-lap sprint to the finish.

It has to have been a promising night for Kennedy Swan. She also ran strongly and was runner-up, evening sticking a nose under Buzzy early during the last lap, just to let him know she was there. Cole Chernosky made his trip from Thunder Bay pay off with a third-place run. There were 17 Mods on hand.

A very nice 22-car field of Late Models signed in and they produced a good Late Model feature. Sam Mars kept his winning streak alive, as he took his second win of the week. He started on the outside pole and took the early lead. That only lasted for two laps before the yellow waved. On the green, I think everyone was shocked to see Nick Panitzke drive under him and take over the top spot.

Panitzke, who looked smooth and fast all night, continued to hold that lead with Mars pressuring lap after lap. Jim Carlson had a great run going to until he was moved out of his line during a botched restart, and then ended up spinning out of the race.

Late in the contest, Mars continued to pressure and gradually, Panitzke started to get just a bit higher in the corners, losing just a little time. Mars made a big move off turn four to slide under him and take over the lead. A last-lap charge by Chad Mahder took his past Panitzke for runner-up honors.

I would declare opening night to be a success for the crew at Red Cedar, and I’m happy for them to get the season off to a good start. There were many good things to build on and a few issues to work through, but what track could not say the same thing?

Rice Lake Speedway April 27

Rice Lake Speedway opened for its 72nd annual opener April 27, the first ever for the new ownership team of Kolby Kiehl, Dean Kiehl and Dick Kalow.

It was a lousy night for racing. It was cold, windy, gloomy and wet from overnight rains. Plus, an annoying mist kept falling from time to time. However, I think that the new ownership team was so “stoked” to get the season underway that if it was at all humanly possible to race, they intended to do so.

And by all regards, I think it was a success. When I got to the track, I was ready to punt as it looked like there was no way they could get it into decent racing shape. But they were working it hard and former track owner Mitch Hansen was keeping a close eye on things.

It turned out to be a decent racing surface. It wasn't perfect and it had a few humps and bumps, but it was more than raceable. There were few yellows, no big accidents and not much equipment was damaged, while the racing was quite competitive.

The program ran off with efficiency. Despite it being opening night and how that can go, and needing to address the cushion after the heats, the final checkered flag waved at 8:58 p.m.! It was very strange to get home in time to see the 10 p.m. news on TV. If they continue to get done this early, I guess I will be able to return to my old habits of roaming the pits after the show to talk to people, something that I gave up in recent years because of the length of programs.

Regular track announcer Ben Brost was sick Saturday, so Scott Tiefs was rushed into duty after his normal Saturday night haunt cancelled.

With the new tech building, pit parking has seen quite a change and it will be a few weeks before this feeble old mind figures out where everyone is now parked. The pit PA system was not up and running for the opener, so a series of runners were on the move notifying drivers of the driver's meeting, hot laps etc. That is just one of the many items not quite done yet but soon to be completed.

From all appearances, things went pretty seamlessly, even with lots of new faces working the many jobs at the race track.

The car count was disappointing I thought. For a number of years here, the largest car count in total for the year, disregarding specials, is for opening night. And with just 80 cars on hand for the opener, things could get mighty dicey come July.

It does seem an unusually high number of teams don't have their cars ready yet. With the weather such as it was, I'm sure many teams just didn't want to risk a trip of any distance, only to get rained out.

The Simpson racing team, coming all the way from Thunder Bay, and the Smith Pure Stock team, pulling down from Cohasset, Minnesota, deserve special recognition.

The good news is the Simpsons were able to leave relatively early. With the Mid Mods running their feature first, they left in prompt fashion. If they wouldn't have lost that hour at the border, they might have arrived back in Thunder Bay to beat closing time!

I always miss more than a few things on opening night, but there were a few notable items I garnered from the opener. Rusty Taber was a new name in the Mid Mods and I believe he’s the son of Rory Taber, who was one of the very first superstars in the early years of the Modified class.

Kenny Kincaid has returned to racing in the Mid Mods this year. Two years ago he was the track point champion and then he didn't race last year, but has returned to the fold for 2024. Mike Grover has raced Pure Stocks for a number of years but this year he made a big change and is in a Mid Mod also.

Shawn Amundson was point champion in the Street Stocks two years ago and then didn't race last year, but he returned to that same class for 2024. I thought Jay Kesan might be ready to retire, having raced only sporadically the last couple of years. But, he surprised us when he rolled out a new Streeter and had a good opening night run in what I believe to be the toughest division at the track.

It was quite a surprise to see Nick Traynor also in a Mid Mod for 2024, but he is expected to also bring out the Street Stock at some point.

The Herrman racing team from Rice Lake has quite the arsenal of cars for 2024 with one MidMod and three Street Stocks fielded by the team this year. T.J. Wyman, the Arizona transplant, made his first-ever Rice Lake visit and ran quite well, despite having a heavily smoking motor all night.

Now that Andrew Davis has the * removed from his car number, I'm not sure if that is a signal that father Cory is now fully retired from racing or not. I must find that out. I also need to find out why Tucker Quinn has changed his number to #390 this year. I know the significance of that number to the family but there must be some particular reason why this has happened this year.

Aiden Hoffman was in the Modified that he drove just at the end of last year, and ran so well in. Again, I'm not sure if this means that he is done with the Mid Mods or not. Father Pat was in the pits on Saturday but not with his race car. Aiden was quick enough to beat Kevin Adams in winning a heat race.

After a couple of years off, it was good to see “Biker” Bob Thompson back behind the wheel of a Pure Stock.

The racing action on Saturday was dominated by several two-car battles for feature wins. In the Mid Mods Landyn Randt and Blake Adams battled it out, with Randt showing much poise to fight off late race challenges from Adams for this second-ever win in the Mid Mod at Rice Lake. Randt is currently suffering from a torn labrum in his shoulder, which has caused many problems for the three-sport athlete at Siren (WI) High School.

Curt Myers continues his chase of Don Drew as the all-time leader in Super Stock feature wins at Rice Lake, with another one Saturday night. The race was a tough on though, as he was challenged by Simon Wahlstrom. Wahlstrom seemed to have a real chance of passing Myers at one point, but Myers held on for the win.

Mike Anderson and Kevin Adams have been battling for feature wins at Rice Lake for the better part of two decades and neither seems to have slipped a bit, as they went at it again on Saturday. This time Anderson had the better performance, but Buzzy gave it his best as they raced within a car length right down to the wire.

The Street Stock class is the strongest at the track and there are so many drivers fully capable of winning on any race night. Saturday night Cody Kummer sat in victory lane, but only when Danny Richards, defending point champion at the track, slipped up on the final lap and opened the door for both Kummer and Ty Agen. They got by Richards for first and second in a stunning finish.

The Pure Stocks finished things off with another close battle that appeared to favor Bob Wahlstrom by a half car length at the finish. However, two of the top-five finishers had some issues over brakes in tech and Brent Mindock was declared the winner. The Pure Stock numbers were a bit disconcerting but I do know of several who are just about ready to go to add to the field.

The new owners really jumped into the deep end of the pool, so to speak, right off the bat for the opening night. Not only did they have to worry about the 1,001 things that any promoter has to on opening night, they also had new owner issues that come with the territory. Throw in the uncertainty of a bad weather night and how it was affecting the race track, and it was a lot. From what I could see, however, they did a good job on all fronts.

Hopefully they still have as much enthusiasm and energy after one race in the book as they did before Saturday. And, hopefully, folks will cut them just a bit of slack, as there are some good times ahead I believe, if all will just give them a fair chance.

Truly, we ought to be very thankful that there are still folks with the vision and desire to buy and run race tracks these days, as I can't imagine a much tougher way to make a living.