7-30 Page 26 | ATD Racing News

Mahder finishes in front of Late Model headliner while Chaplin tops Mods and other features go to Wahlstrom, Cimfl and Rahn at Rice Lake

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (July 27) - Chad Mahder, following in the footsteps of his late father Duane, has always run well at Rice Lake in the limited appearances Late Models have made over recent years, gathering a number of feature wins and special event wins over the years.

After a rocky run Friday in Superior, Mahder and his crew repaired the No. 55 for the Solution Heating and Cooling 30 Saturday night at Rice Lake Speedway and their reward was a wire-to-wire victory in the main event.

Other WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Joe Chaplin, Jr., Simon Wahlstrom, Cody Cimfl, and James Rahn.

Thanks to accumulating enough passing points, Mahder started outside pole for the 30-lap feature, getting the jump on polesitter John Kaanta. He quickly went to work, opening up to a lead of several car lengths.

While Kaanta slipped into second and tried to chase down Mahder, the driver on the move was Sam Mars. White-hot lately, a poor heat race finish relegated Mars to a sixth-place start. However, he quickly moved forward, getting past Paul Niznik and then Rick Hanestad to take third. He then began to chase the two leaders.

Mahder was dialed in on this night though, and Kaanta was not able to shorten the lead Mahder had. Mars was also pushing hard, but could not seem to close the gap that Kaanta had on him either.

Late in the race, Mahder - while trying to overtake the slower car of Tony Bahr - briefly got together with Bahr exiting turn two and again exiting turn four, but Mahder did not lose much time as Bahr headed for the infield.

The race went nonstop and Mahder finished with a three-second lead over Kaanta, with Mars settling for third. Hanestad and Niznik completed the top five at the finish. Mahder earned $2,000 for the win, his 12th-career feature win in the Late Model class at Rice Lake.

Earlier this season, Cimfl had crossed under the checkered in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods for his first win, but was then DQ’d for being light on the scales, so this week’s win was retribution of sorts. Saturday’s win came by the slimmest of margins, as he edged out Blake Adams in a wild three-car battle right to the finish.

Although Cimfl was scored the race leader for all 15 laps, it was a much more complex race than that. Cimfl took the immediate lead from the outside pole, challenged by both Mark Thomas and Dave Baxter in the early going. Those two traded second back and forth between them in the first three laps before a spin slowed the action.

There were three more yellows for spins before another lap could be scored, with Thomas getting turned around to trigger the final yellow. He was restored to his position and the race went green from there to the checkered flag.

Back under green, Adams was on the move; he went to the cushion and began picking off drivers from his fifth spot. His front end was damaged in the first yellow, but he continued to make his way to the front.

Baxter and Adams had a great battle for second before Adams prevailed. In the closing laps, he pulled in on Cimfl and they were side by side for the lead. During the final lap they were side by side exiting the fourth turn and in the rush to the finish, marked by steam pouring from the Adams car, Cimfl edged out his young challenger by .039 seconds for his first-ever Midwest Modified feature win at Rice Lake. Adams, Baxter, Mike Schnider and Thomas completed the top five.

Kori Richter got the jump on polesitter Simon Wahstrom to begin the WISSOTA Super Stock feature, and led the opening lap. Wahlstrom returned the favor and jumped into the lead on lap two. Alex Myers came up from the second row, passed both and took over out front on lap three. Wahlstrom fought back and led lap four, and it looked like a real dandy was brewing.

But then it happened. Myers got sideways on the back chute in very heavy traffic and he was hit in the rear. The result was a grinding crash involving at least 10 competitors. Seven of them were hauled from the track by wrecker and done for the night.

On the next restart, another driver spun in turn one, with three more cars piling in and all four of these drivers were done for the night. The biggest field of the night at 19 drivers was reduced to seven.

Wahlstrom pulled away from Eric Olson on the restart, opening a big lead. He was not challenged as he drove on for his second win of 2024 at the track. Olson finished second while Randy Graham had a consistent run to finish third. Myers and Wayne Dean were top-five finishers.

In the WISSOTA Modifieds, the field’s first attempt to complete a lap went no better than the Super Stocks had done, as leader Aiden Hoffman was turned around in turn four and the resulting impact eliminated him and two other drivers from the race.

Kyle Helling was the early leader following the next try at the start, before eighth-starter Kevin Adams blew past Helling to take the lead.

Adams pulled out to a big advantage when he suddenly slowed on the frontstretch dramatically, with all but the final car avoiding him. He was clipped by that car and received a flat tire along with the other damage. Adams went to the work area and returned to the track, but was later asked to leave as the repairs took longer than the allowed time limit.

Chaplin, Jr. inherited the lead following Adams’ problems and he did not squander the opportunity, leading the final 12 laps to take the win, his first of the year at the track. Austin Ellis got past Helling for second, while Brent Prochnow had another solid run to finish in third. Shane Halopka and Denny Cutsforth were top-five finishers.

Rahn started on the pole of the WISSOTA Pure Stock feature and was scored the leader for all 12 laps of the race. The yellow flag fever affected this race as well, which was slowed five times for spins. George Richards gave Rahn a great battle for the lead, pushing hard to try and get past until he spun at the halfway mark while running second.

This gave Bob Wahlstrom second and he trailed Rahn the rest of the event, but could not challenge for the lead. Rahn's win was his first of the year. Wahlstrom was second, Richards drove the wheels off his car as he came from the back of the pack to get back up to third, ahead of Trevor Phillips and Charlie Pitcavage in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 55C-Chad Mahder[2]; 2. 85-John Kaanta[1]; 3. 28-Sam Mars[6]; 4. 71H-Rick Hanestad[3]; 5. 42-Paul Niznik[4]; 6. 71JR-Buddy Hanestad[5]; 7. 68-Mike Prochnow[7]; 8. 51-Randy Gullixson[8]; 9. (DNF) 57-Tony Bahr[10]; 10. (DNF) 92-Aaron Wilson[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55C-Chad Mahder[1]; 2. 42-Paul Niznik[2]; 3. 71JR-Buddy Hanestad[5]; 4. 51-Randy Gullixson[4]; 5. (DQ) 57-Tony Bahr[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 85-John Kaanta[2]; 2. 71H-Rick Hanestad[4]; 3. 28-Sam Mars[3]; 4. 68-Mike Prochnow[5]; 5. 92-Aaron Wilson[1]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[6]; 2. 20-Austin Ellis[4]; 3. 78-Brent Prochnow[7]; 4. 3JR-Shane Halopka[5]; 5. 20C-Denny Cutsforth[9]; 6. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[2]; 7. (DNF) 40-Kevin Adams[8]; 8. (DNF) 204-David Mayala[10]; 9. (DNF) 37-Travis Anderson[3]; 10. (DNF) 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[2]; 2. 78-Brent Prochnow[1]; 3. 20-Austin Ellis[5]; 4. 10-Kyle Helling[3]; 5. 20C-Denny Cutsforth[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[4]; 2. 3JR-Shane Halopka[2]; 3. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[3]; 4. 37-Travis Anderson[5]; 5. 204-David Mayala[1]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 1E-Eric Olson[12]; 3. 57-Randy Graham[10]; 4. 1M-Alex Myers[4]; 5. 1776-Wayne Dean[6]; 6. 22AT-Austin Tilton[18]; 7. (DNF) 14-Kori Richter[2]; 8. (DNF) 01-Michael Anderson[15]; 9. (DNF) 22-Clay Albrecht[11]; 10. (DNF) 71X-William Fisher[17]; 11. (DNF) 33-Curt Myers[8]; 12. (DNF) 14X-Leslie Leu[3]; 13. (DNF) 1-Ryan Olson[5]; 14. (DNF) 20-Cory Davis[7]; 15. (DNF) 90-Adam Pratt[9]; 16. (DNF) 20*-Andrew Davis[13]; 17. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[16]; 18. (DNF) 02-Travis Anderson[19]; 19. (DNF) 28-Josh Cappo[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Alex Myers[2]; 2. 33-Curt Myers[6]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[1]; 4. 57-Randy Graham[5]; 5. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 6. 21-Mike Siewert[4]; 7. (DNF) 02-Travis Anderson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[6]; 2. 20-Cory Davis[3]; 3. 1776-Wayne Dean[4]; 4. 22-Clay Albrecht[1]; 5. 28-Josh Cappo[2]; 6. 71X-William Fisher[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Ryan Olson[3]; 2. 14-Kori Richter[4]; 3. 90-Adam Pratt[1]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[6]; 5. 01-Michael Anderson[2]; 6. 22AT-Austin Tilton[5]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 19H-Cody Cimfl[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 3. 35B-David Baxter[5]; 4. 7-Mike Schnider[8]; 5. T25-Mark Thomas[3]; 6. 1-Jake Stai[7]; 7. 48-Cole Kelley[4]; 8. 23DD-George Dalbeck[9]; 9. 101-Michael Grover[14]; 10. 78-Bently Prochnow[12]; 11. 39-Rusty Taber[1]; 12. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[10]; 13. (DNF) 09-Skylar Findley[11]; 14. (DNF) 1848-Matthew Findley[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Mike Schnider[1]; 2. 1-Jake Stai[2]; 3. 48-Cole Kelley[4]; 4. T25-Mark Thomas[6]; 5. 23DD-George Dalbeck[7]; 6. 09-Skylar Findley[3]; 7. 1848-Matthew Findley[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 19H-Cody Cimfl[4]; 3. 35B-David Baxter[3]; 4. 39-Rusty Taber[5]; 5. 101-Michael Grover[2]; 6. 88K-Donavan Knutson[6]; 7. 78-Bently Prochnow[7]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 23R-James Rahn[1]; 2. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[8]; 3. 5R-George Richards[6]; 4. 7D-Trevor Phillips[14]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[11]; 6. 70-Bob Thompson[9]; 7. 12-Aaron Holmberg[5]; 8. 24H-Devon Holub[3]; 9. (DNF) 18M-Leo Moos[4]; 10. (DNF) 4K-Terry Kemp[15]; 11. (DNF) 8-Dylan Salzgeber[10]; 12. (DNF) 55-Caleb Duffie[13]; 13. (DNF) 17-Brian DeNucci[2]; 14. (DNF) 15H-Dusten Holub[12]; 15. (DQ) 52W-Austin Fencl[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards[1]; 2. 18M-Leo Moos[3]; 3. 23R-James Rahn[4]; 4. 12-Aaron Holmberg[5]; 5. 70-Bob Thompson[7]; 6. 8-Dylan Salzgeber[8]; 7. (DNF) 55-Caleb Duffie[6]; 8. (DNF) 4K-Terry Kemp[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 2. 52W-Austin Fencl[4]; 3. 17-Brian DeNucci[7]; 4. 24H-Devon Holub[1]; 5. (DNF) 81-Charlie Pitcavage[3]; 6. (DNF) 15H-Dusten Holub[5]; 7. (DNF) 7D-Trevor Phillips[2]