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Of the 26 drivers who raced on Monday night, approximately half of them were WISSOTA drivers with their “little” motors including Jame Giossi, Jeff Massingill, Travis Budisalovich, Darrell Nelson, Tim McMann, Ronnie Malecki, Aaron Lillo, Kevin Burdick, Danny Vang, Mike Klippenstein, Dylan Kromschroeder and Jase Lien.

An incentive for them was that this race offered $1,000 just to start the main event.

With a fast track and not a single yellow flag in the 40-lap race, the situation didn't work out the best for the WISSOTA crew, but Budisalovich finished 14th with Burdick, Vang and Klippenstein close behind him. Malecki and Lillo were still on track at the finish as well.

Twenty-one Mid Mods were also on hand to race a full program that consisted of three heats and a 20-lap feature race. There was action early in this class as a tangle in one of the heat races resulted in Michael Blevins flipping his car, along with big damage to the cars of Jimmy Latvala and Mikey Blevins. However, with hard work by the crews, both the cars of Michael Blevins and Latvala were on the track for the feature race, with them ending up seventh and eighth in the feature in an outstanding effort.

Adam Shinn took the early lead of the feature. With his best run of the year, Shinn then led the first four laps of the main before Paul Ripley drove past him to take over out front. Watching back through the field, Joey Jensen, Blake Adams and Tyler Vernon were all on the charge after starting in the third and fourth rows of the event.

Jensen was the most successful of the three and by the halfway point of the race, he was up to second and closing on Ripley.

They raced side by side for several laps until Jensen was able to edge into the lead, with the winning pass made on lap 11. He then pulled away from the pack and with the only yellow for a spin on lap six, he was able to drive away from the field.

Adams continued to advance and on the last lap was able to nip Ripley for second. Vernon and Sam Blevins completed the top five.

It was an excellent race track produced by the track prep crew for Monday night's races and all the feature races were very good.

Before the show I happened to run into Late Model driver Kevin Carlson, who was just a spectator for the night. He told me that he recently blew up his motor and that it was sent in for repairs, but he might be out of action for an extended period of time until he gets it back. He is super busy also right now, in the process of selling his home and looking for another one so he really doesn't have time to race anyway. We look forward, however, to seeing him back on the track with his purple No. 75.

Ray Stuart, the visually impaired flagman from Gondik Law Speedway, was helped to the flagstand on Monday night at Proctor, where he directed the traffic throughout the night as a replacement for regular starter Jim, who was out with an injury.

Congratulations to all involved with this program, which was an excellent one from start to finish and surely one of the best produced here in quite some time.

Tuesday, July 2

Gondik Law Speedway held an open motor Late Model special on Tuesday night, July 2 that was attended by several drivers from the area. Several of the WISSOTA drivers had open motors in for this show, including Sam Mars and Nick Panitzke. A number of other drivers just ran their smaller WISSOTA spec engines, hoping to do the best that they could. Along with the ones mentioned from Monday’s report from Proctor, Steve Laursen, Pat Doar and Doug Woodhull joined that group on Tuesday at Gondik Law.

The track was lightning fast on Tuesday, and the old track record was smashed. This made it even more of a daunting task for the lower horsepower engines to fare well. However, it was still $1,000 to start the feature, so that should have helped to ease the frustration.

Along with the open Late Models, full shows were held for both the Modifieds and Super Stocks. However, with so much racing of late in the area and it being a Tuesday night, the fields in each class were considerably smaller than one would expect for a race at Gondik Law.

It was an emotional win for Darrell Nelson in the Modified feature, as it was his first since he returned to racing recently after his off-season prostate cancer diagnosis and surgery. He has been helping his son Cade with his racing program but just recently got the okay to step back behind the wheel himself. He has been going at it hard since, racing both his cars on the same night periodically.

He started on the pole and it was no contest, as he ran away from the pack for the win. The race was stopped twice for yellows, the second being quite shocking when Jody Bellefeuille spun while running fourth, something he just doesn't do.

Nelson then took back off and pulled away for the easy win. Jake Hartung held second for the whole race and while he never challenged for the lead, he managed to keep Cole Chernosky behind him to take second, while Bellefeuille drove the wheels off his car, getting back up to fourth.

The Super Stock feature was also a run from green to checkers for the winner, in this case Jordan Henkemeyer. He started to the outside of Steve Stuart, got the early lead, and with a race that had no stoppages, pulled away for an easy win. The battle for second was a good one, with plenty of side-by-side racing before D.J. Keeler secured the spot over Matt Deragon. Scott Lawrence and Dexton Koch completed the top five on a blinding-fast track that made passing a tough chore as everyone was fast.

Wednesday, July 3

Wednesday Rice Lake Speedway held its annual Firecracker special. An event that normally includes all classes, it was made even bigger than ever with the inclusion of the Fastlane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series, which was previously rained out in June.

This race is already a big one, with lots of out-of-town drivers making a holiday run to Rice Lake to participate in this event. Add on the devoted Super Stock racers who support Dennis McCauley's series and it was suspected that this was going to be quite the night.

Those expectations and more were met as 137 drivers signed in to race, with a remarkable 49 Super Stock drivers on hand on a Wednesday night.

Just as heartening, however, was the fantastic turnout of race fans. No numbers were available as of yet but it was certainly one of the largest crowds in many years at the track.

The fireworks did not disappoint either, with 30 nearly nonstop minutes of exploding bliss to enjoy. By the way, the fireworks provider was none other than former Eagle Valley Speedway owner Jerry Weigel and his crew.

The crowd was super enthusiastic as well, for which I give much of the credit to track announcer Ben Brost. He has the knack of really getting the crowd fired up; there is no such thing as too much enthusiasm at the race track.

We knew it was going to be a long night, as the fireworks always take some extra time. The final checkered of the night waved after midnight, which is not acceptable for a weekly show but once a year, understandable with all that was going on. I think the crowd had a good time on Wednesday.

This was the first mega event to be held by the new owners of the speedway and I'm sure they learned a few things on what needs to be changed or improved and what worked well. Just like any new business, it is a work in progress. But I feel like they are working very hard at it and are not afraid to do what it takes to make improvements and changes. The 50/50 generated a very nice take-home of $1,454 bucks to one lucky fan.

Tom Clausen is the new flagman at the track. He made his solo debut last Saturday, so on back-to-back nights, his first alone on the stand, he has been challenged with big fields and lots of races both nights. So far, he has held up just fine. He is no stranger to the sport, having spent plenty of years in the pits with two sons who raced Street Stocks.

The new tech building was bulging at the seams on Wednesday night, as virtually every WISSOTA tech guy from a 200-mile radius was on hand. Joining the two Rice Lake techs were WISSOTA techs Billy Engelstad, “Big Kenny” from Princeton, Justin Pogones, Rob Grzesk and Mark Stender. They had more techs on hand than the 100 does!

And they were busy – six cars were disqualified during the heat races and B features. A coincidence, I can't say, but that is more cars DQ'd in one night than the rest of the season to date. The infractions incurred included two Streets with illegal roofs, two drivers who were so excited with their great finishes they drove right past tech, one with a deck height violation, and one Super that lost a weight.

I don't like to mention names but one Super Stock driver, Don Livingston, was so thrilled to have won perhaps the most exciting race of the night in a heat that was settled by meer hundredths of seconds that in his joy, he drove right past tech and left that area. When he tried to get back, it was too late and he lost his fine finish and then failed to qualify out of a B feature.

To top the evening off, a Pure Stock was protested and was then torn down, just to make a late evening a bit later. Dusten Holub's car was found to be legal in the check-up.

The tech team also took tire samples, one from each class in a random drawing, that were sent in to verify legality with winning held until that results come back.

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