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In Rice Lake’s first Dairyland Dash, Cimfl scores first Street Stock win and Myers tracks down Koch in Super Stocks; Blaeser, Vernon & Wahlstrom also winners

By Ed Reichert

RICE LAKE, WI (August 31) - The opening night of the inaugural Dairyland Dash at Rice Lake Speedway was highlighted by several “firsts” for drivers. First-time winners included Cody Cimfl in the Street Stocks and Matthew Larson in the USRA Late Models, while Curt Myers made a late-race pass on current WISSOTA national point leader Dexton Koch to win the Super Stock feature.

Other winners on the opening night of the two-night show included Kaden Blaeser in the Modifieds, Tyler Vernon in the Midwest Modifieds and Bob Wahlstrom, who topped the Pure Stock feature.

A large crowd was on hand for the opening night of the Dairyland Dash and 162 drivers signed in to race, one of the largest fields of drivers at the track in several years.

The program suffered a three-hour rain delay just before the Modified heats when a surprise downpour hit the track. The track crew with help from racers were able to bring it back to racing form and after the long delay, the action picked up right where it was halted and the complete show was finished. A tough group of spectators hung on through the long delay and were around to see Blaeser cross the line and win the Modified feature to complete the show at 2:23 a.m. Sunday morning.

The closest finish of the night was in the WISSOTA Modified feature, where Blaeser held off a late-race charge from Shane Halopka, who came back from the brink of elimination in the race to nearly take the $2,000 top prize.

Al Uotinen led the opening two laps of the race, but Blaeser took the lead after a slide job-exchanging duel with Uotinen.

Once Blaeser passed Uotinen for the lead, he held the top spot unchallenged well past the halfway point of the race. Kennedy Swan picked up the pace and was able to get past Uotinen for second by the halfway point of the contest, with Mark Hessler and Jason Gross in the lead group. Mike Anderson and Halopka were close behind this group and also in the hunt.

The final yellow flew with 12 laps completed when Halopka brushed another car and slid into the frontstretch wall. He was able to restart and was restored to the seventh position that he was running in at the time.

He then made a remarkable charge, going to the extreme high side of the track. He found speed and came flying to the front of the pack, passing drivers at will as he picked them off in pairs in his charge to the front. With five laps to go, he was up to second and thundering after Blaeser for the lead.

Several times he got great momentum off the corners and pulled right to the rear bumper of Blaeser, who was using as much track as possible in an effort to hold back Halopka. Halopka came very close to taking over the lead, but Blaeser continued up front. Halopka made one last blast off the final corner and came up just a half-car length short, but energized the crowd.

Swan finished a strong third with Uotinen and Hessler completing the top five.

In the Super Stocks, Curt Myers made the outside lane work as he tracked down the race leader and made the winning pass with just over one lap to go.

National point leader Dexton Koch started on the pole and took an immediate lead while Myers started fourth, but quickly moved to second and then took off after the leader. A long stretch of green flag racing allowed the field to spread out, and after Koch built up a margin on Myers, Curt went to the cushion and slowly started to cut the gap. Each lap he reduced the distance between the two and it looked like a shootout was in the works.

With just four laps remaining in the race, the yellow flew for a stalled car and the battle was on. Myers took the outside line for the restart and was quickly able to pull up beside Koch. They battled side by side with Myers driving deep into the corners and edging past Koch as the white flag flew. He then pulled out to a three-car-length lead on the final tour and drove home for the hard fought win. Dan Nissalke had an excellent run, starting third and maintaining that spot for most of the race while Alex Myers, Curt's son, made a late-race charge that saw him edge out Shane Kisling for fourth. Only two drivers failed to finish this high speed event.

In a dominating run, Tyler Vernon led from start to finish in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified main event. He drew the pole and was scored the leader for all 15 laps of the race. David Baxter and Brady Larson hung with Vernon, but neither ever made a serious run at him.

This race was slowed four times in the first half of the event; a first-lap collision was the most damaging, with three cars eliminated from the contest.

The last half of the event ran green to checkers and Vernon was in control as he drove to his second feature win of the year at the track. Unfortunately, the final running order was shuffled after the cars visited the tech area as both runner-up Baxter and third-place finisher Larson were disqualified for deck height. This moved 10th-starter Blake Adams to the runner-up slot with Derrick Reed scored third. Cole Elton and Mark Thomas completed the top five.

Cody Cimfl has been close to getting his first-career WISSOTA Street Stock feature win several times this year and on Saturday he finally made it happen. After Parker Anderson led the opening lap, Cimfl slipped past him into the lead and then held off several furious charges by other drivers to secure that first win.

After he took the lead from Anderson, he had the hottest driver in the class at the track in Cody Kummer to deal with, but he fought off every outside charge that Kummer threw at him in a race that was slowed by too many yellows and eventually was shortened by the track’s time limit. It took four tries to just get the first lap completed as hard driving and lack of patience were a theme of this race.

Once Cimfl got the lead, he had to fight off Kummer several times, as Kummer and Anderson fought for second.

Anderson rolled to a halt with problems during the final yellow, and the time limit set up a two-lap sprint to the finish. Cimfl was up for it and held off Kummer and Levi Randt to take the win, his first at the track and first overall in the class. Hunter VanGilder and 10th-starter Kyle Genett completed the top five.

The WISSOTA Pure Stock feature came right down to the wire also, as Bob Wahlstrom fought off repeated challenges from Aaron Bernick to take his third feature win of the season at the track and second in a row. Wahlstrom started on the pole, but had Dusten Holub right on his bumper for the first few laps. Bernick moved past at the halfway point of the race and then tracked down the leader. Lap after lap, he rode the rear bumper of Wahlstrom, hoping for a mistake by Bob that would open the door.

However, despite the heavy pressure, Wahlstrom refused to yield. Bernick was nailed to the back of Wahlstrom's car the final two laps, but Bob never made a bobble and then drove home for the win with Bernick right behind him.

Holub slipped back to third with Devin Fries and Charlie Pitcavage completing the top five.

In the USRA Late Model feature race, Matthew Larson and Cade Nelson were the class of the field and battled for the win. Larson drew the pole for their 20-lap main and led from the start, but Nelson closed in and put the pressure on the leader. With a bold slide job, Nelson edged into the lead on lap eight, but one lap later Larson drove deep into the corner and regained the top spot.

The lone yellow of the race waved with 11 laps complete when Michael Hucovski, running in the top five, appeared to blow a motor and stalled on the front chute.

Larson picked up the pace on the restart and drew away from Nelson. The last eight laps of the race went clean and green with Larson maintaining his edge and he drove home for the win. Nelson settled for second with Ryan Howe running third from start to finish in the race. Josh Wahlstrom and Cory Ressie completed the top five. It was Larson's first-ever feature win at Rice Lake.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[3]; 2. 3JR-Shane Halopka[10]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[5]; 4. 98-Al Uotinen[1]; 5. 13H-Mark Hessler[7]; 6. 17B-Zach Benson[13]; 7. 12-Jason Gross[2]; 8. 9E-Don Eischens[11]; 9. 57-Mike Anderson[9]; 10. 9-Brady Uotinen[8]; 11. T40-Danny Thomas[12]; 12. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[14]; 13. 40-Kevin Adams[4]; 14. 20-Austin Ellis[17]; 15. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[15]; 16. 44N-Darrell Nelson[21]; 17. 24-Brandon Dolman[20]; 18. 11-Justin Weinberger[19]; 19. 112-Brennan Gave[18]; 20. 43-Lance Schilling[16]; 21. (DNF) 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[6]; 22. (DNF) 37-Travis Anderson[23]; 23. (DNF) 78R-Ross Prochnow[22]; 24. (DNS) 38-Simon Wahlstrom

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[1]; 2. 57-Mike Anderson[2]; 3. 17B-Zach Benson[3]; 4. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[5]; 5. 44N-Darrell Nelson[7]; 6. 10-Kyle Helling[4]; 7. 24-Brandon Dolman[6]; 8. 22S-Cole Spacek[9]; 9. 18-Mark Hanson[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Jason Gross[2]; 2. 13H-Mark Hessler[3]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[6]; 4. T40-Danny Thomas[7]; 5. 112-Brennan Gave[5]; 6. 03F-Jason Fall[4]; 7. 37-Travis Anderson[8]; 8. (DNS) 22-Jeff Spacek

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[1]; 2. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[4]; 3. 3JR-Shane Halopka[5]; 4. 43-Lance Schilling[3]; 5. 44X-Mitch Anderson[2]; 6. 11-Justin Weinberger[7]; 7. 4N-Nick Wojcik[6]; 8. (DNS) 2C-Dave Cain

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 18S-Kennedy Swan[1]; 2. 98-Al Uotinen[7]; 3. 9E-Don Eischens[5]; 4. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[2]; 5. 20-Austin Ellis[4]; 6. 78R-Ross Prochnow[3]; 7. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[6]; 8. (DNF) 7-Andrew Mackey[8]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 20-Austin Ellis[2]; 2. 11-Justin Weinberger[3]; 3. 44N-Darrell Nelson[1]; 4. 37-Travis Anderson[5]; 5. 22S-Cole Spacek[7]; 6. 10-Kyle Helling[4]; 7. (DNF) 4N-Nick Wojcik[6]; 8. (DNF) 7-Andrew Mackey[8]; 9. (DNS) 2C-Dave Cain

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 112-Brennan Gave[2]; 2. 24-Brandon Dolman[5]; 3. 78R-Ross Prochnow[3]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[6]; 5. 44X-Mitch Anderson[1]; 6. 03F-Jason Fall[4]; 7. (DNS) 18-Mark Hanson; 8. (DNS) 22-Jeff Spacek

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[4]; 2. 78K-Dexton Koch[1]; 3. 22N-Dan Nissalke[3]; 4. 1M-Alex Myers[7]; 5. 6-Shane Kisling[5]; 6. 24-Andy Grymala[9]; 7. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[6]; 8. 26-Kyle Copp[8]; 9. 96-Chris Gorka[13]; 10. 22T-Terran Spacek[14]; 11. 1E-Eric Olson[18]; 12. 176-Matt Koski[2]; 13. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[10]; 14. 25X-Chad Johnson[11]; 15. 57-Randy Graham[23]; 16. 21J-Jason Schill[20]; 17. 245-James Cimfl[22]; 18. 77L-Scott Lawrence[12]; 19. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[17]; 20. 20*-Andrew Davis[19]; 21. 00-Jason Quarders[21]; 22. 28-Josh Cappo[24]; 23. (DNF) 14X-Leslie Leu[16]; 24. (DNF) 27-Matt Deragon[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[3]; 2. 176-Matt Koski[8]; 3. 96-Chris Gorka[4]; 4. 27-Matt Deragon[7]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[1]; 6. 20*-Andrew Davis[2]; 7. 390-Tucker Quinn[6]; 8. (DNF) 10X-Josh Schmidt[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Shane Kisling[2]; 2. 22N-Dan Nissalke[7]; 3. 77L-Scott Lawrence[5]; 4. 1-Ryan Olson[6]; 5. 28-Josh Cappo[1]; 6. 77A-Andy Ladd[3]; 7. 1776-Wayne Dean[4]; 8. (DNF) 57-Randy Graham[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[1]; 2. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[2]; 3. 24-Andy Grymala[6]; 4. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[3]; 5. 00-Jason Quarders[4]; 6. 21J-Jason Schill[8]; 7. 15-Jonathan Dachel[5]; 8. 77-Jake Nevala[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Alex Myers[1]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[3]; 3. 14X-Leslie Leu[2]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[6]; 5. 62-Dalton Truchon[4]; 6. 247-Jackson Larson[5]; 7. 01-Michael Anderson[7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 78K-Dexton Koch[7]; 2. 25X-Chad Johnson[2]; 3. 22T-Terran Spacek[4]; 4. 245-James Cimfl[3]; 5. 7N-William Nusser[5]; 6. 9-Jakob Bond[6]; 7. (DQ) 207-Jesse Redetzke[1]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[2]; 2. 20*-Andrew Davis[6]; 3. 00-Jason Quarders[4]; 4. 57-Randy Graham[11]; 5. 1776-Wayne Dean[8]; 6. 44-Trenton Bond[3]; 7. 77-Jake Nevala[10]; 8. 247-Jackson Larson[7]; 9. 7N-William Nusser[5]; 10. (DNF) 1-Ryan Olson[1]; 11. (DNS) 390-Tucker Quinn

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1E-Eric Olson[1]; 2. 21J-Jason Schill[5]; 3. 245-James Cimfl[2]; 4. 28-Josh Cappo[3]; 5. 77A-Andy Ladd[6]; 6. 10X-Josh Schmidt[10]; 7. 15-Jonathan Dachel[8]; 8. 9-Jakob Bond[7]; 9. 01-Michael Anderson[9]; 10. 62-Dalton Truchon[4]; 11. (DNS) 207-Jesse Redetzke

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[10]; 3. 13-Derrick Reed[7]; 4. 17B-Cole Elton[6]; 5. T25-Mark Thomas[8]; 6. 17-Ashley Boyum[9]; 7. 21-Wyatt Boyum[14]; 8. 19H-Cody Cimfl[3]; 9. 15V-James Vendela[20]; 10. 11R-Landyn Randt[17]; 11. 00-Joseph Swearingen[19]; 12. 16-Cory Jorgensen[21]; 13. 31-Jason Vokovan[22]; 14. 1-Jake Stai[23]; 15. 15-Eric Gadach[15]; 16. 1848-Matthew Findley[24]; 17. (DNF) 14K-Shawn Kelley[18]; 18. (DNF) 37-Travis Anderson[13]; 19. (DNF) 28-Paul Ripley[11]; 20. (DNF) 91-Paul Suzik[12]; 21. (DNF) 48-Cole Kelley[16]; 22. (DNF) B37-Cody Borgeson[5]; 23. (DQ) 35B-David Baxter[2]; 24. (DQ) 63JR-Brady Larson[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[3]; 2. 13-Derrick Reed[1]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 4. 21-Wyatt Boyum[6]; 5. 16-Cory Jorgensen[2]; 6. 14K-Shawn Kelley[9]; 7. 4K-Kenny Kincaid[8]; 8. 410-Jesse Young[5]; 9. 101-Michael Grover[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19H-Cody Cimfl[2]; 2. T25-Mark Thomas[1]; 3. 91-Paul Suzik[3]; 4. 15-Eric Gadach[5]; 5. 11R-Landyn Randt[7]; 6. 3B-Ryan Bauer[4]; 7. 31-Jason Vokovan[6]; 8. (DNF) 15V-James Vendela[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 63JR-Brady Larson[1]; 2. 17-Ashley Boyum[2]; 3. 17B-Cole Elton[6]; 4. 28-Paul Ripley[7]; 5. 00-Joseph Swearingen[4]; 6. 21S-Brian Schott[8]; 7. (DNF) 1848-Matthew Findley[5]; 8. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[3]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. B37-Cody Borgeson[1]; 2. 35B-David Baxter[6]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[3]; 4. 48-Cole Kelley[5]; 5. 79-Bryan Lund[2]; 6. 445-Charles Bistodeau[4]; 7. 03F-Connor Fall[7]; 8. (DNF) 1-Jake Stai[8]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11R-Landyn Randt[1]; 2. 00-Joseph Swearingen[3]; 3. 16-Cory Jorgensen[2]; 4. 1-Jake Stai[9]; 5. 3B-Ryan Bauer[4]; 6. 101-Michael Grover[7]; 7. 88K-Donavan Knutson[8]; 8. (DNF) 4K-Kenny Kincaid[5]; 9. (DNS) 03F-Connor Fall

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14K-Shawn Kelley[1]; 2. 15V-James Vendela[8]; 3. 31-Jason Vokovan[5]; 4. 1848-Matthew Findley[7]; 5. 410-Jesse Young[6]; 6. (DNF) 21S-Brian Schott[3]; 7. (DNS) 79-Bryan Lund; 8. (DNS) 445-Charles Bistodeau

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 19J-Cody Cimfl[3]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[2]; 3. 11X-Levi Randt[5]; 4. 84-Hunter VanGilder[8]; 5. 16X-Kyle Genett[10]; 6. 17-Zach Beaulieu[7]; 7. 40L-Travis Loew[4]; 8. 10-Rich Bishop[12]; 9. 20F-Connor Franson[16]; 10. 1R-Cole Richards[23]; 11. 7-Caiden Engel[17]; 12. 3R-Danny Richards[15]; 13. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[20]; 14. 31-Tom Treviranus[21]; 15. 74-Bruce Stanley[22]; 16. (DNF) 127-Parker Anderson[1]; 17. (DNF) 44X-Zach Manley[6]; 18. (DNF) 40-Nick Traynor[9]; 19. (DNF) T20-Michael Tuma[13]; 20. (DNF) 77-Melvin Raska[24]; 21. (DNF) 19H-Nolan Brown[11]; 22. (DNF) 20-Andrew Hanson[14]; 23. (DNF) 12K-Jay Kesan[19]; 24. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[25]; 25. (DNS) 30-Shawn Amundson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 127-Parker Anderson[5]; 2. 17-Zach Beaulieu[1]; 3. 11X-Levi Randt[7]; 4. T20-Michael Tuma[4]; 5. 16X-Kyle Genett[9]; 6. 20F-Connor Franson[3]; 7. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[6]; 8. 77-Melvin Raska[8]; 9. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Cody Kummer[3]; 2. 84-Hunter VanGilder[1]; 3. 19J-Cody Cimfl[8]; 4. 19H-Nolan Brown[2]; 5. 3R-Danny Richards[5]; 6. 7-Caiden Engel[4]; 7. 31-Tom Treviranus[7]; 8. 74-Bruce Stanley[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 40L-Travis Loew[1]; 2. 44X-Zach Manley[3]; 3. 40-Nick Traynor[5]; 4. 10-Rich Bishop[2]; 5. 20-Andrew Hanson[6]; 6. 30-Shawn Amundson[4]; 7. 12K-Jay Kesan[8]; 8. 1R-Cole Richards[7]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[1]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[3]; 3. 18M-Dusten Holub[2]; 4. 95F-Devin Fries[8]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[4]; 6. 69ER-Shane Basina[9]; 7. 7D-Trevor Phillips[6]; 8. 31T-Tom Treviranus[5]; 9. 24H-Dylan Baskin[10]; 10. 70-Bob Thompson[7]; 11. 4K-Terry Kemp[11]; 12. (DNF) 12-Aaron Holmberg[13]; 13. (DNS) AK-Mitch Kesan; 14. (DNS) 16-Rob Grabon

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18M-Dusten Holub[2]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[4]; 3. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[7]; 4. 95F-Devin Fries[6]; 5. 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 6. 4K-Terry Kemp[5]; 7. (DNS) AK-Mitch Kesan

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 2. 31T-Tom Treviranus[1]; 3. 7D-Trevor Phillips[5]; 4. 70-Bob Thompson[7]; 5. 24H-Dylan Baskin[3]; 6. (DNS) 12-Aaron Holmberg; 7. (DQ) 16-Rob Grabon[2]

USRA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 8-Matthew Larson[1]; 2. 44-Cade Nelson[4]; 3. 77-Ryan Howe[3]; 4. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[5]; 5. 208-Cory Ressie[10]; 6. 18-Ken Dallman[6]; 7. 99F-Mitchell Fenske[11]; 8. 14-Steven O'Brien Jr[7]; 9. 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[15]; 10. 65-Lucas Peterson[16]; 11. 52-Jason McFadden[14]; 12. 1-Kody Koski[9]; 13. 67-Josh Bach[2]; 14. 3-Tyler Stargardt[13]; 15. 26D-Chad Dawson[17]; 16. 17J-Jared Bamberger[18]; 17. (DNF) 88-Michael Hucovski[8]; 18. (DNS) 39-Matt Platteter; 19. (DNS) 88P-Bryan Pretzman

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Ryan Howe[1]; 2. 67-Josh Bach[7]; 3. 14-Steven O'Brien Jr[4]; 4. 39-Matt Platteter[3]; 5. 3-Tyler Stargardt[2]; 6. 73-Larry Fitzsimmons[5]; 7. 26D-Chad Dawson[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Cade Nelson[1]; 2. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[3]; 3. 88-Michael Hucovski[2]; 4. 99F-Mitchell Fenske[5]; 5. 52-Jason McFadden[4]; 6. 65-Lucas Peterson[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Matthew Larson[4]; 2. 18-Ken Dallman[3]; 3. 1-Kody Koski[2]; 4. 208-Cory Ressie[6]; 5. (DNF) 17J-Jared Bamberger[1]; 6. (DNF) 88P-Bryan Pretzman[5]