RICE LAKE, Wis. – Season champions were crowned in all five divisions Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway as the speedway wrapped up the regular season racing programs.
After some highly competitive feature events with some late race dramatics in several of them, crowned as season champions were Cody Cimfl in the Pure Stocks, Hunter VanGilder in the Street Stocks, Kevin Adams in the Midwest Modifieds, Aaron Wilson in the Super Stocks and Mike Anderson in the Modified class.
Included in the dramatics of the night were two last lap passes that decided the Pure Stock and Super Stock winners.
The Pure Stock feature saw Bob Thompson start on the pole and lead through the early going of the race. After a first lap spin, the rest of the race ran off nonstop which helped bunch the leaders and increase the tension as Thompson fought to hold off his challengers.
The early main threat was George Richards, who started right behind Thompson and was on his rear bumper for most of the race. Richards made several attempts to get under Thompson for the lead but each time Bob would fight off the Mondovi challenger and hold on to the lead.
Working his way up from the third row was Cody Cimfl and as the laps grew shorter to crown a winner, the race became a three car battle with Richards continuing to pressure Thompson and Cimfl looking for an opening. Cody found some room between the two challengers and suddenly they were three wide for the lead, with Richards getting moved up the track and Thompson now trying to fight off Cimfl.
They raced side by side with Thompson pushing as hard as he could to keep Cimfl behind but as they came off the final corner, Cimfl shot to the low groove, got a great run off the corner and edged past Thompson to take the checkered flag as the winner. A frustrated Richards had to settle for third with Jay Folz and Mike Huebner Sr. completing the top five.
The Super Stock feature was certainly the wildest main event of the night and it is not often that the third place car with one lap to go wins the race but that is exactly what happened on Saturday. Things started early in the race when pole sitter and early leader Willie Johnsen Jr. was spun in turn four on the opening lap, triggering an early yellow and restoring Johnsen to the front of the field.
The first few laps saw Johnsen and Eric Olson battling hard for the lead as Curt Myers moved in and made it a three car battle for the lead. The next dramatic moment occurred when Myers tried to get around Olson down the front stretch, inadvertently catching the rear bumper of Olson’s car and sending him spinning, which triggered another yellow and sent Myers to the back while Olson regained second.
The next ten laps saw some high speed battling for position as Johnsen Jr and Olson battled for the lead. Aaron Wilson, who started seventh, moved into third and was close to the leaders as they fought it out, lap after lap.
Meanwhile, Myers was making a huge comeback as he raced his way back through the pack and caught the leaders with several laps left. Wilson made heavy contact with the front stretch wall and slowed slightly with Myers moving into third and catching the lead duo.
Johnsen continued to lead but on each corner Olson and now Myers would challenge him as they would slide up and try to edge past Willie but each time Johnsen would fight them off in a war of nerves at high speed.
As Olson and Myers battled with Johnsen, they were also battling with each other and as they fought down the back chute, contact was made between the two as they fought for real estate with Olson careening to a halt. The yellow waved, Olson was awarded his spot back and Myers went to the pits for triggering his second yellow flag of the event.
That left it to Johnsen and Olson to settle matters, or so it appeared. Those two continued to battle each other very hard with Wilson sitting back behind them several car lengths in arrears. A yellow for debris triggered a two lap sprint to the finish and heightened the drama just as Olson edged past into the lead.
On the green, it was a two lap war between the top two runners with them leaning on each other heavily as they fought for the lead and tried to keep their cars on the track at the same time. They were door to door as they took the white flag and remained that way on the final lap.
Down the back chute they continued to lean on each other and it got very heavy in the final corner as they ran each other high up the track toward the wall. Suddenly the seas parted and with a gigantic opening for him, the wounded car of Wilson drove thought the opening and scored one of the most stunning and unexpected upsets of the entire racing season.
Olson was able to regain control quicker and he drove across the line for second with Johnsen edging out Adam Soltis for third. Mike Siewert drove a clean race and earned his first top five finish of the season. Wilson’s win was his first at the track since the 2017 racing season and made him the fifth different winner in the Super Stocks during the season.
Other winners Saturday included Mike Anderson (Modifieds), Kevin Adams (Midwest Modifieds) and Hunter VanGilder (Street Stocks).