RICE LAKE, Wis. — Rice Lake Speedway was back in action after taking a 10-day break for Aquafest in Rice Lake and racing returned Saturday with three new winners ending up in victory lane.
The most significant was in the Midwest Modified division where 16-year-old Landyn Randt won his first ever feature race, not just at Rice Lake but at any track for the rookie driver in the division.Â
Randt, a graduate from the Mod Four division where he spent the last couple of years, would start on the pole for the Midwest Modified feature and lead all fifteen laps to take home the meaningful win. Early on he would be chased by Josh Wahlstrom, who moved up from the second row and got past Mitchell Larson to take over runner up honors as Will Moelter was also on the move.
Two early yellow flags for spins kept the field bunched with Randt able to fight off challenges following each restart. Wahlstrom would continue to hold down second and put the pressure on Randt as the race reached the halfway point with Moelter sliding into the third spot.
The last 11 laps of this race would click off nonstop and after challenging for the lead, Wahlstrom would start to lose ground as Randt was driving a flawless race, hitting his marks and starting to pull away from the pack.
There would be no let up in his charge as he continued to stretch his margin and he would drive on for the win relatively uncontested. Wahlstrom would finish a solid second with Moelter next in line followed by the Larson brothers, Mitchell and Brady. Only two drivers would not finish the event.
Other first time winners for 2023 included Ryan Olson in the Pure Stocks and Danny Richards in the Street Stocks. The lone repeat winner was Mike Anderson who topped the Modified main event.
Feature Finish (15 Laps)
1. 11R-Landyn Randt[1]; 2. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[3]; 3. 87-William Moelter[4]; 4. 63L-Mitchell Larson[2]; 5. 63JR-Brady Larson[11]; 6. 1-Jake Stai[8]; 7. 68-Shadow Kitchner[5]; 8. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 9. 24M-Adam Martinson[15]; 10. T25-Mark Thomas[13]; 11. 19A-Aiden Hoffman[9]; 12. 18-Tacoma Randall[12]; 13. 19H-Kevin Herrman[10]; 14. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[14]; 15. (DNF) 7-Mike Schnider[7]