RICE LAKE, Wis. — Darrell Nelson, the defending Structural Buildinigs WISSOTA Challenge Series champion, earned his first special event victory of the season as he topped the Trackside Collectibles 40 Sunday night at Rice Lake Speedway.
Nelson led all 40 laps of the main event but his lead would shrink from a comfortable one early to only a car length as Pat Doar would challenge over the last half of the race and get very close in the final few laps of the contest.
Eighteen drivers would take the green flag with Nelson edging in front of fellow Twin Ports racer Tim McMann to take the early lead. Nelson would pull to a slight lead as McMann had Mike Prochnow all over him in the battle for second.
The first yellow flag flew with five laps complete for a Steve Laursen spin and by this time eighth starting Doar would be up to the fourth spot.
Nelson would continue to show the way with the battle intensifying between McMann and Prochnow for second. On lap 10, Prochnow would get past McMann for second, just one lap before the second yellow would fly for debris on the track.
Only one lap later, the yellow would be out once again as Chad Mahder, who had just worked his way into the top five, would go for a spin and slow the action once again.
As Nelson continued to lead, it was Doar that put the pressure on as he looked for a route past Prochnow and on lap sixteen he would make the pass and take over second just before Brad Loveday would tag the front stretch wall and slow the action once again.
Following this slowdown, the drivers would have their longest stretch under the green flag as the next 15 laps would be all out racing.
Doar started to test the waters for a pass on Nelson as he closed and tried to make both an inside and outside move to take over the lead but Nelson remained firmly in front. Jake Redetzke was also on the move during this time as after starting ninth, he had worked his way up into the top five and was having a great battle for position with Ron Hanestad.
Mahder would complete a most frustrating night when on lap 31 after going to the back and then racing all the way back up to fifth, he would again loop his car, triggering the fifth and final yellow and sending Chad to the pits.
The last nine laps would see very intense racing as Doar tried to get past Nelson while behind them Redetzke and Hanestad would also be side by side. Doar tried going lower in turns one and two and made immediate inroads on the leader, getting to his rear bumper but just not quite having a good enough run to drop low past the leader.
Doar backed up for one last run and he made an all out surge on the final two laps. He got the nose of the his car to the rear quarter panel of Nelson’s ride but that would be all the farther he could get and Nelson would maintain his solid line and cross the finish line with a car length lead to take the win. Prochnow would run a strong third in his first outing of 2022 and Redetzke would nip Hanestad for fourth.