RICE LAKE, Wis. — The weather would provide a difficult challenge but Rice Lake Speedway would prevail as they would complete their Firecracker special as scheduled on July 3.
Shane Sabraski is having another outstanding season so far in 2023 and was coming off a $10,000 victory at another track over the Memorial Day weekend when he stopped by at the Rice Lake Speedway on Monday night.
The move was a good one for him as he would win the Modified feature as well as finishing third in the Super Stock main.
His Modified win was a tough one though as he was closely trailed by national Modified driving star Rodney Sanders who was driving the local car of his brother-in-law on Monday night.
They would start side-by-side in the front row and would battle on the opening lap. Going into turn three, Sabraski was able to slide under and squeeze past Sanders to take the lead with a contested move. After that the chase was on as Sanders rode the rear bumper of Sabraski for 20 laps, trying moves and hoping for a mistake by Sabraski that would give him an opening.
The race was stopped three times for minor spins and stalled cars but each time Sabraski was flawless at regaining the lead, despite heavy pressure from Sanders.
Shane Halopka had quickly moved into third and he would ride close to the leaders as he looked for an opening also. Kennedy Swan was working the low side of the track and she made time as she moved past Cole Spacek into the fourth position and was for a time gaining ground on all those in front of her.
The last 14 laps of the event would go nonstop and Sanders would continue to dog Sabraski for the lead, trying several times to dip below him in the corners but not being able to complete a pass. He would try one last time coming off the final corner but would come up a car length short as Sabraski was like a machine with consistent laps and yet another win on his resumé as he approaches 850 for his career.
While the win was his first of the year here in his Modified, he has won four times previously with his last being during the 2016 season, plus he won the Super Stock special ran at Rice Lake last month. Halopka would finish a solid third, Swan in fourth and in and his first race of the season, Ross Prochnow finished fifth.Â
Tommy Richards won the Super Stocks feature with Brady Larson winning the Midwest Mods feature. The Street Stocks feature went to Danny Richards and James Rahn earned the Pure Stock victory.
Feature Finish (20 Laps)
1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[1]; 2. 40-Rodney Sanders[2]; 3. 3JR-Shane Halopka[3]; 4. 18S-Kennedy Swan[8]; 5. 78R-Ross Prochnow[11]; 6. 22S-Cole Spacek[4]; 7. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[15]; 8. T40-Danny Thomas[20]; 9. 27P-Parker Anderson[9]; 10. 57-Mike Anderson[17]; 11. 42-Paul Niznik[10]; 12. 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[7]; 13. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[19]; 14. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[16]; 15. 5-Joe Chaplin Jr[12]; 16. 74-Shaun Kreyer[5]; 17. 20-Austin Ellis[21]; 18. 204-David Mayala[18]; 19. 37-Travis Anderson[13]; 20. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[6]; 21. (DNF) 10-Kyle Helling[22]; 22. (DNF) 308-Pat Hoffman[14]; 23. (DNF) 28-Don Gleason[23]