Traynor tops Dykhoff for DRC Street Stock Tour win at Rice Lake

The Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour was back at Rice Lake Speedway on Saturday night with 23 cars in attendance. Since the tour is a presenting sponsor, my goal is to cover as many shows as I can, in-person or remotely.

Entering the night there were five different winners in five nights of the tour, including Jeff Ekdahl winning Friday at Red Cedar Speedway. Heading into the Rice Lake race, former tour champion, Wolverine Justin Vogel, led Kummer by six points with Jeff Ekdahl in third and defending Wissota national champion Kolton Brauer of Eyota in fourth. Kammron Rose was in fifth, 19 points back. Keep in mind, the Little Dream – with a different format and enhanced purse in 2026 – is at Rice Lake later in the month, and for several drivers Saturday was a chance to test out the 3/8-mile oval.

The feature was plagued with cautions; some were for flat tires, which happens, and some solo spins. When there was a longer green flag run, there was some very good racing.

It was a stacked feature race with Cole Richards of Mondovi  and Tommy Pogones of Princeton leading the field. Richards led the first lap by a slim margin when the caution flew for a spin in turn two; Hunter VanGuilder was charged with the yellow, I did not see what happened.

Pogones worked the outside of Richards with Nick Traynor of Barron running close in third. Jeff Nowak was in fourth and there were 3-4 cars fighting for fifth, including former national champions Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck and Parker Anderson of Phillips.

Pogones would inch ahead before the caution flew for Kammron Rose’s spin in turn one. He required a push to the pits and his night was over. Pogones was the leadr on the restart but that lasted one lap as Layla Chaplin spun with a flat right front tire. Moments later Anderson fell victim to a left rear flat and called it a night. Another caution – the fifth – came out for a two-car incident.

Richards and Pogones were having a great battle up front – when it was green. Traynor was third, Kummer fourth and Dykhoff, the defending Little Dream champion, in fifth.

Richards began to pull away to a 1.4 second lead over Pogones who had a lot of heat from Trainor, Kummer, Dykhoff and Cody Cimfl.  Richards stuck his 1R machine to the bottom and pulled away. Trainortook over second and Kummer would get around Pogones for third. Dykhoff and Cimfl raced side-by-side for fifth. The sixth caution came out for Connor Franson’s spin; the yellow was tagged on Vogel, who was running in 10^th after starting well back in the field.

It turned into a three-car tussle at the front as Traynor worked outside of Richards to take the lead.  Dykhoff had moved to fourth and was attempting a pass of Kummer for third. Shawn Amundson moved into fourth.

Much like Traynor, Dykhoff was finding speed up high, and made moves past Kummer and Richards to get into second. But he ran out of time trying to catch Traynor, who won by .957 seconds. Dykhoff ran well in second, edging Richards by .254 seconds.  Kummer was fourth and Amundson fifth.

The track was terrific for the street stocks with two good lanes, and the racing was pretty good in spite of the cautions. If that track is that way for the Little Dream it will be one hell of a race.

As far as the Wolverine goes, he will be back. The tour goes to two tracks he’s won at already this year – KRA Speedway in Willmar and Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo – this upcoming week.

The Wissota Midwest Modifieds struggled with several single-car spins which brought out yellows, but saw Blake Adams of Cameron – who is leading the Wissota Modified AND Wissota Midwest Modified national points – emerge as the leader.

Adams led with eight to go with David Baxter of Eau Claire in second and Jake Stai of New Auburn pressuring on the outside. Those three broke away from the pack as Cody Cimpf of Chetek was in fourth and Travis Anderson of Colfax.

Adams began to pull away, pushing the lead to .8 seconds over Baxter, when the caution waved with six to go for a spin in turn four.  The racing lasted one more lap until Mason Knudson spun in turn four; it was his second yellow and he was done for the night.  After a spin for Bently Prochnow, the race was shorted from 5 to a green-while-checkered finish. Adams wasn’t touched on the final restart, opening a half-second lead to pick up the win. Baxter, Stay, Cimfl and Anderson rounded out the top five.

A dozen Wissota Super Stocks took the green; I figured the field would be down a bit with the Fastlane Series going on in Grand Rapids ((32 cars in attendance). Ryan Olson of Ladysmith took the lead over Shane Kisling of Butternut with Andrew Davis of Barron in third Tucker Quinn of Ladysmith fourth and Michael Anderson of Colfax of fifth. The first yellow waved with 15 to go for Josh Cappo’s spin in turn four. Olson pulled away on the restart as the battle for second heated up between Kisling and Davis.  Quinn and Anderson continued in their spot.

The lead steadily grew for Olson and with eight to go was up to 1.9 seconds.  There wasn’t a lot of action in the race as the top five got spread out and stayed the same over the next 8-10 laps, Kisling, meanwhile pulled off with five to go, ending a potential top two finish.

Olson, who entered the night as the point leader, ran away to a 4.5 second lead and was on his way to an easy win, but the caution flew when Travis Anderson’s 02 slowed with smoke. That erased a massive lead for Olson, setting up a one-lap shootout. Olson had no trouble as he prevailed as Quinn made a late move for second. Davis was third, Anderson fourth and Andy Ladd of Cumberland fifth. Olson’s point lead grew as Leslie Leu, the car second in the points, was not in attendance on Saturday.

Brady Uotinen of Superior and Mike Andrers of Colfax paced the front row in the Wissota Modified feature. I was keeping an eye on row three – Adams and Matt Leer of Bruce were there.  Uotinen took the lead over Anderson with Austin Ellis in third and Adams in fourth. Leer was up to fifth.

Ellis broke something in the left front and held on for a while in the top five. Anderson was closing on Uotinen when the caution flew for a multi-car tangle in turns three and four which included Ellis, whose night was over. He did an admirable job of holding on for as long as he did.

Things went three-wide at the front between Uotinen, Anderson and Adams with Anderson edging in front  with 12 to go. Leer, meanwhile had moved to third past Adams. Aiden Hoffman was running fifth ahead of Kennedy Swan of Chippewa Falls. The caution flew with eight to go as Adams broke in the 40;he would require assistance to the pit area.

Anderson pulled away on the restart as Uotinen and Leer fought for second. Swan had climbed to fourth and was closing, and a few laps later got around Uotinen, but something broke on the 18 car, ending a good run from back in the field.

Anderson walked away with the win over Leer by 2.3 seconds with Uotinen in third and Hoffman fourth. Michael Truscott finished fifth. Anderson is as tough as nails and has been a top runner in western Wisconsin for years.

14 Wissota Pure Stocks wrapped up the night. Simon Wahlstrom would take the lead by the halfway point. But was involved with some contact and spun with seven to go. James Rahn was charged with the yellow. The two were racing hard for position with some contact; seeing the replay I’m not 100 percent sure I would have made the same call.

Moments later, Rahn was DQed for rough driving. Now I don’t know much about the pure stocks at Rice Lake this seemed to be a pretty physical race.

Once a long green flag run ensued, Wahlstrom pulled away over Austin Fencl of . Mark Barta was third, C.J. Wagner fourth and George Richards fifth.

Street Stock Tour winners

Viking (May 24): Eric Riley

Princeton (June 19): Jim Gullikson

Ogilvie (June 20): Parker Anderson

Granite City (June 21): Tommy Pogones

Red Cedar (July 10): Jeff Ekdahl

Rice Lake (July 11): Nick Traynor

May 22 at I-94 and May 23 at Viking rained out.

Edinger, Ost, Christ, Wiest and Hagen win Jamestown features

Travis Edinger of Jamestown won the Bomber feature over Ryker Vetter of Wishek. Lane Stoppleworth of Buchanan was third, Cade Gentzkow of Lamoure fourth and Joe Jacobson of Jamestown fifth.

Ryan Ost of Adrian won his second straight Wissota Midwest Modified feature with Arin Beyer of Jamestown second. Aaron Michel of Jamestown was third and Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown fourth. Jaden Christ of Jamestown was fifth.

Billie Christ of Jamestown won the Wissota Street Stock feature over Cole Greseth of Harwood. Bob Banish Jr. was third, Tony Smith of Jamestown fourth and Kasey Ussatis of Nome fifth.

Austin Wiest of Bismarck won the INEX Legend feature with Avery Linnerud of Gackle second. Weston Clauson of Kathryn was third and Vernon Martin of Bismarck fourth. Weston Uranker of Williston won the Junior Slingshot feature.

Travis Hagen of McGregor won the IMCA Modified feature. John Nord of Enderlin was second, John Corell of Jamestown third, Jacoby Traut of Jamestown fourth and Austin Kuehl of Cave Creek, Ariz., fifth.

 Tyler Bitzan wins Midwest Modified special at Viking Speedway

 Tyler Bitzan of Brandon picked up the $1,000 first prize in winning the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Saturday night at Viking Speedway. Buzz Muzik of Brandon was second, Tanner Bitzan of Brandon third, Scott Oeltjen of Villard fourth and Ron Saurer of Dalton was fifth.

Mark Blom of Glenwood won his first Wissota Street Stock feature of the year with Joe Martin of Willmar second. Craig Gardner of Alexandria was a solid third, Kegan Stueve of Greenwald fourth and Brad Lorentz of Eagle Bend fifth. Blom started eighth on the field.

Jeff Rohner of Willmar won another Wissota Hornet feature with Matthew Dittman of Lake Lillian in second. Eli Green of Osakis was third, Zander Zuehlsdorff of Fergus Falls fourth and Nathan Kelley of Fargo fifth.

Bailey Rosch of Alexandria topped Travis Scott of Glenwood for the Wissota Super Stock feature win.  Karter Reents of Glenwood was third, Carson Miller of Lester Prairie fourth and Trevor Saurer of Dalton fifth.

Dusty Bitzan won the Wissota Modified main event with Brady Gerdes of Villard second. Last week’s winner Justin Froemming of Garfield was third, Josh Thoennes of Nelson fourth and Jason Thoennes of Garfield fifth.

Saturday notes

--Kenna Breidenbach of Grand Forks won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Saturday night at Devils Lake Speedway. Jory Berg of Grand Forks was second.  Greg Jose of Grand Forks won the Wissota Street Stock feature over Drew Peterson of Langdon. Dustin Strand of East Grand Forks won the NLRA Late Model feature with Shane Edginton taking second and the Eisenschenk twins from Fargo, Laela and Amelia, finishing third and fourth respectively.

--Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Saturday night at Greenbush Race Park with Cylen Vargason of Edinburg in second and Justin Olson of Thief River Falls in third.

Joseph Thomas of Glyndon won the Wissota Modified special at Greenbush with Ward Imrie of Manitoba second and Dustin Wahl of Greenbush third. Jeremy Gust of Strathcona won the Wissota Street Stock feature.