8/14/2023
Wissota Late Model Challenge Series
Redetkzke Tops Swant Graber 40 at Rice Lake Speedway
Rice Lake WI, August 12 – Jake Redetzke would sweep past Darrell Nelson on the high side following a lap eleven yellow flag and would then lead the last twenty-eight laps to win the Swant Graber 40, a WISSOTA Structural Buildings Challenge Series race held on Saturday night at the Rice Lake Speedway.
Redetzke would be the third different leader of the race in the opening dozen laps but once he found his groove, he would lead the rest of the way with Nelson giving chase for most of that time.
Twenty cars would take the green flag for the forty-lap event with Kevin Eder edging past John Kaanta to lead the opening round. Kaanta fought back and they would run side by side for that opening pair of laps before Darrell Nelson would slip past Kaanta for second. One lap later Nelson would continue his charge as he drove past Eder to take over the point.
Redetzke, meanwhile, was riding right behind the top three and when Kaanta slipped up the track, he was able to drive into third which would be critical when the yellow flag would fly. On lap eleven, the first yellow would fly for a spinning car at the tail of the field, and on the green, Redetzke would make his move.
After starting on the outside of the double file restart, Redetzke would take to the outside line and immediately pull up beside Nelson down the back chute. Driving deep into turn three, Jake would take over the lead from Nelson and for all intents and purposes, the race would be over. Once Redetzke took over the top spot, he would not yield that position for the rest of the race and indeed, would never be seriously challenged.
Just one lap after Redetzke took over, Kaanta would slow with a flat tire after banging wheels with another competitor and Kaanta would head for the pits, done for the event. Between laps twelve and eighteen, the race would get bogged down with three yellows for spinning cars slowing the action and keeping the field packed tightly.
The last twenty laps of the race, however, would go green to checkered and Redetzke would maintain his advantage over Nelson, despite Darrell pushing as hard as he could. Redetzke found a fast line through the middle lane of the track and his entrance to the corners was slightly different than most in the field and very successful for him.
While the top two seemed pretty well assured, there was some good fighting for position behind them. Eder, Jeff Massingill, and Pat Doar would battle back and forth for a position as the first one, and then the other would edge ahead. Massingill would continue to press and would eventually move into third with both Doar and Eder sliding back slightly in the field.
A driver to watch was Chad Mahder who after a poor start to the evening, would begin his feature race from the fourteenth position. However, he was on the charge immediately, picking up positions slowly but steadily with him finally cracking the top five well past the halfway point. He would drive past Doar for fourth and close on Massingill but would run out of laps.
Nelson could provide no late charge in his attempt to catch Redetzke who continued to turn steady laps and would hold a 1.917 second advantage when he took the checkered flag. Nelson would finish second with Massingill, Mahder, and Doar completing the top five. Sixteen of the starting field were still on the track at the finish with fourteen still running on the lead lap.
Redetzke has quite a history with his racing program at the Rice Lake Speedway. In fact, he won his first-ever feature race at Rice Lake with a Pure Stock victory way back in 2003 and his first-ever Late Model feature win came here also back in 2006. Saturday night's win was his eighth overall in the Late Models at Rice Lake but his first since the 2019 racing season.
Heat winners were Kaanta, Nelson, and Redetzke while Sam Mars was the quickest qualifier at 14.385 seconds. The Late Model portion of the racing season is now concluded at the Rice Lake Speedway but the Structural Buildings Challenge Series still has five events left on its calender. They will be off until Labor Day weekend but then have four races on that weekend with Doar currently maintaining the point lead over Redetzke.
Article Credit: Ed Richert
Submitted By: Camryn Sullivan