RICE LAKE, Wis. —The 29th annual WISSOTA Street Stock Little Dream race was held on Tuesday night at the Rice Lake Speedway.
Keith Tourville became the eighth different multi-time winner of the event when he took over the lead from Justin Vogel on lap five and paced the last 31 laps of the race, fighting off repeated challenges from defending winner Nick Traynor to take his second win in this showcase event.
The event was broadcast live by SPEED SPORT affiliate DRC.tv.
And once again the supporters of this race and Street Stock racing in general dug deep into their pockets and when all the tallies had been completed, Tourville would go home with a record payoff of $29,411, topping last year’s record total by over $1,2000 and the 10th straight time the race has paid out over $10,000 to the winner.
Fifty six drivers from four states plus Canada would sign in to race on Tuesday night with a series of double heat races, B Features and a Last Chance race setting the 26-car starting field.
David Blackberg would become the 26th and final starter when he would edge Mike Jans by .002 seconds to earn the last starting position when he passed up the winner’s share of the Last Chance race for the opportunity to start on the tail of the main event field.
Tourville, the passing points leader after a heat race win and runner-up finish, would start on the pole for the 40-lap finale but it would be Vogel, a ten time entrant in the event that would grab the early lead from the outside pole.
While Tourville would slip to the inside of Vogel, it would be Vogel that would lead the first four laps of the race despite constant pressure from Tourville. On lap five, Tourville would finally clear Vogel on the inside and would power into the lead off turn four with Vogel tucking in close behind him.
Defending event winner Traynor would start fourth on the field and he would then move in to challenge Vogel for second as Tourville opened up a four car length lead on the field. Traynor would continue to press for second as Parker Anderson and Hunter VanGilder would race into the top five.
The first 15 laps of the race would run off nonstop until lap 16, a minor spin would trigger the first yellow flag of the race with the top five in the running order unchanged.
The race would get temporarily hung up at this point with the first yellow quickly followed by two more before another lap could be completed with both for minor issues. The top-five would remain static through the halfway point of the race until a spin by Ryan Olson, who was having a terrific top ten run to that point as a rookie driver in this class, would again cause the yellow flag to wave.
While Tourville would continue to maintain his slight but consistent edge over the field, there was now some movement in the field behind him as the event moved into its second half. After laps and laps of trying, Traynor was finally able to move past Vogel for the second spot and he then began to cut into Tourville’s lead.
VanGilder had moved up to fourth but was then passed for that spot as Cody Kummer began a strong charge that would carry him from the fourth row up as far as fourth. Also on the move was Jeff Nowak as he tried to crack the top-five after starting way back in 14th position.
One more yellow flag for another minor spin would set up a 10-lap dash to the finish of the race. Traynor would then push his hardest of the race, driving deep into the corners and trying to slide up under Tourville and take over the lead. However, Tourvillle was able to maintain his small but steady lead despite Traynor’s push to the front.
VanGilder would get a great final restart and would suddenly move up into the third position and try to track down the leaders while Nowak would continue his charge by cracking the top five for the first time.
The last 10 laps would continue on without any slow downs and Traynor would continue to push Tourville but the veteran Street Stock racer and car builder, running the event for the 13th time since his first appearance in this race way back in 2004, would continue to make solid, smooth laps and would drive on for his second win in the Little Dream and fifth top-five finish in this race.
Feature Finish (40 Laps)
1. 111JR-Keith Tourville[1]; 2. 40T-Nick Traynor[4]; 3. 84-Hunter VanGilder[6]; 4. 79N-Jeff Nowak[14]; 5. 12-Cody Kummer[7]; 6. 10-Justin Vogel[2]; 7. 19-Cody Cimfl[8]; 8. 3R-Danny Richards[16]; 9. 1R-Cole Richards[18]; 10. 9K-Kolby Kiehl[20]; 11. 11JR-Jeff Ekdahl[25]; 12. 1S-Parker Anderson[3]; 13. 11-Sam Fankhauser[9]; 14. 26-Ty Agen[11]; 15. 69-Tim Johnson[10]; 16. 7-Jay Kesan[22]; 17. 15F-Zachary Flickinger[17]; 18. 980-Kaden Woodie[21]; 19. 27P-Tucker Pederson[19]; 20. (DNF) 7BR-Lucas Boyce[23]; 21. (DNF) 19H-Ryan Olson[5]; 22. (DNF) 11K-Kyle Dykhoff[12]; 23. (DNF) 30-Jim Randall[13]; 24. (DNF) 16X-Kyle Genett[15]; 25. (DNF) 16-David Blackberg[26]; 26. (DNF) 9-Adam Soltis[24]