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McFadden wins ‘Challenge,’ Tiffany Hudack gets first win
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, July 26 — Bill Balog of Hartland took advantage of two late-race caution flags Saturday night to steal his third straight Interstate Racing Association A-main win in as many visits by the touring sprint car series to the ABC Raceway.
Twenty-five of the traveling 410-cubic-inch “outlaw” winged sprints took to the three-eighths-mile red-clay oval on night two of their three-night trek through northern Wisconsin under hot, humid conditions and battled each other and a very light sprinkle throughout their 30-lap headliner in a program presented by Northern State Bank.

Also part of the AmsOil Dirt Track Series program was the $600-to-win “Super Stock Challenge,” presented by FastLane Motorsports & Custom Powdercoating, which went to Ashland’s Shawn McFadden, Jr, while Tiffany Hudack of Ashland completed an historic run in the Six-Cylinders, and Ashland’s Matt Deragon continued his domination in the Pure Stocks.
Balog, who set the fast qualifying time with a lap of 14.728 seconds (92.289 mph) earlier in the program, started the 30-lap A-main on the outside of row 3 and made immediate progress as front-row starters Scott Uttech and Tommy Sexton battled side-by-side in the early going. Sexton won that early discussion and Travis Whitney moved up into second place, and on lap 3 Whitney moved outside on Sexton for the lead as Balog worked outside on Uttech into third.
On lap 7 Balog moved by Sexton into second and began a 19-lap chase of Whitney as very light sprinkles kept the red-clay surface tacky and the action lightning-fast. Behind the lead pair Uttech and Sexton waged a classic war for third, and rookie Scott Thiel tried to keep second-in-series-points Bill Rose from breaking into the top five.
By lap 8 Whitney was catching the tail of the field, allowing Balog to close on the leader. On lap 11 Balog threw a slide on Whitney to monemtarily grab the lead, but just as quickly Whitney slipped back by to retain the point. From there Whitney kept at least one back-marker between himself and the six-time defending series champ for as many laps as he could.
Unfortunately for Whitney, his luck ran out when the race’s first caution flag was thrown with just four laps to go, when Jordan Goldberry looped his ride in turn 3. Whitney was completely overwhelmed on the restart by Balog and Uttech, and before the lap was completed Whitney was caught up in a thick pack of cars and spun in turn 4. A disappointed Whitney was pushed to the pits, along with fourth-running Blake Nimee, who was having a terrific run from his tenth starting spot.
The final four laps were all Balog’s, who outran a determined Uttech for his series-leading seventh win of the season and second in as many nights, after a last-lap pass gave him the victory on Friday at Antigo. Thiel swiped second from Uttech in the final half-lap, while Sexton and Scott Neitzel completed the top five.
McFadden, who had not won a feature in Ashland since moving up from the track’s Six-Cylinder division after the 2012 season, moved into second place in the WISSOTA Super Stock feature behind outside front-row starter Randy Spacek, shuffling visiting polesitter Rich Bishop back to third. Two laps into the 20-lap run McFadden used a strong inside move on Spacek and took over the lead for good, pulling away to a nearly full-second advantage before debris on the track brought out the race’s first yellow-flag slowdown on lap 4.
As McFadden pulled away after the green flag flew again, Cory Casari’s ride came to life, driving hard to the inside for a three-wide pass Dave Flynn and Bishop into fourth. Four laps later Casari made another strong move to get by Ken Truscott for third, and within a lap he used a similar move to edge past Spacek for second. McFadden was well over two seconds up on Casari by then, but that disappeared when Spacek, Truscott and divisional points leader Scott Lawrence – all battling for third at the time, tangled in turn 2 to bring about another race stoppage on lap 11. Lawrence was towed from the track with a damaged car, and Truscott was sent to the back for the restart.
Casari stayed with McFadden for most of the back half of the run before McFadden pulled away late, building a 1.2-second lead for his first feature win at Ashland since July 2012. Casari held off a hard-charging Nick Oreskovich – who started dead last on the 13-car grid – while Spacek and Shane Kisling completed the top five.
Chris Bretting of FastLane Motorsports distributed ten gift certificates ranging in value from $50 to $350 to the top ten finishers on a random draw. McFadden added a $50 Northern Clearning Inc bonus to his take for the night for posting the fastest lap in the run, with a time of 17.809 seconds.
Hudack became only the second female driver to win a feature at the ABC Raceway after taking the non-stop 15-lap Six-Cylinder feature. Tiffany started inside on the third row and quickly wheeled a fast race car toward the front, as rookie Ethan Beeksma overtook pole starter Forrest Schultz for the early lead.
Hudack moved into second within the first five laps as Beeksma built up a lead of over a second-and-a-half. But when Beeksma bobbled on lap 8, Hudack was right there to close in, eventually hugging the inside line to take over on lap 9.
Hudack’s advantage was two-thirds of a second with three laps remaining as she protected the bottom groove, but as she caught lapped traffic Beeksma closed the gap, offering a challenge on a couple of occasions but unable to complete a pass. Hudack’s win was the first by a female driver here since Chanda Fjorden-Nord was awarded a WISSOTA Street Stock win in July 2007. Beeksma, Peter Jokinen, points leader Tyler Hudack and Dale Coddington completed the top five.
Beeksma was rewarded with the Northern Clearning fast-lap bonus with a circuit of 19.047 seconds, and Schultz gained the $50 bonus for sporting the Raceway’s 50th Anniversary decal on his car after his sixth-place finish matched the random draw.
Deragon needed a last-corner pass of Jeff Christman for his fifth Pure Stock feature win of the season and third in a row. In another green-to-checkered run, Brandle Pupp worked around pole starter Rita Anderson for the initial lead, but two laps later Christman used an inside move to take the lead away.
The top five – Christman, Pupp, Terran Spacek, Randy Graham and Deragon, who had worked his way from the fourth row – stayed in tight formation and often swapped positions behind the leader. Just before the mid-point of the 12-lapper Spacek moved by Graham for second, and just after that Pupp’s ride failed him and he fell from the event, with Glenn Dammer taking his place in the top-five dogfight.
Late in the run Deragon worked hard to get under Graham and then Spacek, and on the final lap he took a couple shots at the lead. But it was a strong drive to the inside on the final corner that stuck, and he edged Christman for the win by half the length of his car. Spacek was not far off Deragon’s rear bumper in third, and Dammer edged Graham at the line for fourth.
The WISSOTA Modifieds and Midwest Mods will return to action at the ABC Raceway on Saturday night, with the Mid-Mods chasing after an enhanced purse during the “Mid-Mod Madness” special presented by Northern Wisconsin Fence of Phillips and Outlaw Wraps & Apparel of Ashland. Adult admission tickets are just $10, while fans ages 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.
Hot laps are set for 6:15 pm, followed by sprint car time trials. Racing is scheduled to start at 7. “Race Night” will air live on WBSZ, 93.3 FM, and stream online at www.wbszfm.com, from 4:30-6 pm with at-the-track news and weather updates. The ABC Raceway is located 3-1/2 miles south of Ashland on State Highway 13 and one mile west on Butterworth Road. For raceday information call (715) 682-4990, or log on to the track’s website, www.abcraceway.com.
Results
IRA 410 Sprints
Feature: Bill Balog, Hartland; Scott Thiel, Sheboygan; Scott Uttech, New Berlin; Tommy Sexton, Antioch, IL; Scott Neitzel, Beaver Dam; Steve Meyer, Sheboygan Falls; Mike Reinke, Howards Grove; Bill Rose, Plainfield, IL; Ben Schmidt, Plymouth; Lance Fassbender, Burnett; Kris Sptiz, Salem; Jordan Goldsberry, Springfield, IL; Dennis Spitz, Lewisburg, KY; Ken Jay Fiedler, Sheboygan Falls; Ryan Wilson, Superior; Bryon Walters, Beaver Dam; Brandon Thone, Plymouth; Ty Bartz, Sheboygan Falls; Ozzie Weisner, Sheboygan Falls; Travis Whitney, Coon Rapids, MN; Blake Nimee, Owesso, IL; Chad Tessman, Jefferson.
Heat 1: Neitzel; Balog; Fassbender; Whitney; Scott Bietzer, West Bend; Wilson; Bartz; Weisner.
Heat 2: Reinke; Nimee; K Spitz; S Uttech; Fiedler; D Spitz; Schmidt; Tessman.
Heat 3: Rose; Meyer; Goldsberry; Sexton; Thiel; Thone; Walters.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: Shawn McFadden Jr, Ashland; Cory Casari, Montreal; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Shane Kisling, Sarona; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Rich Bishop, New Richmond; DJ Keeler, Superior; Myron Basina, Washburn; Dave Elliott, Minocqua; Don Muzzy, Ironwood, MI; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Dave Flynn, Superior.
Heat 1: Lawrence; Flynn; McFadden; Truscott; Muzzy; Keeler; Oreskovich.
Heat 2: Casari; Spacek; Kisling; Bishop; Basina.
Six-Cylinders
Feature: Tiffany Hudack, Ashland; Ethan Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Peter Jokinen, Mellen; Tyler Hudack, Ashland; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Forrest Schultz, Ashland; Ron Hmielewski, Marengo; Jeremy Lindquist, Ashland; Zack Pagels, Marengo; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Tim Carbon, Highbridge; Aaron Mashlan, Ashland; Adam Traaholt, Ashland; Brendon Ottman, Ashland.
Heat 1: Coddington; Hmielewski; Tyler Hudack; Schultz; Ottman; Traaholt; Lindquist; Carbon.
Heat 2: Beeksma; Tiffany Hudack; Jokinen; Pagels; Mashlan; Tyykila.
Pure Stocks
Feature: Matt Deragon, Ashland; Jeff Christman, South Range; Terran Spacek, Phillips; Glenn Dammer, Duluth, MN; Randy Graham, Trego; Steve Udeen, Superior; Tim Carbon, Highbridge; Chris Johnson, South Range; Andrew Hanson, Iron River; Rita Anderson, Superior; Brandle Pupp, Ashland.
Heat 1: Dammer; Pupp; Christman; Anderson; Johnson.
Heat 2: Deragon; Graham; Spacek; Udeen; Carbon.

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