ABC Raceway to Post Big Payday for Pure Stocks on Saturday

Ashland, WI — On the next-to-last points-paying night of the 2014 stock car racing season at the ABC Raceway, the Pure Stocks will be in the spotlight with a chance to win some big cash.
The eleventh annual “Pure Excitement 25” will be presented by the Ashland-Bayfield County Sportsmen’s Club on Saturday night at the red-clay oval just south of Ashland. The event features a fan contribution-generated purse that has in recent seasons exceeded $5,000, and at the end of the 25-lap main event the winner’s check has often landed north of $1,000.

The event has been the brainchild of former Ashland racer Bruce Kalmon, who is also a constructor of the entry-level race cars. Kalmon, who after this season will pass the torch of promoting this event to John Taitt of Ashland, has always had a self-proclaimed weakness for Pure Stockers, and he has done a magnificant job over the years building the event into one of the area’s most popular race shows.
In 2013 Al Rapp of Saginaw, MN, collected an event-record $1,315 by becoming the ninth different winner of the “Pure Excitement 25.” In the last six runnings of the program, the winner’s paycheck has been $1,000 or more four times. Only Cory Casari of Montreal has won the race more than once – he won the first two editions, in 2004-’05.
The overall Pure Stock purse offered last summer was also an event record, at $5,890. The purse has been in excess of $4,000 in each of the past eight events, thanks to the generosity of race fans and local businesses, who are encouraged to donate to either specific finishing positions in the feature or to the overall Pure Stock purse.
Fans can contribute at the track on Saturday night right up until the features begin. The Sportsmen’s Club will also be on hand to sell raffle tickets for their annual fundraiser, with the prize drawings to be held at the track that night.
Several drivers made significant runs during last weekend’s race program, including Al Uotinen of Superior, who won his first WISSOTA Modified feature in nearly eight years, and Mason’s Nick Oreskovich, who took home a win in the WISSOTA Super Stock feature one night after doing the same in Superior.
Ethan Beeksma and Paul Suzik, both of Ironwood, MI, became feature winners number 400 and 401 in the track’s 50-year history after collecting their career-first wins in the Six-Cylinders and WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, respectively.
And Matt Deragon of Ashland tied Casari’s track-best mark of five straight wins in a Pure Stock after a last-lap pass for the checkers last Saturday. A “Pure Excitement 25” victory would be the biggest of his young career – not to mention the most lucrative – in that it would also tie Casari’s mark for most Pure Stock victories in a single season.
Hot laps start on Saturday night at 6:15 pm, and the first race of the night will start at about 7. The grandstand and pit gates open at 5 pm, and admission tickets for fans ages 13 & older are just $10, while fans ages 12 and under are welcome in for free when accompanied by a paying adult.
“Race Night” will provide live up-to-date track news and weather information from the track on WBSZ, 93.3 FM, and online at www.wbszfm.com, from 4:30-6 pm on Saturday. 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.

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