Aho, Adams are First-Time Winners in ABC Opener

Ashland, WI, June 13 — Jesse Aho of Toivola, MI, held off determined challenges from Paul Suzik and Michael Truscott for a hard-earned first-ever career feature win in the Outlaw Wraps & Apparel Midwest Mod Spring Classic at the ABC Raceway on Saturday night.
Aho was one of two very successful drivers who were first-time winners at the Ashland red-clay oval – the other being Kevin Adams of Cameron – as the track finally kicked off its 2015 PolyDome Dirt Track Series stock car racing season despite a nearly hour-long delay for a heavy mist just after hot laps and timed qualifying for the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds was completed.
The mist actually worked in the Raceway’s favor, as that and another diligent job by the track-prep crew resulted in a sticky, lightning-fast racing surface.

Aho, a multi-time track champion at Eagle River Speedway, started the spotlighted 25-lap Mid-Mod feature behind the front-row tandem of Suzik and Paul Niznik, who battled door-to-door right from the green before a two-car spin reset the grid. Suzik was penalized a row for jumping the initial start, putting Aho on the pole, and Niznik edged ahead for the early lead, with Suzik nosing up to second.
A lap after a Shawn Rivord spin on lap 3, Suzik made an inside move stick to swipe the lead away, and Aho followed him to second, with fourth-row-starting Truscott moving up to fourth. Suzik had a substantial 1.67-second lead on the field with nine laps in, and Truscott worked his way past Niznik for third two circuits later, but the pace was slowed when fifth-place Tyler Luger slid across the slippery front-straight grass on lap 14.
Two laps after the restart Truscott took to the high groove to challenge for the lead, but Aho snuck to the inside and laid claim to the spot first, where he stayed for the rest of the run, despite four more restarts that kept Suzik and Truscott right on his rear bumper. Niznik’s great run went away when he got loose and collected a handful of other cars running in the top ten with three laps remaining to bring out the final yellow flag of the race, and Aho held on from there for the historic win.
Suzik outran a high-flying Truscott for second, while Kevin Eder took advantage of Niznik’s error to score a fourth-place run ahead of a strong-finishing Mickey Nosser, who started the race from the 14th position.
Adams, the reigning and three-time WISSOTA Modified national champion and winner of over 100 features at tracks in Rice Lake and Menomonie, had always seemed to have trouble adjusting to and succeeding on Ashland’s red clay, but on Saturday he finally found his way to Victory Lane. Adams started mid-pack – seventh out of a field of 13 – but went to the top groove early and picked his way to fourth in just four short laps, then to second with a sweep around front-row starter Steve Lavasseur soon after.
Jeff Spacek had set the early pace with a quick move around Lavasseur and pole-starter Al Uotinen at the start, but when Adams and defending track champ Steve Stuart ganged up on him for an inside-outside pass on lap 8, the six-time track champ quickly found himself playing catch-up.
Adams was running away with the lead and had built his advantage to nearly a second-and-a-half when the race’s lone yellow flag was waived on lap 14, as Dustin Hudack parked his fifth-place-running car on the inside edge of turn 4. Adams didn’t gain as much of an edge over the final half-dozen laps, as Spacek, taking advantage of the restart, stole second from Stuart and stayed within shouting distance of the leader. Still, Adams’ margin at the checkers was three-quarters of a second, with Uotinen and Lavasseur not far back in the top five.
Curt Myers’ return to the ABC Raceway was a successful one, as he dominated the WISSOTA Super Stock action in both his heat and the division’s 20-lap feature. Myers started outside on row 4 but was quickly in the mix as 11-time defending track champ Scott Lawrence eventually edged ahead of Ken Truscott after three side-by-side laps for the early lead.
Myers cleared Truscott for second later in lap 3 and then tracked down Lawrence over the next three laps before working low to get by for the lead. A stoppage for Shane Kisling’s stalled ride on the next circuit started a case of “yellow fever,” with multiple caution-flag incidences slowing the pace. Despite the delays, however, Myers proved that he would not be denied as he pulled away with every restart.
The surprise performer of the run was not the veteran from Cameron, but rather the rookie from Marenisco, MI – Marcus Dunbar – who came from the seventh starting spot, picked off positions quickly to pull into fourth by lap 6, and then bravely challenged the more experienced drivers running at the front of the field. Dunbar worked an inside move to take third from Truscott, then slipped past Lawrence for second at mid-race, and with the caution flags keeping Myers within range, he did his best to pester the leader on each of the two remaining restarts over the back half of the run.
Myers did eventually pull away to a 1.68-second advantage at the finish, while Randy Spacek displaced Dunbar with four laps to go to claim second. Lawrence and Super Stock rookie Jeff Klopstein completed the top five.
Dale Coddington dominated the Six-Cylinder 15-lap main event, pulling away to a five-second lead on the field over the first five laps. The former track champ from Hayward took full advantage of his pole-position starting spot and ran away from Brendon Ottman and Aaron Mashlan.
As Mashlan got by Ottman for second on lap 3, Tyler Hudack followed him into third, and on the next lap Hudack replaced Mashlan as the runner-up. Then Hudack’s sister, 2014 track champ Tiffany Hudack, claimed third from Mashlan and began to pressure her brother for second.
It looked like the Hudack siblings had a chance to give Coddington a run for the win when, on lap 5, DeJay Mihalek spun Adam Traaholt to bring out the caution flag. But instead of challenging the leader, Tyler and Tiffany battled with each other side by side for over a lap, allowing Coddington to pull away to another healthy lead.
Tiffany finally cleared Tyler for second on lap 8, and Tyler pulled his car into the infield grass a lap later with mechanical woes, but Coddington was well on his way to a 2.85-second margin at the final stripe. Colton Vernon held on to a solid third-place run ahead of Mashlan and Mihalek.
Matt Deragon proved that he was out to defend his 2015 Pure Stock title at ABC with a strong run in the 12-lap Pure Stock finale. Deragon followed rookie Justin Weinberger past pole-starter Andrew Hanson to take second. Then, after Hanson’s car stalled to bring about the race’s only delay, Deragon chased the grandson of two-time ABC Raceway champ Ron Weinberger for a couple of laps before working his way by for the lead.
The junior Weinberger wasn’t about to give up so easily and threatened on several occasions to take the lead back from the defending champ, but over the closing laps Deragon was just too strong and pulled away to a decisive win. Tim Carlson, Randy Graham and Randy Conner were a distance back in completing the top five.
Myers set a new track record (16.817 seconds) during his run to the win in the Super Stock feature and collected a fast-lap bonus from Northern Clearing. Others awarded such bonuses were Stuart in the Mods (16.354 seconds), Truscott in the Mid-Mods (16.974), and Coddington in the Sixes (18.071).
The program at the ABC Raceway on this coming Saturday night will be very special, as the Interstate Racing Association’s winged sprints will be in town for their annual visit. As many as 20 of the 900-horsepower racers will be flying around the three-eighths-mile red-clay oval at triple-digit speeds.
Along with the sprints, the program will include night number two of the three-night, three-track FastLane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series, with drivers in that class racing for a $600 feature winner’s check and a shot at a share of over $23,000 in overall purse and points fund being offered by the Ashland, Superior, and Proctor, MN, tracks over that weekend. Also included in the program Saturday will be the WISSOTA Midwest Mods.
Adult tickets are $20, fans ages 6-12 can get in for $5, and kids ages 5 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult. Hot laps are set for 6:15 pm, followed by timed qualifying for the IRA sprints, then heat and feature action. “Z-93 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, .
Results
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: Kevin Adams, Cameron; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Al Uotinen, Superior; Steve Lavasseur, River Falls; Rick Rivord, Superior; Scott Hudack, Ashland; Brian Mikkonen, Iron River; Dustin Hudack, Ashland; Neil Balduc, Bessemer, MI; Pat Cook, Washburn; Paul Niznik, Medford; Kevin Eder, Ashland.
Heat 1: Adams; Lavasseur; Stuart; Eder; Balduc; Cook; S Hudack.
Heat 2: Spacek; Mikkonen; D Hudack; Uotinen; Rivord; Niznik.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: Curt Myers, Cameron; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Jeff Klopstein, Tomahawk; Shawn McFadden Jr, Ashland; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Cory Casari, Montreal; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Pat Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Cole Spacek, Phillips; DJ Keeler, Superior; Terran Spacek, Phillips; Andy Grymala, Superior; Myron Basina, Washburn; Dave Elliott, Minocqua; Keith Corcilius, Phillips; Don Muzzy, Ironwood, MI; Dave Flynn, Superior; Brady Mesko-Jokinen, Mellen; Shane Kisling, Sarona; Greg Kuklinski, Ironwood, MI; Brad Kisling, Sarona.
Heat 1: R Spacek; Muzzy; Lawrence; Beeksma; Keeler; Elliott; Flynn; McFadden.
Heat 2: Myers; Dunbar; Truscott; Klopstein; Casari; Basina; Mesko-Jokinen; Corcilius.
Heat 3: S Kisling; C Spacek; Kuklinski; T Spacek; Oreskovich; Grymala; B Kisling.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: Jesse Aho, Toivola, MI; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI; Michael Truscott, Chippewa Falls; Kevin Eder, Ashland; Mickey Nosser, Phillips; George Dalbeck, Ironwood, MI; Tyler Vernon, Ashland; Tanner Hicks, Ashland; George Truscott, Greenland, MI; Duane Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Kent Baxter, Colfax; John Kallas, Hurley; Ryan Adamzak, Ashland; Tad Bretting, Ashland; Rob Weber, Ashland; Paul Niznik, Medford; Bill Muhlig, Bessemer, MI; Dave Flynn, Superior; Tyler Luger, Iron River; Shawn Rivord, Superior; Ryan Barningham, Bayfield; Jordan Barningham, Bayfield; Clay Passuello, Ironwood, MI; Cy Hoaglan, Ashland.
Heat 1: Aho; Suzik; T Bretting; Flynn; Dunbar; Muhlig; Chris Bretting, Washburn.
Heat 2: M Truscott; Luger; Dalbeck; Nosser; R Barningham; Hoaglan; J Barningham; Adamzak.
Heat 3: Eder; Vernon; Kallas; Hicks; Passuello; Wayne Braun Jr, Spooner.
Heat 4: Weber; Niznik; Baxter; G Truscott; Rivord; Jeremy Lindquist, Ashland; Robert Hyde, Ashland.
Semi-Feature: Adamzak; Hoaglan; Muhlig; J Barningham; Braun; Lindquist; Hyde; C Bretting.
Fast Qualifier: T Bretting, 16.999 secs.
Six-Cylinders
Feature: Dale Coddington, Hayward; Tiffany Hudack, Ashland; Colton Vernon, Ashland; Aaron Mashlan, Ashland; DeJay Mihalek, Ashland; Brendon Ottman, Ashland; Jonathon Popp, Iron River; Adam Traaholt, Ashland; Tyler Hudack, Ashland; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Bubba Anderson, Trego; Forrest Schultz, Ashland.
Heat 1: Coddington; Mashlan; Tyykila; Ottman; Anderson; Vernon.
Heat 2: Tyler Hudack; Schultz; Tiffany Hudack; Traaholt; Mihalek; Popp.
Pure Stocks
Feature: Matt Deragon, Ashland; Justin Weinberger, Park Falls; Tim Carlson, Superior; Randy Graham, Trego; Randy Conner, Hayward; Tim Carbon, Highbridge; Brandle Pupp, Ashland; Scott Haedrich, Duluth, MN; Andrew Hanson, Iron River; Charles Jahn, Mellen; Bob Skrobot, Manitowish Waters; Chad Carlson, Superior.
Heat 1: Deragon; Weinberger; C Carlson; Pupp; Haedrich; Jahn.
Heat 2: Graham; T Carlson; Carbon; Hanson; Skrobot.

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