Carlson, Schafer are First-Time Renegade Sprints Winners at ABC
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, July 13 – Owen Carlson of Somerset and Cam Schafer of Little Canada, MN, took advantage of a lightning-fast racing surface to fly to each’s first-ever wins at the ABC Raceway on Saturday night.
The visit by the Renegades High Roller Series for Winged and Traditional (non-winged) Sprint cars was presented by the Bad River Lodge, Casino & Convention Center on a hot, humid night at the award-winning northern Wisconsin speedplant, and 34 entries provided plenty of action and record-breaking lap times around the three-eighths-mile red-clay oval.
Carlson started the Winged Sprint 25-lap headline event on the outside of row 2 but fell into a wild four-car battle for fourth with Jeremy Snow, Mark Chevalier and Chase Viebrock, as Jeremy Schultz sped around polestarter Brett Peterson for the early lead. On lap 3 Snow broke loose from the pack and dove low to take second from Peterson, but he could not track down Schultz, who was on his way to building a nearly two-second lead within the first nine laps.
Carlson had just caught and moved by Snow for second when Snow looped his ride on lap 9. Then Chevalier, restarting fourth, lost the handle on his racer in the first turn after the re-do. With the next attempt Viebrock used a daring three-wide outside pass to get by Peterson and John Vaillancourt for third, just before the leader Schultz spun his sprinter while leading by .77 seconds, handing the point to Carlson.
Within a lap Carlson was nearly a second-and-a-quarter ahead of Viebrock, and over the final 14 non-stop laps Carlson extended that advantage, even while maneuvering through backmarkers, to a final winning margin of 2.924 seconds, giving him his fourth A-main win in as many starts in the High Roller Series during July.
Second-finishing Viebrock, who won here during the UMSS Sprint Series’ visit here in May 2023, was comfortably ahead of Peterson, who edged Vaillancourt for third. Todd Hanson snagged fifth away from 17th-starting Mike Mueller on the final lap.
During earlier heat-race action, Snow established a track record for 360-cubic-inch-powered Winged Sprints with a single-lap time of 14.480 seconds, or an average speed of 93.232 mph.
Schafer started even further back than Carlson in the Traditional Sprints’ A-main – sixth – but he took very little time getting to the front of that division’s 17-car field. Outside-front-row starter Jake Kouba got around polestarter Ken Hron for the initial lead and stayed there for two laps before the cars of Ashley Williams and Jeff Pellersels became entangled on the front straight, drawing the first of just two caution flags for the race.
Kouba shot away again on the restart, while Schafer, who was up to third at the time of the yellow, battled with Bryan Roach for second. Schafer won the debate on lap 4, then reeled in and finally overtook Kouba with an inside pass on lap 7. Kouba, trying to keep pace with the leader, struck an infield marker tire with his car’s left-front tire, causing significant damage to his car and knocking him from the event.
On that restart Scott Brandt raced by Roach for second, but with no more caution stoppages to help his cause, he watched Schafer run away to a huge lead. Schafer dealt with slower traffic over the final four laps but still finished with an unbelievable 8.08-second margin of victory – or more than half a lap. Tenth-starting Chevalier picked his way through to finish third, Mueller came from 11th to finish fourth, and Roach held on for fifth.
Schafer also set a new fast-lap mark in his heat race, besting Hron’s two-year-old mark for 360-powered wingless Sprints with a lap of 14.945 seconds (90.331 mph).
In Victory Lane after the 20-lap Superior Floral WISSOTA Super Stocks feature, Ashland’s Steve Stuart admitted that he knew he was racing for second place – until the caution flag came out at mid-race. Because, for the first ten laps, the race indisputably belonged to Rick Simpson.
Simpson started on the pole and ran away from a tightly-grouped seven-car pack. By the time the eighth-starting Stuart had sliced his way through to join Matt Deragon in a three-wide pass of Kyle Copp for second on lap 8, Simpson was over three seconds ahead and seemingly uncatchable.
That changed with Jake Nevala’s spin on lap 10, which closed the field up to Simpson’s rear bumper for the restart. Stuart seized the opportunity to pull alongside Simpson with the waiving of the green flag and take the lead just before Trenton Bond’s spin a lap later. From there the three-time defending Super Stock champ sped away to a decisive 3.45-second cushion and his second straight feature win here – the 47th of his career at ABC.
Also for the second week in a row, Deragon came home a distant second to Stuart, while Simpson maintained third ahead of 12th-starting Shawn McFadden and visiting Max Nelson.
The Lightning Storm Graphics WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were originally scheduled to have this night off, but they were added to the program a couple of weeks back on an unsanctioned, non-points-paying basis. Good thing they were, in Marcus Dunbar’s opinion, as like Stuart he took advantage of a mid-race caution to score his first win of the season here.
Front-row mates Evan Checkalski and Cody Carlson pulled away from the rest of the field at the start of the Mid-Mods’ 20-lap feature, while sixth-starting Dunbar joined a small pack of cars racing for third. Checkalski eventually established a full-second lead over Carlson, which he maintained until the caution flag flew on lap 10 for Jonny Nowak’s spin near the tail of the field.
Dunbar had gained third a couple of laps prior to the stoppage, and, lining up directly behind Checkalski and alongside Carlson for the restart, he worked a three-wide pass as the green flag few to get by Carlson and pull alongside Checkalski. The two-time division champ from Marenisco, MI, completed the pass for the lead on lap 12, and he pulled away to a 2.3-second winning advantage and his ninth career win at Ashland.
Carlson followed Dunbar’s pass of Checkalski for second with five laps remaining in the run, and Checkalski held off a strong run by Cory Jorgensen for fourth, with visiting Kent Baxter holding down fifth.
Brent Mindock of Prentice also scored his second straight Patsy’s Bar WISSOTA Pure Stocks feature win, getting out front early in the non-stop ten-lap affair and then fending off a determined Aaron Bernick.
Bernick, from the outside of the front row, slipped past polestarter Shane Basina in the first corner for the lead, with Mindock in tow, but before the next circuit was completed Mindock took an inside route to get by Bernick. Mindock was unable to shake loose from Bernick’s threats throughout the rest of the run, never getting more than three-quarters of a second away from his challenger.
Behind them, Eric Crosby battled with and eventually overtook Basina for third with four laps left, as that pair also provided an entertaining contest for the balance of the run. At the finish, Mindock’s edge on Bernick was a mere half-second, while a few seconds back Crosby and Basina finished bumper-to-bumper for third and fourth, respectively, ahead of first-time visitor Reginald Felzkowski.
Bayfield’s Basina did collect one win on the night, taking advantage of Travis Swanson’s mechanical woes to win his second Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders feature of the season and ninth of his career here.
Swanson, starting from the pole, grabbed the lead from rookie Justin Pratt at the start and looked to have the field covered, but the gremlins that have been haunting Swanson’s car since his opening-night feature win here came back to haunt him again. On lap 4 Swanson’s car slowed, and Basina flashed by to take over at the point.
With no caution slowdowns to hinder his progress throughout the 15-lapper, the defending Sixes champ sped away from an entertaining battle for second between Cameron Bond and Super Stock ace Darin Meierotto, who was driving Jimmy Stearns’ car on this night. With three laps remaining Bond and Meierotto were joined by Dalton Truchon and Jakob Bond to make things more interesting, but Basina was too far away to challenge, winning by a remarkable 8.24 seconds, or nearly half a lap.
Cameron Bond impressively held off Meierotto for second, followed closely by the tenth-starting Truchon and Jakob Bond.
Again it was a night of near-record fast times posted during the various heat and feature races, highlighted by the new standards set by the two Sprint classes. The high humidity kept moisture in the well-prepared red-clay surface, and fast-lap times in the heat races for the ABC weekly classes were all well within a second of their respective record paces.
On Saturday, July 20, two of the ABC Raceway’s most popular traditions will take place on the same night. The rescheduled Kids’ Meet the Drivers Night activities, to be presented by the Heartland Communication Group of radio stations in Ashland and Iron River, will begin promptly at 6:30 pm, while Chicago Iron & Supplies of Ashland will present the Kids’ Bike Races during the race program’s intermission.
The Fuhrman Design WISSOTA Modifieds will rejoin the Super Stocks, Midwest Mods, Pure Stocks and Six-Cylinders for the program.
The grandstand gates and pits will open at 5 pm. There will be no hot-lap session, and the first heat-race green flag is scheduled to drop at 7 pm.
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, log on to the track’s website, www.abcraceway.com, or check out its FaceBook page.
Results
Superior Floral WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Steve Stuart, Ashland; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Rick Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Max Nelson, Milaca, MN; Don Livingston, Washburn; Patrick Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Doug Bolt, Rosslyn, ON; Myron Basina, Bayfield; Kyle Copp, Brule.
11-12: Jake Nevala, Ashland; Trenton Bond, Iron River.
Heat 1: Copp; Nelson; Deragon; Simpson; Livingston; Bolt.
Heat 2: Stuart; Beeksma; Basina; Bond; Nevala; McFadden.
Lightning Storm Graphics B-Modifieds (unsanctioned)
Feature: 1-10: Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Cody Carlson, Superior; Evan Checkalski, Duluth, MN; Cory Jorgensen, Duluth, MN; Kent Baxter, Colfax; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Jesse Polson, Superior; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI; Tad Schoonover, Eagle River; Tanner Hicks, Ashland.
11-12: Jonny Nowak, Proctor, MN; Skylar Findley, Clayton.
Heat 1: Polson; Carlson; Jorgensen; Schoonover; Ripley; Nowak.
Heat 2: Checkalski; Dunbar; Baxter; Hicks; Suzik; Findley.
Patsy’s Bar & Grill WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-7: Brent Mindock, Prentice; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Eric Crosby, Amery; Shane Basina, Bayfield; Reginald Felzkowski, Tomahawk; Zene Anderson, Superior; Anthony Schultz, Stillwater, MN.
Heat: Crosby; Mindock; Basina; Bernick; Felzkowski; Anderson; Schultz.
Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders
Feature: 1-10: Shane Basina, Bayfield; Cameron Bond, Mason; Darin Meierotto, Superior; Dalton Truchon, Ashland; Jakob Bond, Mason; Justin Pratt, Glidden; Roger Walker, Phillips; Jim Anderson, Cable; Mathew Rohlfing, Cable; Mady Anderson, Mason.
11-12: Travis Swanson, Ashland; Cody Eichmann, Park Falls.
Heat 1: Walker; Meierotto; C Bon; Pratt; Eichmann; Rohlfing; M Anderson.
Heat 2: J Bond; Basina; Swanson; J Anderson; Truchon.
Renegades High Roller Series Winged Sprints
Feature: 1-10: Owen Carlson, Somerset; Chase Viebrock, New Richmond; Brett Peterson, Amery; John Vaillancourt, Forest Lake, MN; Todd Hansen, Shoreview, MN; Mike Mueller, Oak Grove, MN; Ronnie Erickson, Forest Lake, MN; Jeremy Schultz, Stewart, MN; Mark Chevalier, Blaine, MN; Jeremy Snow, Princeton, MN.
11-17: Cole Stella, Minocqua; Chris Vogel, Cottage Grove, MN; Keegan Coss, Menomonie; Michael Stien, Ceylon, MN; Carl Wade, Dexter, MN; Josh Braford, Grand Rapids, MN; Tony Gernert, Luck.
Heat 1: Carlson; Peterson; Snow; Schultz; Vaillancourt; Coss; Stien; Braford; Gernert.
Heat 2: Viebrock; Chevalier; Hansen; Vogel; Stella; Erickson; Wade; Mueller.
Renegades High Roller Series Traditional Sprints
Feature: 1-10: Cam Schafer, Little Canada, MN; Scott Brandt, Andover, MN; Mark Chevalier, Blaine, MN; Mike Mueller, Oak Grove, MN; Bryan Roach, Welch, MN; Jori Hughes, Tower, MN; Johnny Parsons III, Owatonna, MN; Jack Berger, Lake Elmo, MN; Dan Atchison, Oak Grove, MN; Tyler Wass, Big Fork, MN.
11-15: Jake Kouba, Farmington, MN; Chris Lewis, Grand Rapids, MN; Ken Hron, Grand Rapids, MN; Jeff Pellersels, Woodbury, MN; Ashley Williams, Lake Elmo, MN.
Heat 1: Rob Caho Jr, Rush City, MN; Hughes; Kouba; Pellersels; Brandt; Mueller; Berger; Atchison; Wass.
Heat 2: Schafer; Roach; Hron; Parsons; Chevalier; Lewis; Williams; Zach Widdes, Rice Lake.