First-Time and Long-Absent Winners Grace ABC Raceway Victory Lane
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, July 8 – The list of feature winners at the ABC Raceway on Saturday night covered the full gamut – from repeaters to first-timers, and even one that garnered his first checkered flag here in 22 years.
Chicago Iron & Supplies of Ashland presented the five-division WISSOTA Dirt Track Series program that honored members of the Armed Services and included kids’ bike races during intermission. A field of 78 entries made for at least two heats in each division, while bright blue skies and temperatures in the 70s at race time greeted the crowd.
The “first-time-in-a-long-time” award went to Brent Mindock of Phillips, whose win in the Patsy’s Bar & Grill WISSOTA Pure Stock feature was not only his first of the season, but his first since July 28, 2001. The win also snapped Travis Hazelton’s three-feature win streak here and helped to solidify Mindock’s points lead in the division.
Mindock started the 15-lap main event outside on the second row but immediately dove low in heavy traffic to get by polestarter Dylan Shelton coming out of the first turn. After just a few laps Mindock was under constant pressure from visiting Ryan Olson and Hazelton, as the top seven of the 15-car field pulled away.
By mid-race Mindock had extended his margin to over eight-tenths of a second on Olson, while another visitor, George Richards, edged his way past Hazelton for third. Olson closed the gap to barely more than a half-second with five laps left, but Mindock – his left-front tire rarely touching the red clay due to significant traction on the well-prepped track – held on for the popular win.
Olson, Richards, Hazelton and Devin Fries completed a close-knit top five. Mindock’s fast lap in the feature of 18.744 seconds would have set a new track record for the Pure Stocks if not for Fries’ tour in 18.589 seconds posted during heat-race action earlier in the show.
Duluth, MN’s McLean Andrews claimed the “first-win-ever” honors by outdueling three-time ABC champ Paul Suzik in the 20-lap Harmony Wealth Management WISSOTA Midwest Modified A-main. Andrews, whose father Louie and uncle Marshall had raced at ABC in Street Stocks some 20 years ago, started inside on row 3 and took advantage of the race’s only restart early in the run before the battle with Suzik.
Polestarter Ryan Barningham was overrun by Suzik and James Vendela within a pair of laps before defending division champ Marcus Dunbar spun to draw the race’s only yellow flag. Andrews, who restarted fifth, used an outer-lane move to get around Evan Checkalski and Barningham to take third, as Suzik passed Vendela for the point.
On lap 7 Andrews dove low to get by Vendela for second, then chomped away at Suzik’s half-second advantage until he could slip low on the leader two laps after mid-race. Suzik returned the favor on lap 13, but Andrews fought back and took the point for good on lap 15. Andrews pushed his lead to well over half a second with two circuits remaining, but Suzik closed to within .355 seconds at the checkers as the lead pair negotiated slower traffic.
Vendela came home a distant third, with first-time visitor Blake Adams and Checkalski well back in fourth and fifth.
Certainly one of two candidates for the night’s “perseverance” award would have to be Pat Cook. The 2020 divisional champ from Washburn came from over a second back to track down and overtake the high-flying Mike Anderson in the Outlaw Wraps & Apparel WISSOTA Modified headliner.
Cook started on the pole but bobbled early, allowing Dunbar, Nick Oreskovich and Anderson to get by. Points leader Brandon Copp’s spin and damage after the first lap then set the stage for a wild restart in which Anderson, making a push for the front, got loose in the midst of heavy traffic, and in the mad scramble to avoid a massive pile-up Jake Hiatt slipped by to take second behind Dunbar, with Oreskovich escaping to third.
It didn’t take Anderson long to recover, however, regaining third by lap 6 and slipping past Hiatt a circuit later. At the mid-point of the 20-lapper Anderson had eliminated Dunbar’s three-quarter-second cushion and claimed pacesetting duties.
Cook methodically worked his way through the field and found himself in second on lap 12. He then dug deep into the low groove to find the traction he needed, while Anderson worked the perimeter, and within two laps the lead was under a second. With four laps left Cook and Anderson were side-by-side, and on lap 17 Cook edged ahead to stay, holding on to win his 13th career ABC feature, and sixth in a “big Mod,” by .624 seconds.
Hiatt was a distant third, just ahead of Jeff Spacek and Dunbar.
The other nominee for “perseverance” was DJ Keeler of Superior, who was challenged in just about every way possible by a host of drivers during the Superior Floral WISSOTA Super Stock feature to win for the first time here since June 1, 2019.
Polestarter Shawn McFadden was strong as he ran his preferred low line around the three-eighths-mile red-clay oval for the first few laps. But the outer line was faster for most of the Super Stocks, as proven by Keeler, Oreskovich and Steve Stuart each slipping by McFadden on laps 3, 5 and 6, respectively.
Terran Spacek’s spin on lap 9 brought about the race’s only caution, but once back underway the thrills began, as the lead trio threw one “slide-job” after another at each other for the first couple of laps back under green. But all that position-shuffling still left Keeler out front.
Former Red Clay Classic champ Curt Myers made the most of his first appearance here this year by working the low line to climb into the top-five during the latter half of the 20-lap run, and he got by Stuart for third on lap 14 and raced door-to-door with Oreskovich until clearing him on lap 17. Keeler was nearly a second up on that fight, but once in second Myers trimmed the lead down to less than a half-second under the white flag and less than a quarter-second at the checkers.
The win was just Keeler’s second at ABC in a Super Stock and fifth overall here. Oreskovich landed third, and Stuart’s fourth-place finish just in front of Matt Deragon puts Stuart one point ahead of Deragon in the season-long standings.
Bayfield’s Shane Basina was the only driver to record a repeat 2023 feature win, as he eventually dominated the Lightning Storm Graphics ABC Six-Cylinder field. Basina worked for it, though, as he was mired in thick traffic for much of the first half of the 15-lap run.
The Sixes recorded as many yellow-flag stoppages – three – as the other four features combined, with the first occurring right away when leader Austin Olby was spun on lap 1. A three-car get-together before the field could record another lap slowed the proceedings again, but over the next three laps Travis Swanson – who was in his first night behind the wheel since 2018 – scored the lead just ahead of Basina, Mathew Rohlfing, Dalton Truchon and Dale Coddington.
Jakob Bond, who was sent to the back for the Olby spin, was fighting his way to the front when contact with several other cars sent him nose-first into the turn 4 guardrail for the final stoppage on lap 5; the driver was unhurt. Swanson led the field back to the green but was overtaken by Basina a lap later, and from there Basina was not to be challenged, racing away to a winning margin of over four seconds for his second win this season and fifth of his career here.
Coddington worked his way past Swanson for second with five laps to go, while Truchon and Rohlfing followed in order, as second through fifth finished in close formation.
Tom Treviranus recorded the ABC Raceway’s first roll-over of the season during his Pure Stock heat. Treviranus was running third and coming to the checkers when his right-front wheel stuck in turn 4 and the car rolled once before stopping on its passenger-side door. Fortunately the driver was uninjured, but the car was not repairable for feature action.
On Saturday, July 15, the ABC Raceway will induct its ninth class into its Hall of Fame, with a special program to be presented by Zar’s Bar & Banquet Hall of Ashland. The seven inductees will be introduced during ceremonies to be held at intermission of the five-division race program.
The grandstand gates and pits will open at 5 pm on Saturday, with hot laps starting at 6:30 followed by the first green flag of the night at 7 pm. The ABC Raceway is located 3-1/2 miles south of Ashland on State Highway 13, then 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 the Raceway’s FaceBook page.
Results
Outlaw Wraps & Apparel WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Pat Cook, Washburn; Mike Anderson, Jim Falls; Jake Hiatt, Mason; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Justin Weinberger, Elk Mound; Cole Spacek, Phillips; Bill Byholm, Glidden; John Kallas, Hurley.
11: Brandon Copp, Brule.
Heat 1: J Spacek; Anderson; Dunbar; Oreskovich; Byholm; Kallas.
Heat 2: Hiatt; Copp; Cook; Weinberger; C Spacek.
Superior Floral WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: DJ Keeler, Superior; Curt Myers, Cameron; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Andrew Mackey, Duluth, MN; Darin Meierotto, Superior; Patrick Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Don Livingston, Washburn.
11-19: Rich Bishop, Ladysmith; Randy Graham, Trego; Jake Nevala, Ashland; Aaron Mashlan, Ashland; Dan Peterson, Foxboro; Myron Basina, Bayfield; Rita Anderson, South Range; Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Terran Spacek, Phillips.
Heat 1: Deragon; Oreskovich; Meierotto; Mackey; Livingston; Basina; Nevala.
Heat 2: Spacek; Stuart; McFadden; Bishop; Mashlan; C Anderson.
Heat 3: Myers; Keeler; Beeksma; Graham; Peterson; R Anderson.
Harmony Wealth Management WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: McLean Andrews, Duluth, MN; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI; James Vendela, South Range; Blake Adams, Cameron; Evan Checkalski, Duluth, MN; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Jesse Polson, Superior; Ryan Barningham, Bayfield; Matt Jacobson, Bessemer, MI; Cory Jorgensen, Duluth, MN.
11-17: Judd Skubal, Rhinelander; Neil Dees, Hurley; Bryan Lund, Ashland; Jesse Young, Stone Lake; Tanner Hicks, Ashland; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Mitch Kieber, Rhinelander.
Heat 1: Suzik; Barningham; Checkalski; Adams; Jacobson; Jorgensen; Skubal; Dees; Young.
Heat 2: Andrews; Dunbar; Kieber; Vendela; Hicks; Ripley; Polson; Lund.
Patsy’s Bar & Grill WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Brent Mindock, Prentice; Ryan Olson, Ladysmith; George Richards, Mondovi; Travis Hazelton, Chippewa Falls; Devin Fries, Phillips; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Dylan Shelton, Hermantown, MN; Katlin Pritzl, Park Falls; Keegan Kough, Proctor, MN; Tyler Kachinske, Duluth, MN.
11-15: Brandon Hummelmeier, Ashland; Ryan Kough, Isabella, MN; Kristy Rose, Duluth, MN; Don Cain, Park Falls; Jonny Nowak, Proctor, MN.
Heat 1: Mindock; Olson; Richards; Fries; K Kough; R Kough; Rose; Kachinske.
Heat 2: Hazelton; Shelton; Tom Treviranus, Hawthorne; Bernick; Pritzl; Nowak; Hummelmeier; Cain.
Lightning Storm Graphics ABC Six-Cylinders
Feature: 1-10: Shane Basina, Bayfield; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Travis Swanson, Washburn; Dalton Truchon, Ashland; Mathew Rohlfing, Cable; Austin Olby, Ashland; Trenton Bond, Mason; Cameron Bond, Mason; Alex Bond, Iron River; Brad Hanson, Glidden.
11-13: Chris Bretting, Washburn; Cody Eichmann, Park Falls; Jakob Bond, Mason.
Heat 1: Basina; J Bond; C Bond; Coddington; Bretting; A Bond; Eichmann; Jimmy Stearns, Superior.
Heat 2: Truchon; Olby; Rohlfing; Swanson; T Bond; Hanson; Adam Traaholt, Ashland.