Yrjanainen Reaches Milestone Win, Haderly Stays Hot at ABC! By Nick Gima

May 28, 2005; Ashland, WI: -   Veteran modified driver Dean Yrjanainen reached a milestone with his 60th career feature victory during Miller Lite Night at the Races Saturday at the ABC Raceway. With several area tracks cancelling
due to wet weather, 106 drivers made their way to Ashland to race under cloudy but rain-free skies.

    Yrjanainen swept cleanly into the lead two laps into the 20-lap mod
feature, going around fellow former track champs Jeff Spacek and Don Copp with a three-wide move out of turn 4. Copp came back to challenge low, and several times the two crossed the start-finish line side by side and dead even, before Yrjanainen drew slowly away just past the halfway point. Copp lost second to Spacek soon thereafter, and then visiting Darrell Nelson used
a last-lap move to swipe second from Spacek. Bill Byholm also charged late to take fourth from Copp.

    Yrjanainen is only the second driver in track history to reach the 60-win plateau, behind only super stocker Greg Kuklenski (72 wins).

    Larry Haderly sent a strong message to the street stock field at Ashland that he has every intention of defending his class championship, by taking his second feature in as many weeks. Haderly moved inside on early leader Steve Anderson on lap 1 and was never headed, but unlike last week, Haderly had strong challenges from Roger Walker after two late restarts. Walker, however, slowed with a flat tire on the next-to-last lap, giving second back to Anderson, and Haderly raced to a five car-length win. Tim Baum's strong third-place run was just better than 2004 street stock rookie of the year
Cory Casari and 2003 track champ Trevor Wilson.

    Ken Truscott survived several late-race restarts and threats from a handful of drivers for his first super stock feature win of the season. Truscott stormed to a solid ten-car lead during the first half of the 20-lapper, while Shawn McFadden tussled with Destin Lorimor. Once by Lorimor, however, McFadden reeled Truscott in quickly, and he may have had
the momentum to steal the win had it not been for a series of caution slowdowns with six laps left, as the field just couldn¹t get restarted due to spins and crack-ups. Officials called for a green-white-checkered finish, and after a couple of tries at that, Truscott led McFadden to the line. Scott Lawrence, who had a couple of passes for second recalled by the late
yellows, edged Lorimor at the line for third, and Randy Spacek quietly climbed through the field for a top-five finish.

    Steve Stuart fought his way by early leader Ken Truscott - twice - then outran the field for his first six-cylinder A-main win of '05. The first pass for the point was negated by a yellow flag on lap 4, so Stuart did the outside move again after the restart and pulled away at the mid-race signal. The field drew back to him again for a restart with five circuits left, but
he was able to keep a charging Chuck Hawkinson at bay. Hawkinson's second-place run moved him to the front of the points chase, while Tyykila held on for third in front of a swarm of cars that included Greg Jaeger in fourth and Steve Walston in fifth.

    Again the pure stocks provided one of the best finishes of the night in their feature, as the top four crossed in close formation. Kevin Truchon swiped the early lead from the pole and, after early challenger John Kallas dropped from the event on lap 4, pulled away from Al Rapp. But Rapp snookered Truchon on a lap 9 restart and Truchon slipped back, only to recover and, coming out of turn 4 with the checkered flag in the air, slipped inside on Rapp and edged him at the line. Ricky Davis did likewise to last week's winner Jim Eliason for third, and Bruce Kalmon was close behind the lead pack in fifth.

    Racing resumes on Saturday for Kids' Meet the Drivers Night, presented by Little Caesar's Pizza. "Racenight Live" will air from 5-6:30 pm Saturday on WJJH, 96.7 & 102.3 FM, with raceday news and weather updates. The ABC
Raceway is located three miles south of Ashland on Highway 13, then one mile west on Butterworth Road. For more information, visit the track website at <www.abcraceway.com> or call (715) 682-4990 for raceday information.

Results

WISSOTA Modifieds
    Heat 1: Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Darrell Nelson, Hermantown, MN; Al Uotinen, Superior.
    Heat 2: Rick Przybylski, Ashland; Bill Byholm, Glidden; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon.
    Feature: Yrjanainen; Nelson; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Byholm; Don Copp, Brule; Uotinen; Scott Hudack, Ashland; Hartman; Clint Larson, Cloquet, MN; Przybylski.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
    Heat 1: Mike Duhr, Hazelhurst; Todd Bonney, Bayfield; Donnie Lofdahl, Proctor, MN.
    Heat 2: Scott Lawrence, Superior; Al Uotinen, Superior; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI.
    Heat 3: Destin Lorimor, Superior; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Shawn McFadden, Ashland.
    Feature: Truscott; McFadden; Lawrence; Lorimor; Spacek; Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Lofdahl; Kyle Peterlin, Hibbing, MN; Bonney; Rob Erickson, Bayfield.

WISSOTA Street Stocks
    Heat 1: Roger Walker, Phillips; Larry Haderly, Marengo; Randy Vezina, Duluth, MN.
    Heat 2: Cory Casari, Hurley; Rob Weber, Washburn; Tim Baum, Superior.
    Feature:Haderly; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Baum; Casari; Trevor Wilson, Superior; Pete Paulus, Phillips; Walker; John Fetzer, Eagle River; Dan Kingsley, Duluth, MN; Weber.

Six-Cylinders
    Heat 1: Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Nick Oreskovich, Mason.
    Heat 2: Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Shawn McFadden, Jr., Ashland; Brent Brevak, Ashland.
    Heat 3: Steve Stuart, Ashland; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Steve Tesch, Prentice.
    Semi-Feature: Andy Grymala, Superior; Mike McKay, Highbridge; Dan Mihalek, Ashland.
    Feature: Stuart; Hawkinson; Tyykila; Jaeger; Steve Walston, Marengo; Pat Cook, Washburn; Coddington; Tesch; Scott Ovaska, Marengo; Oreskovich.

Pure Stocks
    Heat 1: Tom Morinville, Duluth, MN; Kevin Truchon, Ashland; Ricky Davis, Bruno, MN.
    Heat 2: Al Rapp, Duluth, MN; Bruce Kalmon, Ashland; Jim Eliason, Ashland.
    Feature: Truchon; Rapp; Davis; Eliason; Kalmon; Dustin Novak, Mellen; Scott Niemi, Bessemer, MI; Don Bush, Washburn; Rob Ganson, Washburn; Brett Rondeau, Cable.