Spacek Boys, First-Timers Star at ABC By Nick Gima

June 25, 2005; Ashland, WI: - Brothers Jeff and Randy Spacek each earned feature wins Saturday night, while two other drivers collected their first-ever feature wins at the ABC Raceway during a five-division race program of 108 cars presented by the area¹s NAPA Auto Parts stores. 

Photo Highlights

Wayne Stricker (12s) tries desparately to fend off the strong challeng of Randy Spacek during the WISSOTA super stock feature at the ABC Raceway in Ashland on Saturday night. Spacek prevailed on a late-race restart to win for the second week in a row at Ashland.

Older brother Jeff chased polesitter Paul Niznik for much of the first half of the fast-paced modified feature before slipping by for the lead on lap 8. Dean Yrjanainen followed Spacek's lead and closely chased him into lapped traffic, but he got caught up behind a slower car and lost valuable ground. From there Spacek cruised around the high line of the track to his first feature win of the year here and 37th of his career. Yrjanainen's second-place run moved him to the top of the points chart, as previous leader Bill Byholm dropped out with mechanical issues and finished 16th. Al Uotinen followed the leaders at a distance in third, Luke Schilling finished a strong fourth and Niznik held off Jerry Hartman for fifth.

Younger brother Randy Spacek pulled off his second late-race pass for the super stock feature win in as many weeks. Spacek, who started ninth, swapped the runner-up spot with Greg Kuklenski and Todd Bonney several times behind race-long leader Wayne Stricker, until he finally secured the position in the final third of the race. Spacek then closed on Stricker but was unable to move by until, just like last week, a caution came out as the white flag was about to wave, for Scott Lawrence's overheated motor. Just after taking the green again, contact caused Stricker to bobble just enough
to allow Spacek an opening, and once in front he ran away for his second win of the season and 27th of his career while strengthening his points lead. Bonney also took advantage of Stricker's heartbreak to secure second, while Kuklenski and Canadian Rick Simpson followed Stricker to complete the top five.

The street stock feature started off with a four-wide move that resulted in Cory Casari leading after one lap, and Casari held off Steve Anderson through a couple more restarts until Anderson made a move for the lead, and Casari pressed too much to withstand the challenge and spun in front of the remaining field. From there newcomer Jared Loos, in his first-ever
appearance here and fresh off a feature win the night before in Unity, worked the low side to pass Anderson and survive two more caution slowdowns to pull away to a three car-length win over Anderson. Trevor Wilson was in the mix for the lead until late and took third, and points leader Larry Haderly worked hard to get by streeter rookie Dan Kingsley for fourth. The other first-time winner was Kevin Eder, who pulled away from rookie Marty Passuello early and walked away with his first-ever pure stock feature win. Another rookie, Chad Carlson, held on as long as he could before dropping back to fourth behind heavy-hitters Kevin Truchon and Al Rapp, who crossed under the checkers a distant second and third, respectively. Passuello came home a solid fifth. Rapp assumed the points lead with his run, as previous leader Jim Eliason struggled in mid-pack traffic and ended up tenth.

Dale Coddington appeared in victory lane for the first time this year after a hard-fought battle for the win with Pat Cook in the six-cylinder feature. Coddington threatened several times to take the lead from Cook, only to have the passes negated by yellow flags, until he finally secured the lead on lap 7 of 15 with an outside pass. Once in front Coddington pulled away for his second career win here, while Steve Stuart overtook Cook late in the run for second. Chris Lustig ran third for most of the go before settling for fourth, and Steve Tesch, who threatened for a top-three finish with some strong outside moves, fell back to fifth in the final laps. Points leader Greg Jaeger took sixth.

Racing resumes on Saturday for Kids' Meet the Drivers Night presented by Little Caesar's Pizza, with special exhibition races by the Minnesota-based Northern Vintage Race Car Club. "Racenight Live' will air from 5-6 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: Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Al Uotinen, Superior; Scott Hudack, Ashland.
Heat 2: Kevin Monteith, Thunder Bay, Ont.; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Bill Byholm, Glidden.
Feature: Spacek; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Uotinen; Luke Schilling, Granton; Paul Niznik, Medford; Hartman; Ross Lightner, Washburn; Hudack; Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford; Steve Kieber, Ironwood, MI.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Al Uotinen, Superior; Rick Rivord, Superior; Chuck Metzger, Hayward.
Heat 2: Rick Simpson, Thunder Bay, Ont.; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Greg Kuklenski, Ironwood, MI.
Heat 3: Randy Spacek, Phillips; Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Mike Duhr, Hazelhurst.
Feature: Spacek; Todd Bonney, Bayfield; Wayne Stricker, Highbridge; Kuklenski; Simpson; Rivord; Uotinen; Truscott; Duhr; Doug Woodhull, Jr., Solon Springs.

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Cory Casari, Hurley; Bill Muhlig, Ironwood, MI.
Heat 2: Trevor Wilson, Superior; Jared Loos, Loyal; Dan Kingsley, Duluth, MN.
Heat 3: Tim Baum, Superior; Larry Haderly, Marengo; Kirk Bogdonovic, Phillips.
Feature: Loos; Anderson; Wilson; Haderly; Kingsley; Rob Weber, Bayfield; Bogdonovic; Casari; Duane Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Kory Jolliff, Mass City,  MI.

Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Pat Cook, Washburn; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen.
Heat 2: Don Weber, Bayfield; Steve Tesch, Prentice; Scott Ovaska, Marengo.
Heat 3: Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Steve Walston, Marengo; Dale Coddington, Hayward.
Feature: Coddington; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Cook; Chris Lustig, Ashland; Tesch; Jaeger; Walston; Hawkinson; Weber; Brent Brevak, Ashland.

Pure Stocks
Heat 1: Jim Eliason, Ashland; Ricky Davis, Bruno, MN; Glenn Dammer, Duluth, MN.
Heat 2: Al Rapp, Duluth, MN; Kevin Truchon, Ashland; Kevin Eder, Ashland.
Heat 3: Bruce Kalmon, Ashland; Chad Carlson, Superior; Marty Passuello, Ironwood, MI.
Feature: Eder; Truchon; Rapp; Carlson; Passuello; Dammer; Davis; Tom Morinville, Duluth, MN; Don Bush, Washburn; Eliason.