'Little A' Wins Big Uotinen sweeps in mods, supers at ABC By Nick Gima

July 2, 2005; Ashland, WI: Al Uotinen was just having one of those kind of nights.

Uotinen, of Superior, won every race he entered - heats and features in both the WISSOTA modified and super stock divisions - on Saturday night during the ABC Raceway' Kids' Meet the Drivers Night presented by Little Caesar's Pizza, which also featured an appearance by the Minnesota-based Northern Vintage Stockcar Racers club, in a show that saw a season-high 117 cars.

Uotinen trailed at a distance in third as Mike Duhr slipped ahead of Scott Lawrence for the super stock feature lead, but by lap 4 Uotinen pulled alongside Lawrence to wrestle second away, and by the halfway point he was using the low groove to challenge Duhr. At the midpoint of the 20-lapper Scott Weber's spin brought out the first caution slowdown, and two laps
after the restart Uotinen slipped inside on Duhr and assumed the lead, and after one more yellow flag for Rob Erickson's flat tire and spin on lap 14, Uotinen pulled away to a comfortable win, his second of the season in the super at Ashland. Duhr held off Lawrence for his best finish of the season here, while fellow heat winners Ron Hmielewski and Ken Truscott completed the top five.

Uotinen, the defending track modified champ, then jumped into his familiar blue mod and started in the same spot in that feature - inside on row 2. Again he waited in third as Jeff Spacek swept around a surprisingly strong Kent Baxter for the early lead. After a lap 5 spin by Ross Lightner, Uotinen and Bill Byholm joined the battle up front, and Uotinen took second just before a two-car spin on lap 7. From there Uotinen used the inside line again to take the lead from Spacek and stayed there the rest of the way, despite Byholm's late threats, for his 20th career feature win at ABC and third of the season.

Spacek survived a near-disaster late in the run when he tried to go around a slowing Dan Sellung, who was hoping to exit the track off turn 1. Spacek dynamited the brakes as Sellung turned right into his path and spun backwards into the water barrels protecting the edge of the turn 1 guardrail but retained minimal damage. He restarted the race and swapped third with Dean Yrjanainen before finishing fourth. Baxter completed the top five. Veteran driver Duane Dunbar, who has raced sporadically over the past five years, debuted a WISSOTA street stock a week ago and took it to victory lane Saturday night for his 17th career Ashland win but first since July 1997.

Dunbar took the early lead from Pete Paulus at the drop of the green and led the entire 15 laps, maintaining that lead through four restarts. Paulus stayed withing striking distance but was unable to mount a challenge and finished second, while the big story came when points leader and class dominator Larry Haderly dropped from third with a failing car in the final
laps, scoring eighth in the final rundown for his first finish out of the top five in a feature since August 2003. Cory Casari hung around the front most of the race and took third, ahead of first-nighter Butch Kummer and Rob Weber.

Steve Stuart returned to the winner's circle after a frustrating last couple of weeks for his second six-cylinder feature win this season. After a lap 1 caution for Chris Lustig's spin, which collected five other cars, Stuart swept around early race leader Andy Grymala on lap 2 and dominated from there, overcoming three more yellow flags for the sixth win of his ABC
Raceway career. The rest of the field succumbed to Dale Coddington, who started tenth but used an higher line to sweep his way to second, albeit too late to do anything with Stuart, and pull into a tie for the points lead with Greg Jaeger, who finished fifth. Don Weber finished a solid third, just in front of Pat Cook.

Kevin Eder enjoyed his first-ever pure stock feature win so much last week that he duplicated the feat this week, although this time it was much more difficult. Chad Carlson held the early lead as Eder worked his way up his row 3 start, but by lap 6 Eder overtook Carlson for the lead with Kevin Truchon in tow. With two laps remaining Truchon moved inside on Eder and was about to take the lead away as the white flag was about to wave, but he slowed with a flat tire and faded to a tenth-place finish, while Eder went the rest of the way uncontested for the win. New points leader Jim Eliason moved up to second at the final stripe, ahead of Carlson, Ricky Davis and Tom Morinville.

In the full-bodied vintage car feature Jeremy Young took his 1946 Plymouth coupe to victory, while Gary Whipple¹s 1937 Chevrolet was tops in the super-mod feature win. Sixteen vintage racers performed for the fans. Winners in the bike giveaways included Megan Pralles, Paul Brenpaulen, Emily Brooks, Donald Jarvenpaa, Owen Ryskey and Mariah Westland.

The Raceway wishes to extend its thanks to Little Caesar's Pizza, McFadden Racing, Stuart Racing, Traaholt Racing, Americinn of Ashland, Spacek Racing, Taitt Racing, Dees Racing and Cloverland Motors and Rentals for the many giveaway items for the kids.

Racing resumes on Saturday (or whenever) for (event). "Racenight Live" will air from 5-6:30 pm Saturday (or whenever) 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: Al Uotinen, Superior; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Bill Byholm, Glidden.
Heat 2: Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Kent Baxter, Dorchester; Paul Niznik, Medford.
Feature: Uotinen; Byholm; Yrjanainen; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Baxter; Scott Hudack, Ashland; Hartman; Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford; Ross Lightner, Washburn; Rick Przybylski, Ashland.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Wayne Stricker, Highbridge.
Heat 2: Ron Hmielewski, Ashland; Greg Kuklenski, Ironwood, MI; Shawn McFadden, Ashland.
Heat 3: Al Uotinen, Superior; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Mike Duhr, Hazelhurst.
Feature: Uotinen; Duhr; Lawrence; Hmielewski; Truscott; Spacek; Kuklenski; Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Rick Rivord, Superior; McFadden.

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Larry Haderly, Marengo; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Pete Paulus, Phillips.
Heat 2: Roger Walker, Phillips; Butch Kummer, Medford; Mark Schuenemann, Boulder Junction.
Feature: Duane Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Paulus; Cory Casari, Hurley; Kummer; Rob Weber, Bayfield; Walker; Schuenemann; Haderly; Anderson; Clay Passuello, Ironwood, MI.

Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Pat Cook, Washburn; Steve Tesch, Prentice; Don Weber, Bayfield.
Heat 2: Andy Grymala, Superior; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Brent Brevak, Ashland.
Heat 3: Dale Coddington, Hayward; Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Chris Lustig, Ashland.
Semi-Feature: Brian Nevala, Ashland; Adam Jack, Washburn; Brandle Pupp, Ashland.
Feature: Steve Stuart, Ashland; Coddington; Weber; Cook; Jaeger; Tesch; Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen; Tyykila; Dan Mihalek, Ashland; Steve Walston, Marengo.

Pure Stocks
Heat 1: Jim Eliason, Ashland; Kevin Truchon, Ashland; Kevin Eder, Ashland.
Heat 2: Tom Morinville, Duluth, MN; Ricky Davis, Bruno, MN; Chad Carlson, Superior.
Feature: Eder; Eliason; Carlson; Davis; Morinville; Scott Niemi, Bessemer, MI; Jim Laessig, Wakefield, MI; Bruce Kalmon, Ashland; Nathan Dees, Ironwood, MI; Truchon.

Northern Vintage Stock Cars
Heat 1: Mike Emerson, New Richmond; Tom Stettner, Newport, MN; Marv Lindquist, Minore.
Heat 2: Greg Manor, Chippewa Falls; George Shields, Cameron; Gary Whipple, Crosby, MN.
Feature 1: Jeremy Young, Cameron; Stettner; Emerson; Lindquist; Mike Liegman, Randolph, MN; Lonnie Grottjahn, Nelson; Dan Herold, Nelson; John Timmerman, New Richmond; Bob Root, Washburn.
Feature 2: Whipple; Rick Lipinski, New Richmond; Shields; Manor; Rick Birkland, St. Cloud, MN; Kevin Lipski, New Richmond.