Casari Defends ABC Pure Stock Special Title By Nick Gima

July 16, 2005; Ashland, WI:  - Cory Casari dusted off his championship-winning pure stock one more time, then dusted the competition Saturday night to win his second trophy in the ABC Raceway’s second annual Pure Stock Special. The event drew 35 pure stockers out of the 117 total cars for a purse in excess of $3,000, thanks to fan and business contributions.

After a lap 4 caution, a strong Ryan Olson, who started in row 8, led track points leader Jim Eliason. Casari restarted third but moved past Eliason before a lap 8 slowdown, then raced door to door with Olson - often rubbing doors - and exchanged the lead three times in one lap until Olson gained a slight advantage.

But Olson suddenly slowed and stopped on lap 14 of 20, handing the lead for good to Casari. Despite a final caution on lap 16 for a three-car tangle, Eliason had nothing for the smooth-running Casari, who has won the past two division titles here and last year’s inaugural Pure Stock Special, while Al Rapp followed at a distance in third, just ahead of Ricky Davis and visiting Jason Ziells.

In modified action, Al Uotinen took over the points lead after working his favored inside groove to the feature win. In the non-stop 20-lapper Uotinen patiently waited behind a dogfight for the lead between Jerry Hartman and Robby Bunkelman until the low groove opened up; from there Uotinen gradually moved into the lead running the low line and pulled away. Bunkelman followed at a distance for a season-best runner-up finish here, while Jeff Spacek, after a slow start, claimed a distant third. Paul Niznik also moved past a fading Hartman for fourth.

Scott Lawrence may have finally found his rhythm at Ashland, outrunning a strong Darin Meierotto for his second straight super stock feature win here. Lawrence caught and passed Joe Oliver for the lead just before a caution flag flew at the halfway point of the 20-lapper, then led as the last ten laps ran off uninterrupted, running the inside groove. Meierotto climbed through traffic into second place with less than six laps remaining but trailed Lawrence by too much to challenge. Oliver held on for third, while Uotinen took fourth from Todd Bonney in the closing laps.

Larry Haderly recorded his second straight sweep in street stock action and may have put the points chase out of reach. Haderly got caught up in two separate incidents early and was mired deep in the field, but he clawed his way back to take third from points runner-up Steve Anderson, then second from Justin Paulsen before mid-race. After Paulsen spun on lap 7, Haderly slipped past a loose Randy Vezina and continued on to his track-best fourth feature win of the season. Anderson trailed at the stripe, ahead of Duane Dunbar, Vezina and Mark Schuenemann.

Greg Jaeger also solidified his points lead by collecting his second six-cylinder feature win of ‘05. After the race’s lone restart on lap 4 Jaeger came from fifth to take the lead from Don Weber on lap 10 of 15 and pulled away, while Weber held off a strong Brent Brevak, Steve Stuart and Chuck Hawkinson in the top five.

Action continues on Saturday with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7 pm. “Racenight” airs live from the track from 5-6 pm on WJJH, 96.7 and 102.3 FM, with on-track news and weather updates. The ABC Raceway is located three miles south of Ashland on State Highway 13 and one mile west on Butterworth Road. For more information, call the track on racedays at (715) 682-4990 or log on to the track’s website at www.abcraceway.com.

Results

WISSOTA Modifieds
Heat 1: Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Darrell Carlson, Superior; Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford.
Heat 2: Al Uotinen, Superior; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon.
Feature: Uotinen; Bunkelman; Spacek; Paul Niznik, Medford; Hartman; Ross Lightner; Rick Rivord, Superior; John Frydrych, Butternut; Mike Sauvola, Iron River; Scott Hudack, Ashland.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Scott Lawrence, Superior; Joew Oliver, Superior; Ron Hmielewski, Washburn.
Heat 2: Al Uotinen, Superior; Greg Kuklenski, Ironwood, MI; Randy Silverness, Jr., Superior.
Heat 3: Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Darin Meierotto, Ashland.
Feature: Lawrence; Meierotto; Oliver; Uotinen; Todd Bonney, Bayfield; Kuklenski; Silverness; McFadden; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Rick Rivord, Superior.

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Larry Haderly, Marengo; Cory Casari, Hurley; Justin Paulsen, Ironwood, MI.
Heat 2: Randy Vezina, Duluth, MN; Butch Kummer, Medford; Duane Dunbar, Marenisco, MI.
Feature: Haderly; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Dunbar; Vezina; Mark Schuenemann, Boulder Junction; Shane Kisling, Rice Lake; Casari; Pete Paulus, Phillips; Rob Weber, Washburn; Tim Baum, Superior.

Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Steve Stuart, Ashland; Brent Brevak, Ashland; Scott Ovaska, Marengo.
Heat 2: Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen; Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI.
Heat 3: Don Weber, Bayfield; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Dan Mihalek, Ashland.
Semi-Feature: Chris Lustig, Ashland; Shawn McFadden, Jr., Ashland; Adam Traaholt, Ashland.
Feature: Jaeger; Weber; Brevak; Stuart; Hawkinson; Nick Oreskovich; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Tim Beeksma, Ashland; Mihalek; Andy Grymala, Superior.

Pure stocks
Heat 1: Al Rapp, Duluth, MN; Dustin Novak, Mellen; Ricky Davis, Bruno, MN.
Heat 2: Jim Eliason, Ashland; Mike Huff, Hurley; Cory Casari, Hurley.
Heat 3: Tom Morinville, Duluth, MN; Rick Kesty, Cloquet, MN; Chad Carlson, Superior.
Heat 4: Glenn Dammer, Duluth, MN; Kevin Truchon, Ashland; Jason Rockwell, Duluth, MN.
Semi-Feature 1: Bruce Kalmon, Ashland; Jim Laessig, Wakefield, MI; Nathan Dees, Ironwood, MI.
Semi-Feature 2: Scott Niemi, Bessemer, MI; Alan Price, Saginaw, MN; Brett Rondeau, Cable.
Feature: Casari; Eliason; Rapp; Davis; Jason Ziells, Cloquet, MN; Kesty; Kevin Eder, Ashland; Price; Cory Jorgenson, Hermantown, MN; Huff.