Points Leaders Pad Their Advantages in ABC Action By Nick Gima

Ashland, WI, August 13, 2005 -- All five of the ABC Raceway’s divisional points leaders added to their advantages during Ladies’ Night racing action Saturday night.

In WISSOTA super stock action Paul Erikson won his first-ever races at the Ashland track, collecting a heat win and the feature honors. Erikson scrapped with Ken Truscott and Ron Hmielewski early before establishing himself as the race leader in a fast-paced affair that was slowed only once, by a lap 5 Chuck Schmidt spin. After Hmielewski bobbled and fell back after the restart Scott Lawrence joined Erikson and Truscott in a three-car battle for the win that distanced itself from the rest of the pack, and Lawrence and Truscott swapped second place three times in one lap before Lawrence eventually claimed the position, but by that time Erikson had built a five car-length lead that he maintained to the checkered flag.

Lawrence’s third runner-up finish in the past four weeks boosted his lead to 14 points over Randy Spacek, who finished sixth, while Truscott followed Lawrence closely in third. Greg Kuklinski landed a fourth-place paycheck, while Hmielewski recovered to claim fifth.

Roger Walker followed up a WISSOTA street stock feature win Friday night in Unity with his first of the year here Saturday night. Walker won the drag race into turn 1 on the initial start and led every one of the 15 laps, although Rob Weber was persistent early. But Weber lost the runner-up spot to Cory Casari after a lap 5 restart, and Casari challenged Walker over the next several laps until finally succumbing to Tim Baum on the white-flag lap.

Larry Haderly added to his points lead with a fourth-place run, followed by standings runner-up Steve Anderson.
John Kallas drove the car he co-races with Mike Huff to his first-ever pure stock feature win and second ABC A-main win of his career. Kallas, who was also impressive in winning his heat, took the lead from Ricky Davis on lap 4 and pulled away from the second-place battle between Davis and points leader Jim Eliason on his way to the win, as the 15-lapper ran non-stop.

Eliason’s third-place run was good enough to boost his points lead to 23 over the team car of Dick Bridge and Al Rapp, which Bridge drove to an eighth-place finish. Third-in-points Kevin Eder closed the gap between himself and second place in the standings slightly with a fourth-place run, a few car-lengths ahead of rookie Marty Passuello.

It was the six-cylinders’ turn to struggle with their feature run, as it took three tries and over 14 minutes to officially complete a lap. But once the field got some green-flag racing in, Pat Cook slipped past polesitter Nick Oreskovich and fought off several determined challenges to win his first feature since opening night. Cook first had to hold off the outside-riding Steve Stuart until Stuart’s car broke following a mid-race restart, and then he outran a heated battle for second in which divisional leader Greg Jaeger edged out Chuck Hawkinson, who moved into second in the standings.
Modified driver Jerry Hartman took Brian Nevala’s six-cylinder from a dead-last start to a fourth-place finish, and defending champion Ron Swanson took fifth.

Points leader Al Uotinen continued his late-season surge with his second straight WISSOTA modified feature win. Uotinen overtook early leader Ross Lightner after some early laps of tight racing, then traded the lead with second-in-points Jeff Spacek while finding plenty of bite on his preferred bottom groove.

On lap 12 of the 20-lapper Scott Hudack came to a stop with a damaged car, after which Dean Yrjanainen moved up to challenge Uotinen, and the duo engaged in a classic side-by-side battle for the win until Yrjanainen’s car popped out of gear coming out of turn 4 to take the white flag. Uotinen ran the final lap uncontested for his track-best sixth feature win of 2005, while Yrjanainen held off a strong run by Darrell Carlson for runner-up honors.

Robby Bunkelman claimed fourth place in the mod main, while Lightner was impressive with a top-five finish.
In the “powder puff” races held at the conclusion of the program, Joy Wester was the top finisher in the street stocks, Laura Lee Janzig finished first in the pure stocks, and Gina Broeniman beat Terrie Stuart by less that two feet in the six-cylinders.
Action continues on Saturday with Heartland Communications Night at the Races. Hot laps start at 6:30 and racing begins 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.

Notes: Several non-ABC regular drivers have made recent appearances here in an attempt to gather information for their visits at the Red Clay Classic on Sept. 30-Oct. 1. On Saturday Ladysmith’s Eric Olson was on hand and earned a tenth-place run in the super stock feature.

Others who have turned laps here in recent weeks include two-time RCC super stock champ Rich Bishop of New Richmond, Canadian super stock pilot Jean-Guy Fortin, and modified campaigners Kevin Rogers of Unity and Shawn Kreyer of Hayward.

On Saturday, third-year six-cylinder racer Brent Brevak turned his first competitive laps in a new super stock, which he may turn into a full-time ride beginning with the upcoming September invitationals. The car suffered damage during hot laps and Brevak missed the call for his heat, but he brought it out for the feature and finished a respectable 17th.
Other drivers anticipated to make the move from sixes to supers include Steve Stuart and Chuck Hawkinson, although neither has announced timeframes for their jumps to the competitive WISSOTA division.

Results

WISSOTA Modifieds
Heat 1: Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Darrell Carlson, Superior; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI.
Heat 2: Ross Lightner, Washburn; Al Uotinen, Superior; John Frydrych, Butternut.
Feature: Uotinen; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Carlson; Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford; Lightner; Hartman; Bill Byholm, Glidden; Spacek; Kelly Checkalski, South Range; Mike Sauvola, Iron River.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Ron Hmielewski, Washburn; Wayne Stricker, Highbridge; Terry Kroening, Colby.
Heat 2: Randy Spacek, Phillips; Bob D’Antonio, Ironwood, MI; Joe Oliver, Superior.
Heat 3: Paul Erikson, Abbotsford; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Mike Duhr, Hazelhurst.
Feature: Erikson; Lawrence; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Greg Kuklinski, Ironwood, MI; Hmielewski; Spacek; Stricker; Oliver; Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Eric Olson, Ladysmith.

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Kirk Bogdonovic, Phillips; Roger Walker, Phillips; Larry Haderly, Marengo.
Heat 2: Tim Baum, Superior; Rob Weber, Washburn; Duane Dunbar, Marenisco, MI.
Feature: Walker; Baum; Cory Casari, Hurley; Haderly; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Weber; Dunbar; Justin Paulsen, Ironwood, MI; Pete Paulus, Phillips; Bogdonovic.

Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Ron Swanson, Ashland; Steve Stuart, Ashland.
Heat 2: Adam Jack, Washburn; Shawn McFadden, Jr., Ashland; Chris Lustig, Ashland.
Heat 3: Pat Cook, Washburn; Tim Beeksma, Ashland; Nick Oreskovich, Mason.
Feature: Cook; Jaeger; Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Swanson; Scott Ovaska, Marengo; Chris Lustig, Ashland; Brent Brevak, Ashland; McFadden; Andy Grymala, Superior.

Pure stocks
Heat 1: John Kallas, Hurley; Jim Eliason, Ashland; Tom Morinville, Duluth, MN.
Heat 2: Dick Bridge, Superior; Ricky Davis, Bruno, MN; Kevin Eder, Ashland.
Feature: Kallas; Davis; Eliason; Eder; Marty Passuello, Ironwood, MI; Morinville; Bruce Kalmon, Ashland; Bridge; Jim Laessig, Wakefield, MI; Scott Niemi, Bessemer, MI.