Stricker Earns First Career Feature Win at ABC By Nick Gima

Ashland, WI, August 20, 2005 -- Wayne Stricker of Highbridge worked hard to earn his long-awaited first career feature win Saturday night during Heartland Communications Night at the Races at the ABC Raceway.
Stricker pulled away from a wild battle for second between points leader Scott Lawrence and Greg Kuklinski early in the non-stop WISSOTA super stock 20-lap feature, and he looked to have things well in hand until he caught slower traffic just past mid-race. As Stricker slowed to put Gordy Maki a lap down, Lawrence - who was as much as half a straightaway in arrears to the leader - drew to Stricker’s rear bumper, and he spent the final five laps sticking a nose under Stricker’s left-rear quarter panel in an effort to slip into the lead.

In the final corner Lawrence took one last shot at the win, grabbing the infield marker tires with his car’s left-front tire, but Stricker got a better bite out of the middle groove in turn 4 and held on for the popular win. Lawrence’s fourth runner-up finish in five weeks boosted his lead in the standings to 15 points, while Kuklinski was close behind in third. At a distance fourth-place Bob D’Antonio was impressive in his second night out this season, while second-in-points Randy Spacek held on for fifth.

Steve Anderson, whose solid 2005 WISSOTA street stock season has been overshadowed by the phenomenal campaign of defending champ Larry Haderly, gained some ground on the points leader with his first feature win of the season, while Haderly had to overcome a disqualification in his heat to climb through the feature field.

Anderson led Tim Baum early and the two pulled away from the pack. Just before the halfway point of the 15-lapper Cory Casari captured third from Butch Kummer, and just after the midpoint the only yellow flag of the race was thrown for Rob Weber’s car, which had been smoking badly for several laps and finally caught fire.

Anderson led the final laps while fending off Baum and Casari, while Pete Paulus claimed fourth at the pay window a ways back, Haderly slipped through a wild last-corner scramble that started when Kummer spun in traffic, and his fifth-place finish saved him some valuable points, as his lead was trimmed to 27 heading into next week’s season finale.
Bill Byholm thrilled the crowd with a last-corner pass of Jeff Spacek to win his fifth WISSOTA modified feature of the season at Ashland and second of the weekend, after winning at Superior on Friday. Spacek had taken the lead from Darrell Carlson early in the 20-lapper, after Carlson had fought off several challenges from an impressive Kelly Checkalski. But when Checkalski spun to cause a lap 3 caution, Spacek moved into first on the restart and slowly drew away.
Byholm, who started mid-pack, took third from Carlson and raced with Al Uotinen and Robby Bunkelman before claiming second with less than five laps to go. Byholm then pulled alongside Spacek’s car, which was slowing with engine woes, and he won the drag race out of turn 4 with the checkered flag waving. Dean Yrjanainen, who debuted a new car Friday at Superior, drove it for the first time on the Ashland clay to a third-place finish and may have had the fastest car on the track over the final laps.

Uotinen, who borrowed Rick Rivord’s mod after his own car broke down during hot laps, salvaged a fourth-place run but saw his points lead shrink to seven over Spacek and ten over Yrjanainen. Robby Bunkelman was a distant fifth.
The six-cylinder feature also went non-stop, and Chuck Hawkinson threw the biggest monkey wrench into any points leaders’ championship hopes with his third A-main win of the season. Combined with a third-place run in the points and a late-race scuffle between division leader Greg Jaeger and Ken Tyykila that dropped Jaeger to 14th in the main, Hawkinson cut Jaeger’s lead from 19 points entering the night to just three.

The feature itself was never in doubt, as Hawkinson had built a five car-length lead by lap 4 of 15 and cruised from there. Ron Swanson was the closest challenger, but he was nearly a full straightaway back at the checkered flag. Steve Stuart took third from Shawn McFadden, Jr., late in the run but was nearly as far behind Swanson, while Tyykila was replaced at fifth after the incident with Jaeger.

Jim Eliason was nearly as dominant in winning his fourth pure stock feature of 2005. Once he got past Bruce Kalmon, Eliason pulled away after a lap 2 restart that was caused by both John Kallas and Bridgett Pagels losing tires.
Ricky Davis clawed his way from fifth on the restart to a distant second-place finish, while second-in-points Al Rapp nursed his smoking car to third in the final rundown. Tom Morinville and Chad Carlson completed the top five. Eliason pushed his points lead over Rapp to 24 with the effort.

The ABC Raceway’s 2005 regular racing season concludes with Pepsi Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday. Hot laps start at 6:30, and racing begins at 7 pm. The 2005 season champions will be crowned, and a deejay will play music after the race program is completed. “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: Scott Hudack debuted a brand-new mod on Saturday, but the car stalled early in the feature, forcing a DNF.
Stan Rychlock (street stock) and Jim Maki (six) were ready to make their first appearances of 2005, but both cars suffered mechanical woes during hot laps and neither ran a race lap.

Chris Schloer brought out his mod for the first time this season. Schloer had previously run a streeter once in ‘05 at Ashland.

Results

WISSOTA Modifieds
Heat 1: Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford; Bill Byholm, Glidden; Jeff Spacek, Phillips.
Heat 2: Ross Lightner, Washburn; Kent Baxter, Dorchester; Scott Hudack, Ashland.
Feature: Byholm; Spacek; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Al Uotinen, Superior; Bunkelman; Darrell Carlson, Superior; Rick Przybylski, Ashland; Lightner; Baxter; Kelly Checkalski, South Range.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Greg Kuklinski, Ironwood, MI; Bryan Lund, Ashland.
Heat 2: Rick Simpson, Thunder Bay, Ont.; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Wayne Stricker, Highbridge.
Heat 3: Rick Rivord, Superior; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Todd Bonney, Bayfield.
Feature: Stricker; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Kuklinski; Bob D’Antonio, Ironwood, MI; Spacek; Truscott; Bonney; Simpson; Lund; Rivord.

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Cory Casari, Hurley; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Clay Passuello, Ironwood, MI.
Heat 2: Justin Paulsen, Ironwood, MI; Kory Jolliff, Mass City, MI; Butch Kummer, Medford.
Feature: Anderson; Tim Baum, Superior; Casari; Pete Paulus, Phillips; Larry Haderly, Marengo; Jolliff; Jared Loos, Loyal; Chris Crapser, Eau Claire; Jordan Kurtti, Bruce Crossing, MI; Paulsen.

Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Ron Swanson, Ashland; Pat Cook, Washburn; Steve Stuart, Ashland.
Heat 2: Scott Ovaska, Marengo; Shawn McFadden, Jr., Ashland; Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen.
Heat 3: Adam Jack, Washburn; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Warren Beede, Iron River.
Feature: Hawkinson; Swanson; Stuart; McFadden; Tyykila; Ovaska; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Brent Brevak, Ashland; Cook; Andy Grymala, Superior.

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