Uotinen, Lawrence, Haderly, Hawkinson, Eliason Claim ABC Raceway Titles By Nick Gima

Ashland, WI, August 27, 2005 -- Three drivers successfully defended their championships from a year ago, one became a first-time champ and one slipped by on the final night to win his title during Pepsi Fan Appreciation Night at the ABC Raceway Saturday.

Al Uotinen of Superior entered Saturday’s action with an eight-point advantage in the WISSOTA modified standings, and he patiently worked to fifth-place runs in his heat and the feature to secure his second straight ABC crown and third of his career here.

But the hot mod driver on this night was Robby Bunkelman, who led every lap of the feature to complete a sweep and win his first A-main ever in Ashland. Bunkelman fought off steady challenges from second-in-points Jeff Spacek throughout the 20-lapper, and he even gave up the lead to Spacek after bobbling coming out of turn 2 on a restart. But the pass was negated by a caution flag for debris, and Bunkelman took advantage of the reprieve and held on by running a strong outside line.

Behind him, a mad scramble for top-five positions nearly took the title away from Uotinen, who ran just behind that group. But after Jerry Hartman passed Spacek for second with a three-wide move, Uotinen slipped by Bill Byholm late to secure the championship by five points. Dean Yrjanainen finished third to nail down third place in the final standings, seven back of Uotinen, while Spacek settled back to fourth in the run.

Superior’s Scott Lawrence also made it back-to-back titles in the WISSOTA super stocks, although his championship was secured after his second-place heat effort.

In the feature, however, it was all Greg Kuklinski, who chalked up his third win of the season and track-best 75th career A-main win here. Kuklinski started from the pole and was dominant throughout, pulling to a nearly straightaway lead through the first nine non-stop laps. A timely caution took him out of slower traffic and put the field back on his trunklid, but neither Ken Truscott nor Randy Spacek could mount any sort of challenge, although Spacek made several strong attempts to sneak by Kuklinski late in the run before settling for second.

Truscott held on for third ahead of Lawrence, while Ron Hmielewski charged through the field late for a top-five finish.
This year’s championship was Lawrence’s fifth at ABC, with the other three coming in street stocks in 1997-’99. His final advantage was 13 points.

Larry Haderly of Marengo led the WISSOTA street stock standings from opening night on and won his second straight Ashland trophy and third in four seasons. Haderly, who had at one time held a lead of nearly 40 points on Steve Anderson, came into Saturday night with a 27-point edge and nailed down the title with a seventh-place run in his heat. From there he raced to a low-key eighth-place finish in the feature and won the title by 22 points.

The streeter feature saw Mark Schuenemann lead from the pole and fend off stiff challenges from Kirk Bogdonovic and first-nighter John Zastrow for his first win ever here. Schuenemann prevailed by holding off a ten-car trailing pack using a very steady upper-track line. Roger Walker came on strong late to claim second in the final two laps, relegating Zastrow back to third at the pay window. Bogdonovic was close behind in fourth, just ahead of Anderson.

The most dramatic points battle of the night was in the six-cylinder class, where Greg Jaeger entered the night three markers up on Chuck Hawkinson. After Hawkinson charged from dead last to second in his heat and Jaeger posted a third in his, the stage was set for a wild chase between the two Mellen campaigners.

In the sixes’ feature Hawkinson started inside on row 4, just ahead of Jaeger, and quickly climbed to the front, with Jaeger in tow a position or two back. Hawkinson overtook Brent Brevak for third just three laps in and then passed Shawn McFadden, Jr., to run second behind Ron Swanson just before a lap 7 caution. On the restart Hawkinson took his first shot at the lead but slipped and lost ground, but another caution reset him behind Swanson, and two laps after that restart Hawkinson used an inside move to take the lead. From there Hawkinson pulled away to his fourth win of the season.
Jaeger also moved past Brevak and McFadden, but he could not mount a challenge to overtake Swanson over the final laps and finished third, giving Hawkinson his second division title by just one point. Brevak held on for fourth in the race, while third-in-points Dale Coddington slipped into fifth in the late laps.

Ashland’s Jim Eliason, in only his second season of racing, nailed down his first pure stock championship with his best-in-class sixth heat win of the season. Eliason also led the division with four feature wins, and his final advantage over the team car of Al Rapp and Dick Bridge was a track-high 29 points.

The 15-lap pure stock finale saw rookie Chad Carlson become the third first-time feature winner of the night. Carlson roared away from the field early and was only slowed when he brushed the front straight concrete wall just past mid-race, but his lead was too significant for the rest of the field to overcome. John Kallas, who started tenth in the field of 19, took second from Tom Morinville just prior to the halfway point and trailed Carlson by most of a straightaway at the checkers, while Eliason finished fourth just ahead of Ricky Davis, who landed third in the final points standings

The Raceway will now sit idle until the 30th annual Red Clay Classic on Friday and Saturday, September 30-October 1. For information on reserved seat and ticket packages and reserved campsite information, call (715) 682-2672 or e-mail to <abctickets@charter.net>. 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: Scott Hudack, Ashland; Kelly Checkalski, South Range; Jeff Spacek, Phillips.
Heat 2: Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford; David Baxter, Eau Claire; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI.
Feature: Bunkelman; Hartman; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Spacek; Al Uotinen, Superior; Bill Byholm, Glidden; Hudack; Rick Przybylski, Ashland; Rick Rivord, Superior; Checkalski.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Wayne Stricker, Highbridge; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Todd Bonney, Bayfield.
Heat 2: Greg Kuklinski, Ironwood, MI; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Don Koivisto, Saxon.
Heat 3: Rick Rivord, Superior; Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Ron Hmielewski, Washburn.
Feature: Kuklinski; Spacek; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Lawrence; Hmielewski; Bob D’Antonio, Ironwood, MI; Anderson; Paul Erikson, Abbotsford; Mike Duhr, Hazelhurst; Bonney.

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Dan Kingsley, Duluth, MN; Steve Kieber, Ironwood, MI; Roger Walker, Phillips.
Heat 2: Trevor Wilson, Superior; Randy Vezina, Duluth, MN; Cory Casari, Hurley.
Heat 3: Butch Kummer, Medford; Mark Schuenemann, Boulder Junction; Kirk Bogdonovic, Phillips.
Feature: Schuenemann; Walker; John Zastrow, Bemidji, MN; Bogdonovic; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Wilson; Tim Baum, Superior; Larry Haderly, Marengo; Mike Kalkbrenner, Duluth, MN; Vezina.

Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Brent Brevak, Ashland; Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen; Nick Oreskovich, Mason.
Heat 2: Scott Ovaska, Marengo; Pat Cook, Washburn; Mike McKay, Highbridge.
Heat 3: Ron Swanson, Ashland; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Greg Jaeger, Mellen.
Feature: Hawkinson; Swanson; Jaeger; Brevak; Coddington; Shawn McFadden, Jr., Ashland; Cook; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Steve Walston, Marengo; Chris Lustig, Ashland.

Pure stocks
Heat 1: John Kallas, Hurley; Tom Morinville, Duluth, MN; Jason Ziells, Cloquet, MN.
Heat 2: Jim Eliason, Ashland; Chad Carlson, Superior; Ricky Davis, Bruno, MN.
Feature: Carlson; Kallas; Morinville; Eliason; Davis; Al Rapp, Duluth, MN; Ziells; Scott Niemi, Bessemer, MI; Jim Laessig, Wakefield, MI; Marty Passuello, Ironwood, MI.