ABC Raceway Honors Area Farmers; Sabraski Doubles Down at Farm Stock Special
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, July 2 – The ABC Raceway hosted its fifth annual Farm Stock Special on Thursday night, presented by White River Ag Products, Kully’s Truck Accessories and Deer Creek farms, to salute area farmers and agricultural workers, and Shane Sabraski made the most of his visit to the Chequamegon Bay area for this WISSOTA Dirt Track Series race program by winning two of the night’s five features.
For the sixth time in his career, the five-time Red Clay Classic winner and 12-time WISSOTA national champion from Rice, MN, pulled off the “double” at the venerable northern Wisconsin speedplant, including for the fourth time while racing in the WISSOTA Modifieds and Super Stocks.
In the Top Groove Racewear WISSOTA Modified spotlight event Sabraski started on the pole and led all 25 laps, gaining the advantage over fellow front-row starter Steve Lavasseur after a two-car spin on the initial drop of the green flag. Sabraski was just beginning to pull away from Lavasseur, Dave Cain, Tyler Vernon and Kaden Blaeser when two more cars came to a stop on lap 4.
Lavasseur’s strong start came to a frustrating end when his car failed him on the restart, and Cain held off Vernon for second on the next attempt under green. Again Sabraski was just starting to flex his ride’s muscle until lap 8, when Ross Fuhrman’s car lost a tire to bring about another yellow flag.
From there the race stayed under green, with Sabraski finally taking command and growing his lead to nearly 2.3 seconds during the final ten laps. Vernon stayed with and eventually passed Cain for second with eight laps remaining, and then he began reeling Sabraski in during the closing laps as the leaders were catching the tail-end of the field, but he simply ran out of laps.
The win was Sabraski’s 22nd overall at ABC, with Vernon within a car-length at the checkers. Cain, Blaeser, and division points leader Brandon Copp completed the top five.
Sabraski’s 21st career win here came in the Bulldog Auto Repair WISSOTA Super Stock feature, which ran just before the Mod A-main, and again he benefitted from a pole-position start and led all 25 laps.
Sabraski beat Cole Chernosky through the first turn and quickly pushed out to a half-second margin, while Steve Stuart challenged Shawn McFadden for third. Terran Spacek’s spin on lap 2 bunched the field together, and on that restart several cars tangled in turn 1, with Kyle Copp’s ride flipping and landing on its roof. Copp was shaken but otherwise unhurt.
Back under green McFadden worked his way past Chernosky for second and kept pace with the leader, while Dylan Nelson slipped past Stuart for fourth. Sabraski maintained anywhere from a half-second to full-second lead on McFadden as the lead pair eventually distanced themselves from the pack, with Stuart getting by both Nelson and Chernosky to take third just after the halfway point of the run.
Sabraski held a .82-second lead as he crossed the finish line on McFadden, who moved into the division’s points lead, while Stuart held off Nelson for third and Spacek clawed his way back to fifth during the final laps.
Vernon, from Mason, beat polestarter Marcus Dunbar through the first turn and set the pace for the entire 20 laps of the Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature for his 26th career feature win here and fourth of the season overall.
After a James Vendela spin on lap 2 and a lap 4 caution flag for debris, Vernon used the next nine green-flag laps to pull away by as much as 1.2 seconds over Dunbar, who came into the night tied with Vernon for the division’s points lead here. Paul Ripley held down third in front of Jimmy Latvala for much of that run, with David Simpson working hard to move forward from fifth.
Connor Kaseno’s stalled ride on the front straight on lap 13 brought Dunbar and the rest of the field back to Vernon’s rear bumper, and this time Vernon had his hands full keeping a determined Dunbar at bay, but he held on for a quarter-second margin of victory and the 19th Mid-Mod win of his career at Ashland, putting him just one behind the division’s all-time wins leader here, George Dalbeck.
Simpson worked his way past Ripley for third on lap 15 and held the position at the final stripe, while Canadian visitor Curtis Stieh charged through late for fifth. Vernon also took over the division’s points lead by one over Dunbar.
Roger Walker of Phillips moved to the top of the Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders standings with his third feature win of the summer and 11th of his career here. Although he originally started outside on row 2, he quickly worked his way to second behind polestarter Alex Bond and was just about to take the lead away on lap 3 when RJ Holly turned sideways and collected Shane Basina and Cody Eichmann.
Walker continued to pester Bond over the next few tours under green until, on lap 6, he completed an outside pass for the lead. From there Walker ran smooth, clean laps for the runaway win, with Bond running a strong race to come home with a career-best second-place effort.
Travis Swanson had third place all but wrapped up when his car slowed dramatically going through the final turns, allowing Eichmann and Basina to catch and pass him at the checkers for third and fourth, respectively.
The USRA Late Models made their second-ever visit to ABC on this night, and for the second time Rice Lake’s Josh Wahlstrom dominated for the feature win.
Wahlstrom started outside on the front row and took the lead away from polestarter TJ Adams, then consistently grew his advantage with each of the non-stop 15 laps run. By midrace his margin over Adams was better than half a straightaway, while series points leader Jason McFadden and Steven O’Brien Jr trailed Adams at a similar distance. Further back, Lucas Peterson and Patrick Kelly put on an entertaining battle for fifth.
Wahlstrom coasted home to the win well ahead of Adams, who saw his lead over McFadden shrink to a few car-lengths by the time he reached the checkers. Likewise, O’Brien closed to a short distance back in fourth, and Peterson won the battle for fifth.
A season-high 82 entries raced on this special night, with enhanced purses paid in all five divisions.
Fans in attendance were presented at the ticket gate with bottles of water to fight the upper-80s race-time temperatures, complements of CG Bretting Manufacturing of Ashland, and American flags were handed out as well. A huge fireworks display was presented after the completion of the race program, courtesy of SCP Construction of Ashland, and Bretting Manufacturing teamed up with North Star Beverage of Hurley to provide food for a post-race cookout for all on hand.
There will be no racing at the ABC Raceway on Saturday, July 4, but action will resume on Saturday night, July 11, with the track’s annual kids’ bike race night, presented by Bulldog Auto Repair. Kids up to age 12 will be invited onto the red clay oval to race in a number of age groups, with prizes to be awarded.
The Raceway will then host The 444 Memorial on Thursday, July 16, featuring the Structural Buildings WISSOTA LM Challenge Series, as well as WISSOTA Modifieds and Super Stocks.
The ABC Raceway is located 3-1/2 miles south of Ashland on State Highway 13 and one mile west on Butterworth Road. For raceday information call (715) 682-4990, log on to the track’s website, www.abcraceway.com, or check out its FaceBook page. Advance tickets are always available on the My Race Pass website and app.
Results
Top Groove Racewear WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; Tyler Vernon, Mason; Dave Cain, Corcoran, MN; Kaden Blaeser, Chippewa Falls; Brandon Copp, Brule; Mike Anderson, Jim Falls; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Cole Chernosky, Slate River, ON; Cole Spacek, Woodruff; Andrew Mackey, Ashland.
11-20: Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Andrew Inman, Canyon, MN; Zach Benson, Princeton, MN; Riley Matthews, Murillo, ON; Curtis Stieh, Kaministiqua, ON; Jake Hiatt, Mason; Blake Ferris, Emo, ON; Ryan Gierke, Villard, MN; David Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Brady Uotinen, Superior.
21-23: Ross Fuhrman, Ashland; Steve Lavasseur, River Falls; Justin Weinberger, Menomonie.
Heat 1: Cain; Weinberger; Dunbar; Mackey; Anderson; Benson; Ferris; Simpson.
Heat 2: Sabraski; Copp; Lavasseur; Inman; Hiatt; Gierke; Chernosky; Fuhrman.
Heat 3: Uotinen; Vernon; Blaeser; Matthews; Spacek; Stieh; Oreskovich.
Bulldog Auto Repair WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Dylan Nelson, Merrifield, MN; Terran Spacek, Phillips; Trenton Bond, Iron River; Cole Chernosky, Slate River, ON; Patrick Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Tristan LaBarge, Kelly Lake, MN.
11-20: Don Livingston, Washburn; Thomas Hauert, Altoona; DJ Keeler, Superior; Rick Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Austin Blom, Saginaw, MI; Rita Anderson, South Range; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Kyle Copp, Brule; Jakob Bond, Marengo; Dalton Truchon, Washburn.
Heat 1: Livingston; T Spacek; Chernosky; T Bond; Simpson; Copp; Anderson.
Heat 2: Stuart; McFadden; Sabraski; Deragon; Beeksma; Hauert; Blom.
Heat 3: Keeler; Nelson; LaBarge; Truchon; R Spacek; J Bond.
Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Tyler Vernon, Mason; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; David Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Curtis Stieh, Kaministiqua, ON; Jake Smith, St Joseph, MN; Ryan Savoy, Superior; Kolby Reed, Thunder Bay, ON; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI; James Vendela, South Range.
11-19: Judd Skubal, Rhinelander; Eric Gadach, New Richmond; Superior; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; Ryan Barningham, Bayfield; Patrick Davis, Sioux Lookout, ON; Cade Johnson, Eveleth, MN; Bryan Lund, Ashland; Jacob Anderson, Superior; Connor Kaseno, Marengo.
Heat 1: Stieh; Simpson; Suzik; Davis; Skubal; Johnson; Tanner Hicks, Ashland.
Heat 2: Latvala; Anderson; Ripley; Savoy; Gadach; Vendela; Kaseno.
Heat 3: Dunbar; Vernon; Smith; Reed; Barningham; Lund.
Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders
Feature: 1-10: Roger Walker, Phillips; Alex Bond, Iron River; Cody Eichmann, Park Falls; Shane Basina, Bayfield; Travis Swanson, Ashland; RJ Holly, Marengo; Kyle Weber, Drummond; Mathew Rohlfing, Grand View; Jim Anderson, Cable; Adam Traaholt, Ashland.
11: Cameron Bond, Mason.
Heat 1: Swanson; Holly; A Bond; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Eichmann; Anderson.
Heat 2: Basina; Walker; Weber; C Bond; Rohlfing; Traaholt.
Lightning Storm Graphics USRA Late Models
Feature: 1-7: Josh Wahlstrom, Rice Lake; TJ Adams, Hayward; Jason McFadden, Jim Falls; Steven O’Brien Jr, Red Wing, MN; Lucas Peterson, Stockholm; Patrick Kelley, Wyoming, MN; Clayton Hoefteig, Elk River, MN.
Heat: Wahlstrom; Peterson; McFadden; Adams; Hoeftig; O’Brien; Kelley.
