Photos below story
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, August 2 – Shane Basina of Bayfield doubled up on winner’s checks at the ABC Raceway on Saturday night.
The Ashland-Bayfield County Sportsmen’s Club sponsored the race program, which included a back-to-school backpack giveaway for young fans. Basina’s “two-fer” included his first feature win in a WISSOTA Pure Stock at Ashland (he’d won his first ever in the division at Superior in late May), while a dramatic turn of events tonight may go a long way in determining the WISSOTA Super Stock division title.
Basina’s historic win in the Pure Stock feature capped off the 15-race program. He started inside on row 2 and immediately dove to the inside lane to take the lead away from polestarter Zene Anderson through the first turns. From there Basina led every lap, although he was not without a challenge.
Divisional points leader Eric Crosby also made a quick move on Anderson and settled into second place upon the initial start, while second-in-points Aaron Bernick grabbed third place ahead of visitors Jake Smith, Austin Fencl and George Richards. On lap 3 heavy traffic among the lead contenders created contact that sent Smith spinning into the infield grass, bringing about the race’s only yellow flag.
On the restart Smith moved by Bernick for third, with Richards also getting by to fourth. Fencl quickly made his way from the back of the field after the penalty for Smith’s spin and took fifth midway through the 12-lap race.
Basina ran smooth, clean laps and stayed just ahead of Crosby to claim his 17th career feature in at ABC but first in the Pure Stocks. Smith, Richards and Fencl followed closely, as the closely-grouped top five were only separated by 2.14 seconds at the final stripe.
Crosby, who also leads WISSOTA’s national Pure Stock standings, leads Bernick by 22 points and Basina by 41 in the track’s standings with two nights of regular-season racing remaining.
In the Berglund Customs Six-Cylinders A-feature, Basina had to chip his way into the top-three to have a chance at winning, but he benefitted from a series of yellow-flag slowdowns that slowed the pace of the race and kept the field together.
After the initial attempt to start the 15-lapper was waived off for a Mady Anderson spin, Roger Walker swept around polestarter Kyle Weber to set the early pace. Travis Swanson worked his way around Weber on lap 2 to take second, and the lead pair ran away from the balance of the field and put on a competitive show.
Swanson’s pass for the lead on lap 5 was negated by another Anderson spin, but on the restart Basina got by Weber to take third. Two laps later Swanson completed another pass of Walker, and this one held up before a series of caution stops dragged out the middle stages of the race – on lap 7 for yet another Anderson spin, on lap 8 for debris, on lap 9 for an Alex Bond-Jim Anderson get-together, and on lap 10 for debris again.
The final five laps went off without a hitch, and Basina, who had taken second place prior to the lap 10 yellow, moved to the low side to edge by Swanson for the lead on lap 11. From there Basina pulled away to a 1.14-second margin over Swanson, with Walker, Cameron Bond and Cody Eichmann filling out the top five.
Basina extended his points lead over Walker in the Sixes to 41 with two shows remaining.
Earlier in the program, Lightning Storm Graphics WISSOTA Super Stock points leader Terran Spacek’s car broke while in the process of running away with his heat race. Steve Stuart, meanwhile won his heat, putting the pair dead even in the divisional standings. When Spacek’s hauler was seen leaving the pit area before feature time, Stuart essentially took over the points lead with the drop of the green flag in the feature.
Shawn McFadden led from the pole for about three-quarters of a lap, as Stuart sliced immediately from his inside-second-row starting spot to his preferred outer groove of the three-eighths-mile red-clay oval and beat McFadden to the line to complete lap 1. Stuart looked as dominant as ever in the early stages of the 20-lap main event, but a series of caution stops over the first half of the race kept him from running off.
Spins by Codii Young on laps 3 and 6 were followed closely by a spin by third-place Tom Hauert into the turn 3 rail on lap 7, and then spins by Rita Anderson and Jeff Eisner on the subsequent restarts followed. It was on the last restart that Stuart decided to protect the bottom lane, knowing McFadden was already there, and this is when sixth-starting Patrick Beeksma made his move.
Beeksma stayed up on the outer line and, with patience and consistent laps, eventually caught and passed Stuart for the lead on lap 9. Over the remaining non-stop laps Beeksma inched further and further ahead of Stuart until the former four-time Sixes champ from Ironwood, MI, held a nearly full-second lead at the checkers for his second Super Stock win in Ashland and 32nd of his career here overall.
McFadden held third throughout the back half of the run, with Don Livingston besting Matt Deragon in a race-long battle for fourth. Stuart will carry a 33-point lead on Spacek heading into next Saturday’s program, with Beeksma and McFadden tied for third, six points behind Spacek.
After a span of four years in which he had not raced in Ashland – let alone won a feature here – Neil Balduc of Bessemer, MI, scored his second Fuhrman Designs WISSOTA Modified feature win in five weeks on Saturday. After a “false start” for a slowed Jeff Spacek on the initial green, the 20-lap headliner clicked off non-stop.
Balduc got around polestarter Nick Oreskovich and led every lap, running a smooth, consistent line about midway up the smooth, racy surface. Tyler Vernon, who started directly behind Balduc on the second row, made his way past Spacek for third on lap 4 and, after four more laps, dove inside on Oreskovich for second.
Balduc’s advantage began to disappear as the determined Vernon gave chase, dwindling from just shy of a full second to barely four-tenths of a second with five laps remaining. Vernon made a handful of attempts at swiping the lead away, but Balduc kept his cool and hit his marks, holding off Vernon by just over three-tenths of a second at the checkered for his 12th career win at ABC – all but one coming in a “big Mod.”
Oreskovich came home a distant third but ahead of an entertaining father-and-son battle for fourth won by Cole Spacek over his dad Jeff.
Justin Weinberger, who finished sixth, extended his points lead to 31 over Pat Cook with two shows left on the schedule.
Vernon, WISSOTA’s national points leader in the Midwest Modifieds, helped his championship cause by sweeping both his heat and the 20-lap feature in the Dalbeck Sales-sponsored division here.
First-night visitor David Baxter took the initial lead from Joe Swearingen, also a first-nighter, while Vernon followed Baxter into second. On lap 3 Vernon moved by Baxter for the lead, and within two laps he was up by nearly a second-and-a-half, until Ross Fuhrman’s broken racer stopped just off the backstretch to slow the run.
Vernon again extended his lead quickly, to 1.8 seconds, in just three short laps before Jonny Nowak looped his ride to stop the race again. The front seven of Vernon, Baxter, Marcus Dunbar, Swearingen, Jason Vokovan, Paul Suzik and Jimmy Latvala did not change over the next six uninterrupted laps, until Ryan Kough’s spin brought about the race’s third caution slowdown on lap 14, erasing Vernon’s three-second cushion.
Vokovan took fourth from Swearingen one lap after that restart, and Swearingen spun on the next lap to bring about the final yellow flag of the event. Over the final four laps Vernon still managed to rebuild a 1.87-second margin ahead of Baxter for his fourth win of the season here and third in the Mid-Mod, as well as his 20th career win at ABC and landmark 50th overall. Dunbar, Latvala and Vokovan took third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
Seven of the top 15 in Mid-Mod points coming into this night’s program – including leader James Vendela – were absent from action, creating a significant shuffle in the standings. Dunbar, the defending champ, moves into the lead with two shows remaining, 16 points ahead of Vendela and 23 up on Suzik.
The recent dry conditions in the region kept the track surface black, dry and slick, but still wide enough for three-wide racing. Basina Racing feature fast-laps were posted by Mike Anderson in the Modifieds (18.225 seconds; 74.047 mph), Stuart in the Super Stocks (18.194; 74.200), Vernon in the Midwest Mods (17.604; 76.687), Swanson in the Sixes (19.196; 70.327), and Richards in the Pure Stocks (20.193; 66.855).
Fifty backpacks, each full of school supplies, were handed out to First- through Fifth-graders as they arrived at the track on this night. Race teams, businesses and fans who generously contributed to the giveaway included Affordable Auto Repair, Anderson 11R Racing, Ashland Elks Lodge #137, Ashland Sand & Gravel, Austin Olby, Basina Racing, Chicago Iron & Supplies, CJ Hedges Racing, Codii Young Racing, Deragon Racing, Eichmann Racing, flagman George Bowers, Jeff Eisner Racing, Lillo Race Team and Zene Anderson, Northland Elite Basketball, Patti’s Family Daycare, Schutte’s Bear Camp, Solon Springs Concrete, Suzik Racing, Swanson Racing, Vendela 15 Racing, and Visions First Realty.
The championship round of the ten-race FastLane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series will be held at the ABC Raceway on Saturday, August 9. The WISSOTA Super Stocks will not only run for $1,000 to win in their feature but also their share of a total Series purse of over $40,000. The program will be presented by the NAPA Auto Parts stores of Ashland and Washburn.
The pit gates will open at 4:30 pm and the grandstand gate opens at 5, with hot laps starting at 6:30 and green-flag action beginning at 7 pm. 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.
Results
Fuhrman Designs WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Neil Balduc, Bessemer, MI; Tyler Vernon, Mason; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Cole Spacek, Woodruff; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Justin Weinberger, Elk Mound; Andrew Inman, Canyon, MN; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Andrew Mackey, Ashland; Mike Anderson, Jim Falls.
11-12: Pat Cook, Washburn; Jake Hiatt, Mason.
Heat 1: J Spacek; Weinberger; Balduc; Hiatt; Cook; Anderson.
Heat 2: C Spacek; Dunbar; Oreskovich; Vernon; Inman; Mackey.
Lightning Storm Graphics WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Patrick Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Don Livingston, Washburn; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Jason Melton, Rhinelander; Randy Graham, Trego; Michael Anderson, Dallas; Trenton Bond, Iron River; Jake Nevala, Ashland.
11-16: Jeff Eisner Jr, Merrill; Adam Pratt, Bloomer; Rita Anderson, South Range; Kevin Salin, Iron, MN; Tom Hauert, Aniwa; Codii Young, Stone Lake.
Heat 1: Stuart; Livingston; Beeksma; McFadden; Melton; Nevala; Graham; R Anderson.
Heat 2: Pratt; Deragon; Hauert; M Anderson; Bond; Salin; Terran Spacek, Phillips; Eisner.
Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Tyler Vernon, Mason; David Baxter, Eau Claire; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; Jason Vokovan, Eau Claire; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI; Judd Skubal, Rhinelander; Bryan Lund, Ashland; Kory Joliff, Mass City, MI; Matt Jacobson, Bessemer, MI.
11-17: Jonny Nowak, Proctor, MN; Joseph Swearingen, Eau Claire; Ryan Barningham, Bayfield; Ryan Kough, Isabella, MN; Tanner Hicks, Ashland; Braedyn Kirtland, Mass City, MI; Ross Fuhrman, Ashland.
Heat 1: Dunbar; Swearingen; Baxter; Jacobson; Latvala; Hicks; Lund; Fuhrman.
Heat 2: Vernon; Barningham; Vokovan; Suzik; Joliff; Skubal; Kough; Nowak.
WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Shane Basina, Bayfield; Eric Crosby, Amery; Jake Smith, Cohasset, MN; George Richards, Mondovi; Austin Fencl, Bruce; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Dnae Rose, Gordon; Dylan Helget, South Range; Michael Pederson, Duluth, MN; Jasper Drengler, Shawano.
11: Zene Anderson, Superior.
Heat 1: Richards; Smith; Crosby; Anderson; Drengler; Pederson.
Heat 2: Fencl; Basina; Bernick; Helget; Rose.
Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders
Feature: 1-10: Shane Basina, Bayfield; Travis Swanson, Ashland; Roger Walker, Phillips; Cameron Bond, Mason; Cody Eichmann, Park Falls; Alex Bond, Iron River; Tyler Gervais, Ashland; Kyle Weber, Drummond; Mady Anderson, Mason; Cody Roberts, Drummond.
11-12: Jim Anderson, Cable; Mathew Rohlfing, Grand View.
Heat 1: Basina; Weber; Rohlfing; Roberts; J Anderson; M Anderson.
Heat 2: Eichmann; Swanson; C Bond; Walker; A Bond; Gervais.
