Dunbar Scores First ‘Big Mod’ Win; Walker Edges Basina; Spacek, Vendela, Crosby Extend Points Leads at ABC
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, July 12 – On a warm, hazy night in northern Wisconsin, the ABC Raceway put on another fast-paced, action-filled program that included kids racing bikes, fire-breathing trucks, and five features that each provided its own level of drama.
The annual kids’ bike races, one of the hallmark events on the Raceway’s calendar, was presented by Chicago Iron & Supplies of Ashland and was part of a program that, despite the extra festivities, still managed to be completed in just under two-and-a-half hours on a wide, smooth, multi-groove track.
One of the headlines on this night was the green-to-checkered run by Marcus Dunbar in the Fuhrman Designs WISSOTA Modified feature. The three-time and defending Midwest Mod champ from Marenisco, MI, started on the pole and led all 20 laps, surviving heavy early pressure before running off to his first career win in a “big Mod.”
Dunbar outran Andrew Mackey for the early advantage but could not pull away, while Jake Hiatt and Nick Oreskovich stayed close. A spin by divisional points leader Justin Weinberger on lap 5 brought about the race’s only yellow flag and kept the field tight, but then Dunbar’s car began to show some strength.
Soon after Oreskovich edged past Hiatt for third he began to challenge Mackey, which took Mackey’s attention away from racing with Dunbar. The leader thus extended his margin from less than a half-second on lap 7 to over 1.3 seconds at mid-race, and from there it was never close.
Dunbar sprinted to a final winning cushion of over four seconds on Mackey for his 12th career win at ABC. Brady Uotinen charged forward and took third away from Oreskovich in the waning laps, while Hiatt held on to fifth.
For the third time in the past four shows here, Terran Spacek of Phillips captured the win in the Lightning Storm Graphics WISSOTA Super Stock A-main, driving as hard as he could to stay ahead of Steve Stuart in both the race and the current points standings,
After Spacek and Stuart had each won their respective heat races earlier in the program, Spacek, who started inside on the second row, pulled alongside front-row starter Dalton Truchon at the drop of the green in the 20-lap feature and chased polestarter Matt Deragon over the first five laps. Stuart, who had started outside on row 3, disposed of Truchon on lap 3 for third and quickly chased down the lead pair.
Spacek worked his way around Deragon on lap 5 for the lead, with Stuart duplicating the move for second one circuit later. Just before mid-race the lead duo began working by slower traffic, but Codii Young’s spin with nine laps left bailed the leaders out of having to deal with the backmarkers.
Over the balance of the run Spacek sped around the outermost line of the red-clay oval, with Stuart staying right in the leader’s tire tracks. But as the laps wound down Spacek’s advantage began to grow ever so slightly, eventually stretching to just over a second before Stuart shaved a tenth or so off at the checkers. Deragon held on for third, comfortably ahead of Andy Grymala and Patrick Beeskma.
It was Spacek’s 12th career feature win at Ashland.
Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modified points leader James Vendela of South Range strengthened his potential championship cause with his third feature win of the season. Like Spacek, Vendela spent much of his 20-lap run fending off his closest challenger in the standings.
Starting from the pole, Vendela grabbed the initial lead from Ross Fuhrman and never let go, with impressive rookie Jacob Anderson posing an early threat. But Dunbar, who started outside on row 3, found something to his liking on the top line and picked off positions quickly, getting by Anderson on lap 7 before visitor Braedyn Kirtland spun two laps later to put Dunbar just off the leader’s tail for the restart.
Vendela held on for the next couple of laps before Kirtland’s second spin brought out the final yellow flag. On the subsequent re-do, Anderson took a shot at swiping second from Dunbar, allowing Vendela to run away to about a half-second lead, which he held to the finish for his sixth career ABC feature win.
Dunbar wrestled second back from Anderson and stayed there until the checkered flew, while ninth-starting Jimmy Latvala came on strong late to take fourth ahead of visiting CJ Hedges Jr.
A thin field of WISSOTA Pure Stocks did not make for “easy pickings” for Eric Crosby, although the reigning WISSOTA Pure Stock track champ and current points leader from Amery did eventually run away late in that division’s ten-lap headliner for his sixth ABC Raceway feature win and fourth of the season.
Crosby started inside on row 2 and worked low to squeeze by polestarter Zene Anderson, while second-in-points Aaron Bernick took advantage of his outside-front-row starting spot and stole the early lead. Within a lap Crosby had pulled alongside of Bernick, and the pair raced door-to-door for a bit before Crosby completed the winning pass on lap 3.
Basina stayed within a half-second of the leader’s back bumper until the second half of the run, when Crosby pulled away to a final 1.7-second margin of victory. Shane Basina survived an entertaining battle with first-time visitor Cody Bauknicht, and Anderson trailed at a distance in fifth.
After waiting 19 years between feature wins at Ashland, Roger Walker of Phillips collected his second in just 14 days, albeit by mere feet over Basina, in the non-stop 15-lap Berglund Customs Six-Cylinders A-main.
Walker started alongside polestarter Mathew Rohlfing and raced him door-to-door for the first couple of laps, just ahead of Travis Swanson and a low-side-charging Basina, who started outside on row 4. Walker completed the pass for the lead by going around Rohlfing on lap 3, just a lap prior to Basina slipping under Swanson for third.
With Rohlfing as a buffer between him and the leader, Basina could not close to any less than a half-second on Walker until the late laps, when slower traffic bottled up Rohlfing and Basina and allowed Walker to pull away. But backmarker Mady Anderson held up Walker just enough on the white-flag lap to allow Basina to grab second and pull alongside Walker in a desperate effort for the win. Walker held on by 38 one-thousandths of a second – about four feet in Six-Cylinder terms – for his eighth feature win here.
Rohlfing was not more than a couple car-lengths back in third, while Swanson held off a determined Cody Eichmann for fourth.
The fastest Basina Racing feature laps were posted by Mackey in the Modifieds (16.898 seconds; 79.891 mph), Spacek in the Super Stocks (17.153; 78.703), Vendela in the Midwest Mods (17.169; 78.630), Crosby in the Pure Stocks (19.167; 70.434), and Basina in the Sixes (18.444; 73.195).
During intermission several dozen young fans took to the red-clay oval for the annual bike races. They were split into four age-group divisions, with all the participants receiving medals and ice cream treats.
The top finishers in each age group (with apologies for misspellings) included: ages 5 & under: Levi Blake Niemer, Aubree Swanson, Camden Hiatt; ages 6-8: Kadrall Hiatt, Luke Swanson, Brody McFadden; ages 9-11: Carson Muth, unknown, Tate Stuart; and ages 12 & up: Ella Lightner, Antone Bard, Austin Barningham.
For the second time in July, the ABC Raceway will hold a night of special race program on a Thursday, when Ashland Ford-Chrysler Center presents the fifth annual “444 Memorial” on July 17, in honor of one of the region’s promising young racers, Tanner Byholm, who perished in a tragic aircraft crash in southern Wisconsin in February 2021. WISSOTA Late Models will make their second visit of the 2025 season here as part of the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series, racing for a $4,444 feature winner’s payoff, while the Modifieds ($2,000 to win) and the Midwest Mods ($700 to win) will also be part of the program.
Tickets are on sale via the My Race Pass website and app, as well as at the track on race night. The pit gates will open at 4 pm and the grandstand gate at 5, with hot laps starting a bit earlier than usual, at 6:15, and green-flag action beginning around 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: Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Andrew Mackey, Ashland; Brady Uotinen, Superior; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Jake Hiatt, Mason; Andrew Inman, Canyon, MN; Cole Spacek, Woodruff; Cody Carlson, Superior; Pat Cook, Washburn; Neil Balduc, Bessemer, MI.
11-12: Justin Weinberger, Elk Mound; Jeff Spacek, Phillips.
Heat 1: Uotinen; C Spacek; Mackey; Hiatt; Balduc; J Spacek.
Heat 2: Dunbar; Carlson; Oreskovich; Inman; Weinberger; Cook.
Lightning Storm Graphics WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Terran Spacek, Phillips; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Andy Grymala, Superior; Patrick Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Austin Blom, Saginaw, MN; Dalton Truchon, Washburn; Don Livingston, Washburn; Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Jason Melton, Rhinelander.
11-15: Trenton Bond, Iron River; Jason Garner, Iron River; Jake Nevala, Ashland; Rita Anderson, South Range; Codii Young, Stone Lake.
Heat 1: Spacek; Beeksma; Deragon; Blom; McFadden; Livingston; Nevala; Young.
Heat 2: Stuart; Grymala; Truchon; Garner; Bond; Melton; Anderson.
Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: James Vendela, South Range; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Jacob Anderson, Superior; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; CJ Hedges Jr, Tripoli; Ross Fuhrman, Ashland; Cory Jorgensen, Hermantown, MN; Tad Schoonover, Eagle River; Ryan Barningham, Bayfield; Bryan Lund, Ashland.
11-13: Braedyn Kirtland, Mass City, MI; Jesse Young, Couderay; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI.
Heat 1: Barningham; Jorgensen; Hedges; Anderson; Latvala; Schoonover; Kirtrland.
Heat 2: Suzik; Vendela; Fuhrman; Dunbar; Young; Lund.
WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-6: Eric Crosby, Amery; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Shane Basina, Bayfield; Cody Bauknecht, Crandon; Zene Anderson, Superior; Dylan Helget, South Range.
Heat: Crosby; Basina; Bernick; Bauknecht; Anderson.
Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders
Feature: 1-10: Roger Walker, Phillips; Shane Basina, Bayfield; Mathew Rohlfing, Grand View; Travis Swanson, Ashland; Cody Eichmann, Park Falls; Cameron Bond, Mason; Cody Roberts, Drummond; Alex Bond, Iron River; Kyle Weber, Drummond; Mady Anderson, Cable.
11: Tyler Gervais, Ashland.
Heat 1: Swanson; Roberts; Rohlfing; Brad Hanson, Glidden; Weber; A Bond.
Heat 2: Basina; C Bond; Walker; Eichmann; Anderson; Gervais.
