ABC Farm Stock Features to Mackey, Vernon, Burdick, Sabraski, Basina
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, July 3 – Andrew Mackey of Ashland scored the biggest feature win of his young career, and Tyler Vernon of Mason continued his recent hot streak during the fourth annual Farm Stock Special at the ABC Raceway on Thursday night.
The 100-car program, presented by White River Ag Products and Northern Clearing Inc, was the track’s annual salute to the farmers and agricultural workers of the Northland. Included in the special program was a guest appearance by retired NASCAR star and Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, who not only graciously signed autographs for fans for about an hour prior to the race program, but also raced a WISSOTA Late Model generously provided by Don Shaw Racing and gave two lucky fans rides in the track’s two-seater Modified.
The Fuhrman Designs WISSOTA Modifieds were the headline attraction for the night, with the winner of the 20-lap A-feature taking home $2,000. Mackey started outside on the front row and easily paced every lap of a race that only had one yellow-flag slowdown.
After beating polestarter David Simpson through the first pair of corners, Mackey drove away over the first 11 laps, leading by as much as 1.677 seconds – better than half a straightaway – while Simpson and Ryan Gierke waged a skirmish for second place that lasted better than five laps before Gierke surged ahead.
The only thing that slowed Mackey’s dominance was a stoppage due to a lap 11 Cole Spacek spin, but the leader ran away again over the remaining laps. The Raceway’s divisional points leader, Justin Weinberger, made some strong moves toward the front over the latter half of the run, charging from fifth on the restart to second with an inside move on Simpson with five laps to go.
But Mackey was all alone by the time the checkers waived, a full 2.65-seconds ahead of Weinberger for his sixth career ABC feature win and third in a “big Mod.” Gierke was a distance back in third, followed closely by tenth-starting Shane Sabraski and Simpson.
Vernon, whose family is heavily involved with several of the businesses helping to promote this event, charged past front-row starters Marcus Dunbar and Alex O’Dell and led all 20 laps for the Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modified main event win, worth $1,500.
Paul Suzik, who started on the inside of the third row directly behind Vernon, stalled just as the field took the initial green flag, clogging up the majority of the field behind him before he pulled into the infield, but the race stayed under green until Bryan Lund’s spin on lap 3. Vernon pulled away again on the restart, with Joey Jensen moving by Dunbar into second, but after just one more circuit Cory Jorgensen’s spun ride delayed the proceedings again.
From there it was clear sailing for Vernon for the next ten laps, as he built a 1.5-second cushion before reaching the tail-end of the field with seven laps remaining. Jensen could not close much on the leader, as backmarkers made things tough on him while racing for positions themselves, but he came home second well ahead of Simpson, who held off strong charges by Paul Ripley and James Vendela.
It was Vernon’s second straight win in this event in the Mid-Mods, his 19th career ABC win overall, and his 13th Mid-Mod win at Ashland, good for third best in the division here.
The WISSOTA Late Models, presented by Northern Clearing for this event, made the first of their three scheduled 2025 appearances here on Thursday, and former multi-time national WISSOTA Super Stock champion Kevin Burdick of Proctor, MN, scored his first Late Model feature win here and seventh overall at Ashland. Burdick started outside on the front row and beat polsestarter Paul Niznik out of the first corner to claim a lead he would not relinquish, although it got close near the end of the 25 laps.
As Burdick drove away, the first driver to be considered a stout challenger was Dave Mass, who swept around Niznik and John Kaanta to take second after just three laps. Mass and Niznik swapped the runner-up duties for several laps, just ahead of James Giossi, until the lap 11 yellow flag for Mike Anderson’s stalled ride eliminated Burdick’s 2.55-second advantage. Then on the restart, Kaanta’s ride slammed against an infield marker tire in turn 3 while negotiating heavy traffic, eliminating his top-three run and ending his night.
Sabraski moved to third on the restart with an inside move on Niznik, then overtook Mass to second on lap 16, bringing Giossi along to third. Sabraski then trimmed Burdick’s lead down from 1.75 seconds to less than a half-second with two laps left, and even got to Burdick’s back push-bar on the white-flag lap, but Burdick held on for a winning margin of .246 seconds in a thrilling finish and a $1,500 payday, in his first win here since July 2021.
Giossi came home third well behind the lead pair, with tenth-starting Kevin Eder and Mass completing the top-five.
A significant show at ABC would not be complete these days, it seems, without a feature win by Sabraski, and the talented star from Rice, MN, did not disappoint, taking the $1,000 win in the Lightning Storm Graphics WISSOTA Super Stock headliner. Sabraski started inside on the second row and settled in to an early three-car battle for second with polestarter Steve Stuart and Andy Grymala while trailing Tristan LaBarge for the first four laps.
A strong inside drive took Sabraski past Stuart and Labarge into the lead on lap 5, just a circuit before Danny Doran’s spin brought about the only caution stop of the 20-lap run. From there Sabraski pulled away to a nearly three-second buffer ahead of a great side-by-side duel between LaBarge and Stuart. Divisional points leader Terran Spacek, who started behind Sabraski in the third row, replaced LaBarge in the battle for second on lap 10, took the position away from Stuart on lap 12, and took advantage of the leader working lapped traffic to close to within a half-second on Sabraski as the pair took the white flag.
Sabraski held off the charging Spacek by .675 seconds at the checkers for his 20th career win at ABC, his 11th in a Super Stock here, and his second in the Farm Stock event. Stuart maintained his third-place run to the finish ahead of LaBarge and Grymala.
Two-time defending Berglund Customs Six-Cylinders champ Shane Basina continued his dominance of the class by tallying his fifth feature win of the season and 15th of his career here in that division’s 12-lap main event. Basina came from the outside on the fourth row and moved up quickly to battle with Roger Walker for third as outside front-row starter Cameron Bond led for much of the run.
A spin by polestarter Mady Anderson on lap 3 brought the field back to Bond’s rear bumper, and Mathew Rohlfing applied much of the pressure after the restart as the lead pack ran in tight formation, but when Bond bobbled a bit on lap 6, Rohlfing squeezed by to take over at the point, with Basina following closely into second. On lap 9 Basina challenged Rohlfing and then took the lead a lap later with an inside-line pass, drawing away to a winning margin of nearly a full second.
Walker held on for third-place money ahead of Bond, while ninth-starting Cody Roberts trailed at a distance in fifth.
The three-eighths-mile red-clay oval provided some very fast laps during heat-race action before smoothing over into a wide, black-slick, multi-lane surface for the features. Basina Racing feature fast laps were posted by Burdick in the Late Models (16.057 secs; 84.075 mph), Mackey in the Mods (17.111; 78.897), LaBarge in the Super Stocks (17.463; 77.306), Vernon in the Mid-Mods (17.297; 78.048), and Basina in the Sixes (18.777; 71.896).
The 20-race program clicked off impressive fashion despite the various extra events mixed into the agenda, taking just three-and-a-half hours to complete on a comfortable northern Wisconsin Summer evening. After the show, fans were treated to music and a hot-dog cookout.
The Raceway offers a tip of the helmet in appreciation to Chicago Iron & Supplies and to Shaw Trucking for their special assistance in making Newman’s appearance as part of the program possible.
The ABC Raceway will be idle until Saturday, July 12, when Chicago Iron & Supplies of Ashland presents the annual kids’ bike races in addition to the track’s regular five-division weekly offering. WISSOTA Pure Stocks will join the Modifieds, Midwest Mods, Super Stocks, and Six-Cylinders for a full program of heats and features.
The pit gate will open at 4 pm and the grandstand gate at 5, with hot laps starting at 6:30, and green-flag racing 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
Northern Clearing WISSOTA Late Models
Feature: 1-10: Kevin Burdick, Proctor, MN; Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; James Giossi, Hudson; Kevin Eder, Cameron; Dave Mass, East Bethel, MN; Dave Flynn, Superior; Paul Niznik, Medford; Andy Nezworski, Blue Grass, IA; Todd Gehl, Solon Springs; Ryan Newman, Statesville, SC.
11-15: John Kaanta, Elk Mound; Brett Shafer, Menomonie; Mike Anderson, Jim Falls; Tim Lillo, Superior; Steve Laursen, Cumberland.
Heat 1: Sabraski; Giossi; Kaanta; Burdick; Gehl; Shafer; Laursen; Lillo.
Heat 2: Flynn; Nezworski; Mass; Niznik; Eder; Newman; Anderson.
Fuhrman Designs WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Andrew Mackey, Ashland; Justin Weinberger, Elk Mound; Ryan Gierke, Villard, MN; Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; David Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Brandon Copp, Brule; Brady Uotinen, Superior; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Jody Bellefeuille, Carlton, MN; Kennedy Swan, Chippewa Falls.
11-20: Jake Hartung, Elmwood; Tyler Vernon, Mason; Pat Cook, Washburn; Michael Truscott, Chippewa Falls; Mike Anderson, Jim Falls; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Cole Spacek, Phillips; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Zach Benson, Princeton, MN; John Toppozini, Thunder Bay, ON.
21-22: Dave Cain, Corcoran, MN; Cole Chernosky, Thunder Bay, ON.
Heat 1: Gierke; Swan; Vernon; C Spacek; Truscott; Dunbar.
Heat 2: Weinberger; Cain; Sabraski; Bellefeuille; Oreskovich; Anderson.
Heat 3: Mackey; B Uotinen; Benson; Cook; Hartung; Chernosky.
Heat 4: Copp; Simpson; J Spacek; Toppozini; Al Uotinen, Superior.
Lightning Storm Graphics WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Shane Sabraski, Rice, MN; Terran Spacek, Phillips; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Tristen LaBarge, Kelly Lake, MN; Andy Grymala, Superior; DJ Keeler, Superior; Austin Blom, Saginaw, MN; Joey Jensen, Forest Lake, MN; Cole Chernosky, Thunder Bay, ON; Shawn McFadden, Ashland.
11-20: Matt Deragon, Ashland; Dylan Nelson, Merrifield, MN; Patrick Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Kyle Copp, Brule; Dalton Truchon, Washburn; Don Livingston, Washburn; Jason Melton, Rhinelander; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Trenton Bond, Iron River; Jason Garner, Iron River.
21-25: Jake Nevala, Ashland; Dan Peterson, Foxboro; Danny Doran, Esko, MN; Noah Shackleton, Knapp; Rita Anderson, South Range.
Heat 1: Truchon; Grymala; Livingston; Lawrence; Nevala; Doran; Anderson.
Heat 2: Chernosky; Keeler; McFadden; Melton; Copp; Garner; Shackleton.
Heat 3: Sabraski; LaBarge; Jensen; Beeksma; Bond; Peterson.
Heat 4: Stuart; Spacek; Nelson; Blom; Deragon; Codii Young, Stone Lake; Jordan Henkemeyer, Sauk Rapids, MN.
Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Tyler Vernon, Mason; Joey Jensen, Forest Lake, MN; David Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; James Vendela, South Range; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Jacob Anderson, Superior; Justin Bassa, Cotton, MN; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; Eric Anderson, Chisholm, MN.
11-20: Matt Jacobson, Bessemer, MI; Ryan Barningham, Bayfield; Don Craig, Thunder Bay, ON; Tad Schoonover, Eagle River; Alex O’Dell, Chisholm, MN; Cory Jorgensen, Hermantown, MN; Bryan Lund, Ashland; Ryan Kough, Isabella, MN; Ross Siiter, Esko, MN; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI.
Heat 1: Dunbar; O’Dell; Anderson; Latvala; Barningham; Craig; Kough.
Heat 2: Simpson; Bassa; Suzik; Jorgensen; Jacobson; Schoonover; Lund.
Heat 3: Jensen; Ripley; Vernon; Vendela; Anderson; Siiter.
Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders
Feature: 1-9: Shane Basina, Bayfield; Mathew Rohlfing, Grand View; Roger Walker, Phillips; Cameron Bond, Mason; Cody Roberts, Drummond; Alex Bond, Iron River; Justin Pratt, Glidden; Tyler Gervais, Ashland; Mady Anderson, Cable.
Heat 1: Walker; Basina; A Bond; Rohlfing; Roberts; Gervais.
Heat 2: Cody Eichmann, Park Falls; C Bond; Pratt; Anderson.
