Rain, Cold Spoil ABC Raceway Special for Streets, Mods
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, August 7 – A rare spell of cool temperatures and on-again, off-again light rain showers hit the Chequamegon Bay area and forced the hand of the Board of Directors at the ABC Raceway to cancel Saturday night’s race program.
At press time there have been no decisions to reschedule the second annual “Battle by the Bay” WISSOTA Street Stock special, to have presented by Anderson Body Shop of Phillips, or the final round of the Ashland Ford-Chrysler Center Series for WISSOTA Modifieds. The purses for both divisions’ feature races were to pay out well, including at least $1,000 to the winner of the Street Stock feature and $1,200 to the Modified A-Main winner, plus the three-race Mod Series champ was to be crowned.
“We will have conversations with the sponsors of both of our specials during the next few days, to see if there is any way to re-set those events for later in August,” stated Raceway Board president Eric Erickson late Saturday afternoon. “This is a frustrating situation, but we know it would have been difficult to put together a quality show for the drivers, the sponsors and our fans tonight.”
Now only three weeks of regular weekly racing remain at the northern Wisconsin speed plant, with next Saturday’s program including the final visit from the Northern Renegades Traditional Sprints. There will be no change to the grandstand admission ticket prices for this seven-division program compared to the track’s regular weekly offerings, and advance tickets and pit passes are available via the My Race Pass website and mobile app. The grandstands will open at 5 pm, hot laps start at 6:15, and the first green flag of the night is scheduled for 7 pm. WSBZ, 93.3 FM, will air updates from 4:30-6 pm on Saturday, with simulcasts aired online via the station’s website, www.wbszfm.com.
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, or log on to the track’s website, www.abcraceway.com.
ABC Raceway Offering Big Money to Streets, Mods on Saturday
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, August 4 – The final month of the 2021 regular racing season will kick off in a big way on Saturday, as the ABC Raceway will host two special events on one night.
Anderson Body Shop of Phillips will be the presenting sponsor of the second annual “Battle by the Bay” for WISSOTA Street Stocks. Also, the track will host the third and final round of the Ashland Ford-Chrysler Center Series for WISSOTA Modifieds. Both feature races will offer large purses – the Street Stocks will run for at least $1,000 to win and $150 to start in their only appearance here this season, while the Mods will race for $1,200 to win plus a share of the overall Series purse.
In addition, the Kim Parsons Memorial Trophy Tour will make its annual stop in Ashland, presenting special trophies to Saturday’s feature winners and adding another level of significance to the evening’s festivities.
The Street Stocks last raced regularly in Ashland during the 2009 season but had not returned to the historic northern Wisconsin red-clay oval until 2020. After last year’s event was added to the track’s schedule, fan and sponsor contributions poured in quickly, and eighteen racers made the trip to Ashland from as far away as North Dakota to compete. Parker Anderson of Phillips claimed his first-ever feature win at ABC that night – and a Street Stock track-record winner’s check of $1,200.
This year’s “Battle by the Bay” should draw extra cars to ABC due to the potential for another generous purse – expected to be well over $7,000 – as well as the fact that several other regional tracks that typically run the division will not be in action this weekend.
For the Mods, the story will be to see who can top Cole Spacek. The second-generation racer from Phillips won each of the first two rounds of the Ashland Ford-Chrysler Center Series, which were held within a three-week stretch at the start of the ’21 season here.
Fellow ABC Raceway regular Brandon Copp of Brule and Johnny Broking of Grand Rapids, MN, are tied for second in the Series’ standings, while Ashland’s Tyler Vernon and Tyler Peterson of Hickson, ND, are not far back in the top five heading into the Series’ final round.
With only four weeks of regular weekly racing remaining, one more thing to follow will be the battles going on for the Raceway’s six divisional points championships. Spacek leads Copp in the Mods as both drivers seek their first career track crowns, while Ashland’s Steve Stuart is hoping for his seventh ABC title as he leads Shawn McFadden of Ashland in the WISSOTA Super Stock standings.
Vernon paces the WISSOTA Midwest Modified rankings just ahead of Jack Rivord of Superior, while DeJay Jarecki of Ashland has dominated the WISSOTA Hornets, followed by Iron River’s Derek Dunbar.
The two closest battles are in the WISSOTA Pure Stocks, where RJ Holly of Marengo is just 13 points up on Aaron Bernick of Duluth, MN; and in the ABC Six-Cylinders, where Ashland’s Dennis Groom has Tiffany Hudack of Ashland and four other drivers all within 80 points of his lead.
Adult grandstand admission tickets for this seven-division special will be $15, with special discounted ticket pricing available for younger fans. Advance tickets and pit passes are available via the My Race Pass website and mobile app. The grandstands will open at 5 pm, hot laps start at 6:15, and the first green flag of the night is scheduled for 7 pm. WSBZ, 93.3 FM, will air updates from 4:30-6 pm on Saturday, with simulcasts aired online via the station’s website, www.wbszfm.com.
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
