by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, May 30 – After two swing-and-miss attempts to get the 2026 stock car racing season underway, the ABC Raceway registered a solid base hit in Saturday night’s opener.
The United States Racing Association’s (USRA) Late Model division visited the award-winning three-eighths-mile red-clay oval for the first time ever, with 13 series drivers making the trek to Ashland. Josh Wahlstrom of Rice Lake led every lap for the historic feature win in a program presented by Lightning Storm Graphics.
Others scoring opening-night wins here included Brandon Copp in the Top Groove Racewear WISSOTA Modifieds, Steve Stuart in the Bulldog Auto Repair WISSOTA Super Stocks, Tyler Vernon in the Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, Jake Smith in the Bill’s Collision Center WISSOTA Pure Stocks, and Travis Swanson in the Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders.
A three-car spin at the very start of the USRA Late Model headliner proved to be an ominous sign, as the race would be marred by five more yellow-flag delays over its 20 laps. Larry Fitzsimmons, who started behind polesitter Wahlstrom, slipped low to get by outside-front-row starter Jason Zdroik for second after the restart and maintained that position while pestering Wahlstrom throughout the run.
A spin by Caden Steffen-Ludwig at the end of lap 1 slowed the pace again, after which the field clicked off a quick five laps, with Wahlstrom leading Fitzsimmons, series points leader Jason McFadden, Zdroik and Clayton Hofteig in a tight formation. McFadden snuck past Fitzsimmons a lap before another stoppage for debris in turn 1 on lap 6, after which Hofteig used a strong outside move to get by both Zdroik and McFadden to swipe third.
McFadden regained third with an inside pass of Hofteig on lap 7, and Wahlstrom used the next seven laps to build what would be his most comfortable lead of the night – about a second and a half – while the next four drivers followed nose to tail. But on lap 14 Hofteig’s car ground to a stop with a streak of fluid behind it, and three more failed attempts to go back to green followed, including one which penalized Zdroik to the back.
Lucas Peterson, who restarted fourth on the last waive of the green flag, got the better of McFadden for a lap, but McFadden got him back three tours later. On the final lap Fitzsimmons took one last hard charge at Wahlstrom for the lead but nearly spun, allowing Wahlstrom to pull away to a final winning margin of about a second.
Fitzsimmons held a sizable runner-up cushion over McFadden, who had Peterson and Patrick Kelly close behind.
Copp, the 2022 “big Mods” champ from Brule, ran away with that division’s 20-lap A-main, capping off a sweep after a strong heat win earlier. Copp started outside on the front row, beat polestarter Jake Hiatt through the first pair of turns, and was never challenged after that for his 15th career feature win at Ashland.
The race ran uninterrupted, allowing Copp to pull away from the field with relative ease, while Hiatt, Pat Cook and Andrew Mackey debated their spots in the top five throughout the entire run. They would eventually be joined by Vernon, who spent a few early laps exchanging fifth place with Marcus Dunbar.
Copp had extended his lead to a third of a lap by midrace, and within the next five laps that margin had grown to a full half-lap as he caught Ross Fuhrman to put him a lap in arrears. Cody Carlson’s ailing racer pulled off the track after being passed by Copp as well, just before Copp took the white flag on his way to the impressive win. On that final lap Hiatt’s strong run ended as he was overtaken by Cook, Mackey and Vernon and fell to fifth in the final scoring.
Ashland’s Stuart continued his early-season success in the Super Stocks, as he, like Copp, started outside on the front row and led all 20 laps of his feature.
Stuart overtook polestarter Patrick Beeksma into the first corner at the drop of the green flag, followed by Shawn McFadden. Terran Spacek, the 2025 ABC Supers champ, followed suit into third two laps later. McFadden stayed with Stuart for a short while, but as the race continued uninterrupted Stuart increased his advantage ever so slightly with every lap.
By midrace Stuart had about a second-and-a half lead, while Spacek began to threaten McFadden. Matt Deragon overtook Beeksma for fourth on lap 14, just one tour before Don Livingston looped his ride to bring about the first caution stop of the run. On the restart Deragon drove to the inside on McFadden, while Spacek moved to the outside to race three-wide, and contact forced McFadden into a spin in front of the balance of the field on the backstraight.
The final restart allowed Spacek to use an outside pass of McFadden for second. Spacek stayed as close to the leader’s back bumper as anyone had been since the start of the race, but Stuart held strong for his 53rd career win at ABC. Kyle Copp, who was caught up in traffic early and ran a distant sixth most of the race, sped around McFadden on the final re-do and stayed within a bumper of Spacek in third, while McFadden and Deragon were a couple car-lengths back in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Vernon, the reigning WISSOTA national Midwest Mods champion and a two-time track champ from Mason, picked his way through traffic from the sixth starting spot to put himself in position for the feature win, with a little help from a late caution flag. Jimmy Latvala grabbed the initial lead from polestarter Judd Skubal before Jonny Nowak’s spin brought out the first yellow flag with one lap in the books, and after that restart Dunbar stole third from Paul Ripley.
Skubal raised a few eyebrows by staying close to Latvala for a few laps before taking the lead away on lap 5, with Dunbar stealing second on lap 6. Vernon had worked his way to fourth just prior to that and was challenging Latvala for third when they were both overtaken by a strong inside pass by James Vendela on lap 7. Dunbar reeled in Skubal and passed him for the lead on lap 10 as the pair were putting first-nighter Connor Kaseno a lap down; Dunbar and Kaseno clipped each other during the pass but both continued on.
Antonio Pintero’s spin on lap 12 bunched the field together, allowing Vendela to take a shot at stealing the lead, while Vernon edged past Skubal for third. Skubal’s impressive run ended with a spin on lap 16, and on that restart Vernon dove inside on Dunbar and Vendela for a three-wide race-winning pass.
Ryan Barningham’s spin on lap 18 brought about a green-white-checkered finish, during which Vernon held off Vendela and Dunbar for his 23rd ABC feature win and 17th here in a Mid-Mod. Latvala came home fourth, and a melee on the front straight caused by heavy bumping between Pintaro and Paul Suzik sent cars scrambling and caused Suzik to slide sideways under the checkers; judges penalized Pintaro and awarded the fifth spot to Suzik.
Smith, a perennial frontrunner in recent years, made the long haul from Cohasset, MN, and led flag-to-flag for his second Pure Stock feature win here. The lead pack of polestarter Smith, Dylan Helget, Shane Basina and Tim Carlson separated themselves from the rest of the field over the first four laps, and Smith pulled away after that.
Helget and Basina continued an entertaining duel for second throughout the run, while Carlson faded back a bit to hold fourth. By lap 9 of the scheduled 12, Smith passed backmarker rookies Alex Larson and Timmy Kin, and with open track ahead of him Smith drove away to the win with relative ease. Helget fended off Basina for runner-up pay, while Carlson survived a strong late charge by rookie Anthony Ravina for fourth.
Swanson, from Ashland, had a major mechanical failure during his heat race, but he made the needed repairs and returned to claim his 12th Six-Cylinder feature win. Starting outside on row 2 in the 15-lap A-main, he moved past Kyle Weber to take third behind polestarter Cody Eichmann and three-time defending division champ Basina before former Sixes champ Dale Coddington’s spun racer brought about the race’s only yellow flag on lap 1.
Eichmann was impressive in his efforts to fend off the repeated challenges by Swanson and Basina throughout the balance of the run, but one little bobble by Eichmann on lap 8 opened the door enough for Swanson to slip by, and from there Swanson pulled away to a healthy margin of victory. Eichmann regained his composure to hold off Basina for second, with Roger Walker close behind in fourth and Weber maintaining fifth at a distance.
The heat races for the Sixes, Midwest Mods and USRA Late Models caused the track to “ripple up” in the turns, resulting in less-than-ideal race conditions. But a re-grading of the track surface, followed by some quick laps in the Super Stock and Modified heats, helped the track become wider, smoother, and much faster throughout the rest of the program.
Fans young and old alike will get the chance to meet and visit with their favorite drivers on Saturday, June 6, when the ABC Raceway hosts its annual Kids’ Meet the Drivers Night festivities, to be presented by Heartland Communications Group. The drivers will park their race machines on the front straight so that fans can visit with them on the track and get photos, autographs, and perhaps even a few treats.
The five regular weekly divisions will be in action on that night. The pit gates will open at 4:30 pm and the grandstand gate opens at 5. The meet-and-greet session starts at 6:20, and green-flag action begins at 7 pm. There will be no hot-lap session.
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
Top Groove Racewear WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Brandon Copp, Brule; Pat Cook, Washburn; Andrew Mackey, Ashland; Tyler Vernon, Mason; Jake Hiatt, Mason; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Cole Spacek, Woodruff; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Ross Fuhrman, Ashland; Cody Carlson, Superior.
Heat 1: Mackey; Oreskovich; Carlson; Hiatt; Spacek.
Heat 2: Copp; Cook; Dunbar; Vernon; Fuhrman.
Bulldog Auto Repair WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: 1-10: Steve Stuart, Ashland; Terran Spacek, Phillips; Kyle Copp, Brule; Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Patrick Beeksma, Ironwood, MI; Trenton Bond, Iron River; Andy Grymala, Superior; Dalton Truchon, Washburn; Don Livingston, Washburn.
11-12: Jakob Bond, Marengo; Rita Anderson, South Range.
Heat 1: McFadden; Spacek; Truchon; T Bond; Livingston; Anderson.
Heat 2: Stuart; Copp; Beeksma; Deragon; Grymala; J Bond.
Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1-10: Tyler Vernon, Mason; James Vendela, South Range; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI; Bryan Lund, Ashland; Jonny Nowak, Proctor, MN; Ryan Barningham, Bayfield; Judd Skubal, Rhinelander; Connor Kaseno, Marengo.
11-14: Antonio Pintaro, Osseo; Cade Johnson, Eveleth, MN; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Mitch Kieber, Rhinelander.
Heat 1: Ripley; Vernon; Latvala; Nowak; Pintaro; Kaseno.
Heat 2: Suzik; Dunbar; Skubal; Lund; Johnson; Barningham; Kieber.
Bill’s Collision Center WISSOTA Pure Stocks
Feature: 1-8: Jake Smith, Cohasset, MN; Dylan Helget, South Range; Shane Basina, Bayfield; Tim Carlson, Superior; Anthony Ravina, Duluth, MN; Alex Larson, South Range; Timmy Kin, Greenland, MI; Jason Simonson, Poplar.
Heat: Basina; Aaron Bernick, Duluth, MN; Helget; Smith; Carlson; Larson; Kin; Simonson; Ravina.
Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders
Feature: 1-10: Travis Swanson, Ashland; Cody Eichmann, Park Falls; Shane Basina, Bayfield; Roger Walker, Phillips; Kyle Weber, Drummond; Cameron Bond, Mason; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Tyler Gervais, Ashland; Jonathan Popp, Iron River; Alex Bond, Iron River.
Heat 1: Eichmann; Basina; Walker; Coddington; Popp.
Heat 2: Weber; C Bond; Swanson; A Bond; Gervais.
USRA Late Models
Feature: 1-10: Josh Wahlstrom, Rice Lake; Larry Fitzsimmons, East Bethel, MN; Jason McFadden, Jim Falls; Lucas Peterson, Stockholm; Patrick Kelley, Wyoming, MN; Chad Lederer, Conover; TJ Adams, Hayward; Jason Zdroik, Eagle River; Caden Steffen-Ludwig, Colfax; Clayton Hofteig, Elk River, MN.
11-13: Chad Dawson, Isanti, MN; Jared Bamberger, Clayton; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI.
Heat 1: Fitzsimmons; Zdroik; Wahlstrom; Hofteig; Steffen-Ludwig; Dunbar; Dawson.
Heat 2: McFadden; Kelley; Peterson; Lederer; Adams; Bamberger.
