{"id":7167,"date":"2026-08-16T23:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T04:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/?p=7167"},"modified":"2026-08-16T23:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T04:00:23","slug":"nelson-secures-fast-lane-series-title-at-abc-baxter-three-peats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/nelson-secures-fast-lane-series-title-at-abc-baxter-three-peats\/","title":{"rendered":"Nelson Secures Fast Lane Series Title at ABC; Baxter \u2018Three-Peats\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nelson Secures FastLane Series Title at ABC; Baxter \u2018Three-Peats\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Nick Gima<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ashland, WI, August 15 <\/strong>\u2013 Dylan Nelson of Merrifield, MN, did just enough to earn his second FastLane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series championship on Saturday night at the ABC Raceway.<\/p>\n

The 2022 Series champion came into the WISSOTA Dirt Track Series program, which was presented by the NAPA Auto Parts stores of Ashland and Washburn, with a 21-point advantage over Tim Johnson, on the strength of wins in three of the Series\u2019 first four features and runner-up finishes in two others. But while Johnson was racing for the lead throughout much of the 30-lap Series finale on Saturday, Nelson was mired mid-pack but made enough of a late-race charge to finish seventh and secure the title.<\/p>\n

The program was delayed for two hours due to a soaking rain which arrived less than a half-hour before the scheduled 6:30 pm hot-lap session. Track crews worked diligently to restore the racing surface and, with the cooperation of well over half of the 62 racers registered for the five-division program, the slick red-clay surface became smooth and sticky-fast, and the program was completed by 11 pm.<\/p>\n

While Nelson was working toward winning the Series crown, Steve Stuart of Ashland was dominant on his way to taking the checkers in the Bulldog Auto Repair WISSOTA Super Stock feature. Stuart, who started outside on row 2, was immediately in the mix with front-row mates Scott Lawrence and Johnson for early pacesetting duties, with the track\u2019s divisional points leader, Matt Deragon, getting by Jason Melton for fourth.<\/p>\n

A lap 7 spin by Dalton Truchon drew the first of six caution flags scattered throughout the run, and on the restart Stuart worked his favored high line around Lawrence and Johnson for the lead. Trevor Koslowski\u2019s spin after contact with Allan Cleveland deep in the field slowed the proceedings again on lap 9, and on the ensuing restart a multi-car melee damaged several of the race\u2019s 26 starters on the front stretch.<\/p>\n

With the next six laps running uninterrupted, Stuart showed why he was so dominant earlier in the season, running the high line to move out to a nearly-two-second lead over Johnson, while Lawrence contended with Deragon and a hard-charging Tristan LaBarge. Melton\u2019s stalled ride on lap 15 brought the field back to Stuart, and a mess one lap after the restart brought about another yellow flag, but on each restart Stuart answered the bell with consistently strong laps.<\/p>\n

On the lap 16 re-do Deragon drove by both Lawrence and Johnson to take second, but despite his determined effort \u2013 and one more stoppage on lap 21 for Koslowski\u2019s second spin right in front of Stuart \u2013 there would be no catching the ten-time track champ on this night.<\/p>\n

Stuart eventually finished a full three seconds ahead of Deragon for his second win of the season here and 54th<\/sup> of his career, good for sixth all-time at the historic northern Wisconsin speedplant. Johnson came home third, with LaBarge getting by Lawrence in the closing laps to take fourth.<\/p>\n

Nelson\u2019s run, from his 12th<\/sup> starting position to seventh at the final stripe, was enough for a 16-point advantage over Johnson in the Series\u2019 final standings. Deragon will take a nine-point advantage over Shawn McFadden in the track\u2019s points chase into next Saturday\u2019s season finale.<\/p>\n

One driver who may have found himself a new full-time Saturday night home is David Baxter of Eau Claire, who scored his third straight Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modified A-main win. Baxter, who had never won at Ashland before his August 1 win here, started outside on the front row, beat Jacob Anderson out of the first turns, and sped away to an impressive win.<\/p>\n

Baxter was already nearly a second-and-a-half ahead of the pack by lap 4 of the 20 scheduled, while Anderson found himself in a race-long battle with four-time track champ Paul Suzik for second. Further back, Jaxon Helland had all he could do to stay ahead of another former track champion, Jimmy Latvala.<\/p>\n

Baxter continued to build on his considerable lead margin while working his way through slower traffic on lap 9, and with the race quickly running to its conclusion without a caution, he eventually finished with a huge 5.1-second cushion while running the only sub-17-second laps posted in the race. Anderson barely held off Suzik for second, and Helland completed his best race night of his career here \u2013 he won his first-ever heat race earlier in the program \u2013 with a fourth-place finish ahead of Latvala.<\/p>\n

Marcus Dunbar wisely put together a relatively conservative run to finish ninth, giving him a 52-point advantage over Latvala in the Midwest Mod standings. Dunbar needs to only unload his racer and run a green-flag lap next Saturday to claim his third straight points title and the fifth such trophy of his career at ABC.<\/p>\n

Another driver who turned in a strong performance on this night was Nick Oreskovich of Mason, who survived stiff challenges from Brady Uotinen and outran Brandon Copp to win his third Top Groove Racewear WISSOTA Modified feature of the season.<\/p>\n

Oreskovich started the 20-lapper on the pole and was just ahead of Jake Hiatt, with Uotinen dueling with Cole Spacek for third, when Hiatt spun with a lap in the books to bring about the race\u2019s only yellow flag. Once back under green, Oreskovich immediately went to the outermost groove of the smooth, wide red-clay surface and began to click off some lightning-fast laps \u2013 which he needed, because Uotinen was doing the same around the inside line of the track and staying in lock-step with the leader.<\/p>\n

Copp, the division\u2019s points leader, had moved by Spacek into third shortly after the restart and began a determined effort to catch the lead pair, and by mid-race he was within a half-second of Uotinen, who had fallen to a half-second back of Oreskovich. During lap 13 Copp moved into second after a brief battle with Uotinen, but that allowed Oreskovich to extend his lead.<\/p>\n

Oreskovich was nearly two full seconds ahead of Copp when he began working through backmarkers with three laps remaining, and his final winning margin was a more-than-sufficient 1.74 seconds for the 31st<\/sup> win of his career at Ashland. Uotinen held on for a solid third-place finish ahead of Andrew Mackey, and a recovered Hiatt passed Spacek\u2019s ailing machine coming off the final turn for fifth.<\/p>\n

Copp\u2019s points lead over Oreskovich sits at 22 with one race night remaining.<\/p>\n

The Bill\u2019s Collision Center WISSOTA Pure Stocks feature ran non-stop for the second week in a row, and Jake Smith made the long trip from his Cohasset, MN, home to take his fourth win of the season here to help his efforts toward a possible national championship.<\/p>\n

Smith started on the pole and led every one of the 12 laps, staying safely but not quite comfortably ahead of Dylan Helget, who was piloting a car borrowed from former WISSOTA national champion Brent Mindock on this night. Helget, in turn, maintained a similarly-sized cushion over divisional points leader Shane Basina through the early laps. Further back, Jason Simonson and Alex Larson waged an entertaining battle for fourth.<\/p>\n

Helget got a run on Smith as the race neared its mid-point, but Smith adjusted and pulled away during the second half of the event, leading by nearly a second with three laps remaining. Helget closed the gap again on the white-flag lap and got to within a half-second of the leader, but Smith closed the deal for his fifth ABC feature win overall. Basina came home third and holds a five-point lead over Helget with one night left, while Larson eventually won the duel with Simonson for fourth.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s final feature, in the Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders, went to the division\u2019s points leader, Roger Walker of Phillips, for a track-leading sixth time.<\/p>\n

Walker started outside on the second row and moved past Kyle Weber to take second behind three-time defending Sixes champ Basina by the end of lap 1. On lap 2 Walker pulled alongside Basina and, within another lap, procured the lead, which he then extended throughout the balance of the non-stop 15-lap run. Basina, meanwhile, fell into a fierce dogfight for position with Alex Bond, Travis Swanson and Cody Eichmann, which Swanson eventually succeeded in winning by lap 9.<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s lead margin topped four seconds with four laps left, although Swanson did trim a half-second off of that by the time the checkered flag flew. Bond maintained third throughout the balance of the run, while Basina and Eichmann completed the top five. Walker will carry a 17-point advantage into the final night of regular-season racing as he tries for his second track title.<\/p>\n

The ABC Raceway will close out the regular-season portion of its 2026 schedule with its \u201cMountain Dew Championship Saturday Night\u201d program, presented by North Star Beverage of Hurley, on August 22. The points champions in all five regular weekly divisions will be crowned at the conclusion of the evening\u2019s races.<\/p>\n

The pit gates will open at 4:30 pm on Saturday, while the grandstand gates will open at 5:30. Hot laps will start at 6:30, and the first heat-race green flag is slated to drop at 7 pm.<\/p>\n

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<\/em><\/a>, or check out its FaceBook page. Advance tickets are always available on the My Race Pass website and app.<\/p>\n

Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top Groove Racewear WISSOTA Modifieds<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feature<\/u>: 1-8<\/u>: Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Brandon Copp, Brule; Brady Uotinen, Superior; Andrew Mackey, Ashland; Jake Hiatt, Mason; Cole Spacek, Woodruff; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Ross Fuhrman, Ashland.<\/p>\n

Heat<\/u>: Oreskovich; Hiatt; Uotinen; C Spacek; J Spacek; Copp; Mackey; Fuhrman.<\/p>\n

Bulldog Auto Repair WISSOTA Super Stocks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feature<\/u>: 1-10<\/u>: Steve Stuart, Ashland; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Tim Johnson, Brainerd, MN; Tristan LaBarge, Kelly Lake, MN; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Shane Kisling, Butternut; Dylan Nelson, Merrifield, MN; Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Tommy Richards, Mondovi; Dalton Truchon, Washburn.<\/p>\n

11-20<\/u>: Don Livingston, Washburn; Austin Blom, Saginaw, MN; Rick Simpson, Thunder Bay, ON; Trenton Bond, Iron River; Andrew Johnson, Brainerd, MN; Jason Melton, Rhinelander; DJ Keeler, Superior; Larry Both, Thunder Bay, ON; Chad Johnson, Colfax; Dan Peterson, Foxboro.<\/p>\n

21-26<\/u>: Jakob Bond, Marengo; Rita Anderson, South Range; Allan Cleveland, Breckenridge, MN; Trevor Koslowski, Phillips; Terran Spacek, Phillips; Kyle Copp, Brule.<\/p>\n

Heat 1<\/u>: Richards; Deragon; Spacek; Blom; Cleveland; J Bond; Peterson.<\/p>\n

Heat 2<\/u>: LaBarge; Lawrence; Simpson; McFadden; Keeler; A Johnson; Koslowski.<\/p>\n

Heat 3<\/u>: Melton; T Johnson; Copp; Truchon; T Bond; Anderson.<\/p>\n

Heat 4<\/u>: Stuart; Kisling; Nelson; Both; Livingston; C Johnson.<\/p>\n

Dalbeck Sales WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feature<\/u>: 1-10<\/u>: David Baxter, Eau Claire; Jacob Anderson, Superior; Paul Suzik, Ironwood, MI; Jaxon Helland, Cadott; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; James Vendela, South Range; Paul Ripley, Duluth, MN; Judd Skubal, Rhinelander; Marcus Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Ryan Barningham, Bayfield.<\/p>\n

11-12<\/u>: Bryan Lund, Ashland; Connor Kaseno, Marengo.<\/p>\n

Heat 1<\/u>: Helland; Latvala; Suzik; Skubal; Ripley; Barningham.<\/p>\n

Heat 2<\/u>: Dunbar; Anderson; Baxter; Vendela; Lund; Kaseno.<\/p>\n

Bill\u2019s Collision Center WISSOTA Pure Stocks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feature<\/u>: 1-6<\/u>: Jake Smith, Cohasset, MN; Dylan Helget, South Range; Shane Basina, Bayfield; Alex Larson, South Range; Jason Simonson, Poplar; Zene Anderson, Superior.<\/p>\n

Heat<\/u>: Smith; Basina; Helget; Larson; Katlin Pritzl, Park Falls; Simonson; Anderson.<\/p>\n

Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feature<\/u>: 1-7<\/u>: Roger Walker, Phillips; Travis Swanson, Ashland; Alex Bond, Iron River; Shane Basina, Bayfield; Cody Eichmann, Park Falls; Cameron Bond, Mason; Kyle Weber, Drummond.<\/p>\n

Heat<\/u>: Walker; Swanson; A Bond; Basina; Weber; Eichmann; C Bond.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nelson Secures FastLane Series Title at ABC; Baxter \u2018Three-Peats\u2019 by Nick Gima \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ashland, WI, August 15 \u2013 Dylan Nelson of Merrifield, MN, did just enough to earn his second…Continue readingNelson Secures Fast Lane Series Title at ABC; Baxter \u2018Three-Peats\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsandupdates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7168,"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167\/revisions\/7168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcraceway.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}