Saturday, May 15, 2004

After a nice and early 9:00 a.m. start, M & N Racing worked hard all day long to get the final touches done.  After making a few hot laps in Mellen, showing the car to the sponsors, M & N Racing headed to the track.  After waiting in a line to enter the pits, we got settled and got the car off the trailer.  We got our first feel of the handling of the car on track for packing.

After our packing chore, we prepped the car for heats; Dustin drove tonight, after hot laps he told the team that we had to get more speed.  A few adjustments were made.

Heats- Dustin started on the outside front row of heat 2 next to Cory Casari, after turn one and two he dropped back to 7th, after a few cautions, one being a red flag, for the rollover of Steven Young.  Dustin was able to get the car back up to 4th.

Feature Event- After many delays and rollovers, due to poor track prep, the feature was postponed until next week.  After 2 visits from the grader, the track was still very rough. A total of 5 rollovers occurred over the night

So come on out next week and see a double feature in the pure stock class.

Carlson, Copp, Belland, Stuart Collect Opening Night Wins at ABC!

by Nick Gima

May 15, 2004; Ashland, WI: -  Darrell Carlson picked up where he left off last September, John Copp and Steve Stuart dominated their respective features, and Bruce Belland won his first A-main ever here as the ABC Raceway opened
its 2004 racing season with a Saturday night program highlighted by 107 entries but marred by five rollovers.

On a soft and tacky track, Dean Yrjanainen held off first Jeff Spacek, then Carlson through a series of early cautions in the modified feature, including one in which Spacek¹s rear suspension failed during a restart, sending Carlson spinning to avoid contact. Near midrace Jeff Lien overtook Carlson for second, and Lien took the lead on lap 11 as Yrjanainen slipped back.

Then on lap 15, as the field slowed for Dan Sellung¹s stalled car, Jerry Hartman got caught up in traffic and flipped violently down the front chute. On the restart Scott Hudack stalled in turn 3 and Bill Byholm rolled his ride on its roof in a valiant effort to avoid the stopped car.

On that restart Lien slowed dramatically, allowing Carlson by. Then Carlson and Chris Oertel made contact, sending Carlson to the grass, but he was re-established as the leader and held off Al Uotinen for the final four laps for his seventh career and second straight win here, dating back to last year's Red Clay Classic. Former mod track champ Don Copp gained third in his return to Ashland, ahead of Rick Przybylski and Oertel.

The super stock feature was much less violent. Greg Kuklenski led initially before giving the point up to Ken Truscott. Copp moved by both as the lead trio pulled away, just before Truscott¹s motor gave up on lap 6; Randy Spacek and Canadian Jeff Lindsey tagged each other hard while avoiding Truscott's slowing car.

From there the race ran caution-free, with Copp slowly drawing away from Kuklenski for his seventh career win here and first since June 2002. Scott Lawrence passed Don Koivisto for third late in the run, and Rick Rivord completed the top five.

A Dan Mihalek spin on the initial start was the only slowdown of the six-cylinder main, which saw Stuart slip beneath front-row starters Steve Walston and Russ Weber to take the lead and disappear from the field for his third career win. Weber, who struggled with power steering problems, held the rest of the field in check as long as he could by hugging the bottom groove before finally surrendering second place to Dale Coddington with two laps left, while Ken Tyykila and Justin Paulson completed the top five with strong runs.

The street stock feature provided fans with the most thrilling finish, as Belland snuck under race-long leader Roger Walker coming out of turn 4 on the final lap to steal the win. Walker had pulled away to a small but comfortable margin after taking the lead from pole sitter Dan Zelten on lap 2, and then increased that lead after a lap 3 caution for Bill Muhlig's rollover. When Zelten nearly rolled himself on the restart Larry Haderly slipped by to second, but in the waning laps Belland made his move, working the inside line on Haderly with just over a lap to go, then on Walker in the final corner. Marshall Andrews pulled past Tim Carbon late to earn fourth.

Due to the late hour and deteriorating track conditions officials decided to postpone the pure stock feature until the May 22 program. Other drivers involved in rollovers included Steven Young, who flipped while leading his pure stock heat and Warren Beede during the six-cylinder semi-feature. All drivers involved in flips were uninjured.

Results
WISSOTA Modifieds
Heat 1: Darrell Carlson, Superior; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Chris Oertel, Marshfield.
Heat 2: Bob Root, Washburn; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Bill Byholm, Glidden.
Heat 3: Don Copp, Brule; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Scott Hudack, Ashland.
Feature: Carlson; Al Uotinen, Superior; Copp; Rick Przybylski, Iron River, MI; Oertel; Dennis Checkalski, South Range; Yrjanainen; Clint Larson, Cloquet, MN; Ross Lightner, Washburn; Mike Sauvola, Iron River.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Bob D¹Antonio, Ironwood, MI; Don Koivisto, Saxon; Greg Kuklenski, Ironwood, MI.
Heat 2: Randy Spacek, Phillips; Todd Bonney, Bayfield; Rick Rivord, Superior.
Heat 3: John Copp, Brule; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Scott Lawrence, Superior.
Feature: Copp; Kuklenski; Lawrence; Koivisto; Rivord; Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Mike Duhr, Hazelhurst; Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Paul Erikson, Abbotsford; D¹Antonio.

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Roger Walker, Phillips; Larry Haderly, Marengo; Marshall Andrews, Duluth, MN.
Heat 2: Tim Carbon, Highbridge; Mike Kalkbrenner, Duluth, MN; Dan Zelten, Conover, WI.
Feature: Bruce Belland, Eagle River; Walker; Haderly; M. Andrews; Carbon; Lou Andrews, Duluth, MN; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Kalkbrenner; Kip McIntyre, Greenland, MI; Cory Casari, Hurley.

Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Steve Stuart, Ashland; Russ Weber, Bayfield; Dale Coddington, Hayward.
Heat 2: Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Ron Swanson, Ashland; Ken Tyykila, Iron River.
Heat 3: Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen; Chris Lustig, Ashland; Brent Brevak, Ashland.
Semi-Feature: Jim Anderson, Mason; Jim Maki, Sr., Washburn; Nick Oreskovich, Mason.
Feature: Stuart; Coddington; Weber; Tyykila; Justin Paulson, Ironwood, MI; Swanson; Hawkinson; Scott Ovaska, Marengo; Brevak; McFadden.

Pure Stocks
Heat 1: Al Rapp, Duluth, MN; Jim Eliason, Ashland; Paul Bertheaume, Ashland.
Heat 2: Tim Carson, Superior; Cory Casari, Hurley; Bruce Kalmon, Ashland.
Feature: to be run May 22.