6-10 Page 28 | ATD Racing News

Weinberger wins again in Mods while other ABC features go Dunbar, Stewart and Bernick on Saturday

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (June 7) - Saturday, June 7 was a night that provided many challenges at ABC Raceway. The track was hampered by light, late-afternoon rains that lingered through the scheduled 7 p.m. start time. Following a lengthy track reclamation effort, and a long recovery for a scary flip during the Winged Sprint feature, the final checkered flag flew for the evening.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners include Justin Weinberger, Steve Stuart, Marcus Dunbar, and Aaron Bernick.

In the 20-lap WISSOTA Modified feature, Weinberger earned his second feature win of the year at the oval in dominant fashion. Starting outside on the front row, Weinberger took advantage of the wide, smooth racing surface and ran uncontested in a race that took just over seven minutes to complete.

In a race where it seemed everyone in the field - except Weinberger - was equally fast, passing for position was at a premium, despite the nearly ideal track conditions. Weinberger hit his marks and increased his lead on nearly every lap, from a full second up on polestarter Tyler Vernon just three laps in, to 1.8 seconds ahead at mid-race.

Mike Anderson worked the higher line around the track to climb from his eighth-starting spot to third on lap 10, but by then he was well back of Vernon.

The win was the 10th of Weinberger’s career at Ashland, as he finished over two seconds ahead of Vernon, who in kind was 4.5 seconds ahead of Anderson. Tenth-starting Nick Oreskovich and Andrew Mackey finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Steve Stuart was once again the class of the field in the WISSOTA Super Stock feature. He led by almost a half-lap at the finish, despite a handful of early caution flags that kept the field close.

Stuart, who started eighth, was mired in a tight pack of at least a half-dozen cars during the early going, as front-row starter Trenton Bond snuck away to an impressive early advantage. Bond was up on second-running Jake Nevala by more than three-quarters of a second by lap four when Jeff Eisner looped his ride to bring about the first yellow. Another delay followed soon after when Jakob Bond spun as the field took the ensuing green.

Stuart used his preferred outer line to sweep around several cars on that restart to take second, and he soon pulled alongside Bond and edged ahead at the stripe to complete lap five, only to have his moves negated by a three-car get-together in turn three.

With Stuart relegated to fourth on the restart, Dalton Truchon went around Nevala for second, and Stuart followed to take third on the next lap. Stuart then dove low to take second from Truchon on lap seven and passed Trenton Bond the next time around to take the lead for good. From there Stuart put as much space between himself and the rest of the field as possible. Meanwhile, the tight-knit bunch battling for second through seventh swapped positions with every lap, with lots of two- and three-wide action.

At the checkered flag Stuart was a full 6.7 seconds ahead for his 50th career win, surpassing Jule Wilcox for sixth on the track’s all-time feature win list. Truchon took second ahead of a nice recovery by Eisner, and Shawn McFadden edged Matt Deragon for fourth.

Three-time and defending track champion Marcus Dunbar led every one of the 20 laps to win his 11th career WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature, but first of the season. Dunbar beat polesitter and four-time Mid Mod champ Paul Suzik through the first set of turns and was never bested from there, despite several well-spaced cautions.

After a complete restart for a two-car tangle on the initial start, Dunbar set the pace but could not quite pull away from Suzik, George Dalbeck, Tad Schoonover and Vernon. Once Vernon took over fourth on lap two, and James Vendela displaced Schoonover for fifth later in that lap, the lead five drew away from the rest of the field for their own dogfights for positions.

Rookie Cade Johnson, who had pulled into the infield with car issues on lap four while running at the tail of the field, crept his car too close to the racing surface on lap six to bring about the second stop of the race. Following that restart, Vendela went around Dalbeck for fourth. On lap 11, with Dunbar and Vernon separating slightly from the others, Vendela worked the high side to get by Suzik, with Dalbeck in tow, and those two waged their own little battle a few short car-lengths behind the lead pair.

Sixth-running Schoonover was spun on lap 14 to bring out another yellow flag, and on that restart Dalbeck motored by Vernon for second. Dunbar finally put some space between himself and the field until lap 18, when Vendela spun to set up a green-white-checkered finish. Dalbeck and Vernon raced door to door over the final laps, allowing Dunbar to pull to a .83-second winning margin, while Dalbeck barely won the battle for second. Suzik followed in fourth, and Cory Jorgensen - the last starter on the 11-car grid - came through to fifth in the final sprint.

Hearty fans who stuck around were treated to one of the best WISSOTA Pure Stock races of the season, with Aaron Bernick edging George Richards by less than a tenth of a second for his first win of the year and fourth of his career at ABC.

Visitor Jake Smith got the better of Eric Crosby at the initial drop of the green and pulled to a full-second lead as Crosby raced side by side with Bernick, and Richards ran door to door with Shane Basina for fourth. The front-runners stayed in this formation until lap seven of the 10 scheduled, when Zene Anderson spun.

Bernick got a run on Smith on the ensuing restart and edged ahead, but Anderson’s slowed ride in the middle of the backstretch just ahead of the leaders made for a very tense moment, as everyone swerved and dodged to avoid the nearly-stopped car. Bernick led the field to the green-white-checkered restart, and in the tight pack of cars Smith went to the high side and Richards dove low to surround the leader in a three-wide formation coming out of the final turn. Bernick kept his car’s nose ahead of the others for the win, with Richards on one side for second and Smith just a bit further back on the other side for third. Crosby was on Bernick’s rear bumper for fourth, and rookie visitor Dnae Rose trailed at a distance in fifth.

Although Basina’s Pure Stock failed him in that feature, he won his third ABC Six-Cylinder feature win in a row in the event just before, leading every lap but one. It was his 13th career win at the oval.

In the Traditional Sprints, Chris Lewis has been on a tear as of late in the High Roller Series, and he showed the power of his “Joker”-themed racer with an impressive come-from-behind win in that division’s 25-lap headliner. He stole the lead on lap 16 and sped away to a cushion of well over a second, withstanding one final caution for his second career win at ABC.

Chase Viebrock started the Winged Sprint 25-lapper from the front row; he obliterated the field over the first four laps by running off to a lead of nearly 2.3 seconds and was already catching the tail-end of the running order. Following a restart, Owen Carlson made his way into second, and caught and passed Viebrock for the lead on lap 14 in heavy lapped traffic. Four laps later he pushed too high in turn three, flipped up and over the rail and into the turn four catch fence in a frightening crash. A lengthy delay was needed to rescue his car from its landing spot, but Carlson had gotten out of the car on his own and was shaken up but otherwise uninjured.

Viebrock took over the duty of pacesetter for the final seven-lap run, and maintained a three-quarters-second lead to the finish, taking the checkers in heavy lapped traffic.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11-Justin Weinberger[2]; 2. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[1]; 3. 57-Mike Anderson[8]; 4. 21-Nick Oreskovich[10]; 5. 7-Andrew Mackey[6]; 6. 32-Pat Cook[4]; 7. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 8. 98-Al Uotinen[3]; 9. 99-Neil Balduc[7]; 10. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[9]; 11. 22-Brandon Copp[14]; 12. 3H-Jake Hiatt[12]; 13. 32III-Cody Carlson[11]; 14. 22S-Cole Spacek[15]; 15. (DNF) 22J-Jeff Spacek[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Justin Weinberger[2]; 2. 7-Andrew Mackey[1]; 3. 32-Pat Cook[4]; 4. 98-Al Uotinen[3]; 5. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[6]; 6. 32III-Cody Carlson[8]; 7. 22J-Jeff Spacek[5]; 8. 22S-Cole Spacek[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[1]; 2. 99-Neil Balduc[4]; 3. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[2]; 4. 9-Brady Uotinen[3]; 5. 21-Nick Oreskovich[7]; 6. 3H-Jake Hiatt[5]; 7. 22-Brandon Copp[6]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[8]; 2. 62-Dalton Truchon[6]; 3. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[9]; 4. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[7]; 5. 27-Matt Deragon[5]; 6. 44-Trenton Bond[2]; 7. 77-Jake Nevala[1]; 8. 9-Jakob Bond[11]; 9. 11R-Rita Anderson[12]; 10. (DNF) 21-Patrick Beeksma[10]; 11. (DNF) 2-Don Livingston[4]; 12. (DNF) 22T-Terran Spacek[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[1]; 2. 77-Jake Nevala[3]; 3. 22T-Terran Spacek[4]; 4. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[5]; 5. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[2]; 6. 9-Jakob Bond[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 62-Dalton Truchon[2]; 2. 44-Trenton Bond[4]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[6]; 4. 2-Don Livingston[5]; 5. 21-Patrick Beeksma[3]; 6. 11R-Rita Anderson[1]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[2]; 2. 23DD-George Dalbeck[3]; 3. 41-Tyler Vernon[7]; 4. 91-Paul Suzik[1]; 5. 16-Cory Jorgensen[11]; 6. T17-Tanner Hicks[5]; 7. 47-Tad Schoonover[4]; 8. 79-Bryan Lund[10]; 9. 15-James Vendela[8]; 10. 21-Ryan Barningham[9]; 11. 10Z-Cade Johnson[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[2]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[1]; 3. 47-Tad Schoonover[4]; 4. 10Z-Cade Johnson[6]; 5. 21-Ryan Barningham[5]; 6. 16-Cory Jorgensen[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23DD-George Dalbeck[2]; 2. 15-James Vendela[1]; 3. T17-Tanner Hicks[4]; 4. 91-Paul Suzik[5]; 5. 79-Bryan Lund[3]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[4]; 2. 5R-George Richards[5]; 3. 86J-Jake Smith[2]; 4. 28-Eric Crosby[1]; 5. 925-Dnae Rose[8]; 6. 24-Dylan Helget[6]; 7. 15R-Ryan LaBorde[9]; 8. (DNF) 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 9. (DNF) 5Z-Zene Anderson[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[4]; 2. 28-Eric Crosby[3]; 3. 5R-George Richards[5]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[8]; 5. 17-Aaron Bernick[7]; 6. 24-Dylan Helget[2]; 7. 5Z-Zene Anderson[1]; 8. 925-Dnae Rose[6]; 9. 15R-Ryan LaBorde[9]

High Roller Winged Sprints:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 50-Chase Viebrock[2]; 2. 19B-Jack Berger[5]; 3. 03-Jamey Ogston[1]; 4. 609-Casey Lang[4]; 5. 7-Keegan Coss[14]; 6. 42X-Brett Peterson[8]; 7. 63-Todd Hansen[10]; 8. 4-Mike Stien[13]; 9. 95-John Vaillancourt[3]; 10. 4S-Jeremy Snow[11]; 11. 59-Jamie Reberg[15]; 12. 95T-Kevin Bradwell[7]; 13. 33S-Jeremy Schultz[9]; 14. C4-Carl Wade[12]; 15. 97-Carl Brunsvold[18]; 16. 56-Josh Braford[19]; 17. 1B-Matthew Weber[17]; 18. 4H-Mitch Hagen[16]; 19. (DNF) 07-Owen Carlson[6]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 03-Jamey Ogston[2]; 2. 95-John Vaillancourt[4]; 3. 19B-Jack Berger[6]; 4. 95T-Kevin Bradwell[1]; 5. 33S-Jeremy Schultz[5]; 6. 4S-Jeremy Snow[9]; 7. 4-Mike Stien[7]; 8. 59-Jamie Reberg[10]; 9. 1B-Matthew Weber[3]; 10. 56-Josh Braford[8]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 50-Chase Viebrock[4]; 2. 609-Casey Lang[2]; 3. 07-Owen Carlson[7]; 4. 42X-Brett Peterson[9]; 5. 63-Todd Hansen[3]; 6. C4-Carl Wade[1]; 7. 7-Keegan Coss[6]; 8. 4H-Mitch Hagen[5]; 9. 97-Carl Brunsvold[8]

High Roller Non-Winged Sprints:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 5J-Chris Lewis[9]; 2. 99-Bryan Roach[3]; 3. 54-Cam Schafer[5]; 4. 6-Jake Kouba[2]; 5. 12-Johnny Parsons III[1]; 6. 28-Westen Johnson[8]; 7. 7X-Dan Atchison[11]; 8. 10Z-Zach Widdes[13]; 9. (DNF) 56-Josh Braford[10]; 10. (DNF) 7-Scott Brandt[4]; 11. (DNF) 5-Kierston Coss[6]; 12. (DNF) 11J-Jori Hughes[7]; 13. (DNS) 46H-Ken Hron; 14. (DNS) 76-Edison Aldrich

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Johnny Parsons III[1]; 2. 99-Bryan Roach[3]; 3. 54-Cam Schafer[7]; 4. 11J-Jori Hughes[4]; 5. 5J-Chris Lewis[6]; 6. (DNF) 7X-Dan Atchison[2]; 7. (DNS) 46H-Ken Hron

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 6-Jake Kouba[1]; 2. 7-Scott Brandt[3]; 3. 5-Kierston Coss[2]; 4. 28-Westen Johnson[7]; 5. 56-Josh Braford[6]; 6. (DNF) 76-Edison Aldrich[5]; 7. (DNF) 10Z-Zach Widdes[4]

Six Cylinders:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 69ER-Shane Basina[4]; 2. 73-Dale Coddington[2]; 3. 28-Travis Swanson[3]; 4. 92-Cody Eichmann[8]; 5. 42-Cameron Bond[7]; 6. 97-Alex Bond[5]; 7. 23G-Tyler Gervais[1]; 8. 41-Mady Anderson[10]; 9. 43-Jim Anderson[11]; 10. (DNF) 5-Roger Walker[6]; 11. (DNF) 23-Mathew Rohlfing[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Roger Walker[1]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 3. 28-Travis Swanson[4]; 4. 92-Cody Eichmann[3]; 5. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[2]; 6. 43-Jim Anderson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 42-Cameron Bond[3]; 2. 73-Dale Coddington[4]; 3. 97-Alex Bond[5]; 4. 23G-Tyler Gervais[2]; 5. 41-Mady Anderson[1]