6-16 Page 28 | ATD Racing News

Vernon, Deragon, Dunbar & Wahlstrom walk away winners after ABC features on Saturday

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (June 13) - On a cool mid-June evening, ABC Raceway inducted six new members into its Hall of Fame, while the track’s victory lane hosted five new winners in 2026.

The inductees for the class of 2026 were drivers Jim Day, Dave Gillette and Greg Kuklinski; contributor Lloyd Orensten; and volunteers Jack Shubat and Pete Sokolich. Also honored was 2024 driver inductee Brian Mikkonen, who was unable to attend the ceremonies two years ago.

A season-high 77 cars took to the track on this night for WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action. Winners included Tyler Vernon, Marcus Dunbar, Simon Wahlstrom, and Matt Deragon.

Polesitter Kennedy Swan led the field to the green and beat Vernon through the first turns to set the early pace in the WISSOTA Modifieds, with Andrew Inman and Cole Chernosky in tow. Swan maintained a little cushion for the first three laps, but Vernon adjusted his line and shot by on the outside to take the lead on lap four, and from there he was not tested.

By midrace Vernon was already putting backmarkers a lap down while building on a three-second margin, and not long after that Chernosky worked his way past Swan for second. The nonstop 20-lap run worked to Vernon’s favor, as he cruised to a final winning margin of almost 3.4 seconds ahead of Chernosky for his 25th career feature win at ABC and his fourth here in a Modified.

Swan held on for third-place money just ahead of Inman and a charging Brandon Copp.

Matt Deragon had not won a feature at ABC since August 2023, but starting on the outside of the front row of the WISSOTA Super Stocks gave him a favorable opportunity to end that drought, and he took full advantage.

After a caution on the initial start for a spin by Jakob Bond, Deragon won the battle for the lead with polesitter Kyle Copp and held a half-second edge when the yellow flag waved again on lap three for Dalton Truchon’s spin. From there the rest of the 20-lap affair ran without interruption, which worked out well for Deragon.

Copp, who dominated in Superior the night before, lost touch with Deragon while settling into a duel with Terran Spacek over much of the remaining distance. Farther back Rick Simpson held a solid fourth ahead of a battle between Patrick Beeksma, Steve Stuart and Cole Chernosky for fifth. On lap seven, Shawn McFadden moved past that cluster of cars to take fifth, and just after midrace he took fourth from Simpson.

Deragon led by as much as 1.5 seconds during the closing laps, but working through slower traffic caused him to decrease his pace. It also allowed Copp to close the gap to the leader significantly, but Copp ran out of time as Deragon was a half-second ahead at the checkered flag. Spacek was back a bit in third but safely ahead of McFadden and Stuart.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modified A-main started with a long delay after a five-car melee on the initial start. Kolby Reed took the lead from the pole and surprised many by pacing the next 14 laps of the 20-lap run.

It took just three laps under green for Reed to build up a full-second advantage on first-time visitor Adam Martinson. Marcus Dunbar, the four-time track champ from Marenisco, MI, quickly moved past Vernon and Cade Johnson into third, and one lap later Jimmy Latvala followed suit to take fourth.

Martinson shaved Reed’s margin in half by lap seven, only to see Reed increase his lead to 1.5 seconds two laps later as Dunbar began to work on Martinson for second. Then a series of yellow-flag slowdowns stunted the progress of the race and put Dunbar and Martinson on Reed’s back bumper. On the lap 10 restart, Martinson was swallowed up as the result of a slow reaction to the restart, and a circuit later Dunbar slipped past Reed to take over at the point.

On lap 14, Reed’s car coasted to a stop on the front straight, ending his promising run. After one more restart for Ryan Barningham’s wounded racer, Dunbar outran Vernon over the closing laps for his first win of the season and 13th of his career here overall, by a 1.19-second cushion.

Tenth-starter Ryan Savoy overcame the carnage around him for a third-place effort, while Latvala and 15th-starter Paul Ripley also scratched their way into the top five.

Before 2026 not a single member of the well-known and successful Wahlstrom racing family had ever won a feature in the 62-year history of the ABC Raceway. On Saturday night, Simon Wahlstrom became the second member of that family to win here in three weeks.

During ABC’s opening-night action, Josh Wahlstrom took the win in the USRA Late Models’ first-ever feature here. Saturday Simon pestered polesitter Dylan Helget and Shane Basina as the threesome broke away to pace the early stages of the WISSOTA Pure Stock main event.

In the tight battle for the lead, Basina spun his ride on lap three, which left Helget to fend off the challenges of both Simon and his brother Tyler Wahlstrom - which he did valiantly, until the brothers surrounded him and worked their way by with a three-wide pass on lap four. Simon gained the eventual advantage and led the rest of the way, 1.4 seconds up on brother Tyler at the checkered flag for his landmark win.

Helget fell back into another three-car dogfight, but he stayed ahead of Austin Fencl and a recovered Basina for third.

Roger Walker started on the pole of the Six Cylinder feature and led every lap despite constant challenges and three restarts for his ninth career feature win here and third in the Sixes. Shane Basina was second, Travis Swanson was third, Cameron Bond was fourth, and Cody Eichmann completed the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[2]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[6]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[1]; 4. 11JR-Andrew Inman[4]; 5. 22-Brandon Copp[8]; 6. 19J-Jack Rivord[10]; 7. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 8. 7-Andrew Mackey[12]; 9. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[11]; 10. 57-Mike Anderson[7]; 11. 22S-Cole Spacek[14]; 12. 621-Colin Chaschuk[9]; 13. 3H-Jake Hiatt[13]; 14. 43-Lance Schilling[16]; 15. 4A-Hunter Anderson[17]; 16. (DNF) 11-Jody Bellefeuille[3]; 17. (DNF) 00-Ross Fuhrman[20]; 18. (DNF) 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[15]; 19. (DNF) 70-David Simpson[19]; 20. (DNS) 32-Pat Cook

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[2]; 2. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[3]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[5]; 4. 19J-Jack Rivord[6]; 5. 3H-Jake Hiatt[1]; 6. 43-Lance Schilling[7]; 7. 32-Pat Cook[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Brandon Copp[1]; 2. 9-Brady Uotinen[6]; 3. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[3]; 4. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[5]; 5. 22S-Cole Spacek[2]; 6. 4A-Hunter Anderson[4]; 7. 00-Ross Fuhrman[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[5]; 2. 621-Colin Chaschuk[1]; 3. 11JR-Andrew Inman[3]; 4. 7-Andrew Mackey[6]; 5. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[2]; 6. (DNF) 70-David Simpson[4]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 27-Matt Deragon[2]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[1]; 3. 22T-Terran Spacek[6]; 4. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[7]; 5. 80-Steve Stuart[5]; 6. 77-Rick Simpson[3]; 7. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[10]; 8. 33C-Cole Chernosky[12]; 9. 14X-Leslie Leu[14]; 10. 44-Trenton Bond[9]; 11. 2-Don Livingston[4]; 12. 9-Jakob Bond[13]; 13. 7B-Jason Melton[11]; 14. 11R-Rita Anderson[15]; 15. (DNF) 62-Dalton Truchon[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Rick Simpson[2]; 2. 27-Matt Deragon[4]; 3. 22T-Terran Spacek[5]; 4. 26-Kyle Copp[6]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[7]; 6. 7B-Jason Melton[3]; 7. 9-Jakob Bond[8]; 8. 11R-Rita Anderson[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[5]; 2. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[3]; 3. 2-Don Livingston[1]; 4. 62-Dalton Truchon[4]; 5. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[6]; 6. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 7. 14X-Leslie Leu[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[5]; 2. 41-Tyler Vernon[4]; 3. 16-Ryan Savoy[10]; 4. 21-Jimmy Latvala[8]; 5. 28-Paul Ripley[15]; 6. 18-Hunter Brink[14]; 7. 70-David Simpson[12]; 8. 10Z-Cade Johnson[3]; 9. 79-Bryan Lund[11]; 10. 8-Jonny Nowak[21]; 11. (DNF) T17-Tanner Hicks[18]; 12. (DNF) 15-James Vendela[7]; 13. (DNF) 24M-Adam Martinson[2]; 14. (DNF) 317-Austin Polonoski[19]; 15. (DNF) 21+7-Ryan Barningham[16]; 16. (DNF) 89-Kolby Reed[1]; 17. (DNF) 15K-Connor Kaseno[22]; 18. (DNF) 00-Joe Swearingen[9]; 19. (DNF) 19P-Antonio Pintaro[20]; 20. (DNF) 32M-Mason Musel[6]; 21. (DNF) 91-Paul Suzik[17]; 22. (DNF) 20-Judd Skubal[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15-James Vendela[2]; 2. 89-Kolby Reed[4]; 3. 21-Jimmy Latvala[6]; 4. 16-Ryan Savoy[1]; 5. 20-Judd Skubal[8]; 6. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[3]; 7. T17-Tanner Hicks[5]; 8. (DNF) 15K-Connor Kaseno[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32M-Mason Musel[2]; 2. 24M-Adam Martinson[3]; 3. 10Z-Cade Johnson[5]; 4. 79-Bryan Lund[4]; 5. 18-Hunter Brink[1]; 6. (DNF) 19P-Antonio Pintaro[6]; 7. (DNF) 8-Jonny Nowak[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[3]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[1]; 3. 00-Joe Swearingen[5]; 4. 70-David Simpson[6]; 5. 28-Paul Ripley[7]; 6. 91-Paul Suzik[4]; 7. 317-Austin Polonoski[2]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[3]; 2. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[5]; 3. 24-Dylan Helget[1]; 4. 52W-Austin Fencl[6]; 5. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 6. 10-Anthony Ravina[4]; 7. 67-Alex Larson[7]; 8. 3D-Sean Duffy[8]; 9. 11K-Timmy Kin[9]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[4]; 2. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[6]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[8]; 4. 24-Dylan Helget[3]; 5. 10-Anthony Ravina[7]; 6. 52W-Austin Fencl[2]; 7. 67-Alex Larson[1]; 8. 3D-Sean Duffy[5]; 9. 11K-Timmy Kin[9]

Six Cylinders:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 5-Roger Walker[1]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[7]; 3. 28-Travis Swanson[3]; 4. 42-Cameron Bond[4]; 5. 92-Cody Eichmann[6]; 6. 97-Alex Bond[2]; 7. 05-Kyle Weber[8]; 8. 444-Justin Pratt[9]; 9. (DNF) 23G-Tyler Gervais[10]; 10. (DNF) 81-Adam Traaholt[11]; 11. (DNS) 7R-RJ Holly

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Travis Swanson[2]; 2. 5-Roger Walker[1]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 4. 7R-RJ Holly[4]; 5. 444-Justin Pratt[5]; 6. (DNF) 81-Adam Traaholt[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 42-Cameron Bond[3]; 2. 05-Kyle Weber[1]; 3. 97-Alex Bond[2]; 4. 92-Cody Eichmann[5]; 5. 23G-Tyler Gervais[4]