6-23 Page 19 | ATD Racing News

Deragon delivers a second straight in Supers while Oreskovich, Vendela and Smith score ABC attaboys

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (June 20) - A fast-paced WISSOTA Dirt Track Series program was highlighted by two first-time visitors to victory lane Saturday at ABC Raceway, along with two “three-peaters” and one repeat winner.

Winners in WISSOTA-sanctioned action included Nick Oreskovich, Matt Deragon, James Vendela, and Jake Smith.

Smith was a third-time winner on the season in the WISSOTA Pure Stocks, with a dominating run in the nonstop 10-lap feature.

Smith started on the pole, but was locked in a tough battle with Aaron Bernick. On lap two Bernick made an inside move stick to take the lead, but within a couple of laps Smith worked his way back into the top spot with an inside pass of his own.

From that point on Smith gradually drew away, taking his fourth career ABC Raceway checkered flag by 2.9 seconds. Runner-up Bernick was almost that far ahead of Shane Basina, while Dylan Helget and Alex Larson were a distant fourth and fifth, respectively.

Matt Deragon earned his second consecutive WISSOTA Super Stock feature win on Saturday.

Deragon started on the pole of the nonstop 20-lapper and outran Jakob Bond through the first pair of turns. Fifth-starter Steve Stuart slipped low to pass Dalton Truchon for third in those first turns as well, and within a couple of tours around the three-eighth-mile oval he grabbed second from Bond.

Deragon stayed at least three-quarters of a second ahead of the WISSOTA national points leader throughout much of the run, and he had as much as a 1.5-second lead at times. Well behind the lead pair, a slew of as many as six to seven racers swapped third through eighth frequently with every lap. It was not until Deragon set himself up to put Rita Anderson a lap down that Stuart closed the deficit significantly, drawing to within a mere car length or two with four laps to go.

Deragon clung to a .2-second margin at the checkered flag for his 20th career feature win here, with Stuart nipping at his heels. Don Livingston broke out of the thick logjam chasing the leaders for a season-best third-place effort, while Bond held on for fourth ahead of ninth-starter Kyle Copp.

Nick Oreskovich enjoyed his own first-time-in-a-long-time feature win in the WISSOTA Modified main event. Having not won a feature here since August 2023, Oreskovich hassled race-long leader Brady Uotinen until the closing laps of the 20-lap nonstop affair before he completed the winning pass.

Oreskovich started outside on the front row and worked his way around polesitter John Toppozini, only to find that Uotinen had made his way by the Canadian visitor as well. Throughout the front half of the run, Uotinen fought off every challenge Oreskovich threw at him, while Brandon Copp was lurking not far back.

Eventually the lead pair pulled away from Copp, who was comfortably ahead of Pat Cook. Uotinen continued to pace the run until the final five laps, when the smooth mid-track line began to fail him. Oreskovich, leaning his racer against the outer cushion, closed on the leader and, with two to go, eased his way by on the outside and held on for a final margin of .68 of a second.

Uotinen came home second as Copp closed in again, while Cook and Andrew Mackey completed the top five.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature was not as smooth, but it ended with James Vendela in victory lane at the end of its 20 laps. Vendela, who started inside on the fourth row, spent much of the race as a part of a five-car cluster fighting for second, then took advantage of a rare bobble by Tyler Vernon for the lead.

Polesitter Tanner Hicks pulled in front of Cade Johnson for the early lead, with defending track champ Marcus Dunbar in tow. Paul Suzik worked his way by Johnson for third after a lap, and when Dunbar slipped high through turn four the next time around, Suzik took advantage for second.

Vernon ran a strong upper line to sweep around Suzik on lap seven, and just as he was about to move by Hicks for the lead a yellow flag flew for Connor Kaseno’s spin. Vernon did get by Hicks a lap after the restart, just before Kaseno looped his ride again, and this time Vernon was able to run off to a sizable lead.

Vendela, who restarted fifth, worked the high line as well as Vernon did, and took third away just past the race’s midpoint. Then, as Vernon was enjoying a 1.78-second lead, visitor Braedyn Kirtland spun with five laps to go, putting Vendela and Suzik on Vernon’s rear bumper. A lap after the restart Vernon slipped up the track in turn four, allowing Vendela the chance to make a thread-the-needle, three-wide pass past Vernon and Suzik for the lead. Dunbar got by Vernon a couple of circuits later and stayed tight to the leader’s bumper, but Vendela held on for a .3-second win – the seventh of his career here but first this season.

Vernon stayed just ahead of Suzik for third, and Jimmy Latvala weaved his way to fifth in the final laps.

The spotlight Saturday was on the ABC Six Cylinders for their fourth annual “Six Cylinder Slam” night of racing. Taking its theme from the world of professional wrestling, each driver was introduced to the crowd with background music and WWE-style nicknames. Winner Travis Swanson received a championship belt and donned a boxing-style robe in victory lane. He took the lead from Kyle Weber with three to go, with Roger Walker going high for second a lap later. Swanson sped away to his 14th career win at ABC, by 1.7 seconds ahead of Walker. Weber held on for third just ahead of Cameron Bond, with Matthew Rolfing a distant fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[2]; 2. 9-Brady Uotinen[3]; 3. 22-Brandon Copp[4]; 4. 32-Pat Cook[5]; 5. 7-Andrew Mackey[7]; 6. T23-John Toppozini[1]; 7. 22S-Cole Spacek[6]; 8. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[9]; 9. 19J-Jack Rivord[10]; 10. 32III-Cody Carlson[8]; 11. 00B-Robby Bunkelman[12]; 12. 00-Ross Fuhrman[13]; 13. (DNF) 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Brady Uotinen[2]; 2. 22S-Cole Spacek[1]; 3. 32-Pat Cook[3]; 4. 7-Andrew Mackey[6]; 5. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[5]; 6. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[4]; 7. 00B-Robby Bunkelman[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[2]; 2. 32III-Cody Carlson[3]; 3. 22-Brandon Copp[4]; 4. T23-John Toppozini[1]; 5. 19J-Jack Rivord[5]; 6. 00-Ross Fuhrman[6]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[5]; 2. 9-Jakob Bond[2]; 3. 62-Dalton Truchon[3]; 4. 80-Steve Stuart[6]; 5. 26-Kyle Copp[7]; 6. 11R-Rita Anderson[1]; 7. 7B-Jason Melton[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[2]; 2. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[1]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[4]; 4. 2-Don Livingston[3]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[6]; 6. 22T-Terran Spacek[5]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-James Vendela[7]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[3]; 3. 41-Tyler Vernon[4]; 4. 91-Paul Suzik[5]; 5. 21-Jimmy Latvala[8]; 6. 20-Judd Skubal[9]; 7. T17-Tanner Hicks[1]; 8. 10Z-Cade Johnson[2]; 9. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[6]; 10. 79-Bryan Lund[10]; 11. 18K-Braedyn Kirtland[12]; 12. (DNF) 15K-Connor Kaseno[11]; 13. (DNS) 28-Paul Ripley

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[1]; 2. 41-Tyler Vernon[7]; 3. 15-James Vendela[4]; 4. T17-Tanner Hicks[2]; 5. 20-Judd Skubal[5]; 6. 15K-Connor Kaseno[6]; 7. (DNS) 28-Paul Ripley

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[2]; 2. 21-Jimmy Latvala[5]; 3. 91-Paul Suzik[3]; 4. 10Z-Cade Johnson[1]; 5. 79-Bryan Lund[6]; 6. 18K-Braedyn Kirtland[4]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[1]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[3]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[4]; 4. 24-Dylan Helget[5]; 5. 67-Alex Larson[2]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[1]; 2. 86J-Jake Smith[4]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 4. 67-Alex Larson[3]; 5. 24-Dylan Helget[5]

Six Cylinders:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 28-Travis Swanson[8]; 2. 5-Roger Walker[3]; 3. 05-Kyle Weber[4]; 4. 42-Cameron Bond[5]; 5. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[9]; 6. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 7. 92-Cody Eichmann[1]; 8. 97-Alex Bond[2]; 9. (DNF) 7R-RJ Holly[7]; 10. (DNF) 23G-Tyler Gervais[11]; 11. (DNF) 444-Justin Pratt[10]; 12. (DNF) 81-Adam Traaholt[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Roger Walker[1]; 2. 28-Travis Swanson[5]; 3. 92-Cody Eichmann[2]; 4. 42-Cameron Bond[4]; 5. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[6]; 6. (DNF) 23G-Tyler Gervais[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 2. 97-Alex Bond[4]; 3. 05-Kyle Weber[6]; 4. 7R-RJ Holly[1]; 5. 444-Justin Pratt[3]; 6. (DNF) 81-Adam Traaholt[5]