6-30 Page 32 | ATD Racing News

Weinberger, McFadden, Dunbar & Bernick teach rivals some lessons Saturday at ABC Raceway

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (June 27) - ABC Raceway offered free grandstand admission to area teachers and school administrators for Saturday night’s WISSOTA Dirt Track Series race program, which was completed in barely more than two hours thanks to three of five nonstop features.

Last year’s track champ Justin Weinberger had a successful return to ABC for the first time this season, while Aaron Bernick broke through for his first feature win of the year. Shawn McFadden and Marcus Dunbar each scored second wins of the season in their respective WISSOTA classes.

Weinberger, who now calls Menomonie home, started inside on row four in the 20-lap WISSOTA Modified main event and waited until mid-race to make a major move forward.

Polesitter Brandon Copp pulled ahead of outside front-row starter Evan Checkalski during the initial laps and flew to a 2.5-second lead in just six quick laps. Checkalski had his hands full battling with Cole Spacek for second, while Weinberger moved up to challenge Cole Chernosky for fourth. But Spacek looped his ride on lap nine, erasing Copp’s big lead, and Weinberger overtook Checkalski for second on the restart, just ahead of a three-wide battle for fourth. Then Weinberger worked on Copp until lap 11, when he made his race-winning pass.

From there Weinberger ran to a 2-second final margin and his 12th career ABC feature win. Copp held off a strong-running Tyler Vernon for second, and Chernosky got by Checkalski late in the run for fourth.

The other first-time winner on the season was Bernick, who won the WISSOTA Pure Stocks A-main. He started fourth in the five-car field, but worked the outside line to make his way to the front before mid-race.

Polesitter Dylan Helget hustled ahead of rookie Anthony Ravina to set the early pace, and Bernick wasted no time sweeping around Ravina to second within that first lap. Helget did all he could to stay ahead of Bernick, but on lap four Bernick changed to the inside line and stole the lead away.

Over the remaining laps of the nonstop 10-lap affair Bernick gradually pulled away, leading by more than 2 seconds as he took the checkers for his sixth ABC Raceway feature win. Helget stayed put in second, while Shane Basina nipped Ravina for third. Alex Larson came home in fifth.

McFadden, who struggled last week and fell back in the early-season WISSOTA Super Stock points standings, used a late-race pass to win his second feature of the season and get back into the championship chase.

After starting inside on row five, McFadden was in a tight four-car battle for second early in the uninterrupted 20-lap show as polesitter Don Livingston escaped with the lead. Eventually McFadden worked his way to second on lap eight, ahead of Patrick Beeksma, Matt Deragon and Chernosky, as Livingston built his lead to more than 2 seconds.

McFadden began to cut into Livingston’s lead while gaining some separation from Deragon and Beeksma, but that duo reeled McFadden in by lap 13. With five circuits remaining Livingston’s cushion was down to just under 1 second and a lap later McFadden snuck inside on the leader and took over at the point. McFadden sped away from there to a winning margin of slightly more than 1.5 seconds.

Livingston held off a determined Deragon for second, while Beeksma came home a distant fourth ahead of Chernosky.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature also ran 20 laps nonstop and Dunbar, the division’s two-time defending champ, took the 14th win of his career here.

The front four starters - polesitter Kolby Reed, Vernon, Jacob Anderson, and Dunbar - gained separation from the rest of the pack and dueled among themselves over the first four laps until Anderson established himself as the leader. Dunbar got by Vernon for second on lap five and pressured Anderson as much as possible, with Vernon not far back, until lap eight, when Dunbar got by with an inside pass.

Dunbar extended his lead during the next eight laps, while Anderson, Vernon and Reed continued their debate for second. Once Vernon broke free of that pack on lap 13 he set out for Dunbar, but he could not make up much of the 2.1-second deficit over the waning laps.

Dunbar’s final margin was 1.75 seconds over Vernon, and the win, combined with a better heat result earlier in the program, pulled Dunbar into a tie for first with Vernon in the track’s Midwest Mod standings. Reed was impressive in coming home third, ahead of Anderson and David Simpson.

Roger Walker worked hard to fend off some tough late-race challenges but held on for his 10th career feature win here and fourth ever in the ABC Six Cylinders.

Cody Eichmann was second, while Shane Basina edged his way past Travis Swanson for third. Mathew Rohlfing was fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11-Justin Weinberger[7]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[1]; 3. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[9]; 4. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 5. 64-Evan Checkalski[2]; 6. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[10]; 7. 7-Andrew Mackey[6]; 8. 70-David Simpson[8]; 9. 32-Pat Cook[12]; 10. 3H-Jake Hiatt[13]; 11. 22S-Cole Spacek[5]; 12. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[3]; 13. 3-Bryan Hessler[14]; 14. 00-Ross Fuhrman[16]; 15. (DNS) 32III-Cody Carlson; 16. (DNS) 224-Cody Wolkowski

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Andrew Mackey[1]; 2. 11-Justin Weinberger[3]; 3. 64-Evan Checkalski[2]; 4. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[7]; 5. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[4]; 6. 224-Cody Wolkowski[5]; 7. 3H-Jake Hiatt[6]; 8. 3-Bryan Hessler[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[2]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[6]; 3. 22S-Cole Spacek[3]; 4. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 5. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[7]; 6. 32-Pat Cook[5]; 7. 00-Ross Fuhrman[8]; 8. (DNF) 32III-Cody Carlson[1]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[5]; 2. 2-Don Livingston[1]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[8]; 4. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[3]; 5. 33C-Cole Chernosky[6]; 6. 80-Steve Stuart[7]; 7. 44-Trenton Bond[12]; 8. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[9]; 9. 9-Jakob Bond[2]; 10. 6-Dan Peterson[4]; 11. 69-Myron Basina[10]; 12. 11R-Rita Anderson[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[1]; 2. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[3]; 3. 80-Steve Stuart[6]; 4. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 5. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[5]; 6. (DNF) 44-Trenton Bond[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Don Livingston[3]; 2. 27-Matt Deragon[4]; 3. 6-Dan Peterson[1]; 4. 9-Jakob Bond[5]; 5. 69-Myron Basina[2]; 6. 11R-Rita Anderson[6]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[4]; 2. 41-Tyler Vernon[2]; 3. 89-Kolby Reed[1]; 4. 71-Jacob Anderson[3]; 5. 70-David Simpson[5]; 6. 15-James Vendela[9]; 7. 91-Paul Suzik[7]; 8. 16-Ryan Savoy[6]; 9. 28-Paul Ripley[11]; 10. 21-Jimmy Latvala[8]; 11. T17-Tanner Hicks[12]; 12. 20-Judd Skubal[14]; 13. 79-Bryan Lund[10]; 14. 10Z-Cade Johnson[13]; 15. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[15]; 16. (DNS) 15K-Connor Kaseno

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jimmy Latvala[1]; 2. 70-David Simpson[3]; 3. 89-Kolby Reed[6]; 4. 41-Tyler Vernon[7]; 5. 15-James Vendela[4]; 6. 28-Paul Ripley[8]; 7. 10Z-Cade Johnson[2]; 8. (DNF) 15K-Connor Kaseno[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Paul Suzik[4]; 2. 16-Ryan Savoy[2]; 3. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[5]; 4. 71-Jacob Anderson[8]; 5. 79-Bryan Lund[1]; 6. T17-Tanner Hicks[6]; 7. 20-Judd Skubal[7]; 8. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[3]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[4]; 2. 24-Dylan Helget[2]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 4. 10-Anthony Ravina[1]; 5. 67-Alex Larson[5]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[4]; 2. 24-Dylan Helget[1]; 3. 10-Anthony Ravina[2]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 5. 67-Alex Larson[5]

Six Cylinders:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 5-Roger Walker[3]; 2. 92-Cody Eichmann[2]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[8]; 4. 28-Travis Swanson[1]; 5. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[4]; 6. 42-Cameron Bond[10]; 7. 7R-RJ Holly[7]; 8. 73-Jacob Johnson[5]; 9. (DNF) 05-Kyle Weber[11]; 10. (DNF) 81-Adam Traaholt[12]; 11. (DQ) 43-Jim Anderson[9]; 12. (DQ) 97-Alex Bond[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 2. 5-Roger Walker[3]; 3. 92-Cody Eichmann[6]; 4. 7R-RJ Holly[1]; 5. 43-Jim Anderson[5]; 6. (DNF) 05-Kyle Weber[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Travis Swanson[2]; 2. 97-Alex Bond[5]; 3. 73-Jacob Johnson[1]; 4. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[4]; 5. (DNF) 42-Cameron Bond[6]; 6. (DNF) 81-Adam Traaholt[3]