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Kids meet drivers at ABC Raceway before Copp, McFadden, Vernon and Smith sting feature rivals

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (June 6) - Another gorgeous early Summer night greeted fans for Saturday’s Kids’ Meet the Drivers night festivities at ABC Raceway.

Fans young and old alike came out in strong numbers to visit with the drivers on the front straight prior to green-flag action, collecting autographs, souvenir trading cards and treats from the drivers while getting an up-close look at the cars.

As for the on-track action, WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Brandon Copp, Tyler Vernon, Shawn McFadden and Jake Smith.

Copp ran away to a convincing win once again in the WISSOTA Modified headliner, his second straight win here in 2026. Copp started outside on the front row and won the drag race over polesitter Nick Oreskovich down the back stretch on lap one to claim the lead, which he then held through all 20 nonstop laps.

Copp gradually built a stout multi-length advantage over the course of the run - not quite the half-lap margin he had en route to his opening-night win, but it was more than enough to keep Oreskovich well behind him. Further back, Andrew Mackey and Brady Uotinen put on an entertaining show for third, joined by Cole Spacek shortly after mid-race.

Copp held a straightaway cushion on Oreskovich when he took the white flag and cruised home from there for his 16th career feature win in Ashland and 14th in a Modified. Oreskovich was solidly in second, while Mackey fended off late-lap challenges by Uotinen and Spacek for third.

Shawn McFadden scored his first WISSOTA Super Stocks feature win at ABC since June 6, 2020 - six years to the day - by leading every lap of the 20 scheduled. He survived a mid-race caution and overcame slower traffic to take the checkered as Terran Spacek closed in.

McFadden started on the pole and outran Patrick Beeksma through the first pair of turns to establish the early pace, while Dalton Truchon, Jason Melton, and Steve Stuart stayed in hot pursuit. Over the first five laps Stuart, who dominated here last Saturday, charged through to third and looked to be on a mission to get to the front quickly. An opportunity presented itself on lap six, when Melton spun his ride.

Ninth-starting Spacek took advantage of the stoppage. Restarting fifth, Spacek worked low to get by Truchon and Stuart to take third over the next green-flag circuit, then repeated the move to steal second from Beeksma on lap nine. From there he followed McFadden as closely as he could as the lead pair caught tail-end traffic over the final eight laps.

McFadden was on the truck-lid of Melton and Rita Anderson when he took the checkered flag for his 10th career ABC feature win and fifth in the Supers, while Spacek was less than a car-length back in second. Beeksma was all alone in third, well ahead of Kyle Copp and Matt Deragon, both of whom made late-race passes to get into the top five.

Tyler Vernon took control of the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature practically from the get-go, claiming the point after polesitter James Vendela was penalized one row for an initial-start jump. But Vernon earned the win, as challenges from Vendela, Paul Ripley and others were persistent throughout the 20-lap run.

Ripley moved by Mike Jacques into second on the restart after Vendela’s jump, but Vernon set a blistering early pace until Mitch Kieber’s lap seven spin. From there Vernon could not build up the cushion that he had early in the run, with Vendela and Ripley staying close behind him while swapping second spot. On lap 11, Kieber’s get-together with Jonny Nowak kept the field tight again, and although Ripley grabbed second from Vendela on that restart, Vendela fought back with an outside pass on lap 13.

As a tight pack of cars were making their way past rookie Connor Kaseno in the closing laps, sixth-running Tanner Hicks’s car bounced off Kaseno’s left-front tire, nearly spinning Hicks and forcing several racers to scramble on the front chute to avoid the slowing Kaseno. At nearly the same time, Ripley and Marcus Dunbar tangled in turn two, with both cars spinning. Officials ruled that the caution was thrown for Kaseno’s contact with Hicks, setting up a three-lap shootout.

Vernon stayed just ahead of the chaos for second for his second feature win of the season here in as many nights, and his 24th overall at Ashland. Ripley took one more shot at an inside pass on Vendela, but Vendela held him off for second, with Dunbar not far back in fourth. Hicks used a last-lap pass for fifth.

Jake Smith scored his second WISSOTA Pure Stock feature win and third of his career here. Smith got past front-row starter Dylan Helget within the first couple of laps and, after a restart for a spin by rookie Andrew Ravina, slipped past polesitter Aaron Bernick for the lead, which he held firm to from there.

As Smith pulled away, Shane Basina came up to challenge Bernick, using an outside move to slip past Bernick for second just before mid-race. But Basina did not have enough race car nor laps remaining to catch Smith, who cruised to a comfortable margin of victory. Bernick was not far back in third, while Helget stayed close in fourth, followed at a distance by a recovered Ravina.

Travis Swanson took advantage of the Six Cylinder feature’s only restart - after an initial-lap spin by polesitter Cody Eichmann - and ran away to his 13th career ABC Raceway feature win and second in a row to start the 2026 campaign.

Roger Walker finished a distant second, with Shane Basina third, and Kyle Weber holding off Cody Eichmann for fourth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22-Brandon Copp[2]; 2. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[1]; 3. 7-Andrew Mackey[3]; 4. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 5. 22S-Cole Spacek[7]; 6. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[8]; 7. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[9]; 8. 32-Pat Cook[6]; 9. 3H-Jake Hiatt[4]; 10. 32III-Cody Carlson[10]; 11. 00-Ross Fuhrman[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[2]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[4]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 4. 3H-Jake Hiatt[1]; 5. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[3]; 6. 00-Ross Fuhrman[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Andrew Mackey[1]; 2. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[2]; 3. 22S-Cole Spacek[3]; 4. 32-Pat Cook[4]; 5. 32III-Cody Carlson[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Matt Deragon[4]; 2. 62-Dalton Truchon[2]; 3. 2-Don Livingston[3]; 4. 26-Kyle Copp[5]; 5. 22T-Terran Spacek[6]; 6. 9-Jakob Bond[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[5]; 2. 7B-Jason Melton[1]; 3. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[3]; 4. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[6]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[4]; 6. 11R-Rita Anderson[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[2]; 2. 15-James Vendela[1]; 3. 28-Paul Ripley[4]; 4. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[6]; 5. T17-Tanner Hicks[11]; 6. 91-Paul Suzik[8]; 7. 21-Jimmy Latvala[5]; 8. 20-Judd Skubal[7]; 9. 31J-Mike Jacques[3]; 10. 23DD-George Dalbeck[9]; 11. 10Z-Cade Johnson[13]; 12. 79-Bryan Lund[14]; 13. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[10]; 14. 8-Jonny Nowak[12]; 15. 76-Mitch Kieber[15]; 16. (DNF) 15K-Connor Kaseno[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jimmy Latvala[1]; 2. 91-Paul Suzik[2]; 3. 41-Tyler Vernon[4]; 4. 28-Paul Ripley[8]; 5. 23DD-George Dalbeck[5]; 6. T17-Tanner Hicks[7]; 7. 10Z-Cade Johnson[3]; 8. 76-Mitch Kieber[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Judd Skubal[2]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[3]; 3. 31J-Mike Jacques[4]; 4. 15-James Vendela[8]; 5. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[6]; 6. 8-Jonny Nowak[7]; 7. 79-Bryan Lund[1]; 8. 15K-Connor Kaseno[5]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[3]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[5]; 3. 17-Aaron Bernick[1]; 4. 24-Dylan Helget[2]; 5. 10-Anthony Ravina[4]; 6. 67-Alex Larson[6]; 7. 11K-Timmy Kin[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 86J-Jake Smith[4]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[1]; 3. 17-Aaron Bernick[6]; 4. 24-Dylan Helget[3]; 5. 10-Anthony Ravina[2]; 6. 67-Alex Larson[5]; 7. 11K-Timmy Kin[7]

Six Cylinders:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Travis Swanson[3]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[4]; 3. 97-Alex Bond[2]; 4. 444-Justin Pratt[6]; 5. (DNF) 23G-Tyler Gervais[1]; 6. (DNS) 2J-Caleb Jones

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Kyle Weber[3]; 2. 5-Roger Walker[4]; 3. 42-Cameron Bond[1]; 4. 92-Cody Eichmann[5]; 5. (DNF) 81-Adam Traaholt[2]