7-14 Page 31 | ATD Racing News

Helget earns first career win while Vendela, Oreskovich & McFadden put rides in victory lane at ABC

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (July 11) - Dylan Helget, the 2025 WISSOTA National Pure Stock Rookie of the Year, scored his first career feature win at ABC Raceway Saturday, as the track also hosted its popular annual kids’ bike races.

Other winners in WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action included James Vendela, Nick Oreskovich, and Shawn McFadden.

High temperatures and muggy conditions made this WISSOTA Dirt Track Series race program challenging for both race teams and spectators, but fortunately the tightly-run program clipped by in just shy of 2.5 hours.

Helget started outside of the front row and swept around polesitter Alex Larson to take command of the WISSOTA Pure Stock finale.

The race was delayed twice during its 10-lap distance - the first was on lap three when a hard collision between rookies Larson and Anthony Ravina resulted in significant damage to the rear of Ravina’s racer. Then, on lap six, Bernick looped his ride while racing hard with Shane Basina, as both challenged Helget for the lead.

Over the final four laps Helget fended off every outside passing move Basina could throw at him and scored his landmark win by less than .5 of a second. Larson trailed at a distance in third, while Bernick and Ravina finished as DNFs in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Nick Oreskovich used a late-race pass of race-long leader Jake Hiatt to claim his second WISSOTA Modified feature win of 2026 at ABC, and the 30th feature win here overall in his career.

Oreskovich started directly behind polesitter Hiatt and followed him past Andrew Mackey into second at the initial drop of the green flag for the 15-lap run, although Mackey stormed back to retake the runner-up position a lap later. Hiatt was able to extend his advantage while Mackey and Oreskovich debated second over the next couple of laps, until contact between Cole Spacek and Oreskovich spun Spacek’s ride and brought about the race’s only yellow-flag stop.

Oreskovich grabbed second on the restart from Mackey and stayed as close as possible to the leader until lap 11, when Hiatt opened the bottom lane coming out of turn two. Oreskovich took advantage of the generous offer and sped away to a final 1.8-second margin of victory ahead of Hiatt. Mackey came home third, followed closely by Spacek and Brandon Copp.

In the WISSOTA Super Stock feature, Shawn McFadden started on the pole and was practically unchallenged throughout the 15-lap run.

Farther back, a very entertaining race between Matt Deragon and Andy Grymala lasted the entirety of the nonstop race, while Trenton Bond held firm to fourth but soon fell out of touch of the leaders.

McFadden’s lead grew to a final 3.6-second advantage at the checkered flag, giving him his third feature win of the season here and 12th career feature win, which ties him with his father Shawn on the all-time ABC wins list. Deragon survived Grymala’s persistent threats for runner-up money. Trenton Bond came home a distant fourth, while Myron Basina scored a career-best fifth.

James Vendela started the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature on the pole, ran in the top three for most of the event, then moved back into the lead before the race’s midpoint and controlled the pace from there for his eighth career feature win here and second in 2026 at ABC.

George Dalbeck, who started alongside Vendela, grabbed the initial lead but gave it up to Paul Ripley after a restart for a Michael Blevins spin with one lap scored. This triggered a rash of “yellow fever,” with five more caution flags thrown before four laps could be completed. Once the chaos cleared, Vendela, who restarted third nearly every time, made an inside move stick to pass Ripley on lap seven and finally took over at the point, as the pace settled and the race stayed under green from there on.

Vendela pushed his lead to over two full seconds as he caught the tail-end of the running order with two laps remaining and crossed the finish line 1.95 seconds ahead of Ripley. Marcus Dunbar was well back in third but was well ahead of Tyler Vernon, while visiting Mike Schnieder claimed fifth.

Roger Walker padded his points lead atop the Six-Cylinders standings with his track-leading fourth feature win here and 12th of his career. In a thrilling finish behind him, Alex Bond was second, Cameron Bond was third, Mathew Rohlfing was fourth and Shane Basina completed the top five.

ABC Raceway will host its sixth annual “444 Memorial” on Thursday, July 16. The Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series will be spotlighted, with the feature winner taking home a $4,444 check in honor of the car number (444) of the late Tanner Byholm, a young up-and-coming local Midwest Mod and Modified star and the son of 2017 ABC Raceway Modifieds champ Bill Byholm, who perished in an aircraft crash in southern Wisconsin in February 2021.

WISSOTA Modifieds and Super Stocks will also be racing, for $2,000 and $1,000 to win in their respective features. For more information, visit ABCRaceway.com.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

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

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 3H-Jake Hiatt[3]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[4]; 3. 22-Brandon Copp[1]; 4. 7-Andrew Mackey[2]; 5. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[7]; 6. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[6]; 7. 22S-Cole Spacek[5]; 8. 00-Ross Fuhrman[8]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[1]; 2. 27-Matt Deragon[3]; 3. 24-Andy Grymala[5]; 4. 44-Trenton Bond[4]; 5. 69-Myron Basina[7]; 6. 11R-Rita Anderson[6]; 7. 9-Jakob Bond[2]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[1]; 2. 44-Trenton Bond[2]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[6]; 4. 24-Andy Grymala[7]; 5. 9-Jakob Bond[4]; 6. 11R-Rita Anderson[3]; 7. 69-Myron Basina[5]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-James Vendela[1]; 2. 28-Paul Ripley[4]; 3. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[7]; 4. 41-Tyler Vernon[8]; 5. 7-Mike Schnider[9]; 6. 91-Paul Suzik[14]; 7. 15S-Sam Blevins[5]; 8. 10X-Michael Blevins Sr[12]; 9. 23DD-George Dalbeck[2]; 10. 20-Judd Skubal[11]; 11. 21-Jimmy Latvala[6]; 12. 79-Bryan Lund[15]; 13. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[16]; 14. 18K-Braedyn Kirtland[10]; 15. (DNF) 15K-Connor Kaseno[13]; 16. (DNF) 19P-Antonio Pintaro[3]; 17. (DNS) 76-Mitch Kieber

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Paul Ripley[3]; 2. 19P-Antonio Pintaro[4]; 3. 15-James Vendela[6]; 4. 18K-Braedyn Kirtland[5]; 5. 15K-Connor Kaseno[1]; 6. (DNS) 76-Mitch Kieber

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[1]; 2. 41-Tyler Vernon[2]; 3. 21-Jimmy Latvala[4]; 4. 20-Judd Skubal[6]; 5. 91-Paul Suzik[3]; 6. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23DD-George Dalbeck[3]; 2. 7-Mike Schnider[5]; 3. 15S-Sam Blevins[4]; 4. 10X-Michael Blevins Sr[2]; 5. 79-Bryan Lund[1]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[3]; 2. 24-Dylan Helget[5]; 3. 10-Anthony Ravina[2]; 4. 67-Alex Larson[4]; 5. 69ER-Shane Basina[1]

Six Cylinders:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Kyle Weber[5]; 2. 42-Cameron Bond[1]; 3. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[4]; 4. 23G-Tyler Gervais[2]; 5. 81-Adam Traaholt[6]; 6. (DNF) 69ER-Shane Basina[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Roger Walker[4]; 2. 92-Cody Eichmann[1]; 3. 28-Travis Swanson[3]; 4. 97-Alex Bond[2]; 5. 7R-RJ Holly[5]; 6. 444-Justin Pratt[6]