7-15 Page 40 | ATD Racing News

Dunbar, Spacek, Vendela and Crosby crush Saturday night competition at Ashland, WI

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (July 12) - On a warm, hazy night in northern Wisconsin evening, ABC Raceway put on another fast-paced program including kids racing bikes, fire-breathing trucks, and five features that each provided its own level of drama.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Marcus Dunbar, Terran Spacek, James Vendela, and Eric Crosby.

Dunbar, the three-time and defending WISSOTA Midwest Mod champ started on the pole and led all 20 laps, surviving heavy early pressure before running off to his first career win in a WISSOTA Modified.

Dunbar outran Andrew Mackey for the early advantage but could not pull away, while Jake Hiatt and Nick Oreskovich stayed close. A spin by divisional points leader Justin Weinberger on lap five brought about the race’s only yellow flag.

Soon after Oreskovich edged past Hiatt for third, he began to challenge Mackey. Out front Dunbar extended his margin from less than a half-second on lap seven to more than 1.3 seconds at mid-race, and from there it was never close.

Dunbar sprinted to a final winning cushion of more than four seconds on Mackey for his 12th career win at ABC. Brady Uotinen charged forward and took third away from Oreskovich in the waning laps, while Hiatt held on to fifth.

For the third time in the past four shows here, Terran Spacek captured the win in the WISSOTA Super Stock feature, driving as hard as he could to stay ahead of Steve Stuart in both the race and the current points standings.

Spacek, who started third, pulled alongside front-row starter Dalton Truchon at the drop of the green in the 20-lap feature and chased polesitter Matt Deragon during the first five laps. Stuart, who started sixth, disposed of Truchon on lap three for third and quickly chased down the lead pair.

Spacek worked his way around Deragon on lap five for the lead, with Stuart duplicating the move for second one circuit later. Just before mid-race the lead duo began working by slower traffic, but Codii Young’s spin with nine laps left bailed out the leaders.

Over the balance of the run Spacek sped around the outermost line of the red-clay oval, with Stuart staying right in the leader’s tire tracks. But as the laps wound down Spacek’s advantage began to grow ever so slightly, eventually stretching to just over a second before Stuart shaved a tenth or so off at the checkered flag. Deragon held on for third, comfortably ahead of Andy Grymala and Patrick Beeskma.

WISSOTA Midwest Modified points leader James Vendela strengthened his potential championship cause with his third feature win of the season.

Starting from the pole, Vendela grabbed the initial lead from Ross Fuhrman and never let go, with impressive rookie Jacob Anderson posing an early threat. But Dunbar, who started sixth, found something to his liking on the top line and picked off positions quickly, getting by Anderson on lap seven before visitor Braedyn Kirtland spun two laps later to put Dunbar just off the leader’s tail for the restart.

Vendela held on for the next couple of laps before Kirtland’s second spin brought out the final yellow flag. On the subsequent re-do, Anderson took a shot at swiping second from Dunbar, allowing Vendela to run away to about a half-second lead, which he held to the finish for his sixth career ABC feature win.

Dunbar wrestled second back from Anderson and stayed there until the checkered flew, while ninth-starting Jimmy Latvala came on strong late to take fourth ahead of visiting C.J. Hedges, Jr.

A thin field of WISSOTA Pure Stocks did not make for “easy pickings” for Eric Crosby. Crosby started third and worked low to squeeze by polestarter Zene Anderson, while second-in-points Aaron Bernick took advantage of starting on the front row to steal the early lead. Within a lap Crosby had pulled alongside Bernick, and the pair raced door-to-door for a bit before Crosby completed the winning pass on lap three.

Bernick stayed within a half-second of the leader’s back bumper until the second half of the run, when Crosby pulled away to a final 1.7-second margin of victory. Shane Basina survived an entertaining battle with first-time visitor Cody Bauknicht for third, and Anderson trailed at a distance in fifth.

After waiting 19 years between feature wins at Ashland, Roger Walker collected his second in just 14 days, albeit by mere feet over Basina, in the nonstop 15-lap Six Cylinders A-main.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[1]; 2. 7-Andrew Mackey[2]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 4. 21-Nick Oreskovich[4]; 5. 3H-Jake Hiatt[3]; 6. 11JR-Andrew Inman[8]; 7. 22S-Cole Spacek[6]; 8. 32III-Cody Carlson[7]; 9. 32-Pat Cook[12]; 10. 99-Neil Balduc[9]; 11. 11-Justin Weinberger[10]; 12. 22-Jeff Spacek[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Brady Uotinen[2]; 2. 22S-Cole Spacek[1]; 3. 7-Andrew Mackey[4]; 4. 3H-Jake Hiatt[6]; 5. 99-Neil Balduc[5]; 6. 22-Jeff Spacek[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[2]; 2. 32III-Cody Carlson[1]; 3. 21-Nick Oreskovich[4]; 4. 11JR-Andrew Inman[6]; 5. 11-Justin Weinberger[5]; 6. 32-Pat Cook[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[3]; 2. 80-Steve Stuart[6]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[1]; 4. 24-Andy Grymala[7]; 5. 21-Patrick Beeksma[5]; 6. 3B-Austin Blom[8]; 7. 62-Dalton Truchon[2]; 8. 2-Don Livingston[11]; 9. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[9]; 10. 7B-Jason Melton[12]; 11. 44-Trenton Bond[10]; 12. 2XL-Jason Garner[4]; 13. 77-Jake Nevala[13]; 14. 11R-Rita Anderson[14]; 15. (DNF) Y22-Codii Young[15]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22T-Terran Spacek[3]; 2. 21-Patrick Beeksma[4]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[5]; 4. 3B-Austin Blom[1]; 5. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[2]; 6. 2-Don Livingston[6]; 7. 77-Jake Nevala[7]; 8. (DNF) Y22-Codii Young[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[2]; 2. 24-Andy Grymala[3]; 3. 62-Dalton Truchon[4]; 4. 2XL-Jason Garner[1]; 5. 44-Trenton Bond[6]; 6. 7B-Jason Melton[5]; 7. 11R-Rita Anderson[7]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15-James Vendela[1]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[6]; 3. 71-Jacob Anderson[3]; 4. 21-Jimmy Latvala[9]; 5. 01-CJ Hedges Jr[4]; 6. 00-Ross Fuhrman[2]; 7. 16J-Cory Jorgensen[5]; 8. 47-Tad Schoonover[11]; 9. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[7]; 10. 79-Bryan Lund[12]; 11. (DNF) 18K-Braedyn Kirtland[13]; 12. (DNF) 410-Jesse Young[10]; 13. (DNF) 91-Paul Suzik[8]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[1]; 2. 16J-Cory Jorgensen[3]; 3. 01-CJ Hedges Jr[5]; 4. 71-Jacob Anderson[7]; 5. 21-Jimmy Latvala[6]; 6. 47-Tad Schoonover[2]; 7. 18K-Braedyn Kirtland[4]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 91-Paul Suzik[1]; 2. 15-James Vendela[4]; 3. 00-Ross Fuhrman[2]; 4. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[3]; 5. 410-Jesse Young[5]; 6. 79-Bryan Lund[6]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[3]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[2]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[5]; 4. 13B-Cody Bauknecht[4]; 5. 5Z-Zene Anderson[1]; 6. (DNF) 24-Dylan Helget[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[3]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[1]; 3. 17-Aaron Bernick[5]; 4. 13B-Cody Bauknecht[4]; 5. 5Z-Zene Anderson[2]; 6. (DNS) 24-Dylan Helget

Six Cylinders:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 5-Roger Walker[2]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[8]; 3. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[1]; 4. 28-Travis Swanson[5]; 5. 92-Cody Eichmann[7]; 6. 42-Cameron Bond[6]; 7. 3BBBB-Cody Roberts[3]; 8. 97-Alex Bond[12]; 9. 05-Kyle Weber[9]; 10. 41-Mady Anderson[10]; 11. 23G-Tyler Gervais[11]; 12. (DNS) 69-Brad Hanson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Travis Swanson[3]; 2. 3BBBB-Cody Roberts[5]; 3. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[4]; 4. 69-Brad Hanson[6]; 5. 05-Kyle Weber[1]; 6. (DNF) 97-Alex Bond[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 69ER-Shane Basina[5]; 2. 42-Cameron Bond[3]; 3. 5-Roger Walker[6]; 4. 92-Cody Eichmann[4]; 5. 41-Mady Anderson[1]; 6. 23G-Tyler Gervais[2]