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Nelson knocks off Northland Super Stock Series field as ABC Raceway finally goes green for ‘24

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (June 8) - Dylan Nelson took control late in the 30-lap Fastlane Motorsports Northland Super Stock Series feature and collected his first-career feature win at ABC Raceway on Saturday night.

The wild night of racing, presented by SuperOne Foods, welcomed 104 entries and marked the 60th opening night of stock car racing at the historic red clay oval in northeastern Wisconsin.

The 30-lap WISSOTA Super Stock feature had plenty of carnage early among the 26 entries in the $3,000-to-win run, with a five-car pileup occurring just as the field was completing its first lap. After a delay for a “jump” penalty on the second attempt to start the run, polesitter Shane Kisling established himself at the front, followed closely by fellow front-row starter D.J. Keeler, Randy Graham, Tucker Quinn and Nelson.

After lap one was scored as official, a Kyle Copp-Austin Niemeyer get-together brought about a third yellow flag, and just after that Andrew Johnson and Copp met up and delayed the proceedings again. The field settled in to score some green-flag laps after that, with Kisling and Keeler separating themselves a bit from the pack.

Nelson, who started the race in seventh, overtook Quinn for third on lap five and reeled in Keeler a few circuits later, as Kisling stretched his lead to more than a second-and-a-half. Quinn’s night ended with a stalled racer on lap 10, though, which brought the field back to Kisling for the restart. Two laps later Nelson overtook Keeler just before a Patrick Beeksma spin brought about the last caution stop of the race.

Nelson, as well as Keeler, took advantage of Kisling on this final re-do, with Nelson going to the outside and Keeler diving down low to complete a three-wide pass for the lead. Nelson claimed the lead, though he and Keeler stayed door to door for a number of laps, with Keeler edging ahead for a couple of rounds, until Nelson used a big run off of turn two with seven laps remaining to secure the point for good.

Nelson’s final margin of victory was 1.2 seconds, with Kisling an even greater distance back of Keeler for third-place money. Jordan Henkemeyer and 15th-starting Joey Jensen were closing on Kisling late to complete the top-five.

“It took a lot of patience,” Nelson said after the race in victory lane when asked about surviving the early rash of caution flags. But he was thrilled with the end result. “This ranks right up there with my WISSOTA 100 win last year.”

Mike Anderson of Jim Falls dominated the WISSOTA Modified feature, leading all 20 laps for his fifth-career ABC win.

Anderson beat polesitter Jake Hiatt off of turn two at the start of the run. After a lap-one tangle between Cole Spacek and Justin Weinberger, he was never challenged, despite the efforts of Nick Oreskovich, Hiatt, Weinberger and others during the early stages.

The remaining laps clicked off without delay, and as Anderson extended his advantage, Oreskovich distanced himself from the battle for third between Hiatt and Weinberger, eventually won by Weinberger, who then proceeded to catch and take second from Oreskovich at mid-race.

With six laps remaining Anderson caught the backmarkers while building his lead up to about 3.5 seconds. He patiently weaved his way through the slower traffic and took the checkers surrounded by lapped cars, but still a full 3.88 seconds ahead of the impressive young Weinberger. Brady Uotinen also showed moxie in coming through with a strong third-place performance, while Oreskovich and Tyler Vernon filled out the top-five.

“I love coming here,” Anderson told the crowd from victory lane afterward. “This is one of my favorite tracks. I just wish we could get here more often; it’s just so far away.”

The early laps of the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds’ A-main was marred with damaged race cars, with two red-flag conditions occurring before a lap was scored. But Joey Jensen survived to win his 12th-career feature at Ashland, and third in a Midwest Mod.

At least half of the 22-car feature field was involved in one way or another in the first incident, which occurred in turn two after the drop of the initial green flag, and included the back end of James Vendela’s car coming to rest atop the roof of Blake Adams’ racer. After a lengthy cleanup process, the field was reset for the restart, but a wild scramble at that green flag resulted in David Simpson’s car taking a horrible hit on the passenger-side and rolling onto its driver’s side before ever getting to turn one.

After the long delays the race was cut from its original distance of 20 laps to 15, and with the next restart Jensen quickly established control of the race, pushing his lead to nearly 1.8 seconds on polesitter Cody Carlson after just a few laps. Another series of stoppages over laps seven through nine, the race ran to its conclusion without another yellow, and Jensen kept a safe lead on Carlson to the finish, winning by 1.6 seconds.

Behind Carlson for most of the green-flag laps, Jimmy Latvala, Tanner Hicks and Nick Koehler jostled for third and occasionally threatened Carlson, with Latvala and Koehler taking advantage of what grip they could find in the upper lanes to eventually get to third and fourth, leaving Hicks to fifth.

Travis Hazelton of Chippewa Falls has won more feature races at ABC over the past two seasons (10) than any other driver in any class, and on Saturday night he added to that total with the win in the WISSOTA Pure Stock headliner.

Tom Treviranus worked the low line to take the early lead away from polestarter Rob Christman, who was subsequently spun a lap later to bring about the race’s only stoppage. Hazelton, who started the 12-lap race fourth, restarted behind Treviranus and proceeded to put the pressure on.

Impressive newcomer Eric Crosby worked his way past Christman for third just a lap after the restart and followed the battle for the lead, which culminated with Hazelton finally slipping low-side past Treviranus for what would be the winning pass on lap four. Later, as Hazelton pushed his lead to nearly a second, Treviranus’ right-front tire gave out, dropping him from the event and handing second to Crosby with four laps to go.

Hazelton’s final margin of victory was roughly half a straightaway on Crosby, while Aaron Bernick, defending track champ Brent Mindock, and visiting Charlie Pitcavage rounded out the top-five. In his victory interview, Hazelton dedicated his win to his friend and former Super Stock racer Mark Stender, who is dealing with significant health issues.

In the only non-stop feature of the night, Travis Swanson of Ashland was dominant as he won his seventh-career Berglund Customs ABC Six-Cylinders feature but his first since August 2008.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[2]; 2. 11-Justin Weinberger[4]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[6]; 4. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[3]; 5. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[9]; 6. 22C-Brandon Copp[10]; 7. 224-Cody Wolkowski[8]; 8. 3H-Jake Hiatt[1]; 9. 74-Shaun Kreyer[11]; 10. 32-Pat Cook[12]; 11. 22-Cole Spacek[5]; 12. 22J-Jeff Spacek[16]; 13. 95-Rick Rivord[14]; 14. 308-Aiden Hoffman[19]; 15. 88-John Kallas[15]; 16. 19J-Jack Rivord[21]; 17. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[18]; 18. (DNF) 11B-Jody Bellefeuille[13]; 19. (DNF) 40-Kevin Adams[7]; 20. (DNF) 2-Tanner Gehl[20]; 21. (DNS) 7-Andrew Mackey

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[2]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams[4]; 3. 3H-Jake Hiatt[1]; 4. 22C-Brandon Copp[7]; 5. 11B-Jody Bellefeuille[6]; 6. 22J-Jeff Spacek[3]; 7. 308-Aiden Hoffman[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Anderson[2]; 2. 22-Cole Spacek[6]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 4. 74-Shaun Kreyer[4]; 5. 95-Rick Rivord[7]; 6. 7-Andrew Mackey[3]; 7. 2-Tanner Gehl[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Justin Weinberger[2]; 2. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[4]; 3. 224-Cody Wolkowski[3]; 4. 32-Pat Cook[6]; 5. 88-John Kallas[1]; 6. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[7]; 7. 19J-Jack Rivord[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 25N-Dylan Nelson[7]; 2. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[2]; 3. 6K-Shane Kisling[1]; 4. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[5]; 5. 21-Joey Jensen[15]; 6. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[16]; 7. 22T-Terran Spacek[10]; 8. 7R-Tommy Richards[13]; 9. 27-Matt Deragon[19]; 10. 78K-Dexton Koch[12]; 11. 1E-Eric Olson[17]; 12. 80-Steve Stuart[14]; 13. 1JR-Tim Johnson[18]; 14. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[26]; 15. 57G-Randy Graham[3]; 16. 77-Scott Lawrence[22]; 17. 25-Chad Johnson[8]; 18. 19X-James Trantina III[6]; 19. 77K-Rick Simpson[24]; 20. 2-Don Livingston[20]; 21. (DNF) L1-Andrew Johnson[25]; 22. (DNF) 390-Tucker Quinn[4]; 23. (DNF) 26-Kyle Copp[23]; 24. (DNF) 33-Austin Niemeyer[21]; 25. (DNF) 33M-Curt Myers[9]; 26. (DNF) 36-Darin Meierotto[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57G-Randy Graham[1]; 2. 19X-James Trantina III[2]; 3. 36-Darin Meierotto[5]; 4. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[4]; 5. 33-Austin Niemeyer[3]; 6. 77K-Rick Simpson[6]; 7. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[8]; 8. (DNF) L1-Andrew Johnson[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 390-Tucker Quinn[1]; 2. 25N-Dylan Nelson[2]; 3. 78K-Dexton Koch[5]; 4. 1E-Eric Olson[4]; 5. 77-Scott Lawrence[7]; 6. 57-Wes Hines[6]; 7. (DNF) 44-Trenton Bond[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12K-Duane (DJ) Keeler[2]; 2. 25-Chad Johnson[3]; 3. 7R-Tommy Richards[7]; 4. 1JR-Tim Johnson[6]; 5. 26-Kyle Copp[4]; 6. 71X-William Fisher[5]; 7. (DNF) 6-Dan Peterson[1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 6K-Shane Kisling[1]; 2. 33M-Curt Myers[5]; 3. 80-Steve Stuart[3]; 4. 27-Matt Deragon[4]; 5. 2XL-Jason Garner[2]; 6. 1-Ryan Olson[6]; 7. 82-Paul Gucinski[7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer[1]; 2. 22T-Terran Spacek[4]; 3. 21-Joey Jensen[5]; 4. 2-Don Livingston[7]; 5. 87D-Kenny Davis[2]; 6. 42-Myron Basina[6]; 7. 11R-Rita Anderson[3]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 33-Austin Niemeyer[1]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[2]; 3. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[6]; 4. 1-Ryan Olson[5]; 5. 57-Wes Hines[4]; 6. (DNF) 87D-Kenny Davis[3]; 7. (DNF) 6-Dan Peterson[8]; 8. (DNF) 11R-Rita Anderson[7]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 77-Scott Lawrence[1]; 2. 77K-Rick Simpson[3]; 3. 42-Myron Basina[5]; 4. 2XL-Jason Garner[2]; 5. (DNF) 82-Paul Gucinski[6]; 6. (DNF) 71X-William Fisher[4]; 7. (DNF) 44-Trenton Bond[7]; 8. (DQ) L1-Andrew Johnson[8]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[3]; 2. 32III-Cody Carlson[1]; 3. 21-Jimmy Latvala[4]; 4. 13-Nick Koehler[9]; 5. 80-Tanner Hicks[2]; 6. 19X-James Trantina III[11]; 7. 7M-Dalton Mains[14]; 8. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[22]; 9. 15-James Vendela[7]; 10. 91-Paul Suzik[20]; 11. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[19]; 12. 16-Cory Jorgensen[6]; 13. 55-Jesse Polson[5]; 14. 46-Zach Slayton[18]; 15. (DNF) 40JR-Tyler Vernon[13]; 16. (DNF) 22-Matt Jacobson[16]; 17. (DNF) 64-Evan Checkalski[10]; 18. (DNF) 70-David Simpson[21]; 19. (DNF) 40D-Blake Adams[8]; 20. (DNF) 76-Mitch Kieber[12]; 21. (DNF) 5-Rory Taber[15]; 22. (DNF) 79-Bryan Lund[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Joey Jensen[1]; 2. 55-Jesse Polson[2]; 3. 32III-Cody Carlson[5]; 4. 64-Evan Checkalski[4]; 5. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[7]; 6. 22-Matt Jacobson[6]; 7. 46-Zach Slayton[8]; 8. (DNF) 70-David Simpson[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Nick Koehler[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 3. 15-James Vendela[5]; 4. 19X-James Trantina III[4]; 5. 7M-Dalton Mains[7]; 6. 79-Bryan Lund[2]; 7. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jimmy Latvala[1]; 2. 16-Cory Jorgensen[7]; 3. 80-Tanner Hicks[2]; 4. 76-Mitch Kieber[4]; 5. 5-Rory Taber[5]; 6. (DNF) 91-Paul Suzik[6]; 7. (DQ) 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[3]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 31H-Travis Hazelton[4]; 2. 28-Eric Crosby[5]; 3. 17-Aaron Bernick[8]; 4. 57-Brent Mindock[9]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[7]; 6. 02-Nicholas Hazelton[2]; 7. 66X-Rob Christman[1]; 8. (DNF) 31-Tom Treviranus[3]; 9. (DNF) 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 10. (DNS) 5Z-Zene Anderson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[2]; 2. 31H-Travis Hazelton[4]; 3. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[5]; 4. 02-Nicholas Hazelton[1]; 5. 57-Brent Mindock[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[2]; 2. 31-Tom Treviranus[4]; 3. 66X-Rob Christman[1]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 5. 5Z-Zene Anderson[5]

Six Cylinders:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 28-Travis Swanson[1]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 3. 62D-Dalton Truchon[3]; 4. 5-Roger Walker[6]; 5. 9-Jakob Bond[7]; 6. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[5]; 7. 103X-Jimmy Stearns[8]; 8. 3BB-Chris Bretting[12]; 9. 41-Mady Anderson[9]; 10. (DNF) 20-Justin Pratt[10]; 11. (DNF) 92-Cody Eichmann[4]; 12. (DNS) 43-Jim Anderson; 13. (DNS) 97-Alex Bond; 14. (DNS) 42-Cameron Bond; 15. (DNS) 81-Adam Traaholt

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[4]; 2. 5-Roger Walker[3]; 3. 92-Cody Eichmann[6]; 4. 103X-Jimmy Stearns[5]; 5. 41-Mady Anderson[8]; 6. (DNF) 43-Jim Anderson[2]; 7. (DNF) 97-Alex Bond[1]; 8. (DNS) 42-Cameron Bond

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Travis Swanson[4]; 2. 62D-Dalton Truchon[5]; 3. 9-Jakob Bond[2]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[7]; 5. 20-Justin Pratt[1]; 6. (DNF) 3BB-Chris Bretting[6]; 7. (DNF) 81-Adam Traaholt[3]