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Mindock and Stuart share the WISSOTA spotlight as ABC sprints through another Saturday program

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (July 13) - WISSOTA Dirt Track Series action in the Super Stocks and Pure Stocks supported the Sprint Car special Saturday night at ABC Raceway. Steve Stuart and Brent Mindock were winners in the Super Stocks and Pure Stocks, respectively. Owen Carlson and Cam Schafer, meanwhile, took advantage of a lightning-fast racing surface to fly to their first-ever wins at ABC in the headlining Sprint action.

The visit by the Renegades High Roller Series for Winged and Traditional (non-winged) Sprints occurred on a hot, humid night at the award-winning northern Wisconsin speedplant.

In victory lane after the 20-lap WISSOTA Super Stocks feature, Steve Stuart admitted that he knew he was racing for second place - until the caution flag came out at mid-race. Because, for the first 10 laps, the race indisputably belonged to Rick Simpson.

Simpson started on the pole and ran away from a tightly grouped seven-car pack. Eighth-starting Stuart sliced his way through to join Matt Deragon in a three-wide pass of Kyle Copp for second on lap eight. Simpson was over three seconds ahead and seemingly uncatchable.

That changed with Jake Nevala’s spin on lap 10, which closed the field up to Simpson’s rear bumper for the restart. Stuart seized the opportunity to pull alongside Simpson at the drop of the green flag, taking the lead just before Trenton Bond’s spin a lap later. From there the three-time defending Super Stock champ sped away to a decisive 3.45-second cushion and his second-straight feature win at the oval - the 47th of his career at ABC.

Also for the second week in a row, Deragon came home a distant second to Stuart, while Simpson maintained third ahead of 12th-starting Shawn McFadden and visiting Max Nelson.

Brent Mindock scored his second-straight WISSOTA Pure Stocks feature win, getting out front early in the nonstop 10-lap affair and then fending off a determined Aaron Bernick.

Bernick, from the outside of the front row, slipped past polesitter Shane Basina in the first corner for the lead, with Mindock in tow. Before the next circuit was completed, Mindock took an inside route to get by Bernick. Mindock was unable to shake loose from Bernick’s threats throughout the rest of the run, never getting more than three-quarters of a second away from his challenger.

Behind them, Eric Crosby battled with and eventually overtook Basina for third with four laps left, as that pair also provided an entertaining contest for the balance of the run. At the finish, Mindock’s edge on Bernick was a mere half-second, while a few seconds back Crosby and Basina finished bumper-to-bumper for third and fourth, respectively, ahead of first-time visitor Reginald Felzkowski.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were originally scheduled to have this night off, but unsanctioned B Mods were added to the program ahead of race night. Like Stuart, Marcus Dunbar took advantage of a mid-race caution to score his first win of the season here.

Front-row mates Evan Checkalski and Cody Carlson pulled away from the rest of the field at the start of the 20-lap feature, while sixth-starting Dunbar joined a small pack of cars racing for third. Checkalski eventually established a full-second lead over Carlson, which he maintained until the caution flag flew on lap 10 for Jonny Nowak’s spin near the tail of the field.

Dunbar had gained third a couple of laps prior to the stoppage, and worked a three-wide pass as the green flag flew to get by Carlson and pull alongside Checkalski. The two-time division champ from Marenisco, MI, completed the pass for the lead on lap 12, and he pulled away to a 2.3-second winning advantage and his ninth career win at Ashland.

Carlson followed Dunbar’s pass of Checkalski for second with five laps remaining in the run, and Checkalski held off a strong run by Cory Jorgensen for fourth, with Kent Baxter fifth.

Basina, who finished fourth in the Pure Stocks, did collect one win on the night, taking advantage of Travis Swanson’s mechanical woes to win his second ABC Six Cylinders feature of the season and ninth of his career.

Cameron Bond impressively held off Darin Meierotto for second, followed closely by the 10th-starter Dalton Truchon and Jakob Bond in the top five.

Inheriting the lead around lap nine when the leader spun, Owen Carlson took the point and within a lap had a nearly a second-and-a-quarter lead ahead of Chase Viebrock in the Winged Sprints. Over the final 14 nonstop laps, Carlson extended that advantage, even while maneuvering through backmarkers, to a final winning margin of 2.924 seconds, giving him his fourth A-main win in as many starts in the High Roller Series during July.

Second-finishing Viebrock was comfortably ahead of Brett Peterson, who edged John Vaillancourt for third. Todd Hanson snagged fifth away from 17th-starting Mike Mueller on the final lap.

Cam Schaefer started in the third row in the Non-Winged Sprints, and it took just seven laps to move to the front and make an inside pass on Jake Kouba for the lead. Under green flag conditions, Schaefer built up a lead of 8.08 seconds and drove to victory lane ahead of eighth-starter Scott Brandt, ninth-starter Mark Chevalier, 10th-starter Mike Mueller, and Bryan Roach in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[8]; 2. 27-Matt Deragon[6]; 3. 77K-Rick Simpson[1]; 4. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[12]; 5. 32-Max Nelson[5]; 6. 2-Don Livingston[9]; 7. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[7]; 8. 81B-Doug Bolt[10]; 9. 42-Myron Basina[3]; 10. (DNF) 26-Kyle Copp[4]; 11. (DNF) 77-Jake Nevala[11]; 12. (DNF) 44-Trenton Bond[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Kyle Copp[3]; 2. 32-Max Nelson[2]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[4]; 4. 77K-Rick Simpson[5]; 5. 2-Don Livingston[6]; 6. 81B-Doug Bolt[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[1]; 2. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[6]; 3. 42-Myron Basina[3]; 4. 44-Trenton Bond[4]; 5. (DNF) 77-Jake Nevala[2]; 6. (DNF) 51JR-Shawn McFadden[5]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 57-Brent Mindock[3]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[2]; 3. 28-Eric Crosby[4]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[1]; 5. 91-Reginald Felzkowski[5]; 6. 5Z-Zene Anderson[6]; 7. 47-Anthony Schultz[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[3]; 2. 57-Brent Mindock[7]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 4. 17-Aaron Bernick[5]; 5. 91-Reginald Felzkowski[4]; 6. 5Z-Zene Anderson[1]; 7. 47-Anthony Schultz[2]

B Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[6]; 2. 32-Cody Carlson[2]; 3. 64-Evan Checkalski[1]; 4. 16-Cory Jorgensen[4]; 5. 95X-Kent Baxter[8]; 6. 28-Paul Ripley[9]; 7. 55-Jesse Polson[5]; 8. 91-Paul Suzik[10]; 9. 47-Tad Schoonover[3]; 10. 80-Tanner Hicks[7]; 11. 8-Jonny Nowak[11]; 12. (DNF) 1848-Skylar Findley[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55-Jesse Polson[2]; 2. 32-Cody Carlson[4]; 3. 16-Cory Jorgensen[6]; 4. 47-Tad Schoonover[3]; 5. 28-Paul Ripley[5]; 6. 8-Jonny Nowak[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 64-Evan Checkalski[1]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[3]; 3. 95X-Kent Baxter[4]; 4. 80-Tanner Hicks[2]; 5. 91-Paul Suzik[5]; 6. 1848-Skylar Findley[6]

360 Sprints, Non-Winged:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 97-Cam Schafer[5]; 2. 7B-Scott Brandt[8]; 3. P1-Mark Chevalier[9]; 4. 87-Mike Mueller[10]; 5. 99-Bryan Roach[3]; 6. 11J-Jori Hughes[4]; 7. 12-Johnny Parsons III[7]; 8. 19B-Jack Berger[12]; 9. 7X-Dan Atchison[14]; 10. 36-Tyler Wass[15]; 11. (DNF) 6-Jake Kouba[2]; 12. (DNF) 5J-Chris Lewis[11]; 13. (DNF) 46H-Ken Hron[1]; 14. (DNF) 22-Jeff Pellersels[6]; 15. (DNF) 25A-Ashley Williams[13]; 16. (DNS) 78-Rob Caho Jr; 17. (DNS) 10Z-Zach Widdes

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 78-Rob Caho Jr[2]; 2. 11J-Jori Hughes[4]; 3. 6-Jake Kouba[1]; 4. 22-Jeff Pellersels[5]; 5. 7B-Scott Brandt[6]; 6. 87-Mike Mueller[7]; 7. 19B-Jack Berger[9]; 8. 7X-Dan Atchison[3]; 9. 36-Tyler Wass[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cam Schafer[6]; 2. 99-Bryan Roach[1]; 3. 46H-Ken Hron[5]; 4. 12-Johnny Parsons III[3]; 5. P1-Mark Chevalier[2]; 6. 5J-Chris Lewis[7]; 7. 25A-Ashley Williams[8]; 8. (DNF) 10Z-Zach Widdes[4]

Winged Sprints:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 07-Owen Carlson[4]; 2. 50-Chase Viebrock[6]; 3. 42X-Brett Peterson[1]; 4. 95-John Vaillancourt[10]; 5. 63-Todd Hansen[7]; 6. 61-Mike Mueller[17]; 7. 62-Ronnie Erickson[11]; 8. 33S-Jeremy Schultz[2]; 9. P1-Mark Chevalier[3]; 10. 4S-Jeremy Snow[5]; 11. 9C-Cole Stella[9]; 12. (DNF) 2V-Chris Vogel[8]; 13. (DNF) 7-Keegan Coss[12]; 14. (DNF) 4-Michael Stien[13]; 15. (DNF) C4-Carl Wade[14]; 16. (DNF) 56-Josh Braford[15]; 17. (DNF) THE1-Tony Gernert[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 07-Owen Carlson[2]; 2. 42X-Brett Peterson[6]; 3. 4S-Jeremy Snow[5]; 4. 33S-Jeremy Schultz[8]; 5. 95-John Vaillancourt[7]; 6. 7-Keegan Coss[4]; 7. 4-Michael Stien[9]; 8. 56-Josh Braford[3]; 9. THE1-Tony Gernert[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Chase Viebrock[6]; 2. P1-Mark Chevalier[1]; 3. 63-Todd Hansen[3]; 4. 2V-Chris Vogel[5]; 5. 9C-Cole Stella[8]; 6. 62-Ronnie Erickson[7]; 7. C4-Carl Wade[2]; 8. (DNF) 61-Mike Mueller[4]

Six Cylinders:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Roger Walker[2]; 2. 103-Darin Meierotto[6]; 3. 42-Cameron Bond[4]; 4. 20-Justin Pratt[1]; 5. 92-Cody Eichmann[7]; 6. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[3]; 7. 41-Mady Anderson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Jakob Bond[2]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[5]; 3. 28-Travis Swanson[6]; 4. 43-Jim Anderson[1]; 5. 62D-Dalton Truchon[4]; 6. (DNS) 97-Alex Bond