7-23 Page 19 | ATD Racing News

Just kidding: Adams, Myers, Checkalski and Mindock manhandle WISSOTA rivals at ABC Raceway

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (July 20) - Kids took to the track on Saturday night for a couple of special reasons, while feature action included a third-generation first-time winner at ABC Raceway.

Beautiful mid-summer weather greeted fans young and old alike to visit drivers on the front straight during the pre-race Meet the Drivers Night activities, while younger fans were invited back onto the track for bike races during intermission. WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners Saturday included Kevin Adams, Curt Myers, Evan Checkalski, and Brent Mindock.

Cameron’s Kevin Adams is certainly one of the region’s - if not one of WISSOTA’s - all-time greatest drivers, with multiple national and track titles, and scores of feature wins. However, at ABC he has only two feature wins, in 2015 in a Modified, and the 2019 Red Clay Classic title in a Midwest Mod.

No one was going to deny Adams of a third win here Saturday, however, as he dominated the 20-lap WISSOTA Modified main.

Adams started on the pole and led Jeff Spacek, Marcus Dunbar, Brady Uotinen and others in a tight pack for the first lap, but within two more circuits Adams had built a substantial 1.6-second advantage. The only thing that kept the field close to the leader was a spin by Justin Weinberger on lap two. During the subsequent restart, Adams was more than up to the challenge, running away again to a 3-second lead by mid-race.

Behind him, drivers were swapping positions with frequency, as 15th-starting Mike Anderson joined the tail-end of a tight five-car pack debating sixth, Kennedy Swan worked her way by Jake Hiatt for fourth on lap six, and Uotinen challenged and eventually got by Spacek on lap eight for second. That type of action continued throughout the second half of the run as well, but without another caution-flag slowdown, Adams continued his torrid pace and won by 4.039 seconds - a full straightaway - ahead of Uotinen.

Swan got by Spacek for third just after the halfway point of the race, and Anderson, the division’s points leader, capped his charge to the front in fifth.

It was a good night for drivers from Cameron to visit Ashland, as Curt Myers captured the win in the WISSOTA Super Stocks. Like Adams did later, Myers started on the pole and led every lap, although Myers’ challengers were a bit closer.

Myers slid up in front of Myron Basina in the first pair of turns to start the 20-lap affair and took advantage of the higher lane to lead a logjam of cars, including Basina, Patrick Beeksma and Shawn McFadden, racing for second. And like in the Mod feature later, Myers had to survive a lap-two restart, after Jake Nevala and visiting Jason Melton collected and spun in turn two.

McFadden took advantage of the double-wide restart to move by Beeksma into second behind Myers, and applied a steady dose of heat on the leader. Meanwhile, eighth-starting Steve Stuart worked his way past Beeksma with an inside pass on lap six. Stuart was well behind the lead pair at that point, but he ran some incredibly quick laps to catch McFadden by mid-race.

Stuart dove low on lap 11 and slid up across the nosepiece of McFadden’s car to take second - a move so close that McFadden’s car lifted the back of Stuart’s down the front straight. Their tussle gave Myers a little breathing room as he was catching the tail of the field, and on lap 16 he was working his way through slower traffic. Stuart soon closed on Myers, with McFadden in tow, before Melton spun with two laps remaining, setting up a shootout.

Myers held on for his 26th career win at Ashland - and, like Adams, his first since the 2019 Red Clay Classic - by a winning margin of just two-thirds of a second. McFadden came back to edge Stuart by a bumper at the stripe for second and took over the division’s points lead, and Matt Deragon came home a steady fifth.

Evan Checkalski of Duluth, MN, joined his grandfather Dennis and his father Kelly as an ABC Raceway feature winner as he led flag to flag in a 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature.

Checkalski started on the pole and, after a brief discussion with Cory Jorgensen, assumed command of the race. A distance back of Jorgensen, Ryan Barningham was busy fending off challenges from Jesse Polson and Dunbar for third.

By lap eight, Dunbar had taken over third and spent lap nine reeling in Jorgensen, getting by him on lap 10. The two-time track champ then cut into Checkalski’s significant margin, catching and pulling alongside the leader as the pair caught and worked their way through slower traffic with five laps remaining. But as Checkalski changed his line to take away Dunbar’s low-lane momentum, Dunbar dove lower and bumped into two of the large grader tires that mark the inside of turn four, damaging his car and dropping him back.

Checkalski sped off to his landmark win by nearly 2.5 seconds over Dunbar, who took over the divisional points lead, while Jorgensen nipped Polson at the line in a photo finish for third. Four-time Mid-Mod champ Paul Suzik, who started 11th, was scored in fifth.

Brent Mindock of Prentice won his third straight WISSOTA Pure Stock feature, and seventh of his career here, in what one might argue was the most exciting race of the night.

Polesitter Tom Treviranus edged out Shane Basina for the initial lead, while close behind them nine of the 11 starters made up a tight-knit pack. As Treviranus pulled away a bit during the opening circuits, the pack ganged up on Basina, and positions were swapped with wild abandon.

Mindock, who had started eighth of the 11, had sliced his way to second by lap five and was better than three-quarters of a second back of the leader, but within four laps he caught Treviranus and made an inside move work to take the lead. The pack chasing the leader had dwindled to four, as points leader Eric Crosby, first-night visitor Chaston Finckbone, and visitor George Richards converged on Treviranus while staying close to Mindock’s trunk lid.

At the end of the non-stop 12-lap, 4.5-minute dogfight, Mindock came under the checkers only three-quarters of a second ahead of Finckbone, who was side by side with third-place Crosby and fourth-finishing Treviranus and just ahead of fifth-place Richards. The time difference from Finckbone to Richards was less than nine-tenths of a second.

Ashland’s Dalton Truchon landed in ABC’s victory lane for the second time in three weeks with a dominant performance after the ABC Six Cylinders feature for his 12th career win here.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40-Kevin Adams[1]; 2. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 3. 18S-Kennedy Swan[8]; 4. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[11]; 5. 57-Mike Anderson[15]; 6. 22-Jeff Spacek[3]; 7. 3H-Jake Hiatt[4]; 8. 7-Andrew Mackey[6]; 9. 22S-Cole Spacek[9]; 10. 32-Pat Cook[12]; 11. 11-Justin Weinberger[10]; 12. 64-Evan Checkalski[14]; 13. 88-John Kallas[13]; 14. (DNF) 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[2]; 15. (DNF) 22C-Brandon Copp[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Brady Uotinen[1]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams[5]; 3. 7-Andrew Mackey[7]; 4. 22C-Brandon Copp[3]; 5. 22S-Cole Spacek[2]; 6. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[6]; 7. 88-John Kallas[8]; 8. (DNF) 57-Mike Anderson[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18S-Kennedy Swan[4]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[1]; 3. 22-Jeff Spacek[5]; 4. 3H-Jake Hiatt[3]; 5. 11-Justin Weinberger[6]; 6. 32-Pat Cook[2]; 7. 64-Evan Checkalski[7]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 33-Curt Myers[1]; 2. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[7]; 3. 80-Steve Stuart[8]; 4. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[5]; 5. 27-Matt Deragon[6]; 6. 42-Myron Basina[3]; 7. 2-Don Livingston[4]; 8. 15G-Andrew Groom[9]; 9. (DNF) 7B-Jason Melton[10]; 10. (DNF) 77-Jake Nevala[11]; 11. (DNS) 44-Trenton Bond

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[2]; 2. 33-Curt Myers[6]; 3. 2-Don Livingston[3]; 4. 42-Myron Basina[4]; 5. 15G-Andrew Groom[1]; 6. 7B-Jason Melton[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[2]; 2. 27-Matt Deragon[5]; 3. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[1]; 4. 44-Trenton Bond[4]; 5. (DNF) 77-Jake Nevala[3]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 64-Evan Checkalski[1]; 2. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[7]; 3. 16-Cory Jorgensen[2]; 4. 55-Jesse Polson[6]; 5. 91-Paul Suzik[11]; 6. 28-Paul Ripley[10]; 7. 21-Jimmy Latvala[5]; 8. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[3]; 9. 79-Bryan Lund[9]; 10. 20-Judd Skubal[13]; 11. (DNF) 80-Tanner Hicks[4]; 12. (DNF) 32III-Cody Carlson[8]; 13. (DNF) R1-Ryan Young[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[3]; 2. 21-Jimmy Latvala[4]; 3. 16-Cory Jorgensen[5]; 4. 64-Evan Checkalski[7]; 5. 79-Bryan Lund[6]; 6. 28-Paul Ripley[2]; 7. (DNS) 20-Judd Skubal

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[1]; 2. 55-Jesse Polson[3]; 3. 32III-Cody Carlson[6]; 4. 80-Tanner Hicks[5]; 5. (DNF) 91-Paul Suzik[4]; 6. (DNS) R1-Ryan Young

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 57-Brent Mindock[8]; 2. 40C-Chaston Finckbone[5]; 3. 28-Eric Crosby[7]; 4. 31-Tom Treviranus[1]; 5. 5R-George Richards[6]; 6. 17-Aaron Bernick[4]; 7. 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 8. 66X-Rob Christman[10]; 9. 5Z-Zene Anderson[2]; 10. 47-Anthony Schultz[9]; 11. (DNS) 7R-RJ Holly

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40C-Chaston Finckbone[6]; 2. 28-Eric Crosby[1]; 3. 17-Aaron Bernick[5]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[3]; 5. 47-Anthony Schultz[2]; 6. (DNF) 7R-RJ Holly[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Brent Mindock[2]; 2. 5R-George Richards[4]; 3. 5Z-Zene Anderson[1]; 4. 31-Tom Treviranus[5]; 5. 66X-Rob Christman[3]

Six Cylinders:

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Jakob Bond[2]; 2. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 3. 62D-Dalton Truchon[1]; 4. 5-Roger Walker[3]; 5. 42-Cameron Bond[5]; 6. 20-Justin Pratt[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Travis Swanson[3]; 2. 43-Jim Anderson[2]; 3. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[4]; 4. 97-Alex Bond[1]; 5. 41-Mady Anderson[5]