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Sabraski seizes nearly $36,000 for a pair of wins at ABC Raceway’s 444 Memorial

By Nick Gima

With additional information from Meghan Diemel

ASHLAND, WI (August 10) - Shane Sabraski took home nearly $36,000 and Jason VandeKamp went home with a pretty good-sized check as well, as the fourth annual “444 Memorial,” held in honor of the late Tanner Byholm, came to a completion Saturday at ABC Raceway.

Byholm, who passed away in an aviation accident in 2021, could be found throughout each race season racing his No. 444 alongside his father Bill. He enjoyed sharing a passion for racing with his dad, first as his biggest fan and then as a fellow competitor. Byholm was just 25 at the time of his passing, and his absence is deeply felt throughout the racing community in the Northland and beyond.

Outside of racing, Tanner was a proud Marine Reservist, serving our country for six years before deciding to join the Air Force Reserve where he was selected to be an A-10 pilot.

With many of the best of WISSOTA’s Modified, Midwest Modified and Late Model competitors on hand to pay tribute to Byholm, Sabraski showed that he is arguably WISSOTA’s best dirt-track race driver of the current era - and maybe of all time - with two impressive performances to take victories in both the Late Model and Modified features.

Tyler Peterson and Cole Searing started side-by-side on the front row of the 50-lap WISSOTA Late Model feature, but the race ground to a halt as a huge melee in the first corner collected nearly a dozen cars and eliminated six of them. Dave Flynn’s slowed racer drew another yellow flag just after the ensuing restart, and a lap after that Sabraski, while racing in a tight pack just behind Searing and Peterson, was sideways on the front straight and lost momentum, slipping back to fifth behind Kyle Peterlin and Sam Mars.

Jeff Massingill’s stalled ride on lap three kept the field close, but from there the race ran caution free. Sabraski quickly overtook Mars for fourth on the restart, and he claimed third a lap later. As Searing held the point, Peterson was under fire from Sabraski on lap seven, and within a couple more circuits Sabraski took over runner-up duties.

Searing was running a smooth upper-groove line, while Sabraski stayed low and the two swapped the lead for just a moment, with Sabraski scored in front on lap 11, but Searing took back the point and stayed there, pushing his lead to more than a second as he caught the tail-end of the field by lap 15.

Trailing the lead pair at a distance, Jeff Provinzino, Peterlin, and a charging Ashley Anderson came up to challenge Peterson for his podium position.

With a gap in traffic ahead of him, Searing pulled away to a 1.3-second cushion by mid-race, but Sabraski cut into that margin as lapped traffic became more of a factor again. By lap 33, Sabraski erased Searing’s advantage completely, and the next time around he dove to the inside and took the lead away at the flagstand. Three laps later Searing slapped the turn three guardrail, allowing the leader to run away.

With nine laps left Sabraski was nearly 1.8 seconds ahead and seemingly in control, but he struggled to get by the slower car of Joel Bennett; Searing closed to less than a car-length of Sabraski as the white flag waved, bringing Anderson and Kevin Burdick along. The four-car group raced nearly two-by-two behind Bennett on that final lap until Sabraski reached the checkered flag first, by less than .7 seconds ahead of Searing, and took home the $20,444 paycheck.

Anderson just nipped 13th-starter Burdick at the stripe for third, and Peterson was a fair distance back in fifth.

Sabraski was much more dominant in the WISSOTA Modified 40-lap A-main, and he was rewarded with another huge check - a track-record $15,444 - for his efforts.

A five-car mess in the initial corner negated Brandon Copp’s pass of polesitter Clayton Wagamon for the early lead, and Wagamon was wise on the restart, threading between Copp on his right and Ryan Gierke to his left to grab the point. Gierke made another attempt to get to the inside for the lead, but Wagamon successfully defended against that move and soon sped away to a healthy 1.75-second advantage.

On lap seven, J.D. Ford spun coming out of turn two, facing the field, as Sabraski and Copp were charging out of the corner in a battle for second, to bring about the only other caution flag. Wagamon again pulled away from the field on the restart, with Copp taking second from Gierke and distancing himself from Sabraski, who had followed Copp to third.

Over the next eight laps, Sabraski closed on Copp and took second on lap 16, while Wagamon ran a full 1.9 seconds ahead.

Sabraski chewed up that deficit quickly, in part due to slower traffic holding up the leader. On lap 23, he worked an inside pass on Wagamon to take over the lead for good. From there Sabraski showed his expertise in maneuvering through backmarkers and extended his advantage to 3.4 seconds at the final stripe.

Wagamon was not challenged for second over those final 17 circuits, but Darrell Nelson took third from Copp on the final lap. Gierke came home fifth. Twenty-two of the 26 starters finished the race, with 15 of them on the lead lap.

VandeKamp started from the pole, led every lap, and took home a record $10,444 winner’s share during the WISSOTA Midwest Modified 30-lap feature.

It was by no means a walk-away win, as VandeKamp had the red-hot Joey Jensen on his tail practically from the drop of the green. VandeKamp beat Jensen through the first pair of turns, and the pair were never far apart throughout the run. Third place was frequently debated, however, among Blake Adams, Zach Benson, Ryan Savoy and Garrett Paull.

On lap 10, just as Jensen was making a move to take the lead from VandeKamp, Tyler Vernon’s ride came to a stop to bring about the first of two caution flags. Savoy, who had claimed third just before the stoppage, tried a high-side pass of VandeKamp as the green flag flew, but a two-car spin before the lap was completed nixed that move, and Jensen re-established himself as runner-up from the ensuing restart on.

VandeKamp posted his biggest lead of the race - a little more than a full second over Jensen - on lap 16, while the rest of the field fell back, with Benson threatening Savoy for third. On lap 23, the lead pair began negotiating their way through the back of the pack, with VandeKamp expertly holding the point. Jensen closed over the final couple of circuits, but VandeKamp held on for a .310-second final gap and his first-ever feature win at ABC. Benson took third from Savoy in the late stages, and Marcus Dunbar followed him to fourth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Late Models:

A Feature 1 (50 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[3]; 2. 10-Cole Searing[2]; 3. 81-Ashley Anderson[10]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick[13]; 5. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 6. 28S-Sam Mars[6]; 7. 28-Jeff Provinzino[7]; 8. 27-Jake Redetzke[8]; 9. 99-Billy Kendall III[14]; 10. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[11]; 11. 11-Pat Doar[5]; 12. 7-Joel Bennett[16]; 13. 54-Rick Niemi[23]; 14. 6M-Jeff Massingill[18]; 15. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[20]; 16. 63-Patrick Kelley[24]; 17. (DNF) 23-Kyle Peterlin[4]; 18. (DNF) 22E-Kevin Eder[19]; 19. (DNF) 58-AJ Diemel[12]; 20. (DNF) 29F-Dave Flynn[17]; 21. (DNF) 11G-James Giossi[9]; 22. (DNF) 16-Derek Vesel[15]; 23. (DNF) 31-Travis Budisalovich[22]; 24. (DNF) 21F-Gunner Frank[21]; 25. (DNF) 45J-Johnny Broking[26]; 26. (DNF) 07-Cory Crapser[25]

Dash 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 10-Cole Searing[2]; 3. 7A-Shane Sabraski[3]; 4. 23-Kyle Peterlin[5]; 5. 11-Pat Doar[8]; 6. 28S-Sam Mars[4]; 7. 28-Jeff Provinzino[6]; 8. 27-Jake Redetzke[7]

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11G-James Giossi[1]; 2. 58-AJ Diemel[3]; 3. 16-Derek Vesel[4]; 4. 6M-Jeff Massingill[2]; 5. 07-Cory Crapser[7]; 6. 45J-Johnny Broking[6]; 7. 31-Travis Budisalovich[5]; 8. 21X-Joel Collins[8]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 81-Ashley Anderson[2]; 2. 30-Kevin Burdick[1]; 3. 7-Joel Bennett[3]; 4. 22E-Kevin Eder[7]; 5. 21F-Gunner Frank[4]; 6. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[6]; 7. 7X-Jesse Glenz[5]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 15*-Ryan Mikkelson[2]; 2. 99-Billy Kendall III[4]; 3. 29F-Dave Flynn[7]; 4. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[6]; 5. 54-Rick Niemi[1]; 6. 21-Todd Frank[5]; 7. 63-Patrick Kelley[3]

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 21F-Gunner Frank[2]; 2. 31-Travis Budisalovich[7]; 3. 54-Rick Niemi[3]; 4. 45J-Johnny Broking[4]; 5. 54L-Jayme Lautigar[5]; 6. 7X-Jesse Glenz[8]; 7. 21-Todd Frank[6]; 8. 21X-Joel Collins[10]; 9. 63-Patrick Kelley[9]; 10. (DNF) 07-Cory Crapser[1]

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 7A-Shane Sabraski[4]; 2. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[1]; 3. 44-Darrell Nelson[6]; 4. 22-Brandon Copp[2]; 5. 26G-Ryan Gierke[3]; 6. 18S-Kennedy Swan[5]; 7. 2C-Dave Cain[7]; 8. 9-Brady Uotinen[19]; 9. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[12]; 10. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[18]; 11. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[9]; 12. 45-Bob Broking[11]; 13. 22T-Michael Truscott[10]; 14. 19J-Jack Rivord[15]; 15. 57-Mike Anderson[13]; 16. 22S-Cole Spacek[26]; 17. 343-JD Ford[24]; 18. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[8]; 19. 17B-Zach Benson[25]; 20. 6-Dale Ames[20]; 21. 55W-Jeffrey Wood[16]; 22. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[14]; 23. (DNF) 25-Adam Bohlman[23]; 24. (DNF) 98-Al Uotinen[22]; 25. (DNF) 89-AJ Diemel[21]; 26. (DNF) 9E-Don Eischens[17]

Dash 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14W-Clayton Wagamon[2]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[1]; 3. 26G-Ryan Gierke[3]; 4. 7A-Shane Sabraski[5]; 5. 18S-Kennedy Swan[8]; 6. 44-Darrell Nelson[4]; 7. 2C-Dave Cain[6]; 8. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 43K-Kaden Blaeser[1]; 2. 57-Mike Anderson[2]; 3. 9E-Don Eischens[4]; 4. 40-Kevin Adams[7]; 5. 11W-Justin Weinberger[8]; 6. 32C-Curtis Stieh[5]; 7. 25-Adam Bohlman[3]; 8. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22T-Michael Truscott[2]; 2. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[1]; 3. 5K-Tyler Kaeter[3]; 4. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[7]; 5. 343-JD Ford[4]; 6. 22S-Cole Spacek[6]; 7. 33X-Justin Froemming[8]; 8. 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 45-Bob Broking[1]; 2. 19J-Jack Rivord[2]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[4]; 4. 89-AJ Diemel[6]; 5. 74-Shaun Kreyer[3]; 6. 224-Cody Wolkowski[7]; 7. 89JR-JT Johnson[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Jody Bellefeuille[1]; 2. 55W-Jeffrey Wood[3]; 3. 6-Dale Ames[5]; 4. 98-Al Uotinen[7]; 5. 4-Jeremy Nelson[4]; 6. 17B-Zach Benson[2]; 7. (DNF) 7-Andrew Mackey[6]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 89-AJ Diemel[2]; 2. 25-Adam Bohlman[7]; 3. 40-Kevin Adams[1]; 4. 74-Shaun Kreyer[4]; 5. 89JR-JT Johnson[8]; 6. 11W-Justin Weinberger[3]; 7. 32C-Curtis Stieh[5]; 8. (DNF) 1L-Donnie Lofdahl[9]; 9. (DNF) 224-Cody Wolkowski[6]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 98-Al Uotinen[2]; 2. 343-JD Ford[3]; 3. 22S-Cole Spacek[5]; 4. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[1]; 5. 17B-Zach Benson[6]; 6. 7-Andrew Mackey[9]; 7. 4-Jeremy Nelson[4]; 8. (DNS) 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar; 9. (DNS) 33X-Justin Froemming

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 16-Jason VandeKamp[1]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[2]; 3. 17B-Zach Benson[4]; 4. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[9]; 5. 16S-Ryan Savoy[5]; 6. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 7. 87-William Moelter[12]; 8. 25-Adam Bohlman[13]; 9. 28-Paul Ripley[15]; 10. 32III-Cody Carlson[18]; 11. 16P-Garrett Paull[6]; 12. 32F-Justin Froemming[21]; 13. 11-Ashton Schulte[7]; 14. 21-Jimmy Latvala[10]; 15. 64-Evan Checkalski[11]; 16. 91-Paul Suzik[16]; 17. 55-Jesse Polson[22]; 18. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[8]; 19. 7M-Dalton Mains[23]; 20. 15-James Vendela[14]; 21. 40-Tanner Henderson[19]; 22. 69-Justin Bassa[17]; 23. 0K-Matt Kelley[26]; 24. 46-Zach Slayton[20]; 25. (DNF) 67-Glen Brown[24]; 26. (DNF) 47-Don Craig[25]

Dash 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Jason VandeKamp[1]; 2. 30-Joey Jensen[4]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 4. 17B-Zach Benson[2]; 5. 16S-Ryan Savoy[6]; 6. 16P-Garrett Paull[8]; 7. 11-Ashton Schulte[7]; 8. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[1]; 2. 25-Adam Bohlman[4]; 3. 69-Justin Bassa[2]; 4. 7M-Dalton Mains[3]; 5. 0K-Matt Kelley[5]; 6. 32F-Justin Froemming[6]; 7. 31J-Mike Jacques[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jimmy Latvala[2]; 2. 15-James Vendela[1]; 3. 32III-Cody Carlson[6]; 4. 55-Jesse Polson[4]; 5. 3D-Daniel Bjonfald[5]; 6. 7A-Eric Anderson[7]; 7. 09-Skylar Findley[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 64-Evan Checkalski[2]; 2. 28-Paul Ripley[1]; 3. 40-Tanner Henderson[3]; 4. 80-Tanner Hicks[5]; 5. 47-Don Craig[6]; 6. 79-Bryan Lund[4]; 7. 21R-Ross Siiter[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 87-William Moelter[1]; 2. 91-Paul Suzik[3]; 3. 46-Zach Slayton[4]; 4. 67-Glen Brown[6]; 5. 16J-Cory Jorgensen[5]; 6. 47S-Tad Schoonover[7]; 7. (DQ) 2-Ariel Mueller[2]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 32F-Justin Froemming[5]; 2. 7M-Dalton Mains[1]; 3. 80-Tanner Hicks[2]; 4. 0K-Matt Kelley[3]; 5. 31J-Mike Jacques[7]; 6. (DNF) 47-Don Craig[4]; 7. (DNS) 79-Bryan Lund; 8. (DNS) 21R-Ross Siiter

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 55-Jesse Polson[1]; 2. 67-Glen Brown[2]; 3. 3D-Daniel Bjonfald[3]; 4. 47S-Tad Schoonover[6]; 5. 7A-Eric Anderson[5]; 6. (DNF) 09-Skylar Findley[7]; 7. (DNF) 16J-Cory Jorgensen[4]; 8. (DNS) 2-Ariel Mueller