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That’s a regular-season wrap at Ashland: Mackey, Stuart, Carlson and Crosby grab the checkers

By Nick Gima

ASHLAND, WI (August 17) - The 2024 regular season was completed at ABC Raceway, with championship Saturday. Three of the five points champs secured their titles with final-night feature wins, and two of the division titles were not decided until their features were completed.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Steve Stuart, Andrew Mackey, Cody Carlson, and Eric Crosby.

Mike Anderson parlayed an opening-night feature win into his first-ever track championship at ABC, using the Ashland track’s late start to its season to his advantage.

Knowing he had the title in hand by starting the 20-lap WISSOTA Modified feature, Anderson raced low-key and stayed out of trouble, starting outside on the fifth row and finishing seventh to procure the title. Ahead of him, however, a ton of excitement culminated in the second win of the season for Modified rookie Andrew Mackey.

After polesitter Steve Lavasseur was docked for jumping the initial start, Brandon Copp beat Justin Weinberger to the early lead and was up by 1.2 seconds after the first seven very quick laps. But Jake Hiatt’s spin while running in the top-five brought the field back to Copp’s back bumper.

Mackey, who restarted on the outside of the third row, took to the outer lane coming out of turn four to the green flag and went on the attack, sweeping around the front four runners and clearing them for the lead by the time they all had exited turn two. From there Mackey was uncatchable, flying around the perimeter of the track as the last 13 laps clicked off without a hitch and pushing his lead to an impressive 2.68 seconds at the checkers for his second feature win of the season and fifth overall at the oval. Eighth-starter Tyler Vernon completed an impressive run to the front by nipping Brady Uotinen at the line for second, while Copp and points runner-up Nick Oreskovich completed the top-five.

Steve Stuart continued to rewrite the history books at ABC in 2024, closing out his fourth-straight WISSOTA Super Stock championship and 10th track title overall - both accolades good enough for second-best all-time in raceway history - with his 48th career feature win here and third of the season.

The only driver in track history to win points titles in four different divisions, eighth-starting Stuart knew that he had to get to the front early. Right in front of him in the lineup was Shawn McFadden - his closest challenger for the championship at just five points back. Andy Grymala, who started outside on the first row, held the early advantage while McFadden threaded the needle between the inside-charging Stuart and the high-line-running Patrick Beeksma for second.

After Stuart dove low to take second from McFadden on lap three, that pair tracked down Grymala to put on a three-car show for the lead. Stuart overtook Grymala on lap seven, a lap before Myron Basina’s spin drew the first of the race’s caution flags. The race bogged down for a stretch from there, as Beeksma got together with Cory Casari a lap after the restart, and then a four-car melee drew the yellow bunting again two laps later.

During the final nine laps, McFadden threw everything he could think of at Stuart, as the lead pair pulled away to decide the race win and the championship. But Stuart prevailed by barely a half-second, with McFadden directly in his tire tracks. Matt Deragon had the fastest car late in the 20-lapper and charged to a third-place finish, followed at a distance by Grymala and Kyle Copp.

Marcus Dunbar needed to finish 13th or better in the 14-car WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature field to secure the championship in the division and match his father Duane with three ABC titles. He was successful in his mission.

The race itself belonged to Cody Carlson, a veteran third-generation racer who had never won a feature at Ashland, although his father is a Red Clay Classic champion in the Mods. After polesitter Matt Jacobson edged ahead of Jimmy Latvala to take the initial lead of the 20-lap main event, Carlson came from the outside of the second row to squeeze between Latvala and Tanner Hicks to take second on that first lap.

Carlson poked his racer’s nose to the inside on Jacobson during lap two, just before contact by the close-following Latvala caused Jacobson and Latvala to spin, bringing about the only caution delay in the race. In a three-wide move on the restart, Carlson dove inside on Jacobson and Jesse Polson and took the lead. Polson, however, experienced car trouble, faded back and eventually fell out of the event.

Carlson was dominant for the remainder of the event, maintaining a 1.4-second advantage over the last 18 laps. James Vendela worked his way past Jacobson into second just a few laps after the early restart, and Dunbar and Paul Suzik took third and fourth, respectively, on lap eight.

Carlson enjoyed open-field running throughout the back-half of the run and finished 1.36 seconds ahead of Vendela for his landmark win. Dunbar landed the title with a solid third-place run, a few car-lengths ahead of the four-time and defending track champ Suzik, who finished second in points, and Tyler Vernon, the last starter on the grid, stole fifth away late from Tyler Hudack, who started 12th, as those two drivers enjoyed strong runs.

Like Stuart, Eric Crosby won his feature in the Pure Stocks in order to confirm his points title, but for Crosby it was his first-ever championship at ABC to highlight an impressive rookie season.

The 10-car WISSOTA Pure Stock feature ran nonstop, with Shane Basina, polestarter Anthony Schultz and fourth-starting Crosby running in close formation out of the first turn to draw away slightly from the pack. Before lap one was complete, Crosby had claimed second from Schultz, and Aaron Bernick caught and passed Schultz to take third.

Crosby, the top rookie in WISSOTA’s national Pure Stock standings, then worked his way by Basina to take the lead on lap three on the front straight, with Basina’s hood flying off his car to add dramatic effect to the move. Within four laps Crosby had built an insurmountable 2.5-second lead on new runner-up Bernick, and with two laps remaining defending champ Brent Mindock swept around Basina for third.

Crosby had the field cleared by 3.3 seconds at the final stripe for his second win of the summer at the oval, with Bernick a full second up on Mindock, the national points leader who finished second in points at the speedway. Basina finished fourth ahead of Schultz.

Shane Basina garnered the Six Cylinder victory by 69 one-thousandths of a second for the win - his third of the season and tenth of his career here. Travis Swanson, Tiffany Hudack, a late-charging Cody Eichmann, and a resurgent Mathew Rohlfing completed the top-five.

School teachers and administrators were honored earlier in the program, for Teacher Appreciation Night, and backpacks were handed out to school-aged children during the contest compliments of the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7-Andrew Mackey[6]; 2. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[8]; 3. 9-Brady Uotinen[5]; 4. 22-Brandon Copp[2]; 5. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[7]; 6. 11W-Justin Weinberger[3]; 7. 57-Mike Anderson[10]; 8. 3H-Jake Hiatt[4]; 9. 32-Pat Cook[11]; 10. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[9]; 11. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[1]; 12. (DNF) 22S-Cole Spacek[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Brady Uotinen[2]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[1]; 3. 7-Andrew Mackey[5]; 4. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[3]; 5. 7XJR-Marcus Dunbar[4]; 6. 32-Pat Cook[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3H-Jake Hiatt[4]; 2. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[2]; 3. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[1]; 4. 11W-Justin Weinberger[6]; 5. 57-Mike Anderson[5]; 6. (DNF) 22S-Cole Spacek[3]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[8]; 2. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[6]; 3. 27-Matt Deragon[7]; 4. 24-Andy Grymala[2]; 5. 26-Kyle Copp[5]; 6. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[4]; 7. 2-Don Livingston[3]; 8. 77-Jake Nevala[1]; 9. 44-Trenton Bond[11]; 10. 11R-Rita Anderson[12]; 11. 7B-Jason Melton[9]; 12. (DNF) 42-Myron Basina[10]; 13. (DNF) 32R-Cory Casari[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Matt Deragon[3]; 2. 24-Andy Grymala[1]; 3. 51JR-Shawn McFadden[7]; 4. 2-Don Livingston[4]; 5. 7B-Jason Melton[2]; 6. 44-Trenton Bond[6]; 7. 11R-Rita Anderson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Jake Nevala[2]; 2. 26-Kyle Copp[1]; 3. 80-Steve Stuart[3]; 4. 21C-Patrick Beeksma[5]; 5. 42-Myron Basina[6]; 6. (DNF) 32R-Cory Casari[4]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 32III-Cody Carlson[4]; 2. 15-James Vendela[5]; 3. 7X-Marcus Dunbar[8]; 4. 91-Paul Suzik[7]; 5. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[14]; 6. 14S-Tyler Hudack[12]; 7. 22-Matt Jacobson[1]; 8. 21-Jimmy Latvala[2]; 9. 80-Tanner Hicks[3]; 10. 00-Ross Fuhrman[13]; 11. 47S-Tad Schoonover[10]; 12. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[9]; 13. 13B-Chris Bretting[11]; 14. (DNF) 55-Jesse Polson[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55-Jesse Polson[2]; 2. 91-Paul Suzik[4]; 3. 32III-Cody Carlson[6]; 4. 21-Jimmy Latvala[1]; 5. 21+7-Ryan Barningham[7]; 6. 13B-Chris Bretting[3]; 7. 00-Ross Fuhrman[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7X-Marcus Dunbar[2]; 2. 15-James Vendela[4]; 3. 80-Tanner Hicks[1]; 4. 22-Matt Jacobson[3]; 5. 47S-Tad Schoonover[6]; 6. 14S-Tyler Hudack[5]; 7. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[7]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Eric Crosby[4]; 2. 17-Aaron Bernick[3]; 3. 57-Brent Mindock[5]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 5. 47-Anthony Schultz[1]; 6. 33S-Jason Simonson[6]; 7. 5Z-Zene Anderson[7]; 8. 5M-Michael Pederson[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Aaron Bernick[2]; 2. 57-Brent Mindock[1]; 3. 28-Eric Crosby[4]; 4. 69ER-Shane Basina[6]; 5. 47-Anthony Schultz[3]; 6. 33S-Jason Simonson[5]; 7. 5Z-Zene Anderson[7]; 8. 5M-Michael Pederson[8]

Six Cylinders:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 69ER-Shane Basina[4]; 2. 28-Travis Swanson[1]; 3. 114S-Tiffany Hudack[5]; 4. 92-Cody Eichmann[8]; 5. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[3]; 6. 3BBBB-Cody Roberts[14]; 7. 97-Alex Bond[9]; 8. 43-Jim Anderson[2]; 9. 20-Justin Pratt[10]; 10. (DNF) 62D-Dalton Truchon[7]; 11. (DNF) 5-Roger Walker[6]; 12. (DNF) 41-Mady Anderson[11]; 13. (DNF) 9-Jakob Bond[12]; 14. (DNF) 103X-Jimmy Stearns[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 62D-Dalton Truchon[1]; 2. 5-Roger Walker[4]; 3. 69ER-Shane Basina[2]; 4. 92-Cody Eichmann[3]; 5. 97-Alex Bond[5]; 6. 3BBBB-Cody Roberts[7]; 7. 9-Jakob Bond[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 114S-Tiffany Hudack[3]; 2. 28-Travis Swanson[2]; 3. 23-Mathew Rohlfing[6]; 4. 43-Jim Anderson[7]; 5. 20-Justin Pratt[4]; 6. 41-Mady Anderson[1]; 7. (DNF) 103X-Jimmy Stearns[5]