Larson Rakes In Over $1,100 with ABC ‘Pure Excitement 25’ Win

by Nick Gima

Ashland, WI, August 2 -- This past Saturday night is one Dan Larsen may not soon forget.             The first-night visitor from Hermantown, MN, took the lead away from Paul Milanowski on lap 14 and survived a green-white-checkered finish to win the “Pure Excitement 25” pure stock special at the ABC Raceway. The win was Larsen’s first in his three years of racing, and his $1,183 paycheck was the largest ever awarded to a driver in the entry-level division in the track’s history.             The AmsOil Dirt Track Series program, sponsored by the Ashland-Bayfield County Sportsman Club, seemed to be full of storylines, as Dave Flynn and Lance Solem each collected their first feature wins at Ashland - for Solem, his first ever - and two of the points leads changed hands and another tightened up considerably.             Larsen started fifth on the 26-car grid and had moved into fourth by lap 2, behind Paul Milanowski, polesitter Nathan Dees and Al Rapp. The race struggled to maintain a rhythm due to numerous cautions, so the front four remained the same through the first eight laps.             It was then that Dees’ night came to a heartbreaking end, as his car slipped up the banking in turn 2 and came to a stop. After another slowdown a lap later, Larsen finally made his move, swinging around Rapp to take second on lap 13.             John Kallas, borrowing Roland Gordon’s car for the night, had made an impressive charge through the field during the first half of the event after starting in the ninth row. When Larsen made his move by Rapp, he towed Kallas into third, while Tim Carlson also moved past Rapp to fourth. But Kallas’ run also ended prematurely, when his car suffered right-side damage after smacking the back-straight guardrail while challenging Milanowski for second.             Another driver on the move was Rick Cornelison, who also came from deep in the field. Working the outside line, the first-nighter climbed from his 14th starting spot to seventh by lap 18, when Matt Hammitt spun, and he took fourth when Tim Carbon bobbled with three laps to go.             Larsen, who had just begun to stretch his lead to a safe margin, had Milanowski on his rear bumper for the restart on lap 23, caused by a get-together between Zene Anderson and Jim Laessig. But Larsen held on for the huge payday, beating Milanowski to the stripe by four car-lengths.             Rapp held off Cornelison for third, while Carbon’s fifth-place effort, combined with a rough night for Chad Carlson, moved him into the division’s points lead with three race nights remaining.             In earlier heat-race action, Dustin Follett’s car broke a wheel, causing it to flip over a full roll before settling on its roof. Follett was unhurt in the incident, and he was able to make enough repairs to start the feature.             Through the efforts of street stock racer Bruce Kalmon, an amazing total purse of nearly $4,900 was raised through donations by sponsors and fans, and over $700 in door prizes were given away.
Flynn led the WISSOTA super stock field on a 20-lap non-stop chase, but there wasn’t much chance of anyone catching him. After starting outside on the second row, the Superior campaigner used a split-the-difference pass between early leader Ken Truscott and Dave Elliott on lap 3, then he rode the high line around the red-clay oval for his first feature win here.             The only driver with much chance to run him down was points leader Scott Lawrence, who moved into second on lap 6, but by then Flynn had built up a healthy advantage. Over the balance of the race Lawrence had trimmed the lead to less than a car-length, but once the leaders caught slower traffic, Lawrence had to run the same line as Flynn - around the top - and didn’t have the opportunity to pull alongside.             “I’ve had a lot of close runs with Scott here lately,” Flynn told the fans afterwards from Victory Lane. “It’s about time we win one.”             Kevin Eder finished a strong third, while Randy Spacek earned the fast-lap award of the race with a tour of 17.896 seconds during his fourth-place run. Brian Mikkonen was a distant fifth.
Solem’s run was equally impressive, as he started outside on the front row and shot away to pace every lap of the WISSOTA Midwest modified 15-lapper, in only his 16th night behind the wheel of a race car. Mickey Nosser’s pass of Shawn Rivord for second came just before a lap 2 slowdown, so he had to do it again a lap after the green flag reappeared, but by then the Duluth rookie already had built a commanding lead.             It took Nosser ten laps, but he finally caught up to the leader and still had enough left to pose a serious threat, pulling alongside Solem on a couple of occasions. But when Nosser became occupied fending off challenges from Shane Halpoka in the closing laps, Solem was free to cruise uncontested to the landmark win.             Halopka made a sharp dive inside on Nosser coming off the final turn and beat Nosser to the stripe by a nose to take second, while further back Rivord impressed many by holding off Steve Stuart for fourth. Stuart also took over the points lead in the Mid-mods, as Duane Dunbar struggled all night and came home 14th in the feature.
One driver who didn’t struggle while maintaining his divisional advantage was Jeff Spacek, who put on a driving show of his own in the WISSOTA modified 20-lap A-main. Kelly Checkalski was the man to beat in the early laps, while Scott Hudack and Spacek worked their way around Steve Lavasseur and into second and third by lap 2.             Checkalski had a strong edge on the field until the yellow flag was waived on lap 5 for Kent Baxter’s spin, and after the restart Spacek dove to the bottom and powered by Checkalski for the lead on lap 8. Checkalski then found himself involved in a three-wide battle for second before slipping up in turn 2 and collecting a couple others on lap 10. The damage was enough to knock Checkalski from the event.             Duane Dale restarted behind Spacek, with Hudack third, but the Phillips veteran was just too strong on this night, three-wheeling around the low side of the track and holding on for his 45th career ABC Raceway win despite one more caution flag with four laps left. After that restart Hudack swept around Dale for a season-best second-place run, while Dean Yrjanainen and 12th-starting Ross Lightner completed the top five at a distance.             “Last week we stunk it up, so tonight we hooked it up,” Spacek explained to the fans about the winning run.
After a five-car scramble messed up the initial start of the WISSOTA street stock feature, Washburn’s Rob Weber got past Tim Baum and hung on over the remaining 12 non-stop laps for his second career feature win at Ashland and first this summer. Weber worked an outside line while Baum hung tough to the bottom, and the two were never more than a car-length apart as they tried to pull away from third-running Larry Haderly.             Eventually Weber gained a clear-cut advantage on Baum, who in the closing laps withstood an inside threat from Haderly. Steve Anderson and Cory Casari filled out the top five.
The six-cylinder feature was also a one-restart affair, and that restart was just what Pat Beeksma of Ironwood needed to wrest the lead away from Jim Pelto and run off to his third win of the season.             The restart came after Forrest Schultz’s spin on lap 3, and Beeksma made an inside move stick less than a lap later. Beeksma quickly caught the tail-enders and began to sift through the slower traffic with ease, but that same slower traffic allowed Shawn McFadden, Jr, to sneak by Pelto into second, bringing Travis Swanson along to third on lap 10.             Swanson and McFadden then wrestled for second place before Swanson claimed the position, but it was too late to do anything about catching Beeksma. Greg Jaeger also got by Pelto late in the run for a fourth-place effort. With points leader Dale Coddington having to settle for ninth, Beeksma and McFadden drew to within two points of the leader in the standings.

Next Saturday’s race program will include the rescheduled Street Stock Challenge, presented by Chicago Iron & Supply and Rivord Trucking. With a recent donation by Quality Collision Center, the winner’s share of the featured event will now be $650.

            Hot laps are set for 6:15 pm and racing starts at 7. “Race Night” will air live on WBSZ, 93.3 FM, from 4:30-6 pm with at-the-track news and weather updates. The ABC Raceway is located 3-1/2 miles south of Ashland on State Highway 13 and one mile west on Butterworth Road. For raceday information call (715) 682-4990.