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Crapser Takes Home Nearly $1,200 in ABC Street Stock Shootout
Olson gets first Ashland checkers; Weber a winner in Mid-mods
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, July 18 -- Cory Crapser of Chippewa Falls clawed his way past Dennis Groom and Chris Peterson, then survived a last-corner encounter with a lapped car on his way to his second WISSOTA Street Stock Shootout feature win and an $1,185 payday Saturday night at the ABC Raceway.
The program, presented by Chicago Iron & Supply, featured a season-high field of 123 cars, with 25 streeters competing for the fan-contribution-enhanced, including two making the nine-hour-plus trip from Manitoba, as well as national WISSOTA points leader Crapser.
Crapser started inside on row 4 and patiently waited for openings to present themselves, as a couple of early restarts kept the event from making any headway. But once the field got into a rhythm, 12 of the scheduled 20 laps clicked off at a furious pace, with Groom leading Jim Randall, Peterson, John Kallas and Chanda Fjorden-Nord.
Randall made slight contact with Peterson and slipped out of the top five, allowing Crapser to move past Peterson into second on lap 5. The lead trio them distanced themselves from the rest of the field, with Crapser challenging Groom lap after lap with inside looks.
At midrace Crapser finally made his move, beating Groom to the start-finish line by inches and then finding enough bite on the bottom to clear him coming out of turn 2. Crapser was not able to pull away, however, as Groom charged back and attempted to regain the lead just before the race’s third stoppage on lap 12, for Larry Haderly’s spun machine.
Fjorden-Nord was penalized for spinning Randall on the restart, knocking her from a top-ten run, after which Kallas, who restarted fourth, slowed with damage to the front-end of his racer and exited the track. Crapser finally enjoyed some smooth sailing out front while Groom and Peterson debated second until the final lap, when the leader slowed up to figure out away around Kim Korstad in turn 4. Crapser was forced to go high around the backmarker, allowing Groom and Peterson a look to the inside, but Crapser maintained his momentum and held on to win by a car-length.
Groom and Peterson followed closely, while Cory Casari and Randall were fourth and fifth at a distance. Haderly, Greg Kuklinski and Sam Fankhauser were a close-knit sixth through eighth, while visitors Dan Bork and Kevin Maulson rounded out the top ten.
“It got a little hairy there in the last turn,” Crapser told the large crowd after the run from Victory Lane. “but it was well worth the trip.”
The AmsOil Dirt Track Series program also saw Eric Olson earn his first-ever ABC Raceway feature win in the 20-lap WISSOTA Super Stock A-main, by the slimmest of margins and over one of the toughest competitors. The Ladysmith campaigner swept around the outside of polestarter Nick Oreskovich for the early advantage, while Randy Spacek took the low line into second on lap 2. Scott Lawrence followed Spacek’s tracks past Oreskovich for third one tour later around the three-eighths-mile oval, and the lead threesome attempted to run away from the pack.
Their disappearing act was temporarily thwarted when five cars collected in a mess on lap 4. Lawrence used the restart to give Spacek and Olson a scare, nearly taking the lead away in the first corner after the race restarted, but Olson held on with Spacek in his shadow.
With the race a third of the way gone Olson made what could have been a costly mistake - he jumped the cushion to allow Lawrence and Spacek to scoot by, but he recovered nicely and stayed close in third.
At the halfway point the race was slowed for the final time by Lance Leu’s spin, and over the next few laps Lawrence built a slight by solid edge over the side-by-side battle raging between Olson and Spacek, which went on for at least five laps before Olson finally won the position with a couple laps left.
It only took another trip around for Olson to reel in Lawrence, and he pulled even with the leader at the stripe as the white flag waved. Olson edged ahead coming out of the final corner to win by 51-thousandths of a second - barely a couple of feet. Spacek wasn’t all that far back in third, while Oreskovich came back late to score fourth ahead of Brian Mikkonen.
Another first-time winner was Rob Weber of Ashland, who tallied his first-ever WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature win in his second season in the division. Weber took off from the pole, beating Bryce Johnson through the first turn, and was never headed, although he had his nerves tested many times throughout the 15-lap run.
Weber, Johnson and Steve Stuart drew away from the field over the first couple laps before the first of several yellow-flag slowdowns snugged things back up on lap 2. Stuart snuck inside on Johnson to steal second place away on lap 4, and from that point on he pulled out ever trick in the book to try to shake Weber loose of the point, but to no avail.
Johnson lost his top-three run when he looped his mount on lap 6, and debris on the track quickly brought out another stall, but by mid-race Weber had built a healthy advantage over Stuart. Travis Nye tagged and spun Taylor Leuthner while that pair battled in the top six, bringing about another stoppage on lap 10 to tighten the pack, and then Weber faced his biggest challenge of the run,
With three laps left Johnson spun for the second time, and it took three tries to get the next lap in - once after Chris Bretting’s hard nose-first slam of the front-straight concrete. On each restart Stuart stuck his car’s nose down low trying to rattle Weber into an error, and each time Weber held true.
Finally Weber pulled away for his third career ABC Raceway win, beating Stuart by several lengths. Leuthner swiped third away in the late stages but was docked two spots for a jump on a restart, giving third to a charging Mickey Nosser and fourth to Rick Przybylski.
Ashland’s Shawn McFadden, Jr, also overcame a little adversity to capture his first Six-Cylinder feature win of the year and third ever here. After starting in row 4, McFadden worked his way past Ken Tyykila to fall in behind early leader Tyler Luger with six of the 15 laps completed. McFadden then ducked in on Luger and made a pass for the lead, but Tyler Hudack’s smoking and stalling ride negated the move.
On the restart McFadden tried an outside route to overtake Luger, but this pass was waived off, too, when Bobby Durand spun. Finally McFadden went back to the low groove to get past Luger for good and pulled away to a strong lead. Although the field came back to his rear bumper after Neil Adamczak spun with four laps left, McFadden had plenty left to pull away to a near-straightaway margin of victory.
CJ Polacek came on strong late to swipe second place away from Luger, and Don Muzzy and Chuck Hawkinson were a close fourth and fifth.
Once the WISSOTA Modified feature got going, it was Bill Byholm’s to lose. The Glidden pilot chalked up his second win of the season, holding off several challenges from Duane Dale along the way.
Byholm pulled off a slick slide-job on polestarter Scott Hudack and was never headed, but a combination of pile-ups and spins forced four straight caution slowdowns before lap 2 was scored. One of the stoppages was a three-car that involved Dale, Destin Lorimor and Jerry Hartman; safety crews had to assist Hartman from his car and into the ambulance, but he was soon reported as being shaken up but otherwise alright.
After that, however, the remaining 19 laps ran uninterrupted, with Byholm following a smooth middle-groove line around a track that became racier and faster as the program progressed.
Dale put up the best challenge to Byholm’s efforts, working both the high and low sides to get by an impressive Steve Lavasseur and then pulling to within inches of the leader’s rear bumper on several occasions. Dale did get a little too close once; slight contact between the two cars caused Byholm’s car to break loose, but Dale checked up to avoid a spin and Byholm made a veteran save to keep the race under green.
Eventually Byholm ran away to his 24th career ABC win, well ahead of divisional points leader Dale and second-in-points Al Uotinen, who took third away from Lavasseur on lap 6 but could not haul in the lead pair. Robby Bunkelman started dead last on the 18-car grid and climbed all the way to fourth, just ahead of Lavasseur.
Al Rapp of Saginaw, MN, made a rare visit to Ashland worth his while, driving a smoking car to the Pure Stock feature win. Tim Carbon led the 14-car field after the first lap, but they were four-wide behind him before points leader Austin Blom slipped around Carbon with an outside move on lap 4. Rapp was directly behind the lead pair for a restart after that, and he worked his way around Carbon into second just before a grinding crash took out the cars of Tim Carlson and Nathan Dees.
With only seven cars left and three laps to go, Rapp drove inside on Blom to take over the lead and paced the rest of the run. Carbon finished solidly in third, ahead of Paul Milanowski and Don Livingston.
In earlier action, Tim Baum rolled his streeter one time over during heat 3. The car landed on all fours, and after a few moments he restarted it and attempted to rejoin the race. He was able to make repairs and run a few laps of the feature before engine troubles sidelined him.
The WISSOTA Dart Late Model Challenge Series will make its first-ever visit to the ABC Raceway for a special Friday night race program on July 24. The show, presented by Bad River Lodge, Casino & Convention Center, will see as many as 40 of the best drivers in the premier WISSOTA class competing for a winner’s check of $3,000. FastLane Motorsports will also be a presenting sponsor of the supporting Super Stock Challenge and Six-Cylinder Summer Sizzler supporting events
Adult admission tickets are just $15, while kids ages 8-12 get in for only five dollars; fans ages 7 and under are free with a paid adult admission. Hot laps are set for 6:30 pm, and racing will start at 7. “Racenight” 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, or log on to the track’s website, <www.abcraceway.com>.
Results
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: Bill Byholm, Glidden; Duane Dale, Aurora, MN; Al Uotinen, Superior; Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford; Steve Lavasseur, River Falls; Wayne Stricker, Highbridge; Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Ross Lightner, Washburn; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Scott Miller, Rice Lake; Jody Bellefeuille, Duluth, MN; Scott Hudack, Ashland; Kelly Checkalski, Poplar; Mark Baxter, Dorchester; Destin Lorimor, Superior; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Kent Baxter, Elk Mound.
Heat 1: Yrjanainen; Hudack; K Baxter; Byholm; Bellefeuille; Stricker; Hartman; Checkalski; Lorimor.
Heat 2: Lavasseur; Dale; Uotinen; Crapser; Lightner; Spacek; Miller; M Baxter; Bunkelman.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature: Eric Olson, Ladysmith; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Nick Oreskovich, Mason; Brian Mikkonen, Iron River; Kevin Eder, Ashland; Duane Dale, Aurora, MN; Greg Kuklinski, Ironwood, MI; Joe Oliver, Superior; Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Rich Bishop, New Richmond; Dave Flynn, Superior; Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Dave Elliott, Minocqua; Lance Leu, Medford; Tad Schoonover, Eagle River; Tom Treviranus, Hawthorne; Don Koivisto, Saxon; Art Hyde, Washburn; Donnie Lofdahl, Proctor, MN; Bryan Lund, Rochester, MN.
Heat 1: Bishop; Eder; Olson; Oliver; Hyde; Elliott; Lofdahl.
Heat 2: Oreskovich; Leu; Spacek; Anderson; Truscott; Koivisto; Dale; Treviranus.
Heat 3: Mikkonen; Lawrence; Kuklinski; Flynn; Lund; Schoonover.
WISSOTA Street Stocks
Feature: Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls; Dennis Groom, Ashland; Chris Peterson, Amery; Cory Casari, Montreal; Jim Randall, Rice Lake; larry Haderly, Marengo; Greg Kuklinski, Ironwood, MI; Sam Fankhauser, Rice Lake; Dan Bork, Alma; Kevin Maulson, Lac du Flambeau; Henry Peters, Morden, MB; Bill Muhlig, Pelkie, MI; Scott Weber, Washburn; James Wall, Winker, MB; Jimmy Maki, Chetek; Bruce Kalmon, Ashland; Trevor Wilson, Superior; Donny Ganz, Alma; Kim Korstad, Lakeland, MN; John Kallas, Hurley; Chanda Fjorden-Nord, Luck; Tim Baum, Superior; Jordan Kurtti, Bruce Crossing, MI.
Heat 1: Randall; Kallas; Kuklinski; Kurtti; Weber; Korstad; Maulson; Wilson; Muhlig.
Heat 2: Crapser; Peterson; Groom; Haderly; Casari; Wall; Kalmon; Bork.
Heat 3: Fankhauser; Nord; Maki; Keith Troutman, Tomahawk; Baum; Ganz.
WISSOTA Midwest modifieds
Feature: Rob Weber, Ashland; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Mickey Nosser, Phillips; Rick Przybylski, Ashland; Taylor Leuthner, Foxboro; Jesse Ogston, Duluth, MN; Jimmy Latvala, Solon Springs; Duane Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Lance Solem, Duluth, MN; George Dalbeck, Wakefield, MI; Shawn Rivord, South Range; Pat Cook, Washburn; Travis Nye, Ashland; Travis Swanson, Ashland; Zene Anderson, Superior; Bryce Johnson, Barron; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Chris Bretting, Ashland; Chad Adamczak, Ashland.
Heat 1: Johnson; Cook; Przybylski; Latvala; Solem; Ogston; Swanson.
Heat 2: Nye; Leuthner; Weber; S Anderson; Z Anderson; Rivord; Bretting.
Heat 3: Stuart; Nosser; Dalbeck; Dammer; Dunbar; Adamczak.
Six-Cylinders
Feature: Shawn McFadden, Jr, Ashland; CJ Polacek, Phillips; Tyler Luger, Iron River; Don Muzzy, Ironwood, MI; Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen; Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Scott Ovaska, Marengo; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Warren Beede, Iron River; Zack Pagels, Marengo; Tim Beeksma, Ashland; Justin Bretall, Grandview; DeJay Mihalek, Ashland; Bobby Durand, Mason; Neil Adamczak, Ashland; Adam Traaholt, Ashland; Jonathon Popp, Iron River; Aaron Mashlan, Ashland; Bryan Anderson, Mason; Tyler Hudack, Ashland; Ron Lillie, Wakefield, MI
Heat 1: Jaeger; Hawkinson; Pagels; Beede; Hudack; Bretall; Durand; Lillie.
Heat 2: Muzzy; Polacek; Tyykila; Popp; Coddington; Forest Schultz, Ashland; T Beeksma; Ovaska.
Heat 3: McFadden; Adamczak; Luger; Mihalek; Anderson; Traaholt; Mashlan; Pat Beeksma, Ironwood, MI.
Pure Stocks
Feature: Al Rapp, Saginaw, MN; Austin Blom, Saginaw, MN; Tim Carbon, Highbridge; Paul Milanowski, Ashland; Don Livingston, Bayfield; Dustin Gay, Ashland; Heidi Karshbaum, Chetek; Ken Tody Jr, Ashland; Tim Carlson, Superior; Chad Carlson, Superior; Nathan Dees, Ironwood, MI; Matt Deragon, Ashland; Joe Wolfe, Montreal.
Heat 1: Rapp; Dees; C Carlson; Deragon; Wolfe; Livingston; Gay.
Heat 2: Blom; Carbon; Tody; T Carlson; Milanowski; Karshbaum; Jeff Christman, Superior. | | |