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Byholm, Haderly Sweep; Uotinen Wins As ABC Opens
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, May 21 -- After a weekıs delay, the ABC Raceway opened its 2005
racing season with 93 cars in the pit area for the Budweiser-sponsored event
and with a threatening forecast in the distance. In fact, within a half-hour
after the final checkered flag dropped, the skies opened in force.
Bill Byholm opened his campaign in Ashland with a sweep of modified action,
including a feature run that was dominant. After polesitter Rick Przybylski
spun in front of the field to force an early caution flag, Scott Hudack
inherited the lead, but Byholm swept around Ross Lightner for second on lap 2
and then repeated the move to take the lead from Hudack one circuit later.
Byholm built a straightaway lead over the long green-flag run, until Kelly
Checkalski spun as Byholm was about to take the white flag, bringing the pack
tight to the leaderıs bumper for the green-white-checkered finish. But Byholm
cruised in the final sprint to collect his first win here since August 2002,
ahead of Hudack, Jeff Spacek (who started the race last on the grid),
defending mod champ Al Uotinen and Dean Yrjanainen.
One race earlier, Uotinen drove Rick Milinkovichıs super stock to his first
win ever here in that division. In a caution-filled affair, Uotinen started on
the pole and led every lap, but he had constant pressure from Rick Rivord
throughout. The best battle on the track during the second half of the event
was a fight for fifth between defending champ Scott Lawrence and Randy Spacek,
in which Lawrence prevailed. After a final caution with four rounds left,
Uotinen pulled away to the win over Rivord, Ken Truscott, Mike Duhr and
Lawrence.
Defending street stock champ Larry Haderly picked up where he left off with a
clean sweep of that divisionıs action. Haderly pulled away from a fierce
battle for second between Steve Anderson and Roger Walker which ended on lap 9
when the lapped car of Richard Morrison spun in front of Walker, who got
turned sideways and rolled his car onto its side in front of Anderson, who
couldnıt avoid him; Walker was uninjured. From there Haderly outran Tim Baum
for his ninth career win here, while Randy Vezina, Pete Paulus and Rob Weber
completed the top five.
Two red-flag stops marred an entertaining six-cylinder feature in which Pat
Cook earned his second career win. The first stop came on the opening lap when
Brian Nevala got loose in traffic, veered right toward the front straight
wall, and rolled his car onto its roof, collecting two other cars; Nevala was
uninjured. Five laps later Shawn McFadden, Jr., was turned sideways on the
front straight by contact from Jim Anderson and, after McFaddenıs car came to
a complete stop, was t-boned at full speed by Ron Swanson, who had nowhere to
go to avoid the contact. Swanson was transported to a local hospital for
treatment for a foot injury, while McFadden was uninjured. The final ten laps
ran off non-stop, and Cook fended off furious challenges from Chuck Hawkinson
and Dale Coddington for the win. Greg Jaeger passed Steve Walston late in the
run for fourth-place honors.
A great side-by-side battle between two young guns, each looking for their
first feature wins, was the story in the pure stock finale. James Eliason
outran polesitter Bridgett Pagels to the early lead and tried to pull away,
but he was chased down by Al Rapp and Kevin Eder by the halfway point of the
race. The lead three pulled away until the caution light flashed on with two
laps left for a Marty Passuello spin. In the final dash Eder pulled alongside
Eliason and even edged ahead on the final go-around, but Eliason nipped Eder
at the line for the exciting win. Rapp held strong to third, followed by Tom
Morinville and Jim Laessig.
Racing resumes on Saturday for Miller Lite Night at the Raceway. "Racenight
Live" will air from 5-6:30 pm Saturday on WJJH, 96.7 & 102.3 FM, with
raceday news and weather updates. The ABC Raceway is located three miles south
of Ashland on Highway 13, then one mile west on Butterworth Road. For more
information, visit the track website at www.abcraceway.com
or call (715) 682-4990 for raceday information.
Results
WISSOTA Modifieds
Heat 1: Scott Hudack, Ashland; Al Uotinen, Superior; Darrell Carlson,
Superior.
Heat 2: Bill Byholm, Glidden; Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Jerry Hartman,
Marenisco, MI.
Feature: Byholm; Hudack; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Uotinen; Yrjanainen; Hartman;
Ross Lightner, Washburn; Rick Przybylski, Ashland; Kelly Checkalski, Duluth,
MN; Mike Sauvola, Iron River.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Randy Spacek, Phillips; Al Uotinen, Superior; Ken Truscott, Greenland,
MI.
Heat 2: Rick Rivord, Superior; Wayne Stricker, Highbridge; Charlie Anderson,
Ironwood, MI.
Feature: Uotinen; Rivord; Truscott; Mike Duhr, Hazelhurst; Scott Lawrence,
Superior; Spacek; Ron Hmielewski, Washburn; Rick Simpson, Thunder Bay, ONT;
Shawn McFadden, Ashland; Don Koivisto, Saxon.
WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Roger Walker, Phillips; Randy Vezina, Duluth, MN; Richard Morrison,
Park Falls.
Heat 2: Larry Haderly, Marengo; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Tim Baum,
Superior.
Feature: Haderly; Baum; Vezina; Pete Paulus, Phillips; Rob Weber,Washburn; Joe
Wolfe, Ironwood, MI; Jordan Kurtti, Bruce Crossing, MI; Clay Passuello,
Ironwood, MI; Bill Muhlig, Ironwood, MI; Cory Casari, Hurley.
Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Ron Swanson, Ashland; Pat Cook, Washburn.
Heat 2: Shawn McFadden, Jr., Ashland; Dale Coddington, Hayward; Nick
Oreskovich, Mason.
Heat 3: Don Weber, Bayfield; Chuck Hawkinson, Mellen; Chris Lustig, Ashland.
Semi-Feature: Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Brian Nevala, Ashland; Shawn McFadden,
Ashland.
Feature: Cook; Hawkinson; Coddington; Jaeger; Steve Walston, Marengo; Steve
Stuart, Ashland; Steve Tesch, Prentice; Tyykila; Lustig; Mike McKay,
Highbridge.
Pure Stocks
Heat 1: Kevin Truchon, Ashland; Jim Laessig, Wakefield, MI; Bridgett Pagels,
Ashland.
Heat 2: Chad Carlson, Superior; Tom Morinville, Duluth, MN; Al Rapp, Duluth,
MN.
Feature: James Eliason, Ashland; Kevin Eder, Ashland; Rapp; Morinville;
Laessig; Don Bush, Washburn; Bruce Kalmon, Ashland; Marty Passuello, Ironwood,
MI; Pagels; Michael Huff, Hurley.
ABC Raceway Points as of May 21
WISSOTA Modifieds
1 4 - Bill Byholm
56
2 00 - Scott Hudack
54
3 98 - Al Uotinen
51
4 84 - Dean Yrjanainen
50
5 21 - Jerry
Hartman 48
6 22 - Jeff Spacek
47
7 37jr - Ross Lightner
46
8 P1 - Rick Przybylski
45
9 64h - Kelly Checkalski
43
10 777 - Mike Sauvola
41
11 316 - Dan Sellung
40
12 76 - Steve Kieber
40
13 32 - Darrell
Carlson 19
WISSOTA Super Stocks
1 47 - Al Uotinen
56
2 95 - Rick Rivord
55
3 22t - Ken Truscott
52
4 22 - Randy Spacek
51
5 8m - Mike Duhr
49
6 77 - Scott
Lawrence 47
7 51 - Shawn
McFadden 45
8 55 - Ron Hmielewski
44
9 50 - Charlie
Anderson 43
10 70k - Rick
Simpson 42
11 02 - Rob
Erickson 40
12 66 - Todd Bonney
40
13 33 - Don Koivisto
40
14 12s - Wayne Stricker
38
15 80 - Greg Kuklinski
38
16 7L - Bryan Lund
37
17 9s - Ron Malecki
35
18 68x- Chuck
Schmidt 33
WISSOTA Street Stocks
1 3x - Larry Haderly
57
2 5r - Randy Vezina
53
3 7 - Tim Baum 53
4 5p - Pete Paulus
50
5 05r - Rob Weber
47
6 56w - Joe Wolfe
47
7 26 - Jordan Kurtti
46
8 5 - Roger Walker
45
9 90 - Steve
Anderson 45
10 04 - Clay Passuello
42
11 7m - Richard
Morrison 42
12 1m - Bill Muhlig
42
13 1 - Cory Casari
42
14 1x - Justin
Paulsen 40
15 76 - John Kallas
36
Six-Cylinders
32 - Pat Cook 55
22h - Chuck Hawkinson 54
66 - Greg Jaeger 53
73 - Dale Coddington 53
5w - Steve Walston 49
4x - Steve Stuart 47
11 - Chris Lustig 46
18 - Steve Tesch 46
5-1 - Ken Tyykila 44
51jr - Shawn McFadden, Jr. 43
30 - Mike McKay 42
72 - Scott Ovaska 42
24 - Andy Grymala 41
8 - Ron Swanson 41
70 - Mike Zasadni 39
21 - Nick Oreskovich 39
57 - Brandle Pupp 35
51 - Shawn McFadden 33
77 - Brian Nevala 32
4 - Don Weber 22
43 - Jim Anderson 19
33 - Ken Tody, Jr. 16
36 - Adam Jack 16
81 - Adam Traaholt 15
88 - Warren Beede 15
15x - Shane Roy 14
13 - Dan Mihalek 14
Pure Stocks
1 20 - Jim Eliason
53
2 26 - Tom Morinville
52
3 33r - Al Rapp 52
4 25 - Jim Laessig
51
5 22 - Kevin Eder
50
6 35 - Don Bush 48
7 34 - Bruce Kalmon
47
8 21 - Chad
Carlson 46
9 23b - Bridgett Pagels
46
10 85 - Marty Passuello
45
11 44h - Michael
Huff 41
12 17d - Nathan
Dees 39
13 24k - Kevin Truchon
39
14 9 - Brett Rondeau
37
15 106 - John Taitt
35
16 00 - Rob Ganson
35
17 30 - Dustin
Novak 35
18 45 - Willis
Rose 33
19 79 - Ricky
Davis 30
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