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Uotinen Sweeps In Mods, Supers At ABC
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, July 2 -- Al Uotinen was just having one of those kind of nights.
Uotinen, of Superior, won every race he entered - heats and features in both
the WISSOTA modified and super stock divisions - on Saturday night during the
ABC Racewayıs Kidsı Meet the Drivers Night presented by Little Caesarıs
Pizza, which also featured an appearance by the Minnesota-based Northern
Vintage Stockcar Racers club, in a show that saw a season-high 117 cars.
Uotinen trailed at a distance in third as Mike Duhr slipped ahead of Scott
Lawrence for the super stock feature lead, but by lap 4 Uotinen pulled
alongside Lawrence to wrestle second away, and by the halfway point he was
using the low groove to challenge Duhr. At the midpoint of the 20-lapper Scott
Weberıs spin brought out the first caution slowdown, and two laps after the
restart Uotinen slipped inside on Duhr and assumed the lead, and after one
more yellow flag for Rob Ericksonıs flat tire and spin on lap 14, Uotinen
pulled away to a comfortable win, his second of the season in the super at
Ashland. Duhr held off Lawrence for his best finish of the season here, while
fellow heat winners Ron Hmielewski and Ken Truscott completed the top five.
Uotinen, the defending track modified champ, then jumped into his familiar
blue mod and started in the same spot in that feature - inside on row 2. Again
he waited in third as Jeff Spacek swept around a surprisingly strong Kent
Baxter for the early lead. After a lap 5 spin by Ross Lightner, Uotinen and
Bill Byholm joined the battle up front, and Uotinen took second just before a
two-car spin on lap 7. From there Uotinen used the inside line again to take
the lead from Spacek and stayed there the rest of the way, despite Byholmıs
late threats, for his 20th career feature win at ABC and third of the season.
Spacek survived a near-disaster late in the run when he tried to go around a
slowing Dan Sellung, who was hoping to exit the track off turn 1. Spacek
dynamited the brakes as Sellung turned right into his path and spun backwards
into the water barrels protecting the edge of the turn 1 guardrail but
retained minimal damage. He restarted the race and swapped third with Dean
Yrjanainen before finishing fourth. Baxter completed the top five.
Veteran driver Duane Dunbar, who has raced sporadically over the past five
years, debuted a WISSOTA street stock a week ago and took it to victory lane
Saturday night for his 17th career Ashland win but first since July 1997.
Dunbar took the early lead from Pete Paulus at the drop of the green and led
the entire 15 laps, maintaining that lead through four restarts. Paulus
stayed withing striking distance but was unable to mount a challenge and
finished second, while the big story came when points leader and class
dominator Larry Haderly dropped from third with a failing car in the final
laps, scoring eighth in the final rundown for his first finish out of the top
five in a feature since August 2003. Cory Casari hung around the front most of
the race and took third, ahead of first-nighter Butch Kummer and Rob Weber.
Steve Stuart returned to the winnerıs circle after a frustrating last couple
of weeks for his second six-cylinder feature win this season. After a lap 1
caution for Chris Lustigıs spin, which collected five other cars, Stuart
swept around early race leader Andy Grymala on lap 2 and dominated from there,
overcoming three more yellow flags for the sixth win of his ABC Raceway
career. The rest of the field succumbed to Dale Coddington, who started tenth
but used an higher line to sweep his way to second, albeit too late to do
anything with Stuart, and pull into a tie for the points lead with Greg
Jaeger, who finished fifth. Don Weber finished a solid third, just in front of
Pat Cook.
Kevin Eder enjoyed his first-ever pure stock feature win so much last week
that he duplicated the feat this week, although this time it was much more
difficult. Chad Carlson held the early lead as Eder worked his way up his row
3 start, but by lap 6 Eder overtook Carlson for the lead with Kevin Truchon in
tow. With two laps remaining Truchon moved inside on Eder and was about to
take the lead away as the white flag was about to wave, but he slowed with a
flat tire and faded to a tenth-place finish, while Eder went the rest of the
way uncontested for the win. New points leader Jim Eliason moved up to second
at the final stripe, ahead of Carlson, Ricky Davis and Tom Morinville.
In the full-bodied vintage car feature Jeremy Young took his 1946 Plymouth
coupe to victory, while Gary Whippleıs 1937 Chevrolet was tops in the
super-mod feature win. Sixteen vintage racers performed for the fans.
Winners in the bike giveaways included Megan Pralles, Paul Brenpaulen, Emily
Brooks, Donald Jarvenpaa, Owen Ryskey and Mariah Westland.
The Raceway wishes to extend its thanks to Little Caesarıs Pizza, McFadden
Racing, Stuart Racing, Traaholt Racing, Americinn of Ashland, Spacek Racing,
Taitt Racing, Dees Racing and Cloverland Motors and Rentals for the many
giveaway items for the kids.
Racing resumes on Saturday (or whenever) for (event). ³Racenight Live² will
air from 5-6:30 pm Saturday (or whenever) 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: Al Uotinen, Superior; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Bill Byholm,
Glidden.
Heat 2: Dean Yrjanainen, Lake Nebagamon; Kent Baxter, Dorchester; Paul Niznik,
Medford.
Feature: Uotinen; Byholm; Yrjanainen; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Baxter; Scott
Hudack, Ashland; Hartman; Robby Bunkelman, Abbotsford; Ross Lightner,
Washburn; Rick Przybylski, Ashland.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Ken Truscott, Greenland, MI; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Wayne Stricker,
Highbridge.
Heat 2: Ron Hmielewski, Ashland; Greg Kuklenski, Ironwood, MI; Shawn McFadden,
Ashland.
Heat 3: Al Uotinen, Superior; Randy Spacek, Phillips; Mike Duhr, Hazelhurst.
Feature: Uotinen; Duhr; Lawrence; Hmielewski; Truscott; Spacek; Kuklenski;
Charlie Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Rick Rivord, Superior; McFadden.
WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1: Larry Haderly, Marengo; Steve Anderson, Ironwood, MI; Pete Paulus,
Phillips.
Heat 2: Roger Walker, Phillips; Butch Kummer, Medford; Mark Schuenemann,
Boulder Junction.
Feature: Duane Dunbar, Marenisco, MI; Paulus; Cory Casari, Hurley; Kummer; Rob
Weber, Bayfield; Walker; Schuenemann; Haderly; Anderson; Clay Passuello,
Ironwood, MI.
Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Pat Cook, Washburn; Steve Tesch, Prentice; Don Weber, Bayfield.
Heat 2: Andy Grymala, Superior; Ken Tyykila, Iron River; Brent Brevak,
Ashland.
Heat 3: Dale Coddington, Hayward; Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Chris Lustig, Ashland.
Semi-Feature: Brian Nevala, Ashland; Adam Jack, Washburn; Brandle Pupp,
Ashland.
Feature: Steve Stuart, Ashland; Coddington; Weber; Cook; Jaeger; Tesch; Chuck
Hawkinson, Mellen; Tyykila; Dan Mihalek, Ashland; Steve Walston, Marengo.
Pure Stocks
Heat 1: Jim Eliason, Ashland; Kevin Truchon, Ashland; Kevin Eder, Ashland.
Heat 2: Tom Morinville, Duluth, MN; Ricky Davis, Bruno, MN; Chad Carlson,
Superior.
Feature: Eder; Eliason; Carlson; Davis; Morinville; Scott Niemi, Bessemer, MI;
Jim Laessig, Wakefield, MI; Bruce Kalmon, Ashland; Nathan Dees, Ironwood, MI;
Truchon.
Northern Vintage Stock Cars
Heat 1: Mike Emerson, New Richmond; Tom Stettner, Newport, MN; Marv Lindquist,
Minore.
Heat 2: Greg Manor, Chippewa Falls; George Shields, Cameron; Gary Whipple,
Crosby, MN.
Feature 1: Jeremy Young, Cameron; Stettner; Emerson; Lindquist; Mike Liegman,
Randolph, MN; Lonnie Grottjahn, Nelson; Dan Herold, Nelson; John Timmerman,
New Richmond; Bob Root, Washburn.
Feature 2: Whipple; Rick Lipinski, New Richmond; Shields; Manor; Rick Birkland,
St. Cloud, MN; Kevin Lipski, New Richmond.
Points as of 7/2:
WISSOTA Modifieds
1 84 - Dean Yrjanainen
211
2 98 - Al Uotinen
210
3 22 - Jeff Spacek
205
4 4 - Bill Byholm
200
5 21 - Jerry
Hartman 196
6 00 - Scott Hudack
193
7 37jr - Ross Lightner
172
8 64h - Kelly Checkalski
149
9 777 - Mike Sauvola
142
10 316 - Dan Sellung
139
11 P1 - Rick Przybylski
131
12 32 - Darrell
Carlson 119
13 76 - Steve Kieber
111
14 42 - Paul Niznik
91
15 95x - Kent
Baxter 90
16 00 - Robby Bunkelman
86
17 22B - Mark
Baxter 79
18 10 - John Frydrich
76
19 44 - Darrell
Nelson 54
20 43 - Luke
Schilling 50
21 22 - Don Copp
49
22 3d - Kevin Monteith
45
23 75L - Clint
Larson 44
24 40 - Jad
Carlson 40
25 24 - Jeff Lien
37
26 11 - Jody Bellefeuille
37
27 35 - David
Baxter 34
28 7 - Steve Surprenant
31
WISSOTA Super Stocks
1 22 - Randy Spacek
266
2 22t - Ken Truscott
253
3 77 - Scott
Lawrence 240
4 8m - Mike Duhr
233
5 51 - Shawn
McFadden 233
6 50 - Charlie
Anderson 229
7 12s - Wayne Stricker
225
8 80 - Greg Kuklenski
220
9 95 - Rick Rivord
217
10 66 - Todd Bonney
209
11 47 - Al Uotinen
199
12 33 - Don Koivisto
192
13 55 - Ron Hmielewski
182
14 02 - Rob
Erickson 160
15 4x - Dave
Elliott 144
16 7 - Bryan Lund
142
17 9s - Ron Malecki
142
18 68x- Chuck
Schmidt 131
19 81 - Doug Woodhull,
Jr. 115
20 24 - Chuck
Metzger 105
21 70k - Rick
Simpson 94
22 90 - Destin Lorimor
82
23 13 - Scott
Weber 59
24 10m - Gordy
Maki 59
25 2x - Randy Silverness,
Jr. 52
26 1L - Donnie Lofdahl
48
27 10m - Chris
Martens 46
28 23 - Kyle Peterlin
46
29 5x - Joe Oliver
44
30 29 - Dave Flynn
37
31 23e - Terry Kroening
36
32 54 - Dan Yrjanson
36
33 43 - Adam Long
35
34 3 - Jake Hiatt
34
35 29 - Joe Olson
32
WISSOTA Street Stocks
1 3x - Larry Haderly
213
2 90 - Steve
Anderson 198
3 1 - Cory Casari
193
4 7 - Tim Baum 188
5 05r - Rob Weber
183
6 04 - Clay Passuello
166
7 1m - Bill Muhlig
163
8 56w - Joe Wolfe
158
9 26 - Jordan Kurtti
153
10 1x - Justin
Paulsen 152
11 5p - Pete Paulus
147
12 5 - Roger
Walker 145
13 5r - Randy Vezina
106
14 11 - Duane
Dunbar 97
15 87 - Trevor
Wilson 96
16 68 - Dan
Kingsley 93
17 7m - Richard
Morrison 81
18 55 - John Fetzer
76
19 21 - Brian Fulda
76
20 44 - Jared Loos
56
21 24 - Butch Kummer
52
22 96 - Mark Schuenemann
48
23 7m - Kirk Bogdonovic
48
24 2 - Kory Jolliff
41
25 76 - John Kallas
35
26 14 - Tim Carbon
35
27 16 - Chris Schloer
19
28 23 - Joe Pajtash
12
Six-Cylinders
1 73 - Dale Coddington
264
2 66 - Greg Jaeger
264
3 4x - Steve
Stuart 260
4 22h - Chuck Hawkinson
246
5 32 - Pat Cook
241
6 5w - Steve Walston
240
7 18 - Steve Tesch
239
8 11 - Chris Lustig
223
9 5-1 - Ken Tyykila
222
10 24 - Andy Grymala
210
11 72 - Scott Ovaska
210
12 21 - Nick Oreskovich
187
13 70 - Mike Zasadni
187
14 4 - Don Weber
180
15 30 - Mike McKay
179
16 51jr - Shawn McFadden,
Jr. 163
17 77 - Brian Nevala
152
18 13 - Dan Mihalek
149
19 57 - Brandle Pupp
145
20 36 - Adam Jack
134
21 31 - Brent Brevak
134
22 81 - Adam Traaholt
133
23 88 - Warren Beede
133
24 33 - Ken Tody,
Jr. 93
25 26 - Tim Beeksma
88
26 15x - Shane Roy
72
27 8 - Ron Swanson
41
28 88 - Brian Mikkonen
38
29 51 - Shawn
McFadden 33
30 43 - Jim
Anderson 19
31 01 - Derek
McKay 15
Pure Stocks
1 20 - Jim Eliason
260
2 24k - Kevin Truchon
250
3 33r - Al Rapp/Dick
Bridge 246
4 22 - Kevin Eder
245
5 26 - Tom Morinville
243
6 34 - Bruce Kalmon
242
7 79 - Ricky Davis
228
8 21 - Chad
Carlson 228
9 35 - Don Bush
209
10 85 - Marty Passuello
193
11 00 - Rob Ganson
192
12 23b - Bridgett Pagels
191
13 106 - John Taitt
186
14 25 - Jim Laessig
182
15 17d - Nathan
Dees 170
16 45 - B Rose/S Stuart/B
Bristow 170
17 9 - Brett Rondeau
163
18 23 - Scott Niemi
159
19 30 - Dustin
Novak 142
20 44h - Michael Huff/John Kallas
112
21 1 - Cory Casari
56
22 38d - Glenn Dammer
49
23 7 - Steve Kresal
37
24 00 - Shane Klergard
30
ABC 7/2
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