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Thatcher Dominates Before Rains Shorten ABC Mod Triple-Header
by Nick Gima
Ashland, WI, June 17 -- Craig Thatcher showed his hand early at the ABC
Raceway’s fifth annual Modified Triple Header, sweeping around Jeff Spacek
and winning his heat race.
Thatcher then used an inside move on Bill Byholm on lap 7 in the first of
three scheduled WISSOTA modified features and pulled away to a dominant win
Saturday, just before threatening skies finally opened up and a downpour
washed out the event, presented by the Bad River Lodge & Casino of Odanah.
The remaining two mod A-mains are scheduled to be run on Saturday, August 5.
Byholm beat polesitter Jerry Hartman out of corner 2 on the opening lap of the
15-lap mod main and stretched his lead to several car-lengths over the first
four laps, until a Jason Zdroik spin brought out the race’s only caution
slowdown.
Thatcher, who started the event outside on row 4, restarted fourth and quickly
moved past Paul Knauf into third after the restart. A lap later Thatcher used
another inside move to take over the runner-up position from Hartman, and he
made the winning pass on the following circuit.
From there Thatcher was uncatchable, although behind him some three-wide
racing shuffled the frontrunners. On lap 12 Brent Larson displaced Byholm in
second, and Knauf moved up to third soon thereafter. In the final rundown
Jason Miller followed the fourth-finishing Byholm at the stripe.
Thatcher’s seven career feature wins at the ABC Raceway have only come
during the Mod Triple Header (four) and the Red Clay Classic (three).
Other mod heat winners included Miller, Paul Niznik and Knauf.
WISSOTA super stocks and the track’s six-cylinders were also on the
night’s program, but as the sixes were about to start their feature event
the skies opened up and washed out the remainder of the program. Any decision
to reschedule the support divisions’ main events will be announced later
this week.
Super stock heat wins went to Peter Jokinen, Wayne Stricker and Randy Spacek.
Ron Swanson and Scott Ovaska collected wins in the six-cylinder preliminaries.
A total of 73 cars were on hand, including 30 mods.
Stock car racing action at the 3/8th-mile red clay oval continues on Saturday,
June 24, with a full five-division program presented by the area’s NAPA Auto
Parts stores. Hot laps will begin at 6:15 pm and the first green flag will
drop at 7.
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, .
“Racenight Live” will air Saturday on WJJH, 96.7 & 102.3 FM, with
up-to-date track news and weather information.
Results
WISSOTA Modifieds
Heat 1: Jason Miller, Duluth, MN; Brent Larson, Lake Elmo, MN; Luke
Schilling, Granton.
Heat 2: Paul Niznik, Medford; Bill Byholm, Glidden; Mike Anderson,
Colfax.
Heat 3: Paul Knauf, Marshfield; Jerry Hartman, Marenisco, MI; Steve
Lavasseur, River Falls.
Heat 4: Craig Thatcher, Knapp; Jeff Spacek, Phillips; Al Uotinen,
Superior.
Semi-Feature: Kevin Monteith, Thunder Bay, ON; Kent Baxter, Dorchester;
Kelly Checkalski, Duluth, MN.
Feature 1: Thatcher; Larson; Knauf; Byholm; Miller; Hartman; Don Copp,
Brule; Anderson; Scott Hudack, Ashland; Schilling.
Feature 2 & 3: postponed; to be run August 4.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: Peter Jokinen, Mellen; Scott Lawrence, Superior; Larry Haderly,
Marengo.
Heat 2: Wayne Stricker, Mellen; Paul Erikson, Abbotsford; Mike Duhr,
Hazelhurst.
Heat 3: Randy Spacek, Phillips; Brian Mikkonen, Iron River; Ron
Hmielewski, Washburn.
Feature: postponed.
Six-Cylinders
Heat 1: Ron Swanson, Ashland; Steve Stuart, Ashland; Kevin Eder,
Ashland.
Heat 2: Scott Ovaska, Marengo; Greg Jaeger, Mellen; Chuck Hawkinson,
Mellen.
Feature: postponed.
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