10/6/2018
Weiss, Estey, Gullikson, Bahr are First-Time Red Clay Classic Winners
Ashland, WI, September 29 -- For the first time since 2010, all four of Saturday’s feature winners during the 43rd annual Red Clay Classic at the ABC Raceway were first-time champions.
An event-record purse offering in excess of $100,000, plus additional contingencies and bonuses totaling over $6,000, drew 216 entries to compete in front of full-house crowds during both Friday’s heat race action and Saturday’s final qualifying rounds and features, despite brisk temperatures dipping into the low 40s by the end of each program.
First-time visitor Ricky Weiss of Headingly, MB, ran away to his third WISSOTA Late Model feature win in nine days - and in three different states - and took home the largest check ever awarded to a race winner at ABC, when his $5,000 payday for winning the 50-lap headline event grew by another $375 in bonuses. Other winners on Saturday included Kelly Estey of Kelly Lake, MN, in the WISSOTA Modifieds, Dan Gullikson of Roberts in the WISSOTA Super Stocks, and Tony Bahr of Haugen in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds.
Weiss, who is in the midst of a heated battle for WISSOTA’s national Late Model points championship, started on the pole by virtue of a redraw prior to Saturday’s action, and he immediately took advantage of his good fortune, blazing to a lead of over 1.5 seconds within just four laps on the smooth, sticky red-clay oval. Fellow front-row starter Travis Budisalovich spent his early laps fending off insistent challenges from 2010 RCC champ Kyle Peterlin, while a dogfight for fourth among Chad Mahder, Pat Doar, Darrell Nelson and Lance Matthees ensued behind them.
Weiss found himself catching backmarkers by lap 9, and he exercised patience until an opening presented itself to get by Jeff Massingill and Denny Cutsforth, who were jostling for position. Once clear of those two, Weiss went back to the uppermost groove of the three-eighths-mile oval and again drew away from the battle for second, which Peterlin won with an inside move on Budisalovich on lap 21.
The first of only two caution flags in the event came about on lap 23, when Massingill’s car ground to a stop short of the turn 1 pit exit, erasing Weiss’ 5.21-second lead. But the leader shot away again under green and was out front by just shy of two full seconds again within just five laps.
With 18 laps remaining Weiss again took up the challenge of weaving through slower traffic, but this time Budisalovich, who had regained second soon after the restart, stayed within just 1.4 seconds of the leader. Ninth-starting Jimmy Mars grabbed third from Peterlin as well, with defending race champ AJ Diemel taking fourth a few laps later, before Rick Hanestad’s slowing racer triggered the final yellow flag of the night on lap 36.
Mars threatened Weiss with an inside move immediately upon the final restart, but Weiss was equal to the task and promptly drove away, eventually extending his lead to well over two seconds before taking his first-ever checkered flag at ABC a full 1.929 seconds ahead of Budisalovich, Mars, Diemel and Peterlin. Eleventh-starting Marshall Fegers climbed to sixth in the final rundown, ahead of Jesse Glenz, Doar, Mahder and Nelson in the second five.
“The car has been amazing all year,” Weiss told the capacity crowd from Victory Lane afterwards. “I wasn’t sure what the track was going to do (after the last restart), but I hit my marks.
“Now we have a special trip home,” he added, referring to the eight-plus-hour journey back to Manitoba. Weiss is the first Canadian-resident Red Clay Classic winner since Hall of Fame driver Tom Nesbitt won his fifth RCC Late Model feature in 1991, and only the third Canadian to ever win a Late Model feature at the Classic (Nesbitt, Joel Cryderman).
Kevin Eder started on the pole of the 35-lap Modified A-main and, as Weiss would do later, sprinted off to a huge early advantage. Eder, the Raceway’s 2018 points champion who joined Robby Bunkelman (2005) as just the second driver to successfully qualify for three Red Clay Classic features in one weekend, drew to a 1.55-second lead over the first ten laps, while second-running Bob Broking led a tight-knit pack of cars that included Mike Anderson, Estey, Dave Cain, Jody Bellefeuille and Steve Lavasseur.
he long 20-lap green-flag run to start the race allowed Eder to maintain a comfortable advantage by circling the track along the outer groove, but it also gave Estey the chance to work the lower line to get by Anderson for third on lap 12 and then catch and eventually pass Broking with another low-side move two laps later. Cain also used the stretch to follow Estey’s move past Broking on lap 17, as Eder extended his lead to well over two seconds.
With 15 laps to go, Johnny Broking looped his ride after a tangle with one of the turn 4 infield marker tires, bringing about the only caution flag of the event. The restart doomed Eder’s chances of a win, as Estey quickly made an inside-line pass work and sped away to a huge lead. With less than ten laps remaining Cain got by Eder for second, and Bellefeuille was right behind to take third, and that pair raced together for several laps practically side-by-side while trying to reel in Estey, whose lead was nearly two full seconds with seven laps left.
Bellefeuille worked outside and edged past Cain in the late stages, and both drivers cut the distance to Estey, but only slightly, as Estey held a .824-second margin on Bellefeuille at the checkered. Cain, Anderson and Eder completed the top five, while 21st-starting Jeremy Nelson, Shane Sabraski, 19th-starting Mars, Lavasseur and 17th-starting Darrell Nelson completed the top ten.
Estey joined his son, 2010 Midwest Mod champ Skeeter Estey, as the second father-son combo to win Red Clay Classic titles. (Jerry Redetzke and his son Jake are the other RCC-winning father-son duo.) Skeeter, who has all but wrapped up his second-straight Midwest Modified national title, was away spending some time with his son, explained the senior Estey, “so I put Skeeter’s racing shoes on, and they worked!” Kelly’s $4,100 payday is a Raceway-record for Modifieds.
The 30-lap Super Stock feature provided more than its share of excitement and drama, as first Gullikson had the lead, then he lost it, then he got it back again, then lost it again, and - several minutes after the race was completed - he got it back for good.
After a Patrick Beeksma spin on the initial start, Dave Flynn shot from his outside-front-row starting spot to win the early advantage over polestarter Jeff Klopstein. Three-time RCC winner Rich Bishop raced hard for second with Klopstein, along with another former Classic champ, Shane Kisling.
Gullikson, with three-time defending ABC Raceway Super Stock points champ Nick Oreskovich in his tire tracks, charged hard toward the front after the pair started side-by-side in row 3. Gullikson edged past Bishop for third just before a lap 5 caution stoppage for debris, and after backmarkers Matt Deragon and Josh Zimpel spun together as the green flag came back out, Gullikson went after Flynn with an outside move to take the lead on lap 7.
The next 21 laps clicked off without interruption, and Gullikson had built up a lead of nearly a full second by lap 19, but 15th-starting Tommy Richards also used the long green-flag run to pick off positions in a quick climb to the front, hugging the bottom lane of the track. On lap 20 Richards was already within striking distance of the leader, and within the next circuit the 2016 RCC winner had grabbed the point.
Richards pushed away to an enormous 2.33-second cushion, but disaster struck when he tagged the tail-end of backmarker Brian Mikkonen’s racer, which spun in turn 4 with just four laps remaining. Richards was penalized to the back of the pack for the incident but opted to pull off the track instead, giving the lead back to Gullikson for the restart. Sabraski, who had started the feature 18th, had made his way to second place in the running order by the time of the restart, and within two laps after going back to green Sabraski was diving low to move by Gullikson for the lead.
Sabraski paced the remaining laps for a half-second winning margin, with Gullikson, 20th-starting Kevin Burdick, Oreskovich and 16th-starting Dave Mass in tow. Later, while Sabraski was battling in the Modified feature, it was announced that his Super Stock failed its post-race technical inspection due to an incorrectly-sized wheel spacer. The disqualification gave first place back to Gullikson and moved Flynn into the top five, while Tristan LaBarge, Klopstein, Kisling, Eder and DJ Keeler completed the second five. Gullikson took home $3,225 in prize money and contingencies.
Bahr made short work out of his fellow Midwest Modified competitors, as he led every one of the 25 laps for a $1,725 win. Bahr started alongside Calvin Iverson on the second row, and after the very first corner the pair overtook polestarter and 2018 ABC Mid-Mod champ Paul Suzik for the top two spots, with Bahr holding the advantage.
Defending and two-time RCC winner Michael Truscott grabbed second from Iverson just before Scott McKinnon and David Baxter tangled on lap 3. The restart was delayed due to a Brandon Copp-Gunner Peterson get-together, but over the next 16 non-stop laps Bahr held court, growing his lead to over four seconds.
After the latter restart, Truscott’s bobble in turn 4 allowed Iverson to retake second, and Dan Kingsley swooped low to begin a duel with Suzik for third, which he won on lap 6. But Truscott quickly recovered and displaced Kingsley three laps later.
Sixteenth-starting Eder moved up through the ranks to become Kingsley’s primary challenger for fourth, while two-time RCC winner Shane Halopka picked his way from his 19th-place starting spot to join that fight by lap 12. Bahr was into slower traffic by lap 17 but increased his margin while slicing his way through, until Colin Chaschuk’s spin with six laps remaining eliminated Bahr’s four-second advantage, although it also took him away from tail-of-the-field traffic.
Bahr spent the final laps rebuilding his lead to a final winning margin of 1.287 seconds, over Iverson, Truscott, Eder and the 14th-starting Kingsley. Young Canadian hotshoe David Simpson clawed his way from dead last on the 24-car starting grid to finish sixth, ahead of Halopka, 23rd-starting Austin Ellis, Suzik and 21st-starting David Baxter.
“I just didn’t know which way to go (high side or low) on the last restart,” Bahr stated in Victory Lane afterwards, knowing he had Iverson and Truscott ready to pounce. “It just happened that it worked out.”
Northern Clearing Inc of Ashland awarded $125 bonuses to the drivers posting the fastest-timed laps in each feature. Weiss (Late Models; 15.796 seconds, 85.464 mph average), Eder (Mods; 16.853, 80.104), Gullikson (Supers; 17.196, 78.506), and Bahr (Mid-Mods; 17.013, 79.351) each padded their winnings with this bonus.
Clint Larson Trucking of Duluth, MN, paid out $125 “hard-charger” bonuses to the drivers who advanced the furthest from their original scheduled starting position in each feature. In the Late Model main, John Kaanta climbed from 21st to 13th to earn the bonus, while Jeremy Nelson’s 21st-to-sixth drive in the Mods was good enough to take that prize.
Also earning “hard charger” bonuses were Burdick in the Supers (20th to second) and Simpson in the Mid-Mods (24th to sixth).
GA Dalbeck Trucking of Wakefield, MI, paid out $150 bonuses to the top-finishing rookies in the Late Model and Midwest Mod features, and Brian Olby Trucking of Ashland matched those bonuses for the Modifieds and Super Stocks. Weiss (Late Models), Jeremy Nelson (Mods), Mass (Supers) and Ellis (Mid-Mods) claimed those awards.
Lakes Gas Company of Stone Lake provided a case of racing motor oil to each feature winner and posted bonuses to drivers who scored select finishing positions in each feature. James Giossi (12th) and Nick Anvelink (17th) grabbed the bonuses from the Late Model feature, while Bob Broking (14th) and Adam Ayotte (20th) cashed in from the Mod main.
In the Supers the extra monies went to Willie Johnsen Jr (15th) and Terran Spacek (21st), and from the Midwest Mod feature the cash went to Mark Thomas (13th) and Chaschuk (16th).
Kleen Air Heating & Cooling of Washburn offered a $100 “Kleen Sweep” bonus to each driver that was able to win both their qualifying race and the feature in their respective divisions. Weiss, Estey, Gullikson and Bahr each cashed in on that offer.
Dirt Race Central, which provided a pay-per-view webcast for folks not able to attend the event, presented a $300 “long-haul” bonus to Modified driver Troy Girolamo, who towed 665 miles from his home in Willston, ND, to compete in this year’s event.
Champ Pans of Eau Claire and SSR Race Cars of Spring Valley paired up to provide commemorative t-shirts to each of Friday’s heat winners.
The Neighborly Bar of Ashland once again offered a “Bridesmaid’s Challenge” to the second-place finishers in each of the four features on Saturday. Fans, racers and local businesses contributed to a total fund of $3,200, which was split equally among the four runners-up if they each agreed to wear formal gowns during their post-race interviews and photos in Victory Lane.
Budisalovich, Bellefeuille, Gullikson (before learning of Sabraski’s infraction) and Iverson all happily participated and, much to the delight of the capacity crowd on hand, added a new tradition to the fun by tossing bouquets into the crowd from the flagstand after their interviews.
The driver list for the weekend represented five states and two Canadian provinces, and included 30 Late Models, 57 Modifieds, 57 Super Stocks and an event-record-tying 72 Mid-Mods. The Raceway’s track preparation crew gallantly fought intermittent showers throughout the day on Friday and turned a potentially soupy mess into a lightning-fast, multi-lane race track on both nights.
The Ashland-Bayfield County Racing Association expresses its appreciation to the many individuals, organizations and businesses who donated the time, materials and resources that made this year’s Red Clay Classic another huge success. The ABC Raceway’s annual awards banquet will be held in January 2018; information will soon be made available on the Raceway’s website, www.abcraceway.com.
Article Credit: Nick Gima
