Proctor Speedway Kicks Off 2011 Racing Season

Click Here For The Complete May 15 Proctor Speedway Results

May 15

By Jerry O’Brien

PROCTOR – The Proctor Speedway hit the ground racing as the 2011 season opened under sunny skies and cool temperatures. A good crowd witnessed a fast paced program that saw the last checkered flag of the evening fly a few minutes before nine p.m. 83 cars in five divisions were on hand for the inaugural event of the season.

Qualifying heat races were run off quickly with Proctor’s Scott Herrick winning the first WISSOTA Midwest Modified heat and Skeeter Estey of Kelly Lake winning the second. Estey’s father Kelly won the first WISSOTA Modified heat and Darrell Nelson of Hermantown, MN won the second. Three Proctor Pure Stock heats were on tap with Keith Koski of Chisholm, Mark Korte of Duluth and Josh Loucks of Carlton taking the wins. Scott Lawrence of Superior and Hibbing’s Kevin Burdick topped the WISSOTA Super Stock heats.

After the qualifying heats were recorded it was time to roll out the feature events. First up were the Midwest Modifieds for their 20 lap go ‘round. Dan Kingsley shot to the early lead from the pole followed through by Don Smith and third year driver Travis Nye. Behind the front three Glen Dammer, Skeeter Estey and Scott Herrick battled for fourth sometimes going three wide on the racy track.

The first of five caution flags flew for a breakdown in turn four by the B1 of Brian Youderin. At the restart Kingsley again got the jump on the field but was hounded by Nye who grabbed the point. Kingsley, Herrick, Smith and Estey continued to run in the top five in the early going. The second caution flag was for the #99 of Neil Balduc. At the green Nye led but Estey made a charge and battled with Herrick for the second spot while Kingsley dropped to fourth place.

A quick caution for debris on the backstretch slowed the action and when racing resumed, Nye tried to hold off the relentless Estey but could not as the #37 slipped by into the lead. Nye was the overwhelmed by the pack and slipped back to fifth with seven laps in the books as he was in a skirmish for position with Kingsley, Deven Van House and Dammer.

The final pair of caution flags came at the expense of Jeff Lien, Jr. After the first of them, Estey was fast on the gas and got the jump on Herrick while Smith and Nye battled for third. Lien brought out the final caution and was sent to the pits for causing two caution periods. Estey maintained the lead on the restart and went on to win his first of the season over Herrick. Nye finished third ahead of Smith and Van House in the top five.

The next main event to roll out onto the speedway was a 25 lap affair for the WISSOTA Late Models. Outside pole sitter Harry Hanson got the hole shot on the field with pole sitter Cory Jorgensen sliding into second. Darin Meierotto bolted from his third row starting slot to run third as the first caution flag flew when Dustin Lunde slid over the edge with two circuits down.

At the green flag Hanson retained the lead hounded by Meierotto and Jorgensen. Kevin Carlson sneaked into fourth spot past Aaron Lillo as Meierotto took over the lead from Hanson. Jorgensen and Carlson ran just ahead of Darrell Nelson in a battle for third which Carlson took over. Carlson fell into a skirmish with Nelson and held him off for a couple of laps but eventually Nelson got by.

While all this was going on Meierotto was in control of the race at the half way point, nearly a straight away ahead of Hanson who soon fell to Nelson. Nelson set out to track down Meierotto as Kyle Peterlin who had started eighth tried to wrest fourth away from Carlson. With four laps remaining Nelson was closing in on Meierotto but was unable to catch him. Meierotto won his first feature in a Late Model at the Proctor Speedway over Nelson, Hanson, Peterlin and Carlson.

The WISSOTA Super Stock feature was set for 20 laps with Andy Davey and Jeff Tardy sharing the front row. Tardy jumped from the outside to the lead while Scott Lawrence drove from the outside of the second row to second ahead of Zach Wohlers and Kevin Burdick who passed Davey into fourth. Mike Bellefeuille drove from the tenth starting spot to take fourth from Burdick. Wohlers got past Lawrence and set his sights on Tardy.

Without a caution flag to this point half way was quickly reached. The running order was Tardy, Wohlers, Lawrence, Bellefeuille, Burdick, Davey, Nick Oreskovich, Donnie Lofdahl, Willie Johnsen and Jay Kuras in the top ten. Wohlers closed within two car lengths of Tardy. At the same time Bellefeuille closed on Lawrence for third. It became a dandy race for the win as Wohlers was able to draw alongside Tardy for the lead as the laps ticked off. Tardy ran the low side while Wholers was running on the top shelf. The only caution flag appeared near the end but did not figure into the finish as Tardy was able to hold off Wohlers for the win. Bellefeuille, Lawrence and Burdick rounded out the top five.

Jody Bellefeuille and Nick Lavato led the WISSOTA Modifieds to the green flag for their turn at 20 laps around the three eighths Proctor oval. Shaun Perpruner brought out the caution flag before a lap could be completed as he slid off turn three. Bellefeuille took the point on the resulting restart and quickly pulled away from the scramble behind him. Darrell Nelson raced into second from his fifth starting spot but had to watch out from a flying Kelly Estey. Jeff Wood was fourth and the battle was for fifth between Jayme Lautigar and Ryan Aho.

At the ten lap halfway mark, Bellefeuille was held up by the lapped car of Perpruner allowing Estey to reel him in. The lead duo came upon a pair of back markers who were locked in their own battle for position oblivious to the fact that they were blocking the lead battle. Before the lapped cars finally saw the move over flag, Nelson had joined in the lead battle. Bellefeuille finally broke free and was able to hold off Estey by about a half car length for the win. Nelson, Wood and Lautigar rounded out the final top five order.

Former Proctor Pure Stock champion Josh Loucks scored the sweep winning his heat and the 15 lap feature to cap the 2011 Proctor Speedway opening night. Loucks started the feature on the pole next to Keith Koski and drove to the early lead, ahead of Mark Korte, Koski, Austin Blom and Andy Udeen. Loucks was able to pull out a lead as Korte, Koski and Blom raced three wide for second place. No caution flags flew in the early part of the event and the midpoint was quickly reached with Loucks leading Korte, Blom, Koski and Esten Nelson in the top five.

It appeared as though the race would go flag to flag with Loucks leading from the pole all the way to the checkered flag; but rookie driver Jon Hammitt took a spin on the bottom of turn four on the white flag lap. Loucks was able to hold on for the win, but just barely as Austin Blom worked the outside groove to almost steal the win. It was Loucks, Blom, Korte, Nelson and Koski in the top five. Udeen, Ed Dammer, Follett, Tody and Matt Deragon finished in the top five.

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