Harry Hanson Wins Late Model Feature At Proctor

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June 3, 2012

By Jerry O’Brien

Despite afternoon sprinkles and a short in the lights on the north end of the speedway, officials of the Proctor Speedway persevered and completed the program with the final checkered flag falling around 9 p.m. For the Pure Stock drivers there was just enough light to complete their feature.

Harry Hanson used his pole position to maximum advantage as he got the jump,on Todd Frank. Frank went straight off the first turn and did some agricultural racing before regaining the racing surface in turn two. The only caution flag of the event came early when Terry Lillo, Aaron Lillo, Joey Ogston and Scott Herrick stacked up in the first turn.

Hanson kept his lead at the restart followed by Kyle Peterlin, Tim McMann and Don Copp. Hanson drew away to a huge lead but Peterlin began to chip away at it as the 25 lap feature continued under green. At the half way point Hanson’s lead over Peterlin had diminished to a couple of car lengths with Copp and McMann trailing. Aaron Lillo was alone in fifth with quite a distance over Ogston, Herrick and Terry Lillo.

It began to be a bit more interesting up front as Peterlin moved to the top groove as Hanson hugged the bottom. Peterlin tried to close up and make a run even diving to the bottom forcing Hanson to the top but to no avail as Hanson was in control and took the win. Terry Lillo got by Herrick and Ogston in the waning laps to finish sixth behind son Aaron.

Kelly Estey showed he’s still the master when it comes to the Proctor Speedway as he battled Ryan Aho and Jeff Wood for the lead early in the WISSOTA Modified feature. Darrell Nelson was on the gas and moved up to fourth from the seventh starting spot. The caution for Nikki Wrazidlo’s spin in turn one brought the protagonists back together.

On the restart held the point over Wood, Aho and Jody Bellefeuille with Nelson slipping to fifth. A green flag run let Estey pull out to a big lead as Bellefeuille took second. Aho clipped Wood and they both spun in turn one. Aho was charged and went to the back. There were still a dozen laps of the 20 scheduled to go at this point.

Estey could not be caught on the restart as Nelson and Wood battled for third. Nelson took third and then got by Belleufille into second but was unable to get close enough to Estey to make a bid for the win. Aho charged up form the back past Bellefeuille into third while Wood fell back to fifth at the checkered flag.

At the start of the 20 lap WISSOTA Super Stock feature pole sitter Al Rapp spun in turn one ans Scott Lawrence also spun to avoid him. The restart saw Rapp sent to the rear and Mike Bellefeuille moved to the pole and the lead at the green. Lawrence was on the move and soon moved into the second spot. Lawrence closed in on Bellefeuille and looked for a way by. He soon found that the outside was his cup of tea and made the pass off turn four for the lead. Once out front he began to put some distance on Bellefeuille and took the win. Bellefeuille, Kevin Salin, Rapp and Pat Heikkinen finished in the top five. It was the third feature win for Lawrence in three days on the weekend.

It was 20 laps for the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and Deven Van House took the lead from the pole and never gave it up despite a trio of caution flags that never let him get completely away from the pack. First Guy Gaskill came to a halt just off the pit entrance road with a missing wheel. At the green Van House moved to a four car length lead as there was a lot of bumping and banging mid pack though no one spun or crashed. Van House was chased by Neil Balduc, Mack Estey, Jeff Lien, Jr and Loren Inman.

Lien spun in turn four bringing out the caution but maintained his place at the restart. Van House, Balduc and Lien pulled away from a pack of cars and George Dalbeck popped out of that pack and got by Lien into third. Another caution flag appeared just at the half way mark and the top three remained the same at the green flag but Dan Kingsley was in fourth after starting 11th. Dalbeck moved into second and nothing changed in the top five the rest of the way with Van House winning his third feature of the young season. Dalbeck, Balduc, Kingsley and Lien rounded out the top five.

Last year’s track champion Josh Loucks grabbed the lead in the 15 lap Pure Stock feature at the outset and fought off Eric Anderson who had qualified for the feature by winning the B Feature. Craig Horak, the latest to try a station wagon in the Pure Stock ranks got by Justin Madsen and Steve Udeen in the late going to finish third.

A couple of caution flags could have endangered the finish of the Pure Stock feature but fortunately the race was finished before it became too dark due to the lights in turns three and four going out.

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