Darrell Nelson Wins Late Models, Esten Nelson Wins Pure Stocks

Wes Vork-NSO

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July 22, 2012

By: Jerry O’Brien

Darrell Nelson was looking for a back to back double feature wins Sunday night at the Proctor Speedway but Jody Bellefeuille had other ideas as he was able to stay ahead of Nelson to the Modified feature checkered flag. Nelson took advantage of a caution flag with five laps remaining in the Late Model feature to overhaul Kevin Carlson who had led from the green flag.

In other divisions Scott Lawrence put an exclamation point on another stellar weekend as he won his second Super Stock feature to go along with a second place. Danny Vang won his third Midwest Modified feature since he made the Proctor Speedway his Sunday night home a few weeks ago. Esten Nelson won his second career Pure Stock feature by passing Jon Hammitt in the closing laps.

Despite the truncated numbers, the opening laps of the WISSOTA Late Model main event featured a wild scramble to get the lead. Outside pole sitter Kevin Carlson was the one who took the lead shortly after the opening green flag and Darrell Nelson worked his way quickly from his outside third row starting spot to second and set out in pursuit of Carlson. Carlson found his groove on the high side forcing Nelson to attempt to pass in the middle. Carlson was just a little bit stronger in the high line and was able to stymie Nelson.

A caution flag for a Joey Ogston spin in turn one set Nelson up for a pass but he couldn’t quite pull it off as Carlson got a good jump back up into is preferred line. Dave Esse spun in turn one bringing the caution flag back as others scattered. The restart saw Nelson make another run on Carlson down the back stretch but Carlson pushed hard into turn three and it stuck to the bottom propelling him out front again. Carlson tried to hold Nelson back but Nelson proved too strong and Carlson dropped to third as Harry Hanson got by into second.

Esse’s second spin of the event when he was bumped into brought out the caution flag with five laps remaining. At the green Nelson was out front but found himself under pressure from Hanson as Carlson continued his backward slide trying to hold onto fifth. Nelson took the win over Hanson as Tim McMann and Kyle Peterlin got by a struggling Carlson into third and fourth.

Again it was the outside pole sitter who got the jump as the Modifieds took the green for their 20 lap feature. Scott Heikkinen led ahead of Nick Musel and Jody Bellefeuille. They were followed by E. J. Hietala and Darrell Nelson. Bellefeuille burst through and blew into the lead while Nelson was marching into third.

With no caution flags the laps clicked off quickly and at the midpoint Bellefeuille held the point with Heikkinen, Nelson, Musel and Hietala holding the top five positions. Nelson burst past Heikkinen into second and set out after Bellefeuille with ten more laps to make up over half a straight away deficit.

Nelson gave it a valiant effort and closed within a couple of car lengths on the white flag lap but could not get by for the win. Bellefeuille won his second Modified main event of the season at the track. Heikkinen, Musel, Tim McMann in the #67 formerly driven by Jeff Tardy was fifth. Hietala and Paul Schultz occupied the remaining positions. Destin Lorimar did not start the feature.

For once it was the pole sitter that took the early lead in the 20 lap Super Stock main. Ronnie Malecki led Al Rapp, Pat Heikkinen and Mike Bellefeuille as point leader Scott Lawrence appeared in fifth from the outside of the fourth row. Ashley Smith spun in turn one bringing out the caution with a single lap in. At the restart Bellefeuille and Lawrence overwhelmed the early front runners and popped out of the pack with Bellefeuille leading and Lawrence in hot pursuit. Rapp, Malecki and Kevin Salin followed and Andy Davey found himself locked up in traffic for a couple of laps before finally breaking free to run fourth.

Kyle Oman brought out the caution with another spin in turn one, a turn that was proving to be treacherous. At the green the front runners drove away from Malecki who continued his strong run in third. Once again the caution flag flew this time for a tangle between Heikkinen and Shane Hawkinson in turn one. Bellefeuille was still holding off Lawrence for the lead at the green while Davey had moved into third.

Lawrence began moving in on Bellefeuille as they approached the half way point. It appeared that the only way Lawrence was going to pass Bellefeuille was if he made a mistake and he did slipping the right side tires off the back stretch. Before he could recover Lawrence sailed by into the lead. The roles were then reversed and Bellefeuille need to get past with the laps swiftly winding down. The only chance for Bellefeuille was if Lawrence made a mistake in turn and that almost came to pass as Lawrence had a bit of trouble lapping a back marker. Lawrence got the win to extend his point lead. Bellefeuille, Davey, Salin and Malecki finished in the top five.

Lance Solem made what has become a rare appearance at the speedway and started the Midwest Modified feature from the pole. He had the early lead dogged by Dan Larsen, Danny Vang, and Josh Heaviland. Vang wasted no time as he blew into second, tracked down Solem and took over the lead looking for win number three on the season.

The caution flag came out when Solem spun in turn one. The green came back out with six of 20 recorded and Vang got a great run off turn two into the lead by four car lengths. Another caution period occurred when Jeff Lien, Jr. was involved in a turn one tangle. Vang held the point at the restart as Neil Balduc and Larsen battled for second. Still another caution flag appeared, this time for a tangle between Lien and Cody Carlson in turn two. Lien was sent off for his second cause of a caution. Vang again got the jump at the green and this time Dan Kingsly broke free of the pack in pursuit.

At the midpoint the order stood at Vang, Kingsley, a charging point leader Deven VanHouse, Balduc, Heavirland, Larsen, Andrew Inman, Carlson, Chris Bretting and Jake Gondik. Vang was cruising out front when the final caution flag flew for an Inman breakdown in turn two. Vang hung on for his third win as VanHouse took second. Kingsley, Larsen and Heaviland rounded out the top five.

The first lap of the Pure Stock 15 lap feature sort of set the tone for the race as Dustin Follett went off the first turn and rolled the car up on its side. It came back down and he drove it away with a flat left front tire. Jon Hammitt took the lead at the restart as Follett just made it back on track after the tire change. Jeff Engelmeier, Esten Nelson and Erik Pederson followed.

Another caution flag flew as Craig Horak was spun out in turn two. By the midpoint Jon Hammitt still led over Engelmeier, Nelson and Matt Hammitt. Follett spun around on the top of turn two bringing out another caution flag as Matt Hammitt went off the back stretch.

The restart saw Nelson sail by Jon Hammitt and drive off to a long lead. Nelson grabbed his second career Pure Stock feature win over Jon Hammitt. Justin Bassa moved from row number four to finish third, Engelmeier ran in the top five all race and finished fourth ahead of fifth place Josh Loucks.

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