By Jerry O'Brien
8/28/05

The final night of regular season racing occurred Sunday night August 28th with the crowning of the 2005 seasons champions in the four WISSOTA sanctioned divisions plus the Proctor Pure Stocks. Only one division really had any drama, however as the leaders in the four others had only to take the green flag to win their respective divisions. 

In the WISSOTA Late Model division Harry Hanson of Eveleth Minnesota went into the final night with insurmountable 92 point lead over Darrell Nelson so the 25 lap Late Model feature was for bragging rights only. 

At he green flag Nick Musel took the point but John Massingill blew by him to lead the first time around only to have his son Jeff spin setting up a complete restart. Musel again took the lead at the start but Jeff Broking slid up to lead next time by. Joel Cryderman went to the top side and went to second trying to make the pass for the lead but Broking was very fast in the high groove. Tom Nesbitt quickly raced from the fourth row to take third and tried to track down Broking and Cryderman while Joey Jensen, John Massingill, and Darrell Nelson battled for fourth. The event went the rest of the distance without a caution as Cryderman desperately tried to pass Broking but could only get to his back bumper. Broking went on to take his first ever Late Model win at Proctor stating in victory lane that his only other win came in 2002 in a Modified. Cryderman, Nesbitt, Jensen and John Massingill rounded out the top five while Jeff Provinzino had another strong run from 14th to seventh. The 2005 Late Model champ at the speedway Harry Hanson came home in seventh.

Kelly Estey's WISSOTA Modified point lead matched his car numer...37 going into the final night of competition. Estey needed only to start the feature to wrap up the championship. At the start of the 20 lap feature Don Copp sailed to the lead from the outside of the front row with pole sitter Clint Larson trying to take advantage of his best starting position in what has been a difficult season for him, falling to second with Nelson, Paul Schultz and Jason Miller trailing. The caution flew for a tangle between Marc Johnson and John Baltich necessitating a restart. 

With no laps in, it was a complete restart and, at the green flag Copp and Larson went wheel to wheel for the lead down the back stretch. Copp tried to maintain the outside line and Larson wanted to be there, too resulting in Copp being squeezed off the top of turn three and stopping. Unfortunately the caution was caused by Copp's stopped car which put him to the rear and gave Larson the lead. 

The third caution flag of the event resulted in a single file restart with Larson still on the point and holding momentum on the top. Nelson was driving forward on the bottom and was able to take the lead at the half way point. Nelson raced off to got the victory with Larson second Schultz third, Miller fourth and Jeff Lien fifth. Track champion Estey finished sixth and Copp made it back up to seventh at the finish. 

The closest title race of the season was the one for the Super Stock crown. Scott Lawrence held a two point advantage over Ryan Aho going into the final 2005 feature as both had won heat races earlier. The redraw was much more kind to Aho than it was to Lawrence as Aho redrew the inside of the second row while Lawrence was buried deep in the field starting 11th. Aho took a few laps to take the lead while all eyes were fixed on Lawrence who was working his way forward to finally finish third as he and Aho sandwiched third place point man Kyle Peterlin between them at the finish. Lawrence needed one more position for the championship but could not get it losing it by a single point to Aho. Jay Kuras finished fourth in the feature run with Robbie Cooper recording his best run of the season in fifth. Kevin Salin, first time visitor Andy Davey, Jay Kintner, rookie Steve Estey and Doug Woodhull finished in the top ten. 

Greg Chesley won the Midwest Modified feature over Willy Thompson, Scott Zavadil, Justin Jones and Greg Carlson. Jones' fourth place finish gave him the 2005 track championship. Entering the night Jones had a ten point lead over Lavato and his third place finish over Lavato's seventh place run was enough to secure the title. 

Jim McClellan's 47 point lead in the Pure Stock division over Jon McKinnon was too much to overcome. It would have been understandable for him to take it easy running those final 15 laps of the regular season, but McClellan is a racer and he went all out to show he deserved the title starting back in the ninth position and racing his way to the feature win over Travis Zollar, Jesse Ogston, early leader Scott Larsen and Allen Price in the top five. 

WISSOTA Late Model (20 cars)
Heat 1: Steve Laursen, Jeff Broking, Tom Nesbitt, Joey Jensen, John Massingill, Harry Hanson, Aaron Lillo, Jeff Massingill, Ryan Aho, Rick Egersdorf 
Heat 2: Nick Musel, Doug Koski, Kevin Carlson, Joel Cryderman, Darrell Nelson, Tim McMann, Jeff Provinzino, Mike Meger, Kelly Estey Gregg Hill 

Feature: (25 Laps) Broking, Cryderman, Nesbitt, Jensen, John Massingill, Provinzino, Hanson, Laursen, Musel, Egersdorf, Estey, Meger, Carlson, McMann, Lillo, Jeff Massingill, Aho, Koski

WISSOTA Modified: (22 cars)
Heat 1: Jayme Lautigar, Jeff Lien, Paul Schultz, Clint Larson, Jad Carlson, Ken Hron, Tyler Hynnes DNF Cory Jorgenson 
Heat 2: Duane Dale, Kevin Montieth, Jason Anderson, Tim Danielson, John Reini, John Baltich, DNF Jody Bellefeuille 
Heat 3: Darrell Nelson, Kelly Estey, Don Copp, Jason Miller, Rod Heitala, Marc Johnson DNF Mike Sauvola 

Feature: Nelaon, Larson, Schultz, Miller, Lien, Estey, Copp, Danielson, Montieth, Bellefeuille, Jorgeson, Dale, Johnson, J Carlson DNF Baltich, Anderson, Hron, Hynnes, Reini, Heitala, Lautigar DNS Souvala 

WISSOTA Super Stock (26 cars)
Heat 1: Kyle Peterlin, Jay Kuras, Kevin Salin, Dave Flynn, Donnie Lofdahl, Paul Orloski, Ronnnie Malecki DNF Destin Lorimor DNS Eric Nelson 
Heat 2: Ryan Aho, Jay Kintner, Steve Estey, Andy Davey, Tridell Cahmplin, Kyle Leuthner, Gordy Maki, Scott Heikkinen, Joe Olson 
Heat 3: Scott Lawrence, Robbie Cooper, Gary  Cornelison, Adam Long, Doug Woodhull, Jeremy Crabbs DNF Mike Bellefeuille, Charlie Weber 
B Main: Bellefeuille, Orloski, Nelson, Malecki, Olson, Leuthner, Crabbs, DNF Heikkinen, Maki DNS Weber DQ Lorimor 

Feature: Aho, Peterlin, Lawrence, Kuras, Cooper, Salin, Davey, Kintner, Estey, Woodhull, Lofdahl, Nelson, Orloski, Flynn, Long, Cornelison DNF Olson, Bellefeuille, Malecki, Champlin

Midwest Modified (24 cars)
Heat 1: Greg Chesley, Mark Kangas, D J Severin, Josh Loucks, Wade Ziells, Terry Inman, Al McDougall, Shawn Van Guilder 
Heat 2: Scott Zavidil, Nick Lavato, Loren Inman,E J Heitala, Jeremy Hall, Barry Smith, Tony Moen DNF Miles Weske 
Heat 3: Justin Jones, Gred Carlson, Shawn Ziells, Willy Thompson, Darren Brown, Dan Follett DNF Joey Ogston, Jim Lowinski 

Feature: Chesley, W Thompson, Zavadil, Jones, Carlson, Severin, Lavato, Kangas, S Ziells, L Inman, Heitala, Weske, Loucks, Smith, Brown, McDougall, Hall, W Ziells, T Inman, Moen DNF Van Guilder, Ogston, Follett