PROVINZINO BAGS 33RD ANNUAL SILVER 1000 CASH

By Jerry O'Brien
9-1-05 

The 33rd edition of the prestigious Silver 1000 held at the Proctor Speedway since 1973 was won by Jeff Provinzino of Hibbing, MN who becomes only the fourth local driver in the event's history to win it, joining fellow Iron Range drivers Tom Waseleski (2001) and Harry Hanson (2002) along with Duluthian Rick Popovich (1987). It was a sure thing that there would be a different winner in the 2005 edition as two time and defending race champion John Kaanta failed to make the field. 

Provinzino started from the pole position after winning the six lap pole dash and quickly swept out to what would become a straight away lead. He held on to the lead until about the mid point of the 40 lap event but Kelly Estey, back behind the wheel of Bob Reed's number 41 Mastersbilt, started near the middle of the 25 car starting field and was the first to find that the high groove was taking rubber. Estey's car worked well in the high groove and his speed plus Provinzino's having to negotiate traffic helped him weave his way through the intense battle for second and close on the leader. Estey closed on Provinzino's back bumper and blasted by on the outside into the lead and quickly began to pull away.

Provinzino then moved up to the top and was able to use the same scenario to close, in turn, to Esteys rear bumper. Provinzino applied pressure until Estey made a small slip in the treacherous turn one slipping a wheel off the high side giving Provinzino an opening. Such was the gap the leaders had on the battle for third that Estey's bobble did not lose him any more spots. From that point all Provinzino had to do was be smooth and the race was his. 

"We've stepped up our program this past month and a half" Provinzino said in the post race interview and it showed with his domination of the event. While the leaders were duking it out for the win there was plenty of action going on in that aforementioned battle for third. Trent Follmer, Caley Emerson, Danny Young, Nick Musel and Steve Laursen battled back and forth in the early going swapping positions with one another throughout the event. Follmer won out in that battle finishing a strong third with Emerson fourth until he hit the scales under minimum weight and was disqualified shifting Young to the fourth position ahead of two time champion Laursen. 

Brady Smith quietly worked his way from 12th to sixth with team mates Darrell Nelson who came from 17th and Nick Musel seventh and eighth, Pete Wohlers finished ninth in the Provinzino team car and Late Model rookie Joey Jensen finished in the tenth spot. There were ten former event champions on hand looking for a spot in the feature event. Half of them made the feature but only Laursen was a factor in the final outcome with his top five run. 

As has happened so many times over many seasons, Darrell Nelson and Kelly Estey always seem to be battling out ahead of the pack for a Modified feature win and so it was Thursday night as Nelson and Estey started on the front row after finishing one/two in the six lap pole dash for heat winners. The 25 lap feature did not start well when, on the first circuit, Jayme Lautigar and Dave Mass collided bringing out the caution with no laps complete. Lautigar was finished for the event while Mass was able to continue. At the restart Nelson again took off to a several car length lead over Estey with Jeff Wood, Craig Thatcher and Jeff Spacek following. 

Both Nelson and Estey were following on the high side of the speedway as Duane Dale moved to the fourth spot. After a caution flag for a Jed Moore spin, Nelson got the good jump on Estey, both running on the top while Wood used the inside in an effort to make up ground. Dale made the high side work and sailed around his competitors to land in third. At the mid point it was Nelson leading Estey with Dale third, then Wood and Thatcher. Wood faltered and rolled to the infield while further back Bill Byholm led Mass, Paul Schultz and defending race champion Chris Ortel. 

Lurking just outside the top ten was Brad Hanson who had started 19th. Nelson began to lap cars as Estey closed up but a car length was all the closer he could get. Nelson took his third Modified Silver 1000 crown and his first since 1994. His first win was two years before that in 1992. Nelson becomes the only three time Modified feature winner tying him with Ron Jones. In the 17 years the Modifieds have been part of the Silver 1000 no one else has won more than once. Rounding out the top five were Estey, Dale, Thatcher and Spacek. Thatcher and Spacek are also former champions. 

33rd annual Silver 1000 Results

WISSOTA Late Model (44 cars)
Heat 1: Danny Young, Kelly Estey, Tom Waseleski, John Massingill Curt Myers, Rick Hanestad, Tom Nesbitt, Andrew McKay DNS Gregg Hill 
Heat 2: Caley Emerson, Brent Larson, Brady Smith, Darrell Nelson, Joel Cryderman, Mike Nutzmann, Kevin Mudrak, Todd Gehl, Bob Slater 
Heat 3: Jeff Provinzino, Steve Laursen, Joey Jensen, Terry Casey, Bill Byholm, Harry Hanson, Aaron Lillo, Mitch Johnson, DNF John Hunker 
Heat 4: Nick Musel, Pete Wohlers, Tim McMann, Steve Hucovski, John Seitz, John Kaanta, Jeff Hinkemeyer, Johnny Carpenter DNF Doug Koski 
Heat 5: Trent Follmer, Jeff Broking, Steve Vesel, Rick Egersdorf, Pat Doar,Justin Aylward, Jeff Massingill, Kevin Carlson. 
B Main: ( Two advance) Myers, Byholm, Doar, Kaanta, Mudrak, Gehl, Hinkemeyer DNF Slater, Nutzmann, Hunker DNS Hill 
B Main (Two advance) Seitz, Cryderman, Hanson, Johnson, Jeff Massingill, carlson, Aylward DNF Lillo, Koski, Hanestad, McKay 
Pole Dash (Six laps) Provinzino, Emerson, Follmer, Young, Musel 

Feature: (40 laps) Provinzino, Estey, Follmer, Young, Laursen, Smith, Nelson, Musel, Wohlers, Jensen, Broking, Larson, Casey, Vesel, Seitz, Myers, Waseleski, Egersdorf, Cryderman, John Massingill, Hanson, Hucovski DNF Byholm, McMann 

WISSOTA Modified (47 cars)
Heat 1: Darrell Nelson, Chris Ortel, Paul Schultz, Ricky Roche, Jeff Lien, Jason Miller, Jad Carlson, Kyle Gavel, Joey Galloway DNF Al Uotinen 
Heat 2: Kelly Estey, Jayme Lautigar, Dave Mass, Jerry Hartman, Clint Larson, Dan Wheeler, Ken Hron, Tyler Keyser, Rod Heitala, Johnny Carpenter 
Heat 3: Jeff Spacek, Craig Thatcher, Kelly Checkalski, John Reini, Kevin Montieth, Dave Friendt, Cory Jorgeson, Dan Sellung, Jamie Davis 
Heat 4: Duane Dale, Bill Byholm, Brandon Jensen, Tim Danielson, Rick Canaata, Jason Anderson, Jody Bellefeuille, Ross Lightner 
Heat 5: Jeff Wood, Jeff Hart, Marc Johnson, Brent Larson, Jed Moore, John Baltich, Carey LePage DNF Danny Pierce, Scott Hudack. 
B Main (Two advance) Moore, Keyser, Wheeler, Heitala, Carlson, Friendt, Montieth, Carpenter, Sellung, Canaata DNF Lien, Hudack DQ Bellefeuille, LePage 
B Main (two advance) Miller, C Larson, Hron, Jorgenson, Uotinen, Pierce, baltich, Lightner, Galloway, J Anderson, Danielson 
Dash: Nelson, Estey, Wood, Spacek, Dale