REINI SNARES FIRST WISSOTA MODIFIED FEATURE AT PROCTOR
By Jerry O'Brien
7-2-06

John Reini forged his way forward from the fourth row to win his first ever WISSOTA Modified at the Proctor Speedway Sunday night. At the green Clint Larson moved to the lead with Duane Dale to second. Reini shot up the inside from the seventh starting position into third with Jeff Wood and pole sitter Jad Carlson in fifth. Dale closed up on Larson and dived to the inside taking the lead of the fourth turn. Dale proceeded to drive away from the field until the first of three caution flags flew for Carlson after contact with Jeff Lien who flew off turn one. After the caution Larson and Darrell Nelson collided on the back stretch sending Nelson to the pits with a flat tire. He rejoined the field but was sent to the rear eventually finishing 8th. At the restart Dale led Larson and Reini who was determined to make the bottom groove work. It panned out for him as he was able to slowly work his way past Dale and Larson possibly with the help of two more caution flags, one for a Jeff Lien spin in turn four and the other for contender Don Copp who went off turn two. Reini used the restart to slip in ahead of Larson and take the win in a two lap shootout. Justin Jones was in contention and finished third from tenth while Jeff Wood and Dale finished in the top five.

Harry Hanson won his second WISSOTA Late Model feature at the speedway this season coming from the 5th row to track down early leaders Todd Gehl and Jeff Massingill for the win. Gehl led from the pole in the early part of the 20 lap event but front row mate Massingill managed to pull off the pass and began to drive away from the pack. At the midpoint Massingill had a strong lead but Gehl was beginning to reel him in. Nelson was also coming forward and snatched to lead away from the front duo but it was Hanson who was really on the move and with five laps remaining literally shot past Nelson on the white flag and led the important lap to the checkered flag. Nelson, Gehl, Danny Young from 8th and Mssingill followed in the top five. 

Wayne Engen of Shell Lake, WI drove the Van House Construction 7E WISSOTA Midwest Modified 20 lap feature win. Five caution flags kept the field in close proximity, but after the 10 lap mark, Engen was driving away from the field over Greg Chesley, Rod Hietala, point leader Nick Lavato and Josh Loucks. Engen went on to the win over a fast closing Lavato who had come from the sixth row. Chesley pulled off the track in the late going to finish 16th while D J Severin worked his way from 16th to third. Chad Larson had another good run in his rookie season finishing fourth while Jimmy Latvala made his return to racing a good one with a fifth place finish coming from 18th to finish fifth. 

Defending track champion Ryan Aho nabbed his second consecutive WISSOTA Super Stock feature in a thrilling duel with fellow Iron Ranger Sam Skalsky. Skalsky had a great start to the 20 lap feature sailing to the lead on the second circuit around the outside from row number four. Aho, on the other hand, had to make some strong moves to get himself in position for the win climbing from 12th to the second spot with the help of the first of three caution flags with five laps in the books. Aho and Skalsky battled wheel to wheel during the middle laps but Aho was able to pull away by a couple of car lengths. Skalsky came right back and it was again door handle to door handle for the lead with five circuits remaining. Aho won out over Skalsky with National WISSOTA Point leader as well as Proctor point leader Kyle Peterlin third, Jeff Tardy fourth and breaking up the Iron Range dominance, was Butch Butcher in fifth. 

WISSOTA Late Model (18 cars)
Heat 1: Caley Emerson, Joey Ogston, Kevin Carlson, Danny Young, Tommy Waseleski, Jr. 
Heat 2: Harry Hanson, Jeff Provinzino, Todd Gehl, Jeff Massingill, Darrell Nelson
Feature: (20 laps) Hanson, Nelson, Gehl, Young, Jeff Massingill, Jeff Broking, Tim McMann, Waseleski, Jr, Aaron Lillo, John Massingill

WISSOTA Modified
Heat 1: Duane Dale, Darrell Nelson, John Reini, Jeff Wood, Riley Matthews
Heat 2: Justin Jones, Clint Larson, Don Copp, Jad Carlson, Shawn Kreyer
Heat 3: Bob Broking, Jeff Lien, Jody Bellefeuille, Scott Splittstosser, Jason Anderson
B Feature: Mark Johnson, Matt Sorenson, Travis Zollar, Chris Magistad, Kyle Gavel
Feature (20 laps) Reini, Clint Larson, Jones, Wood, Dale, Broking, Bellefeuille, Nelson, Anderson, Lien

WISSOTA Super Stock
Heat 1: Ryan Aho, Eric Nelson, Sam Skalsky, Mike McCaughan, Rick Simpson
Heat 2: Donnie Lofdahl, Ronnie Malecki, Steve Van House, Gary Cornelison, Adam Long
Heat 3: Jay Kuras, Kyle Peterlin, Jeff Tardy, Butch Butcher, Tom Treviranus
B Feature: Dave Reynolds, Robbie Cooper, Kevin Salin, Doug Woodhull, Scott Heikkinen
Feature (20 Laps) Aho, Skalsky, Peterlin,Tardy, Butcher, Kuras, Lofdahl, Nelson, Cooper, Simpson

WISSOTA Midwest Modified
Heat 1: Deven Van House,Greg Chesley, Jeremy Hall, JJ Thompson, Terry Inman 
Heat 2: Nick Lavato, Jesse Ogston, Chad Larson, Steve Inman, Ken Perry
Heat 3: Mark Kangas, Wayne Engen, Rod Hietala, Josh Loucks, Jim Lowinski
B Feature: DJ Severin, Clint Wittlief, Jimmy Latvala, Loren Inman, Brad Anderson
Feature (20 laps) Engen, Lavato, Severin, Larson, Latvala, Rod Hietala, Loucks, L Inman, Van House, Wittlief