DRIVERS REVISIT VICTORY LANE FRIDAY AT AMSOIL SPEEDWAY ON HALL OF FAME NIGHT
By Jerry O’Brien7-22-16Superior, WIOn Hall of Fame night at AMSOIL Speedway two drivers revisited VictoryLane for the first time in literally years and one captured his first of the season.Harry Hanson the popular Late Model racer from Eleveth, MN won his firstfeature since July18th, 2014 and fellow Eveleth resident Rick Niemi won theWISSOTA Modified feature, his first here since 2012. Kevin Burdick of Proctor,MN also won his first Super Stock main event of the season thwarting newly HoFinductee Scott Lawrence’s attempt to win his 28th Super Stock feature.On a extremely hot July night in Superior, Wisconsin, the car count wasnothing to write home about but was saved by the WISSOTA Late Model count.Due partially to another track not running them on their regular night and theimpending three day swing of the One Main Financial WISSOTA Late ModelChallenge Series coming up on the following weekend, there were 26 cars onhand.To pack an already busy schedule up tight, the Northern Vintage Stock CarRacers group was on hand in conjunction with the Hall of Fame inductionceremonies.After qualifying heat races were completed and the main event lineups wereset, the first to take to the track was for the WISSOTA Pure Stocks. Sixteen carswere scheduled for fifteen laps and fifteen made the call.The race track was in optimum shape and presented high and low grooves.Annika Hammitt made an excellent start from the outside of the front row andgrabbed the lead only to see the caution flag when Andrew Hanson went around inthe fourth turn. A lap was complete and Hammitt again got a good start taking thelead over Tim Carlson, Dustin Follett, Dylan Shelton and defending champ RyanSavoy. Follett put on a charge and put the big green and pink Station Wagon outfront. Hammitt held onto second for a couple of laps but Savoy had set his sightson Follett abd move into second. Once again the caution flag appeared whenJustin Madsen got hung up on a marker tire in turn four. Follett led the pack to thegreen but the caution flew immediately as Hammitt’s strong run ended with a spinin turn four, she was charged with the incident. Follett again pulled away as he hasdone so many times this season with Savoy in hot pursuit. This time Follett wasunable to stay that far in front as Savoy, Matt Deragon, current point leader JustinWeinberger and a quickly rebounding Andrew Hanson were all in the mix. ShainaRapp was the next to be bitten by the slick track in turn four bringing out cautionflag number four. Follett maintained the lead but couldn’t get away from Savoyand Weinberger. Savoy had a run on Follett and, as the white flag flew, got pastfor the lead. Follett made a desperate attempt to retake the lead at the exit of turnfour and the two collided heavily and spun wildly down the front stretch. No oneelse was involved and the official call was that Follett had instigated the contactand the finish would revert to the white flag lap giving Savoy the win. Follett wasscored as the last car running. Weinberger, Deragon, Hanson and Madsen finishedin the top five.Sometimes it is amazing how the division with the smallest car count canproduce the closest racing. This was the case with the WISSOTA Super Stockswho could only muster ten cars for their 20 lap main event. A pair of Superiorresidents led the field to the green flag with Willie Johnsen, Jr to the lead followedby Keith Kern. Jim Campbell and Adam Shinn tangled and Campbell was taggedwith the incident. Both continued. Kern showed his veteran side as he probablyknows the speedway better than most. His grasp on the lead was tenacious as heraced off to a huge lead. Shane Kisling held onto second, Nick Oreskovich wasthird, newly minted Hall of Famer Scott Lawrence and Dave Flynn were incontention. Oreskovich made a rare mistake and turned around in turn fourbringing out the caution flag. Kern’s huge lead evaporated with the incident andthe restart saw a three wide scuffle for the lead. Kern held on but Lawrence snaredsecond ahead of Johnsen, Kisling and Burdick. Another caution flag, the third inthe early going for debris in turn two forced another restart. Kern was ganged upon at the green and Lawrence eased to the point towing Johnsen past. Kisling wasin fourth and Burdick fifth. At this point there were still fourteen circuitsremaining. Two laps later Dave Flynn encountered trouble with his car and tried toexit the track only to stall in the pit exit too close to the track. This would prove tobe the final yellow flag. Lawrence held onto the lead at the restart, but the alwaysdangerous Burdick charged into second and, with about four laps left powered byLawrence to the front and held on to win his first feature of the season at thespeedway. Lawrence lost second to a resurgent Oreskovich and Johnsen andKisling finished in the front five. Kern snared the Quik Trip Quick Lap with a lapat 19.578 seconds.Next up it w as 25 laps for the 26 WISSOTA Late Models. “The Coach” DaveEsse found himself on the pole for the thundering herd and got a great start…alittle too great as he jumped the start costing him the pole. Terry Lillo then movedto the pole and also got a good start, but not as good as Harry Hanson. This startappeared to stick but Esse’s bad luck was not done as he was judged to have beenturned around in the pack by point leader Travis Budiaslovich who was sent to theback. The restart saw Hanson leap out to a huge lead over Terry Lillo followed byTim McMann, Darrell Nelson and Mike Prochnow. Once again the caution flagflew this time for Tim Lillo at the bottom of turn three. They were finally able toget past that pesky first lap with Hanson dogged by a tenacious Darrell Nelson.Terry Lillo and Prochnow were joined by rookie Late Model pilot Jesse Glenz. Aslaps were completed without interruption it became a duel between the twoveteran racers with Hanson clinging to the high side which became a momentumgroove and just a tiny bit faster. Nelson was able to dive to the bottom in the turnsbut could not hold it there long enough to make the pass. This went on lap afterlap while Terry camped out in third, the comers and goers began to showthemselves. While Prochnow and Glenz tried to stay up front, Jake Redetzke, PatDoar and several others began to make their presence felt. The front five seperatedfrom each other as the laps began to tick off and that group also ran away from thepack. Redetzke broke from the herd to sixth. With 17 laps remaining all thatchanged when Chris Olson went around in turn two and was done for the night.Now the field could see the front five and Hanson zipped up to his favored lineleaving Nelson on the bottom continuing to try to get past. Terry Lillo was stillencamped in third and Glenz got past Prochnow into fourth. Once again themomentum was broken with the fourth caution flag, this time for BuddyHanestad’s spin in turn four. Hanson continued to hold sway trapping Nelson inthe bottom groove, Lillo was unshakable in third Redetzke was up to fourth afterstarting 12th and Aaron Lillo arrived in fifth after starting 16th. The caution flagagain appeared when Hanestad once again caused a stoppage spinning in turn four.The incident was his second cause sending him pit side. Hanson again found hisline on the restart forcing Nelson to continue to make the bottom groove work wellenough for the pass. With three or four laps left it appeared that Hanson had thewin over Nelson with Terry Lillo stout in third and Redetzke ensconced in fourth.Almost unnoticed the speedy Budiaslovich had steadily worked his way up theladder and appeared in fifth as the white flag signaled one more time around.Hanson was perfect the entire 25 laps winning for the first time since July 18th2014. Hanson also took the fast lap bonus with a lap at 18.364 seconds.The 20 lap Modified feature also saw a winner who had not visited victory lanein some time. Rick Niemi found himself drawing to outside of the front row with aclear shot at the high groove that had taken Hanson to the Late Model win. Hewasted little time moving up there, got a good jump and raced away to a huge lead.Destin Lorimor took his #90 to second ahead of Jody Bellefeuille, Joey Jensen andDanny Vang. Darrell Nelson moved from the 8th starting spot to battle with Jensenan into the top five. Niemi was playing Hare to the hounds as his rear spoilerreceded in the distance. There were no caution flags to compact the pack so it wasup to the others to track down Niemi. Nelson kept edging loser to second and bythe mid point was in third behind Lorimor. He was able to finally get past intosecond but Niemi continued to widen the gap until it was nearly a straight away.Niemi was careful as he encountered some lapped traffic and Nelson began to gainsome ground on the leader. Bellefeuille got around Lorimor for third and Jensenfound a way by Vang into the top five as the white flag was ready to appear.Nelson surged to within five car lengths of Niemi on the final circuit but it was toolittle, too late. Niemi led every lap for his first trip to victory lane since 2012. Hiswas the fastest lap of the race on a track that remained slick but very racy andslowed down as he turned a lap of 19.813 seconds.The final event of the very full evening was the Midwest Modified event. DaveFlynn, doing double duty, started the race from the pole and tried to take the leadbut he was ganged up on by Mack Estey and Deven VanHouse and the threenegotiated turns three and four in a three wide scramble for the point which Esteywon. Racers are usually pretty smart and it was easy to see the top groove was thefast way around. This was not lost on Mack Estey as he quickly made it his own.Brother Skeeter moved up there, too and VanHouse became the meat in thesandwich. With no caution flags to slow the action, the mid point was quicklyreached with Mack, VanHouse, Skeeter, Tyler Kintner and Shane Howell in thetop five. Mack stayed in front but VanHouse tried the same low groove othersbefore him had tried. Perhaps the lower powered Midwest Modified were able toget a hold of the low side as VanHouse began to make inroads into Mack’s lead.As the laps wound down the two were side by side with Skeeter following closelyin third. On the white flag lap it was still anybody’s race until the pair came uponthe #61 of Jamie Smart. Lapping him while racing side by side had an effect on theoutcome as VanHouse was able to slip past to take the checkered flag for the win.Mack Estey was able to hold off brother Skeeter for second as Shane Howellfinished fourth and Flynn hung onto fifth.Also on the packed card were two heats and two features for the NorthernVintage Stock Car Racers. In the Full Bodied division Paul Dolphy of MoundsView took his ‘69 Ford Torino to a convincing heat win over Tom Godfrey ofBackus, MN and Bobby LePage’s #44. In the Super Modified heat Marke Peine,White Bear Lake, MN won over Dennis Olson, Braham and Ken Sabey of RiverFalls, WI.LePage grabbed the win over Steve Baker of Grantsberg, WI and Godfrey.Sabey won the Super Modified feature over Olson and Peine.Results AMSOIL Speedway 7-22-16 Hall of Fame Night.WISSOTA Late Model (26 cars)Feature (25 laps)Harry Hanson Eveleth; Darrell Nelson Hermantown; Terry Lillo duluth; JakeRedetzke Eau Claire; Travis Budiaslovich Minneapiolis; Pat Doar NewRichmond; Aaron Lillo proctor; Mike Prochnow, Menomonie, WI; Jesse GlenzCadott, WI; Jeff Massingill; Keewatin; Zach Wohlers Hibbing; Tim McMannDuluth; Dave Esse Cloquet; Trevor Wilson Superior; Kevin Carlson Hermantown;Robbie Cooper South Range DNF: Todd Gehl Solon Springs; Jay KintnerHibbing; Jeff Provinzino Hibbing; George Ledin Grand Rapids; Gregg HillEveleth; Buddy Hanestad Boyceville, WI; Joh Toppozini Thunder Bay; SteveLaursen Cumberland; Chris Olson Hibbing; Tim Lillo SuperiorHeat 1; Nelson; Hanson; T. Lillo; Hanestad; Doar; A. Lillo; Wilson; Kintner;ToppoziniHeat 2: Laursen; Budiaslovich; McMann; Provinzino; Gehl; Cooper DNF: carlson;Massingill; Tim LilloHeat 3: Glenz; Prochnow; Esse; Redetzke; Olson; Ledin; Wohlers; HillWISSOTA Modified (13 cars)Feature (20 laps)Rick Niemi Eveleth; Darrell Nelson Hermantown; Jody Bellefeuile Duluth; DestinLorimor Superior; Danny vang deerwood, MN; Joey Jensen Harris, MN; DevenVanHouse Silver Bay; Al Uotinen Superior; Paul Wrazidlo Duluth; Rick RivordSuperior; Cody Wolkowski Thunder Bay DNF: Kevin Adams Cameron DNS: NeilBalduc BessemerHeat 1: Jensen; Bellefeuille; Lorimor; Niemi; Wrazidlo; Rivord DNF” BalducHeat 2: Nelson; Uotinen; Vang; VanHouse; Adams; WolkowskiWISSOTA Super Stock (10 cars)Feature (20 laps)Kevin Burdick Proctor; Nick Oreskovich Mason; Scott Lawrence Superior; WillieJohnsen, Jr; Shane Kisling Park Falls; Jim Campbell Two Harbors DNF” AdamShinn Duluth; Keith kern Superior;Dave Flynn Superior DNS: Joe Oliver SuperiorHeat 1: Oreskovich; Kern; Flynn; Johnsen, Jr DNF ShinnHeat 2: Lawrence; Kisling; Burdick; Oliver; CampbellWISSOTA Midwest Modified (17 cars)Feature (15 laps)Deven VanHouse Silver Bay; Skeeter Estey KellY Lake; Mack Estey Hibbing;Shane Howell Buffalo, MN; Dave flynn Superior; Nick Daronco Mountain Iron;Tyler Kintner Hibbing; Dale Suomala, Jr Hermantown; Cole Chernosky ThunderBay; Brandon Copp Brule; Brady Caul Ft. Frances; Jamie Smart Kaskabaka FallsDNF: Craig Lofdahl Duluth; David Simpson Thunder Bay DNS: Dan KingsleySuperior; Shane Kisling Park FallsHeat 1; Flynn; VanHouse; Caul; Suomala; Howell; Smart; Simpson DNF:KingsleyHeat 2: M. Estey; S. Estey; Daronco; Kintner; Copp; Lofdahl; Chernosky DNS:KislingWISSOTA Pure Stock (16 cars)Feature (15 laps)Ryan savoy Superior; Justin Weinberger Park Falls; Matt Deragon Ashland;Andrew Hanson Iron River; Justin Madsen Foxboro; Shaina Rapp Saginaw; CoryJorgenson Hermantown; Dylan Shelton Wrenshall; Carter Nelson Hermantown;Chad Nikstad Superior; Kyle Copp Brule; Dustin Follett Cloquet DNF: ChrisJohnson Superior; Tim Carlson Superior; Annika Hammitt Cloquet; Andy PollTwo Harbors; Jared Akervik Superior DNS: Devin Reynolds CloquetHeat 1: Savoy; A. Hammitt; Madsen; Jorgenson; Rapp DNF: Hanson; Reynolds;Nikstad; PollHeat 2: Follett; Deragon; T. Carlson; Shelton; Weinberger; Nelson; Akervik; K.Copp DNF: C. Johnson