Every racetrack I planned to cover on Sunday was rained out – Casino Speedway in Watertown, Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon and Bemidji Speedway. However, one track was still racing and thanks to Dirt Race Central, a presenting RaceChaser sponsor, I was able to watch the action at Halvor Lines Speedway in Proctor. I figured, I’m watching, why not write about it? Habits are hard to break this time of year.
Usually, Proctor is on the bad end of the weather as a result of being so near to Lake Superior, and yes, the wind was blowing off the lake. But it was 60 degrees and there was no rain, I think they will take it. By my figuring they were the only track in Minnesota to race on Sunday.
A total of 77 cars signed in, led by 18 Wissota Midwest Modifieds.
I’ve been to Halvor Lines twice – once for a challenge series race a few years ago that Darrell Nelson won, the other was a regular race night and all I remember of that was Kyle Peterlin won the lates. It has the red clay that is native to that region and familiar on tracks like Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Hibbing Raceway, Grand Rapids Speedway and ABC Raceway in Ashland, Wis. The tracks have different shapes and banking, but the color of the clay is pretty similar at least in my eyes. I thought Halvor Lines was a nice place to watch a race when I was there; it’s a fairgrounds facility and older but there weren’t many bad seats in the grandstands. I really, really want to make it to the historic Silver 1000, and now that I don’t work in athletics anymore, that is at least a possibility.
The Vintage Cars were there and they are popular with older fans. A makeup feature for the Wissota Hornets was also run which led to a longer night.
Three drivers in the top 10 of Wissota Midwest Modified national points were on hand – fourth-place Will Moelter of Elk Mound, Wis., sixth-place Blake Adams of Cameron, Wis., and ninth-place Landyn Randt of Siren, Wi. Zach Benson has a commanding lead in the current standings. Adams and Randt are in a fight for the Wissota Rookie of the Year as well.
The Wissota Midwest Modified feature didn’t make it a lap as there was a spin in turns one and two. Evan Checklalski of Duluth took the lead over William Moelter once things got going. Blake Adams – son of former national champion Buzzy Adams – moved into fourth behind Paul Ripley of Duluth. The top line was the preferred line for the Midwest mods and would be a trend in other features on the night.
After the first caution things were uneventful as there were decent gaps between the drivers in the top six spots. The caution would wave with three to go when Dane Durbin spun.
On the restart Jason Schill of Centuria, Wis., had moved into third ahead of Adams. Moelter slid high in turn two and lost second to Schill as the white flag waved. Checkalski, meanwhile had no issues up front, taking a 2.717 second victory. Schill would slow on the final lap and lose several positions.
Adams would take second with Moelter third. Ripley, who entered the night as the track point leader, was fourth with Schill limping into fifth. Only two cautions for an 18-car field, not bad.
The super stock class has seen some good drivers in the Twin Ports leave for the late models, including Burdick and Dave Flynn of Superior. But there are still some local veterans who I’m familiar with. Scott Lawrence, 57, is a long-time veteran in the supers in that regionI remember him racing a street stock at Cedar Lake back in 1999, he was one of the few guys who could beat Curt Myers that year! He entered the night leading the points at Halvor Lines.
Dexton Koch of Becker is second in the Wissota Super Stock national points, chasing Shane Sabraski. He needs feature wins at this point; as of Aug. 10 Sabraski had 20 wins and Koch had 19.
I was watching Koch as the feature unfolded. Hibbing driver Doug Koski led the super stocks once things got going with Lawrence in second. DJ Keeler of Superior moved into third with Koch moving into fourth; Koch however was turned around in turn two and had to go to the tail.
On the restart Lawrence faced a challenge from Keeler as Patrick Beeksma moved into fourth. Keeler was working the low line trying to find some speed as most cars were on the top side.
The caution would wave when Brian Carl of Duluth slid off the track with eight to go. On the restart Koski, Lawrence and Keeler broke away in a very close fight. Koch moved back into the top five.
Lawrence was patient but stayed close to Koski. Keeler was persistent on the low line. Beeksma would slow with four to go and would need a push to the pits.
The yellows had to drive Koski nuts because every time he’d open a car length or two on second, the yellow would come out. After the final restart, Koch, however, found something on the bottom and moved into third and was working on Lawrence for second. But Koski was steady up high and would take the win by .789 seconds with Koch. It was his second feature win of 2023; he has a win at Hibbing as well.
Koch would edge Lawrence for second with Keeler taking third. Mike Sirois of Duluth rounded out the top five.
Canadian Tanner Williamson is sixth in the Wissota Mod national points, while Kennedy Swan of Chippewa Falls, Wis., is seventh and leading the Rookie of the Year points.
Williamson and Dan Kingsley of Superior battled for the top spot early in the Wissota Mod feature while Brandon Copp of Brule, who started sixth, moved into third and soon got by Kingsley for second.
The always-tough Jody Bellefeuille of Duluth started eighth but had worked up to fourth. The caution would wave, however, when Williamson broke and went off of turn three, ending his hopes for a win as he would leave on the hook. I’ve seen Williamson race a handful of times this summer and have been impressed with what I’ve seen from him.
Copp would take over the top spot with Bellefeuille in second. The caution would wave to tight the field again. Kingsley was running in third with point leader Jeffrey Wood of Chisholm in fourth. Kaden Blaeser was battling with Kennedy Swan for the fifth spot.
Copp was very smooth on the high side and needed to be as Bellefeuille was trying any line trying to close a gap that was about a second. Copp had to be very careful as the cushion was starting to wear away; any kind of mistake and Bellefeuille would pounce. Those two had a huge lead on the rest of the field.
Copp, who won at ABC Raceway in Ashland on Saturday, picked up his ninth win of the season by .926 seconds over Bellefeuille. Kingsley was third, Wood was fourth and Blaeser held off Swan for fifth. Wood entered the night with a 73-point lead over Donnie Lofdahl and added to that, although Bellefeuille, who entered the night third, gained a little ground.
Proctor driver Kevin Burdick is second in the Wissota Late Model national points, but if he is hoping to win the national title, he needs feature wins. Tyler Peterson leads the national points and as of Aug. 10 had 11 wins, but added wins at I-94 and Madison this weekend to strengthen his lead. Burdick was an excellent super stock competitor and national champion in the class and has made a nice transition to the late models. In the late models, in fact, you had three drivers in the top 10 in national points in attendance – Burdick, Derek Vesel of Hibbing (sixth) and Danny Vang of Deerwood (seventh).
Vang didn’t waste much time getting to the front, going from third to the lead on the first lap. He would open a commanding 3.229 second lead on second-place Charles Olson of Cannon Falls just six laps into the race. Burdick is the point leader at his hometown track and moved into third and was all over Olson. Vesel, second in the points at Halvor Lines, was fighting Aaron Lillo.
Burdick would lake over second with 16 to go but faced a three-second deficit behind Vang, who was cruising around the 3/8-mile on the high side. Vesel would pass Olson for the third spot.
Vang was dominating the race, leading by nearly a straightaway for a while. But lapped traffic would slow Vang and Burdick would cut the lead down to 1.052 seconds with seven to go and was closing as Vang struggled to get by two lapped cars who were running the preferred line.
The #22 car of Brett Shafer of Menomonie started seventh, but was clearing some traffic and moved into fourth as Lillo slid out of the top five.
Once Vang cleared the lapped cars, he was about to open a big gap of 3.085 seconds over Burdick with three to go. Vesel, meanwhile, had caught Burdick for second; those two were ahead of fourth place by 5.486 seconds.
Vang encountered lapped traffic on the white flag lap but had built a commanding lead by then, and would go on to a 2.263 win over Burdick. Vesel was third, Shafer was fourth and Olson fifth. No cautions in the 25 lap feature. Vang is the defending Halvor Lines track champion and was the 2022 Wissota Late Model Rookie of the Year.
Up next were the Wissota Pure Stocks, and national point leader Josh Berg was on hand and would start sixth on the 10-car field.
Tyler Kachinske, sixth in the national points, took the lead from the inside pole. Berg had passed several cars and moved into second and was working the low lane on Kachinske, Devin Fries was running third ahead of Chaston Finckbone of Grand Rapids.
It was a great battle between Kachinske and Berg as they raced side by side for the top spot. With three to go Berg would make the pass and open a few car lengths to pick up the win, his 14th feature victory of 2023.
Fries would run third, Finckbone fourth and Jake Smith of Cohasset rounded out the top five.
Justin Houck took the lead on the the Wissota Hornet field. There was some crazy racing early with three-wide racing in the field.
Michael Teggatz of Mahtowa would lead over Derek Dunbar of Iron River as Houck ran third over Carson Gotelaere of Superior.
Ellie Lange of Staples, in the top 10 of national points and a promising young talent, had gone to the tail for an early caution but had worked back to the top five.
Houck was running in the top five but slowed and stalled to bring out the caution with three laps left. Houck would get re-fired but had to go to the tail.
Teggatz led Dunbar and Gotelaere on the restart as Lange moved into fourth. Gotelaere and Dunbar were fighting for second as Teggatz pulled away to a two-car length lead by the white flag.
Teggatz would pick up his first career win over Dunbar. Gotelaere was third, Lange was fourth and Ament was fifth.
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