| CHAMPIONS HONORED AT PROCTOR SPEEDWAY BANQUET |
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By Jerry O'Brien Saturday night December 12 was the date and the Lost Isle in Carlton, MN was the place as the Proctor Speedway honored it's 2009 champions before a full house of fans, drivers and crews. The WISSOTA Late Model champion for ‘09 was a familiar figure, it was not his first track championship. Veteran Darrell Nelson of Hermantown, MN won a track best eight feature wins including a sweep of both Proctober Fest features. Nelson totaled 583 points, a scant three points ahead of second place finisher Kyle Peterlin who counted 580. Kelly Estey of Kelly Lake, MN repeated in the WISSOTA Modified division with a track best eight heat wins as well as a pair of Como Modified Series feature wins and his second series title. It was Estey's third Proctor Speedway title in the past three years. Estey won the title by 18 points over Duluth's Greg Chesley. In the WISSOTA Super Stock division Hibbing Mn's Jeff Tardy beat out Duluthian Mike Bellefeuille by 20 points 574 to 554. Tardy topped the division in both heat wins with seven and feature wins with four and was also the Super Stock champion at the Grand Rapids Speedway. Skeeter Estey, Kelly Lake was the champion in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified winning eight heat races and four features to total 635 points, 21 better than Ashland's Steve Stuart who tallied 614. His championship marked the first time a Father and Son team had won track titles in the same year at the Proctor Speedway. The Proctor Pure Stock division saw a season long battle between defending champion Josh Loucks of Carlton and Saginaw, MN's Al Rapp that went down to the final race of the season at the Proctober Fest. Rapp tallied five heat wins and three feature wins to clinch the track title by two points. Rookies of the Year were named in all five divisions including Jordan Grimm in the Pure stocks, Curtis Mackey in the Midwest Modified division, Pat Heikkinen, Super Stocks, Greg Chesley, Modifieds and Canadian Kyle Gavell in the Late Model division. The 2009 Sportsmen of the Year were named in each division as well. They included champion Al Rapp, Pure stock, Jimmy Latvala, Midwest Modified, Jeremy Fink, Super Stocks and Kevin Carlson in the Late Model division. Lakehead Racing Association President "Crash" Carlson's President's awards went to Jim Lunda and Steve Loucks. The Proctor Speedway was named by the WISSOTA Promoters Association Track of the Year at the 2009 WISSOTA Awards Banquet held in St. Cloud, MN. The award is sponsored by Race Promotion Monthly and Stewart Doty as well as All The Dirt! Racing News the official newspaper of WISSOTA. Special thanks went out to Ryan Aho for his work on the American Cancer Society Relay For Life event that, for the second year in a row, presented a check for more than $11,000. Also a special award went to Loren Inman who was instrumental in putting together the Gary Cornelison Memorial Super Stock race that pais $3400 to the winner and drew 65 cars. After the buffet meal featuring chicken, roast beef and ham, and the awards ceremony, attendees were entertained by the terrific band the Rockabilly Review. |
