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The Modified feature went green to checkered and it was another dominating performance, this time by Dave Cain. He and Blake Adams started on the front row together, with Adams leading the opening lap. However, Adams couldn't find exactly on the track where his car ran best and Cain drove past him. Cain then checked out, only to be seen later in victory lane.

Jack Rivord had another good run, getting past Adams for second but had nothing for Cain. Mervin Castle has done well since he has jumped into a Modified as the season has progressed, and he nipped Adams for third at the wire.

A full field of 24 drivers started the Mid Mod feature but that didn't bother Joey Jensen. He continued his roll, starting fourth but quickly making himself a factor. He challenged early leader Keith Koski after just a few laps, and when Koski slipped a bit high on lap four, Jensen was right there to take over the point. That proved to be it for the rest of the field, as he pulled away from the pack.

Four yellows kept the field bunched more in this race and the only driver that seemed to have anything for Jensen was sixth-starter Andy Davey. He moved to second by the halfway point of the race and did stay close to Jensen and in fact, gave him a pretty good challenge following a late race yellow for fluid on the track.

This generated a bit of confusion among the troops, as they were coming to the checkers when a car blew a radiator in turn four, dumping fluids on the track. Jensen was coming to the checkered flag when the yellow came out and a number of drivers headed for the pits, thinking the race was over. Whether or not they were told to do so, I don't know. However, like herding cats, it took a moment to send several of them right through the pits and back on to the track where they were steered back to their positions.

The green dropped again for the last two laps and Davey put a good challenge on Jensen. Jensen used the big power he has to pull away, however, even as his line around the track wasn't the best.

James Vendela was late on the scene but he made full use of the final few laps as he raced from eighth to nip Sam Blevins for third with a pair of No. 15s battling to the line.

Late yellows sometimes giveth but they also sometimes taketh away. Such was the case in the Hornet feature race. Russell Kiker, Jr. looked to be in control after starting on the pole and leading the first 11 laps of the 15-lap main. He had a relatively comfortable lead at the halfway point ahead of Jada Lore and Zeb Graves, but then Graves inherited second when Lore broke and a stalled car stopped the race for the first time with just five laps to go.

At the drop of the green, Graves was all over Kiker, Jr., who got just a bit high in turn one. They raced hard, wheel to wheel, with just a bit of leaning going on, too. Graves had the preferred line and he was able to take over the lead. Kiker was left to battle with Brady Fosso for second, after Fosso moved all the way up from 18th after he broke in his heat race earlier in the night.

They were very close at the line but the nod went to Kiker for second. The finish was scrambled as cars were going in all directions. Bobie Arnes was pushed sideways across the line for fourth but in the official finish he was set back with a black flag, which someone will have to explain to me. Even with the wild finish, only two drivers didn't cross the finish line.

The program was completed in just over three hours with the final checkered flag just after 10 p.m. It's tough to get six classes done in the magical allotment of time, but they pretty much did it on Saturday.

A familiar face was working the crowd on Saturday; Scott Tiefs came all the way up from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, to announce the show. Regular announcer Flesh is still out and coming up with replacement announcers is apparently tough these days.

Sunday, August 17

Remember all those nice things being said about the weather at Proctor Speedway in recent weeks? Sunday brought us back to reality, with a firm slap across the face and any other part of our bodies exposed to the bite of winter.

The huddled masses in the grandstand were treated to the most brutal of conditions between the wind and temps.

Car counts were luke warm, with two smallish heat races in all six classes except for the Midwest Mods, which ran three heats. Though other areas of WISSOTA were near complete washouts, up in the Northland they were able to get four straight nights of racing in among Grand Rapids, Gondik, Hibbing and Proctor — and Thunder Bay held its race on Wednesday, too. Emo also had two nights of fair racing this weekend, and that’s a lot of racing in one week. Particularly so when this time of the year race cars are showing their seasons and racing budgets start to dwindle, with drivers having to pick which nights they will race.

I had an interesting conversation with Midwest Mod driver Cory Jorgensen this weekend, who told me about his new employer, Cirrus. Jorgensen, who has had a career in the military and special training in servicing planes, was recruited by Cirrus to take a job where they repair high-end planes that have been crashed.

Later on Sunday, Cory probably wished he had a plane to fly over the grinding crash he was involved in during the Mid Mod feature instead; his car had to be removed from the track on the hook.

A blazing-fast track was presented to the drivers on Sunday. There was plenty of bite in the red clay and while there was a little bit of chop to the track, it wasn't bad and I saw nothing to complain about in that regard, but I'm sure someone will.

Let's review the results of the night. Are drivers perhaps the most superstitious people on the planet? Perhaps. For example, Joey Jensen felt he had been getting a lot of bad draws and redraws, so he taped a “V2” over the top of his No. 30, hoping he could trick the computer that spits out the draws and redraws into thinking it wasn't him so he could get a better draw!

Folks, sometimes I just can't explain what I see and hear.

In a way it did work. He started in the front row of his heat but still redrew a seven for the Midwest Mod feature. But on a heavy track, with the power that Joey has in that strong Sower Power Ford, he had no problem coming from the fourth row to win the feature. He was up to third by the end of the first lap, which was slowed twice by grinding collisions that eliminated several cars, including Jorgensen's. After those yellows, track officials went to a single-file restart, which worked well in cutting down on the tangles, something I highly approve of. I’ve never been a fan of Delaware restarts.

Then it became tougher as he trailed Paul Ripley up until the halfway point of the race. Jensen tried repeatedly to get past Ripley but couldn't get by. However, one slip up in turn four just at the halfway point of the race gave Jensen his chance and he jumped at it. He took the lead and then pulled away for the win. Ripley held on for second while Mike Schnider, making his first run at Proctor this year, finished a strong third.

Curt Myers and Shawn McFadden put on a great battle for the Super Stock feature. McFadden and Myers went wheel to wheel, just inches from one another for several laps, but I don't think they touched once.

McFadden fought off the first challenge, Myers backed off slightly, and then took a different approach to his strategy. The second attempt worked as he took over the lead on lap 13 of the race. A late yellow gave Steve Stuart a chance at him but the hottest driver in the area lately just didn't have enough Sunday, and Myers drove home for the win. Stuart and McFadden followed.

The Modified feature got off to a shaky start with a grinder in turn four that eliminated three cars from the event. However, after that, they ran 18 clean laps to the checkered flag. For the longest time it appeared Neil Balduc was going to win another feature race, as he led from the start and continued to hold a nice-sized lead even at the halfway point.

However, once in lapped traffic he had problems as everyone was running the fast groove and he had trouble passing a tail-end car. Jody Bellefeuille, who has been white hot of late, caught Balduc and the battle was on. Bellefeuille couldn't pass Balduc but as they tried to get through the traffic, Balduc hesitated and as my mother used to tell me, he who hesitates is lost.

Bellefeuille drove under Balduc to take the lead on lap 14 and the issue was settled, as Bellefeuille then pulled away. Balduc was able to hold off a challenge from Blake Adams to finish second.

The Late Model feature was interesting and an interesting call by officials had a lot to do with the outcome. Ronnie Malecki was turned around before a lap was completed but that wasn't called. On the restart, Kyle Peterlin suddenly pulled up lame after he didn't take off with the rest of the pack.

Here's where it gets sticky; officials called back the start and gave Peterlin his second-row starting spot back. Jeff Massingill then led the first two laps before Peterlin got up on the cushion and blew past him for the lead. Peterlin then ran away with the race, building a lead of nearly a full straightaway. Massingill finished second and the KME battle for third went to Danny Vang over Harry Hanson.

Peterlin was clearly the fastest car on the track, but would he have won if he had to go to the back for the restart, as fans around me and myself thought he should have? We'll never know on that. He said he had trouble hearing his Raceceiver but the other 11 drivers on the track all took off out of turn four. Mark this win with an asterisk.

The Pure Stock feature also provided an excellent battle, with the top three in a tight pack with the other two in the top five close behind. Eric Crosby and Jake Smith were side by side for several laps, before Aaron Bernick drove around both on the top side of the track to take the win. They ran nonstop and it was Pure Stock racing at its best. Smith was able to get past Crosby and that gave him the track title.

The Hornets were a small field on Sunday but they also ran off a nonstop feature race. Spencer Smith has been trying to win a feature in the U.S. for the last couple of weeks and he has been close several times. Once again Sunday he led the first seven laps of the race before he was tracked down and passed by Tony Jenson, who has been on quite the roll of late as he races for a national title. They had a good battle but Jenson prevailed to take the win. Rookie driver Nathan Penney continues to improve and he finished a strong third.

All racing was complete by around 9 p.m. and the few of us who were left in the stands lumbered out to our vehicles with certain body parts not operating at full capacity. My first move was to fire up the vehicle, turn on the heated seat, and turn up the heat to about 80 degrees to try to thaw out!

All this in August! However, thanks to everyone at Proctor for putting on the show. They were kind of backed into a corner, as it wasn't nasty enough or raining to call the show, but it wasn't nice enough to produce a decent crowd of spectators. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Hopefully for their next race, the Silver 1000, they get a great weather night and pack the place.