KAANTA WINS AMSOIL/TRI STAR CO SANCTION LATE MODEL EVENT
Rescheduled Springfest A Success
By Jerry O'Brien 8-23-05 Superior, WI

National WISSOTA Point leader John Kaanta of Elk Mound, Wisconsin won out in a hard fought duel with Jeff Provinzino to win the 40 lap feature at the Superior Speedway Tuesday night August 23rd. The win was worth $2000 for the win in the ground breaking co sanctioned event. It was an AMSOIL Late Model Series event as well as a WISSOTA Tri Star Engine Supply Challenge Series race. It was the next to last Challenge series event but only the fourth of six AMSOIL events.

The Challenge Series races use passing points to determine who will start at the front of the feature and Darin Meierotto of Ashland WI was the passing point leader and won the six lap pole dash which put him on inside of row one alongside Jeff Provinzino. At the green flag Meierotto bolted to the lead with Joel Cryderman up from row two to second. Then came Bill Byholm, Kaanta and Pat Doar. The second time around it was Provinzino who grabbed the lead from Meierotto with Cryderman, Byholm, Kaanta and Doar battling for position. Cryderman took second and Kaanta went to the high groove and Meierotto was shuffled back to fifth. Kaanta and Doar ganged up on Cryderman and went to second and third as a fast ten laps were completed. Provinzino's lead was diminished as he began to lap back markers. The skirmish intensified when Provinzino was held up by two cars racing for position letting Kaanta and Doar close right up on his bumper.

With 17 laps complete the first caution flag flew for Curt Gelling who spun in turn one. It was apparent, as the field lined up in double file order, that the high and middle groove were beginning to come in. Provinzino led the pack to the green followed by Kaanta, Doar who was now third, Cryderman and Lance Matthees in the top five. Kaanta went to the outside groove and had the lead at the line by a few feet and kept it by a nose as he and Provinzino went wheel to wheel for the lead. They ran side by side for a lap but Kaanta was able to edge ahead. Behind the leaders Doar and Cryderman also used the high side to their advantage. The second caution flag flew when Matthees had a mechanical breakdown. Kaanta lined up in the leader's position as he had the lead by about three feet on the last completed lap. While the front runners remained Kaanta, Provinzino, Doar and Cryderman, almost unnoticed, Todd Gehl had been working traffic masterfully and appeared in fifth after starting 14th. With 20 laps in and 20 to go Kaanta, Provinzino, Doar, Cryderman and Gehl were in the top five. Behind them was Byholm, Tom Nesbitt, Brady Smith (from 18th), Duane Mahder and Meierotto in the top ten. Kaanta led the field to the green flag but the caution lights blinked on quickly for debris on the track which turned out to be the entire driver's side door from Don Shaw's car. This time at the green flag Provinzino got a good jump to the inside but couldn't quite muster enough to close the deal for the pass. Doar, Gehl, Cryderman and Mahder were in a tight battle for third, but the fourth caution flag flew when Nesbitt, Darrell Nelson, and Rick Hanestad were involved in an incident in turn one. This caution period would prove to be a long one as there was some discussion as to whom was at fault.

While everyone was watching the battle up front, yet another driver was making a great run. Harry Hanson made his way toward the front from the 21st starting spot and was seventh at this point. The restart came with 14 laps remaining and the front runners were the same except that Gehl had managed to take fourth from Cryderman. Cryderman came back to take the spot again as Kaanta pulled away from Provinzino with five circuits remaining and Hanson worked his way to the fifth spot at the finish. Cryderman was slowly catching up to Doar but ran out of laps and settled for fourth, exactly where he started. With his win Kaanta closed back up slightly in his quest to regain the Challenge series point lead he had lost the previous week, and also moved up in the AMSOIL Series points.

Results: AMSOIL Series 2005 Proctor, MN. (39 Late Models)