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A big weekend of Challenge Series racing begins at Proctor Thursday, then rolls into Grand Rapids and concludes with two heavy hitter shows at Hibbing
The 2024 edition of the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series powered by Momentum Truck Group, Freightliner, and Western Star rolls into a busy Labor Day weekend with four events. The series begins at Proctor Speedway in Proctor, MN on Thursday night as part of the 52nd annual Silver 1000, and then heads to Grand Rapids Speedway in Grand Rapids, MN on Friday night for the 30th annual WISSOTA Classic. The series then moves to Hibbing Raceway in Hibbing, MN for both Saturday and Sunday nights, as part of the traditional 46th annual Labor Day Shootout weekend.
Proctor has hosted nine previous Challenge Series events, with Darrell Nelson as the only driver to ever repeat as a series winner in Proctor thus far. Steve Laursen (2000), AJ Diemel (2006), Darrell Nelson (2016 and 2023), James Giossi (2018), Pat Doar (2019), Travis Budisalovich (2021) and Jimmy Mars (2022), and Tyler Peterson (2024) have all picked up series victories at “The Rock” heading into this year’s Silver.
Grand Rapids has hosted four prior series events, with Jeff Provinzino winning twice during back-to-back years in 2011 and 2012, AJ Diemel also racing to a win in 2019, and Jeff Massingill winning a thriller at last year’s WISSOTA Classic.
Hibbing is only one of four tracks that has hosted 20 or more series events, hosting 22 prior Challenge Series stops. Pat Doar topped the win list with four wins in 2008, 2010, 2018 and 2019, with Kyle Peterlin winning three times in 2018, 2019 and earlier this year. Darrell Nelson and Kyle Peterlin are the only other multi-time winners, with Nelson winning in 2021 and 2022 and Peterlin winning both nights of last year’s Labor Day Shootout. AJ Diemel (2006), Steve Vesel (2007), Gregg Hill (2009), Tommy Waseleski Jr. (2011), Justin Fegers (2012), Harry Hanson (2016), Jake Redetzke (2016), Jeff Provinzino (2017), John Kaanta (2017), Jay Kintner (2021) and Travis Budisalovich (2022) have also picked up wins along the way.
Cole Searing leads the current series point standings heading into the weekend by a slim six points over Tyler Peterson, with five events remaining on the schedule. Shane Sabraski is third, Jeff Provinzino is fourth and Ryan Mikkelson rounds out the top five in the current standings.
Racing is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and at 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday nights. All four events will be livestreamed on www.WISSOTA.tv for those unable to be at the track in person to enjoy the action.
For more information, please log on to www.WissotaChallengeSeries.com.