141 Auto Sportsman feature winner Troy LaFave of Kingsford hoists a trophy and checkered flag after his July 12 victory at Norway Speedway. (Lia Olson photo)

Racing resumed last week at Norway Speedway with beautiful weather and a nice crowd after a rainout of the biggest event of the year. Joey Pontbriand of Norway continued his dominance not only in the Coca-Cola Late Model division but also the Auto Value Super Stock division, as he was filling in for defending track champion Ryan Wender.

Pontbriand got into an altercation with the No. 29 car of Payton Linder, but hung on to win his first feature of the year in that division. Finishing second was rookie Andy Secrist, who is currently 11 points ahead of Wender; third, Hermansville’s Dean Bellmore; fourth, Norway’s Tom Neeley, and, fifth, Pembine’s Anthony Schiefelbein.

Hermansville’s Dean Bellmore kept Joey Pontbriand from sweeping by winning the dash. Zach Hanson of Kingsford won the heat race.

In the Coca-Cola late models, Pontbriand won the dash and the feature event. Second in the feature was Kingsford’s Cory Cootware; third, Vulcan’s Dan Lindsley who also got fast qualifier at 14.762; fourth, Kingsford’s Scott Stanchina; and, fifth, Escanaba’s Joey Stankowicz. Mike Lantagne from Kingsford took first in the heat.

In the 141 Sportsman division, Kingsford’s Troy LaFave won his first feature event of the year by nipping Cole Neeley, the Norway rookie. Neely won his heat race and is going to be leaving for basic training in the military soon. Third was Kingsford’s Jon Maenpaa; fourth, current point leader Menominee’s Travis Hulsizer; and, fifth, Spread Eagle’s Todd Schmidt. GreenBay’s Nick Kroehler got fast time at 18.177. Taking first in the second heat was Niagara’s Brian Gilhuber.

In the Whelen Fab 4 division Faithorn’s Elliott Reid made a triumphant return to the Speedway taking first in the feature event. Reid is a former Speedway champion in the division and a standout in the ISS Enduro series, which incidentally will return to Norway Speedway on Aug. 23. Reid was followed by Escanaba’s Trever Cronick, Kingsford’s Zach Gazda, Vulcan’s Cody Gunville and Hermansville’s Brent Ayotte.

In the Spectator Eliminators, last year’s champion Paul Elertson of Green Bay, Wis., won his first feature event of the season.

This week has been deemed the rain date for the 47th-annual Stateline Challenge sponsored by Aurora Liquors and The U.P. State Credit Union. The grandstands open at 5 p.m. and racing begins at 7 tonight.

— Coca-Cola Late Models-Qualifying: Dan Lindsley 14.762. Fast Dash: 1st Joey Pontbriand, 2nd Cory Cootware. Heat 1: 1st Mike Lantagne, 2nd Ryan Manthei. Feature: 1st Joey Pontbriand, 2nd Cory Cootware, 3rd Dan Lindsley, 4th Scott Stanchina, 5th Joey Stankowicz, 6th Mike Lantagne, 7th Parker Summerfield, 8th Devon Wilcox, 9th John Ostermann, 10th Alyssa Larson, 11th Ryan Manthei, 12th Abi Yelle, 13th Bruce White.

— Auto Value Super Stocks-Qualifying: Joey Pontbriand 15.760. Fast Dash: 1st Dean Bellmore, 2nd Andy Secrist. Heat 1: 1st Zach Hanson, 2nd Tom Neeley. Feature: 1st Joey Pontbriand, 2nd Andy Secrist, 3rd Dean Bellmore, 4th Tom Neeley, 5th Anthony Schiefelbein, 6th Bode Johnson, 7th Zach Hanson, 8th Payton Linder, 9th Joe Ostermann, 10th Izayah Reed.

— 141 Auto Sportsman-Qualifying: Nick Kroehler 18.177. Heat 1: 1st Cole Neeley, 2nd Todd Schmidt. Heat 2: 1st Brian Gilhuber, 2nd BJ Schoneck. Feature: 1st Troy LaFave, 2nd Cole Neeley, 3rd Jon Maenpaa, 4th Travis Hulsizer, 5th Todd Schmidt, 6th Dan De Klyn, 7th Nick Kroehler, 8th Paul Holton, 9th Jeff Nooyen, 10th Emily Vincent, 11th Brian Gilhuber, 12th Carol Graves, 13th Stewart Hornick.

— Whelen Fab 4-Qualifying: Trever Cronick 17.743. Heat 1: 1st Chris Hallenbeck, 2nd Eli Whittkopf. Heat 2: 1st Zach Gazda, 2nd Trever Cronick. Feature: 1st Elliott Reid, 2nd Trever Cronick, 3rd Zach Gazda, 4th Cody Gunville, 5th Brent Ayotte, 6th Eli Whittkopf, 7th Andy Street, 8th Zach Hanson, 9th Mike Singletary, 10th Chase Nerat, 11th Chris Hallenbeck.