THUNDER BAY – Sports – After a two week hiatus due to wet weather, racing returned to the Emo Speedway in Amsoil Dirt Track Racing Series action. A great crowd was on hand as well as the highest car counts of the year so far as the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and WISSOTA Modifieds ended up with two heats in their classes. As an added bonus, the two WISSOTA classes were to compete in a Dash for Cash eight lap race where the top three from each heat would invert their heat finish and qualify for the dash. Harold McQuaker Enterprises was the main sponsor for the dashes.
But first, the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds started their heat one of the night with Chris Boroskae of Winnipeg, Manitoba on the pole with Bill Reimer of Vermillion Bay, Ontario. It was Brady Caul who pulled off the win however with Boroskae in second and Cody Ossachuk moved from fifth to third. In the second heat, Matt DePiero started on the pole with Chuck Lambert on the outside, but DePiero fell back to third by race end, while Lambert took the win with Christopher Leek finishing in second. In the Dash for Cash, Brady Caul took the win.
In the Street Stocks, Chris Shine and Libby Wilson started on the front row. The battle was fierce as Anthony Visser and Wilson battled it out side by side for much of the race. Coming to the finish line, it was Wilson to gather the win by just a bumper. Wes Morriseau rounded out the top three.
In the WISSOTA Modifieds, Glen Strachan gained the win as he passed Denny Trimble with just a few laps left. Dustin Wahl made a return to the speedway and finished third in the heat. In the second heat, hometown driver Joey Galloway, who now resides in Saskatchewan drove for car owner Shawn Hnatiuk for the night and claimed the second heat win. Gavin Paull and Ron Korpi finished off the top three. The winning didn’t stop for Galloway as he took home the extra cash in the dash a little later on.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds took to the track for their feature with the biggest turnout of 2012. Ken Perry and Brody Strachan started on the front row with nine other cars looking to see where they would have to go in order to get to the front. After a false start, Perry took the early lead until the caution came out for Strachan who started to explode in smoke, bringing about another restart. DePiero then took the lead for a couple laps with Caul and Leek moving into second and third spot until the last caution for the race. On the restart, DePiero was quickly challenged by Lambert, who then assumed the lead. Caul, DePiero and Leek started to battle it out for second, which then became a race between Caul and Leek. Leek moved into second spot a few laps later and started to eye down the leader of Lambert. It took several times around the track, but coming into some lapped traffic, Leek had the opportunity to split the lapping cars and thread himself into the lead. As the laps counted down, Leek continued to pull away, while Caul passed Lambert towards the end for second. This is Leek’s third win of the year and second at Emo.
In the Emo Street Stocks, another exciting battle was heating up. Morriseau and Shine started on the front row. Visser moved into the lead coming out of turn two and nudged up with Morriseau for a second. Coming into turn three, Wilson tried to make it three wide, but hit Visser, almost causing him to spin out. They kept it together however, and Wilson gained the lead. But Visser returned to the front by lap four and was looking like he would check out. However, Kyle Godin of Rainy River and Ron Westover were racing side by side and caught up to Wilson and passed her by lap six. It was then an interesting climb for the two cars as they started to reel in Visser corner by corner. Both cars swapped for second position, and as they got closer, it was Westover with the high line taking the lead. Meanwhile, Godin fought with Visser for a bit and came home with a second place podium finish in his rookie race.
The WISSOTA Modifieds were up next with Matt Mutz and Ron Korpi on the front row. The race was barely underway when Mutz lost control of his car and took it for a spin in turn four. A complete restart was in order, but that didn’t help either as Trimble got a little to sideways leaving nowhere for Korpi, Nordin, or Strachan to go. After the small pile up, all three cars were still able to continue. On the next green flag, Galloway passed Mutz on the back stretch for the lead. But Paull had other ideas as he blasted his way into second spot, catching up to the leader. Paull took the high line, while Galloway hung towards the middle of the track, but the yellow came out once again. On the green flag, Paull got up beside Galloway for a straightaway, but to no avail. He tried again and the two cars show some extreme patience as they jostled. Paull tried going low for a while, but the high line seemed to work best for him. The race went on for a long run but Galloway continued to have just enough for the lead. Paull had one more chance as they approached lap traffic, but even after a couple restarts at the end of the race, no one could pass the leader. Wahl passed Paull for second.
Thank you to all the volunteers, fans, sponsors, and drivers/pit crew for all their support for stock car racing at the Emo Speedway. Racing resumes this Saturday night with hot laps at 7pm and racing at 7:30pm. It is the 8th Annual Mid-season Shootout and the Amsoil Qualifiers! Check out www.borderlandracing.com for more information.
SUMMARY
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature – Christopher Leek, Brady Caul, Chuck Lambert, Matt DePiero, Ken Perry, Bill Reimer, Glenn Godin, Chad Bogacki, Barry Bremner, Brody Strachan, Chris Boroskae, Anthony Visser, Cody Osscahuk
Heat 1 – Caul, Boroskae, Ossachuk, Perry, Bogacki, Visser, Reimer
Heat 2 – Lambert, Leek, Depiero, Strachan, Bremner, Godin
Street Stocks
Feature – Ron Westover, Kyle Godin, Anthony Visser, Chris Shine, Wes Morriseau, Libby Wilson, Darien Trimble
Heat – Wilson, Visser, Morriseau, Shine, Godin, Westover, Trimble
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature – Joey Galloway, Dustin Wahl, Gavin Paull, Steve Nordin, Denny Trimble, Ron Korpi, Glen Strachan, Tyler Brown, Linday Bourre, Matt Mutz
Heat 1 – Strachan, Trimble, Wahl, Mutz, Brown
Heat 2 – Galloway, Paull, Korpi, Nordin, Bourre
Photos by Lucas Punkari
Article courtesy of Anthony Leek