[captionpix imgsrc=”http://netnewsledger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Photo-1.jpg” captiontext=”#17 Christopher Leek passed #21D Matt DePiero for the lead in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds. He claimed his third feature of the year at Emo and now ties Chuck Lambert for most feature wins in the season. Photo by Lucas Punkari” width=”620″ height=”413″]
EMO – Sports – Stock car racing got underway once again at the Emo Speedway after a long afternoon of working the track in during off and on rain showers from 4pm until 7pm. However, with hard work and dedication from all the volunteers and drivers, the races started only twenty minutes behind normal scheduled time. First up in Amsoil Dirt Track Racing Series action were the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, who were split into two heats with ten cars entering the class. In the first heat, veteran Dwayne Pihulak held onto the lead, with a hard charging Christopher Leek in second. Lambert rounded out third. In the second heat, John Hettinga, returning to the track for the first time in 2012 started mid pack, but moved to the lead for a win. Ken Perry and Anthony Visser were the second and third place finishers. The top three in each heat would move into a Dash for Cash sponsored by Bolsa Engines and Performance at the end of the night.
Next up were the Street Stocks heat race. Libby Wilson started fourth, but she moved her way past three cars to take the lead for her second heat race win of the year. The WISSOTA Modifieds were reduced to one heat, but top ten WISSOTA National Points driver, Justin Jones was on hand for the first time in four years. Jones started fifth, but made his way through the cars to take the win over Gavin Paull and Gary Wilson. It was an excited race as they went three wide on a couple of occasions.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature put rookie Chad Bogacki and Pihulak on the front row. After some jostling, Matt DePiero moved into the lead over Pihulak. The front three stayed about the same while fourth on back had plenty of shuffling. Perry moved into third and Hettinga into fourth. Meanwhile, Leek had started eighth and was moving up to fourth. The top three stayed the same as Leek moved past Hettinga for fourth. The race continued as DePiero, Pihulak and Perry strung out. Leek then moved past Perry for third. Pihulak and Leek fought for second for several laps until Pihulak gave room on the bottom frontstretch for Leek to get underneath. Leek was now on DePiero’s back bumper. A fight for the lead took place until Leek was able to get under the leader on the backstretch, but Depiero did a cross over in turn two. Coming out of the corner, Depiero made contact with the left rear panel of Leek and was unable to finish the race. Hettinga finished second with Perry rounding out the top three.
[captionpix imgsrc=”http://netnewsledger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Photo-2.jpg” captiontext=”#500 Libby Wilson claimed her first ever feature win and clean sweep the night in the Street Stocks. She continues to extend her point lead in the class. Photo by Lucas Punkari ” width=”620″ height=”413″]
In the Street Stocks, Wilson was determined to win the feature. After an exhilarating heat win, Wilson started in the fourth position. There was plenty of side by side racing in the class as Wilson started to pick off cars one by one. Gathering the lead, it seemed as though Wilson had it made as the car seemed to be running on rails. But with just a couple laps to go, last week’s feature winner, Chris Shine had moved from the fifth position to second and a challenge looked to be mounting. On the last lap, Shine was right behind her, but he ran out of laps as Wilson claimed her first ever feature win and clean sweep!
[captionpix imgsrc=”http://netnewsledger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Photo-3.jpg” captiontext=”#69 Justin Jones clean swept the WISSOTA Modifieds as he passed Gavin Paull halfway through the feature race. Photo by Lucas Punkari ” width=”620″ height=”413″]
The WISSOTA Modifieds feature came out next with Wilson and Glen Strachan on the front row. Paull moved into second right behind Wilson. Wilson held the lead for several laps but Paull made a pass on the inside of the front stretch. Soon after, Jones had made his way from fifth into the second spot and was catching up to the leader. Paull’s straightaway lead continued to shrink until Jones was on his back bumper. Paull started to push coming out of the corner, but Jones stayed behind him for a couple of laps on the bottom. After realizing that Jones would have to try another line to get by Paull, he took the high side of turn one and swung with his momentum to get under the leader. Once he cleared the lead on the back stretch, Jones never looked back and took home the checkered flag.
Racing resumes this Saturday night for Meet the Fair Queen Contestants! Current Point leaders are Christopher Leek in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, Denny Trimble in the WISSOTA Modifieds, and Libby/Tylar Wilson in the Street Stocks. For more information, check out www.borderlandracing.com or visit our Twitter and Facebook fan page.
SUMMARY
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature – Justin Jones, Gavin Paull, Gary Wilson, Denny Trimble, Steve Nordin, Glen Strachan, Tyler Brown, Lindsay Bourre
Heat – Jones, Paull, Wilson, Trimble, Strachan, Brown, Bourre, Nordin
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature – Christopher Leek, John Hettinga, Ken Perry, Dwayne Pihulak, Chuck Lambert, Anthony Visser, Cody Ossachuk, Brody Strachan, Chad Bogacki, Matt DePiero
Heat 1 – Pihulak, Leek, Lambert, DePiero, Ossachuk
Heat 2 – Hettinga, Perry, Visser, Bogacki, Strachan
Street Stocks
Feature – Libby Wilson, Chris Shine, Richard Visser, Kyle Godin, Wes Morriseau
Heat – Wilson, Godin, Visser, Shine, Morriseau