Anthony Leek
The weather all last week dampened track preparation at the Emo Speedway leading up to race day.
Heavy rainfall on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday made the facility inaccessible until midday Saturday.
The grading of the track was barely finished Friday night when another rainstorm came in, which gave very little opportunity to have the softness of the clay out of the track in time.
As a result, a spongy track peeled quickly due to the excess water. The action, however, was exciting as ever with all three divisions taking it to the track.
The biggest car count for the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds so far this year was on hand. Kevin Monteith of Thunder Bay appeared for the first time this season, with Matt DePiero and Jeff Davis returning from a two-week and one-week hiatus, respectively.
A total of 18 cars in three heats started out the evening.
In the first one, Dwayne Pihulak continued his winning streak in the heats by outpacing Anthony Visser and Kendal Gamsby.
In the second heat, Chuck Lambert showed who was faster by passing Brady Caul for the win. Mike Wilson rounded out the top three.
Then in the final heat, Tridell Champlin beat a fast-looking Rick Bourre while Matthew Mutz finished in third.
Seventeen out of the 18 cars later started the Midwest Modified feature, with Andrew Trimble being a scratch due to a broken transmission.
With Bourre and Wilson starting on the front row, it proved to be an exciting race with only a few cautions.
The race was a 20-lapper, which gave many drivers who were at the back a chance to move up.
It proved to be a worthy cause for John Hettinga as he and Monteith were the hard chargers, both moving up eight spots (Hettinga would finish eighth while Monteith took second).
The eventual winner, Brady Caul, ran a solid race—becoming the fourth different driver to win in the biggest class at the Emo Speedway this season.
The Street Stocks, meanwhile, were bundled into one heat this weekend since the field was limited to nine cars.
Libby Wilson, subbing for her father, was to start on the front row, but asked to be moved to the back. As a result, Chris Shine and Don Bowman started on the front.
As the green flag waved, Scott Messner, who already has won twice this season, moved up the field from eighth. But he ran out of laps, giving Bowman the victory.
In the feature race, Daniel Hettinga and Shine started out the field. Other than one caution caused by Lindsay Bourre, most of the race was run under a green flag.
Messner made his way from fourth to win it, with Bowman taking second and Tylar Wilson rounding out the top three.
It was a good run for Hettinga, who finished fourth after three weeks of engine troubles.
Finally, the WISSOTA Modifieds had a couple new drivers, Mike Tiani and Dustin Wahl, on the scene Saturday night since Greenbush Race Park was not running Modifieds due to the NLRA Late Models.
In the first heat, Brad Loveday was flying high as he was more than a match for Bill Witherspoon and Tiani.
Then in the second heat, Greg Ferris passed four cars to beat Wahl to the checkered flag. Dwayne Pelepetz finished third.
In the feature, it was a war of attrition as only 12 of the 14 cars started—and then only six of them remained by the end of the race.
It was the Loveday and Ferris show coming up to lapped traffic. Loveday was a straightaway ahead over Ferris, but a slower Tiani was in the same groove as the leader.
With neither of them changing lines, Ferris quickly caught up to the leader.
Loveday knew he had to get moving and contact was made between him and Tiani, causing Tiani to spin, bringing out the caution flag.
Loveday was assessed for the caution due to the contact but instead of going to the back, he decided to go to the pits.
The race then carried on with Ferris in front and a charging Wahl in second. Wahl almost would get to Ferris during the final six laps, but with the track’s roughness causing problems, hitting the wrong bumps caused him to lose speed.
Ferris would win his third feature of the season.
Racing action is set once again for this Saturday (June 20), with kids’ tire races during intermission.
Visit www.borderlandracing.com for all the latest updates on results, standings, news, and more as the Emo Speedway celebrates its 55th anniversary this year.
SUMMARY
WISSOTA Modifieds
•Feature—1. Greg Ferris 2. Dustin Wahl 3. Kevin Monteith 4. Ron Korpi 5. Dwayne Pihulak 6. Brady Caul 7. Bill Reimer 8. Bill Witherspoon 9. Mike Tiani 10. Dwayne Pelepetz 11. Brad Loveday 12. Ken Anderson
•Heat #1—1. Loveday 2. Witherspoon 3. Tiani 4. Pihulak 5. Korpi 6. Caul 7. Anderson
•Heat #2–1. Ferris 2. Wahl 3. Pelepetz 4. Monteith 5. Reimer 6. Wilson 7. Strachan
WISSOTA
Midwest Modifieds
•Feature–1. Brady Caul 2. Kevin Monteith 3. Chuck Lambert 4. Tridell Champlin 5. Kendal Gamsby 6. Dwayne Pihulak 7. Anthony Visser 8. John Hettinga 9. Mike Wilson 10. Jeff Davis 11. Bill Reimer 12. Christopher Leek 13. Rick Bourre 14. Matt DePiero 15. Matthew Mutz 16. Ken Anderson 17. Steve Nordin
•Heat #1–1. Pihulak 2. Visser 3. Gamsby 4. Monteith 5. Davis
•Heat #2–1. Lambert 2. Caul 3. Wilson 4. Nordin 5. Reimer 6. Hettinga
•Heat #3–1. Champlin 2. Bourre 3. Mutz 4. Anderson 5. Leek 6. Trimble 7. DePiero
Street Stocks
•Feature–1. Scott Messner 2. Don Bowman 3. Tylar Wilson 4. Daniel Hettinga 5. Chris Shine 6. Richard Visser 7. Wes Morriseau 8. Charlene Nicolson 9. Lindsay Bourre
•Heat–1. Bowman 2. Messner 3. Hettinga 4. Visser 5. Shine 6. Morriseau 7. Nicolson 8. Bourre 9. L. Wilson
