Anthony Leek
Amsoil Dirt Track Racing Series action returned to the Emo Speedway for the seventh week in a row as double features were on tap due to the rain Aug. 6 when the Winnipeg Super Trucks were about to take their feature.
However, this past Saturday had some beautiful weather in store, with ample temperatures and a great crowd and car count on hand.
This was the prequel for the Emo Fall Fair Rea Memorial, which will be taking place this Friday and Saturday (Aug. 19-20).
First to take the field was the Seven Clans Casino WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature. A total of 12 cars took part in the race as Kendal Gamsby and Ken Perry started on the pole.
Perry grabbed the early lead while the rest of the field struggled to keep up. It didn’t take long, however, for John Hettinga to claim the lead, with Cody Ossachuk and Tylar Wilson on his back bumper.
The race went green to checker with plenty of jostling for positions. But the race for the lead was on as Wilson caught up to Hettinga and battled side by side for several laps before Hettinga gave up the lead.
Hettinga then had Ossachuk at the door and lost the position to him, as well
Ossachuk looked up and down and all around to find a hole in Wilson’s line, but was unable to make it beside Wilson enough to make a go at it.
This was Wilson’s second feature win of 2011.
In the Street Stocks, Jeff Wickstrom started fifth, moved up the field, and never looked back as he took his second feature win of 2011, as well.
But Don Bowman also had his night looking good as he started eighth and finished as the runner-up against Wickstrom. It would have been a heated battle, for sure, but Bowman ran out of laps and had to settle for second place.
In the Mel’s Well Drilling/Nestor Falls Marine WISSOTA Modifieds, Ward Imrie made a return from Winnipeg to run the double features and take a shot at breaking Gavin Paull’s long winning streak so far this season.
Tyler Brown and Gary Wilson started on the front row while Imrie and Paull and Imrie started fifth and seventh, respectively.
As the green flag waved, Imrie pushed hard to get a head start on Paull, who was had a more difficult time trying to get up to the lead.
By the third lap, Imrie had gone for the lead and it seemed as though the race was over. But Paull had other things in his mind as he pulled into second and was in the hunt for the lead.
After several laps of side-by-side action, Paull pulled into the lead with a few laps to go, taking his ninth feature win in a row.
The regular program then started with the Seven Clans Casino WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds coming back out in two heats.
In the first heat, Brady Caul started on the second row to win it while Wilson lost the pole en route to a second-place finish. Hettinga rounded out the top three after having started sixth.
In the second heat, Chuck Lambert captured the win, with Perry and DePiero rounding out the top three.
In the Street Stocks, a total of 10 cars were split in two heats, as well, with Darien Trimble starting on the pole to win, followed by Terry Martin and Lindsay Bourre rounding out the top three.
In the second heat, Bowman started third and claimed another heat win, with J. Wickstrom taking second and Richard Visser running third.
The WISSOTA Modifieds had the most of cars this weekend, with 12 divided into two heats.
In the first heat, Darian Boyce of Winnipeg took the low line and passed three cars for the win. Then in the second one, Imrie beat Paull by less than half-a-car length for his heat win.
In the Seven Clans Casino WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, the feature had Perry on the front row again while DePiero started to the outside of him.
The first dozen laps went fairly quickly, with Ossachuk taking an early lead while Hettinga once again battled for the win. There even was more movement throughout the field as Kendal Gamsby and Christopher Leek, who both had disappointing heats, had to start further back.
Several caution flags plagued the feature, compared to the make-up one, but most of them only involved single car spin-outs as the track had dried up considerably after so many heat races.
By the time the dust settled, Ossachuk had won his first-ever career feature race while Hettinga, who had a solid showing throughout the entire night, was runner-up.
Gamsby and Leek, who started ninth and 11th, respectively finished third and fourth, while DePiero wrapped up fifth place.
In the second Street Stock feature, Libby Wilson led the first half of the race, with Bourre right on her tail.
It almost seemed that Wilson was going to get her first win ever as she had a preferred line and was pulling the corners quite well. But Bourre wasn’t about to give up as lap traffic played into her favour about halfway through the race.
Splitting Trudy Shine, going low worked for Bourre, who claimed the lead on Lap 9.
Bowman, meanwhile, had moved his way from eighth to third and, after a lap of side-by-side racing with Wilson, took second due to a slip-up.
However, there weren’t enough laps for Bowman—forcing him to settle for second once again. Bourre took her second feature of 2011 and the second of her career.
Finally, the Nestor Falls Marine/Mel’s Well Drilling WISSOTA Modified feature saw Glen Strachan and Rick Bourre start on the front row.
Early on, Strachan racked up a good lead as Bourre had a bit more difficulty. Tyler Brown, meanwhile, held onto third place for a few laps as Imrie and Paull moved up to the lead positions.
The race was on once again for the two as Strachan also fought for the point.
A caution flag came out when Ron Korpi slowed on the frontstretch due to rear suspension issues that may have been caused by contact with another car.
On the restart, Imrie and Paull went back at it for a few laps until, while going on the high side, Paull lost it over the top—causing another caution.
Having been sent to the back, Paull had plenty of ground to make up. Imrie then had fellow driver Darian Boyce in second spot, who was working hard on the bottom.
But disaster also hit Boyce, who worked so hard keeping up but lost the car in Turn 4—forcing him to restart at the back, as well.
With only a few laps to go, Paull made it back to second but was unable to keep up. Taking the checkered flag, Imrie finally broke Paull’s nine-feature winning streak.
There will be double racing action at the Emo Speedway this weekend as the Emo Fall Fair Rea Memorial is coming up!
On both Friday and Saturday, hot laps will begin at 6 p.m., with the first race at 6:30 p.m.
Even more exciting is the Winnipeg Super Trucks returning to the Emo Speedway on Saturday night, presented by Sunset Country Ford.
