Lucas Punkari
Although he said he was going on very little sleep, Joey Galloway was all smiles in the pits Saturday night at the Emo Speedway.
Galloway, who grew up in Emo but now lives in Manor, Sask., was the man to beat in the WISSOTA Modifieds as he swept all three races on the night, and snapped defending division champion Gavin Paull’s feature win streak at four races.
“A couple of nights ago I was talking with Shawn Hnatuik on the phone and I said to him ‘Hey we should get your car out this weekend and run it,’” Galloway enthused.
“On Friday night we raced at Estevan (Saskatchewan) in a field of 35 cars and ended up fourth place in the feature, and then we came here tonight and had a really good run,” he smiled.
After winning the heat race and a special “dash for cash” event, Galloway narrowly avoided disaster at the start of the 20-lap main event, as he dodged a four car pileup in turns one and two that involved Denny Trimble, Ron Korpi, Glen Strachan and Steve Nordin.
“I had seen Denny spinning out in front of me, and I was right there as he losing control on the high side,” he recalled.
“I just kind of yanked the wheel to the left and I actually caught the inside of the tire at the bottom of turn two, but it was no big deal as there wasn’t any major damage or anything like that,” Galloway added.
On the ensuing restart, Galloway started up in the fourth position, but rocketed his way up the front of the field as he passed Matt Mutz heading into turn three to take over the lead.
“I knew that Gavin was right there with me on the restart, and he would probably be up high as he likes to run that groove,” he stressed.
“In turns one and two it was really slick getting in, but there was a strip of tack getting out of the corner, and if you hit it exactly right you get enough momentum heading down the back straightaway.
“I was able to keep my speed up because of that, and I was able to get into the first spot,” he added.
As the race wore on, Galloway found himself under attack by Paull for the top spot, but he was able to switch up his lines around the track to gain a comfortable cushion he would not relinquish.
“I knew it was getting slick going into the first two corners on the bottom of the track, and I was seeing that Gavin was starting to stick his nose up high,” he noted.
“I moved up high soon afterwards, and that allowed me to get my momentum back going again, so I guess it all worked out pretty good,” Galloway smiled.
As Galloway pulled away up front, Paull would end up falling back to third in the final laps of the race, as Dustin Wahl worked his way into the runner-up spot.
Strachan, who finished seventh in the main event, won the opening heat race on the night.
In the Midwest Modifieds, Christopher Leek rebounded from a hard wreck with Cody Ossachuk during the “dash for cash” to capture his second feature win of the season, which was a feat that he was trying to wrap his head around.
“I’m really excited that we were able to bounce back like this,” Leek enthused.
“We really weren’t sure if we were going to be able to start the feature, as the right rear suspension was damaged really bad after the accident with Cody.
“We managed to get the suspension fixed and we were just going to try and run around there to get a few points, but it ended up working pretty good on the track and things worked out for us,” he smiled.
Having been locked in a tight battle with heat race one and “dash for cash” winner Brady Caul for the second spot early in the race, Leek was able to make a picture perfect pass on heat race two victor Chuck Lambert in turns three and four to take over the lead, where he was able to split a pair of lapped cars in the process.
“I was a little worried about those lapped cars, as they were riding up in the high side of the track in the lane that I was fast in,” Leek recalled.
“That’s the thing though when you get into the lapped traffic, as you have to get into the right lane and make your way around them, but I was able to get between them and shoot around them and Chuck, and it all worked out,” he added.
Caul and Lambert would then duel for the runner-up spot for the rest of the race, with Caul taking the position on the final lap.
Finally, in the Street Stocks, Ron Westover bounced back from overheating issues that forced him into the pits during the heat race to capture the checkered flag in the 15-lap feature race.
“That’s something we have been fighting all year,” Westover said of his overheating issues.
“I didn’t even know if we were going to be able to run the feature, as I was on the verge of pulling off, but it all worked out in the end,” he added.
Early on, Westover laid back and watched as Richard Visser, Libby Wilson, and Wes Morriseau swapped sheet metal at the front of the field, before he worked his way into the lead on the high side.
“It was crazy out there,” Westover enthused.
“I decided to lay back and have things settle down up at the front a little bit, and that made the passing out there a little bit easier,” he added.
Kyle Godin finished an impressive second in his first night behind the wheel of a Street Stock, while Visser would cross the line in third place.
Racing will resume on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m., with the track holding their eighth-annual Midseason Shootout, and drivers in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and the WISSOTA Modifieds gunning for a spot in this year’s AMSOIL Race of Champions this September in Huron, SD.
