Lucas Punkari
Although his Street Stock machine has been at the top of the class so far this season at the Emo Speedway, Ron Westover admitted luck may have been on his side this past Saturday night.
The veteran driver started on the outside of the front row for the 15-lap feature thanks to the luck of the draw, then pulled away from Kendal Gamsby and Jeff Wickstrom to collect his third-straight feature win of the 2013 season.
“I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t started on the front row due to the inversion, I would not have been able to win that race,” Westover conceded.
“The car counts here are increasing and the competition is getting stronger, so it’s going to be tough to keep on winning,” he noted.
The growing strength of the class was evident during the heat as Wickstrom pulled away to take the victory while Westover came out on the losing end of a door-to-door battle with Gamsby for the runner-up position.
“I was just trying to take it smooth and I was trying not to wreck anything in that race,” Westover recalled.
“I was focusing on not wearing out my right rear tire more than anything, and I was trying not to pitch it sideways by hitting ruts and what-not,” he explained.
“I knew that both Jeff and Kendal were pretty fast out there, so I was trying not to push the issue.”
After using the outside line to get around Chris Shine at the start of the feature, Westover had smooth sailing for the rest of the race as he cruised to another feature triumph.
“The car was running about the same in that race as it was in the heat race,” he noted.
“When you hit those rough patches, the car would really pitch sideways, so I was more or less trying to take it easy.
“I was willing to take a third or a fourth in that race, and it just happened to work out in my favour,” Westover added.
In the WISSOTA Modifieds, Gavin Paull’s last-minute decision to drive out to the track paid off as he won both the heat and then his second-straight feature.
“Overall, the car has been running great so far,” Paull enthused.
“Jamie Davis has been helping me out with the front end, and it’s been running nice and fast,” he added.
“We’ll see what happens this week when I run three nights in a row in Grand Rapids, Superior, and Hibbing.”
Paull made an impressive move to take the lead at the start of the feature, making a daring four-wide pass down the backstretch before moving past Ron Korpi for top spot as they started the second lap of the 20-lap affair.
“I was hoping that no one was going to go down there as it was still kind of dusty and slippery,” Paull recalled.
“When I shot down to the inside, Gary Wilson got a little push there and moved up the track, and I felt that was my chance to get to the front,” he remarked.
While he dominated the race, Paull did have to withstand the challenges of his fellow drivers on a late restart after the caution flag came out on the final lap.
Even though the entire field was on his rear bumper, Paull was able to pull away as soon as the green flag dropped—taking the win over Glen Strachan and Gary Wilson.
“I just thought that if I stayed in the middle on the restart, no one was going to pass me up on the top because they would get up in the marbles,” he explained.
The reigning WISSOTA Modified track champ now is preparing to run three races in three nights as part of the Advantage RV Modified Tour, with the first event taking place tomorrow evening in Grand Rapids.
“There’s probably going to be about 40 cars a night, so I have to qualify through the heat races,” Paull noted.
“I’ll definitely have to giddy up in order to do well there,” he stressed.
Finally in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, Christopher Leek earned his second-straight feature win after taking the lead from Brady Caul near the midway point of the race.
He then cruised to the checkered flag over Chuck Lambert and Kenny Perry.
Leek also won the first heat of the night while Tylar Wilson held off Lambert in the other one.
Racing is slated to resume this Saturday at the Emo Speedway (weather permitting), with a special ladies’ “Powder Puff” race taking place after the features.
Hot laps begin at 7 p.m., with the first heat getting underway at 7:30.
