While the day was sunny, the skies darkened and the clouds thickened as evening drew closer. Then the rain came about 30 minutes prior to race time Saturday at the Emo Speedway.
But after 20 minutes of the light droplets, the clouds moved on and the sun returned. And the track was going to be a fast one by the end of the night.
The first feature of the night was the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, with John Hettinga and Ken Anderson starting on the front row.
Hettinga quickly pulled out in front while the slimy track wreaked havoc on the rest of the field, causing a few cars to slide off the edge of the corner.
The race continued, though, until two laps later when the caution flag came out due to a spin by Bill Witherspoon in Turn 2.
The re-start had Hettinga in front, followed by Anthony Visser and Ron Westover. The latter quickly challenged for second while Hettinga stayed in the lead.
Westover soon took over second spot, going inside of Visser in Turn 4, and was eyeing first place.
The following lap, Westover did just that—once again taking the inside line.
The action was just getting started as Hettinga, Visser, and Dan Schraeder began fighting for second while gaining ground on Westover. The track was definitely getting faster as the cars clumped together for the lead.
Westover persevered, however, and soon pulled away from the cars once again.
The caution flag was brought out a few laps later for a spin by Ken Perry. The whole field was moved up behind Westover as Hettinga was given one last chance to catch him.
Schraeder moved up beside Hettinga as they both sat right behind Westover. The cars went three wide into the turns, but neither of the two drivers could maintain any sort of lead.
On the final lap, Hettinga made one last attempt on the high side, but was unable to overcome the leader.
The Street Stock feature was not as eventful but was quickly completed.
Chris Shine and John Bosma started on the front row while current points leader, Gary Grimes, began in the second row.
Right off the start, Grimes took advantage of Shine and passed for the lead, with Bosma following and Jeff Wickstrom holding third. But Wickstrom soon overdrove the corner and fell back to sixth.
Meanwhile, Grimes had created a sizable lead on Bosma, who was having overheating problems. Grimes was soon uncatchable.
Andrew Trimble’s car blew up halfway through the race, causing the red flag to be waved. On the restart, Mathew Gamsby challenged Bosma for second, as Grimes pulled away from the field once again.
Wickstrom pushed Bosma out of the way for third, but he fell off the track a few laps later—opening the door for Bosma to get the spot back.
The Modified feature showed how much the track had sped up. Gary Wilson and Ken Anderson, two veterans of the Emo Speedway, started on the front row.
The wave of the green flag had Wilson pulling out for the lead while Anderson fell back. Joey Galloway and Curtis Kamm fought for second, and pulled away from the remaining 11 cars.
The front five cars remained relatively unchanged until a caution involving three cars was brought out.
The subsequent restart put Wilson, Galloway, and Kamm closely packed for the green flag, with Greg Ferris hoping to gain some ground. Galloway soon took the inside edge on Wilson as Ferris tried to get under Kamm for third.
Wilson lost the car a bit in Turn 4, giving Galloway the chance to run in front. At the same time, Kamm and Ferris tried to push under Wilson, as well, with Kamm being successful a couple of laps later.
Kamm tried the inside on Galloway, gaining ground through most of the corner, but then lost it on the exit.
Ferris then began to march to the front, passing Kamm towards the end of the race, but unfortunately he ran out of laps to mount a challenge.
< *c>Summary
< *c>WISSOTA
< *c>Midwest Modifieds
•Feature—1. Ron Westover 2. John Hettinga 3. Dan Schraeder
•Heat 1—1. Hughes
•Heat 2—1. Schraeder
< *c>WISSOTA Modifieds
•Feature—1. Joey Galloway 2. Greg Ferris 3. Curtis Kamm
•Heat 1—1. C. Kamm
•Heat 2—1. Ferris
•Heat 3—1. Paull
< *c>Street Stocks
•Feature—1. Gary Grimes 2. Mathew Gamsby 3. John Bosma
•Heat 1—1. Grimes
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
