Ferris finally wheels to fair victory

The monkey finally is off his back.
Greg Ferris has been driving the local Borderland Racing Association circuit at the Emo Speedway for about 24 years, but until this past weekend a win during the Rea Memorial fair races had eluded him.
Not anymore.
“Unbelievable,” Ferris said in describing Friday night’s feature race, which saw him move up from seventh to take the checkered flag.
“We’ve struggled every year of my life at the fair and finally all our hard work paid off, and it was just a great feeling,” he enthused.
Ferris started quickly in the final feature of the night under the lights, making up ground with a wise pre-race strategy that paid immediate dividends.
“The first few laps I figured I was going to try the bottom right away and it seemed to work,” Ferris recalled.
“I was getting a good bite around the corners, so I thought, ‘I’m just going to stay here’ and stay out of the ruts and the traffic, and next thing you know I was up to second place.
“I kept getting close to the leader at the bottom, but I just couldn’t pass him, so then I went to the top to try to reel him in and hoped he would make a mistake, and I was lucky enough to make a run off of turn two for the win,” he added.
“Jason [Anderson] is a great guy and a great racer, and I couldn’t ask for a cleaner racer to be there with at the end of the race.”
The Finland, Ont. native couldn’t carry over his strong performance to Saturday night’s feature race, however, finishing fifth and conceding the two-day WISSOTA Modifieds’ points title to Anderson, who finished first to go with his runner-up showing from the night before.
Ferris said the capacity crowd during the fair weekend is a real treat to race in front of­­, but stressed he can’t let it become a distraction while out on the track.
“They sometimes can turn it against you, because you try too hard and do things you shouldn’t be doing,” Ferris admitted. “But [Friday] I tried to just block the crowd out and just race my race and have fun.”
In related news, Ferris has taken over the overall Modifieds points lead at the Emo Speedway from fellow competitor Gavin Paull. He holds a slim six-point margin heading into this weekend’s race.