Anthony Leek
Racing action resumed once again at the Emo Speedway for Amsoil Dirt Track Racing Series Action.
With a slight chance of rain but beautiful temperatures the crowd, cars, and volunteers made it out to some incredible high speed action.
The track was tacky and fast with only a few bumps in places due to soft areas from the weeks of rainy weather.
With the surface starting to finally harden up from the drier weather, the track remained fairly smooth overall.
Thirteen cars in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were split into two heats.
In the first heat, Christopher Leek took the point over Kendal Gamsby and held him and John Hettinga off for his first heat win in his career.
In the second heat, Tylar Wilson drove the wheels off his car to come from fifth spot to win, while Steve Nordin and Matthew Mutz rounded out the top three.
The highest car count for a regular night in the Street Stocks this year appeared with a total of eleven cars split into two heats.
In the first heat, a clean and exciting battle took place between Ron Westover and Jeff Wickstrom.
The two battled side by side for several laps until Wickstrom’s car started to push in turn two causing him to fall off the track.
He had a hard time getting back on, and by that point he had lost too much ground to catch up.
Lindsay Bourre finished third.
In the second heat, Richard Visser returned to full composure by dominating the race.
Early in the race, Daniel Hettinga looked to be the guy to pull a lead, but he ended up spinning out after falling back to Visser.
Fresh this year, Carlee Bosma took second while Wes Morriseau finished third.
The WISSOTA Modifieds also had a good showing of cars with 14 appearing in the pits.
However, trouble for Tyler Brown and Dwayne Pihulak in hot laps led to only 12 cars being able to run the program.
In the first heat, Brad Loveday showed how it is done by winning by a large margin over Glen Strachan and Dwayne Pelepetz.
In the second heat, Gavin Paull came from the back to pass Mike Tiani and Ron Korpi for the win.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds started off great, with Matthew Mutz and Steve Nordin starting on the front row.
Early off the start, Nordin took and lead in turn one.
Mutz slid up the track with Nordin in three/four corner allowing Caul to sneak underneath and take the lead.
On the second lap, Ken Anderson tried sneaking by an already three wide situation with Mutz and Nordin on the outside of him, and T. Wilson on the inside. Some tire-rubbing ensued as smoke billowed from the cars.
Wilson was almost out of room and had to let off giving Anderson fourth spot.
You could see Mutz having a tight race car as he had a hard time holding it down in the corners.
The battle for second was on with Nordin, Anderson and Nordin fighting for position.
By lap four, Mutz had firmly taken second.
A light drizzle started to come down on the track, but the cars kept moving like nothing was happened.
But on lap six, Hettinga and Wilson tagged up on the back stretch and Wilson ended up sliding over the embankment coming to turn three.
The caution came out and the rain came down a bit harder.
After a 15-minute delay with the cars running the track back in, the cars restarted with Caul on the front with Nordin and Mutz in behind.
Caul pulled away with Nordin behind.
Meanwhile, Leek had made his way past Mutz and into third.
The top four stayed the same for several laps.
By lap 11, Leek had caught up to Nordin and after a couple laps of battling, took second spot.
The rest of the field remained further back with Gamsby moving up with every lap.
By lap 18, Gamsby, who start beside Leek in the eighth position had caught up and took second on the last lap.
Caul took the win by a straightaway and became the fifth different driver to win a feature event at the Emo Speedway for 2010.
Nordin and Mutz rounded out the top five.
The Street Stocks started out with Lindsay Bourre and Wes Morriseau starting on the front row.
It was three-wide racing in two rows in the first corner, with Daniel Hettinga settling out the lead on the first lap.
But coming to the second lap, Westover squeezed to the inside of Hettinga to take the point.
Wickstrom challenged Hettinga for third, but seemed to have a mechanical issue as he suddenly slid up the track while trying to pass.
Two laps later, trying to fight a tight race car, Wickstrom broke loose in three/four and spun out.
He kept it going, however, and re-entered the track in fifth.
It was all Westover by that point. Hettinga settled into second spot, while Visser cleaned up third.
Westover took his 99th feature win in a Street Stock, hoping to top the 100 mark next weekend.
He may have his hands full next week as more and more drivers will compete against him.
The WISSOTA Modifieds had a thrilling event.
On the front row, Bill Witherspoon took the pole with Loveday on the outside.
Coming to the first corner, Loveday took the lead, but there was a bullet further back that started eighth.
Paull was coming on strong and by the second lap, he was in fourth position.
But a small stack up on the backstretch led Paull to a tire going down.
Luckily, the caution came out due to a spin and he headed to the monorail to change a tire.
Making it out just on time and going to the back for the restart, Paull made a quick decision and started to run where not many others were.
The high side was working well and he used the time he had left to move into second spot when the caution came out just before the white flag.
A green-white-checkered ensued as Loveday was about to get his biggest challenge of the day.
Paull on the high side, with Loveday in the middle of the track, the white flag came out and second place could not quite get there.
One last chance, on the last corner, Loveday held on by the skin of his teeth to win the feature event.
After the race, Loveday stated that the engine was starting to act up and was glad the race was over.
Meanwhile, Paull was quoted as saying, “All we needed was one more lap.”
Jason Anderson, Bill Witherspoon, and Glen Strachan rounded out the top five.
Make sure to check out the Emo Speedway this Saturday night as racing resumes once again!
Hot Laps at 7pm and racing at 7:30pm. For more information, please visit www.borderlandracing.com for all your needs.
SUMMARY
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature – Brad Loveday, Gavin Paull, Jason Anderson, Bill Witherspoon, Glen Strachan, Gary Wilson, Denny Trimble, Ron Korpi, Joe Champlinski, Mike Tiani, Rick Bourre, Dwayne Pelepetz
Heat 1 – Loveday, Strachan, Pelepetz, Witherspoon, Chaplinski, Bourre
Heat 2 – Paull, Tiani, Korpi, Trimble, Anderson, Wilson
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature – Brady Caul, Kendal Gamsby, Christopher Leek, Steve Nordin, Matthew Mutz, Matt DePiero, John Hettinga, Ken Anderson, Tylar Wilson, Mike Wilson, Glen Godin, Anthony Visser, Cody Drennan
Heat 1 – Leek, Gamsby, Hettinga, Caul, DePiero, Godin, Drennan
Heat 2 – T. Wilson, Nordin, Mutz, Anderson, Visser, M. Wilson
Street Stocks
Feature – Ron Westover, Daniel Hettinga, Richard Visser, Terry Martin, Jeff Wickstrom, Carlee Bosma, Nick Leininger, Lindsay Bourre, Wes Morriseau, Libby Wilson, Darien Trimble
Heat 1 – Westover, Wickstrom, Bourre, Martin, Leininger, Trimble
Heat 2 – Visser, Bosma, Morriseau, Hettinga, Wilson
