Anthony Leek
After a one-week hiatus due to inclement weather, stock car racing action resumed Saturday night at the Emo Speedway for Amsoil Dirt Track Series action in three classes.
The Township of Emo also had its Canada Day cake on hand during the program and a fireworks display followed the completion of the night’s show.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds continued to have a high car count, with 17 cars entering the field, including new rookie Dale Faragher.
Faragher has been out of the racing scene for about 14 years and used to run Thunder Stock and Street Stock in the mid-1990s.
Sporting a smart yellow car, Faragher started at the back of his heat to try and get the feel of his new ride.
In the WISSOTA Modifieds, Denny Trimble started his first night at the Emo Speedway. However, several setbacks removed him from the competition for much of the evening.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds started out the night in two heats. Tridell Champlin ran a nice line throughout the first heat to take the win away from Anthony Visser.
Kendal Gamsby finished in third spot.
In the second heat, Matthew Mutz showed some true speed and agility with his win over Bill Reimer and Matt DePiero.
But the feature was a completely different beast from the heats. The first few laps went fairly well, but coming out of turn two, rookie Steve Nordin got loose and went sideways.
As Nordin went sideways, Reimer was tagged in the side—causing him to spin and result in bad side damage.
Andrew Trimble, who was a little bit behind the initial accident, had no room and cranked the steering wheel hard to lighten the impact on his right side. However, the hit had enough impact to roll him onto his roof.
Reimer ended up with two flat tires and tin damage, with Nordin also finished for the night.
The action wasn’t over yet! While fighting for the lead, Mutz tried to squeeze himself on the inside of Champlin but tagged his front right on the leader and spun himself out.
Luckily, the rest of the field avoided him, but Mutz was sent to the back for causing the caution.
After some cars had mechanical problems, about 11 remained.
Gamsby had a flat tire, and was told repeatedly by the officials about it. However, Gamsby refused to go to the pits to change it. The flag went green and after half-a-lap, Gamsby was noticeably off the pace.
On the back stretch, Mutz was quickly catching up to Gamsby, with Faragher just behind him. Mutz had to make a quick move around Gamsby, but was slowed down and then hit by Faragher.
The two of them went off the track and Mutz, in an uncontrollable slide, rolled over about three times.
Fortunately, both drivers were okay.
The remaining eight cars finished the feature, with Champlin becoming the first repeat winner of the season.
Chuck Lambert was a close second. Anthony Visser had a solid run, as well, finishing third.
The Street Stocks had only seven cars in their heat, with Scott Messner taking the win over second place Chris Shine.
However, engine problems forced Messner to finish the night without starting the feature.
Due to the DNS, Messner forfeited the points lead to Tylar Wilson, with Richard Visser close in second spot.
Messner now moves to third 10 points behind.
In the feature race, Wilson started from fifth to finish the race with the win, beating out Shine and Visser.
The WISSOTA Modifieds, meanwhile, continue to see Greg Ferris dominate the season.
A total of 12 Modifieds were on hand for the races, split into two heats.
In the first heat, Ferris beat Gary Wilson and DePiero to the line while Glen Strachan won the second heat over a fast-looking Ron Korpi and Rob Anderson.
The feature was exciting even though it was a bit spread apart. And even though Ferris cleared much of the field after starting eighth, there was some good battling between Korpi, Bill Witherspoon, and some fast cars such as Anderson and Dwayne Pelepetz.
The race went green to the checkered flag, with Korpi finishing in second and Witherspoon third.
Racing action resumes this Saturday (July 11) with the fifth-annual Midseason Shootout!
Check out www.borderlandracing.com for the rest of the season’s schedule, more information on the 55th anniversary of the Emo Speedway, as well as other track information.
Summary
WISSOTA
Modifieds
•Feature—1. Greg Ferris 2. Ron Korpi 3. Bill Witherspoon 4. Dwayne Pelepetz 5. Glen Strachan 6. Rob Anderson 7. Gary Wilson 8. Ken Anderson 9. Denny Trimble 10. Dwayne Pihulak 11. Matt DePiero
•Heat #1–1. Ferris 2. Wilson 3. DePiero 4. Reimer 5. Pihulak
•Heat #2–1. Strachan 2. Korpi 3. Anderson 4. Witherspoon 5. Pelepetz 6. Trimble 7. Anderson
WISSOTA
Midwest Modifieds
•Feature—1. Tridell Champlin 2. Chuck Lambert 3. Anthony Visser 4. Jeff Davis 5. Ken Anderson 6. Christopher Leek 7. Mike Wilson 8. Rick Bourre 9. Dale Faragher 10. Matthew Mutz 11. Kendal Gamsby 12. Terry Martin 13. Matt DePiero 14. Steve Nordin 15. Andrew Trimble 16. Bill Reimer 17. Dwayne Pihulak
•Heat 1—1. Champlin 2. Visser 3. Gamsby 4. Lambert 5. Anderson 6. Davis 7. Faragher 8. Nordin 9. Pihulak
•Heat 2–1. Mutz 2. Reimer 3. DePiero 4. Leek 5. Wilson 6. Bourre 7. Trimble 8. Martin
Street Stocks
•Feature–1. Tylar Wilson 2. Chris Shine 3. Richard Visser 4. Charlene Nicolson 5. Lindsay Bourre
•Heat–1. Scott Messner 2. Shine 3. Nicolson 4. Visser 5. Bourre 6. Wilson
