Lambert wins thriller at Speedway

With clouds looking somewhat threatening and humid weather, the races at Emo Speedway were still able to get underway at the scheduled time. Two drivers from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Scott Bruce and Rob Ranttalo attended the night’s events.
In the WISSOTA Midwest Modified heat races, Tridell Champlin of Deer River, Mn. and Dwayne Pihulak of Crozier, Ont. were the eventual winners.
In the Street Stocks, Bemidji native Scott Messner held off Terry Martin of Emo in the nine car heat. In the WISSOTA Modifieds, Glen Strachan won the first heat with Gavin Paull adding another win to the record books.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature proved to be one of the most exciting events of the evening. Chuck Lambert started on the pole. Off the start, Lambert held the lead off some tough competition. A slip up by him about halfway through the race had Champlin, Pihulak, and Kendal Gamsby on his back bumper.
The cars went almost four wide as Lambert continued to maintain the lead by a small margin. Some rubbing occurred between the drivers as the tightness of the race became apparent.
Coming into turn one on the last lap, Anthony Visser came out of nowhere to try and scoop the almost three wide race for the lead.
However, Visser was blocked by Lambert who had been making his car as wide as possible. He would hold off Visser for the second win of his career.
In the Street Stocks, Terry Martin took the early lead and tried to hold off a charging Don Bowman and Scott Messner. There was also some drama as points leader Tylar Wilson lost the left rear wheel coming into turn one.
Other excitement involved Bowman hitting Rick Bourre in turn three and four. After one last caution, Martin led off Messner for the restart. Messner made a quick pass on Martin for first.
Approaching lapped traffic, Martin was within a grasp of the lead again but lost control of the car and was passed by Bowman. Messner took his second win of the season at Emo.
In the WISSOTA Modifieds, it was another case of repeat winning for Gavin Paull. Due to his high point average, Paull was forced to line up furthest back of the qualifying cars. He remained out of the picture throughout the beginning of the race where Chad Jonson was the lonely leader. Greg Ferris was placing around second, with Glen Strachan and Dwayne Pelepetz keeping a watchful eye. After a few cautions, Paull was in the mix as well.
It wasn’t long until he was in the lead over revenge seeking Glen Strachan. Strachan tried his best to mount a challenge, but Paull was consistent enough to stay ahead. The battles further back were very exciting, as Pelepetz, Ferris, and Jonson all battled for spots.
This Saturday (July 12) is the fourth annual mid-season shoot-out with “Driver Introduction Night.”
Full results were as follows:
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature—Gavin Paull, Glen Strachan, Dwayne Pelepetz, Greg Ferris, Chad Jonson, Dwayne Pihulak, Brian Nelson, Bill Witherspoon, Brady Caul, Ron Korpi, and Matt DePiero
Heat 1—Strachan, Ferris, Pelepetz, Witherspoon, Anderson, Pihulak, and DePiero
Heat 2—Paull, Jonson, Korpi, Caul, Nelson, and Trimble
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature—Chuck Lambert, Anthony Visser, Kendal Gamsby, Tridell Champlin, Dwayne Pihulak, Rob Ranttalo, Scott Bruce, Ken Perry, Brady Caul, Christopher Leek, Ken Anderson, Matt DePiero, Andrew Trimble, and Matthew Mutz
Heat 1—Champlin, Caul, Visser, Anderon, Ranttalo, Perry, and DePiero
Heat 2—Pihulak, Gamsby, Lambert, Mutz, Bruce, Leek, and Trimble