Lucas Punkari
While he wants to win every time that he heads out the 3/8 mile dirt oval, Christopher Leek’s steady approach has been part of the reason why he’s become one of the top drivers at the Emo Speedway.
The 22-year-old from Emo, who is an electrical apprentice at Resolute Forest Products by day, took home the WISSOTA Midwest Modified title last season and is currently in the points lead once again as he holds a ten point cushion on his nearest rival, Cody Ossachuk.
“I would say being consistent is the number one thing that helped me to win the title last year, and it’s the same thing here again this year,” Leek explained.
“You don’t want to be sitting on the trailer and not racing, and even if you aren’t winning all the time, if you just keep getting top five finishes and pick up points along the way, you will be fine in the long run,” he added.
After four nights this season, Leek has already picked up a feature win to his name thanks to a strong performance on June 2, and has been up near the front of the pack in every race.
“So far the car has been running really good,” Leek, who drives a 2006 Harris chassis with a 355 Chevrolet motor under the hood, smiled.
“We probably could be sitting a little bit better in the standings if we didn’t have the transmission failure while running in second place during the first feature of the year.
“All winter long, we had been wondering if that transmission would hold up and we thought that we would be okay, but that wasn’t the case,” he added.
It’s been a steady rise to the top since Leek got his first taste of racing action five-and-a-half years ago, as he got the itch to get behind the wheel after working in the pits.
“I used to come out here and help out Ron Korpi on his Modified,” he recalled.
“I got the chance to drive his car and pack the track before the night started a couple of times, and I also got to race it in a heat race, which I thought was pretty fun.
“At that point, I thought that racing would be a fun thing to do, and I ended up buying Ron’s old car and ran about half the races for the 2007 season.
“I had always liked the Modifieds, and at that point the Midwest Modified class was just starting up here, so I ended up deciding to start racing there,” he added.
Since that time, Leek has watched as the Midwest Modified class has become arguably the most competitive division at the track, with seemingly every driver having a chance to win the feature on any given night.
“It’s always different from night to night in this class,” he stressed.
“Where you draw for the heat race is important as it affects where you lineup for the feature, and you never know what the track conditions are going to be like, so it’s always an educated guess as to what the track is going to do.
“To me, that’s what makes dirt track racing so challenging and interesting, as it’s not like asphalt racing where a certain amount of the conditions are controlled,” he reasoned.
While the class remains tough, Leek is one of a few drivers who have made it out to every race night over the last year-and-a-half, which has helped him out a lot in the standings.
“You have guys like (2010 class champion) Brady Caul who isn’t running on a regular basis like last year because of work, and there are guys like John Hettinga who aren’t running here at the moment,” Leek noted.
“But I can’t really worry about that at all, as all I can do is to just keep going out there and try to improve every time I race,” he added.
Leek is also traveling south of the border to gain experience behind the wheel during the season, as he runs on a regular basis in Grand Rapids on Thursday nights and in Bemidji on Sunday evenings.
“For me, track time is the most important thing in becoming a better driver,” Leek, who also ran at Brainerd earlier this season, stressed.
“When you are in a 16-car field down there, eight of those guys are very fast, plus they run all over the place and are national point contenders.
“By running with the fast group and trying to chase them down on a regular basis, you are going to keep on improving,” he added.
While his main goal is to hopefully repeat as Midwest Modified champion at his home track, Leek has a couple of other goals not just for this season, but also for the long term.
“This year I am hoping to finish high up in the national point standings for WISSOTA,” he explained.
“Right now we are 36th in standings after missing a few nights compared to some of the other top drivers because of rainouts, but we’re hoping to end the year just outside of the top ten.
“The main thing though is that I just want to keep doing well with this car, and maybe next year or some time after that we could possibly start looking at moving up into the Modifieds,” Leek added.
