Anthony Leek
The skies threatened rain almost everywhere in WISSOTA country on Saturday, but the Emo Speedway was able to get underway and finish without a drop falling from the sky.
Although it was cool, the winds were calm, keeping temperatures tolerable.
A fair-sized crowd, considering the weather, and 36 cars entered the facility for AMSOIL Dirt Track Racing Series action all evening.
Attendance was similar to the previous two weeks in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified division as a total of 16 cars were ordered into two heats of eight.
Heat #1 saw the return of former track champion John Hettinga on the front row beside veteran Ken Anderson. The race was quite exciting as Hettinga outmuscled Anderson for the win.
In Heat #2, Dwayne Pihulak continued his dominance in the heats as he flew past five cars to win over Kendal Gamsby and Christopher Leek.
However, it was the feature race that proved exciting. On the front row was long distance traveller Bill Reimer on the inside of town local Christopher Leek.
At the start, Reimer moved up high, causing Leek to move up the track to avoid a rub in between the two. A door was left open—and several cars slipped past the starters.
The race soon became a battle of the veterans as Anderson held the lead by about half-a-car length on Pihulak.
The race was close between the two of them, but there was some distance from second to third place, where Chuck Lambert and Gamsby struggled to catch up to the speed demons.
Pihulak was able to get beside Anderson a few times, but was unable to finish the job. Anderson crossed the line with the win, becoming the third different driver in as many weeks to capture the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature.
The WISSOTA Modifieds offered a fair share of entertainment, too. The 12 cars were split into two heats, with Brad Loveday winning the first one and Dwayne Pelepetz drove around the track at full speed to win the second.
In the feature, it was a Brad Loveday and Greg Ferris show, who proved during the entire race to be the fastest and the smoothest.
While it seemed many of the other Modifieds were falling off the track or at least having a tough time maintaining a solid fast groove, Loveday and Ferris made it look easy. The two cars pulled away, with Ferris trying to play catch up.
With one restart about halfway through the race, Ferris had his best chance to make a move on Loveday, but was not quick enough to gain any position.
The two drivers stayed about a car length or so apart, but Loveday remained alert and ran an almost perfect race. Neither driver missed a beat with the sheer speed of their cars getting the fans fired up.
Ferris tried his best using as much of the track as possible to find a faster groove, but could not find enough to beat Loveday.
The Street Stocks also had a high car count, with 12 cars appearing instead of last week’s five.
In the first heat, Scott Messner continued to dominate as Jeff Wickstrom moved through the field to finish second. In the second one, Don Bowman and Tylar Wilson struggled to gain a threshold on each other, but Bowman held on through the corners to win it.
The feature was a war of attrition as 11 started but only five would finish.
Due to the invert, Messner and Bowman started in seventh and eighth, respectively. But as the green flag waved, both started to make passes to the front.
Soon, there was a battle between Tylar Wilson and Messner, but bad luck plagued Wilson as his right rear axle broke right off and his tire flew across the track into a neighboring ditch, ending his night early.
After the restart, the track noticeably was getting faster with every lap and Messner was clear of traffic, with Bowman in second. The race was not over with surprises yet as rookie driver Linz Bourre lost some control of her car as a high-flying Tyler Wickstrom drove towards her on the backstretch.
Bourre could not hold on to the car and Wickstrom’s rear tire drove over Bourre’s, causing him to fly in the air sideways and roll over in dramatic fashion on the track.
Thankfully, as the ambulance rushed towards the damaged car, Wickstrom was able to get out on his own power and was checked by the paramedics.
Bourre finished her night, but found out later there was little damage to her car.
The rest of the race was history as Messner and Bowman pulled away from the field. Messner earned his second win of the season.
Racing action is on again this Saturday (June 13) at the Emo Speedway, weather permitting, with car rides during intermission!
Visit www.borderlandracing.com for more on events, ticket prices, and other up to date information.
Summary
WISSOTA
Modifieds
•Feature—1. Brad Loveday 2. Greg Ferris 3. Bill Witherspoon 4. Dwayne Pihulak 5. Brady Caul 6. Dwayne Peleptez 7. Ron Korpi 8. Bill Reimer 9. Gary Wilson 10. Ken Anderson 11. Rob Anderson 12. Glen Strachan
•Heat #1–1. Loveday 2. Wilson 3. Pihulak 4. Anderson 5. Strachan 6. Witherspoon
•Heat #2–1. Pelepetz 2. Ferris 3. Caul 4. Korpi 5. Reimer 6. Anderson
WISSOTA
Midwest Modifieds
•Feature—1. Ken Anderson 2. Dwayne Pihulak 3. Chuck Lambert 4. Kendal Gamsby 5. Brady Caul 6. Tridell Champlin 7. Bill Reimer 8. Christopher Leek 9. Steve Nordin 10. Matthew Mutz 11. Mike Wilson 12. Terry Martin 13. Rick Bourre 14. Anthony Visser 15. Andrew Trimble 16. John Hettinga
•Heat #1—1. Hettinga 2. Anderson 3. Lambert 4. Champlin 5. Nordin 6. Mutz 7. Martin 8. Visser
•Heat #2–1. Pihulak 2. Gamsby 3. Leek 4. Reimer 5. Caul 6. Wilson 7. Bourre 8. Trimble
Street Stocks
•Feature–1. Scott Messner 2. Don Bowman 3. Richard Visser 4. Chris Shine 5. Wes Morriseau 6. Trudy Shine 7. Jeff Wickstrom 8. Linz Bourre 9. Tylar Wilson 10. Daniel Hettinga 11. Tylar Wilson 12. Dean Martin
•Heat #1–1. Messner 2. J. Wickstrom 3. Visser 4. Martin 5. C. Shine 6. T. Wickstrom
•Heat #2–1. Bowman 2. Wilson 3. Morriseau 4. Bourre 5. T. Shine 6. Hettinga
