After 2 weeks of rain dampening the racing action, the sun stayed out and the weekend warriors were able to take to the track and their restlessness to race was visible from the drop of the first green flag. With the Emo Speedway’s night of racing coming a night early and many driver’s planning to carry on to the Lake of the Woods Speedway, the racing was clean all night but that didn’t stop drivers from making the most of what opportunities were presented to them. With only five nights of racing action left, be sure to come out and cheer on your favourite driver before time runs out in the 2022 season. As a special treat for the rest of the season, any race fan 10 and under who wants to celebrate their birthday at the race track can contact the track through Facebook and receive a tour of the pits during intermission, the busiest time of the night for racers, as well as meet their favourite driver!
As the first heat race of the Emo Streets Stocks took to the track the anticipation of racing again was evident with the #3X of Jesse Thompson and #24T of Lyle Thompson, who started on the front row together, began knocking doors together through the first turn which gave the #33 of Garett Gamsby an opportunity to pass both cars down the backstretch and gain the lead. As the laps continued Jesse was able to get by Lyle which left Lyle in the jaws of the #55 of Tylar Wilson who was able to make a little room underneath and quickly work his way past. With only a few laps left the #38 of Steve Bruyere went for a ride as he jumped the cushion in turn 3 and spun over the banking of the track, on the restart Gamsby was able to hold the field off for the victory. In the second heat race the #54X of A.J. Kellar made a three wide move for first place between the #18 of Abe Germain and the #24 of Andrew Piilo, and as soon as the clean air was there Kellar was able to run for an easy heat race win, and by the midway point both Germain and Piilo had built comfortable leads for 2nd and 3rd. In the feature race Germain did his best to hold off all challengers but as the laps wore on, the strong cars of Kellar, Gamsby, Pillo, and Wilson were able to work their ways up slowly but surely through the field, with all drivers having started 5th or worse. By the midway point of the race Gamsby had found his way to the lead and was showing all drivers the fastest way around the track. Germain was able to hold onto a 5th place finish holding the veteran racer Wilson off until the last few laps.
Top 3
- #33 Garett Gamsby
- #54X A.J. Kellar
- #24 Andrew Piilo
In the first heat race of the Wissota Midwest Modifieds the strongest cars of the night showed what they had to offer early. As the green flag dropped the #4B of Brandon Rehill was able to make the most of the start and jump from fifth to third, where he was able to start slowly working on the #14C of Cody Ossachuk and the #16 of Garrett Paull. As the laps clicked by the field had begun to spread out, but that didn’t slow down the charge of Rehill who snuck past Ossachuk, and Paull followed through for a second place finish. In the second heat race the eventual feature race front runners were again with the #85 of Jamie Davis and the #59X of James Lambert fighting for the lead throughout the whole race. The only caution of the race fell early as the #3X of Jesse Thompson slipped off the backstretch early in the race. As the racing resumed the field began to spread out leading to Davis taking the victory. As the cars took to the track for the feature race the #14 of Edward Bell sat on pole and was able to turn that into his first top five of the season. Quickly Davis began to work his way forward through the field but impeding his progress was the first yellow of the race for two cars having spun in the middle of turns three and four. As the old adage says, cautions breed cautions and within a few laps four more yellows came for both single and multi-car spins in what became a treacherous turn three and four. Through the cautions Rehill began to work his way into the top three where he had to battle until the bitter end with Lambert and Davis, with Davis taking the victory for the evening. Farther back in the field after having an early spin the #3X of Jesse Thompson who was pulling double duty this weekend , was able to fight his way back into the top 10.
Top 3
- #85 Jamie Davis
- #4B Brandon Rehill
- #59X James Lambert
As the Wissota Modifieds took to the track the #66X of Denny Trimble and the #44 of Tyler Brown were able to put their good starting positions to good use as they were able to take an early lead. However within a few laps the #88 of Tanner Williamson was able to make his way from the back of the pack to the front and make the race for first a three-way battle with Trimble taking his first win of the season. Farther back in the pack the #85 of Jeff Davis and the #12P of Brandon Pelepetz made contact late in the race, but both drivers were able to continue without a caution but relegated to the back of the pack. In the second heat race some bad draws for starting spots lead to great racing as the #99 of Brody Strachan and the #21 of Matt DePiero had to race their way through the whole field. The #12 of Tony Caissie was able hold off all challengers until the last couple laps where while trying to pass lap traffic, left an opening for Strachan on the high side, where Strachan was able to get by and hold the lead for the heat race win. The feature race started with some drama as the heat race winner Trimble was not able to start the feature. With the field re-racked Caissie was able to get a good start and begin fight T. Brown for the top spot, with Caissie taking the lead and holding the field at bay for a few laps. As Caissie and T. Brown battled it gave Williamson and the #4JR of Cameron Brown a chance to get into the mix for first place. Within a few laps C. Brown was able to hold a pretty wheel and work his way to the lead that he was able to maintain until the finish. At the midway point of the race a caution almost occurred as the #06 of Mike Wilson and the #15R of Raice Westover made contact, Raice unfortunately had to pull off to the pits while Wilson was able to finish in the 9th position on track.
Top 3
- #4JR Cameron Brown
- #88 Tanner Williamson
- #12 Tony Caissie
The Borderland Racing Association would like to say thank you to this week’s sponsor New Gold and all of the other sponsors who help the speedway operational. The Borderland Racing Association would like to also say thank you to all of the fans who were able to join in on the action Saturday night and to any other fans out there, if it wasn’t for you, there would be no show for the drivers to put on! Finally thank you to all the volunteers for their hard work all week long to make sure the track is ready for the fans and drivers. We will be back next Saturday night August 6 with hot laps at 7 p.m. and racing at 7:30 p.m.