Lucas Punkari
While the weather forecast had looked dire heading into the day, and rain had fallen elsewhere in Rainy River District, the season-opener of racing at the Emo Speedway went without a hitch Saturday night.
In the WISSOTA Modifieds division, defending champ Gavin Paull picked up right where he left off last season as he took the checkered flag in both the heat and feature races—despite having to make a switch under the hood following the previous week’s test-and-tune session.
“We had a piston burn down in practice last week in the brand new motor, so we put in the motor that we had from last season back in the car,” Paull noted.
“It was a long week to get everything ready again, but it all paid off as the car was fast and easy to drive tonight,” he smiled.
After an early-race battle for the lead with Denny Trimble, Paull cruised the rest of the way during the 20-lap main event, although he did suffer a near scare in the late going when the lapped car of division rookie Lindsay Bourre spun in front of him coming out of Turn 2.
“I’m not sure it was as close for me in the car as it was for everyone else watching,” Paull admitted.
“I had seen her losing it as she was coming out of the corner, and she had made a pretty good save herself, so I knew I had some time to get by her,” he added.
Trimble and Steve Nordin rounded out the top three in the feature. They were able to get by Gary Wilson on late restart after Wilson slid up the race track and out of the runner-up position.
Having won on opening night a year ago, Chuck Lambert turned the trick once again Saturday as he captured the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature after he worked his way through the field following an early-race spin in Turns 1 and 2.
“I was going in way too hard there early,” Lambert conceded.
“I thought that it was a little bit more tackier there than it was, but it turned out it was a lot more slimier,” he noted.
“After I spun twice there, I realized I had to do something different and once I got on top, away we went.”
Around the midway point, Lambert got around Matt DePiero to take over top spot. Then when defending division champ and heat winner Christopher Leek pulled into the pits with mechanical issues, Lambert pulled away from the field.
“It always feels nice to start off the year with a win,” smiled Lambert, who finished fourth in the points standings in 2011.
“Hopefully, we can keep this up a little bit better than we did last year, but time will tell.
“Every Saturday is a new race night, as one week you could be in victory lane and the next you could be going straight to the back of the field,” he reasoned.
Following Lambert to the line in the feature race were DePiero and Cody Ossachuk.
Rounding the weekly action were the Street Stocks, where Tylar Wilson, who will be splitting time behind the wheel with his daughter, Liberty, led wire-to-wire en route to the checkered flag.
“After I finished second in the heat race [behind Carlee Bosma], I made a few adjustments to tighten the car up a little bit,” Wilson noted.
“That seemed to make all the difference as I was able to pull away as soon as the green flag came out, and the car was working good,” he added.
But Wilson’s dominant lead was erased late in the race when the caution flag came out with only a few laps to go.
“I was kind of cranky, actually, when I saw the caution came out as I was hoping to lap everybody,” he laughed.
“But in the end, it all ended up working out all right and it was smooth sailing once again when we got back underway.”
The battle for the runner-up spot was a wild affair, though, as Ron Westover, Chris Shine, and Richard Visser traded paint on numerous occasions.
Westover took control of second place on the final lap while Visser slid off of the track in Turns 3 and 4 while coming to the line, allowing Shine to finish third.
Racing action is set to resume this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (weather permitting), with fans also having a chance to vote for the best-appearing car in all three divisions.
