Rea takes checkered flag in dad’s memory

Somewhere Saturday night, Ed Rea was smiling down on the Emo Speedway with pride.
Rea’s son, Dan, paid a fitting tribute to his late father as the Devlin driver charged to victory in the feature race of the street stock class during last week’s Borderland Racing Association action.
Ed Rea—a long-time supporter of the Emo Speedway—passed away over the winter. He was such a fixture there that drivers and spectators acknowledged his loss with a moment of silence before the green flag dropped at the first racing night of the season.
The younger Rea, who had finished second in his heat earlier Saturday night, did his father proud by showing his on-track mettle in holding off Emo’s Anthony Visser and Wes Morriseau of Barwick to win the feature.
Ron Westover’s fourth-place finish in the feature was enough to push the Devlin driver and defending street stock champ to first overall in the standings—one point up on Emo’s Richard Visser and two ahead of Morriseau.
Meanwhile, Scott Greer took more than a month to get his car in race condition, but just one night to showcase his speedway skills.
The East St. Paul, Mn. native kicked off his season in fine style Saturday night by winning the feature race of the modified division.
After taking second in his heat, Greer left the field in his dust to take the checkered flag, with the Dryden duo of Kevin Randell and Vic Larson finishing second and third, respectively.
Larson’s result extended his lead atop the modified standings. He now sits with 207—10 ahead of second-place Jake Kamm of Dryden and 37 in front of third-place Randell.
Finally, Kyle Ridlon of Aurora, Mn., the defending mini-sprint champ, redeemed himself after being unable to compete in the previous week’s feature by winning both the heat and the feature Saturday night to get within shouting distance of division leader Ken Perry Sr. of Fort Frances.
Perry finished third behind Ridlon and his son, Kenny Perry Jr., in Saturday’s heat and feature races, but held on to a five-point lead (145-140) over Ridlon and 28 ahead of Perry Jr.
Here are the results from Saturday night’s races and the current points standings:
< *c>June 21 results
< *c>Mini-Sprints
•Heat #1—1. Kyle Ridlon (#15) 2. Kenny Perry Jr. (#77) 3. Ken Perry Sr. (2×4) 4. John Wightman (#26)
•Feature—1. Kyle Ridlon 2. Kenny Perry Jr. 3. Ken Perry Sr. 4. John Wightman
< •c>Streets
•Heat #1—1. Jeremy Simmons #72) 2. Dan Rea (#38) 3. Dirk Crans (#40) 4. Simon Crans (#09) 5. Bill Witherspoon (#3)
•Heat #2—Darien Trimble (#7) 2. Anthony Visser (#11) 3. Denny Trimble (#66X) 4. Chris Shine (#18) 5. John Bosma (#21B)
•Heat #3—1. Jeff Wickstrom (#17) 2. Wes Morriseau (#5) 3. Ron Westover (#47) 4. Richard Visser (#25)
•Feature—1. Dan Rea 2. Anthony Visser 3. Wes Morriseau 4. Ron Westover 5. Chris Shine 6. Darien Trimble 7. Richard Visser 8. Simon Crans 9. Jeremy Simmons 10. John Bosma 11. Denny Trimble
< *c>Modifieds
•Heat #1—1. Jamie Davis (#85) 2. Kevin Randell (#89) 3. Dan Galloway (#01) 4. James Simmons (#27) 5. Curtis Kamm (#8)
•Heat #2—1. Vic Larson (#91) 2. Scott Greer (#5G) 3. Ken Anderson (#9) 4. Jake Kamm (#88)
•Feature—1. Scott Greer 2. Kevin Randell 3. Vic Larson 4. Jamie Davis 5. Jake Kamm 6. Ken Anderson 7. Curtis Kamm 8. James Simmons 9. Dan Galloway
< *c>Standings
< *c>Mini-Sprints
1. Ken Perry Sr. (145) 2. Kyle Ridlon (140) 3. Kenny Perry Jr. (117) 4. Steve Ridlon (109) 5. John Wightman (98) 6. Sam Pelowski (50) 7. Gerald Halestad (50) 8. Jason Strom (48)
< *c>Streets
1. Ron Westover (205) 2. Richard Visser (204) 3. Wes Morriseau (203) 4. Anthony Visser (197) 5. Chris Shine (188) 6. Denny Trimble (187) 7. John Bosma (180) 8. Jeff Wickstrom (176) 9. Simon Crans (138) 10. Dan Rea (124) 11. Bill Witherspoon (122) 12. Dirk Crans (115) 13. Darien Trimble (94) 14. Jeremy Simmons (58) 15. Rob Ranttalo (48) 16. Zack Hasbargen (44) 17. Milton David, Jr. (42)
< *c>Modifieds
1. Vic Larson (207) 2. Jake Kamm (197) 3. Kevin Randell (170) 4. Jamie Davis (166) 5. Gavin Paull (153) 6. Dan Galloway (145) 7. Ken Anderson (100) 8. Curtis Kamm (92) 9. James Simmons (87) 10. Steve Arpin (56) 11. Scott Greer (54) 12. Kyle Gavel (46) 13. Mark Kangas (45) 14. Chuck Arpin (11)