Westover repeats as streets champ

Ron Westover spent the whole season honouring a racing colleague—and ended the year with a fitting tribute.
It would be hard to find too many people not at least partially celebrating Westover’s repeat as overall champion of the Street Stock division for the second-straight year as the Borderland Racing Association’s competitive season came to an end Aug. 23 at the Emo Speedway.
That’s because the Devlin racer performed the feat not using his own car, but instead was behind the wheel of the #47 car of fellow driver and close friend Howard Teeple of Emo.
Teeple suffered a serious head injury before the racing year began and when it became clear he would be unable to compete this season, Westover offered to pilot the car in his place.
It turned out to be a smart decision as Westover clinched the overall title with 606 points after a second-place finish behind Denny Trimble of Devlin in the closing feature race of the season.
Trimble, who finished 15th overall in the division last year, had a terrific season, finishing in second place only 10 points behind Westover with 596.
Richard Visser of Emo, who raced only twice last season in finishing 25th overall, made the most of his perfect attendance this year, taking third place in the group (562).
In the Modified division, Vic Larson of Dryden rode a sizable mid-season lead to the championship with a total of 572 points.
Larson, who finished fourth in the division last season, wasn’t hurt by a 10th-place finish in the season-ending feature race.
Dan Galloway of Emo, who won the feature, was the division runner-up with 531 points while Dryden’s Jake Kamm improved on a 12th-place showing last year to finish third (501).
Kamm had finished third in the Aug. 23 feature, just behind Thunder Bay’s Gary Labine.
Last year’s king of the Modified division, Gavin Paull of Fort Frances, only competed in five events at Emo Speedway this season but still wound up 11th overall with 235 points.
Meanwhile, the Mini-Sprint division put family first—and second.
Ken Perry of Fort Frances finished fourth in the last feature race of the season but still outduelled his son, Kenny Jr., for the division title, ending the year with 560 points compared to the younger Perry’s 528.
Last year’s series winner, Kyle Ridlon from Aurora, Man., didn’t race in the season finale and ended up third with 491 points overall.
Kenny Perry did end the year on a good note, winning the final feature race, with John and Tanner Wightman from Baudette in second and third place, respectively.
< *c>For the fans
All the drivers held nothing back in putting on a show for the spectators during this past Saturday’s Fan Appreciation Night. And while there were no points up for grabs, that didn’t lessen the intensity level of the competition.
Kenny Perry won both the heat and feature in the Mini-Sprints division, with Ken Perry coming in second both times.
The heat was marred by a serious rollover by Tanner Wightman exiting Turn 3 that saw the right front wheel of his car come off during the incident.
Wightman did get out of the car under his own power soon after the crash, and was deemed unhurt by medical personnel on-site.
In the Street Stock division, Devlin’s Dan Rea held the lead most of the way in a hectic 18-car feature before being caught late by Doug Witherspoon of Devlin.
But after Witherspoon held the lead for a lap, Rea put the pedal to the metal and regained first place, then held off several pass attempts by Witherspoon to take the checkered flag.
Emo’s John Hettinga managed to sneak in for third place.
And the Modified class on this night belonged to Emo’s Dwayne Pelepetz, who won his heat by a quarter of a lap, then burst out to a big lead in the feature.
A yellow caution flag on Lap 7 brought Pelepetz back to the rest of the field, but on the restart, he opened up the throttle and dashed to victory by five car-lengths over Larson.
Chad Jonson from International Falls took third.
As a special addition to the night’s action, a series of Pit Man and Powder Puff races were held after the main features.
In the Pit Man Street division, Garrett Gamsby crossed the line first in a race which saw near disaster take place on the home stretch of the final lap.
Justin Allen, who had held second place for most of the race before being passed on the final backstretch, lost control of his car and careened sideways into the concrete barricade just before the start-finish line.
After a few anxious minutes, Allen emerged from the vehicle and appeared to be in good condition as he walked off under his own steam.
Glen Strand went wire-to-wire to capture the Pit Man Modified class.
Rhondelle Korpi took the Powder Puff Mini-Sprint group, with Ashley Sisco finishing second. Korpi went on to win the Powder Puff Modified division, as well, with Kristi Witherspoon claiming second spot and Delores Korpi third.
In the Powder Puff Street Stock division, Alyssa Kaemingh turned on the afterburners and drove past Kerri Kellar on the backstretch of the final lap to cross the line first.
Kellar wound up second while Char Shine was third.
Local race fans will get a final chance to cheer on their horsepower heroes this year as the association decided to hold one more set of races Sept. 20 in lieu of three cancelled dates earlier this season due to bad weather.
No date has been set yet for the annual year-end banquet and awards night.