By ANTHONY LEEK, For The Journal
It was a hot, beautiful day for stock car racing last Saturday at the Emo Speedway as the WISSOTA Super Stocks made a special trip to the track for the first time since 2008.
Even more exciting was the dramatic increase in WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds as cars came from all over the region from Thunder Bay, Winnipeg and Minnesota.
It created a very complete program as 13 WISSOTA Super Stocks also came from all over the region. A great crowd was on hand to check out some great Amsoil Dirt Track Series Action.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds started out in three heats.
In the first heat, Christopher Leek and Paul Veert battled side by side, but Veert held off for the win. In the second heat, Cody Ossachuk started on the pole and stayed there to win it. Chris Boroskae finished second. In the third heat, Matt DePiero gained the lead over Brody Strachan for the win, with Ken Perry finishing second.
The Street Stocks came out next with Tylar Wilson claiming the win. Garret Gamsby took up second spot.
In the WISSOTA Super Stocks heat races, Dan Tocheri passed Shawn Polonoski for the win for heat one. In heat two, Gary Nelson Jr. came from third for the win.
During intermission, Gordie Lancaster talked about his history with racing as he is currently celebrating his 50th anniversary of racing. His first race at the Emo Speedway was forty years ago.
After intermission, a total of 19 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds took to the track. Glenn Godin and Ken Perry started on the front row. The large number of cars made it difficult to get the race going, as several minor incidents bogged down the start.
Once things got going though, Veert and Leek had moved their way to the top two positions, setting off a duel similar to the heat race.
Meanwhile, Brady Caul, who had started 16th, had now moved to the top five. But Veert started to pull away as the field restarted once more about halfway through the race.
Not planning to give up however, Leek went to the high side of the track, trying to find whatever grip he could.
As the two cars started to catch up to some slower cars, Veert had to hit the brakes a couple times, allowing Leek to get right up beside him as the white flag waved. But coming out of turn four, Leek just could not do it, giving Veert his first win at the Emo Speedway.
The Emo Street Stocks were up next as Darien Trimble and Garret Gamsby started on the front row. Wilson started outside the second row and made it three wide almost right away.
Trimble kept a short lead, but on a restart, had trouble handling the car and was passed by Gamsby and Wilson. It was Wilson that quickly gained the lead though and pulled away the entire race for his third win of the year.
The WISSOTA Modifieds were the third feature of the night with Tyler Brown on the front row with veteran Gary Wilson.
Brown gained an early lead, but Gavin Paull ran the mid high part of the track to pull forward. There was plenty of side-by-side action for the second spot as Paull took the lead about halfway.
Boyce, Brown, and Trimble had some great racing for second spot, but Brown was able to claim second even though Boyce had him on several occasions.
This is Paull’s fifth win of the season and still sits high in the standings even after missing the previous weekend’s races.
The WISSOTA Super Stocks came on to the track for the main event. The 13 cars had Scott Messner and Gary Nelson Jr. on the front row.
The first few laps had Nelson Jr. and Messner battling, but Simpson had moved up to second from fourth spot. He then dived underneath Nelson Jr. for the lead.
After a caution, the car of Dan Tocheri started to move up the field. Polonoski tried to stick his nose on the outside of Simpson at one point but could not get it to stick. Tocheri took advantage and claimed second spot.
But the real battle was for fourth as Nelson Jr., Guyot, and Carlson all jostled for a higher spot. Even with a narrow groove, Nelson Jr. squeezed by the other two competitors getting fourth position.
Simpson went on to win his second WISSOTA Super Stock feature event at Emo Speedway.
Racing resumes tonight with hot laps at 7 p.m. and racing at 7:30 p.m. For more information, see www.borderlandracing.com.
Emo Speedway
July 14 Summary
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature — Rick Simpson, Dan Tocheri, Shawn Polonoski, Gary Nelson Jr., Dalton Carlson, Eric Guyot, Paul Veert, Scott Messner, Gordie Lancaster, Tabitha Wasylyk, Todd Carlson, Brian Carl, Jean Fortin.
Heat 1 — Tocheri, Polonoski, Simpson, Veert, Carlson, Guyot, Carlson.
Heat 2 – Nelson Jr., Messner, Fortin, Lancaster, Carlson, Wasylyk.
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature — Gavin Paull, Tyler Brown, Darian Boyce, Denny Trimble, Ron Korpi, Dustin Wahl, Steve Nordin, Mike Tiani, Glen Strachan, Gary Wilson, Lindsay Bourre.
Heat 1 — Boyce, Paull, Strachan, Wilson, Bourre, Nordin.
Heat 2 — Wahl, Trimble, Brown, Korpi, Tiani.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature — Paul Veert, Christopher Leek, Brady Caul, Scott Bruce, Cody Ossachuk, Dwayne Pihulak, Anthony Visser, Chuck Lambert, Ken Perry, Bill Reimer, Chris Boroskae, Chad Bogacki, Jake Rea, Glenn Godin, Matt DePiero, Brody Strachan, Channing Sproule, David Simpson, Mike Wilson.
Heat 1 — Veert, Leek, Lambert, Wilson, Pihulak, Sproule.
Heat 2 — Ossachuk, Boroskae, Visser, Bruce, Caul, Simpson.
Heat 3 — DePiero, Perry, Godin, Reimer, Rea, Bogacki, Strachan.
Street Stocks
Feature — Tylar Wilson, Garret Gamsby, Jeff Wickstrom, Kyle Godin, Chris Shine, Tyler Wickstrom, Darien Trimble.
Heat — Wilson, J. Wickstrom, Trimble, Gamsby, Godin, T. Wickstrom, Shine.
