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Chernosky checks out on Mod and Super Stock field at Thunder City Speedway; Americans Vernon and Brauer also score WISSOTA wins

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO (May 14) - Fans and drivers filled the grandstands and pits at Thunder City Speedway Wednesday night, May 14, as the speedway in the Thunder Bay-area welcomed everyone back for its 2025 season with its “Rocker” opener.

In WISSOTA Dirt Track Series racing, Cole Chernosky completed his first double-feature win night, gaining the victories in the Modified and Super Stock classes. Tyler Vernon steered his rig north to Canada from Wisconsin for the eventual win in the Midwest Mods, and Kolton Brauer made the trip from Minnesota for his victory in the Street Stocks. Murilio, Ontario’s Jesse Owen topped the Hornet feature.

David Mitchell and Trey Hess brought the field of WISSOTA Street Stocks to the green flag, with Hess planting himself out front. The first two turns of the race were rocky for the rest of the field, as Steven Piilo shook out into second, with Brauer in third. Brauer then shot by Piilo into second and several laps later, Brauer moved to the inside of Hess and drove past at the flagstand into the lead at the halfway mark. A.J. Kellar and Piilo battled side by side for third, as Jonah Bolt was in fifth. A caution then fell for a spin between turns one and two.

Back under green, Brauer shot into the lead, with Kellar and Hess side by side for second. Hess shook off Kellar’s effort and closed in on Brauer in the lead. Piilo was fourth, and Darren Wolframe had cracked the top five.

Brauer held on through the last two laps and took the checkered flag ahead of Hess, Kellar, Piilo and Wolframe in the top five.

Rick Breukelman and Hunter Marshall led the WISSOTA Hornet field to the green flag, and Breukelman was the early leader ahead of a three-wide battle among Marshall, Jimmy Owen and Jesse Owen for second; Jesse split his competitors and moved into the spot. He quickly raced to the outside of Breukelman and took the lead on the following lap. Farther back, Carrie Allen was on the move, took third, and challenged Breukelman for second before securing the position to score the next lap. Selena Owen followed through into third.

Owen began to feel the heat from Carrie Allen with a couple laps to go, but he hung strong and grabbed the victory with Allen and Selena Owen close behind in second and third. Breukelman and Jimmy Owen completed the top five.

In the WISSOTA Midwest Mods, Tyler Vernon and Joel McCloud brought the field to the green flag, but the initial start was marred by a wreck in turn three before the field could complete the lap. Another spin on the following attempt brought the field back under yellow.

Vernon was the leader after the first officially scored lap, but another spin slowed the field once again. With the green back out, Vernon continued to lead ahead of a side-by-side battle for second between McCloud and Tanner Ulakovic. Michael Shalley used the high side to grab third, with David Simpson in fifth. Simpson then got back by Ulakovic for fourth.

With Vernon out front, Shalley began to work McCloud for second at the halfway mark of the race, with Simpson close behind and also challenging for second. As they raced three wide into turn four, McCloud held a narrow advantage, before Shalley got by to complete the next lap. Jamie Davis was fifth.

As the field began to work lapped traffic with less than a handful of laps left, Vernon had a large lead ahead of Shalley in second, while Simpson drove past McCloud into third.

Vernon grabbed the double checkered flags for his second win of his 2025 season. Shalley, Simpson, Davis and Rob Groom were the top five finishers after the tech shed.

Shawn Polonoski and Cole Chernosky brought the field of WISSOTA Super Stocks to the green flag, led early on by Chernosky. A caution for a wreck in turn one during the second lap regrouped the field. The attempt at a restart failed and the field remained under caution.

Chernosky led following the restart, under heavy pressure from Danny Young. Rick Simpson began to pressure Polonoski for third in a side-by-side battle. Another caution for a spin regrouped the field with 11 to go.

Chernosky was the leader once again under green, while Simpson began to heavily pressure Young for second. A yellow for a spin on the backstretch slowed the field again.

Back under green, Chernosky held the advantage out front, as Simpson slipped by Young into second. Yet another caution, and another during the restart attempt, kept the field at a stop-and-go pace.

After the field was able to get a few green flag laps under its belt, Chernosky continued to lead with heavy pressure to his inside from Rick Simpson. Young was third, seventh-starter Nathan Roy had moved into fourth, and ninth-starter John Garrity cracked the top five.

Chernosky drove on to the eventual victory, followed to the checkered flags by Simpson, Young, Roy and Garrity in the top five.

From victory lane in the Super Stock, Chernosky hopped into his WISSOTA Modified and along with Brandon Copp, led the feature field to the green. They were three wide into the first corner, with Chernosky edging ahead of Copp and Joel Cryderman down the backstretch. Cryderman and Copp continued to fight back and forth for second, before Cryderman was able to pull away a bit. Copp had pulled to Cryderman’s back bumper when the yellow fell for a spin down the frontstretch.

Back under green, Chernosky pulled away from the field out front, as Copp moved into second and Cryderman began to feel the heat from Tanner Williamson. They were side by side for third before Williamson took the spot. Cryderman was then under fire from 10th-starter John Toppozini, who was on the move along the bottom side of the speedway. Toppozini drove past Cryderman down the backstretch the following lap.

The top five were strung out a bit by the halfway point, with Chernosky and Copp in the top two some distance ahead of Williamson in third. With three to go, Chernosky began to navigate backmarkers, and Toppozini had driven past Williamson for third.

Out front it was all Chernosky, racing to his second victory of the night ahead of Copp, Toppozini, Williamson and Cryderman in the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[1]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[2]; 3. T23-John Toppozini[10]; 4. 88-Tanner Williamson[9]; 5. 51-Joel Cryderman[3]; 6. 27-Scott McKinnon[7]; 7. 32C-Curtis Stieh[8]; 8. 70-David Simpson[11]; 9. 9M-Riley Matthews[6]; 10. 15-Adam Dennhardt[4]; 11. 316-Shawn Polonoski[5]; 12. 40-Tanner Henderson[12]; 13. 73-Jeff Helget[13]; 14. (DNF) 1-Greg Foglia[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 51-Joel Cryderman[2]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[5]; 3. 32C-Curtis Stieh[6]; 4. 9M-Riley Matthews[3]; 5. 88-Tanner Williamson[7]; 6. 70-David Simpson[1]; 7. 73-Jeff Helget[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 2. 27-Scott McKinnon[1]; 3. 15-Adam Dennhardt[2]; 4. 316-Shawn Polonoski[6]; 5. T23-John Toppozini[7]; 6. 40-Tanner Henderson[4]; 7. 1-Greg Foglia[5]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 2. 77-Rick Simpson[6]; 3. 37A-Danny Young[3]; 4. 22R-Nathan Roy[7]; 5. 37-John Garrity[9]; 6. 316-Shawn Polonoski[1]; 7. 15G-Andrew Groom[8]; 8. 36-Tyler Kostecki[4]; 9. 19-Larry Both[5]; 10. 2-Carson Bamford[17]; 11. 124-Simon Hachez[15]; 12. 51-Aaron Sacek[16]; 13. 219-Ryan House[13]; 14. 207-Tj Lynch[19]; 15. (DNF) 37J-Tyler Wade[12]; 16. (DNF) 24-Joshua Oleksuk[18]; 17. (DNF) 0-Jeremy Britten[14]; 18. (DNF) 518-Mike Plas[10]; 19. (DNF) 498-Tanner House[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 37-John Garrity[6]; 2. 19-Larry Both[1]; 3. 36-Tyler Kostecki[4]; 4. 518-Mike Plas[3]; 5. 219-Ryan House[5]; 6. 51-Aaron Sacek[2]; 7. 207-Tj Lynch[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 2. 316-Shawn Polonoski[4]; 3. 37A-Danny Young[3]; 4. 498-Tanner House[5]; 5. 0-Jeremy Britten[6]; 6. 2-Carson Bamford[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Rick Simpson[4]; 2. 22R-Nathan Roy[2]; 3. 15G-Andrew Groom[5]; 4. 37J-Tyler Wade[3]; 5. 124-Simon Hachez[1]; 6. 24-Joshua Oleksuk[6]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[1]; 2. 8X-Michael Shalley[8]; 3. 70-David Simpson[4]; 4. 85-Jamie Davis[5]; 5. 17-Rob Groom[7]; 6. 3D-Kevin Monteith[10]; 7. 18-Hunter Brink[9]; 8. 86EH-Tanner Ulakovic[3]; 9. 89-Kolby Reed[11]; 10. 31J-Mike Jacques[16]; 11. 10D-Patrick Davis[6]; 12. 2-Dan Tocheri[13]; 13. 47-Don Craig[14]; 14. 80-Doug Wakefield[15]; 15. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[19]; 16. 66-Bill Speak[17]; 17. 67-Glen Brown[21]; 18. (DNF) 88-Andrew Opas[12]; 19. (DNF) M17-Matthew Mitchell[18]; 20. (DNF) 26-Paul Hari[20]; 21. (DQ) 6-Joel Macleod[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[1]; 2. 10D-Patrick Davis[3]; 3. 89-Kolby Reed[6]; 4. 17K-David Kivi[2]; 5. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[5]; 6. 32C-Curtis Stieh[9]; 7. 66-Bill Speak[8]; 8. 99D-Ben DeFoy[7]; 9. 18W-Brad Walker[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[6]; 2. 17-Rob Groom[1]; 3. 88-Andrew Opas[7]; 4. 22R-Nathan Roy[3]; 5. M17-Matthew Mitchell[8]; 6. 32S-Connor Stieh[2]; 7. 46B-Addy Beerthuizen[4]; 8. (DNS) 27B-Dave DeVente

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 86EH-Tanner Ulakovic[3]; 2. 8X-Michael Shalley[5]; 3. 2-Dan Tocheri[1]; 4. 31J-Mike Jacques[6]; 5. 56-Keith LaPlante[2]; 6. 97-Mark Earl[7]; 7. 267-Bill Jeffers[8]; 8. (DNF) 222-Brian Hari[4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Joel Macleod[2]; 2. 18-Hunter Brink[6]; 3. 47-Don Craig[1]; 4. 44-Bryce Melanson[8]; 5. 95-Connor Moro[3]; 6. 57JR-Robert Squitti[5]; 7. (DNF) 00-Trenton Woodbeck[4]; 8. (DNF) 11-Kevin Armstrong[7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 85-Jamie Davis[5]; 2. 3D-Kevin Monteith[4]; 3. 80-Doug Wakefield[7]; 4. 26-Paul Hari[1]; 5. 67-Glen Brown[2]; 6. 723-Wayne deBruin[8]; 7. 14C-Colby Petrunak[3]; 8. M20-Travis MacArthur[6]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 31J-Mike Jacques[2]; 2. M17-Matthew Mitchell[4]; 3. 26-Paul Hari[3]; 4. 723-Wayne deBruin[8]; 5. 32C-Curtis Stieh[6]; 6. M20-Travis MacArthur[13]; 7. 99D-Ben DeFoy[11]; 8. 222-Brian Hari[12]; 9. (DNF) 95-Connor Moro[5]; 10. (DNF) 17K-David Kivi[1]; 11. (DNF) 00-Trenton Woodbeck[10]; 12. (DNF) 46B-Addy Beerthuizen[9]; 13. (DNF) 97-Mark Earl[7]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 66-Bill Speak[8]; 2. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[3]; 3. 67-Glen Brown[5]; 4. 56-Keith LaPlante[4]; 5. 22R-Nathan Roy[1]; 6. 14C-Colby Petrunak[10]; 7. 44-Bryce Melanson[2]; 8. 27B-Dave DeVente[11]; 9. 11-Kevin Armstrong[12]; 10. 267-Bill Jeffers[9]; 11. 32S-Connor Stieh[6]; 12. (DNS) 57JR-Robert Squitti; 13. (DNS) 18W-Brad Walker

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 34J-Kolton Brauer[8]; 2. 4-Trey Hess[2]; 3. 54X-AJ Kellar[7]; 4. 23-Steven Piilo[3]; 5. 96W-Darren Wolframe[5]; 6. 2B-Jonah Bolt[6]; 7. 35-Nathan Henny[15]; 8. 24-Andrew Piilo[13]; 9. 77-Kyle Bolt[4]; 10. 17A-David Mitchell[1]; 11. 1JT-Justin Tougas[12]; 12. 32-Cory Ward[11]; 13. 555-Johnny Staal[9]; 14. 25-Kathryn Stieh[14]; 15. 55-Carter Wieringa[16]; 16. 12K-Chase Kivi[19]; 17. 88-Steven Hitchman[20]; 18. 426-Brendan Makkinga[17]; 19. 9-Sam Williamson[18]; 20. 22-Tyson Waller[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 34J-Kolton Brauer[4]; 2. 2B-Jonah Bolt[5]; 3. 555-Johnny Staal[7]; 4. 24-Andrew Piilo[8]; 5. 49-Derek Ross[1]; 6. 73-Freddy Henny[2]; 7. S13-Mike Stover[3]; 8. T53-Sacha Torkkeli[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Trey Hess[4]; 2. 17A-David Mitchell[1]; 3. 22-Tyson Waller[6]; 4. 25-Kathryn Stieh[3]; 5. 3B-BJ Kapush[8]; 6. 426-Brendan Makkinga[7]; 7. 12K-Chase Kivi[5]; 8. 9-Sam Williamson[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Kyle Bolt[8]; 2. 96W-Darren Wolframe[4]; 3. 32-Cory Ward[3]; 4. 35-Nathan Henny[6]; 5. 19-Paul Krawec[2]; 6. 2-Charlie Merkley[1]; 7. 17-Don Mitchell[5]; 8. 9E-Cameron Ellis[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 54X-AJ Kellar[1]; 2. 23-Steven Piilo[3]; 3. 1JT-Justin Tougas[5]; 4. 55-Carter Wieringa[6]; 5. 16-Teagan Britten[2]; 6. (DNF) 88-Steven Hitchman[4]; 7. (DNS) 50S-Amanda Smith

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 426-Brendan Makkinga[6]; 2. 9-Sam Williamson[14]; 3. 12K-Chase Kivi[10]; 4. 88-Steven Hitchman[8]; 5. 3B-BJ Kapush[2]; 6. 17-Don Mitchell[11]; 7. 19-Paul Krawec[3]; 8. 2-Charlie Merkley[7]; 9. S13-Mike Stover[9]; 10. 73-Freddy Henny[5]; 11. 50S-Amanda Smith[12]; 12. 16-Teagan Britten[4]; 13. (DNF) 49-Derek Ross[1]; 14. (DNF) 9E-Cameron Ellis[15]; 15. (DNF) T53-Sacha Torkkeli[13]

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22-Jesse Owen[4]; 2. 11-Carrie Allen[5]; 3. 34-Selena Owen[8]; 4. 26B-Rick Breukelman[1]; 5. 23-Jimmy Owen[3]; 6. 6JR-Taylor Scaffeo[6]; 7. 57-Spencer Smith[7]; 8. 205-Curtis Oleksuk[9]; 9. 5-Hunter Marshall[2]; 10. 10K-Kathleen Speaker[11]; 11. 37-Connor Danylko[13]; 12. 09-Joshua Kruzel[10]; 13. 95-Kristina Moro[12]; 14. 12SB-Jaxon Gregory[14]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 26B-Rick Breukelman[1]; 2. 23-Jimmy Owen[4]; 3. 5-Hunter Marshall[2]; 4. 11-Carrie Allen[6]; 5. 205-Curtis Oleksuk[5]; 6. 10K-Kathleen Speaker[3]; 7. 37-Connor Danylko[7]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 22-Jesse Owen[3]; 2. 34-Selena Owen[1]; 3. 57-Spencer Smith[2]; 4. 6JR-Taylor Scaffeo[6]; 5. 09-Joshua Kruzel[7]; 6. 95-Kristina Moro[5]; 7. (DNF) 12SB-Jaxon Gregory[4]