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Racers, officials and fans remembers Cheyenne Valliant Wednesday at Thunder City Speedway (Tom Krob Photo)

Thunder City Speedway racers and fans honor Valliant as Canadian hot spot opens for 2026

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO (May 20) - Thunder City Speedway welcomed racers and fans back to the Thunder Bay-area race track Wednesday, as the Canadian hot spot for racing opened its 2026 season May 20.

During the evening’s program, Cheyenne Valliant was honored. She was a track worker at Thunder City who died in a highway accident over the winter.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners during this special night included Brandon Copp, Steve Stuart, David Simpson, AJ Kellar, and Curtis Oleksuk.

The WISSOTA Hornet feature was a flag-to-flag affair. Jimmy Owen was the early leader, but he could not hold off the efforts of Oleksuk. Oleksuk drove past him and pulled away from the field, racing the rest of the way unchallenged. Owen was second ahead of Sam Bolt, who was chased by Rick Breukelman and Connor Danylko in the top five.

The WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature also went green to checkered. Tanner Ulakovic took the initial lead and maintained the top spot for several laps before David Simpson tracked him down and made the pass into the top spot. The top five raced hard for position but Simpson was too tough in the end. Ulakovic held off a late charge from Jamie Davis to finish second, while Michael Shalley and Kolby Reed completed the top five.

The WISSOTA Super Stock feature was a three-car battle from start to finish. Steve Stuart raced into the lead past Shawn Polonoski during lap two, as Cole Chernosky and Rick Simpson battled him with each passing lap. Stuart withstood the pressure from the two Canadian wheelmen and drove home with the win. Chernosky nipped Simpson by inches for second, while Danny Young and Tyler Kostecki completed the top five.

Brandon Copp grabbed the opening lap lead in the WISSOTA Modifieds, but pushed up the track and allowed David Simpson to get by for the advantage. One lap later Copp powered around the outside of Simpson to retake the lead.

Copp fought off Simpson and Chernosky, as they dueled each other for a podium spot.

A late yellow set up a two-lap sprint to the finish, but Copp pulled away to take the victory. Simpson held off Chernosky for second. Scott McKinnon started 12th and finished fourth, while Riley Matthews trailed him in fifth.

Kyle Bolt was the early leader in the WISSOTA Street Stocks, but he was then passed by Andrew Piilo for the lead. Piilo held the top spot for several laps, but could not hold off the charge of eighth-starter AJ Kellar. Kellar had moved up to a different lane on the track and by lap 12, he took over the top spot.

Kellar continued to lead until the red flew with just three laps remaining. Piilo went end over end, and a couple of other drivers also suffered damage, but everyone was okay.

During the last three laps, Kellar pulled away and grabbed the win while Justin Tougas and Nathan Henny moved up to second and third by way of late-race charges. Bolt was fourth and Brendan Makkinga completed the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22-Brandon Copp[2]; 2. 70-David Simpson[1]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 4. 27-Scott McKinnon[12]; 5. 9-Riley Matthews[5]; 6. 32C-Curtis Stieh[9]; 7. 621-Colin Chaschuk[11]; 8. 40-Tanner Henderson[7]; 9. 37-Danny Young[8]; 10. 15-Adam Dennhardt[16]; 11. 99-Brody Strachan[6]; 12. 85-Jeff Davis[4]; 13. T23-John Toppozini[14]; 14. 07C-Cory Crapser[10]; 15. 73-Jeff Helget[19]; 16. 07-Jeremy Britten[15]; 17. 97-Mark Earl[13]; 18. 24-Jarrett Dowell[18]; 19. 1-Greg Foglia[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[4]; 2. 85-Jeff Davis[3]; 3. 99-Brody Strachan[5]; 4. 70-David Simpson[6]; 5. 32C-Curtis Stieh[8]; 6. 621-Colin Chaschuk[2]; 7. 97-Mark Earl[7]; 8. 07-Jeremy Britten[9]; 9. 1-Greg Foglia[10]; 10. 73-Jeff Helget[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Brandon Copp[6]; 2. 37-Danny Young[1]; 3. 40-Tanner Henderson[3]; 4. 9-Riley Matthews[8]; 5. 07C-Cory Crapser[5]; 6. 27-Scott McKinnon[7]; 7. T23-John Toppozini[4]; 8. 15-Adam Dennhardt[9]; 9. 24-Jarrett Dowell[2]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[2]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[7]; 3. 77-Rick Simpson[6]; 4. 37A-Danny Young[4]; 5. 36-Tyler Kostecki[17]; 6. 19-Larry Both[8]; 7. 316-Shawn Polonoski[1]; 8. 22R-Nathan Roy[9]; 9. 24-Joshua Oleksuk[5]; 10. 0-Jeremy Britten[12]; 11. 498-Tanner House[3]; 12. 37-John Garrity[13]; 13. 219-Ryan House[11]; 14. 51-Aaron Sacek[18]; 15. 24K-Ryan King[15]; 16. (DNF) 27-Scott McKinnon[10]; 17. (DNF) 61-Tom Smart[16]; 18. (DNS) 207-T J Lynch

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 2. 80-Steve Stuart[6]; 3. 37A-Danny Young[8]; 4. 19-Larry Both[3]; 5. 22R-Nathan Roy[9]; 6. 219-Ryan House[4]; 7. 37-John Garrity[1]; 8. 24K-Ryan King[5]; 9. (DNS) 51-Aaron Sacek

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Rick Simpson[2]; 2. 316-Shawn Polonoski[8]; 3. 498-Tanner House[6]; 4. 24-Joshua Oleksuk[9]; 5. 27-Scott McKinnon[7]; 6. 0-Jeremy Britten[1]; 7. 207-T J Lynch[5]; 8. (DNF) 61-Tom Smart[4]; 9. (DNF) 36-Tyler Kostecki[3]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[4]; 2. 86EH-Tanner Ulakovic[2]; 3. 85-Jamie Davis[10]; 4. 8X-Michael Shalley[6]; 5. 89-Kolby Reed[1]; 6. 11R-Landyn Randt[9]; 7. 28-Paul Ripley[5]; 8. 32C-Curtis Stieh[11]; 9. 67-Glen Brown[3]; 10. 3D-Kevin Monteith[16]; 11. 10D-Patrick Davis[8]; 12. 6-Joel Macleod[7]; 13. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[14]; 14. 97R-Kyler Makkinga[15]; 15. 18-Hunter Brink[21]; 16. 723-Wayne deBruin[13]; 17. 11A-Kevin Armstrong[12]; 18. 14C-Colby Petrunak[20]; 19. M17-Matthew Mitchell[24]; 20. 89CH-Jeff Chuchmuch[22]; 21. 47-Don Craig[23]; 22. 26-Paul Hari[19]; 23. 56-Keith LaPlante[18]; 24. (DNF) 57JR-Robert Squitti[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[4]; 2. 8X-Michael Shalley[3]; 3. 32C-Curtis Stieh[1]; 4. 3D-Kevin Monteith[5]; 5. 66-Bill Speak[7]; 6. M20-Travis MacArthur[6]; 7. 44-Bryce Melanson[8]; 8. 3-Lucas Lazzari[9]; 9. 007-Shawn Liddicoat[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Glen Brown[6]; 2. 6-Joel Macleod[7]; 3. 11A-Kevin Armstrong[2]; 4. 57JR-Robert Squitti[3]; 5. 89CH-Jeff Chuchmuch[5]; 6. 46B-Addy Beerthuizen[1]; 7. 73-Jake Lindstrom[8]; 8. (DNF) 2T-Dan Tocheri[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 89-Kolby Reed[3]; 2. 10D-Patrick Davis[6]; 3. 723-Wayne deBruin[4]; 4. 56-Keith LaPlante[2]; 5. 11-Carrie Allen[8]; 6. 03-Jami Oshust[5]; 7. 807-Martin Peck[7]; 8. (DQ) 99D-Ben DeFoy[1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Paul Ripley[1]; 2. 11R-Landyn Randt[6]; 3. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[4]; 4. 26-Paul Hari[2]; 5. M17-Matthew Mitchell[3]; 6. 18-Hunter Brink[5]; 7. 317-Austin Polonoski[8]; 8. 44X-Douglas Myers[7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 86EH-Tanner Ulakovic[3]; 2. 85-Jamie Davis[8]; 3. 97R-Kyler Makkinga[1]; 4. 14C-Colby Petrunak[5]; 5. 47-Don Craig[7]; 6. 16-Brad Bohonis[2]; 7. 2-Carson Bamford[4]; 8. 99J-John Coppock[6]

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Hunter Brink[5]; 2. 47-Don Craig[3]; 3. 66-Bill Speak[1]; 4. 11-Carrie Allen[2]; 5. 44X-Douglas Myers[9]; 6. 44-Bryce Melanson[6]; 7. 2-Carson Bamford[8]; 8. 99D-Ben DeFoy[11]; 9. 46B-Addy Beerthuizen[4]; 10. 007-Shawn Liddicoat[10]; 11. 807-Martin Peck[7]

B Feature 2 (8 Laps): 1. 89CH-Jeff Chuchmuch[1]; 2. M17-Matthew Mitchell[2]; 3. M20-Travis MacArthur[3]; 4. 317-Austin Polonoski[7]; 5. 16-Brad Bohonis[5]; 6. 99J-John Coppock[9]; 7. 03-Jami Oshust[4]; 8. 3-Lucas Lazzari[8]; 9. (DNF) 73-Jake Lindstrom[6]; 10. (DNS) 2T-Dan Tocheri

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 54X-AJ Kellar[8]; 2. 1JT-Justin Tougas[6]; 3. 35-Nathan Henny[7]; 4. 77-Kyle Bolt[2]; 5. 426-Brendan Makkinga[4]; 6. 96W-Darren Wolframe[22]; 7. 21-Nate Owen[12]; 8. 25-Kathryn Stieh[1]; 9. 88-Steven Hitchman[10]; 10. 9E-Cameron Ellis[15]; 11. 17A-David Mitchell[19]; 12. 203-Rob Ranttalo[5]; 13. S13-Mike Stover[14]; 14. 54-Dean Kellar[20]; 15. T53-Sacha Torkkeli[17]; 16. 2-Doug Wakefield[24]; 17. 7-Andrew Trimble[21]; 18. 2B-Jonah Bolt[18]; 19. (DNF) 11-Levi Randt[23]; 20. (DNF) 22-Tyson Waller[9]; 21. (DNF) 12SB-Scott Gregory[16]; 22. (DNF) 9W-Jack Williamson[11]; 23. (DNS) 01-Steven Piilo; 24. (DQ) 24-Andrew Piilo[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 54X-AJ Kellar[2]; 2. 426-Brendan Makkinga[6]; 3. 24-Andrew Piilo[4]; 4. 88-Steven Hitchman[3]; 5. 01-Steven Piilo[7]; 6. 12SB-Scott Gregory[8]; 7. 17A-David Mitchell[10]; 8. 2-Doug Wakefield[5]; 9. 21B-Justin Byers[9]; 10. (DNF) 11-Levi Randt[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1JT-Justin Tougas[3]; 2. 35-Nathan Henny[1]; 3. 22-Tyson Waller[8]; 4. 9W-Jack Williamson[2]; 5. S13-Mike Stover[6]; 6. T53-Sacha Torkkeli[9]; 7. 54-Dean Kellar[7]; 8. 57-Spencer Smith[10]; 9. 50S-Amanda Smith[5]; 10. (DNF) 96W-Darren Wolframe[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Kyle Bolt[4]; 2. 25-Kathryn Stieh[1]; 3. 203-Rob Ranttalo[3]; 4. 21-Nate Owen[8]; 5. 9E-Cameron Ellis[5]; 6. 2B-Jonah Bolt[7]; 7. 7-Andrew Trimble[2]; 8. 16-Teagan Britten[9]; 9. 332-Colton Stieh[10]; 10. (DNS) 19-Paul Krawec

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 96W-Darren Wolframe[6]; 2. 11-Levi Randt[5]; 3. 2-Doug Wakefield[1]; 4. 16-Teagan Britten[2]; 5. 50S-Amanda Smith[4]; 6. 57-Spencer Smith[8]; 7. 21B-Justin Byers[3]; 8. 332-Colton Stieh[9]; 9. (DNS) 19-Paul Krawec

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 205-Curtis Oleksuk[4]; 2. 23-Jimmy Owen[2]; 3. 26S-Sam Bolt[5]; 4. 26B-Rick Breukelman[10]; 5. 37-Connor Danylko[3]; 6. 26M-Martin Bolt[7]; 7. 6JR-Taylor Scaffeo[1]; 8. 5-Hunter Marshall[9]; 9. 22-Jesse Owen[8]; 10. 13T-Tyson DeVente[16]; 11. 21-James Cuthbertson[13]; 12. 34-Selena Owen[6]; 13. 10K-Kathleen Speaker[12]; 14. 188-Micheal Danylko[11]; 15. 09-Joshua Kruzel[14]; 16. (DNF) 16-Avery Chaschuk[15]; 17. (DNF) M11-Merissa Currie[17]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 23-Jimmy Owen[3]; 2. 26S-Sam Bolt[4]; 3. 6JR-Taylor Scaffeo[9]; 4. 37-Connor Danylko[5]; 5. 5-Hunter Marshall[6]; 6. 188-Micheal Danylko[7]; 7. 21-James Cuthbertson[8]; 8. 16-Avery Chaschuk[1]; 9. (DNF) M11-Merissa Currie[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 26M-Martin Bolt[1]; 2. 22-Jesse Owen[6]; 3. 205-Curtis Oleksuk[3]; 4. 34-Selena Owen[5]; 5. 26B-Rick Breukelman[8]; 6. 10K-Kathleen Speaker[7]; 7. 09-Joshua Kruzel[4]; 8. 13T-Tyson DeVente[2]

Junior Slingshots:

A Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Lucas Coceancic[5]; 2. 99T-Jack Trevisanutto[2]; 3. 7JR-Alex Normand[6]; 4. 30-Tucker Kingsmill Payette[1]; 5. 6-Evie Sorensen[7]; 6. (DNS) 7-Hunter Dell; 7. (DNS) 96JR-Trip Wolframe

Heat 1 (4 Laps): 1. 96JR-Trip Wolframe[1]; 2. 99T-Jack Trevisanutto[3]; 3. 7-Hunter Dell[2]; 4. 21-Lucas Coceancic[7]; 5. 30-Tucker Kingsmill Payette[4]; 6. 7JR-Alex Normand[5]; 7. (DNS) 6-Evie Sorensen