7-14 Page 22 | ATD Racing News

Greenbush hosts annual Elliot Baker Memorial and feature toppers include Thomas, Blacklance, Gust & Smith

By Daniel Wiskow

GREENBUSH, MN (July 11) -The weather was almost as hot as the action on the track as Greenbush Race Park hosted the Elliot Baker Memorial race. Many race fans braved the heat and humidity and watched a spectacular night of racing unfold as the night became more pleasant with every class that hit the track.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Joseph Thomas, Jeremy Gust, Mason Smith, and Aaron Blacklance.

The first class out was the WISSOTA Pure Stocks. They were led by Mason Smith and Mason Scholin to the green. Smith grabbed the early lead and Scholin was a car length or less behind him until the checkered flag flew. Though Scholin tried every line imaginable, he was unable to make a pass to clear the car of Smith. Smith took home another win, followed closely by Scholin in second, and Kade Leeper in third.

The WISSOTA Street Stocks lined up side by side with Jeremy Gust and Chris Dudley sharing the front row. Gust took the early lead while Dudley battled with several contenders as the race went on.

With the entire field fighting for every inch of track position, the drivers put on a great show. Gust was challenged a couple of times by Jon Halvorson, who drove a clean race. When the checkered flags were shown to the field, Gust delivered for the win, followed by Halvorson and Dudley on the podium.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were up next, and they didn’t disappoint the crowd in attendance. Alex Johnson, who had a strong showing at River Cities Speedway the night before, started on the pole next to Carter Sobolik. Johnson took the lead early, but soon was challenged by several cars as the starting order was rearranged quickly. Soon Cylen Vargason slipped by on the low side of the track, along with Aaron Blacklance not too far behind. As those drivers took over the top spots, traffic soon became a factor for many drivers. Several cautions ensued shortly after that.

When the race came to the final few laps, Blacklance held on for the win, followed by Vargason, Justin Olson, Memphis Klassen, and Johnson in fifth.

The Elliot Baker Memorial race was the finale of the evening. The feature event paid $1,524 to win (in honor of Baker’s No. 24) and lasted 24 laps for the WISSOTA Modifieds. Joseph Thomas and Ward Imre led the field of cars to the green flag; as the race ensued, Thomas looked to be in control, and he pulled away by about six car lengths ahead of Imrie. Dustin Wahl worked his way past Imrie for a while during the event, but Imrie returned the favor during one of the many restarts during the race.

On the last restart, Imrie had one last attempt to get past the leader Thomas, but Thomas did not flinch and drove a perfect race to take home his first Baker Memorial win. Imrie crossed the line in second, followed by Wahl, Rick Delaine, and Devyn Weleski in the top five.

Nick McCann worked his way to the front of the Four Cylinder feature and soon put to rest any hopes of anyone else taking the checkered flag. McCann rolled to another feature win nearly half a lap ahead of second place Gabriel Espe, who had a good battle with Jonah Espe for 10 laps to decide the runner-up position.

Dexter Dvergstein worked his way toward the front of the Lightning Sprint feature and using the low line, pulled away slightly and drove on to victory lane. Emmit Isane was second, Luke Hendrickson was third, Rygg was fourth and Hayden Koemstedt finished fifth.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (24 Laps): 1. 6T-Joseph Thomas[1]; 2. 10W-Ward Imrie[2]; 3. 74-Dustin Wahl[4]; 4. 1R-Rick Delaine[7]; 5. 13-Devyn Weleski[5]; 6. 14F-Blake Ferris[10]; 7. 7-Bryce Borgen[6]; 8. 25-Ryan Johnson[8]; 9. 81-Jordan Duray[16]; 10. 33G-Connor Graff[15]; 11. 50-Aaron Holtan[11]; 12. 77R-Ryan Schroeder[17]; 13. 40-Patrick Sobolik[9]; 14. 39-Shawn Teunis[18]; 15. 57-Michael Tiani[3]; 16. (DNF) 33-Ryan Hagen[13]; 17. (DNF) 16-Brenden Luschinski[12]; 18. (DNF) 18P-Tevin Poluyko[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6T-Joseph Thomas[1]; 2. 7-Bryce Borgen[5]; 3. 74-Dustin Wahl[6]; 4. 14F-Blake Ferris[4]; 5. (DNF) 77R-Ryan Schroeder[2]; 6. (DNF) 39-Shawn Teunis[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10W-Ward Imrie[2]; 2. 57-Michael Tiani[1]; 3. 40-Patrick Sobolik[6]; 4. 50-Aaron Holtan[3]; 5. 33-Ryan Hagen[5]; 6. 33G-Connor Graff[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1R-Rick Delaine[2]; 2. 25-Ryan Johnson[1]; 3. 13-Devyn Weleski[3]; 4. 16-Brenden Luschinski[4]; 5. 18P-Tevin Poluyko[6]; 6. 81-Jordan Duray[5]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[6]; 2. 29-Cylen Vargason[3]; 3. 169-Justin Olson[7]; 4. 47K-Memphis Klassen[9]; 5. 007-Alex Johnson[1]; 6. 18X-Connor Drewry[8]; 7. 77JR-Brody Kraft[11]; 8. 40-Carter Sobolik[2]; 9. (DNF) 469-Aaden Olson[5]; 10. (DNF) 23-Erik Johnson[12]; 11. (DNF) M47-Maddox Klassen[4]; 12. (DNF) 46J-Taylor Jacobson[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Cylen Vargason[3]; 2. M47-Maddox Klassen[4]; 3. 40-Carter Sobolik[2]; 4. 169-Justin Olson[5]; 5. 47K-Memphis Klassen[6]; 6. 77JR-Brody Kraft[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[5]; 2. 469-Aaden Olson[1]; 3. 18X-Connor Drewry[4]; 4. 007-Alex Johnson[3]; 5. 46J-Taylor Jacobson[6]; 6. 23-Erik Johnson[2]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 96-Jeremy Gust[1]; 2. 35-John Halvorson[4]; 3. 70-Chris Dudley[2]; 4. 29P-Charlie Paradis[6]; 5. 65-Jerome Berger[5]; 6. 39-Deryk Weleski[7]; 7. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 96-Jeremy Gust[2]; 2. 65-Jerome Berger[5]; 3. 35-John Halvorson[6]; 4. 29XT-Aaron Sigerud[3]; 5. 70-Chris Dudley[7]; 6. 29P-Charlie Paradis[1]; 7. (DNF) 39-Deryk Weleski[4]

WISSOTA Pure Stocks:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 21-Mason Smith[1]; 2. 92-Mason Scholin[2]; 3. 3-Kade Leeper[4]; 4. 70-Hunter Westcott[3]; 5. (DNF) 35-Tylor Haugen[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 70-Hunter Westcott[2]; 2. 92-Mason Scholin[1]; 3. 21-Mason Smith[4]; 4. 3-Kade Leeper[3]; 5. 35-Tylor Haugen[5]

Lightning Sprints:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[4]; 2. 18-Emmitt Isane[6]; 3. 22-Luke Hendrickson[7]; 4. 3-Arlen Rygg[1]; 5. 18K-Hayden Koehmstedt[3]; 6. 21B-Hunter Bugge[2]; 7. 77-Cody Booen[5]; 8. 04-Richard Rygg[9]; 9. 16Z-Zairyn Wimpfheimer[8]; 10. (DNF) 78-Marijo Vik[10]; 11. (DNF) 1W-Evan Yanish[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21B-Hunter Bugge[4]; 2. 3-Arlen Rygg[2]; 3. 18-Emmitt Isane[3]; 4. 22-Luke Hendrickson[5]; 5. 16Z-Zairyn Wimpfheimer[6]; 6. (DNF) 1W-Evan Yanish[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Dexter Dvergsten[3]; 2. 18K-Hayden Koehmstedt[2]; 3. 77-Cody Booen[4]; 4. 04-Richard Rygg[1]; 5. 78-Marijo Vik[5]

Four Cylinders:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 50-Nick McCann[5]; 2. G17-Gabriel Espe[2]; 3. 20J-Jonah Espe[1]; 4. 26-Brooke McCann[4]; 5. 7G-Jayme Gordon[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 50-Nick McCann[1]; 2. 7G-Jayme Gordon[4]; 3. 20J-Jonah Espe[3]; 4. 26-Brooke McCann[5]; 5. G17-Gabriel Espe[2]