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McKinnon scores his first win of the year while Simpson, Vernon, Bolt and Owen also run up front at Thunder City

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO (July 31) - Scott McKinnon broke through for his first victory in 2025, while Rick Simpson, Tyler Vernon, Kyle Bolt and Selena Owen continued to rack up victories as Thunder City Speedway hosted another program of WISSOTA Dirt Track Series racing at the Thunder Bay, Ontario dirt oval.

McKinnon worked his way to the front from his eighth-starting spot in the WISSOTA Modified feature. He cracked the top five by the second go-round, worked forward to second by lap nine, and grabbed the lead about two laps later. From there he held off the efforts of runner-up David Simpson in the final laps and scored his first victory of the season. Curtis Stieh, Riley Matthews and Joel Cryderman were top-five finishers.

In the WISSOTA Super Stocks, Simpson took the lead from Cole Chernosky just before the halfway point and held strong out front of Chernosky, who finished .794 of a second behind Simpson at the stripe. Shawn Polonoski, Nathan Roy and Andrew Groom were top-five finishers.

Vernon started on the pole and led from flag to flag for his 18th win of the season in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds. Seventh-starter David Simpson improved five spots, gaining on Vernon in the final few laps as he worked through traffic, but had to settle for second. Trenton Woodbeck was third and Michael Shalley and David Kivi completed the top five.

Kyle Bolt started outside the second row in the WISSOTA Street Stocks and drove into the lead with less than a handful of laps in the books. From there, he held off Trey Hess by less than half a second to garner the win. A.J. Kellar was third, while 10th-starter Nathan Henny finished fourth, and Brendan Makkinga completed the top five.

Owen took the lead in the WISSOTA Hornet feature just before the halfway point and narrowly beat 10th-starter Curtis Oleksuk to the line by .019 of a second to net the victory in a one-lap dash to the checkered flag. Jaxson Gregory, Kristina Moro and Jesse Owen completed the top five.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 27M-Scott McKinnon[8]; 2. 70-David Simpson[4]; 3. 32C-Curtis Stieh[6]; 4. 9M-Riley Matthews[3]; 5. 51-Joel Cryderman[1]; 6. T23-John Toppozini[9]; 7. 40-Tanner Henderson[17]; 8. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 9. 12-Tony Caissie[11]; 10. 97-Mark Earl[13]; 11. 73-Jeff Helget[5]; 12. 07-Jeremy Britten[10]; 13. 007-Allan Hyand[16]; 14. (DNF) 22-Brandon Copp[7]; 15. (DNF) 24-Jarrett Dowell[15]; 16. (DNF) 66X-Denny Trimble[14]; 17. (DNF) 27-Chris Unrau[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[1]; 2. 22-Brandon Copp[7]; 3. 27M-Scott McKinnon[9]; 4. 32C-Curtis Stieh[6]; 5. T23-John Toppozini[2]; 6. 12-Tony Caissie[8]; 7. 97-Mark Earl[4]; 8. 24-Jarrett Dowell[3]; 9. 007-Allan Hyand[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[6]; 2. 51-Joel Cryderman[2]; 3. 9M-Riley Matthews[3]; 4. 73-Jeff Helget[8]; 5. 07-Jeremy Britten[1]; 6. 27-Chris Unrau[7]; 7. 66X-Denny Trimble[5]; 8. (DNF) 40-Tanner Henderson[4]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 77-Rick Simpson[5]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[2]; 3. 316-Shawn Polonoski[4]; 4. 22R-Nathan Roy[8]; 5. 15G-Andrew Groom[10]; 6. 19-Larry Both[6]; 7. 37A-Danny Young[7]; 8. 124-Simon Hachez[18]; 9. 51-Aaron Sacek[1]; 10. 61-Tom Smart[9]; 11. 0-Jeremy Britten[14]; 12. 498-Tanner House[11]; 13. 219-Ryan House[13]; 14. 24-Joshua Oleksuk[16]; 15. 37J-Tyler Wade[12]; 16. 37-John Garrity[3]; 17. 207-Tj Lynch[15]; 18. (DNF) 518-Mike Plas[17]; 19. (DNS) 2-Carson Bamford

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 316-Shawn Polonoski[2]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[10]; 3. 22R-Nathan Roy[5]; 4. 37-John Garrity[9]; 5. 61-Tom Smart[8]; 6. 498-Tanner House[3]; 7. 219-Ryan House[7]; 8. 207-Tj Lynch[1]; 9. 518-Mike Plas[6]; 10. (DNF) 2-Carson Bamford[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Rick Simpson[8]; 2. 37A-Danny Young[1]; 3. 19-Larry Both[2]; 4. 51-Aaron Sacek[4]; 5. 15G-Andrew Groom[7]; 6. 37J-Tyler Wade[5]; 7. 0-Jeremy Britten[3]; 8. 24-Joshua Oleksuk[6]; 9. (DNF) 124-Simon Hachez[9]

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[1]; 2. 70-David Simpson[7]; 3. 00-Trenton Woodbeck[6]; 4. 8X-Michael Shalley[4]; 5. 17K-David Kivi[8]; 6. M17-Matthew Mitchell[2]; 7. 32C-Curtis Stieh[5]; 8. 6-Joel Macleod[12]; 9. 2-Dan Tocheri[16]; 10. 17-Rob Groom[3]; 11. 14C-Colby Petrunak[17]; 12. 3D-Kevin Monteith[19]; 13. 86EH-Tanner Ulakovic[11]; 14. 10D-Patrick Davis[13]; 15. 22R-Nathan Roy[18]; 16. 723-Wayne deBruin[9]; 17. 67-Glen Brown[20]; 18. 11-Kevin Armstrong[10]; 19. 26-Paul Hari[15]; 20. 267-Bill Jeffers[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Tyler Vernon[3]; 2. 17K-David Kivi[1]; 3. 723-Wayne deBruin[4]; 4. 10D-Patrick Davis[5]; 5. 44-Bryce Melanson[2]; 6. 89-Kolby Reed[10]; 7. 99D-Ben DeFoy[8]; 8. 95-Connor Moro[9]; 9. E87-Emerson Maxwell[6]; 10. 13-Ted Horst[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32C-Curtis Stieh[3]; 2. 8X-Michael Shalley[10]; 3. 11-Kevin Armstrong[6]; 4. 267-Bill Jeffers[4]; 5. 15K-Jeff Kelly[8]; 6. 57JR-Robert Squitti[7]; 7. 32S-Connor Stieh[2]; 8. 46B-Addy Beerthuizen[5]; 9. 16-Brad Bohonis[9]; 10. (DNF) 317-Austin Polonoski[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Rob Groom[3]; 2. M17-Matthew Mitchell[5]; 3. 86EH-Tanner Ulakovic[10]; 4. 26-Paul Hari[1]; 5. 14C-Colby Petrunak[4]; 6. 3D-Kevin Monteith[6]; 7. 66-Bill Speak[7]; 8. 27B-Dave DeVente[9]; 9. 56-Keith LaPlante[2]; 10. 99J-John Coppock[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[2]; 2. 00-Trenton Woodbeck[8]; 3. 6-Joel Macleod[6]; 4. 2-Dan Tocheri[3]; 5. 22R-Nathan Roy[5]; 6. M20-Travis MacArthur[1]; 7. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[9]; 8. 67-Glen Brown[4]; 9. 18-Hunter Brink[7]; 10. (DNF) 5JR-William Milne Jr[10]

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14C-Colby Petrunak[2]; 2. 3D-Kevin Monteith[4]; 3. 89-Kolby Reed[3]; 4. 66-Bill Speak[6]; 5. 27B-Dave DeVente[8]; 6. 44-Bryce Melanson[1]; 7. 99D-Ben DeFoy[5]; 8. E87-Emerson Maxwell[9]; 9. 95-Connor Moro[7]; 10. 13-Ted Horst[11]; 11. (DNF) 99J-John Coppock[12]; 12. (DNS) 56-Keith LaPlante

B Feature 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22R-Nathan Roy[2]; 2. 67-Glen Brown[8]; 3. M20-Travis MacArthur[4]; 4. 18-Hunter Brink[10]; 5. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[6]; 6. 15K-Jeff Kelly[1]; 7. 57JR-Robert Squitti[3]; 8. 16-Brad Bohonis[9]; 9. 32S-Connor Stieh[5]; 10. 46B-Addy Beerthuizen[7]; 11. 5JR-William Milne Jr[12]; 12. (DNS) 317-Austin Polonoski

WISSOTA Street Stocks:

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 77-Kyle Bolt[4]; 2. 4-Trey Hess[5]; 3. 54X-AJ Kellar[1]; 4. 35-Nathan Henny[10]; 5. 426-Brendan Makkinga[2]; 6. 96W-Darren Wolframe[3]; 7. 88-Steven Hitchman[12]; 8. 1JT-Justin Tougas[11]; 9. 24-Andrew Piilo[15]; 10. 9-Jack Williamson[9]; 11. 32-Cory Ward[7]; 12. 17A-David Mitchell[8]; 13. 25-Kathryn Stieh[18]; 14. 12K-Chase Kivi[19]; 15. 12SB-Scott Gregory[14]; 16. 19-Paul Krawec[16]; 17. 3B-BJ Kapush[20]; 18. 317-Austin Polonoski[17]; 19. 49-Derek Ross[6]; 20. (DNF) 22-Tyson Waller[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 54X-AJ Kellar[3]; 2. 32-Cory Ward[2]; 3. 9-Jack Williamson[4]; 4. 22-Tyson Waller[8]; 5. 2-Charlie Merkley[6]; 6. 317-Austin Polonoski[1]; 7. 48-Jaden Piilo[7]; 8. S13-Mike Stover[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 96W-Darren Wolframe[1]; 2. 426-Brendan Makkinga[4]; 3. 35-Nathan Henny[3]; 4. 12SB-Scott Gregory[6]; 5. 3B-BJ Kapush[7]; 6. 25-Kathryn Stieh[8]; 7. 17-Don Mitchell[2]; 8. (DNF) 21-Nate Owen[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Trey Hess[7]; 2. 77-Kyle Bolt[8]; 3. 1JT-Justin Tougas[4]; 4. 24-Andrew Piilo[5]; 5. 16-Teagan Britten[3]; 6. 29-Ricky Reid[1]; 7. T53-Sacha Torkkeli[6]; 8. (DNF) 12K-Chase Kivi[2]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Derek Ross[1]; 2. 17A-David Mitchell[3]; 3. 88-Steven Hitchman[6]; 4. 19-Paul Krawec[2]; 5. 9E-Cameron Ellis[8]; 6. 73-Freddy Henny[7]; 7. 27-Chris Daze[5]; 8. (DNF) 23-Steven Piilo[4]

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 317-Austin Polonoski[3]; 2. 12K-Chase Kivi[8]; 3. 2-Charlie Merkley[1]; 4. S13-Mike Stover[7]; 5. 29-Ricky Reid[4]; 6. 16-Teagan Britten[2]; 7. T53-Sacha Torkkeli[6]; 8. (DQ) 48-Jaden Piilo[5]

B Feature 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Kathryn Stieh[3]; 2. 3B-BJ Kapush[1]; 3. 73-Freddy Henny[4]; 4. 17-Don Mitchell[5]; 5. 27-Chris Daze[6]; 6. (DNF) 9E-Cameron Ellis[2]; 7. (DNS) 21-Nate Owen; 8. (DNS) 23-Steven Piilo

WISSOTA Hornets:

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 34-Selena Owen[6]; 2. 205-Curtis Oleksuk[10]; 3. 12SB-Jaxon Gregory[14]; 4. 95-Kristina Moro[8]; 5. 22-Jesse Owen[5]; 6. 26-Sam Bolt[3]; 7. 26B-Rick Breukelman[2]; 8. 37-Connor Danylko[11]; 9. 5-Hunter Marshall[15]; 10. 11-Carrie Allen[4]; 11. 23-Jimmy Owen[1]; 12. 10K-Kathleen Speaker[13]; 13. (DNF) 09-Joshua Kruzel[9]; 14. (DNF) 57-Spencer Smith[7]; 15. (DNF) M11-Merissa Currie[17]; 16. (DNS) 6JR-Taylor Scaffeo; 17. (DNS) 21D-Dayla Haliuk

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 57-Spencer Smith[3]; 2. 23-Jimmy Owen[1]; 3. 22-Jesse Owen[9]; 4. 95-Kristina Moro[6]; 5. 09-Joshua Kruzel[2]; 6. 37-Connor Danylko[4]; 7. 10K-Kathleen Speaker[5]; 8. 5-Hunter Marshall[8]; 9. (DNF) M11-Merissa Currie[7]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 34-Selena Owen[3]; 2. 11-Carrie Allen[1]; 3. 26-Sam Bolt[2]; 4. 26B-Rick Breukelman[6]; 5. 205-Curtis Oleksuk[8]; 6. 6JR-Taylor Scaffeo[4]; 7. 12SB-Jaxon Gregory[5]; 8. 21D-Dayla Haliuk[7]