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Brandon Copp, Dave Cain & Joel Cryderman (Paul Phillips Photo)

Car counts grow and action heats up as Copp bests Cain in Mods and Vernon knocks off Midwest Mods night two at Thunder City

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO (June 21) - Night two of the Halfway Motors Heartbeat Hot Sauce Invitational at Thunder City Speedway kept Thunder Bay race fans entertained Friday night, June 21, the second of three nights of action. On the docket was qualifying for the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds for the $10,000-to-win Saturday night finale, as well as action in the WISSOTA Modifieds, Super Stocks, and the track’s Hornet class.

WISSOTA Dirt Track Series winners included Brandon Copp, Cole Chernosky, and Tyler Vernon. Jesse Owen scored the victory in the track’s Hornet class.

Shawn Polonoski and Danny Young brought the field of WISSOTA Super Stocks to the green flag, ahead of Larry Both and Rick Simpson in row two. Young and Polonoski were side by side to complete the first couple of laps, with Young edging ever so slightly into the lead. Chernosky was right on their heels, pulling even with Polonoski into turns one and two, and making the pass in turn three before a caution for a spin regrouped the field. The ensuing restart also ended in caution.

When the field was able to get going once more, Young led them back to green. Chernosky was second, diving to the inside of turns three and four, and coming out into the lead to score the next lap. Polonoski was third, with Rick Simpson, John Toppozini and Both in the mix for top five spots.

Out front, Chernosky tried to stretch his lead, with Young second, Polonoski third, Simpson fourth and Toppozini fifth. A caution regrouped the field. On the ensuing restart, a huge pileup kept the field at a standstill. A spin on the next restart continued the yellow-flag fever.

Chernosky remained the leader when the field was back under green, but the action was short-lived as another caution fell upon the field with 10 laps complete.

Chernosky was under pressure from Simpson on the restart, with Young in third, Polonoski in fourth and Toppozini under fire from Nathan Roy in fifth.

As the race progressed, the top five began to string out along the speedway. Chernosky continued to lead as he worked through the backmarkers, with Simpson second and Polonoski close behind in third. Another caution fell for another spin, bringing the field back together.

The field was given a green, white, checkered finish. Chernosky held the lead to the checkered flag, grabbing the win ahead of Simpson, Young, Toppozini, and Polonoski as the field finished under another yellow flag.

In the Modifieds, Joel Cryderman and Dave Cain led the field to the green flag, ahead of Jeff Davis and Brandon Copp in row two. The initial start ended with a yellow for Chernosky with heavy nose damage.

Cain was the early leader, with heavy pressure to his outside from Copp. After about a lap or two complete, another spin bred another caution.

Following the restart, Cain continued to lead, with Copp in second and Cryderman in third. Chaschuk was fourth and Davis was in fifth, under fire from Cody Wolkowski.

Cain and Copp continued their side-by-side battle, just ahead of Cryderman, as Chaschuk battled Wolkowski for top-five honors. It was near catastrophe a couple of laps later, as Copp dove to the inside of turn one for the lead, colliding with a lapped car a lane up from the bottom. The incident slowed the lapped car, which also held up Cain’s progress.

Copp had a healthy lead out front when Denny Trimble went around, after having been black flagged a couple laps earlier. Just thirteen of 30 laps were complete at this point. Another caution on the restart kept the field slowed.

Copp continued to lead following the restart, with Cain side by side for the top spot. Cryderman was third, Chaschuk was fourth and Wolkowski was threatening for the spot close by in fifth.

With Copp up top and Cain to the inside lane, the side-by-side battle out front continued. Tyler Vernon was on the move into the top five, displacing Wolkowski for fourth as Chaschuk fell out of the top five.

Lap after lap, Copp pulled ever-so slightly ahead down the back and front stretches, with Cain pulling even in the turns. Things became dicey once again for the leaders as they began to weave through the backmarkers once more. Copp had the advantage with no lapped cars in his preferred groove for a lap or two, and instead, they were along Cain’s preferred line. Copp was not able to put much distance on Cain however, as Cain navigated the group, and once cleared of lapped traffic, Cain was right back to his door for the top spot.

The lead duo then came to three backmarkers three wide ahead of them; Copp moved to the middle line to get underneath a lapped car in the top lane, as Cain threaded the needle past a lapped car along the bottom lane. They came out of turn four nearly four wide, Copp and Cain the meat in a lapped-car sandwich, with another lapped car directly ahead of Cain. Copp had just enough room to eek out past the lapped car on the high side and hold the lead, as Cain also drove by unscathed with one lap to go.

Copp drove off to the hard-fought win during the final lap, ahead of Cain, Cryderman, Vernon and Chaschuk in the top five.

In the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, Tyler Vernon and Corey Mehrwerth led the field to the green. Vernon drove into the top spot early, before a spin in the back of the field brought out the first caution. A second and third caution quickly followed.

When green flag racing was back underway, Vernon led Jason VandeKamp, Mehrwerth, Wyatt Boyum, and Gavin Paull in the top five. David Simpson got by Paull one lap later. Another caution regrouped the field.

Vernon set off into the lead following the restart, with VandeKamp close behind. Mehrwerth was third, with Simpson fourth and Boyum fifth.

The top five began to string out along the bottom of the speedway, with Vernon still having a comfortable lead. Lapped traffic, though dicey at times, did not change the complexion of the race. Following a final yellow with 17 of 25 complete, and two more a few laps later, Vernon drove on to the eventual win, ahead of VandeKamp, Mehrwerth, Simpson, and Boyum in the top five. The top five finishers take their place along the outside line of the first five rows for Saturday’s $10,000-to-win finale.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 22-Brandon Copp[4]; 2. 2C-Dave Cain[2]; 3. 51-Joel Cryderman[1]; 4. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[8]; 5. 621-Colin Chaschuk[6]; 6. 224-Cody Wolkowski[5]; 7. 9-Riley Matthews[12]; 8. 85-Jeff Davis[3]; 9. 12-Tony Caissie[16]; 10. 88-Tanner Williamson[7]; 11. 32C-Curtis Stieh[11]; 12. T23-John Toppozini[10]; 13. 27-Scott McKinnon[15]; 14. 15-Adam Dennhardt[26]; 15. 99-Brody Strachan[14]; 16. 3D-Kevin Monteith[17]; 17. 146-Dan Bertrand[20]; 18. 1-Greg Foglia[19]; 19. 12P-Brandon Pelepetz[21]; 20. 4A-Dawson Allen[22]; 21. 7M-Wagner Macleod[23]; 22. 07-Jeremy Britten[24]; 23. (DNF) L1-Shane Howell[13]; 24. (DNF) 66X-Denny Trimble[25]; 25. (DNF) 316-Shawn Polonoski[18]; 26. (DNF) 33C-Cole Chernosky[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 51-Joel Cryderman[5]; 2. 88-Tanner Williamson[2]; 3. 33C-Cole Chernosky[3]; 4. 9-Riley Matthews[1]; 5. 12-Tony Caissie[4]; 6. 27-Scott McKinnon[9]; 7. 12P-Brandon Pelepetz[6]; 8. 7M-Wagner Macleod[8]; 9. 07-Jeremy Britten[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Brandon Copp[2]; 2. 621-Colin Chaschuk[3]; 3. 224-Cody Wolkowski[6]; 4. 99-Brody Strachan[4]; 5. T23-John Toppozini[8]; 6. 3D-Kevin Monteith[7]; 7. 146-Dan Bertrand[5]; 8. (DNF) 66X-Denny Trimble[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Dave Cain[3]; 2. 85-Jeff Davis[5]; 3. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[4]; 4. L1-Shane Howell[2]; 5. 32C-Curtis Stieh[8]; 6. 316-Shawn Polonoski[7]; 7. 1-Greg Foglia[9]; 8. 4A-Dawson Allen[1]; 9. (DNF) 15-Adam Dennhardt[6]

WISSOTA Super Stocks:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 33C-Cole Chernosky[5]; 2. 77-Rick Simpson[3]; 3. 37A-Danny Young[2]; 4. T23-John Toppozini[6]; 5. 316-Shawn Polonoski[1]; 6. 19-Larry Both[4]; 7. 22R-Nathan Roy[10]; 8. 81B-Doug Bolt[13]; 9. 15G-Andrew Groom[12]; 10. 76-Doug Koski[8]; 11. 61-Tom Smart[7]; 12. 07-Jeremy Britten[23]; 13. 24-Josh Oleksuk[14]; 14. 08-Norm Staal[9]; 15. 37J-Tyler Wade[11]; 16. 51-Aaron Sacek[19]; 17. 498-Tanner House[16]; 18. (DNF) 88A-David Allen[22]; 19. (DNF) 99-Kyle Paradis[15]; 20. (DNF) 95-MacKenzie Holmwood[17]; 21. (DNF) 66B-Bradley Maynard[18]; 22. (DNF) 25-Mike Plas[21]; 23. (DNF) 37-John Garrity[24]; 24. (DNF) 219-Ryan House[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 316-Shawn Polonoski[3]; 2. 33C-Cole Chernosky[5]; 3. 37J-Tyler Wade[2]; 4. 81B-Doug Bolt[1]; 5. 24-Josh Oleksuk[6]; 6. 498-Tanner House[7]; 7. 219-Ryan House[8]; 8. (DNS) 88A-David Allen

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37A-Danny Young[3]; 2. T23-John Toppozini[5]; 3. 19-Larry Both[8]; 4. 08-Norm Staal[7]; 5. 99-Kyle Paradis[2]; 6. 95-MacKenzie Holmwood[4]; 7. (DNF) 07-Jeremy Britten[1]; 8. (DNF) 37-John Garrity[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Rick Simpson[3]; 2. 76-Doug Koski[1]; 3. 61-Tom Smart[5]; 4. 22R-Nathan Roy[6]; 5. 15G-Andrew Groom[7]; 6. 66B-Bradley Maynard[4]; 7. 51-Aaron Sacek[8]; 8. 25-Mike Plas[2]

WISSOTA Midwest Mods:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[1]; 2. 16V-Jason VandeKamp[7]; 3. 27M-Corey Mehrwerth[2]; 4. 70-David Simpson[11]; 5. 21-Wyatt Boyum[5]; 6. 16-Garrett Paull[8]; 7. 32C-Curtis Stieh[10]; 8. 23J-Gavin Paull[4]; 9. 17K-David Kivi[23]; 10. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[15]; 11. 3D-Kevin Monteith[14]; 12. 15K-Jeff Kelly[6]; 13. 97-Mark Earl[13]; 14. 10D-Patrick Davis[22]; 15. 67-Glen Brown[18]; 16. 3X-Jesse Thompson[20]; 17. 11-Kevin Armstrong[12]; 18. M17-Matthew Mitchell[17]; 19. 80-Doug Wakefield[3]; 20. 27B-Dave DeVente[21]; 21. 56-Keith LaPlante[24]; 22. 9-Reuben Thomas[16]; 23. (DNF) 44-Bryce Melanson[9]; 24. (DNF) 18W-Brad Walker[25]; 25. (DNF) 21R-Ross Siiter[19]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[6]; 2. 16-Garrett Paull[3]; 3. 3D-Kevin Monteith[1]; 4. 11-Kevin Armstrong[7]; 5. 3X-Jesse Thompson[8]; 6. 18W-Brad Walker[2]; 7. 56-Keith LaPlante[4]; 8. 13-Ted Horst[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 27M-Corey Mehrwerth[4]; 2. 70-David Simpson[8]; 3. 16V-Jason VandeKamp[6]; 4. 3DJR-Kyle Monteith[5]; 5. 67-Glen Brown[2]; 6. 27B-Dave DeVente[7]; 7. (DNS) 12-Allan Hyand; 8. (DNS) 99J-John Coppock

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Wyatt Boyum[1]; 2. 32C-Curtis Stieh[2]; 3. 44-Bryce Melanson[5]; 4. 97-Mark Earl[6]; 5. 21R-Ross Siiter[4]; 6. (DNS) 99-Brody Strachan; 7. (DNS) 0-Wayne Gaudrea

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 15K-Jeff Kelly[1]; 2. 80-Doug Wakefield[5]; 3. 23J-Gavin Paull[7]; 4. 9-Reuben Thomas[2]; 5. M17-Matthew Mitchell[6]; 6. 10D-Patrick Davis[4]; 7. 17K-David Kivi[3]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[6]; 2. 10D-Patrick Davis[2]; 3. 17K-David Kivi[3]; 4. 3X-Jesse Thompson[5]; 5. 56-Keith LaPlante[1]; 6. (DNS) 13-Ted Horst; 7. (DNS) 99J-John Coppock; 8. (DNS) 12-Allan Hyand; 9. (DNS) 99-Brody Strachan; 10. (DNS) 0-Wayne Gaudrea

Hornets:

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 22-Jesse Owen[4]; 2. 21N-Nate Owen[5]; 3. 8X-Michael Shalley[3]; 4. 26-Martin Bolt[8]; 5. 555-Carter Wieringa[2]; 6. 34-Selena Owen[1]; 7. 26B-Rick Breukelman[7]; 8. 5-Hunter Marshall[10]; 9. 37-Connor Danylko[12]; 10. 23-Jimmy Owen[9]; 11. M11-Merissa Currie[11]; 12. 09-Joshua Kruzel[13]; 13. 6JR-Taylor Scaffeo[14]; 14. (DNS) 11-Carrie Allen; 15. (DNS) 69-Rick Reid; 16. (DNS) 10K-Kathleen Speaker

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21N-Nate Owen[1]; 2. 22-Jesse Owen[4]; 3. 8X-Michael Shalley[7]; 4. 10K-Kathleen Speaker[8]; 5. 5-Hunter Marshall[2]; 6. 37-Connor Danylko[6]; 7. 09-Joshua Kruzel[5]; 8. 6JR-Taylor Scaffeo[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 555-Carter Wieringa[4]; 2. 34-Selena Owen[7]; 3. 26B-Rick Breukelman[5]; 4. 26-Martin Bolt[3]; 5. 23-Jimmy Owen[1]; 6. M11-Merissa Currie[2]; 7. (DNS) 11-Carrie Allen; 8. (DNS) 69-Rick Reid