Midwest Mods Hit The Dirt

Wissota A Mods were first on tap to entertain the good crowd, and for the third week in a row, they did not disappoint. 15 drivers were on hand to try and grab the trophy and Chad Mcfadden had the best view, starting on pole. As the green flag fell, Mcfadden jumped to a huge five car length lead, and Kasey Brown settled into the second position, with Chad Johnson centimeters away in third. A little further back in the pack was Travis Davis, trying to make up a bad starting position rimriding around Gallatin Speedway. A caution momentarily slowed the action but when it resumed the lead race went three wide with Chad Johnson, Kasey Brown, and Chad Mcfadden. Mcfadden came away with the lead but lurking in the fourth position was the man who has dominated Wissota A-mods for years…Erin Shane. Mcfadden had the lead but was tested immediately by Brown and Johnson, three wide again. Mcfadden’s quest for his win ended when a slight miscalculation landed him sideways in front of the whole field, but netting Chad Johnson very visible body damage. Kasey Brown inherited the lead with Chad Johnson and Erin Shane in tow. Johnson tried the low line on Brown but was defended. The race was flying by and laps were winding down and Erin Shane snuck around Johnson and Brown to no ones surprise. Shane’s worst finish this season was a second place, and that was only by inches. The white flag waved and it was apparent Erin Shane wrestled another win away from the rest of the A Mods, Emory Wells and Chad Johnson were in a dead heat for second and third, Joey Price worked his way to fourth after being put to the back. Shane Lembcke ran a strong fifth. Chad Mcfadden and Emory Wells won their heat races earlier in the evening.

Wissota Street Stocks rolled onto the racing surface with perhaps the youngest front row in history. Cody Ryan out of Wolf creek, and Great Falls crowd favorite started on pole with Lyle Imberi, a crowd entertainer to his outside. The green flag fell and the race stayed 2 by 2 all the way back to tenth, until Brian Barnhardt, “Rev’n” Ron Imberi, and son Lyle Imberi made it three wide for second. The two Imberi’s held off Barnhardt’s onslaught and continued their race for the second position, with Ron Imberi taking it away after a few laps. Beau Brown started the race in the 17th position, but after only a few laps had worked his way to ninth, with only the nose cone hanging. The green flag flew and Kenneth “K.J.” Hunter was pushing and bumping the 151 of Lyle Imberi. Hunter was not willing to stay behind Lyle and ripped his car to the middle passing the father son duo. Dwayne Fowler is the only driver to contend with the Deer Lodge guys this season and did the same thing as Hunter taking third position through the middle. Cody Ryan held the lead still and was driving a terrific race, but the 68 of Hunter challenged to his outside looking to ruin a dream night for Ryan. A caution flag came out and that was the end of Cody Ryan’s dream night because when the green flew again, Dwayne Fowler jumped to a big lead. Nick Hunter has been close to winning all season but hasn’t quite capitalized yet, but had now worked his way to second. A challenge to Fowler on the low line netted Nick Hunter the lead. Dwayne Fowler never gave up but as the white flag fell, Dwayne Fowler, Nick Hunter, K.J. Hunter, and Paul Lease had separated themselves from the pack but not from each other. They were inches away racing three wide, and sometimes peeking at four wide but the victory could go to none other than Nick Hunter for the first time this season at Gallatin Speedway. Paul Lease ran a strong second, K.J. Hunter to third, Dwayne Fowler fourth and Beau Brown fifth. Beau Brown had been dethroned for the first time this season.

Midwest Modified action was next up and with the 2011 winner, Paul Leech on pole, it could be a runaway. Joey Price started to Leech’s outside and wanted none of the back to back stuff going on. After side by side battling between Price and Leech Price finally wrangled the lead away but Leech never gave up the whole night. Zach Olson worked his way to the 2nd position and was putting on the heat for the lead. Olson was riding a title wave of momentum winning his first career race in Great Falls just a couple weeks earlier. Joey Price got loose, and Olson capitalized muscling his way to the lead. Douglas LaPierre was in fourth and looked incredibly fast riding the bottom like a cat fish. the 21 of Price and the 01 of Leech continued their battle but this time for the 2nd position instead of the lead. That is just what LaPierre needed and slid under Price for third, and quickly went by Leech for second. LaPierre was making up time on the 4 of Olson but his lead was nearly insurmountable. The fourth place battle was on fire with Aaron Liscum and Chris Hill and coming to the white flag the race was down to three, Liscum, for his second career feature win, LaPierre for his first feature win at Gallatin Speedway, or Paul Leech for a repeat at Gallatin Speedway. The checkered flew over the wicked-fast Zach Olson, Douglas LaPierre gave it his all but came across the line in the bridesmaid position, Paul Leech in third, Chris Hill had a strong run in the fourth position, and Joey Price fought a tight race car for the fifth spot.

Wissota Super Stock racing was the last class to run, and Pat “Patches” Lamere started on pole with pre-season dark horse Dan Guenther to his outside. The quest for the third consecutive win, for Justin Rieker began in a sixth starting position with Mark Rieker to his inside. The green flag waved and the race for the lead went to three wide immediately. Dan Guenther, Kevin Scott, and Pat Lamere. Guenther out ran everyone else and now held the first position with Lamere and Scott racing each other hard for second. Scott came away with second and closed in on Guenther for the lead. Justin Rieker looked strong in third but had to start on the outside as Scott un-characteristically chose the inside lane. Rieker ran the high line but pushed way too high and fell back to fourth behind his father Mark Rieker. The fifth place race was raging between Carmi Wells, Jeremy Meirhofer, and Pat Lamere, but as that took place Dan Guenther had built a few car length lead, but ran high and that let Kevin Scott challenge Guenther low for the lead, but was immediately blocked. A quick caution restacked the field, and the green waved again. Scott got a lightning fast start grabbed the lead, but a caution came out fast so there was no building on the lead. The race resumed and the top two cars of the night were apparent. Kevin Scott had the lead with Dan Guenther in tow, inches of his bumper. Behind Guenther was a five car length lead over Ty Clemens in third. Although lapped traffic was present, they didn’t hinder the top two men of the evening. The white flag waved and Scott stayed cool as a cucumber and took his first victory of the season and also his first victory with his new baby boy in the stands! Dan Guenther ran a very strong second, Ty Clemens third, Justin Rieker’s quest for three in a row ended in fourth position, and Mark Rieker ran in the fifth position.

Gallatin Speedway host’s the Midwest modifieds again on July 27th and with the great racing that happened tonight, how could anyone not be excited for it? It really was a great night. Surprise winners, Jeremy Meirhofer wasn’t towed off the race track for the third week in a row (even though he won one of those races) and the racing was great all night. Next week the ground pounders are coming to town. Wissota Late Models are the special class of the week and Kelly Hampel looks to retain dominance, but a pack of snarling drivers hungry for wins, are right behind him. Check out Gallatinspeedway.com to see their excellent new sight and I will see you next week! thanks for reading!

Dru Brown