6/18/2024
Lake of the Woods Speedway
Rehill, Wall, Copp Claim Ashley Neniska Memorial Wins
Lake of the Woods Speedway hosted its second event of the season with the Ashley Neniska Memorial races on June 16, 2024. A total of thirty-six cars in the three classes entered onto the track to run Ashley’s last lap. Afterwards, the drivers lined up on the front stretch for the memorial presentation and the spreading of ashes.
Two heats for each class was the order of the day as the WISSOTA Pure Stocks took to the track immediately after hot laps. Morgan McDonald started third and took the win over Stan Dueck and Kaden Labute. In heat two Brodie Mcgowan looked strong throughout the ten laps, pulling away from the field early on. A battle raged on for the second spot with Steve Redman, Bryson McDonald and Logan McDonald all jostling for position. In the end, Bryson would take second, and Logan third.
The feature had Wanda Marshall starting on the pole with Brodie Mcgowan on the outside. Running the high line, Mcgowan swooped by Marshall for the lead on lap one. Cars started to string out with Morgan McDonald also following on the outside claiming second spot over Marshall a few laps later. Meanwhile, Copp took advantage of a three car battle to move from ninth to fourth. Side by side, McDonald and Mcgowan fought for the lead on two different lines. McDonald just couldn’t get enough bite on the bottom and decide to move up top. Mcgowan slowly pulled away until the first caution came out for Marshall. On the ensuing restart, the cars tried to make it four wide coming out of four but Bryson McDonald ended up hitting the throttle too soon, spinning out on the bottom of the track. Mcgowan continued to lead on the high side. Copp and Morgan McDonald were battling for second when Logan McDonald would spin on his own in turn two bringing out another caution. On the next restart, Mcgowan moved down from the lane he was running, which opened the door for a three wide battle for the lead. In the end, Copp was able to sneak by with M. McDonald in second. The top five began to separate from the bottom five cars with position swapping throughout them. In the end, it was Copp with the win, Morgan McDonald and Bryson McDonald finishing second and third.
In the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds heat one, Tim Wiebe and Lance Relf started on the front row. Relf quickly took the lead with Mark Earl moving into second. However, a couple spins by Earl forced him to leave the track early. After a couple restarts, it was Paul Veert to take the heat win with Edward Bell and Relf finishing behind him. In heat two, Nick Audette and Brandon Rehill had a brief but exciting battle for the top spot. Eventually, Rehill would take the lead with Audette trying to keep up to no avail. Christopher Leek would claim third spot.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds feature had Kenora driver Keelan Hall on the pole. After a couple quick restarts, Hall was able to maintain the lead over Brandon Rehill and Nick Audette. Coming into turn two, Bell pushed too hard into the corner, spinning out and collecting the back of Mark Earl. Bell would change a tire and rejoin the field. For the next several green flag laps, Hall would maintain the lead with Rehill hot on his tail. Hall was unable to hold it on the bottom and Rehill made a dive into turn three coming out of the corner side by side with Hall and taking the lead into turn one. Rehill wouldn’t look back and pull away for the feature win. Hall would finish a strong second with Veert finishing third.
In heat one of the HD Contracting Ent. 4-Cylinders, Dustin Alcock dominated the race from start to finish. Madoc Mulholland held onto second place for a while until his sibling of Kamea made an incredible pass to become the runner up. Madoc would still finish in the top three. In heat two, Jeremy Wall looked strong and pulled away from the field claiming the win. The battle for second place lasted the majority of the race until Aiden McKuski ended up with a flat tire on the last lap, giving rookie Derek Poirier second place.
The HD Contracting Enterprises 4-Cylinders were the final feature of the night. Very quickly, the drivers of Wall, K. Mulholland and Alcock became the top three runners. Wall had the early lead but Kamea was gaining speed and was able to make a good move on the outside to pass Wall for the top spot. The caution came out due to Poirier stopped at the top of turn two. On the restart, Alcock got an amazing restart and claimed the lead, but it didn’t last long as he moved to high up the track handing the lead back to Wall. Kamea then took second spot. It would become a battle between the three throughout the remainder of the race until Wall would claim the checkered flag with Kamea in second, Alcock third.
A huge congratulations to all the feature winners of the Ashley Neniska Memorial Races! Thank you to all the amazing fans, sponsors, and volunteers for a continued job well done!
We are OFF for racing on the weekend of June 22, but will be back for FRIDAY NIGHT RACING on June 28 with Hot Laps at 6:45pm and Racing at 7:00pm presented by Kenora Chevrolet Buick GMC!
Article Credit: Val Catellier Photography
Article Media
