8/8/2023
Lake of the Woods Speedway
2023 Dinner Jacket Champions Suited, Pollock/Rehill Clean Sweep, Strachan/Luschinski Split Points/Wins, Alcock Claims Win, L. McDonald the Jacket
The Dinner Jacket Classic Series was in town at the Lake of the Woods Speedway with the Q104 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, WISSOTA Pure Stocks, Henley Enterprises & HD Contracting Ent. 4-Cylinders and the Direct Automotive Inc. WISSOTA Modifieds taking it to the track for the double header.
Dinner Jacket Classic Series – Bruce Krawicki Memorial Day #1
Saturday’s races were delayed by forty-five minutes due to light rain after hot laps. It didn’t take long to run it in and the track continued to be as fast as it was in warm up.
Up first in the heat races were the WISSOTA Pure Stocks. Jamie Tates and Brodie Mcgowan started on the pole. Rookie Mcgowan took an early lead and started pulling away from the field. His speed continued to improve until he pushed the car too hard in turn one and spun out. On the ensuing restart, Kyle Swaffer took the lead and smooth sailed to the finish line claiming his first ever win.
Mcgowan said afterwards, “I thought everyone was right behind me, so I pushed the car as much as I could. When I spun around, I noticed no one was remotely close. Rookie mistake.”
In heat two, Derek Pollock showed everyone how the outside lane works at the speedway and drove it from fifth to first. Michael Copp would finish a close second and Wanda Marshall, third. In the final heat, Morgan McDonald was handed the lead and eventual win after his brother broke a ball joint while in the top spot of the race and hit the wall just before the flagstand. Jesse Pederson finished second and Steve Redman, third.
The feature race had all sorts of action. Some laps included four wide racing with plenty of three wide racing in between. Alexander Farr and Jesse Pederson started on the pole. The two battled it out for a while but engine problems forced Pederson to retire early. Soon after, Farr suffered catastrophic engine failure and was towed off the track. It then became a battle between Copp and Pollock. As the race progressed, Redman’s engine would blow up spectacularly on the frontstretch, and Swaffer would pull in due to an engine issue as well.
After plenty of restarts, it would be Copp, Pollock and Morgan McDonald battling it out for the lead. McDonald started to get a good run on the outside and then made a dive bomb around Copp and to the inside of Pollock. Coming to the line, it would be Pollock by just half a car length over McDonald to take the win in night one.
In the Q104 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, Edward Bell looked fast as he and Nick Audette ran beside each other for several laps. Eventually, Bell was able to take the lead and pull away. However, Paul Veert was moving up and had caught up to Bell. As Bell slowed in turn three, Veert got into the back of him and lost control. Bell would take the win. In heat two, Nick Hooper started on the pole and finished there with Brenden Luschinski second, and Dan Tocheri, third. In heat three, Dylan McCaughan would start and finish first, Brandon Rehill drove it from fifth to second and Christopher Leek rounded out third.
Rehill would redraw on the pole with McCaughan starting second in the feature. The front row would run the high line the entire race and finish in the positions they started. Meanwhile, there was no lack of action on the track as cars fought side by side throughout the green to checkered event. Leek would start seventh get up to as high as third, but finished sixth when Audette made it across the line just ahead. Veert, who started in the tenth position finished fourth as the hard charger of the night. Luschinski would finish third after starting sixth. The “High Side Hustler” dominated the race taking the Bruce Krawicki Memorial feature win.
In the Direct Automotive Inc. WISSOTA Modifieds, Brenden Luschinski and Brody Strachan would start and finish one two with Rick Delaine getting by Shawn Teunis for third.
Strachan went to the high side starting the pole in the feature and pulled away from the field staying on the rim the whole time. Delaine would finish second
and Luschinski, third.
In the Henley Enterprises & HD Contracting Enterprises, Dustin Alcock would pass Kamea Mulholland for the lead in heat one and claim the checkered. In heat two, it was looking to be a battle between Jeremy Wall and Logan McDonald, but a mistake by Wall coming into turn one would lead to heavy damage to Wall, forcing him to retire for the weekend. McDonald would claim the win. Madoc Mulholland would finish second after starting fourth.
With the feature event, Alcock would get to the front first and have to fend off McDonald the entire race. Even after swapping the lead a couple times and multiple laps of side by side action, Alcock was able to hold on for his first feature win in two years.
Dinner Jacket Classic Series Day #2 – Phil Boisjoli Memorial
It was a much different Sunday compared to Saturday with more sunshine and wind. Luckily, there was little to no chance of rain this time.
The WISSOTA Pure Stocks were on tap again with seventeen cars split into three heat races. In heat one, Morgan McDonald came from the back of the pack (sixth) and battled with his brother Bryson throughout much of the race.
When the checkered flag waved, Morgan was claim the win. Roger Boisjoli finished third. In heat two, Derek Pollock started in the fourth position and gained the lead over Kyle Swaffer from the outside. In heat three, Jesse
Pederson started on the pole and claimed the win, Steve Redman moved from third to second and Michael Copp from fifth to third place.
In the feature, it was a race of attrition as a plethora of cautions plagued the Boisjoli Memorial race. In between the cautions, there was a ton of action as drivers jostled for position all over the place. Roger Boisjoli caused one of the first cautions but eventually clawed his way back from sixteenth to fourth. The hard charger of the night was the rookie Austin Dueck who went from fifteen to ninth. The big battle occurred up front with Copp, Pollock, B. McDonald and eventually M. McDonald all in the mix. Bad luck struck Morgan however, as he ran out of gas when in the top three. On one of the last restarts, Pollock made a pass on the outside, but coming into turn three he was tagged by Copp, bringing out the caution and Copp sent to the back.
It was mainly clear sailing after that for Pollock who would take back to back wins and claim the Boisjoli Memorial Race. B. McDonald would finish second and Copp recovered back to third.
The Q104 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds heat races had McCaughan and Rehill charge from fourth to first and fifth to second in heat one, and Christopher Leek would start and finish first with Bell in second for heat two.
Rehill had a lot more work to do to get to the front in the feature. Starting from the seventh position, he worked his way around cars on both the inside and outside of the track. Eventually he would catch up with the leaders of rookie Kevin Gagnon and veteran Christopher Leek. After multiple battles with both of them, Rehill was able to take the lead. He would not be challenged much after that and made it back to back feature wins.
In the Direct Automotive Inc. WISSOTA Modifieds, Teunis started on the pole in the heat race and claimed the win, with Strachan second and Luschinski third.
For the feature, Luschinski was looking strong as he pulled away from the rest of the cars early on. Teunis made a move on Strachan which stuck to finish in second.
Henley Enterprises & HD Contracting Ent. 4-Cylinders had Logan McDonald with luck of the draw on his side to start in front of Saturday’s winner, Alcock. However, it was an excellent battle between Kamea Mulholland, McDonald and Alcock throughout much of the race. In the end, it would be McDonald claiming the feature win with Mulholland in second and Alcock in third.
When the points were tallied up, #16 Brenden Luschinski/#99 Brody Strachan became co-champions of the Dinner Jacket Classic Series in the Direct Automotive Inc. WISSOTA Modifieds, #14 Logan McDonald claimed the jacket in the Henley Enterprises & HD Contracting Ent. 4-Cylinders, #4b Brandon Rehill clean swept the weekend for his Dinner Jacket in the Q104 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, and #2T Derek Pollock took home the Dinner Jacket with a clean sweep as well.
Thank You to all our Fans, Sponsors, Volunteers, Drivers and Crews, and everyone else for making the 2023 Dinner Jacket Classic Series the best yet!
Associate Sponsors include Green’s BBQ, Weyerhaeuser, Superior Driveline (Tbay), Bennett’s Marine, and Log Cabin Tavern.
Racing Resumes this Sunday, August 13, with the CARSTAR WISSOTA Street Stocks Special! Hot Laps at 4:00pm and Racing at 4:30pm.
Article Credit: Val Catellier Photography
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