THUNDER BAY – Race nights can be pretty frantic for Cole Chernosky and John Toppozini.
However, the Thunder Bay racers wouldn’t have it any other way.
They are both competing in the Super Stock and WISSOTA Modified divisions this season at the Thunder City Speedway.
“It keeps you busy,” Chernosky said. “Your adrenaline is up all of the time and I think running both classes makes things a lot better for the crew and I.”
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do here,” Toppozini added. “It’s a lot of fun to do and I feel like that’s definitely an advantage to doing it.
“When you are out there in the super stock, you get to know what the track is doing and where you want to go. By the time you are getting in the modified, you are already in the zone. It’s a lot like warming up for a hockey game.”
While both competitors have been racing for around a decade now, the opportunity to double dip is a recent occurrence.
Chernosky got his Modified late last year and competed in three classes at Thunder City’s Dirt Track Nationals in September, as he also took the wheel in his WISSOTA Midwest Modified.
“That got to be a little too much,” Chernosky said.
“It’s a totally different animal hopping between the different cars. You have to learn to adapt really quickly, especially in the Modified as it has so much horsepower.”
If there’s been any issues in getting used to his new surroundings, Chernosky hasn’t shown it.
He’s won three feature races at Thunder City, where he holds an eight-point lead over Toppozini heading into Wednesday’s action, and also reached victory lane at Emo Speedway and Grand Rapids (Minn.) Speedway.
“Our main goal was to win one feature this year and we’ve beat that, so now we’re looking to finish in the top 10 in national points and win rookie of the year,” said Chernosky, who is currently fourth in the WISSOTA standings.
On the Super Stock side of things, Chernosky has won five features at Thunder City – where he went to the winner’s circle in both classes on June 26 and July 23 – and also picked up a triumph at Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wisc.
“There’s a lot more competition in the states for sure,” Chernosky said. “There’s a lot more money and a lot more talent down there.
“They aren’t scared to throw everything they have at it.”
Meanwhile, Toppozini is returning to where he started in the Super Stock division.
He originally ran in the class in 2013 but switched over to running a Late Model soon afterwards.
After moving over to the Modified division in 2019, Toppozini purchased a new Super Stock last August.
“The Super Stock is a lot of fun,” Toppozini said. “It’s like driving a big Cadillac out there when you are going over the bumps with plenty of forward drive in it.
“Then you hop into the Modified and it’s like you are hanging on to a wild animal.”
Toppozini’s lone feature win of the season thus far came in the Modified on May 29 at Thunder City.
Although he’s yet to pick up the checkered flag in the Super Stock, his five second-place finishes have helped him earn a slim three-point advantage over Rick Simpson.
