The Estevan Motor Speedway had plenty of reasons to be excited this past weekend.
First, it was their late model doubleheader weekend, with drivers coming from throughout the Prairie provinces to race the powerful cars. Second, the speedway had their other five classes – modifieds, stock cars, sport mods, hobby stocks and slingshots – racing that night, so there were about 90 vehicles entered each night.
Finally, the track didn’t have any restrictions on its crowd for the first time since 2019, so there were large crowds each night.
In Friday night’s program, Aaron Turnbull was the winner of the late model feature. Turnbull was the class of the field from the start, as he quickly took the lead, and rattled off laps at about 130 kilometres per hour. There were a couple caution flags, including one with eight laps to go, but Turnbull pulled away each time.
David Smith was second, Ward Imrie was third and Matthew Smith finished fourth.
Saturday night saw Smith emerge victorious, finishing ahead of Imrie. Mike Balcean finished third and Turnbull came in fourth.
There were a few multiple race winners on the weekend.
Ryder Raynard continued his dominance in the slingshot class, winning the feature each night. Raynard, who has won the class each of the past three seasons, has won all seven feature races at the speedway this season.
Cash Saxon was second each night. Dane Skjerdal was third and Jace Emmel came in fourth on Friday. Jagger Ashworth was third and Ty Blackburn in fourth for Saturday night.
Leevi Runge was the winner of both sport mod features, finishing ahead of Bailey Cousins, Kyle Scholpp and Ryan Cousins on Friday.
The race on Friday had several cautions. Runge took the lead midway through the race, and while the cautions kept the field close, he was never really challenged.
Runge was also the winner on Saturday night, working his way up from ninth on the grid. Dylan McCaughan wound up in second, followed by Bailey and Ryan Cousins.
Kody Scholpp won the modified feature each night. On Friday, he won in convincing fashion, finishing ahead of Ed Turnbull, Tyson Turnbull and Isaiah Geisel.
Ed Turnbull took an early commanding lead, but a caution bunched the field together. Shortly after the restart, Scholpp passed Ed Turnbull for the lead, and then pulled away.
The top three for the modified feature was the same on Saturday. Les McLenehan was fourth.
As for the other classes, in the hobby stock division, Kruz Wilson won the feature on Friday night. Drew Saxon was second, Kaiden Tuchscherer was third, and Landon Runge came in fourth.
Conner Hansen took the early lead, until he was passed by Tuchscherer. Kayden Hjorteland would eventually take the lead, and Wilson and Hjorteland would trade top spot. Wilson took the lead with a few laps remaining, and pulled away for the win.
Saxon was the winner of Saturday’s feature, his second feature win in three races. Hansen was second, Tuchscherer was third for the second straight weekend, and Tony Mikulcik settled in fourth.
Austin Daae was the winner in the stock car race Friday night, passing Chris Hortness with seven laps to go. Hortness had led for most of the race. Gregg Mann would also find his way past Hortness, but couldn’t sneak by Daae, leaving Mann second.
Hortness was third and Devon Gonas came in fourth.
Gonas was the winner of the stock car class on Saturday. Mann came in second, Hortness was third and Daae wound up in fourth.
The top four in points after Saturday’s programs are:
Hobby stock: Landon Runge, 265 points, Dexter Saxon (262), Kaiden Tuchscherer (255) and Connor Hansen (254).
Sport mods: Leevi Runge (265), Keenan Glasser and Kyle Scholpp (257 each), and Justin Ficther (244).
Stock car: Chris Hortness (272), Gregg Mann (270), Devon Gonas (249) and JJ Barnstable (243).
Modifieds: Kody Scholpp (268), Tyson Turnbull (262), Les McLenehan (258) and Kris Spence (227).
Slingshots: Ryder Raynard (280), Cash Saxon (270), Jagger Ashworth (249) and Eli Turnbull (241).
The next program at the track will be Aug. 7 and 8.
