Estevan Motor Speedway opened their 2022 racing season with two fast-paced and entertaining nights of dirt-slinging action.
Teams from Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba made up the field of cars pitted for the weekend.
There were a variety of notable performances and highlights. Here are a few notes.
THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR
Leevi Runge of Lampman, Saskatchewan took the checkered flag on 3 of his 4 races this weekend. Night 1, Leevi swept both his heat race and feature in the IMCA Sport Mod class. He then followed that up on Night 2 by finishing 2nd in his heat and getting his 2nd straight feature win.
SWEEPS
Connor Hansen of Torquay, Saskatchewan had himself a successful Night 1. He swept both his heat race and feature race in the IMCA Hobby Stock division.
Kody Scholpp of Estevan swept his heat and the feature on Night 2 in the IMCA Stock Car division.
Lampman's Cash Saxon won his heat race and the Slingshots feature on Night 1.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Estevan's Turnbull family had themselves a successful weekend.
Ed Turnbull took the checkered flag in the IMCA Modified feature on Night 1.
Eli Turnbull had strong finishes both nights. Eli finished 2nd in both his heat race and the Slingshot feature. He had similar results on Night 2, first winning his heat race before achieving another 2nd place finish in the feature.
Tyson Turnbull was passing a lot of cars over the weekend and the effort paid off. On Night 1, Tyson passed 8 IMCA Modifieds to finish 3rd in the feature. He then followed that up with another strong performance on Night 2, passing 7 cars to take the lead and never look back as he won the IMCA Modified feature.
VICTORY LANE
Here is a list of the Feature winners from Estevan Motor Speedway's opening weekend.
June 3: IMCA Hobby Stock 15 Connor Hansen, IMCA Sport Mods 25R Leevi Runge, IMCA Stock Cars 17H Chris Hortness, IMCA Modifieds 10E Ed Turnbull, Slingshots 99 Cash Saxon
June 4: IMCA Hobby Stock 91T Kaiden Tuchscherer, IMCA Sport Mods 25R Leevi Runge, IMCA Stock Cars 5 Kody Scholpp, IMCA Modifieds 10 Tyson Turnbull, Slingshots 11J Jace Emmel
MUSINGS
I had the opportunity to bring someone new to experience the racing at Estevan Motor Speedway this weekend. A friend of mine had not been to a dirt track in decades, so the timing was right to reintroduce him to it. This person had never been to Estevan and the feedback from this weekend was all positive. He's already looking forward to more of the same in the future.
After a 30 month absence, it felt great to once again return to Estevan. As soon as I arrived at the speedway it was as if the past 2 years never existed.
At the pit gate, I was greeted by track President, Brad Pierson. Upon receiving my wrist band, I was off and running. My goal was to see every familiar face I could find in the pit area just to say Hello. I can't even begin to describe how joyful this felt.
The track merchandise at Estevan Motor Speedway is very cool this year. So much so that a new hoodie found it's way home with me.
Food trucks at the speedway? Yes, please. Hopefully they'll be there again on my next visit. FYI, the tacos were delicious.
I still believe that there is nothing more beautiful than a sunset in Saskatchewan.
Time to recharge the batteries until the next scheduled racing trip.
Until next time, take care and good racing.
