It took a lot of work and some good timing, but the Estevan Motor Speedway was able to get its track championship program in on Saturday night, and crown the season champions in five different classes.
The status of the program was in doubt on Saturday morning, after two thunderstorms rumbled through the Estevan area; the latter was the stronger of the two, with heavy rains for more than 30 minutes.
But in a post on its Facebook page, the track said it was going ahead with the program, and they were able to start on time at 7 p.m., thanks to the hard work of its track preparation team.
And since the race program only had a handful of cautions, they were able to complete the races before another severe thunderstorm hit the area.
It wasn’t until the post-race victories in the entrance area for the racing surface that the thunderstorm hit, and when it did, with heavy rains, the track’s drivers, spectators and volunteers scattered for cover.
Two of this year’s track champions won their features on Saturday night: Travis Hagen of Williston, N.D., in the modifieds and Ryder Raynard of Estevan in the slingshots. Hagen finished atop the modified standings with 310 points, four more than Estevan’s Kody Scholpp.
Raynard was the class of the slingshots throughout the year, as he finished with 318 points, 30 more than Estevan’s Jace Emmel.
Lampman’s Leevi Runge was the other local track champion, as he won the hobby stock division for the fourth time in five years with 269 points, 11 more than his brother Landon. Leevi’s father Darryl was among the first track champions in the hobby stocks in Estevan.
Minot’s Joren Boyce, who has been racing regularly in Estevan since the track opened in 2000, won the stock car class with 297 points, 23 more than Estevan’s Chris Hortness.
And Darren Medler of Minot won the sports mods class with 227 points, one more than fellow Minot driver Robby Rosselli.
Blake Penna of Estevan was the top local driver in the sport mods with 203 points to finish third overall.
In addition to Hagen and Raynard, feature race winners on Saturday night were Makenzie Hagen of McGregor, N.D. in the sport mods, Riese Dignan of Kenmare, N.D., in the hobby stocks and Mike Hagen of Williston in the stock cars.
The next edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
