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Tyson Turnbull collects checkered flag in modifieds race

A night at the Estevan Motor Speedway Saturday pitted brother against brother in the final modifieds feature of the evening, with Tyson Turnbull getting the edge on Aaron with a lap remaining.
Turnbull
Tyson Turnbull pulls ahead in one of the heat races Saturday at the Estevan Motor Speedway.

A night at the Estevan Motor Speedway Saturday pitted brother against brother in the final modifieds feature of the evening, with Tyson Turnbull getting the edge on Aaron with a lap remaining.

Tyson started near the back of the pack in the opening heat but moved his way up to the middle of the pack for the feature. By the time the white flag was out after a caution with seven laps to go, Tyson Turnbull was in second place to brother Aaron and Tyson ended up getting the right line on his brother to take the checkered flag.

“I was shocked,” said Tyson Turnbull after the race. “I was just coming out to make some laps tonight. I didn’t like I was totally ready to go.”

Luck played into the win, he said.

“I put a lot of work on the car over the winter and made some big improvements, I think. Everything kind of went my way other that getting in that wreck in the heat race. I thought I was done right there.”

Tyson took some damage to the front of his vehicle after a bump in the heats but his mod was good to go in the feature race, although he started near the back.

His vehicle had zero sponsorships on it.

“It’s a 2012 car,” Tyson said. “It sat for about five years and getting it going again, I put a new body on it… it’s a Chrysler engine built over in Manitoba. The rest of these guys have the Crate motors in these cars. I really like to win against a bunch of Crate motors, that’s for sure.”

Also winning in their races were Estevan’s Jeremy Swanson in the street stocks, Minot, North Dakota’s Robby Rosselli in the sport modifieds, Kenmare, North Dakota’s Riese Dignan in the hobby stocks and Estevan’s Ryder Raynard in the junior slingshots.

Saturday was Swanson’s second time in the winner’s row after a good street stock race, where he took the lead about five laps in when he passed Weyburn’s Robert Pickering. 

“Most of the guys race here a bunch so you kind of know what to expect, and how they’re going to race you,” Swanson said. “It helps.”

Swanson credited the engine he bought here in town as part of the reason he’s had success so far this year.
“I put it in and it’s been running really well since,” he said. 

Also, Austin Daae came from near the back to finish third. He was done after the first turn in the heat race he was in after a collision with Williston, North Dakota’s Jake Nelson that saw Nelson’s body sustain the loss of his passenger door. Nelson and Daae came back in the feature to finish second and third, respectively. 

Meanwhile, Dignan won his first race of the year in hobby stocks at EMS only a few days after winning at Minot at Nodak.

“I like these kind of tracks were you just have to hold it wide open,” said Dignan. “It’s fun that way. I don’t mind slick tracks but I’m better on these ones.”

Although he won three times in 2017 at Nodak and Williston, he never finished higher than third at EMS.

“I’ve been running here for awhile and I haven’t had any luck but I guess I got it done tonight,” Dignan said.

Rosselli has had success both past and present at EMS. He was the hobby stocks winner in 2005 and had turned to the sport mods, which weren’t offered consistently at EMS until this year. Whatever it is that’s working here, Rosselli enjoys his time at Estevan.

“It kind of fits my driving style and I always liked racing here since I started racing,” he said.

“The track had plenty of bite in it,” Rosselli said. “Some spots were slick and had no traction. But there’s bite in other places. That’s where you want to run.

Next races are June 22-23 for the sprint car showdown with sprint cars, modifieds, hobby stocks, street stocks and slingshots scheduled for both nights.