An exciting night of sprint car racing at the Estevan Motor Speedway saw Minot, N.D.’s Dusty Lawson grab victory from the hands of Estevan’s Kyle Fedyk with about a couple of laps to go in the winged sprint car feature race.
Lawson hung back in second and waited to make his move on Fedyk, racing on his home track in sprint cars for the first time in a year. Fedyk had been getting caught in lapped traffic as the race went on.
“I’d seen him with about six laps to go and he’d caught up to Ryder (Olson) and I’d seen he was about the same speed,” said Lawson. “So I just figured if I kept hitting my marks I’d eventually run then both down and I got Ryder with about four to go and Fedyk got caught in lapped traffic, so I thought that was my opportunity to pounce.”
Early in the feature race, Lawson had bounced over a couple of tires in turn one and thought that something might have been broken.
“It kept feeling good so I just kept ripping it,” Lawson said. “That bottom line kept came in huge with that car and it just kept closing and closing.”
It was Lawson’s first ever feature win in a race in the winged sprints.
“We tried a different shock package on our cars just tonight and this car was just flying on the bottom,” Lawson said.
Other winners Friday night were Estevan’s Austin Daae in the street stocks, Estevan’s Riley Emmel in the modifieds and Minot’s Brock Beeter in a very close hobby stocks race with Kenmare, North Dakota’s Riese Dignan.
Daae and Jeremy Swanson went back and forth as the street stocks race went on, with both claiming the lead at times. It was Daae’s first win of the year.
“(Swanson) was good getting into (turns) three and four when I was running the top there and he’d gets runs on me down the front straightaway and I was quick enough on one and two,” Daae said. “Then finally I cleared him I think with one or two (laps) to go and get down in three. It was a lot more tacky down there and I was able to hook up a lot better.”
While Daae was happy with the win he was also realistic when it came to the points standings. He had bad luck a couple of times earlier this year with not finishing races and missed another with the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins’ alumni golf tournament. He’ll also miss another race in the coming weeks due to a wedding in Philadelphia he was invited to.
Emmel meanwhile was able to lead from the start to the end even though he spun out after a pass attempt by Ed Turnbull that eventually put Turnbull into the pits.
“I just wanted to get out in front as quick as I could,” said Emmel. “I knew Aaron (Turnbull) and everyone back there was fast. I’d just take my time hitting my makrs and making sure everything was good.”
The mods race had several cautions and the 18 cars that started the race had been pared down to 13 by the time Emmel claimed the checkered flag.
“This is a new car and this is my sixth race,” Emmel said. “I’ve just been trying to figure it out and see how it goes.”
Beeter claimed victory at EMS for the second time this year in the hobby stocks, getting by Riese Dignan in turn four of the last lap and then sprinting for the win. Beeter had led for most of the race until Dignan had passed him only a few laps earlier.
“It was going right the whole race until he passed me,” Beeter said. “It was one of those (time) when you’ve got to make a decision and you’re not sure if it’s the right decision. He decided to go low and I followed that (lapped) 91 (car) and I crossed over and it was the right choice that time. One lap later it might have been different….
“Some of that is experience but I’m not going to say that’s not luck, either.”
Beeter was in the lead and stuck to the middle part of the track for most of the race.
“It’s working here in the middle, so why move?” he said. “But I was afraid the top and the bottom would start working their way in. It was kind of greasy to start and by the end of it Riese found it before I did. That’s the advantage of second place, you always search for something new.”
Ryder Raynard of Estevan won the junior slingshots race.
There were two nights of racing scheduled but only Fridays was able to be completed, with a lot of rain hitting the track at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The next scheduled race is July 9, when the Dakota Modifieds Tour hits Estevan Motor Speedway.
