ESTEVAN — The Estevan Motor Speedway offered some wheel-to-wheel racing for the fans who gathered to enjoy a regular program Aug. 15.
All five divisions were on the program, which was supposed to occur Aug. 9 but had to be pushed back nearly a week due to rain. It was also the second-last program for points this season.
The closest race of the night was in the hobby stock division; track announcers said the feature was decided by 0.016 seconds. Kruz Wilson passed Pat Smith and Cash Saxon coming out of the final turn to win.
Wilson led almost from the start of the 20-lap feature. With two laps remaining, a caution was called due to a two-car incident coming out of turn 4; at almost the same time, later, Ty Saxon, who was in second spot, was involved in a rollover that also took Kaiden Tuchscherer out of the race. Ty Saxon walked away from the incident, but his car suffered significant damage.
After a lengthy delay, track officials decided to resume the race. Smith passed Wilson to take the lead entering the final lap, but Wilson recovered to sneak past Smith and Cash Saxon. Diezel Raynard was fourth.
The stock cars and the slingshots also had narrow finishes. Chris Hortness took the lead early in the stock car feature but couldn’t pull away from Kayden Hjorteland, who stayed within striking distance throughout the feature. Hjorteland mounted a challenge in the final lap using lapped traffic to his advantage, but couldn’t make the final pass.
Kyle Scholpp was third and Gabriel Deschamp came fourth.
Gunner Raynard edged Hudson Mann to win the slingshot feature. The slingshot race was delayed because the track was too wet for the smaller vehicles. When the feature did happen, Raynard jumped up from seventh spot on the starting grid to take the lead. Mann worked his way through the field and moved up to second, but he couldn’t take the lead despite a furious challenge on the final two laps.
Acelyn Pfeifer was third and Halle Turnbull came in fourth.
Kody Schlopp won the modified feature. He started in the ninth and final position on the grid, and made his way through the field to quickly take the lead. Once in first, he didn’t relinquish top spot, and while Aaron Turnbull narrowed the gap, he was never within striking distance.
Turnbull was disqualified, so Steven Pfeifer was listed second. Cole Fichter was third and JJ Barnstable came in fourth.
Deschamp was a decisive winner in the sport modified feature. He moved into top spot early in the race and then pulled away, winning by about three seconds over Leevi Runge. Landon Runge was third and Dustyn Meyer was fourth.
(Points in the different classes were not immediately updated).
The next program will be the track championship night Aug. 22. Races start at 7 p.m.
