It is one of the biggest events on the modified racing calendar, and Jeff Taylor could not have dreamed of a better start.
The Cave City, Ark., driver won for the second straight night on Monday during the Estevan stop on the Dakota Classic Modified Tour.
Taylor started on the pole and survived an early challenge from Steven Pfeifer to take the checkered flag.
"I thought Pfeifer would be really good down on the bottom. He races here a lot. I just kinda slowed my entry down a little bit and I think that made my car go a lot faster when I wasn't overdriving the corners. That's really the biggest thing. I just slowed my entry down where I wasn't overcharging the corners and the car got faster," said Taylor.
Taylor and Pfeifer quickly separated themselves from the pack in the 30-lap race, getting into lap traffic before the halfway point of the feature. After a caution flag 13 laps in, Taylor quickly built himself a huge lead again.
After winning in Minot and Estevan, Taylor held a nine-point lead over Pfeifer in the mod tour standings entering last night's races in Williston.
He said the most important thing now is getting into the features. That isn't so easy with the number of drivers who are turning out for this tour, including a record 76 in Estevan on Monday.
"There's a lot of luck. We've had good luck. You gotta finish. You gotta make the races and you gotta finish," said Taylor, who has never won the tour title before.
Aaron Turnbull, the 2013 mod tour champion, did not make it to the feature on his home track.
Monday's influx of drivers meant there were eight modified heats and four B-mains. There were also two stock car B-mains.
There were more than 30 stock car drivers in the pits, and it was Willston's Dalton Flory emerging out of the pack at the end of the night with the winner's trophy.
Flory started on the pole and, other than losing the lead briefly five laps in, he stayed at the front for the entire 25-lap feature.
Still, he faced a stiff challenge from Elijah Zevenbergen of Ocheyedan, Iowa, near the end of the race.
"It's a really tough one because I know he's really fast. I figured he'd be coming. I just kept hitting my marks and focused on my line and focused on my race," said Flory.
"The bottom line was really dominant and I was just able to hit my marks and keep going. I saw him out there and I just kept pushing a little bit harder and just never gave up."
Flory said it's a great feeling to win a stop on the mod tour at his age.
"This is awesome. To be this young and to be able to do this good is just awesome. I don't know how to explain it."
Monday's stock car races also saw the triumphant return of Kody Scholpp to his home track. Scholpp was critically injured in a January motor vehicle accident and has been through a long recovery process.
The Lampman native was told he would have to wait 18 months to race again, but there he was on Sunday night in Minot, finishing second on Night 1 of the tour. He followed that up with a strong fourth-place finish in Estevan on Monday.
Meanwhile, Brock Beeter won his first hobby stock feature of the season in Estevan. The hobby stocks are not part of the mod tour and ran a regular points night.
Kruz Wilson and Gary Goudy, Jr., started on the front row and took turns in the lead.
Beeter started in 11th place and it took him awhile to wind his way toward the front.
There was a yellow flag with five laps left, with Beeter sitting in third place. He then took the lead and won by a significant margin.
Leevi Runge finished second in the hobby feature.
The modified tour moved south to Williston Basin Speedway on Tuesday and will head to Southeast Speedway in Dickinson tonight for Night 4. Thursday sees the tour go to Dacotah Speedway in Mandan, and it will wrap up Friday at Jamestown Speedway.
