With only one more race night at Estevan Motor Speedway this season there are a couple of tight races going into Championship Night on Aug. 23.
Aaron Turnbull took the checkered flag in the modified feature on Friday night as he makes a final push to catch his father and wily veteran Ed Turnbull in the season standings. Ed, however, finished right behind Aaron in the feature, refusing to give up much ground.
He sits atop the season standings with 311 points, four ahead of Aaron, who is going to need another strong showing at the Estevan oval on Championship Night. The season title is between those two, with Riley Emmel and Ryan Harris tied for a distant third, 26 points back.
Mike Hagen took the early lead in Friday's modified feature, but after an early caution, Aaron Turnbull skipped to the front of the pack on the restart. He sat in 11th at the start of the race, beside Ed in 12th, and together they shot to the front of the pack.
With Aaron never relinquishing the lead, Ed ran most of the race running alongside Travis Hagen as they went back and forth between second and third spot. At the finish line, Ed took second and Hagen a close third.
A caution came out with seven laps to go, but Aaron proved he had enough control to finish the race. Moving through the pack early, he took a low line around the track, but after the restart, he slid up the track to take a higher line to the checkered flag.
"My car was working really good. I was just trying to take it easy and not use up my equipment," Aaron said. "The car felt really good on the bottom (of the track), but I thought I'd try the top too and it worked. The car was going away a little bit at the end, but it was still good enough to hold on."
Aaron said he will make a final push to win the title, which his brother Tyson won last year, but he also wouldn't begrudge his father the championship if Ed hangs on.
"I'll do all I can to try and win the (final) race, and if I end up winning the championship, good, and if not, hopefully it's my dad."
Aaron was the runner up the past two seasons. He last won a track championship in 2007, and Ed last took the title in 2002.
In the hobby stock feature, 15-year-old Leevi Runge captured his first win after Brock Beeter bumped with Blake Penna and lost the lead, allowing Runge to skip to the front of the pack.
"The car handled real well," said Leevi, a Lampman native. "We put it in a softer shock because the track was really smooth. And I don't know, it was awesome. I ran the high line and the car handled well."
He said there have been some recent changes made to the car, and he is going to continue racing with the current set up. He sits seventh in the season standings.
Brandon Beeter now sits atop the season standings. He finished second in Friday's feature. Minot's Beeter brothers, Brandon and Brock, have been running away with the hobby stock division all season and sit first and second, respectively. With Brock's bad luck, sliding to 11th in the feature, he now sits four points back of Brandon heading into the final race night.
In the stock car feature on Friday night, it was Estevan's Austin Daae who cruised to victory. Daae started the race in fourth but it didn't take him long to find his way to the front of the pack. Once there, he powered his way forward, leading his trailers for the remainder of the caution-free race.
"I just got in a groove throughout the race and just stayed in it. It went pretty quick. It was over in no time," said Daae. "It was nice starting second row. You found what worked to get by the first couple of guys. Everything worked out good."
The Speedway has experienced some wet conditions this season, but the dry track that awaited drivers last Friday seemed to suit Daae just fine.
"On this dryer (track), it's not so much about throwing it in hard, it's just getting through it nice and smooth. When it's dry you want to come off as best you can. There was still lots of room to go around guys."
Daae sits 12th in the season standings, in the stock-car division, which sees Gregg Mann sitting comfortably in first place with a 29 point lead heading into the final race.
Aaron Turnbull was recently voted into the Fast Shafts All Star Race at the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, Iowa.
This will be his first appearance at the annual race.
"That's exciting. It's a big race," he said. "There's nothing but fast guys in that race, so it'll be a lot of fun."
Voting began July 22, with drivers from each region being elected to the final field of drivers. Turnbull was part of the large Belleville Motorsports North Central Region with 38 other drivers.
He was officially added to the all-star list on Aug. 6 when voting closed. Also voted in through Facebook were Justen Yaeger, Brandon Blochlinger, Dustin Smith, Troy Cordes, Ryan Watnem, Darin Duffy, Jesse Sobbing, Ryan McDaniel and Jeremy Mills.
