Cheyne Hall lost his first tire early into the 90-minute Enduro race at the Estevan Motor Speedway last Sunday, but luckily enough he had one spare back in the pit.
Unfortunately, Hall would lose a second tire shortly after reemerging onto the track once the pit stop was complete. After racing along for about 40 minutes on a bare rim, Hall then lost his third tire.
“It kind of sucks because you hope that nobody smashes into you from behind,” said Hall, who completed the full 90-minute race running at a snail’s pace along the bottom of the track to the delight of a full crowd packing the speedway stands. “But other than that it was just keep going and try to make laps because I knew I did pretty good right off the start.”
Hall finished out of the top ten at the Enduro despite sitting in fourth place at the 40-minute break. Dwain McKnight, who sat in the back nine at that point, came in first at the Enduro, which awards a championship based on how many laps a driver can accomplish in 90 minutes of racing.
“It’s my third year doing it,” said McKnight, who drove a front-wheel-drive 1998 Mercury Sable to the win. “Bring out in six laps in the past made this one a lot better for me.”
McKnight said he focused on running a high line while staying in the dry area to keep near the lead. He said avoiding the mayhem and slipping past a few close calls of debris on the track also helped in securing the win.
The leaders near the halfway point of the Enduro were Shawn DeBruyne and Joel Fraser. Each of the drivers battled back-and-forth over the next 15 laps until DeBruyne suffered a letdown on a pit stop 59 minutes into the race.
“I came into the pits to see if I had damage and we stalled the car,” said DeBruyne, who rode a V6 front-wheel-drive 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue. “The engine is pretty weak and we couldn’t get it running again. We pushed it up to the truck and boosted it with the truck. Two trucks finally got it going.”
Fraser drove his rear-wheel-drive 1999 Ford Crown Victoria to second place at the Enduro, which was a marked improvement from only making it through eight laps in last year’s race. He said fishtailing and spitting mud at people for the full 90 minutes was great no matter the result at the end.
“It’s fun,” added Hall. “If you haven’t done it before, it’s definitely a good thing to get out there and give it a try.”
