A battery of Weatherford Hobby Stock drivers helped pack the Estevan Motor Speedway this past weekend for the inaugural Border City Dirt Wars championship.
Around 30 hobby stock cars took over the track in Estevan on Saturday for the first night of the two-round total points' tournament. These drivers first competed in one of four heat races with the top three in each race earning a spot in the A-main. A hobby stock B-main then determined the next 12 seeds for the 24-car feature.
Riley Raynard began the feature as the 13th seed after passing pole-position driver Karen Parachoniak on the fifth lap of the 12-lap B-main to take the lead, which he held onto for the duration of the race. That showing was a prelude to what he would do in the 20-lap feature.
“There are 30-plus cars that come here,” said Raynard. “It’s all the best guys around, so it’s pretty important to come and show up and try and win one.”
It took two laps for Andrew Bertsch to advance from third to first in the feature by running the middle lane to pass the top two seeds in Dana Brandt and Makenzie Baker. Brandt and Bertsch battled door-to-door over the next seven laps before the former was knocked out of the race in a collision on the front straightaway with Parachoniak.
By this time Raynard had advanced through the pack by racing a high line to reach third in the order. After the caution Raynard passed Baker to take over the second seed with Leevi Runge racing into the third spot by the 11th lap.
“I was using the whole track,” said Runge. “I ran from the high side to the bottom and hugged the tires and kept the car as straight as I can. I just hit all my marks.”
With Bertsch running the middle line, Raynard went high and Runge went low in an effort to take the lead until the final two corners when Raynard slid down low to eventually catch and pass Bertsch only to see the longtime leader sneak by him to take the checkered flag by a matter of inches.
“That was the first time I saw anyone, so it was really surprising,” said Bertsch. “I got a little worried when I saw him.”
Also capturing the checkered flag on Saturday were Bailey Cousins in the slingshot feature, Jeremy Swanson in the stock car main and Justin Medler in the modified main. On Sunday, Aaron Turnbull raced to a win in the modified feature, Gregg Mann took the stock car main and Riley Raynard captured the checkered flag and the Dirt Wars points championships for the hobby stock main.
