Emergency Services Night couldn't have come at a better time at the Estevan Motor Speedway Friday night for the hobby stocks feature race.
A serious looking collision between Byron Fichter and Karen Prachoniak with four laps remaining in the feature brought out the red flag and the calling of the race. Fichter's 'X' car ended up sideways in the front straightaway facing the grandstand when Parachoniak, riding the high line, ran out of room and smashed the front of Fichter's car, flipping Fichter entirely and putting Parachoniak's car out of commission.
Although smoke billowed out of Fichter's car, thankfully it appeared the two cars were the only ones in need of serious repairs but the race was called anyway.
Burlington, North Dakota's Zach Lutz claimed the checkered flag after 16 of the 20 laps run for the race.
“You've got to be patient at first,” said Lutz, who started 11th in the field “You know there's something going to happen right away so you've got to take your time and make your way through the track.”
Turns one and two in most of the races saw the drivers spinning a little bit more than they intended, with some cautions coming as a result. Lutz stayed away from most of it to win the race.
“Just make sure you look ahead,” he said on how to avoid that. “You can't look at the front of your car, you have to look way in front of your car so you know where you were going.”
Lutz and Estevan's Devon Gonas are close in the points race at the track, with Lutz at 222 points and Gonas at 227 before Friday's race. Both have a pair of wins on the season.
In the street stock race, Estevan's Jeremy Swanson was the clear winner after passing Austin Daae at about the midway point and not letting go.
“The bottom was just working well for me,” said Swanson, who recently moved to the city. “I just got down there and had to protect it. I didn't feel all that great down there. Sometimes it's not about having the best car, it's about track position, which is a lot of the battle.”
Swanson admitted he 'wrecked' his car in hot laps and that his car is 'technically junk' after the race.
“It's going to have to go to a frame shop somewhere,” he said. “Most people would have loaded it up and went home but we're here so just we just raced. Literally, it's severely damaged. But we just made the best of it.”
Swanson is third in points (251) behind Daae (258) and Gregg Mann (262) going into Friday's races.
It was a good day in the modifieds for Manor's Jett Big Eagle, who won his second race of the year. He took an early lead and ended up five to six seconds ahead of Kody Scholpp before caution flags brought them closer together.
“After last weekend, when I lost with five (laps) to go, i was concerned, but I just had to keep my head,” said Big Eagle. “Put it in the right place, stay focussed and hit my marks.”
His parents and grandparents have been able to attend all of his races this year, which he appreciated.
“We had some tough times with traffic for a minute,” said Big Eagle. “But once we got out in the lead, the clean air helps it a lot and the car was just on a rail. No complaints at all.”
Big Eagle was well behind in the points race going into the weekend, with 189 and in 11th place behind Joey Galloway (258) and Riley Emmel (250).
The next night of racing will be Sat. Aug. 19 with the fourth annual Calcutta, with modifieds, street stocks and hobby stocks.
