Two days of rain in the Estevan area turned the Enduro Race Sunday at the Estevan Motor Speedway into a war of attrition – with very few able to survive without getting caught.
The race, which features 150 laps or an hour and a half of racing with no one allowed from the previous Estevan Motor Speedway racing season in the hobby stocks, street stocks or modifieds, was in its 18th year but few of those would have been muddier.
The race couldn't even get the green flag out without several vehicles getting caught in the dirt track's overly-rutted muck. Nearly all of the 39 entries needed help at some point during the race.
“A win is a win. Two years in a row, too,” said race winner Dwain McKnight. “You had to just run the high line, that's all you can do. Find the groove and stay to it as best you can.”
Very early, a pair of vehicles collided – softly, of course, as due to the track conditions no one could go very fast – and entangled themselves in the muck in the middle of the front straightaway. With an area above them for cars to go and an area on the low side of the track they were left there for the entire race - even as other vehicles went past them.
As the race went on, other vehicles weren't able to avoid them every time and collided with the parked cars. The race had only one official yellow when there were roughly 20 cars unable to move due to either the mud or stalling.
McKnight won by completing 59 laps, three ahead of second place Kelsey Gerle. Third place went to Brad Scharnatta.
“It was tough,” said McKnight, who used the same car he won with last year. “Other people made some holes and I just drove right through them.”
The best dressed vehicle – and fifth place car – went to Dylan Coffey's Grand Marquis – complete with police lights in the front and a pig as the number.
“That was an iconic cop car so I figured I'd make it a cop car and go out and have some fun,” he said.
He had at least one pit stop due to difficulties caused by the mud.
“I thought I had a flat tire because there was so much mud the car kept slowing down on me,” Coffey said. “But I only ended up having one flat tire. I kept going and I lost all forward gears. I put it in reverse and it still kept going forward.”
He said the mud weighed the car down a lot, and after crossing the finish line while the vehicle was smoking, he was unable to get it back to the pits. A fire broke out in his car's transmission but he was able to make it out safely.
That concludes the racing season at EMS but the final event of the year is awards night Nov. 4.
