Lampman driver Leevi Runge capped off an incredible season of racing on a hot and smoky Saturday night at the Estevan Motor Speedway with a 2015 Weatherford Hobby Stock championship win and a come-from-behind victory in the night’s feature.
“I started at sixth row inside,” said Leevi, 17. “That’s where I always start because I’m first in points, as long as I qualify from my heat race, which is top-four. Then I found a line on the bottom. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but all my other feature wins were on the bottom. I stuck with that and people were passing me, but I knew it was going to come around because it did every other main. I stuck with it and it started hooking up real good.”
Leevi quickly advanced into the top four by the second lap of the feature and slowly inched his way ahead. He reached the third position on the 14th lap and after a door-to-door battle with Blair Hanson over the next few passes hit second spot with 10 laps to go.
Working the inside part of the track, Leevi began battling for first with Brad King over the next few laps before finally overtaking him with six runs to go. His biggest challenge in holding the lead for the final laps came down to holding off King and Hanson after a caution on the 17th lap forced the drivers back into formation.
“I’ve had lots of restarts and I’ve got them mastered now,” said Leevi, when asked if he was worried at that moment. “My restart, what’s going through my head, is getting ready in the car, making sure the car won’t sputter off the start…and give her.”
Leevi said the feature win adds to the five he’s had in Estevan so far this year and that doesn’t include the four or five heat races he took the checkered flag. He said the season championship is his first in his four years of racing and comes on the heels of a second-place finish in the season standings last year.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “I’m taking after my dad’s footsteps after he won in the hobby stock division. He raced 20 years ago or whatever it was. It feels good.”
The Stock Car season championship proved to be the most interesting event of the night. Entering the race, Austin Daae and Jordan Durward were tied for the lead in points with 282 each, while Joren Boyce followed close behind with 279, meaning if he placed four cars ahead of each of the two previous drivers the victory would be his.
Boyce looked like he would do just that by jumping out to a race for first with Gregg Mann a few laps into the race and leaving Daae and Durward to battle it out outside of the top five. A caution that knocked Chris Hortness out of the top six with three laps to go eliminated Boyce’s hopes and left Daae and Durward alone to battle it out side-by-side for the championship.
Daae led the way through the last few laps with Durward pushing him from the inside. On the final corner on Lap 20, with the checkered flag already out to signal Mann as the feature winner, Durward inadvertently kissed Daae’s car, leading the frontrunner to spin out. Due to the checkered flag already flying, Durward did not receive a caution and was rewarded the championship.
Steven Pfeifer won the Modified season championship in a less dramatic fashion. Leading by seven points over Travis Hagen going in and starting on the fourth row with him, Pfeifer ran car-to-car with Hagen through the first nine laps before pulling ahead with 11 laps to go by running a low line as opposed to Hagen’s drive near the cushion.
Pfeifer finished four cars ahead of Hagen when they passed the finish line to take the championship. Jett Big Eagle won the Modified feature.
Aaron Turnbull won the Late Model season championship in his first full year of racing in the division. After starting last in the five car lineup of the feature, Turnbull quickly advanced by picking through his brother Tyson, Pfeifer and Devin Raynard to get behind leader Jim Harris with 14 laps to go. Unlike drivers in previous races, Turnbull moved to the top of the track to make his move to first.
“That is just the nature of dirt track racing, it’s always changing,” said Turnbull, on why he was able to advance high while others took the bottom. “That’s what makes it interesting and gives you a bit of a challenge.”
Turnbull said while the drivers were going through their opening pace laps he noticed a bit of moisture on top of the track, but there was also a bit of dirt lying on top of it. He said after waiting about five laps for the other drivers to clean it off he headed up and found the groove.
“You just got to watch for the moisture and know where to go,” he said.
The Late Model season championship may be Turnbull’s first, but he has won a few in the Modified class over the years. He’s set to run a Modified again Sept. 7 to 12 when he heads to Boone, Iowa, for the Super Nationals race.
“They get about 250 Modifieds there, so that’s a pretty big deal,” said Turnbull, noting a few other drivers from Estevan and surrounding areas will also be competing in Boone. “I’ve been there the last couple years. Last year I ended up fourth, so hopefully I can do a little couple notches better this year.”
