The Estevan Motor Speedway’s (EMS) 18th season will feature more than a dozen race programs, including a number of special events for local race fans.
A test and tune event was held at the track on Saturday afternoon. It was a practice session for drivers prior to the start of the season.
The season will open on Saturday afternoon, with the first heat races starting at 5 p.m. The track’s four divisions – hobby stocks, stock cars, modifieds and slingshots – will be competing that night.
“Our track prep crew has done a fantastic job,” said president Keith Cassidy. “I know they’ve been working on this track for over a month, and it should be race ready.”
The first special event will be the Energy City Showdown Weekend on June 2 and 3. There will be a regular program on the first night, with an outdoor cabaret after the races featuring local band Shattered. The races on June 3 will a sprint car special.
The June 17 program will have a visit from the Wissota late models and it will also be the speedway’s kids’ night.
A Tougher than Dirt hobby stock tour will be in Estevan on Canada Day. Cassidy said it’s been rare for them to race on Canada Day in recent years, but they wanted to bring the hobby stock tour to Estevan.
One of the highlights of the year, the Dakota Classic Modified Tour, will be in Estevan on July 10. Last year’s modified tour visit was rained out.
“Hopefully this year we can pull that one off,” said Cassidy. “I know it’s a great evening for our track, and it’s something we want to provide for the fans. It always makes for some great racing.”
Border City Dirt Wars races for hobby stocks will happen on July 21 and 22. Cassidy said the EMS offered it for the first time last year.
“It was really well received last year,” said Cassidy. “We got hobby stock cars from all over the area, and we’re looking to pull cars from as far away as Iowa for that one.”
Track champions will be crowned during a program on Aug. 25.
Regular programs will also happen on May 20, Aug. 4 and Aug. 19.
The season will end with the annual Enduro race on Sept. 17.
This will be the first year the track has crowned a champion in the slingshot division. Hobby stocks, stock cars and modifieds have been championship divisions for many years.
Cassidy described the slingshot class as a developmental division for kids, and Cassidy hopes they can double the number of entries they had last year.
“It’s exciting to see those kids take to racing, and they’re a lot of fun to watch,” said Cassidy. “We’ll do the best we can to make sure they feel like every other racer this year.”
The slingshot vehicles resemble a miniature sprint car, but they’re purpose-built for the class, and they’re very safe for the young racers.
Cassidy said kids can’t compete in hobby stocks until they’re 14, and by the time they’re that old, they’re in other sports or motorsports. The EMS wants to give them a chance to race in safe vehicles at an early age.
“This provides them a good opportunity to get in a car, to be at a track and see how a race program runs, and that way, when they’re ready to move up, whether it’s to hobby stock, stock car or whatever they want to transfer into, they have a good grasp of how everything works,” said Cassidy.
It also helps them develop some mechanical skills.
Cassidy said it’s hard to say how many vehicles they’ll have at the track this year. The car counts the last two years have not been at the level of 2013 or 2014, but they still have a very robust hobby stock division, and they have a consistent number of stock cars.
He hopes the number of modified drivers will rebound this year, and Cassidy hopes to see some more out-of-town drivers this year as well.
