The sprint cars made a glorious return to the Estevan Motor Speedway on Friday night after eight long years away from the track, but the final result didn’t sit well with one of its local drivers.
Kyle Fedyk, an Estevan native who regularly races in North Dakota, came into the 25-lap sprint car feature seated fourth, but jumped up to second behind leader Greg Nikitenko right after the green flag was waved. Fedyk and Nikitenko battled bumper-to-bumper through the first few laps with each spinning out dirt when they flew into the corners that seemed to slingshot them into the middle of the straightaway before hitting another corner seconds later.
Into the final 10 laps and the two drivers still racing neck-and-neck, Fedyk began heading low on the corners in an attempt to pass Nikitenko who was riding the high line, but an extended push to go ahead caused him to spin out in the fourth corner on the 19th lap forcing the local driver to the back of the field with the caution. Fedyk pushed back up to sixth place by the end of the race with Nikitenko taking the checkered flag.
“The heat race was really good,” said Fedyk. “That was probably the best setup race car I’ve had in several years and overall the track was good. It was racy in the feature and unfortunately I just had an incorrect setup and made a driver error and it cost me racing for the win.”
Fedyk said it’s a whole different ballgame racing a sprint car compared to a modified or late model car because the latter drive hard off the right rear wheel whereas they don’t. He said they bury the left rear wheel so when they get to the corner, if the setup is right and their weight is to the left, it will suck them around so fast they’re on the next straightaway before they know it.
“In the heat race when I got to lap traffic I tried to do the bottom, but my straightaway speed was so much it just wanted to carry me right to the outside of the track,” he said, noting he drives a 410-cubic-inch all aluminum motor with mechanical fuel injection that produces about 900 horsepower and weighs just over 1,400 pounds with him and the fuel in it. “If you can get it dialed in for a line and keep it there and then you break your momentum you end up off the track real fast. If you don’t stay in the throttle to get the thing rotated when you hit the corner the bigger tires will just stay hooked up and it will drive straight off.”
Before the sprint feature took place, Carl Hanson earned his first Weatherford Hobby Stock win of the season at the speedway, but faced a rough battle with Leevi Runge in the final lap to get it. Hanson jumped from the third seed to first on the opening lap of the 20-lap race, with Runge quickly making his way through the traffic from the 11th seed up to fourth by the ninth lap.
Runge got himself into the second spot by passing Blair Hanson down low on the fourth corner with eight laps to go, but didn’t make a push for first until the end. On the final lap, Runge finally caught Carl Hanson on the second corner with the two drivers bumping each other in an attempt to gain the lead before Hanson drove Runge into the wall on the fourth corner knocking him out of the race and taking the checkered flag for himself.
Gregg Mann and Jeremy Swanson then battled it out in the stock car main with contention from Jordan Durward and Chris Hortness throughout. In a clean and tightly contested race, Swanson took the lead by splitting Durward and Mann on the second corner in the final lap only to finish ahead of the duo by inches.
Swanson said this is his 17th year of racing and there is nothing more fun than competing against a buddy like Gregg Mann. He said the race was fair and clean, the track was great and coming out in first instead of the few second-place finishes he’s had so far this season made for a good night.
“With two to go I was right in Gregg’s hip pocket and I was like ‘well you got to try him’ and we did and it worked,” said Swanson. “We got the Dakota tour right around the corner here, that’s our next race, and it’s a great time to catch momentum. We’ll try to ride it off in the tour and have a good showing there.”
Fedyk said in 2011 he won his first race of the season, but has suffered through constant breaking motors or wrecked cars by flipping off the track or into the infield since then. He said this year’s car has the best parts available and drives nice, so he’ll just put this loss in the notes and try to build off it moving forward.
“All the struggles I’ve had in the last five years I was kind of hoping for a Cinderella story, you know local guy returns home and defends home turf,” said Fedyk. “Greg (Nikitenko) is my mentor in this sport and I love his family and I’m more than happy to lose to him any day. Incredible competitor, incredible guy and he’s helped me immensely. If it wasn’t for him I would have been lost in my rookie year, so I’m never too sour when I lose to him. But I really want to beat him too.”
