Jay Noteboom got the start he wanted on the Dakota Classic Modified Tour before it even got underway.The Hinton, Iowa native took advantage of a late mistake by Estevan's Aaron Turnbull to claim the checkered flag and $3,000 top prize in Saturday's IMCA modified feature race at Estevan Motor Speedway.It was Noteboom's third win in four appearances at Estevan. He won the 2008 Tour stop here and the first of two Tour dates at EMS in 2009.The high-stakes special attracted 44 drivers, many of whom were in the area for the Dakota tour, which started Sunday in Mandan, N.D. and continued Monday in Estevan."It costs quite a bit to do the Tour," said Noteboom. "It costs me about $2,500 so that's nice to win right away because now it's paid for and I can just go race the rest of the week and not worry about how I finish."I want to win more but that helps a lot."Saturday's win wasn't pretty but Noteboom will take it.He started the 40-lap feature in Row 2 and quickly joined Mark Elliot, a fellow Iowan, as the only real threats to Turnbull's commanding lead.Turnbull led through four cautions and 32 laps before he lost control around Turn 2 and slid off the track."I was just wore out," said Turnbull. "The one corner was pretty tricky to get through. [Turns] 1 and 2 there kind of had some bumps in them and it was pretty tough to get through. That many laps just wore me right out. I could barely hold onto the wheel anymore."Noteboom moved into first, Elliot into second and that's how they finished. Turnbull crossed the line in third."Three laps before he went off I saw he was getting a little loose up there and I was trying to run him down but I didn't know if he was going to go off or not and I kind of predicted right, because the lap before that he almost went but I hate to see a guy lose a race that way," said Noteboom.Elliot earned $2,000 for placing second and Turnbull picked up $1,000 -normally the winner's purse at EMS -for third.A total of $12,000 was paid out to the modified division and an extra $1,000 was added to the hobby stock purse as well as Arizona Mechanical sponsored the high-stakes special event for the second straight year."I was upset that I lost the race but I was really happy to finish third to those guys because they are two of the best in the U.S. and they could win anywhere, so to finish third to them is still a pretty big feat," said Turnbull.The rest of the night was not without its share of drama either.Dana Brandt's hobby stock feature win was his sixth in a row, breaking the previous Speedway record of five consecutive wins set by Kohlan Fedyk in the mini-sprint class in 2007.Brandt, who hails from Minot, started in the outside of Row 5 but worked his way up to fourth by the end of the first lap. He took the lead at the end of the fifth lap and led 23 of 30 overall despite six cautions during the race.One of those yellow flags came down after simultaneous rollovers at opposite ends of the track, one involving Estevan's Austin Daae.The first of two B-main feature qualifiers featured a three-car crash against the concrete barrier near the finish line.Derrick Big Eagle also hit that area of the wall during the mod feature, sending debris into the stands and causing the race to be stopped while two fans were attended to by paramedics.
