ESTEVAN - It was a great night for the Runge brothers at the Estevan Motor Speedway on Friday.
Landon Runge won the hobby stock feature, while Leevi took the checkered flag in the sport mod feature.
The hobby stock feature was shortened due to an abundance of caution flags. There were three cautions in the first four laps. Once the drivers settled down for a few laps of green flag racing, fans were treated to some good action, with Kayden Hjorteland and Kruz Wilson battling for the lead.
An incident between the leaders with nine laps remaining would knock Hjorteland out of the race.
Landon Runge passed Wilson on the restart and never relinquished the lead. After a couple more cautions, the race was called with five laps remaining.
Kaiden Tuchscherer was second, Wilson was third and Quentin Skjerdal was fourth.
Tuchscherer leads the overall standings with 118 points, 10 more than Landon Runge.
In the sport mod class, Mike Hudson had the early advantage, while Leevi Runge worked his way up from the seventh spot on the starting grid and took the lead a few laps in. It appeared he might win in a rout, but a caution flag a few laps in brought the field together.
Runge wouldn’t pull away again until late in the race, finishing ahead of Darren Schatz, Keenan Glasser and Mike Hudson, who were second, third and fourth, respectively.
Leevi Runge has won all three feature races this season, and has 120 points. Glasser is next with 111.
Schatz, who hails from Williston, N.D., is the first U.S.-based driver to race at the track since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cash Saxon captured the slingshot feature for his second win of the year. He held off challenges from Hudson Mann and later Jacek Ashworth.
Ashworth was second, Jace Emmel came third and Hudson Mann was fourth.
Emmel, Ashworth and Eli Turnbull are tied for the points lead with 114 each.
Devon Gonas was the winner of the stock car feature, a remarkable feat since he didn’t know he would be driving the car he piloted until earlier in the day.
Gregg Mann was the leader for the opening half of the feature. Gonas passed him for the lead, and the two gave fans some great racing over the next few laps.
It ended when Mann spun out with six laps to go.
Gonas then had to withstand a charge from Chris Hortness in the final laps.
Ryan Atkings was third and Chase Davidson was fourth.
Hortness leads the standings with 116, three more than Atkings.
Turnbull was the winner in the modified feature – his second feature victory of the season. He spent much of the race pursuing Joey Galloway for the lead, but Galloway thwarted Turnbull’s attempts to pass. Turnbull finally grabbed the lead with nine laps remaining.
His son Tyson Turnbull would mount the biggest challenge in the remaining laps. The younger Turnbull finished second.
Kody Scholpp was third and Galloway came fourth.
Ed Turnbull leads the overall standings with 118 points, one more than Tyson Turnbull and two more than Scholpp.
The next races at the speedway will be a Canada Day long weekend doubleheader on July 1 and 2.
