ESTEVAN - The Estevan Motor Speedway placed the finishing touches on the 2024 season during its annual awards night and fundraising supper at the Beefeater Plaza on Saturday night.
Track championship trophies and other mementos were handed out to Kody Scholpp in the modified class, Gabriel Deschamp (sport modifieds), Connor Hanson (hobby stocks) and Brogan Wagner (slingshots). Austin Daae won the title in the stock car class but was unable to attend. All classes except for the slingshots are affiliated with the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA).
Runners up were Steven Pfeifer (modifieds), Kyle Scholpp (stock cars), Leevi Runge (sport modifieds), Landon Runge (hobby stocks) and Gunner Raynard (slingshots). All of the runners up are from Lampman ,with the exception of Pfeifer.
Jake Skjerdal (slingshots) and Dustin Skjerdal (hobby stocks) won top rookie awards.
Cam Stepp and Larry Mack were named the speedway's volunteers of the year. President Brad Pierson said it's not difficult to find someone deserving of the award, especially with the grandstand project that has happened in the past couple of years.
Stepp helps out with track clean-up before and after the season, while Mack is on the track preparation crew. Pierson recalled the speedway was supposed to hold its year-end work bee in early October, but it had to be called off due to the strong winds that day. He drove out to the track to make sure nobody showed up to work, and Stepp and Mack were there to brave the conditions.
Pierson noted the track doesn't exist without its volunteers. They help out with preparing the track, collecting tickets, working at the pit and vehicle gates, selling 50-50 tickets, serving in the concession, working as on and off-track officials, and handling other duties.
Marcus Tomlinson, a modified driver from North Dakota, was named the most sportsmanlike racer of the year, thanks to his efforts to help other drivers.
In his remarks, Pierson noted the track has long had a really good hobby stock class, which is a good way to get drivers into racing and advance them to another level.
"I think there's five very good young drivers moving out of that class, four … into stock cars and one into the sport mods," said Pierson.
He's sad to see the hobby stock division losing drivers, but he hopes some of the young slingshot drivers will shift into hobby stocks.
"I thought we had a good racing program," said Pierson. "I thought things ran well. We like to run on time and have as little drama as we can."
When he watches racing from other tracks online, he sees issues come up elsewhere that don't occur in Estevan. The EMS isn't perfect, but things are run well.
A live auction followed the awards, bringing in money for the speedway. The awards and auction night is the track's top fundraising of the year.
Pierson said the night is a big one for the speedway, not just to honour the drivers, but to keep the speedway's books in the black. He applauded the drivers who brought at least one sponsor to the awards night, because those supporters play an important role in keeping the drivers on the track and keeping the facility open.
The speedway also hosted its annual general meeting on Tuesday night. Pierson urged people to attend and share their thoughts on what they like or don't like, or what they think should be changed.
