A large crowd had their 'need for speed' fulfilled Friday night as the Estevan Motor Speedway hosted day one of their first ever Sprint Car doubleheader.

The hometown favorite was Kyle Fedyck, last year's winner and the pick to come out on top once again on familiar dirt. Imagine, then, the surprise in the stands when his strong heat and dominating performance in the feature race was pricked by Minot's Dusty Lawson, who made his move to edge Fedyck in the last few laps, leaving the latter to cross the finish line a close second.

Dusty Lawson barely edged Estevan's Kyle Fedyck for the Sprint checkered flag on Saturday.

"I'd seen him when I had about six to go and I caught up to Ryder (Olson), I saw that he was at the same speed so I just figured if I just kept hitting my marks I'd eventually run them both down. I got Ryder with about four to go, and I was just waiting for Fedyck. He got caught up in a bit of traffic, and that was my opportunity to pounce," said a jubilant Lawson.

The IMCA Street Stocks saw a battle to the end between Austin Daae and Jeremy Swanson, with the former eventually gaining the upper hand in the feature.

Austin Daae took the IMCA Street Stocks.

"He (Swanson) was good getting into turns three and four when I was running the top, but he'd get runs on me down on the front straightaway. I was quick enough on top in one and two, and finally I cleared him with one or two (laps) to go, and I knew I had to get down in three. It was a lot more tacky down there and I was able to hook up a lot more."

Despite a few tumbles in the IMCA Modifieds feature, and a mishap or two himself, Riley Emmel held on through messy traffic for the checkered flag. 

Riley Emmel was the winner of the IMCA Modifieds division.

"Off the start I just got out front right away. When I didn't see anyone coming up beside me, I just took my time. Then I started kicking more into gear once I saw someone. When you're caught in the lap traffic is what really gives a nice scare, you get into them and you don't know where they're going to go."

He had himself a taste of that near the beginning, spinning out together with Ed Turnbull in turn three after giving the competitive level an extra push.

In the Hobby Stock feature, it was Brock Beeter of Minot returning to the Speedway and pulling out another victory, though not without Kenmare's Riese Dignan giving him a run in the final turn and finally riding in on his coattails.

Brock Beeter took first place in the Hobby Stocks.

"It's one of those (times) when you've got to make a decision, I guess I made the right decision. He decided to go low, I followed that 91 and I crossed over, and my choice was the right choice that time. One lap later, it might have been different," said Beeter, adding that his 15 year experience certainly contributed to his win, though not without a bit of luck involved as well.

Young Ryder Raynard claimed another checkered flag for himself on the season in the Slingshot feature race.

Ryder Raynard once again took the Slingshot division.

The second round of racing in the weekend gets set for Saturday evening, with the green flag dropping on Stocks, Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Slingshots, and the Sprint Cars at 7.