Devin Raynard had the entire Turnbull family on his tail last Wednesday on the first race night of the season at Estevan Motor Speedway.
Raynard led his IMCA modified heat and the feature virtually start to finish, holding off all three Turnbulls after a pair of cautions to get an early jump in the 2011 points race.
"I didn't know who was all back there, but I got a surprise when I pulled up into victory lane to see all three Turnbulls," Raynard chuckled.
Aaron Turnbull placed second, followed by brother Tyson and dad Ed. Kody Scholpp rounded out the top five.
"To be all in the top four, it's a tough field, so I think we're happy with our finish," said Ed Turnbull, who was coming off a feature win at Nodak Speedway in Minot on May 15.
Wednesday marked the debut of Raynard's new Shaw by Galloway No. 98 car at EMS and he said he didn't expect results so quickly.
"I didn't think it was going to come out and do that. I thought I'd be struggling with it for a bit because it's a brand new, fresh car."
But the 2009 EMS mod champion dominated his heat and said he may well have won the trophy dash if he had made some adjustments, related to the slicked off track, sooner.
Raynard's only competition in the early going of the feature was Joe Galloway. He later encountered problems that took him out of the race, the caution flag came out, and the Turnbulls gained ground.
"I had to play it calm and make sure I hit my first few corners right and get ahead of everybody else," said Raynard, who finished seventh in the mod standings in 2010.
"It's always worrisome when you get a big lead and then get a caution because they're going to be right behind you."
Seven of 23 drivers failed to finish the mod feature, including past Speedway winners Joren Boyce, Les McLenehan and Davin Emmel.
Defending champion Rocky Alexander won the IMCA street stock feature, holding off trophy dash winner Robbie Rosselli in the early going before building a comfortable lead.
Rosselli and Joe Flory duked it out for second over the last few laps, with Rosselli hanging on by about a car length.
Alexander won his heat and also led the trophy dash for several laps before losing control on Turn 4.
In the IMCA hobby stock division, Minot's Justin Medler stayed high on the track for the entire feature and was never truly challenged, adding his first ever win at EMS to his trophy dash victory earlier in the evening
Mike Wilson, Gary Hanson, Cory Evans and Gary Goudy rounded out the top five.
Minot's Dana Brandt, who won 10 hobby stock features at EMS in 2010, did not compete on Wednesday.
Last week's races marked the first outing for the new track surface, which had only been installed the previous weekend.
"It was kind of hard to read all night. Everything you learned over the years was all up in limbo," said Raynard.
The next race night at the Speedway is June 1.
