Opp’s sizzling Streets season continues

Hannaford’s Rory Opp has had Lady Luck on his side, and having a racecar that not many have been able to catch this season hasn’t hurt, either.

For the fourth time this season — and for the third straight week — Opp drove his No. 43 WISSOTA Street Stock to victory at Jamestown Speedway on Saturday night.

“(Tonight) the car had a lot to do with it. I just bought three new tires for 300-some dollars to make $250,” Opp joked. “But the setup was good. We had the right tire pressures and everything worked nice.”

But Opp nearly gave the race away as soon as he got to the point.

Opp started eighth and shot to the lead from the third position on a restart just six laps into the 20-lap feature. Opp passed Milnor’s Bob Banish Jr. and the leader, Jamestown’s Billie Christ, on the low side of the track to take the lead, but he then opened the door back up for the pair by deciding to run the high line.

Why not? Opp won the last two features at Jamestown Speedway by dominating the field on the high side of the track.

But on Saturday, the lower a car was the faster it was and Christ took advantage by claiming back the lead.

“I’ve gotta give them a chance,” Opp laughed. “(The top) was good right away. There was some good tack up there, but the second time I went up there it had went away and I almost blew it off the top on both ends of the track.

“Billie (Christ) ran a good race. He was tough.”

Christ went on to lead another seven laps, but Opp was finally able to get his nose back underneath Christ and made the pass with just four laps left.

Opp made sure to protect the bottom from there on out, as Christ finished second, Valley City’s Randy Klein took third and Banish come home fourth.

Opp jumped from fifth to fourth in the track standings, and is now 34 points behind the leader, Jamestown’s Troy Nelson, with 462 points and with two nights of points racing left to be run.

Bombers

Jeff Vogel’s dream season at Jamestown Speedway keeps getting sweeter.

The Marion native rifled off his fifth Bomber feature victory of the season on Saturday, increasing his points lead at the track to 30 markers over Jameston’s Bryan Wolf with 552 points.

Vogel started the main event from the fourth position, but passed Buchanan’s Tyler Hintz and Levi Hintz, and Spiritwood’s Leann Christensen — the polesitter — on the opening lap to lead all 15 laps en route to victory.

Wolf entered the evening trailing Vogel in the standings by just 16 points, but after starting seventh Wolf was sent to the rear of the 19-car field for causing a caution six laps into the race. Wolf finished 17th.

Levi Hintz and Tyler Hintz finished second and third, respectively, while Carrington’s Chris Gussiaas took fourth and Jamestown’s Matt Gumke rounded out the top five.

Jamestown Speedway

Results

Saturday

WISSOTA Street Stocks

Feature: 1, Rory Opp; 2, Billie Christ; 3, Randy Klein; 4, Bob Banish Jr; 5, Kelly Hagel; 6, Justin Kollman; 7, Royce Jawaski; 8, Randy Kollman; 9, Josh Ganser; 10, Troy Nelson; 11, Spencer Johnson; 12, Jordan Zillmer; 13, Beau Brown; 14, Dustin Erickson; 15, Nate Keena; 16, Kevin Oeder; 17, Kyle Schell; 18, Richard Pommerer; 19, Joe Jacobson; 20, Jonny Carter; 21, Ryan Pommerer; 22, Hunter Carter; 23, Jay Sahr.

Heat 1: 1, Opp; 2, Klein; 3, Nelson; 4, Ryan Pommerer; 5, R. Kollman; 6, Johnson; 7, Brown; 8, Richard Pommerer.

Heat 2: 1, Jawaski; 2, Banish Jr; 3, Hagel; 4, J. Carter; 5, Oeder; 6, J. Kollman; 7, Ganser; 8, H. Carter.

Heat 3: 1, Christ; 2. Keena; 3, Erickson; 4, Jacobson; 5, Zillmer; 6, Schell; 7, Sahr.

Bombers

Feature: 1, Jeff Vogel; 2, Levi Hintz; 3, Tyler Hintz; 4, Chris Gussiaas; 5, Matt Gumke; 6, Leann Christensen; 7, Devin Christ; 8, Ben Tompkins; 9, Lucas Rodin; 10, Matt Miller; 11, Dusty Hinrichs; 12, Taran Langland; 13, Timothy Skeide; 14, Shannon Schlenker; 15, Keith Striefel; 16, Ethan Mabus; 17, Bryan Wolf; 18, Dalton Polries; 19, Shawn Becker.

Heat 1: 1, Wolf; 2, Gussiaas; 3, L. Hintz; 4, Vogel; 5, Rodin; 6, Miller; 7, Becker; 8, Skeide; 9, Schlenker; 10, Langland.

Heat 2: 1, Gumke; 2, T. Hintz; 3, Striefel; 4, Christensen; 5, Christ; 6, Mabus; 7, Polries; 8, Hinrichs; 9, Tompkins.

Hornets

Feature: 1, Andrew Michel; 2, Sean Johnson; 3, Alex Kelstrom; 4, Bud Cruff; 5, Aaron Michel; 6, Steven Nicholson; 7, Brandon Michel; 8, Sam Gray; 9, Anthony Clark.

Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com

Tags: auto racing, sports, speedway