Wolf picks up 2nd Bomber feature win

It’s not very often that a race gets served up on a silver platter, but Jamestown’s Bryan Wolf sure ain’t complaining.

Not once, but twice during the 15-lap Bomber feature at Jamestown Speedway on Saturday night the leader succumbed to a flat tire, and virtually out of nowhere came Wolf to win the race.

“The last two weeks before this I kind of got beat around a little, so to come out tonight and get one handed to me feels good,” Wolf said. “It was an interesting win, at least.”

First it was Carrington’s Chris Gussiaas, who under heavy pressure from second-place runner Lucas Rodin, of Fullerton, N.D., blew out a right-rear tire with three laps to go. Then it was Rodin’s turn.

Coming to the checkered flag on the final lap, Rodin’s right-rear let go in corner No. 4 — mere yards from the flag stand — and Wolf swooped under Rodin to take his second feature race of the season at the track.

“I was just happy with finishing second,” Wolf laughed. “It was there and I took it.”

Wolf started the race in fifth and survived a few dicey situations in the pack of 22 cars before capturing the win. The driver’s nose-piece was ripped off the front of his car on the very first lap, after getting shuffled out of the pack and making contact with Spiritwood’s Leann Christensen coming out of turn No. 2.

A total of six caution flags were thrown, three of which came before three laps were even scored.

But Wolf stayed undeterred, as Rodin finished second and Jamestown’s Ryan Widmer took third. Christensen finished fifth.

“The car got beat up a little bit at the beginning of the race,” Wolf said. “I was just trying to get through the night.”

WISSOTA Street Stocks

If there was any driver at Jamestown Speedway that deserved a win before the close of the season, it was Jamestown’s Billie Christ.

The driver endured a stretch of four second-place finishes over the course of five straight weeks this season at Jamestown and at Wishek’s Tri-County Speedway. In Jamestown, Christ finished second to Hannaford’s Rory Opp the past two consecutive weeks.

Needless to say, Christ was a little fed up with being the bridesmaid all the time and not the bride, but that all changed when he drove his No. 79 WISSOTA Street Stock to victory here on Saturday.

“It kind of makes the season bittersweet,” Christ said. “You work hard, and seconds don’t put your name in the record books.”

Christ started the 20-lap feature seventh out of 21 cars and passed both Jamestown’s Josh Ganser and Sykeston’s Trent Grager to take the lead following a restart with 14 laps left.

All Christ needed to do after that was protect the bottom, as he maintained the lead over two more yellow flags to take the win. After finishing second to Opp the past two weeks, Christ was relieved to finally get one under his belt.

Opp was going for five wins in a row this week, but it wasn’t in the cards. Opp was scored with an 18th-place finish.

“It was a lot of, ‘We’re good, but what’s he got that’s better than us,’” Christ said. “But a lot of that for him was being in the right place at the right time.”

Jamestown’s Spencer Johnson finished second, while Ganser took third and Grager settled for fourth.

“Everything has to be perfect to come across the finish line first here,” Christ said. “Everyone is tough and anyone can win.”

WISSOTA Modifies

Mike Stearns, of Hecla, S.D., came close to picking up his first win in Jamestown of the season last week, but “The Old Man” Jerry Lamb, of Lisbon, had something to say about that.

Stearns finished second to Lamb, but that was last week.

This week, Stearns started on the pole, protected the bottom, built up over a full straight-away lead on the field, and absolutely dominated.

“We had a chance to win here last week and took second,” Stearns said. “It was pretty nice to redeem yourself.”

Stearns was riding the high side one week ago, but Lamb was able to make up ground on him on the bottom and eventually passed the leader. Stearns made sure something similar to that wasn’t going to happen this time around.

“At this track it seems that once you get the momentum going on the top side it’s tough for others to pass you anywhere else,” Stearns said. “But then I saw (Lamb’s) nose. Then I saw a tire. Then I saw door, and then it was too late.”

Starting on the pole made a world of difference on Saturday, as much of the racing was a fight for the bottom groove. Jamestown’s John Corell came from sixth to finish second, Enderlin’s John Nord took third and Mayville’s Jason Grimes finished fourth.

“It always helps, and being in clean air makes a big difference,” said Stearns, of starting on the pole. “I just tried to be smooth, hit my marks and hope nobody passed me anywhere else. I didn’t need a repeat of last weekend.”

Jamestown Speedway

Saturday

Results

WISSOTA Modifies

Feature: 1, Mike Stearns; 2, John Corell; 3, John Nord; 4, Jason Grimes; 5, Randy Tarno; 6, Eric Edwards; 7, Jayson Corell; 8, Blake Jegtvig; 9, Jerry Lamb; 10, Ryan Mikkelson; 11, Ben Mickelson; 12, Tim Thomas; 13, Tyson Turnbull; 14, Ed Turnbull; 15, Kent Arment; 16, Dwight Wegner.

Heat 1: 1, Arment; 2, Edwards; 3, Nord; 4, E. Turnbull; 5, Jayson Corell; 6, Wegner; 7, Mickelson; 8, Grimes.

Heat 2: 1, Lamb; 2, Stearns; 3, John Corell; 4, Jegtvig; 5, T. Turnbull; 6, Tarno; 7, Thomas; 8, Mikkelson.

WISSOTA Street Stocks

Feature: 1, Billie Christ; 2, Spencer Johnson; 3, Josh Ganser; 4, Trent Grager; 5, Dustin Erickson; 6, Justin Kollman; 7, Kelly Hagel; 8, Jake Emo; 9, Ryan Hugelen; 10, Zach Frederick; 11, Bob Banish Jr; 12, Barrett Berg; 13, Matthew Lesmeister; 14, Jim Geringer; 15, Kevin Oeder; 16, Cammy Ost; 17, Randy Kollman; 18, Rory Opp; 19, Joe Jacobson; 20, Troy Nelson; 21, Royce Jawaski.

Heat 1: 1, Opp; 2, Johnson; 3, Emo; 4, R. Kollman; 5, Banish Jr; 6, Frederick; 7, Berg.

Heat 2: 1, Grager; 2, Ganser; 3, Hagel; 4, Geringer; 5, Hugelen; 6, Oeder; 7, Ost.

Heat 3: 1, Nelson; 2, Jawaski; 3, Christ; 4, J. Kollman; 5, Jacobson; 6, Erickson; 7, Lesmeister.

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

Feature: 1, Rusty Kollman; 2, Greg Friestad; 3, Tony Konold; 4, Jim Morlock; 5, Shawn Nostdahl; 6, Brandon Gussiaas; 7, Josh Eberhardt; 8, Lyn Lamb; 9, Ryan Lehr; 10, Jeremy Forester; 11, Bryce Kuska; 12, Chuck Christ; 13, Terry Sahr; 14, Kelly Hagel; 15, Grant Hall; 16, Scott Bintz; 17, Preston Carr; 18, Chris Michaelsohn; 19, Darin Smith; 20, Dave Peterson.

Consi: 1, Forester; 2, Lehr; 3, Christ; 4, Smith; 5, Tyler Schrenk; 6, Joie Pfaff; 7, Darren Pfau; 8, Andy Kapp; 9, Eric Edwards; 10, Steve Ost; 11, Andee Beierle; 12, Jason Thoms; 13, Chase Schlafmann.

Heat 1: 1, Hall; 2, Sahr; 3, Carr; 4, Michaelsohn; 5, Lehr; 6, Thoms; 7, Ost; 8, Kapp.

Heat 2: 1, Konold; 2, Kollman; 3, Eberhardt; 4, Kuska; 5, Smith; 6, Pfau; 7, Edwards.

Heat 3: 1, Friestad; 2, Nostdahl; 3, Morlock; 4, Hagel; 5, Schrenk; 6, Pfaff; 7, Beierle.

Heat 4: 1, Bintz; 2, Gussiaas; 3, Lamb; 4, Peterson; 5, Forester; 6, Christ; 7, Schlafmann.

Bombers

Feature: 1, Bryan Wolf; 2, Lucas Rodin; 3, Ryan Widmer; 4, Keith Striefel; 5, Leann Christensen; 6, Mike Sahr; 7, Shawn Becker; 8, Devin Christ; 9, Cory Rodin; 10, Jeff Debuck; 11, Dalton Polries; 12, Matt Miller; 13, Ethan Mabus; 14, Keith Kinzler; 15, Shannon Schlenker; 16, Chris Gussiaas; 17, Dusty Hinrichs; 18, Tyler Hintz; 19, Dale Wampler; 20, Ben Tompkins; 21, Jeff Vogel; 22, Brandon Moser.

Heat 1: 1, Debuck; 2, Moser; 3, Widmer; 4, Miller; 5, Hintz; 6, Mabus; 7, Polries; 8, Becker.

Heat 2: 1, Vogel; 2, Wolf; 3, Christensen; 4, L. Rodin; 5, Schlenker; 6, Christ; 7, C. Rodin.

Heat 3: 1, Wampler; 2, Striefel; 3, Gussiaas; 4, Tompkins; 5, Sahr; 6, Kinzler; 7, Hinrichs.

Hornets

Feature: 1, Sean Johnson; 2, Andrew Michel; 3, Bud Cruff; 4, Dylan Wiesz; 5, Anthony Clark; 6, Alex Kelstrom; 7, Sam Gray; 8, Larry Hansen; 9, Erin Christ; 10, Sheri Martin; 11, Steven Nicholson; 12, Adam Wieland; 13, Jamie Schlafman.

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

Tags: auto racing, sports, speedway