Legends put on show: Jegtvig wins in return to Jamestown
Last week’s gloomy weather put a hold on Jamestown Speedway’s Legend Special, but it was well worth the wait.By: Michael Savaloja, The Jamestown Sun, The Jamestown Sun
Last week’s gloomy weather put a hold on Jamestown Speedway’s Legend Special, but it was well worth the wait.
A total of 20 Legend Cars and their 1250cc Yamaha motors tore up the quarter-mile track in Jamestown on Saturday night, with Tim Brockhouse, of Elko, Minn., capturing the 20-lap feature to hoist the largest trophy of the evening.
“I love this place. It’s awesome,” Brockhouse said of Jamestown Speedway. “The banking is incredible. The fans were great and everybody here has really been nice. So being a stranger from a strange land, it’s good to come over and feel welcome.”
Brockhouse grew up in Houston, Texas before relocating to Minnesota. Saturday’s win was the driver’s third victory in four nights of racing this season.
The driver’s other victories have come at Elko Speedway and Buffalo River Speedway in Glyndon, Minn. Brockhouse also took fourth at Mandan’s Dacotah Speedway on Friday.
Brockhouse started Saturday’s race in Jamestown from the ninth starting spot, and appeared as if he was going to play second fiddle to Mercer’s Tom Wagner. Wagner started from the outside pole and cut straight through the middle of the turns to build up over a half-straightway lead on the field.
But after leading the first nine laps, a caution for debris in turn No. 2 erased Wagner’s lead and put Brockhouse — who had already worked his way past seven cars — right on his back bumper.
“I started ninth and stuck low for the longest time because that seemed about the only place that was really going to work,” Brockhouse said. “On the caution I just kind of drove around and saw something up (high) I liked and I figured I’ll just try it.”
The gamble up high paid off for Brockhouse. The driver barreled past Wagner off the rim as soon as the field took the green flag and he’d lead the final 11 laps.
But things did get interesting with two laps remaining. Brockhouse had caught the back of the field and the lapped car of Flasher’s Sam Jensen plugged up Brockhouse’s lane up high, putting Wagner right back on his tail as the pair took the white flag.
“(Wagner) gave me a little bump right at the end there. (Jensen) went high, he’s new,” Brockhouse said. “It’s kind of one of those things where they show him the blue and yellow (flag) and they kind of panic instead of holding their line.
“It’s a good lesson for him to learn. We were all new one time too, so you can’t be mad at him.”
Brockhouse was able to hold off Wagner at the finish line, as Minot’s Shane Williams finished third, Wishek’s Donovan Wiest took fourth and Wes Doepke came in fifth.
The specials at Jamestown Speedway continue this Saturday. The NLRA Late Models will be in town starting at 7 p.m.
WISSOTA Modifieds
It was another highly competitive week of WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track series action at Jamestown Speedway, with three new winners in the WISSOTA Modified, Midwest Modified and Street Stock ranks.
A different driver has now won the feature in those three classes in the speedway’s first four weeks to open the season.
Blake Jegtvig, of Hawley, Minn., powered his way to his third WISSOTA Modified feature victory of 2012, and his first in as many trips to Jamestown Speedway this summer on Saturday.
The two-time WISSOTA national champion has also won features at Norman County Raceway in Ada, Minn., and at West Fargo’s Red River Valley Speedway.
Jegtvig and Jamestown’s Ryan Mikkelson battled door-to-door down the stretch for first and second positions in the 20-lap feature. Jegtvig used the high line to catch Mikkelson, and then shot to the bottom as the duo approached a pair of lapped cars which ended up being the winning move to get past Mikkelson for good with five laps to go.
“I wanted to stay up as long as I dared, because I figured (Mikkelson) could use the lap car for like a pick or something,” Jegtvig said. “I went to the bottom and that helped. It broke his rhythm enough to get me ahead of him a little ways.
“But (Mikkelson) had a heck of a race too. It was probably pretty fun to watch.”
Jegtvig was originally slated to start the race from the ninth position, but an early altercation at the very start took out a host of front runners and Jegtvig ended up starting fourth. The outside polesitter, Lisbon’s Jerry Lamb, broke a steering component and spun out in turn No. 4 coming to the green flag, which collected fourth-place starter Jamestown’s John Corell Sr. and sixth-place starter Marlyn Seidler of Underwood.
A total of 10 of the 22-car field were involved in some way. Lamb, Corell and Seidler would not return.
“I just got lucky. I ended up kind of diving down right away and it was a savior to me because everyone else was all bottled up,” Jegtvig said. “It wasn’t looking good. I thought for sure (my) quarter panel or something was ripped off.
“But I made it through it. Close your eyes and hope.”
After the dust settled, Mikkelson started from the pole and pulled away from the field from the low side to lead the first 11 laps. But Jegtvig’s line up high came to him as the race wore on.
Jegtvig edged Mikkelson at the line for 4 circuits, before the lapped cars gave the driver a little breathing room. Mikkelson settled for second, Jamestown’s Jason Grimes took third, Winnipeg’s Ward Imrie finished fourth and Mandan’s Shawn Strand rounded out the top five.
After missing the first three weeks at Jamestown, it’s safe to assume Jegtvig will be coming back in the not so distant future.
“Yeah, I suppose I’ll have to now. Most likely we’ll come back over next week,” Jegtvig said. “This place is always fun to race at, and usually you get to race in a show like that. You’ve got two- and three-wide racing and your car is straight at the end of the night.”
Jamestown Speedway
Saturday results
Legends
Feature: 1, Tim Brockhouse; 2, Tom Wagner; 3, Shane Williams; 4, Donovan Wiest; 5, Wes Doepke; 6, John Sommerfeld; 7, Andrew Sommerfield; 8, Ivan Sailer; 9, Kevin Jensen; 10, Brian Schirado; 11, Clare Miller; 12, Casey Martin; 13, Zach Lutz; 14, Steven Kuntz; 15, Dean Julsrud; 16, Jon Schumann; 17, Josh Jukrud; 18, Sam Jensen; 19, Adam Meuchel; 20, Roydon Lamb.
Heat 1: 1, Doepke; 2, Meuchel; 3, Williams; 4, Sommerfeld; 5, Schirado; 6, Kuntz; 7, Schumann.
Heat 2: 1, Brockhouse; 2, Wagner; 3, K. Jensen; 4, Sommerfield; 5, Jukrud; 6, Miller; 7, Lamb.
Heat 3: 1, Sailer; 2, Wiest; 3, Lutz; 4, Julsrud; 5, S. Jensen; 6, Martin.
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature: 1, Blake Jegtvig; 2, Ryan Mikkelson; 3, Jason Grimes; 4, Ward Imrie; 5, Shawn Strand; 6, Mike Stearns; 7, Randy Tarno; 8, Eric Edwards; 9, Bob Sagen; 10, Bob Banish Jr.; 11, Duane Zabel; 12, Rusty Kollman; 13, Scott Bintz; 14, Ryan Kereluk; 15, Dwight Wegner; 16, Delray Dykstra; 17, Randy Klein; 18, Scott Greer; 19, Josh Eberhardt; 20, John Corell; 21, Marlyn Seidler; 22, Jerry Lamb.
Heat 1: 1, Grimes; 2, Corell; 3, Klein; 4, Stearns; 5, Eberhardt; 6, Kollman; 7, Edwards; 8, Kereluk.
Heat 2: 1, Mikkelson; 2, Lamb; 3, Imrie; 4, Tarno; 5, Banish Jr.; 6, Sagen; 7, Greer.
Heat 3: 1, Seidler; 2, Strand; 3, Jegtvig; 4, Dykstra; 5, Wegner; 6, Zabel; 7, Bintz.
Hornets
Feature: 1, Aaron Michel; 2, Andrew Michel; 3, Dylan Wiesz; 4, Alex Kelstrom; 5, Charlie Mcpherson; 6, Joey Craff; 7, Chase Golliet; 8, Brandon Michel.
WISSOTA Street Stocks
Feature: 1, Josh Ganser; 2, Royce Jawaski; 3, Duffy Froemke; 4, Matthew Lesmeister; 5, Rory Opp; 6, Trent Grager; 7, Jordan Zillmer; 8, Joe Jacobson; 9, Jake Emo; 10, Nic Klein; 11, Casey Stangeland; 12, Dustin Erickson; 13, Shawn Becker; 14, Cammy Ost; 15, Shawn Teunis; 16, Kelly Hagel; 17, Kyle Langland; 18, Mark Teunis; 19, Billie Christ; 20, Toby Eilers.
Heat 1: 1, Zillmer; 2, Emo; 3, Hagel; 4, Christ; 5, Klein; 6, Erickson; 7, S. Teunis.
Heat 2: 1, Grager; 2, Ganser; 3, Lesmeister; 4, Stangeland; 5, Ost; 6, Langland; 7, M. Teunis.
Heat 3: 1, Jawaski; 2, Opp; 3, Froemke; 4, Jacobson; 5, Eilers; 6, Becker.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature: 1, Ryan Lehr; 2, Scott Bintz; 3, Lyn Lamb; 4, Lucas Rodin; 5, Jeremy Forester; 6, Tony Konold; 7, Greg Friestad; 8, Jim Morlock; 9, Rusty Kollman; 10, Tom Andring; 11, Kelly Hagel; 12, Darren Pfau; 13, Nate Reinke; 14, Travis Aljets; 15, Eric Edwards; 16, Troy Nelson; 17, Steve Ost; 18, Andy Kapp; 19, Bryce Kuska; 20, Rory Opp.
Consi 1: 1, Reinke; 2, Kuska; 3, Preston Carr; 4, Justin Kollman; 5, Terry Sahr; 6, Andee Beierle; 7, Dave Peterson; 8, Jason Thoms; 9, Nate Jenrich; 10, Nick Ziegler.
Consi 2: 1, Aljets; 2, Kapp; 3, Brandon Gussiaas; 4, Kevin Oeder; 5, Tyler Schrenk; 6, John Clemens; 7, Shannon Schlenker; 8, Jay Sahr; 9, Brodie Jahner.
Heat 1: 1, R. Kollman; 2, Lamb; 3, Pfau; 4, Edwards; 5, Kuska; 6, T. Sahr; 7, Jenrich; 8, Beierle; 9, J. Sahr.
Heat 2: 1, Konold; 2, Bintz; 3, Hagel; 4, Opp; 5, Kapp; 6, Schlenker; 7, Aljets; 8, Schrenk; 9, Gussiaas.
Heat 3: 1, Freistad; 2, Forester; 3, Nelson; 4, Andring; 5, Reinke; 6, Carr; 7, J. Kollman; 8, Peterson; 9, Ziegler.
Heat 4: 1, Lehr; 2, Rodin; 3, Morlock; 4, Ost; 5, Oeder; 6, Clemens; 7, Jahner; 8, Thoms.
Bombers
Feature: 1, Chris Gussiaas; 2, Tyler Pfaff; 3, Justin Schempp; 4, Cory Rodin; 5, Dalton Polries; 6, Kyle Anderson; 7, Bryan Wolf; 8, Brandon Moser; 9, Dana Welder; 10, Tarn Langland; 11, Leann Christensen; 12, Keith Striefel; 13, Devin Christ; 14, Travis Traut; 15, Dusty Hinrichs; 16, Timothy Skeide; 17, Cody Ketterling; 18, Matthew Kropp; 19, Tyler Schlenker; 20, Mike Sahr.
Consi 1: 1, Rodin; 2, Polries; 3, Kropp; 4, Christensen; 5, Schlenker; 6, Colten Ketterling; 7, Lindsey Hansen; 8, Kyle Myers; 9, Keith Kinzler.
Heat 1: 1, Gussiaas; 2, Pfaff; 3, Moser; 4, Anderson; 5, Skeide; 6, Schlenker; 7, Christensen; 8, Kinzler.
Heat 2: 1, Hinrichs; 2, Langland; 3, Striefel; 4, Christ; 5, Wolf; 6, Polries; 7, Hansen; 8, Myers.
Heat 3: 1, Sahr; 2, Schempp; 3, Welder; 4, Cody Ketterling; 5, Traut; 6, Kropp; 7, Colten Ketterling; 8, Rodin.
Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com
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