Ganser wins first feature
Jamestown’s Josh Ganser had every opportunity in the world to make a mistake at Jamestown Speedway on Saturday night.By: Michael Savaloja, The Jamestown Sun
- Running Room
Jamestown’s Josh Ganser had every opportunity in the world to make a mistake at Jamestown Speedway on Saturday night.
Just the slightest hiccup would have sent Horace’s Royce Jawaski to the winner’s circle following the 20-lap WISSOTA Street Stock feature.
But as the old adage goes, Ganser remained as cool as a cucumber.
Ganser started from the fourth position and lead every circuit en route to his first career WISSOTA Street Stock feature win, which also marked the fourth different driver to win a race in the division in as many weeks at Jamestown Speedway to start the season.
“My second year in the car, it’s finally nice to actually get the win,” Ganser said.
Ganser ran three seasons in a Bomber before moving up to the WISSOTA ranks last season. The field of Street Stocks at Jamestown Speedway includes very little — if any — slouches and Ganser certainly earned his victory.
The race’s winning move actually occurred on the opening lap. Ganser slung to the high side and battled Jawaski, the polesitter, and second-place starter Lisbon’s Matthew Lesmeister three-wide for the lead.
Ganser was able to lead the first lap, and he’d go on to lead all 20. Jawaski, however, never let Ganser out of his sight.
Lap after lap, Jawaski was all over Ganser’s back bumper. But Jawaski simply couldn’t find enough grip anywhere else to pass Ganser except on the real estate both drivers were taking up.
“I was running a line pretty good on the top, then about halfway through I noticed going into (turns) three and four there was a line a little bit lower there where everybody was running,” Ganser said. “I figured I better get down there. There was one strip coming out of four you just had to hit right, and I managed to pull it off.
“(Jawaski) rattled my cage a few times, but he didn’t rattle it enough to get me nervous.”
On the third and final restart of the race with 4 laps left, Jawaski made only last effort to get by Ganser on the bottom. But like throughout the race, that’s not where his car wanted to be.
Jawaski finished second, as Lisbon’s Duffy Froemke took third, Lesmeister finished fourth and Hannaford’s Rory Opp drove home fifth.
Froemke has yet to finish out of the top three after four weeks, and has a 9-point lead in the track standings with 216 points. Fromeke has a win, a second and a pair of third-place feature finishes.
“Street Stocks in Jamestown, it’s really good competition. A lot of clean racing, and a lot of good drivers,” Ganser said. “For my second year, it’s definitely an accomplishment. From where I started last year to finally win in one.”
Midwest Modifieds
Jamestown’s Ryan Lehr started the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature from the pole and also led every circuit en route to his first victory of the season.
And, just like Ganser, Lehr marks the fourth different WISSOTA Midwest Modified driver to win at the track this season.
Lehr built up a half-straightaway lead on the field running the middle, before Jamestown’s Scott Bintz found some running room up high and made a late charge. But it was too late for Bintz — who started sixth — as he only had time to catch but not find a way past Lehr.
The race included two early caution flags, but went green for 19 straight laps the rest of the way.
Lisbon’s Lyn Lamb finished third, with Fullerton’s Lucas Rodin and Jamestown’s Jeremy Forester rounding out the top five, respectively. After a dominating heat race victory, Carrington’s Rusty Kollman started the feature eighth and wound up finishing ninth.
Kollman is now tied with Valley City’s Greg Friestad in the track standings with 212 points. Bintz is just five points back with 205 markers.
Jamestown Speedway continues to draw in a nice amount of WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds each week, with 35 drivers in attendance on Saturday. Kollman, Bintz and Edgeley’s Eric Edwards have the other three wins at the track.
Bombers
Carrington’s Chris Gussiaas drove to his second consecutive feature win in the Bomber ranks on Saturday in Jamestown.
Gussiaas came all the way from the seventh starting spot and didn’t lead a lap until the white flag was in the air.
Jamestown’s Mike Sahr led the first 10 laps of the 15 lap feature, but lost the lead to Enderlin’s Tyler Pfaff after getting loose in the first set of turns. Gussiaas also got by as Sahr’s night came to a close two laps later after his car left the track in Turns 3 and 4.
Sahr ended up finishing 20th in the 20-car field.
Gussiaas then went to work on Pfaff on the bottom, eventually making the pass on the exit of corner No. 4 as the pair took the white flag. Pfaff finished second, while Jamestown’s Justin Schempp took third, Marion’s Cory Rodin finished fourth and Sykeston’s Dalton Polries took fifth.
Rodin came all the way from the 16th starting spot, while Polries motored to fifth after starting 17th.
Pfaff, who also has a feature win at the track this year, has an 8-point lead over Gussiaas in the track standings with 218 points.
For full results of Saturday night’s action, go to Page B3.
Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com
Tags: auto racing, sports, racing
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