Bintz, Sahr collect wins

• Riding Around the Track

Jamestown Speedway’s Glenn Christianson (right) helps a young lad onto the back of Jamestown’s Mike Sahr’s No. 20s Bomber on Saturday, as kids got to ride around the track prior to the races. Sahr later won the 15-lap Bomber main event. (Michael Savaloja / The Sun)

Talk about it

A little rain at Jamestown Speedway on Saturday night was what Jamestown’s Scott Bintz needed to flood a recent dry spell for the WISSOTA Midwest Modified driver.

A 45-minute rain delay produced a fast, tacky race track and Bintz took advantage, motoring to his fourth Midwest Modified feature victory of the season during WISSOTA AMSOIL Qualifier Night.

Bintz had already collected three feature wins in 2012 — with one coming in Jamestown — but it took the entire month of June to find the winner’s stage for a fourth time. The win came at great time, as Bintz is now qualified to compete in the Midwest Modified Race of Champions at the WISSOTA 100 in Huron, S.D. in September.

“We’ve been dry all month, so it was nice to get one,” Bintz said. “With the Race of Champions race too, that’s really cool.”

Bintz started the 20-lap A-Main from the sixth starting position and quickly shot to third place in the opening three laps. Tony Konold, of Groton, S.D., and Jamestown’s Jeremy Forester started the race 1-2, respectively, and that’s where it appeared both would end up finishing.

Once Bintz got to third, it didn’t appear as if there was enough grip on the bottom of the track to find a way around Forester and then Konold to take the lead.

But that all changed with seven laps remaining.

Konold, while leading the race, ran into the back of a lapped car driven by Jamestown’s John Clemens in turn No. 2, while Forester and Bintz took evasive action to split the melee and surpass Konold.

Clemens and Konold made contact again in turns three and four, and this time Clemens spun and collected the lead lap cars of Carrington’s Rusty Kollman and Valley City’s Greg Friestad. Kollman and Friestad were battling for the fourth position.

“(Konold) was leading and then he just king of plowed (Clemens). Usually when you’re in lapped traffic you’re supposed to hold your line,” Bintz said. “I could see (Konold) was going to get jammed up going low, and of course that’s why me and Forester split it. Then we had that caution.

“It was a good caution for me because I don’t think I would have caught them.”

Konold was cited for bringing out the caution and sent to the rear of the field, while Friestad’s and Clemens’s night was over. After a trip to the pits, Kollman fought back to finish ninth. Kollman and Friestad were sitting 1-2, respectively, in the track standings to start the night.

Bintz lined up on the high side behind Forester to take the green flag.

“I just thought, ‘Well, here’s my chance,’” Bintz said. “I motored around the high side. The first lap around I didn’t lift at all, and that’s what it took.”

Bintz shot to the front coming out of turn No. 4 after taking the green. Once out front, Bintz proved tough to pass. Forester tried to get under Bintz over the final few laps, but Bintz was just too strong.

“I wasn’t sure where I was at. I didn’t’ sense anyone close to me, but I didn’t know so I just tried to keep her to the floor as much as possible,” Bintz said. “It was tacky, so it was really fast. You weren’t lifting much.”

Forester was forced to settle for second, as Jamestown’s Ryan Lehr, Aberdeen’s Justin Kollman and Fullerton’s Lucas Rodin rounded out the top five. Konold fought back for a seventh-place finish.

Bombers

He’s had a fast car all season, and on Saturday Jamestown’s Mike Sahr was finally able to park his No. 20s purple Mopar machine next to the winner’s stage.

Sahr started on the pole for the 15-lap feature and led every circuit, but things were certainly interesting.

After seven laps were in the books, Sahr was running down lapped traffic and the lapped car of Jeremy Willman nearly spun out in front of him in corner No 4.

“I was hoping I wouldn’t get wrecked out,” Sahr said. “Hopefully, (more wins) will come sooner.”

Once clear of lapped cars, Sahr then had to deal with heavy pressure from Enderlin’s Tyler Pfaff. Pfaff was going for the pass on Sahr when the right-rear wheel fell off Tyler Hintz’s No. 13 back in the pack, which brought out a caution with three laps left and thwarted Pfaff’s assault on the lead.

Back under green, Sahr was able to stay out front and cruise to the victory.

“They farmed the track and my car liked that,” Sahr said. “That made my car better. It was so rough in the heat races until they farmed it.”

Pfaff finished second, with Jamestown’s Justin Schempp and Bryan Wolf finishing third and fourth.

Sahr got out of racing back in 1996, but got back behind the wheel in 2010 in a car he built. He drove that car to victory for the first time on Saturday.

“It feels great,” Sahr said. “The car ran good.”

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

Feature: 1, Scott Bintz; 2, Jeremy Forester; 3, Ryan Lehr; 4, Justin Kollman; 5, Lucas Rodin; 6, Brandon Gussiaas; 7, Tony Konold; 8, Steve Ost; 9, Rusty Kollman; 10, Tyler Schrenk; 11, Darren Pfau; 12, Jason Thoms; 13, Dave Peterson; 14, Kevin Oeder; 15, Jim Morlock (DNF); 16, Andy Kapp (DNF); 17, Lyn Lamb (DNF); 18, Shannon Schlenker (DNF); 19, Greg Friestad (DNF); 20, John Clemens.

Consi 1: 1, Pfau; 2, Clemens; 3, Brennon Weight; 4, Preston Carr; 5, Eric Edwards (DNF); 6, Brad Sheridan (DNS); 7, Troy Nelson (DNS); 8, Jason Lamb (DNS).

Consi 2: 1, Thoms; 2, Kapp; 3, Travis Aljets; 4, Terry Sahr; 5, Jay Sahr; 6, Andee Beierle; 7, Bryce Kuska (DNS).

Heat 1: 1, Forester; 2, Bintz; 3, Lehr; 4, L. Lamb; 5, J. Lamb; 6, Weight; 7, Nelson; 8, Edwards.

Heat 2: 1, Rodin; 2, Morlock; 3, Schrenk; 4, Oeder; 5, Beierle; 6, Kuska (DNF); 7, Thoms (DNF); 8, Aljets (DNF).

Heat 3: 1, R. Kollman; 2, Friestad; 3, Gussiaas; 4, Peterson; 5, Pfau; 6, T. Sahr; 7, Sheridan (DNF); 8, Carr (DNF).

Heat 4: 1, J. Kollman; 2, Konold; 3, Schlenker; 4, Ost; 5, Kapp; 6, Clemens; 7, J. Sahr.

Bombers

Feature: 1, Mike Sahr; 2, Tyler Pfaff; 3, Justin Schempp; 4, Bryan Wolf; 5, Matthew Kropp; 6, Brandon Moser; 7, Leann Christensen; 8, Chris Gussiaas; 9, Cory Rodin; 10, Dusty Hinrichs; 11, Dalton Polries; 12, Kyle Anderson; 13, Keith Striefel; 14, Jon Perkins; 15, Matt McPherson; 16, Anthony Clark; 17, Jeremy Willman; 18, Tyler Schlenker; 19, Tyler Hintz (DNF); 20, Taran Langland (DNF); 21, Lindsey Hansen (DNF); 22, Lane Stoppleworth (DNS); 23, Brent Vetter (DNS).

Heat 1: 1, Schempp; 2, Rodin; 3, Kropp; 4, Hinrichs; 5, Willman; 6, Hansen; 7, Polries; 8, McPherson (DNF).

Heat 2: 1, Pfaff; 2, Wolf; 3, Christensen; 4, Striefel; 5, Moser; 6, Anderson; 7, Vetter; 8, Stoppleworth (DNF).

Heat 3: 1, Hintz; 2, Gussiaas; 3, Sahr; 4, Langland; 5, Perkins; 6, Clark; 7, Schlenker.

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

Tags: auto racing, jamestown speedway, sports, racing