Lisbon’s Froemke pulls away: Driver outlasts Erickson to win Street feature; Hinrichs takes Bombers race

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Lisbon’s Duffy Froemke and Jamestown’s Dustin Erickson ran next to each other for half of the WISSOTA Street Stocks feature race Saturday at Jamestown Speedway.

Erickson, who started second, took the lead on the first lap from pole-sitter Josh Ganser of Jamestown, but found Froemke on his doorstep by the fourth lap. Froemke started fourth.

“I bet we were side by side for eight to 10 laps,” Froemke said. “Dustin ran a good race.”

Erickson stuck to the outside, but Froemke’s bottom-of-the-road racing proved to be the winning line, taking the lead from Erickson midway through and holding him off the rest of the way. Erickson finished second.

“There was a tack strip out of four where he’d gain on me,” Froemke said. “It was a little better (for me) on the bottom out of turn 2.”

The win vaults Froemke into the lead in the season points standings, passing Billie Christ of Jamestown, who finished fifth.

“I’ll be honest, I’m trying to win that deal,” Froemke said. “All the best to Billie, but I wanna beat him.”

It was especially nice for Froemke after a flat tire in a heat race last week put him toward the back of the pack in the feature. This week, he won the first heat and started in the top four.

“Starting in the second row was kinda nice — I didn’t have to pass as many cars,” he said. “I needed this. This will help the points deal.”

Horace native Royce Jawaski took third, while Nic Klein of Mapleton was fourth.

Bombers

Dusty Hinrichs was the only driver in the main four classes to be able to call himself “Mr. Start-to-finish.”

He started on the pole, weathered an early caution and maintained his lead throughout to win his first-ever Bombers feature.

Hinrichs, who is ninth in the season standings, had a few different challengers. Dalton Polries of Sykeston was there right away, as was Jamestown’s Kyle Anderson.

However, Hinrichs biggest challenge came from Carrington’s Chris Gussiaas, who slipped in behind him on the fifth lap and stayed there the rest of the race. Gussiaas is second in the season points standings, two points behind leader Cory Rodin of Marion, who finished third.

Anderson placed fourth and Jamestown’s Bryan Wolf rounded out the top five.

WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat 1: Duffy Froemke, Billie Christ, Dustin Erickson, Josh Ganser, Jonny Carter, Matthew Lesmeister, Rory Opp, Richard Jordan. Heat 2: Royce Jawaski, Joe Jacobson, Jake Emo, Nic Klein, Trent Grager, Jeff Vogel, Shawn Becker.

Feature: 1, Froemke. 2, Erickson. 3, Jawaski. 4, Klein. 5, Christ. 6, Emo. 7, Jacobson. 8, Opp. 9, Carter. 10, Lesmeister. 11, Grager. 12, Jordan. 13, Ganser. 14, Vogel. 15, Becker.

Bombers

Heat 1: Chris Gussiaas, Dalton Polries, Cody Ketterling, Matt Gumke, Colten Ketterling, Tyler Schlenker, Lindsey Hansen (DNF). Heat 2: Dusty Hinrichs, Mike Sahr, Kyle Anderson, Justin Schempp, Keith Streifel, Jeremy Willman, Lande Stoppleworth (DNF). Heat 3: Cory Rodin, Leann Christensen, Bryan Wolf, Jon Perkins, Brandon Compson, Matthew Kropp.

Feature: 1, Hinrichs. 2, Gussiaas. 3, Rodin. 4, Anderson. 5, Wolf. 6, Sahr. 7, Christensen. 8, Striefel. 9, Ketterling. 10, Perkins. 11, Polries. 12, Schempp. 13, Gumke. 14, Kropp. 15, Compson. 16, Ketterling. 17, Schlenker. 18, Willman. 19, Stoppleworth. 20, Hansen (DNF).

Sun sports writer Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

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