He’s still got it: Trautner bests A-Mod field, again

There’s only a handful of sports where a 57-year-old man can go out and whip the boys, and auto racing is one of them.

Minnesota’s Mark Trautner, and his 30-plus years of dirt-track slinging know-how, got the best of the field at Jamestown Speedway once again, winning his second WISSOTA Modified feature event of the season here on Sunday.

Trautner last won in Jamestown back on July 21, and his second one mirrored the first. When the top groove at Jamestown Speedway is the place to be, Trautner — approaching 60 — is just as fast as anyone.

“The track was actually pretty nice. I thought it was pretty racy and I got to the front on the bottom,” said Trautner, who started the 24-car field from the fifth starting position. “I was going to stay there, but I thought I’d try the top and I went up there and the car liked it pretty good.

“It must have been the place to be.”

During a long green-flag run, spanning from 17 laps to go to the finish, Trautner dominated on the high side, pulling out to over a half-straightaway advantage. But early trouble for the race’s outside polesitter, Enderlin’s John Nord, aided Trautner’s winning effort.

Nord was leading the race when Mandan’s Shawn Strand split between Nord and Trautner down the backstretch to challenge for the lead on lap No. 3. Strand ended up getting into the side of Nord’s No. 98, which resulted in Nord needing a tow back to the pits.

“I didn’t really see what happened there. Strand come through and slid up in front of me, so I dropped back down to the bottom,” Trautner said. “I don’t know what happened between them two, because I got back by them and when I came around when the yellow was out I saw Nord sitting on the track.”

Nord was scored dead last in 24th position. Strand was sent to the back of the field on the restart, but he later pulled off and scored a DNF in 23rd position.

It was smooth sailing for Trautner after that, until lapped traffic became an issue with five laps remaining. Trautner didn’t feel the need to push the issue to get around the slower cars, but all the while Moorhead’s Dev Malmlov was closing in fast.

Malmlov won Saturday’s A-Mod feature race in Jamestown, and started Sunday’s race in seventh. The problem on this night for Malmlov, however, is that time ran out.

After closing the gap to Trautner to within a car-length, the checkered flag was in the air. Malmlov settled for second, with Jamestown’s Ryan Mikkelson taking third, Enderlin’s Randy Klein finishing fourth and Bismarck’s Brian Swenson coming home fifth.

“I was surprised. I was looking for someone all the time, because I was good on the bottom too, so I thought somebody would be probably coming down there,” Trautner said. “I kept kind of watching out my window net and I never seen nothing. So I thought, ‘Well, instead of getting tangled up with a lapped car, sometimes you just back off a little bit and hopefully nobody gets you.

“If I would have felt somebody close, I would have definitely tried to go around him.”

Jamestown Speedway’s 41st annual Stock Car Stampede is scheduled for Sept. 21-22.

Bombers

Just finishing the 15-lap Bomber feature on Sunday was an accomplishment.

A total of nine caution flags waved, resulting in enough carnage to account for a total of 10 DNFs. All told, just nine of the 19 cars that started the race made it to the finish.

Enderlin’s Taran Langland notched his first win at Jamestown Speedway, as the race ended under caution on the final lap. Enderlin’s Tyler Pfaff finished second, with Carrington’s Chris Gussiaas finishing third.

WISSOTA Street Stock Special

Jamestown Speedway

Sunday

Results

WISSOTA Street Stocks

Feature: 1, Duffy Froemke; 2, Billie Christ; 3, David Falkenstein; 4, Joe Jacobson; 5, Nic Klein; 6, Dustin Erickson; 7, Jake Emo; 8, Zach Frederick; 9, Ryan Pommerer; 10, Jody Michaelsohn; 11, Royce Jawaski; 12, Casey Stangeland; 13, Kelly Hagel; 14, Barrett Berg; 15, Matthew Lesmeister; 16, Josh Ganser; 17, Jordan Zillmer; 18, Scott Witkowski; 19, Richard Pommerer; 20, Shawn Becker; 21, Jeff Vogel (DNF); 22, Trent Grager (DNF); 23, Shawn Volk (DNF).

Consi 1: 1, Frederick; 2, Witkowski; 3, Michaelsohn; 4, Jawaski; 5, Travis Ulmer; 6, Tyler Lambert; 7, Cory Moser; 8, Mike Miller; 9, Paul Kirkeide; 10, Matthew Hunter (DNF); 11, Geoff Hellman (DNF); 12, Allan Frederick (DNS).

Consi 2: 1, Emo; 2, Volk; 3, Ganser; 4, Vogel; 5, Jonny Carter; 6, Kelly Hoerner; 7, Kyle Langland; 8, Scott Messner; 9, Greg Huus; 10, Erik Blada; 11, Boomer Patterson; 12, Rory Opp (DNF).

Heat 1: 1, Grager; 2, Stangeland; 3, Richard Pommerer; 4, Lambert; 5, Volk; 6, Michaelsohn; 7, Vogel; 8, Moser.

Heat 2: 1, Ryan Pommerer; 2, Berg; 3, Klein; 4, Carter; 5, Hellman; 6, Messner; 7, Jawaski; 8, Hoerner.

Heat 3: 1, Jacobson; 2, Falkenstein; 3, Erickson; 4, Z. Frederick; 5, Opp; 6, Erickson; 7, Patterson; 8, Guus (DNF).

Heat 4: 1, Christ; 2, Froemke; 3, Becker; 4, Emo; 5, A. Frederick; 6, Blada; 7, Kirkeide; 8, Hunter.

Heat 5: 1, Zillmer; 2, Hagel; 3, Lesmeister; 4, Ulmer; 5, Ganser; 6, Witkowski; 7, Langland.

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

Feature: 1, Rusty Kollman; 2, Jason Grimes; 3, Brian Haben; 4, Josh Eberhardt; 5, Scott Bintz; 6, Jeremy Forester; 7, Billie Christ; 8, Ryan Lehr; 9, Jim Morlock; 10, Preston Carr; 11, Nate Reinke; 12, Lyn Lamb; 13, Lucas Rodin; 14, Eric Edwards: 15, Darren Pfau; 16, Shannon Schlenker; 17, Zack Reinke; 18, Patrick Sobolik; 19, Greg Friestad; 20, Shawn Nostdahl; 21, Jason Lamb; 22, Travis Aljets; 23, Brennon Weight; 24, Randy Klein (DNF).

Consi 1: 1, Carr; 2, Jason Lamb; 3, Darin Smith; 4, Dave Peterson; 5, Tyler Schrenk; 6, Steve Ost; 7, Ryan Torbenson; 8, Andy Kapp; 9, Brice Kuska (DNF); 10, Kyle Schell (DNF).

Consi: 2: 1, Nostdahl; 2, Aljets; 3, Brodie Jahner; 4, Terry Sahr; 5, Jeff Carpenter; 6, Jay Sahr; 7, John Clemens; 8, Jason Thoms (DNF); 9, Brandon Gussiaas (DNF); 10, Landon Becker (DNS).

Heat 1: 1, Friestad; 2, Haben; 3, Lehr; 4, L. Lamb; 5, Carr; 6, Gussiaas; 7, Schell; 8, Clemens.

Heat 2: 1, Bintz; 2, Eberhardt; 3, Edwards; 4, Schlenker; 5, Nostdahl; 6, Smith; 7, Carpenter; 8, Ost.

Heat 3: 1, Grimes; 2, Z. Reinke; 3, N. Reinke; 4, Pfau; 5, Peterson; 6, Thoms; 7, Kapp; 8, Torbenson (DNF).

Heat 4: 1, Kollman; 2, Rodin; 3, Klein; 4, Sobolik; 5, J. Sahr; 6, Schrenk; 7, Jahner; 8, Becker (DNF).

Heat 5: 1, Forester; 2, Christ; 3, Morlock; 4, Weight; 5, Kuska; 6, Aljets; 7, J. Lamb; 8, T. Sahr.

WISSOTA Modifieds

Feature: 1, Mark Trautner; 2, Dev Malmlov; 3, Ryan Mikkelson; 4, Randy Klein; 5, Brian Swenson; 6, Randy Tarno; 7, Jason Grimes; 8, Ward Imrie; 9, Kent Arment; 10, Eric Edwards; 11, Josh Eberhardt; 12, Jerry Lamb; 13, Bryce Borgen; 14, Cody Erickson; 15, Scott Bintz; 16, Rusty Kollman; 17, Bob Banish Jr.; 18, Delray Dykstra; 19, Dwight Wegner; 20, Jerome Guyot; 21, Dustin Wahl; 22, John Corell (DNF); 23, Shawn Strand (DNF); 24, John Nord (DNF).

Heat 1: 1, Arment; 2, Trautner; 3, Malmlov; 4, Borgen; 5, Lamb; 6, Edwards; 7, Banish Jr.; 8, Bintz (DNS).

Heat 2: 1, Tarno; 2, Klein; 3, Mikkelson; 4, Imrie; 5, Swenson; 6, Grimes; 7, Guyot; 8, Wegner (DNS).

Heat 3: 1, Nord; 2, Strand; 3, Erickson; 4, Kollman; 5, Dykstra; 6, Corell; 7, Eberhardt; 8, Wahl (DNF).

Bombers

Feature: 1, Taran Langland; 2, Tyler Pfaff; 3, Chris Gussiaas; 4, Keith Striefel; 5, Dale Wampler; 6, Devin Christ; 7, Travis Traut; 8, Cody Ketterling; 9, Matthew Kropp; 10, Cory Rodin (DNF); 11, Ryan Carr (DNF); 12, Justin Schempp (DNF); 13, Leann Christensen (DNF); 14, Carl Johanson (DNF); 15, Kyle Anderson (DNF); 16, Lindsey Hansen (DNF); 17, Clay Houchin (DNF); 18, Jeremy Heupel (DNF); 19, Tyler Schlenker (DNF); Tyler Hintz (DNS).

Consi: 1, Carr; 2, Rodin; 3, Houchin; 4, Hintz; 5, Christ; 6, Jeremy Willman; 7, Lane Stoppleworth; 8, Darrel Wegner (DNF); 9, Dalton Polries (DNF); 10, Wyatt Rath-Wald (DNF); 11, Dustin Hinrichs (DNF); 12, Matt McPherson (DNS).

Heat 1: Anderson; 2, Traut; 3, Hansen; 4, Schlenker; 5, Johanson; 6, Rath-Wald; 7, Wegner; 8, Hinrichs (DNF); 9, Rodin (DNF).

Heat 2: 1, Pfaff; 2, Schempp; 3, Langland; 4, Wampler; 5, Christensen; 6, Hintz; 7, Polries; 8, Christ; 9, McPherson (DNS).

Heat 3: 1, Heupel; 2, Gussiaas; 3, Striefel; 4, Kropp; 5, Ketterling; 6, Carr; 7, Willman; 8, Houchin; 9, Stoppleworth.

Hornets

Feature: 1, Brandon Michel; 2, Charlie McPherson; 3, Dylan Wiesz; 4, Colten Laber; 5, Bill Bachmeier; 6, Chase Golliet; 7, Alex Kelstrom (DNF).

Road Hogs

Feature: 1, Chase Biel/Seth Schulz; 2, Dan Randall/Levi Nienow; 3, Paul Wanzek/Sam Gray; 4, Travis Edinger/Nick Rowley; 5, David Stoppleworth/Dan Albrecht; 6, Michael Bear/Beau Kamoni (DNF).

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

Tags: auto racing, sports, speedway