Bintz is back: The Rebel wins on Kids' Night

Jamestown's Scott Bintz didn't leave any doubt in the wake of Saturday night's racing at Jamestown Speedway.

The Red Headed Rebel is back.

Bintz led the final 18 laps of the 20-lap WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature here - the final 17 of which went green to the finish - to snap a lengthy dry spell in front of his hometown fans.

Bintz built up a wide margin over West Fargo's Darren Pfau during the long green-flag final stretch, and at one point placed three lapped cars between his No. 1S and Pfau's No. 86C, as he sailed to victory in dominating fashion.

"I didn't win here the last two years. I've won at a lot of other places, but not at the home track," Bintz said. "We got close a few times this year, so it's pretty sweet to finally get her done tonight."

Bintz ran second to Lisbon's Jarrett Carter on June 6 and also claimed silver to Carrington's Kelly Hagel on May 30. But no such second-place run remained in the cards.

Bintz started Saturday's race in sixth and passed four cars in the opening two laps. He was concentrated on the pole sitter, Jamestown's Travis Traut, for the lead when the first of four caution flags slowed the field while trying to complete lap No. 3.

After the first restart attempt failed to stay green, Traut pushed up in turn two on the second restart and fell all the way back to seventh, which surrendered the lead to Bintz. Bintz led lap No. 3, with Carrington's Preston Carr in second and Pfau in third, before the field was slowed again for what proved to be a pivotal third caution on the speedway.

Bintz ended up missing his mark in the first set of turns when the field resumed racing, which opened the door on the bottom for Carr to take over the lead. But Carr subsequently drove too hard into turns three and four and spun out in front of the field.

Adding insult to injury, Carr's night of racing was finished. The yellow and black flags had already been displayed to the drivers, which resulted in Carr being sent to the pits for causing the caution.

Carr won here on May 23 and was leading the B-Mod point standings at the track to start the night.

"I bobbled there on that restart, and Preston got underneath me," Bintz said. "I was going to power it through the middle (in three and four), and then the next thing you know I see him kind of going around there.

"We'll take it."

The race stayed green from there and Bintz checked out. Not really knowing just how big of a lead the driver had built, Bintz wasted little time weaving through lapped traffic.

"The first few cars were fine. Then I got to a pack of about five, and when I saw the white flag I was trying to determine which of them I was going to push across the finish line if I had too," Bintz laughed. "For some reason I felt like someone was right on my left rear the whole race, so I was just driving the wheels off of her."

Fargo's Randy Kollman was on a rail and finished third to Pfau in second. Kollman came from the 19th starting position.

Marion's Lucas Rodin finished fourth and Edgeley's Eric Edwards rounded out the top five.

It had been nearly three years since the 43-year-old Bintz last visited the winner's stage in Jamestown. But he has been winning just about everywhere else.

The victory was the driver's third of the season, as he's already claimed feature wins in Devils Lake and Aberdeen. Bintz's last win at Jamestown Speedway occurred on July 21, 2012.

He won three features here in 2012, en route to being crowned Jamestown Speedway track champion. He's also once again leading the points.

"We haven't raced that much. I think we've raced eight nights and have three wins and about four seconds, so we've been right there," Bintz said. "It was good to win."

WISSOTA Street Stocks

A second Jamestown Speedway winless streak that dated back to 2012 was snapped in the WISSOTA Street Stocks.

Hannaford's Rory Opp came from the 13th starting position to win a wild door-to-door battle over LaMoure's Jeff Vogel in the final laps of the 20-lap feature. Opp's last win in Jamestown occurred on May 12, 2012, after he won seven feature victories in the Buffalo City in 2011.

Jamestown's Jake Emo led the first five laps from the outside pole position, before giving way to Vogel. Vogel started sixth and led the next five circuits, when a caution flag slowed the field with 10 laps remaining.

Opp had worked all the way up to third by that time, and he and Vogel ran side-by-side for nearly the duration of the final 10 laps. Opp eventually beat Vogel to the checkered flag off the bottom of turn four coming to get the white flag, and he'd hold on from there.

Mandan's Shawn Becker finished third behind Vogel, while Jamestown's Billie Christ finished fourth and Bismarck's Scott Gartner crossed in fifth.

Saturday's car count stood at 94, with 32 Midwest Modifieds. The track will be hosting its Street Stock Spectacular this Saturday.

Jamestown Speedway

Saturday's results

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

Feature: 1, Scott Bintz; 2, Darren Pfau; 3, Randy Kollman; 4, Lucas Rodin; 5, Eric Edwards; 6, Joey Rowell; 7, Travis Traut; 8, Jason Halverson; 9, Andrew Michel; 10, Brice Kuska; 11, Landon Becker; 12, Jason Thoms; 13, Kelly Seckerson; 14, Kyle Langland; 15, Jim Morlock; 16, Andy Kapp; 17, Zach Dockter; 18, Jay Sahr; 19, Jeff Carpenter; 20, Terry Sahr (DNF); 21, Preston Carr (DNF); 22, Jarrett Carter (DNF); 23, Ryan Schroeder (DNF); 24, Alex Langland (DNF).

Consi 1: 1, Rowell; 2, Kollman; 3, Michel; 4, Dockter; 5, Ryan Lehr; 6, Troy Hartman; 7, Randy Gordon; 8, Aaron Michel (DNS).

Consi 2: 1, Morlock; 2, Kapp; 3, K. Langland; 4, T. Sahr; 5, Shannon Schlenker; 6, Todd Duchscherer; 7, Joie Pfaff; 8, John Corell (DNS).

Heat 1: 1, Bintz; 2, Edwards; 3, Becker; 4, Thoms; 5, Kollman; 6, Rowell; 7, Hartman; 8, Duchscherer.

Heat 2: 1, Carr; 2, A. Langland; 3, Kuska; 4, Carter; 5, Morlock; 6, K. Langland; 7, T. Sahr; 8, Schlenker.

Heat 3: 1, Schroeder; 2, Seckerson; 3, Pfau; 4, J. Sahr; 5, Andrew Michel; 6, Gordon; 7, Lehr (DNF); 8, Aaron Michel (DNF).

Heat 4: 1, Rodin; 2, Traut; 3, Halverson; 4, Carpenter; 5, Pfaff; 6, Kapp; 7, Dockter; 8, Corell (DNF).

WISSOTA Street Stocks

Feature: 1, Rory Opp; 2, Jeff Vogel; 3, Shawn Becker; 4, Billie Christ; 5, Scott Gartner; 6, Nic Klein; 7, Jake Emo; 8, Dustin Erickson; 9, Levi Babcock; 10, Kyle Anderson; 11, Jonny Carter; 12, Matthew Lesmeister; 13, Tyler Pfaff; 14, Chris Ritter; 15, Jeremy Willman; 16, Kyle Krogh; 17, Lindsey Hansen; 18, Ken Krogh; 19, Byron Whetsel; 20, Matthew Kropp.

Heat 1: 1, Carter; 2, Ritter; 3, Kyle Krogh; 4, Ken Krogh; 5, Opp; 6, Willman; 7, Kropp.

Heat 2: 1, Vogel; 2, Becker; 3, Emo; 4, Babcock; 5, Lesmeister; 6, Erickson; 7, Anderson.

Heat 3: 1, Klein; 2, Christ; 3, Pfaff; 4, Gartner; 5, Hansen; 6, Whetsel.

1/2: Mike Savaloja/The Sun Jamestown Speedway track announcer Shawn Erdahl helps youngsters on and off race cars during the annual Kids’ Night at the track on Saturday.

2/2: Mike Savaloja/The Sun Kids ride around Jamestown Speedway from the back of Kasey Ussatis’ Bomber car on Saturday.