Jamestown opening wins to Weight, Nord, Gentzkow, Martin and Christ

Jamestown Speedway kicked off its 2026 season on Saturday with 107 cars, plus 10 Junior Slingshots, in attendance.

The spring weather, or lack of spring I should say, is doing tracks zero favors right now.  I visited with Jamestown promoter Tim Baldwin who said Jamestown got 3/4-inch of rain on Friday afternoon/evening. The sun did not come out til the afternoon on Saturday and it left the infield and quite a bit of the pit area muddy.

Considering the weather, it wasn’t surprising this was a get-up-on-the wheel track with some character, but sometimes those tracks produce some entertaining racing, and I thought the features were all pretty competitive on Saturday.

A 21-car Bomber field led off the features for the evening.

Lane Stoppleworth of Buchanan led the Bomber feature over Cade Gentzkow of Lamoure. Brent Wilkinson of Jamestown was running in the top five, but got tagged and nearly lost it on the frontstretch made a great save but fell out of the top five. Ryker Vetter of Wishek was also battling in the top five.

The always entertaining Billy Carow of Jamestown was Lane Stoppleworth’s big challenger and soon was all over the 79 for the lead when the caution waved for Joe Jacobson who stalled on the backstretch with a flat. Stoppleworth’s hope for a win ended when he lost a left rear wheel.Travis Edinger of Jamestown was running well in the top four but would pull pitside as well with a flat. He and Jacobson would return after work in the pits.

Carow faced some heat from Gentzkow on the restart and Gentzkow would take the lead. Vetter and Wilkinson were fighting for thirdGentzkow had a couple of car length lead on Carow who was contending with Vetter. The second caution waved when a car slid off turn two.

Carow went after Gentzkow on the start and was on his tail as the white flag waved but Gentzkow held on for the win. Carow settled for second with Vetter running a solid third.Wilkinson, who had made the great save early in the race; was fourth while Bomber rookie  Rylee Ferguson of Mandan ran well in fifth. For having 21 cars I thought it was a pretty clean race with no major wrecks.

One of the pioneers of North Dakota racing, Leann Christensen was running in her final regular race on Saturday after a 38-year racing career at Jamestown.  She is believed to be the first female driver to race regularly in North Dakota. It was an emotional night for the Spiritwood driver. Her husband, Larry passed away in April, and she led the national anthem laps in tribute. Christensen got a huge ovation after the race and a picture with track officials. Classy move.

After a pair of early cations, Arin Beyer of Jamestown led the Wissota Midwest Modified feature over Brennon Weight of LaMpure, who was all over him with 13 laps left. Weight grabbed the lead with 12 to go but Beyer fought back in what turned into a great fight up front.Jaren Wibstad of Jamestown and Lucas Rodin of Marion were fighting hard for third with Jarod Klein in fifth.

After the two early cautions the race went nonstop and lapped traffic made things hectic and Weight found his way around Beyer for the top spot. Once Weight got around Beyer with about seven to go he checked out to a three second lead by the white flag.

Rodin meanwhile grabbed third and was right on Beyer at the white flag; Klein had gotten around Wibstad for fourth.Weight captured the win by 2.9 seconds with Rodin edging Beyer for second. Klein had a good run in fourth with Wibstad rounding out the top five. Two cars made pretty good headway from back in the field. Kenna Breidenbach went from 18th to 10th while Cole Neset went from 23rd to 12th.

Noah Madler of New England led Gage Madler of New England in the early moments of the INEX Legends feature. Wiest was running third with Colton Miller of Bismarck fourth and Preston Martin of Lincoln and Bryce Barnhardt of Washburn fighting for fifth.

Martin moved into third with 14 to go and the caution came out for a spin with 13 to go. On the restart Martin made a charge for the lead and put heat on Noah Madler as Donavin Wiest of Wishek was third, Gage Madler was running fourth. Martin and Noah Madler put on a heck of a show side by side for the lead for a few laps with Martin edging ahead with eight to go.

After another spin things went three wide for second between Wiest, Madler and Miler as Martin pulled away to a 6-7 car-length advantage. Martin had a comfortable lead over Miller who was fighting Madler for second when the caution flew for a pair of spins.

After a pair of cautions Austin Wiest of Bismarck, who started 12^th, moved into fourth as Martin remained in control at the front. Martin won by 1.16 seconds over Miller, who ended Noah Madler for second. Austin Wiest had a good run to finish fourth with Gage Madler capping off the top five.

Jodie Michaelsohn of Aberdeen and Tony Smith of Jamestown led the Wissota Street Stocks to the green with Michaelsohn edging in front early.

Cole Greseth of Harwood, the defending Jamestown track champion, was fighting for third with Greg Jose of Grand Forks ahead of Billie Christ of Jamestown. Kasey Ussatis of Nome, driving the Jeff Gordon-throwback machine this year was lurking outside the top five.

Smith, in his second year in the Wissota Streets, would pull ahead with Greseth and Christ fighting for second. Christ, running up high, moved into second and then went to work on Smith before taking over the lead at about the halfway point.

Greseth was in a good fight with Smith for second while Ussatis passed Michaelsohn for fifth. The first caution waved for Kelly Hagel’s spin.

Christ, who lost a big lead with the caution, resumed out front with Greseth passing Smith for second.  Ussatis and Jose weren’t far behind. Greseth and Smith ran side by side for second, which allowed Christ to open a few car lengths over the final few laps to take the win. Greseth settled for second after a great duel with Smith; he has five wins and two runner-up finishes in seven starts this summer.

Smith, Jose and Ussatis rounded out the top five in what was a fairly clean race.

It was clear from the get-go that John Nord of Enderlin was going to be contending in the IMCA Modified feature which capped off the night. Chris Mack of Jamestown grabbed the lead from the inside pole over Marcus Tomlinson of Turtle Lake. Travis Tooley of Dickinson was quickly a factor as well moving into third. The first caution would wave on Lap 4.

Tooley would get past Mack for the lead and Nord moved into second. Jamestown driver Scott Gartner was moved into third in a duel with Mack. The ageless John Corell, 71, moved into fifth after starting 12^th.

The unfortunate part of the race was attrition, as only seven of the 17 cars finished in a race that struggled with cautions. But the race up front was tight between Tooley and Nord with Nord inching ahead by the halfway point. Gartner ran third with Mack trying to fend off Zack Nord of Enderlin in fourth.

Nord had built the lead to .95 seconds over Tooley when the caution waved with six to go. Isaac Sondrol of Trutle Lake and Jacoby Traut of Jamestown had moved into the top five by this point. Unfortunately both would end up DNR on the night.

Gartner would inch ahead of Nord for the lead by .005 seconds with five to go as the top spot battle intensified.  Nord, however would stand tall over the final four laps, getting by Gartner for the lead and opening almost a one second advantage by the checkered to pick up the win. Tooley topped Gartner for second with Zack Nord, John’s son, taking fourth. Corell (Johnny C) rounded out the top five.

Jaeger Mahlen of Dickinson won the Jr. Slingshot feature.

Jamestown notes

--The INEX Legends led the car counts with 27 cars; 25 took the feature. In recent years, the INEX Legends have been carrying the backgate weight at several area tracks and I expect that to continue this year. The class has some veterans but is filled with younger drivers.

—Ryan Ost of Adrian will get a chance to race against his father, Steve for the first time in the Midwest mods this season.

—What do the Compson family, Cole Neset  and Phil Christlieb have in common? They all race Mopars. There aren’t a ton of those in racing these days.

--Dale Wampler hopped behind the wheel of his daughter Ashley's #24 Wissota Street Stock.

Saturday notes

--Viking Speedway in Alexandria cancelled because of rain; the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour will kick off on Sunday at Viking after two rainouts.