Jamestown drivers pile up top finishes in Speedway season opener

Jamestown Speedway opened its 2026 season Saturday night with Jamestown drivers filling the top of the results across several classes on the 1/4-mile, high-banked clay oval at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds. The 7 p.m. program doubled as Armed Forces Night and was sponsored by RM Stoudt, Inc., setting the tone for a summer of Saturday racing in Jamestown.

The opener launched a weekly schedule that runs from May through August and features Bombers/Pure Stocks, INEX Legends, WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, WISSOTA Street Stocks, IMCA Modifieds and Jr. Slingshots. The track closes each season with the Stock Car Stampede, a longtime Jamestown tradition that has been held since 1972.

The Jamestown names came fast in the feature results. In Bombers/Hobby Stocks, Cade Gentzkow of LaMoure took the win, but Jamestown filled much of the upper half of the order with Billy Carow second, Brent Wilkinson fourth, Tripp Nelson sixth and Bradley Stoppleworth seventh. Janessa Kapp also represented Jamestown in the class. In WISSOTA Midwest Mods, Jamestown showed similar depth behind winner Brennon Weight of LaMoure as Arin Beyer finished third, Jarod Klein fourth, Jaren Wibstad fifth, Aaron Michel sixth, Brian Hanson Jr. eighth and Erik Busche fifteenth.

The junior and entry-level classes also brought local interest to the grandstand crowd. In JR Slingshots, Aubrie Edinger finished third for Jamestown and Karli Erickson placed ninth, while Jaeger Mahlen of Dickinson won the feature. In INEX Legends, Michael King of Jamestown finished eighth in a race won by Preston Martin of Lincoln. The WISSOTA Street Stock feature was especially Jamestown-heavy, with Billie Christ taking the win for Jamestown, Tony Smith fourth, Scott Bintz ninth and Christopher Ritter tenth. Adam Dehne of Medina also cracked the top ten in ninth.

Jamestown’s IMCA Modified drivers stayed near the front as well. Scott Gartner finished third, John Corell fifth, Chris Mack sixth and Dwight Wegner eighth behind winner John Nord of Enderlin. With local cars spread through nearly every class on opening night, the season starter felt less like a single race card and more like a Stutsman County scoreboard, with families and regulars tracking familiar names from one feature to the next. The next stop on the schedule is Saturday Night Thunder & Big Rig Night on May 30, keeping the summer rhythm moving at the Fairgrounds track.