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Zillmer wins, wrecks on Dakota Classic opening night

michael savaloja, the jamestown sun, n.d.
·8 min read

Jul. 12—Jordan Zillmer arguably would've celebrated Saturday's win at Jamestown Speedway by hoisting himself onto the roof of his car in victory lane.

Alas, Zillmer's Sniper Speed chassis was hoisted onto a rollback, and the Cleveland, North Dakota driver was given a ride to victory lane in a side-by-side driven by Jamestown Speedway's Travis Edinger.

The worst wreck on opening night of the 32nd annual Dakota Classic Modified Tour happened after the supporting-class IMCA Stock Cars and Zillmer had taken the checkered flag.

Zillmer's throttle stuck open as he passed under the flag stand to complete the 25-lap race, and before the local driver could disable his engine he was launched off the south end of the speedway and rolled multiple times in a scary wreck that ended with Zillmer's No. 34 being stopped by the pit fence.

"I went to hit the throttle and then went to let off the throttle and nothing happened," Zillmer said. "I was reaching for the kill switch and couldn't get it. Next thing I know we were in the fence."

Up to crossing the finish line, Zillmer survived a wild, seven-caution streets feature after starting fourth and taking over the lead on Lap 3. The winner first held off 2014 Dakota Classic streets points champion Dalton Flory, who mistimed sliding up in front of Zillmer on the exit of Turn 4 while attempting to complete Lap 5.

Zillmer slowed, having thought his left-front tire had been cut, and the caution was displayed. Flory, who started third, was sent to the rear of the 24-car field and would ultimately score a DNF in 18th after turning around Mike Swallers in Turns 1 and 2 while battling for fourth with two laps remaining.

"He hit me and it stopped my tire, so I thought it was cut," Zillmer said of the early incident. "I pulled up out of the way and then they threw the yellow right away."

Zillmer eventually led 23 of the 25 circuits, holding off Zachary Madrid, of Phoenix, Arizona, and Minot's Bob Fuegmann over a green-white-checkered finish. The win paid Zillmer $1,000.

"It's pretty cool," Zillmer said. "This is my home track. We're 30 miles from home.

"I wish it would've ended a little differently. But, oh well, there's always tomorrow."

Zillmer's car appeared to be heavily damaged from the freak rollover. The six-night tour continues Sunday in Minot.

Opening night brought in 35 street stocks and 54 modifieds.

"We'll look at it, I guess," Zillmer said. "It didn't look good."

JAMESTOWN SPEEDWAY

JULY 10

DAKOTA CLASSIC MODIFIED TOUR

RESULTS

(Starting positions in brackets)

Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[1]; 2. 174-Ethan Dotson[6]; 3. 3-Eddie Belec[2]; 4. 4TW-Tim Ward[8]; 5. 08-Dakota Sproul[3]; 6. 82-Jake McBirnie[9]; 7. 5L-Cody Laney[10]; 8. 5JT-Jeff Taylor[18]; 9. 14T-Travis Hagen[14]; 10. 75-Spencer Wilson[4]; 11. 99-Shawn Strand[7]; 12. 5F-Zach Frederick[11]; 13. 44T-Tanner Black[22]; 14. 11-Steven Pfeifer[16]; 15. 5M-Zachary Madrid[13]; 16. 72-Dave Shipley[19]; 17. 13-Bricen James[25]; 18. 96J-Jaxon Saathoff[28]; 19. 12J-Justin O'Brien[24]; 20. 72C-Troy Cordes[27]; 21. 2A-Casey Arneson[21]; 22. S-Collen Winebarger[26]; 23. 25-Hank Berry[12]; 24. 6-Dominic Ursetta[15]; 25. (DNF) 77T-Tripp Gaylord[5]; 26. (DNF) WW1-Ricky Alvarado[23]; 27. (DNF) 5-John Corell[17]; 28. (DNF) 0L-Lucas Lamberies[20].

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 5M-Zachary Madrid[3]; 2. 11-Steven Pfeifer[2]; 3. 72-Dave Shipley[5]; 4. 44T-Tanner Black[8]; 5. 96J-Jaxon Saathoff[11]; 6. 72C-Troy Cordes[6]; 7. 72X-Kyler Jeffrey[9]; 8. 66P-Paul Stone[4]; 9. 98N-John Nord[10]; 10. 29ER-Drew Christianson[7]; 11. 2-Rusty Kollman[1]; 12. 99S-Nathan Slocum[14]; 13. (DNF) 77R-Ryan Schroeder[13]; 14. (DNF) 87X-Bland Bohannon[12].

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 14T-Travis Hagen[1]; 2. 5-John Corell[2]; 3. 0L-Lucas Lamberies[5]; 4. WW1-Ricky Alvarado[6]; 5. 13-Bricen James[4]; 6. 2T-Mike Tomlinson[8]; 7. 44K-Kelsie Foley[7]; 8. 5T-Marcus Tomlinson[13]; 9. 0-Scott Gartner[10]; 10. 94-Aden Clark[11]; 11. 57W-Corey Wegner[9]; 12. 96-Erv Grossman[12]; 13. (DNF) 1D-Mark Dahl[3]; 14. (DNS) 69T-Nick Thoreson.

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 6-Dominic Ursetta[1]; 2. 5JT-Jeff Taylor[2]; 3. 2A-Casey Arneson[12]; 4. 12J-Justin O'Brien[3]; 5. S-Collen Winebarger[6]; 6. 18JT-Jeremy Thornton[7]; 7. 19-Lucas Rodin[8]; 8. 24Q-Quentin Kinzley[4]; 9. 12B-Justin Bieber[5]; 10. 14G-Greg Gustus[10]; 11. 02-Jordan Sours[9]; 12. 3B-Brian Brennan[13]; 13. 57-Dwight Wegner[11]; 14. (DNF) 11X-Tom Berry Jr[14].

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[6]; 2. 99-Shawn Strand[9]; 3. 5F-Zach Frederick[7]; 4. 2-Rusty Kollman[8]; 5. 29ER-Drew Christianson[4]; 6. 2T-Mike Tomlinson[5]; 7. 57W-Corey Wegner[3]; 8. (DNF) 5T-Marcus Tomlinson[1]; 9. (DNS) 69T-Nick Thoreson.

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 77T-Tripp Gaylord[6]; 2. 5L-Cody Laney[5]; 3. 72-Dave Shipley[1]; 4. 25-Hank Berry[9]; 5. 66P-Paul Stone[8]; 6. 18JT-Jeremy Thornton[7]; 7. 02-Jordan Sours[3]; 8. (DNF) 77R-Ryan Schroeder[2]; 9. (DNS) 11X-Tom Berry Jr.

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Eddie Belec[2]; 2. 4TW-Tim Ward[7]; 3. 13-Bricen James[3]; 4. 1D-Mark Dahl[6]; 5. 5-John Corell[9]; 6. 19-Lucas Rodin[5]; 7. 72X-Kyler Jeffrey[8]; 8. 96-Erv Grossman[1]; 9. (DNF) 3B-Brian Brennan[4].

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 174-Ethan Dotson[5]; 2. 5JT-Jeff Taylor[1]; 3. 24Q-Quentin Kinzley[2]; 4. 14T-Travis Hagen[8]; 5. WW1-Ricky Alvarado[6]; 6. 12B-Justin Bieber[9]; 7. 98N-John Nord[3]; 8. 96J-Jaxon Saathoff[7]; 9. (DNF) 99S-Nathan Slocum[4].

Heat 5 (10 Laps): 1. 08-Dakota Sproul[5]; 2. 5M-Zachary Madrid[1]; 3. 82-Jake McBirnie[8]; 4. 72C-Troy Cordes[3]; 5. 44K-Kelsie Foley[4]; 6. 44T-Tanner Black[7]; 7. 14G-Greg Gustus[2]; 8. 94-Aden Clark[6]; 9. (DNF) 2A-Casey Arneson[9].

Heat 6 (10 Laps): 1. 75-Spencer Wilson[1]; 2. 11-Steven Pfeifer[2]; 3. 6-Dominic Ursetta[5]; 4. 12J-Justin O'Brien[6]; 5. 0L-Lucas Lamberies[7]; 6. S-Collen Winebarger[8]; 7. 0-Scott Gartner[3]; 8. 57-Dwight Wegner[4]; 9. 87X-Bland Bohannon[9].

Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) (8 Laps): 1. 13-Bricen James[2]; 2. S-Collen Winebarger[3]; 3. 72C-Troy Cordes[4]; 4. 96J-Jaxon Saathoff[1]; 5. 18JT-Jeremy Thornton[6]; 6. 72X-Kyler Jeffrey[7]; 7. 44K-Kelsie Foley[8]; 8. 24Q-Quentin Kinzley[12]; 9. 2T-Mike Tomlinson[5]; 10. 19-Lucas Rodin[9]; 11. 5T-Marcus Tomlinson[11]; 12. (DNS) 66P-Paul Stone.

IMCA STOCK CARS

Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 34Z-Jordan Zillmer[4]; 2. 7M-Zachary Madrid[5]; 3. 76-Bob Fuegmann[9]; 4. 3-Travis Ulmer[19]; 5. 71-Trent Grager[13]; 6. 10J-Jake Nelson[14]; 7. 38-Todd Heinrich[18]; 8. 77R-Ryan Gaylord[2]; 9. 33-Tyler Ashley[17]; 10. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[11]; 11. 0-Scott Gartner[20]; 12. 85-Tyler Bartholomew[22]; 13. 46-Jason Berg[24]; 14. 30A-Adam Goff[7]; 15. (DNF) 11S-Mike Swallers[6]; 16. (DNF) 4-Rick Schulz[1]; 17. (DNF) 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[21]; 18. (DNF) 20F-Dalton Flory[3]; 19. (DNF) 2M-Angel Munoz[15]; 20. (DNF) 12-Rob Stenvold[16]; 21. (DNF) 49-Tim Compson[23]; 22. (DNF) 10R-Travis Robertson[8]; 23. (DNF) 21J-Andrew Jochim[10]; 24. (DNF) 52-Brennan Borg[12].

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 71-Trent Grager[2]; 2. 2M-Angel Munoz[4]; 3. 33-Tyler Ashley[6]; 4. 3-Travis Ulmer[1]; 5. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[9]; 6. 49-Tim Compson[8]; 7. 85K-Ernest Geist[7]; 8. 17-Chad Hunteman[3]; 9. 119-Chad Bush[12]; 10. (DNF) 133-Hunter Cavanagh[5]; 11. (DNF) 53JT-Justin Thornton[10]; 12. (DNF) E72-Adam Geist[11].

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 10J-Jake Nelson[2]; 2. 12-Rob Stenvold[3]; 3. 38-Todd Heinrich[7]; 4. 0-Scott Gartner[5]; 5. 85-Tyler Bartholomew[1]; 6. 46-Jason Berg[8]; 7. 34-Jason Kniffen[9]; 8. (DNF) 21D-Brady Bjella[6]; 9. (DNF) 27X-Mike Hagen[4]; 10. (DNF) 40B-Jake Brown[11]; 11. (DNS) 19-Cody St Croix.

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 77R-Ryan Gaylord[2]; 2. 76-Bob Fuegmann[3]; 3. 10R-Travis Robertson[6]; 4. 21J-Andrew Jochim[7]; 5. 27X-Mike Hagen[5]; 6. 17-Chad Hunteman[9]; 7. 85K-Ernest Geist[8]; 8. (DNF) 19-Cody St Croix[4]; 9. (DNF) 119-Chad Bush[1].

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 34Z-Jordan Zillmer[2]; 2. 7M-Zachary Madrid[7]; 3. 11S-Mike Swallers[9]; 4. 12-Rob Stenvold[4]; 5. 0-Scott Gartner[1]; 6. 33-Tyler Ashley[6]; 7. 38-Todd Heinrich[8]; 8. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[5]; 9. 34-Jason Kniffen[3].

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 20F-Dalton Flory[2]; 2. 52-Brennan Borg[1]; 3. 71-Trent Grager[3]; 4. 2M-Angel Munoz[4]; 5. 3-Travis Ulmer[8]; 6. 21D-Brady Bjella[5]; 7. 133-Hunter Cavanagh[9]; 8. 46-Jason Berg[7]; 9. (DNF) 40B-Jake Brown[6].

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 4-Rick Schulz[1]; 2. 30A-Adam Goff[5]; 3. 10J-Jake Nelson[2]; 4. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[7]; 5. 85-Tyler Bartholomew[8]; 6. 49-Tim Compson[3]; 7. (DNF) 53JT-Justin Thornton[6]; 8. (DNF) E72-Adam Geist[4].