Gartner wins 3rd feature of season

• Josh Olheiser

Press Photo by Colton Pool Dickinson’s Josh Olheiser, left, won the Wissota Street Stocks feature on Saturday at the Southwest Speedway in Dickinson. Richard Jordan, back right, and Kelly Wanner, front right, follow Olheiser around the turn.

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Bismarck’s Scott Gartner got his third feature win of the season at the Southwest Speedway on Saturday night, but not in typical fashion.

Following a late caution lap, Gartner was passed by Deen Brecht, who crossed the finish line first in the Pure Stocks. However, due to failure to be checked by the technician after the feature race, Brecht was disqualified for the feature and Gartner was given credit for the win.

“I’m glad we got the win,” Gartner said. “I was glad to pass a couple cars back that I lost.”

Gartner, who won his heat earlier in the night, lead for the whole race until the caution with two laps remaining, despite engine issues.

“I was having some fuel pressure problems,” Gartner said. “When I was out there I was limping along, but it was working when I got out in the open. No one challenged me the whole race until the caution.”

In the Wissota Street Stocks, Josh Olheiser drove away with a heat win and his first feature win of the season.

“We needed this one,” Olheiser said with a smile. “We were too close in the points not to get one.”

The Season Championship races are next Saturday.

Olheiser also ran into mechanical issues, but managed to pull it together for the win.

“We’re finally getting it figured out,” Olheiser said. “It’s been fun, though.”

Dickinson’s Derek Nitschke took the feature win in the Thunder 4’s, his fourth of the season.

“I got the lead and I knew they were right behind me,” Nitschke said. “I felt good.”

Nitschke began the feature in the very back of the pack, but worked his way to first and held the lead until the end.

“I tried to work my way forward,” Nitschke said. “It was a good, clean race.”

Aaron Turnbull, from Estevan, Saskatchewan, took his first feature race win in the IMCA Modifieds this season.

“I just picked them away one at a time and made my way to the front,” Turnbull said. “I just had to be patient.”

Turnbull took the lead in the last laps of the race after a late caution and built on the lead to cross the finish line in first.

“It was a long race,” Turnbull said. “It was just a matter of time, I just had to stay out of trouble.”

Pure Stocks

Heat 1: 1, Jon Wells. 2, Cole Lewis. 3, Brandon Deavy. 4, Deen Brecht. 5, Darren Kruger. 6, Tyler Bartholomew. 7, Carl Johanson. 8, Travis Landis.

Heat 2: 1, Scott Gartner. 2, Dustin Herz. 3, Deryk Voller. 4, Chad Jahner. 5, Mark Selle. 6, Schaun Olheiser. 7, Hunter Domagala.

Feature: 1, Gartner. 2, Wells. 3, Herz. 4, Selle. 5, Domagala. 6, Lewis. 7, Deavy. 8, Voller. 9, Olheiser. 10, Bartholomew. 11, Kruger. 12, Jahner. 13, Johanson. 14, Landis, DNF. 15, Brecht, DQ.

Wissota Street Stocks

Heat 1: 1, Travis Ulmer. 2, Zach Frederick. 3, T.C. Shelhamer. 4, Allan Frederick. 5, Darin Tarrel.

Heat 2: 1, Josh Olheiser. 2, Jim Heaton. 3, Richard Jordan. 4, Kelly Wanner. 5, Hailey Jordan.

Feature: 1, Olheiser. 2, Ulmer. 3, Z. Frederick. 4, R. Jordan. 5, Jordan. 6, Shelhamer. 7, H. Jordan. 8, A. Frederick. 9, Wanner. 10, Tarrel.

Thunder 4’s

Heat 1: 1, Cody Hulse. 2, Cory Reisenauer. 3, Derek Nitschke. 4, Gary Barnett. 5, Scott Hagemeister. 6, Khord Christe. 7, Lucas Preston.

Feature: 1, Nitschke. 2, Barnett. 3, Hulse. 4, Hagemeister. 5, Reisenauer. 6, Christe. 7, Preston.

IMCA Modifieds

Heat 1: 1, Travis Ulmer. 2, Hank Berry. 3, Steven Kuntz. 4, Bill Miller. 5, Tracey Domagala. 6, Rusty Corneliusen. 7, Randy Sandvick.

Heat 2: 1, Aaron Tarnbull. 2, Darell Bauer. 3, Eric Paul. 4, Dwight Burwick. 5, Dale Burwick. 6, Dave Aberle, DNF. 7, Spencer Wilson, DNF.

Heat 3: 1, Robert Hellebust. 2, Travis Olheiser. 3, Wyatt Dinius. 4, Troy Kittler. 5, Jeff Decker. 6, Randy Burwick.

Feature: 1, Turnbull. 2, Berry. 3, T. Olheiser. 4, Kuntz. 5, Domagala. 6, Kittler. 7, Bauer. 8, Ulmer. 9, Miller. 10, Dwight Burwick. 11, Randy Burwick. 12, Dinius. 13, Paul, DNF. 14, Sandvick, DNF. 15, Wilson, DNF. 16, Decker, DNF. 17, Corneliusen, DNF. 18, Dale Burwick, DNF. 19, Hellebust, DNF. 20, Aberle, DNF. 21, Jones, DNF.

Tags: auto racing, southwest speedway, sports