The Benton County Speedway in Vinton was the only Sunday night track to escape the rain and a good crowd was on hand all bundled up to ward off a cold sustained northwest wind. One of the things that I love about the racing at Vinton is that you know that Mick Trier and his crew will start on time and that the show will be run off without any delays. And on a chilly night like this that was enough to convince me to make the 100-mile drive to take in the action at the quarter-mile oval known as the birthplace of the IMCA Modified.
The Hobby Stocks were the first feature to hit the track tonight and they set the tone for some great racing the remainder of the evening. Vince Bucholz paced the field for the first five circuits before exiting with mechanical problems turning the lead over to Wes Stanek Jr. Last week’s winner Bill Bonnett worked his way up from the middle of the pack and went to work on Stanek trying to nose under the leader on several occasions, but Stanek was up to the challenge each time. The third place car of Brad Forbes also joined the battle over the closing laps and, on the final circuit, when Bonnett drove under Stanek into turn three they both drifted high and got a bit sideways after making contact. This was exactly what Forbes was hoping for and he drove to the inside to pass both of them coming to the checkered flag for the win as Bonnett edged out Stanek by a nose for second.
The IMCA Sport Compact feature saw Bill Whalen Jr. emerge from the pack as they bunched up in turn two on the opening lap leaving Nathan Chandler, Gary Pfeiffer and the rest of the field a full straightaway behind. Whalen hails from Riverside and you will find him just about anywhere in the Midwest where they are racing four cylinders so it was good to see him in victory lane.
The Sport Mods were up next and it only took four laps for Austin Kaplan to come from row five to take the lead from Ryan Coleman. Kaplan looked to have things well in hand for a second straight feature win at Vinton until a late caution bunched up the field. On the restart both Drew Fish and Jesse Sobbing were able to keep pace with Kaplan and on the final lap Sobbing was able to pull even with the leader coming out of turn two. Kaplan kept his cool though and regained the advantage through the final two turns to take the victory. Sobbing, who is in his first full year of running a Sport Mod coming out of the Hobby Stock ranks, made the long trip from the western Iowa town of Glenwood pay off by finishing second while Jim Buhlman passed Fish late to take the third spot.
The IMCA Stock Cars seem to always put on a good show no matter what track I am watching them at and tonight was no different. Norman Chesmore started from the pole and hugged the bottom groove to take the lead, but my eyes were on Damon Murty as he charged from sixteenth to sixth in the first three laps. Up front it was a tight four-car battle as Chesmore had Justin Temeyer and Paul Shepard often running side-by-side right behind him with Rod Grother also looking for racing room. With three laps remaining Temeyer had a run going on the outside of Chesmore and looked like he would make the pass for the lead only to have a lapped car spin right in front of the leaders brining out the caution. On the restart Temeyer tried the bottom and Shepard went to the top groove both trying to find a way past the leader. In turn four Chesmore checked up just a bit as he got loose and, after just a bit of contact, he got turned toward the infield allowing the next six cars to get around him before he scrambled back onto the racing surface. Shepard made one last bid over the final two laps only to come up short as Justin Temeyer picked up the exciting win. Murty wound up in third followed by Grother and Jason DeShaw.
The IMCA Modifieds next on the card and while their feature did not have quite the drama of the features before them, there was plenty of good racing nonetheless. Don Erger had a plain white car with a number six taped on it in orange and he started from the pole position for the twenty-lap event. This entry would have finished last at the car show, but looks aren’t everything as Erger drove away from the pack for a flag-to-flag victory. So the question now is does he save the "Feature Winner" sticker and put it on after the car is painted and lettered, or should he just leave it as is and keep adding more of those stickers? Troy Cordes made up a lot of ground in the closing laps as Erger patiently dealt with a couple of lapped cars and finished second. Joe Docekal took home the third spot ahead of Max Corporan who originally started thirteenth. Buster Pate drove a solid race to round out the top five.
What a fun night! Great racing and we were back in the car and headed home at 8:25 p.m. Now that is what Sunday night racing is all about!
The Deery Brothers Summer Series event that was rained out at Quincy on Sunday April 19th has been rescheduled for this Thursday April 23rd. This sets up a great doubleheader that we plan to take advantage of as the following night will be the season opener at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson featuring the Pilot Grove Savings Bank/Ideal Ready Mix "Drive for Five" IMCA Late Model series. Hope to see you there!
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