When I was announcing races on a weekly basis I used to love Season Championship night. Even though the races were aligned straight-up by points it was like the culmination of a story that I had watched and been a part of all season and, if there was a point championship or two still up for grabs, that just added to the fun. For the past several years though I have avoided season championship nights because if I hadn’t been there to see the story unfold all year, the last thing I wanted to do was to watch races that were lined up with the fast guys up front. After last night in Vinton though, I may have changed my mind!
Promoter Mick Trier and track manager Dana Benning put an interesting spin on their season championship activities as they give the top four drivers in each division the opportunity to start at the rear for a chance to double their money if they can make it back to the front and win the feature event. Not only did some of the drivers take the challenge, but announcer Bucky Doren added to the intrigue by getting the crowd involved as the drivers pondered their decision during on-track introductions. The result was a fun night of racing and entertainment that was spiced up even more by a track that was on the choppy side due to the steady rains of the day before.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks were up first with three of the four eligible drivers (Scott Pippert, Brad Forbes and Matt Brown) taking the challenge to start at the back of the twenty-car field. Brown started quickly as he used the outside groove to move all the way up to ninth on the first lap, and only a few laps later he was into the top five. Vince Bucholz held the lead when the caution came out on lap seven and on the restart Brown got a little too wide off of turn four and tagged the wall bouncing him back down into the car next to him. The contact flattened his left rear tire and he was done for the evening. The driver who chose to not go to the back, Wes Stanek moved to the lead on lap eight only to have Kyle Parizek go charging by two laps later. Scott Pippert soon moved into second and picked up the challenge on Perizek even appearing to have him passed with four laps remaining only to have the caution wave for Stanek who had stalled in turn two. Steam was billowing out of Parizek’s car as he led Pippert and Brad Forbes back to the green and again it looked like Pippert was going to make the double-money winning move before his right rear tire went flat with two laps remaining. Now it was Forbes who tried to pick his way around the leader’s overheating machine, but he could not get it done before the checkers waved and Kyle Parizek took the win. Forbes would have to settle for second while Michael Peterson recovered from a flat tire mid-race to finish third.
The Sport Compacts were up next and with the point battle still tight only the fourth starting Justin Wacha chose to try his luck from the rear. The rough surface took its toll on the Four Cylinders as there were several cautions for debris and flat tires and the red flag flew on lap eight when Josh Reddick went for a ride off the backstretch. Merv Chandler paced the field for the first two circuits before Bill Whalen Jr. worked by him. On the restart following the red flag Brad Chandler who had started eleventh used the high line to drive by Whalen and he then held back Brett Vanous over the final laps to take the victory. Vanous, Whalen Jr. and Dallas Chandler were next in line while Wacha drove a steady race to come from eighteenth to fifth.
The top four IMCA Sport Mod drivers all decided to stay put on the first two rows and it was newlywed Austin Kaplan who moved to the lead from his pole position start. Drew Fish kept the heat on Kaplan putting the nose of his #3D under the leader on several occasions. Fish looked as though he might have had Kaplan set up for a final lap pass down the backstretch and into turn three, but the caution waved as three cars had piled up under the flagstand while taking the white flag. As the field circled the track under caution preparing for the green-white-checkered restart, Kaplan’s left rear tire went flat and he headed to the pits handing the lead over to Fish. Danny Dvorak kept Fish honest over the final two laps, but he could not mount a challenge as Drew picked up the checkered flag. Dvorak was the runner-up, Brian Rodman was steady in third while Jim Buhlman finished where he started in fourth. Shane Ebaugh would complete the top five.
Justin Temeyer and Norman Chesmore abandoned their front row start to try to win the extra money in the Stock Car main and for Temeyer it may have been a move that saved him from any additional damage as his car slowed suddenly on the first lap with transmission issues. Damon Murty moved from fourth to first on the restart to pick up the lead and he then held back the persistent challenges of Nathan Wood to take the victory. Wood came from eighth to finish second, Chesmore raced his way back up to third at the checkers, Curtis Roster finished fourth and Roger Cieseleski came from row seven for fifth.
The IMCA Modifieds closed out the evening with only Jerry Luloff taking the chance on starting at the rear, but he too suffered mechanical problems in the opening laps that would force “The Independence Icon” to the pits. It was amazing to watch the Modifieds dart around on the rough surface and the drivers should be commended racing each other as hard and as clean as they did throughout the twenty-five-lap distance. Scott Hogan started on the pole and went the distance for the victory, but the battle for second was a thriller as Mark Schulte, Tony Olson and Joe Docekal ran three-wide on several occasions. That ended though when Docekal spun in turn three on lap seventeen and he restarted from the rear with eight laps remaining. Olson and Schulte then slugged it out for the remaining laps with Olson taking second behind the winner Hogan while Schulte settled for third. Mike Burbridge who started eighteenth clawed his way up to fourth at the checkers while Jonathan Thimmesch held back a hard charging Docekal to take fifth.
As usual there was nearly a packed house of very enthusiastic race fans on hand proving that this place should be a model for how a successful weekly racing program should be built. With the Frostbuster and the Season Championship I attended both the first and last race of the 2010 at the Benton County Speedway and I have already marked the first Sunday in April of 2011 for my next trip north. A big thanks to Mick Trier and Dana Benning for their hospitality and it was great to see my old friend Kevin Kemp, who handles the scoring duties here, once again. Special thanks to Bucky Doren who gave us some great publicity for “Shiverfest” and we hope to see several drivers and fans from Vinton down at Donnellson on October 23rd!
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