A couple of days ago the forecasted weather for Sunday in Vinton was not looking too good. That is why you don't want to rely too much on weather forecasts. The sun was bright, the temperature was pushing sixty and the pits were full of nearly 100 race cars as the Benton County Speedway opened its 2013 season with the fourth and final event of the IMCA Frostbuster mini series featuring drivers from as far away as Texas and Saskatchewan.
The Modified division was the headliner with thirty drivers gunning for the $1,000 top prize. Hometown favorite Scott Hogan drew the pole position alongside Devon Havlik for the 30-lap main event and it was Hogan who quickly pulled away at the drop of the green. With that first lap scored, this race would then have a hard time getting to lap two as first Matt Gansen spun in turn two. On the restart Kyle Krampe looped his car in nearly the same spot and on the next try at a start Lance Arneson found that there was not enough room on the outside of Mitch Morris to try to get an early jump as he ended up in the wall off turn four. The next restart would be single file and the race found a rhythm with Hogan leading Jeff Waterman around the topside of the quarter-mile oval. The cushion was the preferred groove on both ends for the leaders, but for those who were back in the pack trying to make their way forward all lines were up for grabs. Richie Gustin had started in row seven and J.D. Auringer in row eight, but both were steadily making their way toward the front using the classic slidejob as needed.
Gustin slipped by Waterman for second on lap nineteen and he did not waste anytime going after the leader as he drove by Hogan a lap later for the point. Two laps later while running third Auringer dropped off the top side of turn three and sixth-running Matt Rechek did the same, but Auringer, who kept going, caught a break when Rechek stopped to bring out the caution. On the restart Hogan was able to stick his nose under Gustin a couple of times in turn three as he tried to regain the lead, but with four laps remaining Hogan went too hard into turn three and drove over the top of the banking bringing out the final caution of the event. Auringer was now in second and on the restart he kept the heat on Gustin, but there was no stopping Richie from taking home the hard earned victory tonight. Waterman was consistent in third, Kyle Brown who started eighteenth moved up a couple of more positions in the final laps to take fourth while Patrick Flannagan was fifth.
The Stock Car A-Main had to take a second try to get started when pole-sitter John Emerson spun in turn one on the opening lap. Fortunately everybody missed him and on the restart Damon Murty outran his new front row partner Matt Junio for the lead. This one was all Murty for twenty laps as "The Chelsea Charger" pulled away for the convincing win with the Wisconsin driver Junio going unchallenged for second. The battle for third was a close one though as another Wisconsin-based shoe Tyler Smith edged out division rookie Scott Pippert by inches at the checkers with Norm Chesmore right behind them and looking for racing room. Chesmore had started fourteenth.
Clint Luellen had never been to the Benton County Speedway before tonight and after winning the 20-lap Sport Mod feature in his first appearance here it is a good bet that the driver from Minburn will be back for another special event down the road. Luellen started on the outside of the front row and was never challenged while the battle for second on back raged on behind him. Danny Dvorak, Tracy Wassenberg and Austin Moyer were working hard for that second spot and on lap fifteen Moyer spun in turn two. The caution flag had already been waved though for another car that had looped in turn three allowing Moyer to retain his position for the restart. Wassenberg muscled past Dvorak for second when the green flag flew again, but the Wisconsin driving got sideways in turn one and could not make the save as he spun into the infield. One last caution with three laps remaining put Dvorak and Moyer on Luellen's back bumper, but they could do nothing with him as they finished in that same order. Austin Kaplan advanced from twelfth to fourth while Joel Rust came from very deep in the pack, row eleven to finish fifth.
Defending IMCA National Champion Shannon Anderson started on the inside of row five in the Hobby Stock main event and as Kyle Parizek paced the field early, Anderson started his march to the front. On lap four Justin Stander and Nick Murty tangled in turn two and seconds later the third-place car of Matt Brown took a wild end-over-end tumble down the back stretch and over turn three. It was good news a few minutes later to hear that Brown was out of the car and okay as this looked like a bad one. Once back to racing Anderson moved into second on lap six and was set to pounce on the leader only to have Parizek pop a right rear tire coming out of turn four. Once out front there was no stopping Anderson as he cruised to the victory ahead of Benji Irvine, Brian Happel, Nick Murty and Austin Luellen.
A field of eight Sport Compacts took the green for their 12-lap feature with Nathan Chandler securing the lead from Craig Bangert on the opening lap and then walking away for the win. Bangert who made the long trip up from Golden, Illinois, held off a late challenge from Bill Whalen Jr. for second while Merv Chandler and Steve Miedke completed the top five.
The range of drivers entered here tonight proves why I like a national sanctioning body like IMCA. A driver knows that they can travel in to Iowa for this four race weekend and race under a common set of rules for the division that they race in at their home track. Michael Dancer pulled his Stock Car here from North Platte, Nebraska, Bill Pittaway towed his Modified all the way up from Corpus Christi, Texas, while Stefan Klym (Stock Car) and Destiny Klym (Hobby Stock) came all the way from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. None of these drivers ran near the front of the pack tonight, but as a race fan it was awesome to see them in action and they will be names that I will now recognize when I see the results from their home tracks. Without the reach and consistency of IMCA, this does not happen.
Of course I have to mention all of the friendly faces that were checking in cars and preparing for the night's events when I arrived at the pit shack. Along with promoter Mick Trier, there was Track Manager Dana Benning, scorekeeper Kevin Kemp, announcer Bucky Doren, PR whiz Jeremy Fox and my PR.com colleague Ryan Clark. And once in the grandstand it was good to find a seat next to Kevin Trittien as the open seats were few and far between as the Vinton crowd came out in full force on this night. Weekly racing action will get underway here next Sunday night.
My next event is scheduled for this Wednesday night April 10th as the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders will travel to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa to run on a half-mile for the only time this season. Yes, we could use some rain around here, but hopefully the weather will give us a break for a great night of mid-week action!
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