Cordes In A Thriller At Benton County Frostbuster

So there are ten laps left in the final race of the night and the driver who has more Modified wins at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton than any other in history, Troy Cordes has built a half straightaway lead over his nearest competitor, some guy from Des Moines who maybe visits here once or twice a year. It is a Thursday night and there is a big crowd on hand so the parking lot could be fun to navigate soon, and it is getting close to 10:30. Still pretty reasonable for an opening night race with 130 cars in five divisions overflowing the pit area. Given all that I can understand why several people made the decision to gather their belongings, stand up and head for the exits. And if you were one of those people, or if you were unable to attend Thursday night's Frostbuster at Vinton let me now give my best shot at describing to you possibly the best feature finish that I will see in 2015.

Let's start at the beginning.

Mick Trier was born to a nice Midwestern family in......okay maybe too far back.

Forty-seven IMCA Modifieds packed the pits and served as the headliner for tonight's action at the well-manicured quarter-mile oval and after six qualifying heats and three B-Mains there were twenty-four drivers qualified for what would be the final event of the night, the twenty-five lap feature. How stout was the field? Recent Hawkeye Dirt Tour winner here Cayden Carter was unable to race his way in and he was right behind former NASCAR star Ken Schrader who would also be a spectator for this one.

Thanks to announcer Ryan Clark and his fantastic statistics we knew that the driver starting outside of row one, Troy Cordes, has scored more Modified feature wins at Vinton than other driver, but it was that guy from Des Moines starting next to Cordes, Todd Shute who took the early advantage. In the feature race just prior to this one (the Stock Cars and I'll describe that one to you in a bit) everybody was clamoring for the bottom line, but Cordes showed his experience here by immediately going to work on the top side. On lap five Cordes swept around the top of Shute for the lead and soon drivers were once again using the entire racing surface that was smooth from top to bottom and in between.

Shute did a nice job staying close to Cordes for several laps, but with ten to go that lead started to grow and that is when some of you decided that this one was all but in the books. As I peeked through fans filing down the steps next to me I noticed that Hunter Marriott had just passed Jason Wolla for the third spot and he was now quickly closing in on Shute. The flow of fans trying to get an early jump on the traffic stopped as soon as it became evident that lapped traffic would come into play as Brad Theys and Vern Jackson had their own race for position going on just ahead of the leader with five laps remaining.

With Theys and Jackson running side-by-side in front of him, Cordes showed his patience allowing not only Shute, but a hard charging Marriott to close in on his back bumper. With the soon-to-be-lapped cars still side-by-side in front of the lead trio Shute nosed ahead of Cordes on lap twenty-two only to have Cordes fight back to regain the lead on the following lap while all the while Marriott was trying to find racing room as the five cars ran the final two laps in a tight bunch. On the final lap as they made their way through turns three and four Shute powered to the outside and appeared to have a run on Cordes and while there may have been the slightest of contact exiting turn four it was from two talented drivers racing for a win that would go to Cordes by less than a half-car length. If that contact would have been any more substantial then Marriott would have taken the win as he had his nose under Shute as they crossed the stripe. Fourth went to Wednesday night's winner at Osky, Jason Wolla and fifth went to Sunday's winner at Donnellson Tyler Droste.

Troy Cordes - Barry Johnson photo

I am fortunate enough to get up to Vinton three or four times a year. My advice based upon past experience here? Don't leave until the final checkers wave.

As mentioned above in the twenty-lap Stock Car feature the groove of choice for nearly all of the nineteen competitors was the bottom and that led to some interesting action. Nathan Wood drew the pole and raced to the lead only to have the track's winningest stock Car driver ever, Damon Murty slip into second when the other five drivers starting ahead of him all decided to leave the bottom open in turns one and two on the opening lap. What happened next was a surprise to everybody except those who have watched Jerry Miles win many races over the years at Farley and Dubuque as Miles muscled his way past Murty back into second. Cautions on lap seven and nine bunched the field for restarts forcing them to be two-wide behind the leader and on that second restart Wood, Miles and Murty went three-wide for the lead while somehow all trying to reach that one golden groove on the track. Contact flattened the right front tire on the #4 of Miles and he retired to the pit area while Murty eased past Wood for the lead on lap twelve.

There would be no catching him from there as Damon Murty went on to post his second Frostbuster win in two nights. Wisconsin driver Bret Koehler made an impressive run coming to second after starting in the sixth row as Wood held down third at the checkers. Three-time Canadian Football League All Star offensive lineman Brendon Labatte from Estevan, Saskatchewan came from fourteenth to fourth and another Wisconsin shoe Rick Mahlberg finished in the fifth spot.

After crossing the line second and then being awarded the win due to a disqualification the night before in Oskaloosa, Lucas Lamberies was looking to just see the checkers first himself tonight as he went from third to first on the opening lap of the Sport Mod main event. A caution for debris on lap two though allowed Sam Wieben to make a move on the restart to take the lead from the young Wisconsin driver. Wieben appeared to have this one well in hand until lapped traffic gave him a scare as two cars spun right in front of him on the front stretch with four laps remaining. The caution may have been a blessing though as this left a wide open track for Wieben to complete the final four laps to score the popular victory. Lamberies was again impressive in second, Tony Olson started eighth and finished third, Jenae Gustin came from tenth to fourth and Clint Luellen rode the top side in the final laps to complete the top five after having to qualify out of a B-Main.

Defending track champion Benji Irvine started from the pole position and lead all sixteen laps of the Hobby Stock main event. Austin Luellen chased him in for second followed by Nathan Ballard and Eric Stanton. Justin Wacha who was involved in an incident on lap three restarted at the back of the sixteen-car field and raced his way back up to fifth at the checkers.

Veteran driver Don Erger dominated the BCS Mini-Mod division winning both his heat and the feature. Twelve cars were on hand for the early opener and look for this class to continue to grow here at Vinton.

Thanks to promoter Mick Trier for his hospitality and not only is it nice to hear Ryan Clark on the microphone, it is even better to be greeted at the gate by his lovely mother. Working with Jerry Van Sickel gave Ryan an opportunity to express two very memorable lines last night that you will just have to ask me about in person if you are interested.

I will take the night off to spend the evening with my lovely wife as the Frostbusters move on to Marshalltown and Boone while tomorrow night I look forward to the season opener for the Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway near Burlington. Perhaps I will see you there!

Note: The picture is from the night before in Oskaloosa, but hey the car still looked the same :)