As the cars were signing in on this muggy Sunday evening promoter Mick Trier told me how important it is to have one signature event at your track. Trier has that with the annual Hogan Memorial this year scheduled for Sunday July 12th at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, an event that draws in the cars and packs that grandstand creating the best family atmosphere that I have experienced at a race track in some time. On Sunday night, I had that same experience for the "Urbana Five Memorial and Iowa Donor Network" night at the races with a full pit area and a grandstand full of enthusiastic race fans who were treated to a great night of racing.
The night had a very important theme to it as it first and foremost honored the lives of five area young people between the ages of 12 and 20 who died tragically when their SUV was struck by a semi on April 9th. All of them were race fans and had ties to several of the drivers who compete here on a regular basis. It also provided a forum for the Iowa Donor Network to communicate the importance of being identified as an organ and tissue donor. I am proud to have a "Y" next to Organ Donor on my driver's license, something that we also promoted back in the day with the NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure from 1998 through 2001, and on this Sunday night in Vinton more than 100 people newly expressed their wish to be an organ donor. With the large crowd that was on hand I do hope that this number was at a hundred because everybody else already was a donor!
A long list of sponsors had signed on to support the evening and with increased purses and additional contingencies the car count swelled to a five division total of 119 and even though the track was not as smooth as normal due to the recent heavy rains, there was absolutely no shortage of racing action.
The IMCA Sport Mod feature was first on the docket and when the driver who has won the past two weeks here, Tony Olson, drew a front row starting spot you had to figure that the race would be for second. Olson would set the pace as Sam Wieben and Austin Kaplan dueled for the second spot before the caution waved for a John Schaefer spin on lap four. That same scenario continued for the next four laps before Curt Hilmer and Danny Dvorak tangled in turn two to produce another caution. Once back to green a pattern continued as four laps later Kurt Hogan spun in turn two and on the ensuing restart things got a little wild.
When Kaplan drifted up the track in turn two, contact from another car sent him for a spin and as he recovered Wieben dove to the inside of Olson looking for the lead in turns three and four. This time only one more lap could be scored before Troy Burkhart stopped in turn one and, unfortunately for Kaplan it was the lap where he fell from third to the back of the field for the restart. Dawn Krall created a caution after one more lap was in the books leaving Wieben with just a green-white-checkers opportunity to get around Olson. The young driver from Dysart took his best shot, but could not get around Olson who banked over $1,000 for his third straight Sport Mod victory at Benton County. Matt Petrzelka would follow Wieben in for third, Lucas Lundry followed up his win in Independence the night before with a fourth place finish and Kurt Hogan recovered to complete the top five.
The BCS Micro Mods were up next and again one of the pre-race favorites, Don Erger, drew the front row. Erger would set a fast pace for the first five laps before control of his left front went away possibly from contact with one of the infield tires since the leader was running the lowest line possible around the quarter-mile oval. Erger was doing his best to steer his three-legged mount, but when he checked up entering turn three contact from A.J. Witten sent him directly into the infield tire and Erger's night would end there. Jeff Davis would assume the lead on the restart and would not be challenged the rest of the way as he scored his first career feature win. Witten was the runner-up with Scott Beaty, Jamie Whitaker and Cole McNeal next in line.
As I find at just about every track that has them, the IMCA Stock Cars provided some of the best racing of the night in their 18-lap headliner that saw Matt Brown and Les Blakley lead the first two laps before Jarod Weepie took over on lap three. The caution waved a lap later when Jerry Miles and Scott Pippert stopped near the entrance to the pits and when the caution waved again on lap six the track's all-time winningest driver Damon Murty had settled into second after starting eleventh. The field would only go green for one more lap before Lon Mercer went for a tumble in turn one, closing out the wreck with a tail stand before landing on the back of Duayne Herb's car. Once out of the car it was obvious that Mercer was not happy with Herb as he stripped off the top of his driver suit and was ready for some action before officials and security intervened.
After the cleanup Murty went to work on Weepie and with six laps remaining he was able to find the bite that he needed off the cushion to take over the lead. Weepie was not about to give in though as he kept digging around the bottom and when Murty left the cushion for one set of turns that was all that Weepie needed to regain the lead with three laps to run. Murty again tried to find that high side magic in those final three circuits, but he could not stop Jarod Weepie from winning his first feature in Vinton since 2002. Blakley who made the long pull up from Fairfield finished in the third spot, Norman Chesmore finished fourth and Jerry Miles rallied after his lap four pit stop to finish in fifth.
Thirty-two IMCA Modifieds had signed in for the evening and after four heats and two (??) B-Mains a twenty-six car starting field was ready for 25-laps of action in front of the thirsty crowd. Front row starters Darin Duffy and Ronn Lauritzen completed the first lap in a virtual dead heat before Lauritzen established himself as the pace setter on lap two. A lap four caution for a Kaleb Bentley and Mike Burbridge tangle in turn three delayed the action momentarily as drivers such as J.D. Auringer, Zach Less, Mike Jergens and Scott Hogan were making their way to the front. By mid-race Auringer had come from fifth to second and was closing the gap on the leader while just behind him the race for third was torrid between Tony Snyder, Duffy, Less and Jergens.
A caution for Patrick Flannagan's spin in turn one on lap twenty would set up a five lap dash for the cash and Auringer wasted no time diving to the inside of Lauritzen in turn three on the first lap back to green. The challenger was able to make it stick and take the lead now leaving Lauritzen to deal with the hornet's nest behind him. Auringer would take the $1,250 victory four laps later while Jergens, who made the long pull in from the northwest Iowa burg of Plover would finish second after starting tenth. Less, the Wartburg college wrestler would claim the third position after starting in eighth while Lauritzen would be shuffled back to fourth at the checkers. Scott Hogan who started in row eleven after winning a B-Main would take the fifth position after trading it back and forth with Troy Cordes in the final two laps.
As Auringer was being interviewed in victory lane a few fans shuffled out of the grandstand rather than staying for the final feature of the night for the IMCA Hobby Stocks. Too bad for them!
After winning his first feature ever the night before up the road in Independence Brett Vanous looked like he wanted to get trophy number two in the new case right away as he drove past the front row to take the lead on lap one. However, when the leader stopped on the track on lap six that would produce the first caution of the race handing the lead over to Brian Happel for the restart. With additional cautions on laps seven, eight and twelve even I was tempted to pack up and head for home since the ten o'clock hour had now arrived, but with both Benji Irvine and Nathan Ballard lined up right behind the leader with just four laps remaining I knew that something interesting was bound to happen.
Happel was riding the cushion with Irvine locked on his back bumper and as the leaders took the white flag it looked as though Irvine was setting up for a high-to-low move to try to steal the victory. Instead he went one line higher than Happel in turn three, buried the throttle and hung on squeezing between Happel and the concrete wall on the front stretch and as they crossed under the checkered flag it was Irvine by a bumper for the thrilling victory. Ballard, who had suffered a flat tire during his heat race and who had to start in row twelve of this one was right there ready to pounce had there been any contact between Happel and Irvine, but with none he would collect third place money. Justin Lichty would cross the line in fourth place just ahead of Jeremiah Wilson.
And that was that, another spectacular evening of racing at a place that truly is the thing to do in this rural Iowa community on a Sunday evening. And on this night, that community gathering meant even more to all in attendance, even to someone like me who made the 110 mile drive to join the fun.
A big thanks to Mick Trier for his hospitality, to Ryan Clark for his kind words about Positively Racing and to Mike Van Genderen, Jeff Kropf and the entire crew who presented another fine night of action!
So after three straight nights of racing following a twenty day break for my trip to Italy, I go right back into another self-imposed vacation from racing as this year's lineup at Burlington's Steamboat Days is calling out to me. I will likely still check in here on the Back Stretch with some thoughts of those races that do run in the next eight days, but my next live action will be on Tuesday June 23rd with the UMP Summer Nationals in Peoria. Until then I will count on you to fill those seats at your favorite race track!
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