The weather was absolutely gorgeous for racing Sunday night and the Benton County Speedway in Vinton served up a race event that was of equal quality to the conditions with a six division program that started on time at 6 p.m. and had the final checkers of the night waving at 8:50. There were some new faces as well as some very familar ones in victory lane and, with Ryan Clark back on the mic for one night, there plenty of great statistics that not only enhanced the evening, but will do the same for this report.
It seems like every time that I go to Vinton Don Erger wins the Micro Mod feature in flag-to-flag fashion. On this night the veteran driver benefitted from two jumped starts by the original pole-sitter allowing Erger to move forward and into that position for the third try. He moved to the lead at the drop of the green and then pulled away to an easy win over Cole McNeal. It was the third win of the season for Erger here, the second that I have seen, and his 17th career win at Vinton in the Micro Mod division.
Pole-sitter Ryan King would lead the opening circuits of the 16-lap Sport Mod main event before Joey Schaefer swept around him on lap three. A caution for a Mitch Manternach spin bunched the field on lap four with Tony Olson lining up in the eighth position for the restart. Olson had won the last two features here in Vinton, plus he had won the night before in Independence, and it was easy to see why as when the green flag waved again he found a bite around the bottom of the quarter-mile and in just three laps moved all the way up to second.
Schaefer did his best to ward off the Olson onslaught, but on lap eleven Tony moved to the lead just a lap before Manternach again spun in turn two to end his evening. Dakoda Sellers slid off the back stretch to cause a yellow on lap thirteen and on the restart, the leader's cousin Kyle Olson spun in turn one collecting four other cars in the mishap. Those cautions just delayed the inevitable though as once back to green it was Tony Olson pulling way to his third straight win here and eighth victory overall in 2016. Sam Wieben slipped past Schaefer late to finish in the second spot, Danny Dvorak was fourth, Curt Hilmer fifth and Ethan Braaksma had a nice run in his first BCS appearance of the year coming from the sixth row to finish in sixth.
The IMCA Stock Cars were up next for 18-laps with Shane Ebaugh using that same low line to make a big move on the opening lap to go from fifth to first. With most of the front of the field deciding that the rail was the way to go they lined up in bumper-to-bumper fashion around the bottom while some in the back looked for another groove. Never one to play follow-the-leader, tenth starting Damon Murty first tried the middle line, but when that only gained him a spot or two through the opening five laps he moved up to the cushion and set sail toward the front. On lap nine Murty drove around Ebaugh and then drove away to score his 199th career IMCA sanctioned Stock Car victory and his 77th career win at Vinton, more than any other driver at the quarter-mile oval. It also marked the 15th consecutive season that Murty has won a feature at the Benton County Speedway and while Damon looks ahead to that 200th IMCA victory, know that he has won several other non-sanctioned feature races over the years as well. No wonder that he is a three-time defending All Iowa Points champion and ranks second to only Brian Blessington in the cumulative Stock Car points since 2000.
While Murty was well out front at the checkers the battle for second on back was very entertaining with Ebaugh holding on for the runner-up position. Justin Stander made a big move up from eleventh at the start to third at the checkers, Jared Daggett also used the cushion to come from eighth to fourth and Scott Pippert completed the top five.
A full field of 24 IMCA Modifieds were on hand just a week ahead of a big doubleheader weekend that I will tell you more about at the end of this story and it was Mike Burbridge who also used that low line on the opening lap to go from third to first. Action was frantic throughout the field with drivers going three and even four wide on the very racey surface and Burbridge was under fire from both Patrick Flannagan and Tony Snyder. On lap nine as Flannagan rode to the cushion around the leader in turn two, Snyder charged below Burbridge with Snyder's right rear wheel hopping up and over the leader's left front sending him into a spin with the damage requiring a wrecker to tow a dejected Burbridge back to the pit area.
On the restart it wasn't Flannagan or Snyder that would secure the lead though as J.D. Auringer dug low off of turn four to take cross the stripe ahead by inches before the caution waved for a Dennis Betzer spin in turn one. Jake Strayer would nail one of the track tires marking the infield on the following lap and once back to green there would be no touching Auringer who scored his 17th career win here at Vinton. Flannagan faded to fifth at one point, but charged back to finish in the second spot with Snyder in third. Zach Less was in contention the entire distance and finished fourth ahead of Troy Cordes while Bill Roberts Jr. made the tow up from Burlington to finish sixth after starting in the eighth row.
The opening lap of the 15-lap Hobby Stock main event was a wild one as drivers raced four-wide for the lead into turn three. Daniel Wauters emerged from that pack to lead that first one before August Bach, who had started sixth, rode the cushion to the front on lap two. Nathan Ballard is always a threat to win here at Vinton and he was quickly into the top five after starting tenth before his race ended on lap five after losing his right rear wheel. Once back to green Bach stayed committed to the cushion while Justin Wacha used the bottom to pull even with him on a few occasions, but he could never complete the pass as Bach notched his first career feature win here at Vinton. And, with another amazing stat from Ryan Clark, August Bach is the 89th different Hobby Stock driver to win a weekly show here at the speedway. Wacha would hold off Brett Vanous to finish in the second spot, Leah Wroten was fourth and Matt Pohlman edged out Zach Swanson by inches at the checkers for fifth.
The IMCA Late Models made their second of five appearances here at Vinton in 2016 and it was their 25-lap feature race that would serve as the finale for the evening. Once again that low line was the place to be on the opening lap as third-starting Ben Seemann charged to the front to pace the field for the first ten laps. Darren Ackerman who had started second stuck with the high line and saw it payoff as he moved to the lead on lap eleven and behind him Todd Cooney was also using the top side to move to the front. The winner here back in April, Cooney had started ninth and moved to second on lap fifteen, but by then he was a full straightaway back from the leader. Pushing to close the gap, Cooney slipped off the top of turn two on lap 17 giving back a couple of positions as he raced back onto the speedway. Two laps later, Cooney again drove off the back stretch this time dropping him out of the top five as Ackerman cruised to the win in the non-stop event. Joe Zrostlik started sixth and finished in second, Seemann was third, Jerry King fourth and John Emerson came from tenth to fifth. Unofficially the remainder of the top ten were Bobby Hansen, Cooney, Luke Pestka, Curtis Glover and Kip Siems.
For the second week in a row my lovely wife Christine joined me at the races (she now has three events in the book this year equalling her total in 2015) as we made it a full day by stopping in the Amanas for a beer at the Millstream Brewery after attending my nephew Declan's graduation from Williamsburg High School. A big thanks to promoter Mick Trier and everybody at the Benton County Speedway for the hospitality and to Ryan Clark for the Positively Racing plug. Just remember Ryan, we are holding your place for you!
As mentioned above, the Benton County Speedway will host a big doubleheader of racing this coming Memorial Day weekend as on Sunday night the full weekly show will feature the IMCA Modifieds in a draw-redraw format for $1,000-to-win. That race will serve as a preview for Monday night's opener of the 2016 Hawkeye Dirt Tour for the IMCA Modifieds while the other four classes will be back for another night of points racing. I have another commitment on Sunday, but Monday's show is definitely on my wish list!
Perhaps I'll see you there.
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