The racing at last weekend's Hogan Memorial was so good that we decided to make a return trip to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton Sunday night and the quick little quarter-mile did not disappoint. The seven division program provided plenty of action and was completed in just three hours and fifteen minutes from wheel packing to the final checkered flag allowing me to make the hundred mile trip and be back home by 11:00 p.m.
The Micro Mods were up first in the feature lineup for twelve laps and they struggled with more cautions than I am used to seeing in this division. On the first try at a start Derek Knutsen was leading the field into turn three when he spun and fortunately everybody was able to avoid him. This moved Don Erger to the front row for the restart and as he was leading the field into turn three for the first time his car would not turn and he drove off the top of the race track. Mike Post would be scored as the leader of lap one before the caution waved for Erger. As the field came back for the green Scott Baty and Cole McNeal tangled and spun in turn four for the third caution before the race could finally get going.
Post would lead lap two before Kaden Reynolds blew by him a lap later and at the mid-race mark the caution waved again when the rear axle came out of Erick Knutsen's car. Once back to green the field would run pretty much single file chasing Reynolds the rest of the way as the young driver scored his first feature win. Just after Post took the checkers in second his left rear wheel broke off while Derek Knutsen battled back to finish in third.
The Sport Compacts were welcomed back to the speedway tonight with eleven cars lined up for twelve laps of feature racing and they would be the only division that would go green to checkers on the evening. Nathan Chandler started from the outside of row one and this one looked like it would be a race for second, but Jake Benischek and John Gill weren't about to concede this one to Chandler. Gill was racing in second and applying the pressure to the leader down low and when Chandler threw the block that allowed Benischek to race from third to first using the outside line on lap nine. The young driver from Durant would then pull away over the final three laps to take the win over Chandler and Gill. Steven Struck started in the the fourth row and finished fourth just ahead of Jacob Smith and Friday night pavement racer Drew Nickell finished sixth.
The sixteen lap Northern Sport Mod feature was a thriller featuring two local drivers who both have very enthusiastic and vocal fan bases making it even more entertaining for a drop in fan like myself. Curt Hilmer started third and would lead the opening lap before four cars piled up in turn two. Kyle Olson had gotten sideways and collected his cousin Tony Olson as well as Dakoda Sellers and Australian Frank Packer. All four were able to restart, but now from the back of the sixteen car field.
Hilmer would resume his lead on the restart until lap five when Danny Dvorak used the bottom line to take over the point. Two laps later though Dvorak would have to find his way around two much slower cars that were racing side-by-side at the back and when he was nearly forced into the infield down the front stretch Hilmer went driving by to take the lead back on lap seven. Just after that lap was scored Packer would spin on the front stretch as his group of cars encountered the slower traffic and the caution would wave.
One of those slower cars would shed its driveshaft to cause one final caution on lap eight and once back to racing it was a battle for the lead as Hilmer tried to hold off Dvorak. Throw in the fact that the Olson fans were cheering loudly as well with the cousins making their way back to the front and this was a good one to the finish with Hilmer taking the win by a couple of car lengths over Dvorak. Tony rode the cushion back up to third while Kyle worked the bottom to fourth at the checkers nipping Kyle Bentley at the stripe.
After a break for a Candy Dash and a Gunny Sack race won by Modified driver Patrick Flannagan the Hobby Stocks were up next for fifteen laps of action. Mike Kimm would pace the field early until lap two when several cars got out of shape in turn four. Justin Wacha veered to the right to avoid the tangle and he was then t-boned by Nathan Ballard. The winner of last week's Hogan feature for the division, Ballard had his crew check things over in the work area and he restarted at the rear but soon was racing with a left front tire down that impeded his progress.
Brett Vanous would take the lead from Kimm on the restart and hold it until lap nine when Daniel Wauters cruised by. Wauters appeared to have this one now well in hand, but as he was headed to the flying green indicating just two laps remaining the leader got completely sideways in turn four driving into the infield to recover. This allowed Vanous to be scored as the leader again on lap thirteen before the caution waved for debris off of Jacob Floyd's car in turn four setting up a green-white-checkered restart. Both Matt Brown down low and Justin Wacha up high would put the pressure on over the final two laps, but Vanous would prevail for the victory. Brown finished second, Wacha was third, Matt Pohlman took fourth and Wauters had to settle for fifth.
The IMCA Modifieds lined up next for twenty laps with Ed Thomas leading lap one. Jeff Aikey was right there to challenge, but instead it would be Brennen Chipp who would pass them both to lead lap two. Aikey came right back though to take the lead on lap three with Chipp putting up a good challenge until he slowed suddenly and pulled to the infield on lap five. One lap later the caution would wave when Justin Barta got sideways in turn three leaving Ryan Maitland, J.J. Scott and Dennis Betzer no place to go.
Cautions breed cautions and on lap seven Colby Heishman, Barta and Kyle Montgomery were all involved in a turn three incident then on lap ten Betzer spun down the back stretch. Brandon Maitland got the yellows out of the system on lap twelve when he went over the top of turn three and once back to racing the final eight laps would be run under green flag conditions. Aikey tried to pull away, but he had both Patrick Flannagan and Scott Hogan racing right behind him and soon Ryan Maitland was in the mix as well as the young driver recovered nicely from his early race incident to get to second.
Maitland was using the extreme bottom line on both ends and was closing the gap before the checkers waved over Aikey for his second win in a Modified here in Vinton this season. Maitland was second ahead of Hogan and Flannagan while Vern Jackson filled out the top five.
Justin Temeyer would lead all eighteen laps of the IMCA Stock Car main event, but he would have a drive shaft failure on another car to thank for his victory. With six laps remaining Temeyer drove under the lapped car of Chad Siems entering turn three, but his momentum took him up and over the cushion and then off the top of turn four. However, just as that was happening the drive shaft had come out of Justin Stander's car entering turn one sending him for a spin and the caution waved before the second place car of John Oliver Jr. could get to the flagstand.
After Stander's car was towed away Temeyer assumed his position at the front of the field for the restart and he was able to complete the distance for the win as Oliver and Nathan Wood battled for the runner-up spot. Wood prevailed leaving Oliver in third, Scooter Dulin was fourth and Bob Ahrendsen filled out the top five.
Thirteen IMCA Late Models would close out the night for twenty laps in a race that was slowed just twice by spins on lap one and lap two. John Emerson would lead that first lap that saw Jeff Aikey moved quickly from seventh to second. Following the second restart Aikey would take the lead on lap three only to have Emerson come back on lap four. Aikey would regain the lead on lap five as Ryan Dolan made it a three-car battle by getting a big run off the cushion in turn two. Emerson would take the lead back from Aikey once again on lap seven, but when he had the lapped car of Bill Hoover working his low line on lap eleven that allowed Dolan to go sailing by and into the lead.
Dolan appeared to by driving away in this one, but Aikey was charging back after slipping past Emerson for second and on the final lap Dolan's ten car length lead evaporated quickly with Aikey having a shot at the win coming off of turn four. It was a drag race to the stripe and Dolan was able to use his high side momentum to edge out Aikey by half a car length at the checkers. Emerson fought off Todd Cooney to finish third while Dirk Hamilton earned his first top-five finish of the season in fifth.
That wrapped up another enjoyable Sunday night in Vinton and I do hope that I can make it back up here at least one more time in 2017.
This week's plans call for weekly Wednesday night racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa and then on Thursday night the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be at the Cedar County Fair in Tipton where Sport Mods will also be in action with $1,000-to-win.
Hope to see you there!
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