Rookie-of-the-Year contender Chad Coyne was impressive winning his heat race and in the Casey's Pizza redraw the other three heat race winners decided to put the kid on the pole. Coyne's car was leaving a faint trail of smoke during the parade lap though and it would be his fellow front row starter John Emerson who would jump to the lead at the start of the fifty-lap main event. Emerson was setting a blistering pace riding the thick cushion on both ends and Todd Cooney was keeping that pace before setting up for a challenge on lap twelve.
Cooney would put the slider on Emerson in turns one and two to take the lead only to have Emerson return the favor in turns three and four and just when we were about to be treated to another challenge from Cooney the caution waved for Darrel DeFrance who had spun at the exit of turn four. During that caution the pole-sitter Coyne stopped on the track and had to be pushed to the pit area, his night over after sticking in the top five for the first twelve laps.
On the restart from the grandstands it looked as though Cooney got his nose up under Emerson's rear bumper causing him to be slow on the go and as the green flag waved Tyler Bruening zipped around the outside to take the lead. Emerson would have none of that though as he charged right back under Bruening in turn three and then shut the door in four to maintain the lead as lap thirteen was scored. One lap later the caution waved again for a Joe Zrostlik spin and for the restart officials penalized Bruening two positions for jumping the previous restart. Obviously the view from the grandstands is not always accurate!
Once back to green it was Jeremiah Hurst who was on the move as he had come from the inside of row six to now join the battle for the lead. Working the low line to his advantage Hurst would take the lead from Emerson on lap twenty-three and one lap later Cooney would fall out of the mix for the top spot when he slipped off the topside of turn three dropping several positions from third.
Hurst would pull away from Emerson over the next several laps getting out to nearly a full straightaway advantage, but as the cushion continued to grow the high side got faster and soon Emerson was quickly cutting into that gap. With ten laps to go Emerson was back to within striking distance, but not only was that cushion fast it was also treacherous and when he pushed the limit just a bit too far Emerson got up and over it and quickly dropped to fifth.
Curt Martin and Justin Kay were now the drivers closing on the still low riding Hurst and with just a few laps remaining the leader now had to deal with the slower car of Tim Simpson. It took a couple of tries for Hurst to put Simpson a lap down and this gave Martin and Kay a shot, but as the leaders came to the white flag Hurst was able to get under Simpson and when he then moved up the track a bit entering turn one that stymied the high side challengers allowing Hurst to take the win without a last lap push. Martin and Kay would be close behind for second and third, Bruening maintained fourth and Andy Eckrich was fifth. Charlie McKenna came from twelfth to sixth at his hometown track, Cayden Carter was the hard charger of the night taking seventh after starting in the twenty-second position, Jeff Aikey was eighth, Ryan Dolan ninth and after one more brief trip over the cushion with five laps to go John Emerson finished tenth.
It was a full night of racing with five other classes also in action. Dallon Murty took the lead from Don Erger on lap two and then fought off a comeback bid from Erger on lap three before cruising to the win in the Micro Mod main event. In the Compacts Jake Benischek first tried the low line to get around leader Travis Losenicky with no success, so on lap seven he went to the high side to takeover the lead and go on to score his fifth win of the season here in Vinton. Losenicky held on for second, Bill Whalen Jr. was third, Barry Taft finished fourth and Luke Benischek rounded out the top five.
The fifteen lap Hobby Stock feature had some fireworks that sparked the crowd into a chorus of boos late in the race. Mike Kimm would lead the opening laps before current IMCA Hobby Stock National Points leader Leah Wroten drove by on the inside on lap five. Nathan Ballard had charged forward from the fifth row to follow Wroten into second and he would make contact with her on lap nine as the two battled for the lead. The caution waved a lap later when Kenzi Ritter's car dropped a driveshaft and on the restart the crowd cheered when Ballard slipped high in turn two and lost a couple of positions allowing Brett Vanuos to takeover second and pick up the challenge on Wroten.
The race for the lead was a good one and Vanuos would pass Wroten exiting turn four coming to the white flag only to have the caution come out soon after due to a spin just ahead of them in turn one. Ballard was now back to third for the restart and he would start to the outside of Vanuos on the first double row as Wroten would lead the field back to green going back to the last completed lap. Entering turn one Ballard tried a high to low move that went massively awry as he ran into the left rear of Vanuos thus sending him into the left rear of Wroten sending both cars for a spin as Ballard continued on to the jeers of the crowd. The caution waved and Ballard was sent to the pits. Wroten now had a flat left rear tire so she hustled to the pits to get that changed while Vanuos was given his spot back for the green-white-checkers restart.
Wroten made it back onto the track as the field came to green and Vanuos was able to hold off a late look by Matt Brown to take the unusual win. Brown finished second ahead of Justin Wacha and Scott Pippert who was driving Kyle Parizek's car for the evening. Wroten restarted tenth and got back to fifth in the final two laps.
The Sport Mods went sixteen laps non-stop on the fast, tacky surface with Danny Dvorak leading early. Tony Olson was having a blast riding the cushion and his car was working well as he sailed around Dvorak for the lead on lap five. Ben Chapman followed Olson into second and was trying to keep pace before dropping out of the race with just two laps remaining. It was all Tony Olson from there as he won comfortably over Joe Docekal and Tyler Soppe who had started seventh and twelfth respectively. Dvorak settled for fourth at the checkers while Kyle Olson wrapped up the top five.
After dropping out of the heat race with mechanical issues, Damon Murty made the necessary repairs and stormed through the field to win the sixteen lap IMCA Stock Car feature. Starting ninth out of ten Murty took the lead from John Oliver Jr. on lap ten and then pulled away for yet another win at Vinton. Oliver was second, Norman Chesmore was third, first lap leader Scooter Dulin finished fourth and Jerry Schipper took fifth.
The Benton County Speedway will take this Sunday night off before returning with the biggest show of the year in Vinton, the 24th Annual Hogan Memorial on Tuesday July 3rd.
The next action for the Deery Brothers Summer Series will be that same night Tuesday July 3rd when the Late Models return to 34 Raceway west of Burlington.
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