The Benton County Speedway in Vinton kicked off what was supposed to be the first event of a doubleheader weekend Sunday night with a night of racing enhanced by extra money and trophies from Albert Auto Service. In fact Sunday's Modified feature would pay out $2,000 to the winner, five hundred more than what Monday's Dirt Knights Tour opener would have paid if not for the rains that came overnight and into Monday morning washing out the Memorial Day event.
I arrived late on Sunday after attending a graduation party for a fantastic young lady and while I missed fourteen of the qualifying heat races, with nearly one hundred and forty cars on hand I still saw plenty of racing in the six divisions.
A nine car field of Micro Mods would be the first feature on the card and the initial start was called back when third starting Cole McNeal was ruled to have jumped the gun sending him to the back of the pack. This would create even more of a challenge for McNeal to stay perfect in 2019 here as he has won the first two main events for the class. Once under green the pole sitter Joren Fisher would spin in turn three on the first lap collecting Matthew Dugan moving McNeal up two more spots for the restart.
Matt Post would secure the lead now that the race was underway and McNeal quickly moved to third, but rather than trying a higher line around Shawn Fisher he waited and waited for the veteran driver to make a mistake and open up the bottom line, but that mistake would never come allowing Post to go flag-to-flag for the win with Fisher edging McNeal for second. Russ Olson and Dugan filled out the top five.
A full field of IMCA Stock Cars would line up next for twenty laps with Dan Trimble setting the early pace. Jay Schmidt and Damon Murty who started fourth and fifth respectively would soon move in to challenge and on lap seven Schmidt slipped under Trimble in turn two to take the lead. Murty would follow him into second and after showing his nose down low, Schmidt went down to protect. That would not stop Murty though who was fresh off of a win in Lansing, Minnesota, on Friday night and he would sail around Schmidt in turn four for the lead on lap eleven.
This race would go non-stop so the leaders had to use their patience and skills to navigate lapped traffic with Murty securing the win ahead of Schmidt. The race to watch over the closing laps was the three car battle for third as Trimble, Tom Schmitt and Johnny Spaw were bobbing and weaving through traffic with Spaw prevailing at the checkers ahead of Trimble and Schmitt.
A stout field of thirty-eight Modifieds had been whittled down to twenty-four of the best for the twenty-five lap main event with Ricky Thornton Jr. drawing the pole position and, to his outside would be long time Late Model star Denny Eckrich in a plain white Precision Performance #50. After the Stock Cars went for twenty laps non-stop, the Mods had some early issues with Mike Burbridge spinning in turn one after the first lap was completed and then the 2018 All Iowa Points Stock Car Champion John Oliver Jr. looped his Modified in turn one on the restart.
That got the yellows out of their system as the race would then go green for twenty-two more laps with Thornton setting a torrid pace and putting some wicked sliders on the lapped cars as if he had someone within striking distance, which he didn't. The race for second was a good one though as Troy Cordes and Richie Gustin were soon joined by Cayden Carter and when contact with another car sent Kyle Madden spinning into the infield on the front stretch it would be Gustin and Carter lining up directly behind Thornton for the green-white-checkers restart.
Gustin would pull even with Thornton in turns one and two, but with the momentum off the top the Arizona native would again pull away down the back stretch before completing the dominating victory. Gustin would be the runner-up with Carter going third after starting ninth. Cordes would lock down the fourth spot ahead of J.D. Auringer with sixth through tenth crossing the line in a tight pack; Brennen Chipp, Jeff Aikey, Eckrich, Ronn Lauritzen and one of the B-Main winners Joel Rust.
The Sport Mods didn't get the memo about minimal cautions as six of them would fly over the eighteen lap distance. The battle up front would normally be seen at Quincy Raceways on a Sunday night as Canton, Missouri, driver Adam Birck was working hard to fight off Austen Becerra from Carthage, Illinois, and they were later joined by Oskaloosa's Brayton Carter, another infrequent visitor to Vinton to make it a three car race for the lead. Through all of the restarts Birck was able to hold his line and capture his first career win at Vinton making the three hour pull well worth it with a vigorous victory lane celebration. Carter edged out Becerra for second as track regulars Tony Olson and Joe Docekal went fourth and fifth. Although Docekal was behind the wheel of a car that he had built for southeast Iowa driver Ron Kibbe, so even his #89 was unfamiliar to the large crowd that was enjoying the action.
Twenty Four Cylinders had started out the evening, but only thirteen remained when their fourteen lap feature lined up for action. Among the drivers not making the call were two-time defending All Iowa Points Champion Barry Taft who suffered mechanical issues and fellow southeast Iowa driver Alyssa Steele who took a tumble in turn three during the heat race, the second time that she has rolled a car in the past few weeks.
Adam Gates would lead the opening lap, but Korey Lana was on a mission charging from fifth to first in just two laps. Trent Orwig had started just behind Lana and the driver from Ottumwa was poised to challenge, but there would be no catching Lana who captured his first career feature win. Orwig slipped over the top of turn three on the final lap dropping him from second to seventh at the checkers as Chuck Fullenkamp, Luke Benischek, Travis Losenicky and Gates made up the top five.
Twenty Hobby Stocks for sixteen laps would put a wrap on the evening and with Nathan Ballard drawing the pole position it was going to be tough for anybody to beat him. Kaden Reynolds gave it his best though as the young driver who moved out of the Micro Mods and into a Hobby Stock late in 2018 came from fifth to second but could not find a way past Ballard who took the win. Leah Wroten finished in the third spot followed by Brett Vanous and Justin Wacha.
I am usually one of those fans that hates being late to a race, but on this night everything worked out perfectly. Congratulations Whitney, you have big things ahead of you! And as always a big thanks to Mick, Mike, Ryan, Jeff, Jeremy and the entire BCS crew for a fantastic night of racing.
Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day and I hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch.
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