Late Model Super Sunday to Gustin; Thornton, Olson, Murty, Ballard and Fullenkamp Win As Well at Vinton

The Bullring at the Benton County Speedway welcomed in the Late Models running under SLMR rules on Sunday night joining the regular five weekly classes and a good sized crowd was on hand to watch the action on another warm and breezy evening in Vinton. Bright sunshine and strong southerly winds in the Spring poses quite a challenge for track prep and once again Rick and Corey Dripps were up to the challenge, just as they were when we were here for the Frostbuster in April and the racing was again fantastic. 

With $1,500 up for grabs to the winner and the chance to tune up for the Hoker Trucking SLMR East series race to be held here on Sunday May 30th, a solid field of eighteen Late Models signed in with Richie Gustin and John Emerson drawing the front row for the twenty-five lap main event. Behind the wheel of Ben Seeman's #60 for the evening, Emerson had won one of the two heat races earlier but he was no match for Gustin here who jumped out to a big early lead.

The first caution would wave on lap eight when Greg Kastli dropped off the top of turn two while racing in the top five and on the restart one more lap would be scored before Emerson went into turn three too hot and went over the top of the banking for a second caution. Once back to green Gustin would again drive away from the competition and just as he approached traffic, Kevin Kirkpatrick spun in turn three directly in front of the leader and Gustin had to stand on the brakes to avoid heavy contact.

Back to green and Gustin was aided this time by the thrilling three car battle for second going on behind him as Charlie McKenna threw a nasty slider on Chad Holladay in turns three and four. This allowed both Jeff Aikey and Jason Hahne to drive by Holladay as well and those two would now race three-wide at times with McKenna as Gustin again drove away.

One last caution waved with two laps remaining when Kirkpatrick who is back in action after a long layoff dropped off the top of turn three, but it was only delaying the inevitable as Gustin would score the win giving all the credit to Scott Fitzpatrick and his team for making the changes on the car to meet the SLMR rules after racing with the World of Outlaws at Boone. National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Jeff Aikey would take second after starting ninth. Hahne came from seventh to third, McKenna finished fourth and Luke Pestka took fifth after starting tenth.

This race fan appreciates and enjoys the weekly racing lineup format used by the IMCA and we were treated tonight with five more feature races where the middle of the pack, the high average point drivers, were on the charge.

The first was a twenty-three car Sport Mod field going fifteen laps with pole-sitter Joe Docekal getting out to the early lead. Docekal looked like he would be hard to catch until the caution waved on lap seven for Robert Patava, but on the restart the front of the field would get a big shuffle. As the leader Docekal sailed over the top of turn three, the third place car of Brett Thomas spun down low collecting both Ben Chapman and Brandon Tharp. When Docekal returned to the racing surface it was obvious that something had broken on the left front, but it was unclear if that was what caused by the trip over the top, or if the trip over the top caused the damage.

After lining up fifth on the previous restart Tony Olson now found himself on the front row for this one and he would take the point with the twelfth starting Logan Anderson in hot pursuit. One more caution waved when Curt Hilmer overshot turn three as well and when back to green Anderson could not mount a challenge as Olson scored the win. Tony had started the race from the ninth position. Dylan Van Wyk who started from the sixth row with Anderson would follow him in for third, Brian Kauffman came from tenth to fourth and Ryan King improved ten spots from fifteenth to fifth.

With Ryan Clark on the microphone race fans are not only treated to great announcing, but there is nobody better with the home track statistics and that is why I can tell you that the last time that Kaden Reynolds was not in victory lane after a Hobby Stock feature here in Vinton was July 19, 2020. In a wild first lap of tonight's 15-lap feature, Kaden would cut down a right front tire and as a good sportsman he drove to the pit area under green rather than parking and waiting for a caution to wave. 

Justin Ginther was in the middle of a three-wide formation exiting turn three on the opening lap and he would be scored the leader by a nose and again on lap two before yielding to Matt Brown. The caution would wave on lap four for Justin Tharp's spin and once back to racing it would be Nathan Ballard taking the point. Central Iowa visitor Eric Knutsen would move to second and would reel in the leader as the laps ticked away with both drivers working the rim on both ends of the quarter-mile. As the green flag waved indicating two laps to go and then the white flag I was anticipating an attempted slide job from Knutsen, but he chose to ride the rear of the winner Ballard who, by the way, was also the winner here on July 19th of 2020. Jacob Floyd came from ninth to third, Joren Fisher was fourth and another Central Iowa visitor Brad Richards was fifth.

Dallon Murty - Barry Johnson photo

Nine cars would go for fifteen laps in the Stock Car feature and with Dallon Murty starting fifth the game was "guess how many laps it will take Dallon to get to the lead." If you said "two" you were a winner as he cruised past Jason Doyle and then drove away to a dominating win driving his Dad's car after beating up his car a bit the night before. Jay Schmidt was the runner-up with Doyle in third, Leah Wroten finished fourth and division rookie Miciah Hidelbaugh was fifth.

Young Dylan Thornton has made the move from Santa Maria, California, to Dunkerton, Iowa, for the 2021 racing season and he is in fast form after winning the IMCA Modified feature Friday night in Marshalltown and repeating here tonight in Vinton. This was another mad scramble early with Thornton being one of a four-wide pack down the back stretch after starting eighth and he was then quickly up to second. After following leader Jerry Dedrick around the bottom for a lap, Thornton went to the middle line and cruised around the Dedrick on lap four.

With two laps remaining the lapped car of Steven Streeter spun in turn two and following the restart most of the pack had taken the white flag when Patrick Flannagan somehow wound up facing the wrong direction at the end of the back stretch and the race was scored complete. Thornton was the clear winner with Derrick Stewart taking the runner-up money. Troy Cordes started ninth and finished third, Dedrick was fourth and northwest Iowa's Jason Briese completed the top five.

My Wisconsin based friend David Schlise has taught me that when the Sport Compacts are the last feature of the night, I should stick around as it is usually one of the best races and tonight was another example of that as the seventeen car field went twelve laps non-stop. Zeke Wheeler would pace the first four circuits before the seventh starting Chuck Fullenkamp took the point. Nathan Chandler had started tenth and he was soon knocking on the back door of the leader with both drivers hugging the bottom.

With two laps remaining Chandler took a peek to the top side with no luck, but he knew that he would have to make it work to get the win as the white flag waved. With momentum off the top of turn two Chandler drove deep into turn three and found the traction that he needed to beat Fullenkamp to the checkers by less than a car length. It was a heart warming victory lane as Nathan is in a fight with cancer that he is currently winning and all of the remining fans gave him a nice round of applause. You know that those well wishes do not change a bit as you read today that Chandler's car #7 was found to have a Brake Rule infraction thus giving the win to Fullenkamp who had an even longer drive home than my 110 mile trip as he lives just south of me in West Point. Logan Clausen would be the runner-up followed by Travis Losenicky, Wheeler and William Michel.

That trip home got a nice early start as the show was completed just before 8:45 and you can bet that I will look forward to my next trip to Vinton. A big thank you to Rick, Corey and the entire Bullring team (including the ever enthusiastic Brisket) for their hospitality and to Ryan Clark for his kind words about Positively Racing, the place that you can still read his brilliant archived entries In Staging.

If the weather cooperates you may find me somewhere on Wednesday and a I have a nephew graduating from college that will take precedent over racing this weekend. I hope that you will fill my seat for me at the track of your choice and always bring a friend!