This was a also a big night for the Legend Cars who were raising money for Concerns of Police Survivors or COPS and after providing a touching salute during opening ceremonies the Legends would later contest the first of seven feature races on the night. Griffin McGrath would come from his third starting spot to take the point on the opening lap and the driver from Cedar Rapids who earlier this year won a Big 8 series Late Model race on the pavement at Hawkeye Downs would ward off the challenges of Parker Jones until lap seven when Jones would spin in turn two in trying to take the lead.
On the restart Jordan Miklas would drive under McGrath in one and two to take the point and soon Michael Weber would drop McGrath to third. With four laps remaining there would be another caution for a second place car as Weber went spinning off the back stretch. McGrath would stay close to Micklas after the restart, but he could not mount a challenge as the Wisconsin native scored his fifth win of the season here. Jones rallied back through the pack to finish third with Robby Morrison and Kasey Korsmo coming from the back of the thirteen car field to complete the top five.
The twelve-lap Sport Compact main event would become a two car battle between drivers who were both looking for their first career feature win. Nolan Tuttle started third, but would lead the opening laps only to have Spencer Roggentien pull even with him as the duo went under the crossed flags on lap six. Tuttle would fight off that challenge only to have Roggentien come right back at him to take the lead by inches as lap nine was scored.
That was important because soon after the caution would wave for debris on the race track and it would now be Roggentien that would bring the field back to green for the final three laps. Tuttle would make one good run at the new leader once back to green only to to have Roggentien ward him off to take his first ever victory. Blake Driscol came from the fifth row to finish in the third spot, Stephen Schmitz who last week won his first feature came from twelfth to fourth and Colton Stewart rallied from the back after having to change a tire to finish in fifth.
The Late Models would be up next for twenty laps of non-stop action that would see pole-sitter Dalton Simonson race out to a big advantage while the racing for position went on behind him. Once the fourth starting Andy Nezworski cleared Bobby Hansen for second he would have more than a straightaway lead to eat into in order to catch Simonson and he would do just that lap by lap.
That lead had disappeared with five laps remaining and on lap sixteen Nezworski drove under Simonson exiting turn four to take the point. Dalton battled back though and with a lapped car racing in that lower line of Nezworski's, Simonson would come back to lead again on lap seventeen. With that lapped car now cleared Nezworski again went to that lower line and as the white flag waved Andy would complete the pass and take the win in just his second appearance ever here at Vinton. Simonson would have to settle for the runner-up position with Hansen a bit further back in third. The battle for fourth was entertaining in itself with five cars battling for position during the final half of the race. Kevin Kirkpatrick would prevail followed by Darren Ackerman in his first night out for 2022.
After veteran driver Vern Jackson spun in turn four after leading the first two laps it looked like we might also have a first time feature winner in the Sport Mods as Josh Banes was fast and consistent around the quarter-mile oval. Three more cautions mid-race though would keep the competition close to Banes and on lap twelve he could no longer fight off the challenges of Joe Docekal who completed the pass that would take him to victory.
Docekal had come from the inside of row seven to score the win over Banes who still celebrated his first ever top five finish with the runner-up honors. Colby Heishman posted his best finish of the season thus far in third while Ben Chapman and Brandon Tharp completed the top five. Chapman's race had started from just in front of Docekal in row six.
In his first full season behind the wheel of a Modified, Dallon Murty has been a quick study and no surprise has found victory lane often, especially here in Vinton. Jesse Belez made him work for it tonight though as Murty quickly moved from eighth to second only to have Belez hold him off for eight laps after an early restart. With seven circuits remaining Murty would complete the pass and then drive away to another win while Belez posted his best finish of 2022 so far in second. Chris Snyder would finish where he started in third with the same being said for Mark Schulte in fourth while fifth went to Brennen Chipp.
After winning the Hobby Stock feature at Hawkeye Downs on Friday night, Scott Siems was looking to pull off the rare pavement/dirt weekend double as he would set the pace for the first three circuits of the fifteen lap Hobby Stock main event only to have young Joren Fisher go charging by on lap four. With Fisher now driving off on his way to victory Siems was tasked with holding off the challenges of Matt Brown, Dalton Weepie and Brett Vanous over the closing laps and he was successful in doing so to take the second place money.
Brown would complete the podium in third while the fourth-place finish of Vanous was impressive considering that he had taken a hard rollover on the front stretch during his heat race. Weepie would complete the top five.
The Stock Cars would close out the night and, as they so often do at any track that we visit, they would leave the fans abuzz as they headed for home with an exciting finish. Norman Chesmore had raced out to a big lead early, but as the laps were ticking away it looked like the veteran driver might have been getting too conservative entering the corners as he tried to stay glued to the bottom of the quarter-mile oval.
With four laps remaining Jason Doyle was just about ready to drive around Chesmore one line up only to have the caution wave for Russell Damme Jr. who had spun in turn three. For the restart Chesmore would bring Doyle and Kaden Reynolds back to the green and both drivers would charge around the outside of the leader in turns one and two. Reynolds would lead by a nose at the stripe on lap twelve of this fifteen lap event, but Doyle had stayed on his inside and was able to squeeze into the lead with two laps remaining.
This would be when the kid would show his ability as he would enter turn one high and then shoot for the bottom to exit turn two and when Doyle left him just enough room it would now be Reynolds who would have the preferred inside line taking the lead again as the white flag waved. Doyle would give it a valiant effort on the final lap, but he could not make the pass as Reynolds posted his tenth win in this his rookie season in the Stock Cars. Shaun Bistline would nip Chesmore at the checkers to finish third while Scooter Dulin completed the top five.
On a night where I thought we might see some cars from other tracks who had the night off, the only real "surprise" entrant was Tommy Fain who had brought his Stock Car here all the way from Abilene, Texas. A big thanks to Rick and Corey Dripps for their hospitality and as always to announcer Ryan Clark for his kind words about what we do here at Positively Racing. The seven division Sunday night program wrapped up at 9:20 which isn't too bad for the local fans and while the addition of the Late Models was part of the reason we came, in my opinion seven classes is one or two too many for any show. But I guess that is what you need to make ends meet these days.
The Benton County Speedway will take next Sunday July 31st off for a mid-summer break before closing out their 2022 schedule with with three nights of action in August.
Next up for me will be the MARS Late Model show at the Davenport Speedway on Tuesday night, then on Wednesday the Sprint Invaders will make their annual visit to the Dubuque County Fair. Hope to see you there!
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