Spectacular Opening Night At Vinton

After a couple of days of bitterly cold weather for April, the temperature was on the rise. The wind was still brisk, but it was out of the right direction for the fans in the stands. The track that had taken on quite a bit of rain over the past week held up nicely throughout the evening. And with the one good reason for starting a few minutes late, haulers still backed up at the pit gate resulting in a solid count of 109 race cars with the numbers spread fairly evenly across the six divisions, the one last ingredient that was needed for a spectacular opening night at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton was some exciting racing action and the drivers delivered in fine fashion!

This would also be the 2024 opener for the PRO Late Model Tour, now in its second season under the leadership of Brandon Davis, and with five of the eighteen events on the schedule here in Vinton you could say that this is the "home track" for the series. We were here last year when the Tour made its debut with only ten cars on hand and we were a bit skeptical about its future, however interest grew as the year went on and that momentum continues as on this nigh a stout field of twenty-two drivers were on hand looking for the $1,250 top prize.

National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member Jeff Aikey would draw the pole for the twenty-five lap main event and he would slide up in front of Nick Marolf in turns one and two to take the point. Third starting Dylan Thornton would soon move to second and the chase was on with the up and coming Late Model rookie pursuing the wily veteran. A pair of spins by T.J. Fortmann would slow the field on laps seven and eight and once back to green Thornton would start to show his nose under Aikey, especially in turns one and two.

The young native Californian would eventually pull even with the leader only to have Aikey use the momentum off the high line to regain the advantage going down the back stretch before the caution waved again when Bobby Hansen's #9 went up in smoke with nine laps remaining. Despite his efforts showing promise down low, Thornton chose to start from the outside of the first double row for the restart and that would allow J.D. Auringer to now race him side-by-side for second as Aikey started to pull away. The caution would fly again with just one more lap in the books when Lance Mish and Zach Less tangled in turn two and on this realignment Thornton made the right call by taking the inside position.

Parts of the nose piece off of the #20 of Less would negate the first restart, but once back to green Thornton would go right back to pressuring the leader, now pulling even in turns one and two and nearly staying that way heading down the back stretch, gaining a bit more ground with each lap. On the twenty-first circuit the two were even entering turn three and after driving in deep, Thornton would slide up in front of Aikey to take the lead as the always enthusiastic crowd at Vinton went nuts.

The lap was completed before Sam Halstead's spin in turn four brought out one final caution and Aikey quickly pulled alongside Thornton to express his feelings about the pass for the lead. As the field was reset for the final four laps, Aikey picked the high side and he would slip to fourth in turns one and two as both Auringer and Andy Eckrich would get by him. Auringer would then stay within striking distance, but there would be no stopping Thornton who would park the Brenda Kay owned #38T in victory lane for the second night in a row after also winning in Independence on Saturday. Aikey would get by Eckrich on the final lap to salvage third while Nick Marolf would complete the top five. 

Dylan Thonton's #38T in preparation for the night ahead

The PRO Late Model feature was preceded by a couple of appetizers featuring the Sport Compacts and the Sport Mods for twelve and fifteen laps respectively. Pole-sitter Jake Anderson would set the early pace in the feature for the four cylinders and by hugging the bottom he was able to ward off Lukas Rick for the first four laps. However, as soon as he opened the door just a bit, Rick came charging through and despite hearing his motor stumble on several occasions going down the front stretch, Lukas would drive on to victory. Anderson would hold off Cristian Grady for second, Spencer Roggentien would move from tenth to fourth as Stephen Randall finished off the top five.

After his wife made the suggestion just before noon that they should load up the car and make the trip from Muscatine to Vinton, Shane Paris made that a great decision as he went flag-to-flag for the feature win with the IMCA Northern Sport Mods. In an event that was slowed by just two cautions, the race to watch was for second as the Olson cousins duked it out with Tony prevailing over Kyle in the final lap. Brady Hilmer finished fourth while Rayce Mullen was fifth.

Twenty laps of IMCA Stock Car action would then follow the Late Models and this was a good one throughout. Gage Neal had started to the outside of Dustin Griffiths and it would be Neal who would get the early advantage and then glue it down to the bottom as that quickly became the preferred line for most of the eighteen car field. Griffiths would stalk the leader until lap twelve when he was able to squeeze under Neal for the point. Meanwhile, behind them a pair of drivers who had started from eighth and ninth respectively were searching for another line higher up the banking and that allowed John Oliver Jr. and Kaden Reynolds to make their way toward the front.

A caution for Tonia Stevens' spin in turn two would set up a five lap dash to the finish with Griffiths appearing to still be in control of the race on the first lap after the restart. However, as he exited turn two on lap seventeen the driver who had made the long tow in from Ottumwa suddenly slowed and made the left hand turn into the infield handing the lead over to Oliver. Kyle Olson, who had started tenth, was now in the mix as well as he was riding the cushion and with Reynolds challenging to his inside, Oliver had the dilemma of which lane to run in to try to get to the checkers first. Something in the middle had been working for him throughout the race anyway, so that is where he stayed and after the white flag waved Reynolds was able to find the bite that he needed off the bottom of turn two to take the lead and the win on the final lap. And once again, the Sunday night crowd was buzzing at the Bullring! Oliver would hold off Olson for second, Jay Schmidt finished fourth as Neal wrapped up the top five.

It would be hard to top those two last two features, but the IMCA Modifieds were up to the task in their twenty lap headliner with Troy Cordes holding the early lead. Dallon Murty was on the move though coming from sixth and he would use the cushion on both ends of the speedway to sail past Cordes on lap five. At the tail end of the field on that lap Jeff Aikey had slowed suddenly on the front stretch with mechanical issues sending both Stephen Streeter and Jeff Sampson scrambling to avoid heavy contact. For Streeter, his best option was grinding up against the front stretch wall and his car would then require the hook with damage on the right front.

Sampson's spin in turn four would pull a caution mid-race and then one final caution would wave with five laps remaining when Chris Snyder clobbered the infield tire in turn one. On this restart Tim Ward would pick up on his challenge to Murty's lead while behind them drivers would fan out five-wide going down the back stretch in the battle for third, fourth, fifth and sixth! Ward would pull even with the leader on the back stretch three times over those final laps, but Dallon's high side momentum off of turn four would allow him to maintain the lead and take the victory in another thriller. Ward, who had started from eighth, would be a close second with Cordes in third while Modified rookie Ben Chapman made an impressive run coming from fifteenth to fourth after missing his heat race earlier in the evening. Patrick Flannagan would finish where he started in fifth.

The sun was just starting to set as the Hobby Stocks came to the quarter-mile oval for the final feature of the night and for those who made an early exit, you missed a good one as this fifteen lapper would come down to two drivers who, combined, had already captured nine feature wins on this young season. Pole-sitter Joren Fisher would lead the opening circuit before being overtaken by the driver who had started sixth, Bradly Graham. Cautions on lap two and lap five would keep the field bunched and also allowed the ninth starting Nathan Ballard to methodically work his way toward the front.

Once back to green the final ten laps would click off quickly with Graham stretching out his advantage as Ballard had to work to get by Justin Wacha for second. By the time that he was there Ballard was nearly a full straightaway back from the lead and when James Pilkington spun in turn four with three laps remaining it looked like that lead would be wiped out by a caution.

Pilkington kept his car going though and rejoined the race just ahead of the final car on the lead lap, Michael Cheney. As the white flag waved Graham was patient working his way past Cheney in turns one and two allowing Ballard to close the gap and then, when entering turn three, the leader followed Pilkington to the cushion and had to check up to get below him and that was all that Ballard needed to go charging by on the inside to score the unlikely victory, already his seventh at four different tracks in 2024. Graham had to be a bit disgruntled as the runner-up as Wacha finished just behind him in third. Fisher slipped to fourth while Corey VanDerwilt filled out the top five.

Nathan Ballard (29) leads Joren Fisher (52) and Bradly Graham (2G) in heat race action

I was in no hurry to head for the exit, so I didn't check the time right away but I would guess that the final checkers had waved around 8:15. Very impressive considering that the scheduled start to hot laps at 4:30 had been delayed by about fifteen minutes due to the backup at the pit gate and they made up most of that lost time by not splitting the field up for hot laps where drivers were given just a green, white and checkers. I have been to tracks lately that would have taken the twenty-two car field of Late Models and split them up into three hot lap sessions. But not here at Vinton where promoters Rick and Corey Dripps know that an efficient, well presented program is the key to their success on Sunday nights.

As always we thank that father and son duo along with their entire staff for the hospitality and their efforts. And my good friend Ryan Clark sets the standard for what a great announcer is for a weekly race track. His connection with his hometown crowd (yes, he does now live in Des Moines, but he grew up here in Vinton) and his history of this great little bullring pulls you in and makes you feel like this is your Sunday night home as well, even if you do have to drive 102 miles to be there.

I am already looking forward to making that trip again in two weeks when the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders will join the Sunday night program in Vinton on May 5th. Before that, some non-racing activities will fill my schedule with my next projected event being the MARS Late Model show at the East Moline Speedway on Sunday April 28th.

It is warming up and it is time to go racing, get out to the track of your choice soon and bring a friend!