Exactly how long was the rain delay at the Benton County Speedway on Sunday night? I'll be honest with you, I didn't stick around to find out because when the light precipitation started just as the first heat race of the night was coming to the track just past five o'clock, I took a long look at the radar on my phone and figured that my best chance to see some racing tonight would be in Dubuque. So I loaded up and hit the road, even stopping in Independence at Casey's to refuel the CRV.
It took me back to my much younger days when I pulled off some of these "re-routes" even back before we all had our own personal screens to study and I was just about to Dyersville when my good friend Ryan Clark texted me stating that the rain had ended and cars were on the track to roll it in. Knowing that there were seventeen PRO Late Models in the pits, plus an interesting roster in the five weekly divisions as well, I turned around at my first opportunity and made the hour long drive back to Vinton just in time to watch the final heat race. So even with what had to be about an hour and a half long rain delay, the feature races were ready to roll at 7:45 and I was happy to be back in the stands surrounded by a lot of people who had been much more patient, and loyal than I had been!
The Stock Cars were up first for twenty laps and it was obvious that the rain had juiced up the quarter-mile oval as it was wide and fast, ready to offer up plenty of action. When the front row both slipped up the track in turn two, that allowed the third starting Jeff Wollam to lead the opening circuit, but the driver who had started right behind him in fifth was on the charge. John Oliver Jr. would drive under Wollam in turns one and two to take the lead before the caution waved when contact sent Kyle Olson over the top of turn two.
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| John Oliver Jr. in Victory Lane at the Bullring |
Once back to green Oliver would pay off the 120 mile trip from Danville to take the win followed by Norman Chesmore and Wollam. Another southeast Iowa traveler, Chad Krogmeier would finish fourth after starting from tenth while local favorite Riley Hanson completed the top five.
Nobody in this area is hotter right now than Nathan Ballard and he would charge from the inside of the fifth row to third on the opening lap of the Hobby Stock feature. A caution would then wave as Scott Siems got squirrely in turn two leaving Jarod Weepie no place to go and on the restart leader Briar Kriegel was no match for Ballard who went storming to the lead.
Weepie would be the victim of circumstance again on lap five when he was clipped from behind in turn four and spun, but again he would not be the penalized car and on the restart Ballard would pull away over the final nine laps to score his ninth win of the young season. The racing behind him was fun to watch though as Joren Fisher was the first to make the top line work as he raced from fifth to second in the closing laps. Matt Brown finished third while Justin Wacha went around Kriegel on the high side exiting turn four to steal fourth at the checkers.
The non-stop twelve lapper for the Sport Compacts was full of entertainment as they were racing two and three wide at what seemed like very high speeds for this division. Robert Rundle would lead the first two laps before Blake Driscoll took over and soon the tenth starting Lukas Rick would make it a three car battle for the lead. After following Driscoll around the high side for several circuits, Rick would drive low into turn three on lap nine and then drift up the track making a bit of contact as Driscoll went a bit higher to maintain the lead. On the next lap Rick would make the move again and this time he would clear Driscoll to take the point with two laps remaining.
Entering turn one Driscoll figured that what's good for the goose is good for the gander as he two tried the low to high drive through the corner making some contact with the new leader exiting turn two. Oh yes, and while all of this was going on Stephen Randall was right there waiting for his opportunity as the white flag waved. Driscoll looked like he wanted to get some momentum exiting turn two to set up one last dive at Rick, but he got too high coming out of turn two and slipped off the back stretch.
Now add in the fun of a much slower car just ahead of the leaders as they went into the final two corners and when Randall made his run at Rick he found himself nose to tail with that back marker. So as Rick and Rundle went under the checkers one, two, Randall spun the lapper out of the way at the exit of turn four, but not before Spencer Roggentien slipped by to finish third. And then Cristian Grady nipped Nolan Tuttle by inches to finish fifth as the crowd buzzed with excitement. Great job drivers!
During the parade lap for the Modified feature the pole position was left open in memory of Kevin "Porky" Pittman who had passed away this week. Kevin was a winner in both the Late Models and the Modifieds during his long career and I had the pleasure of seeing him often during the four year run of the NKF Tour. Jeff Aikey raced against him many times over the years so once he returned to that pole position for the start of the twenty lap headliner, there was no way that Aikey was going to let this one go and he would dedicate the flag-to-flag win to his good friend in victory lane. Chris Zogg would get to second quickly after starting from fifth, but he could never mount a challenge on Aikey despite the three restarts. Brennan Chipp and California visitor Troy Morris III each came from the fifth row to finish third and fourth respectively with Morris taking advantage of Drew Janssen having a lapped car in his preferred high line to drop him to fifth on the final lap.
Fifteen laps would be the distance for the Sport Mods with pole sitter Will Wolf setting the pace before a caution was needed on lap four. Tony Olson would line up fourth in the Delaware double file alignment and when the bottom was left open in turns one and two on the restart he went charging through gliding by three cars to take the lead heading down the back stretch. Dylan Van Wyk would get to second after starting eleventh and he would find the freshly manicured top starting to come back in over the closing laps, especially in turns three and four. But Olson was too stout in the final laps and was able to secure the victory just a car length or two ahead of Van Wyk. The winner's cousin, Kyle Olson would race home third, Rayce Mullen would cap off his high school graduation weekend with a fourth place finish while Brady Hilmer closed out the top five.
The PRO Late Model series would close out the evening for twenty-five laps and they would be three wide looking for the lead on lap one. It would be Sean Johnson nosing out Greg Kastli and Nick Marolf to have the advantage and with Johnson ripping the top on both ends, he would pull out to a sizeable lead. A caution would wave on lap ten with Marolf taking second away from J.D. Auringer on the restart and the chase was on. Meanwhile, behind them both Jeff Aikey and Matt Rayn had discovered that the bottom of turns one and two was now taking rubber and both started to close in on the lead pack who were still working the top line.
The final caution would wave on lap seventeen and even though Johnson was still fast around the top following the restart, you had the feeling that he was a sitting duck as the smell of burned rubber filled the air. When Marolf saw the nose of Ryan's car under him, he too went to the bottom and on lap twenty-two Nick would draw even with Johnson racing down the back stretch. Sean still had the advantage around the high side in three and four so he would hold the lead at the line, and on the next lap Marolf would actually pull ahead of the leader down the back straightaway.
Again Johnson would use the top in three and four to get back to the front so, on the next lap, after driving under Johnson for the lead exiting turn two, Marolf wisely went to the top in three and four to close the door and officially be at the front of the field as the white flag waved. And once out front, there would be no stopping Marolf from scoring the victory in an entertaining finale. Johnson would have to settle for the runner-up position, Matt Ryan came from ninth to third, Aikey closed out a successful night of double-duty in fourth while Auringer slipped to fifth after running second early.
Kudos to promoters Rick and Corey Dripps, all of the drivers and the fans for hanging in there through the rain delay to get this fun night of racing in the books with the final checkers waving at just past 9:30! After having attended the first three events to be held at Vinton this year, I have another commitment for this coming Sunday when the track will be hosting the grand finale of the big anniversary weekend for the IMCA Modified. It should be a good one!
My next targets will be this coming Friday May 24th as the SLMR Late Models will be at the Davenport Speedway, then on Sunday the 26th I will be at 34 Raceway as the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders make their annual Memorial Day weekend appearance at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.
Hope to see you again soon here on the Back Stretch!
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